Replaying Demon's Souls ε-(´・｀) ﾌｰ

[Shaka Khan]

My second attempt at completing this great game, the first was around its release. I don't even remember why I stopped playing it at that time.

Anyhow, having the server operation extended and a pure white tendency as a gift until 2011 was a good incentive.

So, quick, what are the major areas that are accessible during this phase other than that place where you fight Miranda at the start of the beginning of the Boletarian Palace?

[Shaka Khan]

Picked a Wanderer for the Falchion and buffed initial stats, got pwned quickly, started off again with a Royal to use magic. So much homo.

So, quick, what are the major areas that are accessible during this phase other than that place where you fight Miranda at the start of the beginning of the Boletarian Palace?

Never mind: http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/white-world-tendency-events

Dang it. I have less than two days to cover all of that.

[Smooth Groove]

Good game but I gave up because of its anal save system and inability to pause.  I just don't have the time.  Jap devs need to stop treating games like jobs. 

[Shaka Khan]

No offense, but those are poor excuses; clear any room and it'll basically be your pause screen, auto save after almost every step you take quite fair imo and noob-proof. None of those issues made the game feel like a chore, and I personally think that nothing about the game resembles modern Japanese games. Not even remotely.

I'm quite surprised that a big PC advocate like yourself would complain about petty issues only a consolite would find troubling.

[Beezy]

I'm getting it from amazon next week.

[iconoclast]

i was going to start playing this again for the platinum after new years, but screw it i'll just start it now and do the white tendency events while i can.

returning to the game of the forever

[Smooth Groove]

No offense, but those are poor excuses; clear any room and it'll basically be your pause screen, auto save after almost every step you take quite fair imo and noob-proof. None of those issues made the game feel like a chore, and I personally think that nothing about the game resembles modern Japanese games. Not even remotely.

I'm quite surprised that a big PC advocate like yourself would complain about petty issues only a consolite would find troubling.

If this were on the PC, I'd be quicksaving whenever I want to.  In this day and age, it's just dumb to not let a gamer pause a non-competitive online game whenever he wants to.  Sometimes, you just don't have that extra time to do the stuff you mentioned.  It's a pain to lose the last hr of progress because the game insists on being "hardcore".  

I'm quite surprised that a big PC advocate like yourself would complain about petty issues only a consolite would find troubling.

He wouldn't if it was on 360

Of course not, those problems wouldn't exist on a 360 game because the primary audience isn't japs and weeaboos.  

[Beezy]

What do you do online in this game?

[Smooth Groove]

You mostly share hints with other players. 

[iconoclast]

What do you do online it this game?

the online is completely integrated into the single player mode. if you play it while connected to the internet, you will be able to see ghosts of other players in the same area as you, walking around or fighting enemies or whatever. people can leave messages on the floor that say "beware of the trap ahead," or, "go straight ahead for treasure" if there's an item hidden behind some boxes, or "sticky white stuff" in front of the witch lady.

there is also co-op and player vs player. for co-op, you can leave a blue message on the floor and if someone clicks on it, you get summoned into their world as a phantom. or you can invade other people's games as a black phantom, kill them, and recover your body.

basically demon's souls has the best online mode ever.

[Beezy]

...sounds pointless

Edit: Nvm, didn't see icon's post. Sounds pretty cool. I'll start it before 3D Dot Game Heroes.

[Smooth Groove]

Yes, you can play and save offline.  This isn't a UBI game.

[iconoclast]

just spent like 40 minutes making my new character. if there's one thing that sucks about this game, it's how much work it takes to make your character look human. otherwise they look like a neanderthal or something.

i think i'm gonna go a pure dexterity PVP build. i keep wanting to start a magic-based character, but melee is just so much more fun in this game.

gonna call it quits for tonight once i finish the first stage. fuck i love this game. i think i'd place it right next to Ninja Gaiden as my favorite game of all time.

Could you elaborate more? So on-line means only constant hints and seeing ghosts of other players fighting ghosts of enemies? Or do the ghosts of other players help you in the fight? Is there even off-line play in this game? Meaning, off-line like in Oblivion etc.?

On-line seems pretty pointless TBH. Eye-candy and GameFAQs integrated into the game.

I heard the save system is annoying? Is it like Diablo 2's save system? (save only in cities, only one save, always overwritten)? Does saving work in off-line mode?

you don't  get spammed with hint pop-ups or anything like that; once in a while there will be some small, red, glowing text on the floor. if you walk up to and hit X, it'll bring up a message that a player left. the game has a bunch of preset messages to choose from, you can't just write anything you want. same thing with blood stains. if you see a blood stain on the floor, you can click on it and it'll bring up a red ghost, showing the last few seconds of someone's life.

the ghosts you see around the world can't help you. it's just a glimpse into another player's world. they only appear when you're in close proximity to someone, so you won't be seeing them constantly or anything. the only time someone can help you fight is if you summon them yourself. they'll appear in your world as a blue phantom, and you can co-op with them.

and yes you can play offline, but the online is extremely well integrated and it greatly enhances the game. there's nothing else like it.

[Himu]

Need to get back to this. Might as well start a new character.

[Shaka Khan]

i think i'm gonna go a pure dexterity PVP build. i keep wanting to start a magic-based character, but melee is just so much more fun in this game.

What does a pure dexterity character enable you to do?

Also, since we're discussing character builds, I'm wondering if it's a good idea to build a relatively balanced character with a minor focus on magic. That's the path I seem to be going through, I hope I don't get stumped halfway through and regret it. Also, if my main weapons and equipments are S&S/light armors, what stat should I focus on, dexterity too?

Finally, I don't think I allocated a single level into faith lol, I just viewed the miracle list and found nothing that interests me, maybe the next miracle tutor may have something better. Generally speaking, how important are miracles in the game? I don't think I learned a single one in my short lived first play through.

[OptimoPeach]

This game above all else gets me itching to go out and buy a PS3 every time I read about it

[Shaka Khan]

This game above all else gets me itching to go out and buy a PS3 every time I read about it

Easily one my top 5 games this generation, but honestly, if this is the only game that gets you itching for a PS3 then it's not worth buying one for it.

[OptimoPeach]

Naw it's just at the top of my list

[BlueTsunami]

Funny, this thread has got me itching to play it again but my 60GB PS3 totally YLOD'ed on me

[iconoclast]

What does a pure dexterity character enable you to do?

Dexterity mainly strengthens the type of swords I like to use (light one-hand weapons mostly). Each weapon gets additional strength based on how you upgrade it. So if I had a Sharp Uchigatana +5, it would have an S-rank in dexterity and get a huge boost from it, based on my stats.

Also, since we're discussing character builds, I'm wondering if it's a good idea to build a relatively balanced character with a minor focus on magic. That's the path I seem to be going through, I hope I don't get stumped halfway through and regret it. Also, if my main weapons and equipments are S&S/light armors, what stat should I focus on, dexterity too?

Depends entirely on the swords you pick up (one of the best swords you'll find early on, the Crescent Falchion, gets a good boost based on your magic stat), but for the most part dexterity would serve you well. For PvE, you can have a balanced character and not run into any problems. I wouldn't worry about it too much really, you only need to get anal about stat distribution when you're trying to min/max a character to get as much of an edge as possible.

Finally, I don't think I allocated a single level into faith lol, I just viewed the miracle list and found nothing that interests me, maybe the next miracle tutor may have something better. Generally speaking, how important are miracles in the game? I don't think I learned a single one in my short lived first play through.

Miracles are pretty good for support, but I never used them much myself. All I ever really used was Heal and Antidote/Cure, but this time around I'm probably going to pick up Second Chance. God's Wrath is pretty good too IIRC.


I haven't really played this game in like 10 months though, so I've forgotten a ton of stuff. I'm excited to relearn everything though, it's almost like I'm going in fresh!

[Himu]

Gimme tips on builds. I tend to go with well rounded characters in rpgs and I figured it wouldn't mean much in DS.

[demi]

I'd be interested in a decent build, but I will probably just dive in and see what I can do. Probably just go Royal and blaze through the game.

[Shaka Khan]

Fwiw, the pure white tendency event is expected to end on Jan 2. That gives you enough time to at least sweep the 1-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 events.

[iconoclast]

I don't really have any tips for builds. If you're just going to PvE, you can really just do whatever you want. You can't really screw yourself over since the level cap in the game is insanely high and it keeps rolling over into new game++++++++ etc. Just go with the flow for your first playthrough, imo.

A PvP focused character takes some min/maxing since level 120-125 is the sweet spot for PvP. And even then, you can de-level, so if you fuck up your stats just let an enemy hit you with an attack that knocks a level off of your character.

[Himu]

Oh. fuck pvp.

[Shaka Khan]

Now, I was aware that consuming bosses' souls is stupid since they're used later for upgrades/learning spells, but I was under the impression that each one had a single purpose. I just learned otherwise; I wanted to learn the Soul Ray spell, but the wiki states that the Doll's Demon Soul can be used for any of the following:


Give Soul To                     Player Receives
Blacksmith Ed                     Something
Sage Freke, the Visionary      Soul Ray
Yuria, the Witch                  Something
Saint Urbain                        Something
Consume                           7,600 Soul Points

Ugh, decisions, decisions.

[Shaka Khan]

BLACK PHANTOM INVADED

BLACK PHANTOM SLAIN

FUCK YEAH

[Shaka Khan]

BLACK PHANTOM INVADED

BLACK PHANTOM LEFT

HOLY SHIT LEAVE ME ALONE

[iconoclast]

World 4 is a hot spot for black phantoms. Is that where you are? Best world in the game

I love it when a black phantom invades me on a stage that has lots of death traps and bottomless pits. If you cause them to get killed by the environment, they lose a soul level. Awesome trolling potential.

[Shaka Khan]

World 4 is a hot spot for black phantoms. Is that where you are? Best world in the game

Yes

Two Black Phantom fights, less than 10 seconds apart. Slayed the first, then AS I WAS TRYING TO TOUCH THE ARCHSTONE, the second appeared. Good thing he left, I was a mess by that time.

I'm really thinking of clearing 4-1 offline first, then later come back for white tendency tasks.

[Purple Filth]

so you give away yourself on who you really are 


anyways need to play this game one day, sucks being poor  :'(

[Shaka Khan]

I asked this elsewhere...

Can someone explain what just happened to me?

I was in 3-2 and thought of trying to invade someone else's game for the first time, so I used the black stone. Next thing I know I was pulled out of my level and there was a cut scene: a room full of wooden chairs and a monk on a throne, he removed his garb and wrapped it around my head (it was huge).

I couldn't escape the room and had to wait for the player to enter. When I defeated the player I obviously returned to my physical form but kept the huge wrapping.

Do all invasions carry out the same way?

The answer was...

You, my friend, just played as the last boss of World 3!

Basically any time you want to be summoned or try to invade someone, there's a chance that you'll be chosen as the boss for whoever is starting 3-3.

This game

[iconoclast]

The look of the game is indeed very western, but the mechanics could not be any more Japanese.

Oh, and grab the Cling Ring on the first stage Borys (it's on a dead body behind a locked gate). It gives you an additional 25% health while in soul form, so you can have a maximum of 75%. It's one of the most useful rings in the game.

[BlueTsunami]

Hopefully the next entry in the series makes it more Diablo like when it comes to enemy drops. I felt the equipment selection was a bit sparse in Demon's Souls to call it a 3D Diablo. Fun game nonetheless and if it creates a rippling effect for more fantasy games coming out that are like it it'd be an important game this generation too.

[iconoclast]

You can kill the very first boss in the tutorial zone actually (the fat demon with the giant club). You still die afterward and get teleported to the nexus though.

To regain your body, you just need to kill a boss (any boss). Alternatively, you can invade another person's world as a black phantom, and if you kill them, you'll recover your body. Or you can use a stone of ephemeral eyes (a somewhat rare item). Those are the only three ways IIRC.