I only got to play for an hour or so. Family wouldn't let me go. Had to play LBP with them for the entire evening while neighbours' kids visited our place for trick-or-treat.
Got myself killed by the
BP Octopus man
in 3-2. He basically one-shot me.
Thanks to the black tendency, I completed my Sticky Compound Long Bow + 5, also made a Dragon Long Sword + 4, and upgraded my other gears.
Unfortunately for me since I was in New Game+, I just didn't have the latitude to explore most areas - spent my time completing 2-1 (Spider is *much* harder the second go-around), which did go to pure... or at least near pure black.
I've got another game started as well with a different character emphasis, but he's tracking similarly and there wasn't much latitude for exploration. I really think it's awesome that they did this though - I feel it really reflects well on the fact that Atlus/From/Sony are cognizant that this game is a hit with the PS3 owner base. I've got my fingers crossed for eventual DLC and/or a great sequel.
Yap, everyone is hoping to play the level with the destroyed archstone as a DLC.
I was in the office ready to play all night, and waiting for Yemeth to wake up. Got a last minute call from home to buy dinner back despite prior agreement
Damn neighbourhood kids in costumes.
In my rush to complete the level, I got myself killed a second time. Lost all the souls collected from black phantoms, Primeval demon, etc. Not sure if those BPs will appear again if I play tomorrow.
I reached New Game+ a few days ago but I think I'll give it a rest for now. Doing all the world and character tendency stuff in first game cycle is very viable if you're willing to read guides. Apart from world 5, especially 5-2, I mostly enjoyed my time with this game. Probably will go again next year. Hopefully, the Asian servers will still be alive when I come back.
1-4 was the final boss fight I did. Before I went into the fight myself, I helped others fight him as a blue phantom to see what it's like. I actually thought it's not difficult and quite a fun way to earn souls if you have 2 to 3 people hitting him, distracting him when you eat grass etc. Earned quite a lot of souls from beating him a few times this way. However, the fun was shattered when I was apparently summoned twice in a row by people in New Game+. He was much harder on those occasions. Only succeeded once in helping New Game+ players, and had 5 levels or so sucked out of me in the process. I was around level 100 at the time and each level cost something like 65k.
After that, I just went on to finish my own game not by fighting like a warrior but
using Poison Cloud instead. Just wait behind a wall until he comes near and turns his back. I was using both thief ring and Hide. Sneak up stairs slowly and poison him. Repeat when the poison wears off. He doesn't react to Poison Cloud at all.
I was eating when I fought 1-4 boss in my own game.
I used Death Cloud. (never fought him face to face) I can deal with losing my collected souls when I kick the bucket. That's punishment enough. Losing levels ont he other hand? - Nah, f that.
OK - I just completed 1-1. Should I be trying to work this game in order (1-2, 1-3, etc) or is the difficultly too sporadic? Is there a suggested order in order to not make me ragequit?
OK - I just completed 1-1. Should I be trying to work this game in order (1-2, 1-3, etc) or is the difficultly too sporadic? Is there a suggested order in order to not make me ragequit?
IMO, the best way to begin DS is to chant "I will die, I will die, I will die!", throw in a few "I knew it, I knew it!" when you do die.
Seriously, after finishing several stages I have read that the suggested order is something like world 1 and 2 first, but as I lost quite some souls buying mana regen grass and then seeing that in world 3 you can easily farm them I highly doubt these explanations anyway. You cannot enter 1-3 before killing an archdemon so your order is not doable in any case. Depending what you play you can take a peak everywhere, except 4-1 and 5-1, leave them for later.
My beginner suggestions:
-fight one enemy at the time, if there are more than one in a group, pull the nearest (check with the lock on, slowly approach and click on the lock on button) with a dagger, bow or spell
-learn to dodge or block, if you are comfortable - learn to parry (my parry ratio is so low that I have stopped it)
-upgrade your character the way you want to play (+check the weapon stats/what attributes boost them)
-watch your load (equipped and "normal"), if your equipped item load is below 50% of the max you can carry your movement/roll speed is much faster (this is the reason why my knight has currently only a leather armor with the rest fluted)
-Don't forget you can always retreat with your accumulated souls as you learned something about the level so far and can use them to upgrade
-NEVER (and I mean NEVER!) think you are though, in charge, that you'll hear the lamentation of their women; you will be chewed out and spit out (whenever I think "I think I got the hang of it!", I get my behind handed to me - last time in 1-3 when the soldier from 1-1 started to use attack which broke my guard etc.)
It really depends what you play and how you play it. Anyway, most important thing is if you see that the enemies are to hard and they laugh at all your weaponry and spells, you have not found their weakness yet. When I encountered a certain stage they laughed at everything I had, fought an normal enemy so long as a main char black phantom; until I found out that magical and flame weapons are their weakness.
IMO, most important thing is that you learn melee (even if you are a primary magic user) and that you use a weapon you are comfortable with. Do not be afraid to change tactics if your major one does nothing against the new enemy (e.g. change to ranged attack from far away, magic, different weapon with diff. damage type, different weapon type (spear/rapier et al)...).
I used Death Cloud. (never fought him face to face) I can deal with losing my collected souls when I kick the bucket. That's punishment enough. Losing levels ont he other hand? - Nah, f that.
I don't know about the US version, but for the Asian version I have, the wiki says Death Cloud has been nullified for this particular fight by a patch. So, I didn't try that.
it really sucks that this game is so difficult!
because I am afraid of said difficulty, I am not buying this game (maybe when price is really, I mean really, low).
why cant they just include an easy mode ... is it so difficult to accept that there are gamers who cannot play 24/7 to beat a game?
If I had to repeat a section (> 3 times) in a game it really bugs me!
I would really love to play such a type of game but reading impressions across the net, I don't think I can keep my nerves.
The problem is, that there are a lot of other games waiting for me to play, which usually offer different difficulty modes (where normal = really normal and not frustrating!)
Overall I think that devs made a mistake when they are opting for a extrem difficult experience (no choice for easy/normal mode), as they really loose audience...at least they loose me as a potential buyer.
The game was made for the hard-core old school 'challenge' crowd; I don't even know why you would want to play it otherwise in all honesty because that's the main hook of what the game *is* to a certain extent.
It's not for everyone, there can be no doubt. But the folk like myself who are here playing the game without game guides and such form the flip side of the coin to those sales they lost; I may not have bought it if it didn't cater so unapologetically to throwback sensibilities of difficulty and completion.
The game was made for the hard-core old school 'challenge' crowd; I don't even know why you would want to play it otherwise in all honesty because that's the main hook of what the game *is* to a certain extent.
So the only positive thing about this game is, that it is beyond difficult
Reading the reviews I got the impression that the game features a good story, interesting world, good character up-leveling and cool bosses and all this stuff, i.e. a good action RPG...thats why I wanted/want to play it!
Maybe you can clarify it and heal my sorrow , because I would not care for this game when difficulty is the only 'positive' thing.
What? All the reviews say the story is horrible and the plot is paper thin - I mean only one such as myself that likes to find every NPC just to hear what they say about some other plot aspect on the third time you talk to them could find joy in this story! Or, so I thought...
Great environments and a great action RPG though, can't argue with that.
Just get it and deal with the difficulty; I think you'll find yourself much less frustrated than you believe you will be. Question for example, of all the folk that you have read say it was super hard, how many have said it was too hard for them, and then gave up on it? It may be a difficult game, but I feel the abandonment rate to be very low, and there are reasons for that you can only understand after having played it yourself I think.
...or, just pick it up used or something for cheap once the hype wears down some.
Nope. The difficulty is only one narrow aspect of the game, and it is easy to misunderstand the setup.
The game is not difficult if you play as a Royal. As someone on GAF said, it's almost like cheating the game. Both magic and ranged attack are powerful in this game. Most of the bosses have at least one weakness which you can exploit. Once you get a bow, you can kill a lot of enemies from far far away too. You can also summon 2 other players to help you. The obstacles are there to make your journey worthwhile (and less boring !), not to turn people away. Even with these additional help, the game is immersive and atmospheric.
During melee, the regular fighters are strong enough to kill you. So you need to concentrate while you play. The game constantly throws challanges at you, but once you get the hang of it, the game is rather entertaining. I'd say rent it to see if the game suits you -- otherwise, you're missing out on a very unique RPG experience.
In fact, I have been toying with a few playstyles. Put 30 points into Strength to experiment with Dragon Bone Smasher (a super large sword). I could one-shot most enemies and watch them plant their faces into the ground. Eventually got killed because I can't roll away effectively with such a heavy sword.
Now going back to my usual swing and roll away technique, killed Black Phantom Satsuki on 4th try. Everyone claimed he's difficult (He's not !). You only need to recognize his weakness (and be brave) after fighting him 2-3 times. He's easy to kill if you're willing to risk it. ^_^ Once you commit to the right strategy (even though it sounds scary/wrong on paper), the game kinda unveils its mysteries and solutions in front of you, which is why I it.
I think I'll stick to this style and put points into my health bar, plus endurance so that I can roll fast with a heavy weapon. If you're good at melee, there are advanced actions you can use too (e.g., parry, pierce, 2-handing a weapon to break enemies' guard). For me, I just hack-n-slash a few times, and then roll away or back up a little to recover stamina.
Ranged attack is nice too but since I chased away the heavy arrow vendor accidentally, I am less effective compared to others. Also tried some high level magic. I think FireStorm is not as good as God's Wrath, but I have chosen the former.
For game guide, people have pretty much figured things out. The online wiki page has all the answers. Once you get into it, discussing Demon's Souls online is fun because there are lot's of tips and strategies to ease the game further. I *think* I just found a new way to kill the
third Reaper
easily in 4-2.
The third Reaper will spawn when you go out to the cliff (after the 2 shadow women). Once I exited the cave, I re-entered it and backtracked to the stairs leading to the second Reaper. Here you can see the Shadow man and the third Reaper to your right (facing the stairs) in plain sight. Takes 2-3 arrows to take the Reaper out. It's like free souls ^_^
You may not like the answer,but wandering through different forums a lot people are frustrated and some of them in fact claim that they sell their game (because of a neural breakdown )
...or, just pick it up used or something for cheap once the hype wears down some.
Nope. The difficulty is only one narrow aspect of the game, and it is easy to misunderstand.
The game is not difficult if you play as a Royal. As someone on GAF said, it's almost like cheating the game. Both magic and ranged attack are powerful in this game. Most of the bosses have at least one weaknesses to be exploited. Once you get a bow, you can kill a lot of enemies from far far away too. You can also summon 2 other players to help you. The obstacles are there to make your journey worthwhile (and less boring !), not to turn people away. Even with these additional helps, the game is immersive and atmospheric.
During melee, the regular fighters are strong enough to kill you. So you need to concentrate while you play. The game constantly throws challanges at you, but once you get the hang of it, the game is rather entertaining. I'd say rent it to see if the game suits you -- otherwise, you're missing out on a very unique RPG experience.
In fact, I have been toying with a few playstyle now. Put 30 points into Strength to experiment with Dragon Bone Smasher (a super large sword). I could one-shot most enemies and watch them plant their faces into the ground. Eventually got killed because I can't roll away effectively with such a heavy sword.
Now going back to my usual swing and roll away technique, killed Black Phantom Satsuki on 4th try. Everyone claimed he's difficult (He's not !). You only need to recognize his weakness after fighting him 2-3 times.
I think I'll stick to this style and put points into my health bar, plus endurance so that I can roll fast with a heavy weapon. If you're good at melee, there are advanced actions you can use too (e.g., parry, pierce, 2-handing a weapon to break enemies' guard). For me, I just hack-n-slash a few times, and then roll away or back up a little to recover stamina.
Ranged attack is nice too but since I chased away the heavy arrow vendor accidentally, I am less effective compared to others. Also tried some high level magic. I think FireStorm is not as good as God's Wrath, but I have chosen the former.
For game guide, people have pretty much figured things out. The online wiki page has all the answers. Once you get into it, discussing Demon's Souls online is fun because there are lot's of tips and strategies to ease the game further. I just found a way to kill the
third Reaper
easily in 4-2.
The third Reaper will spawn when you go out to the cliff (after the 2 shadow women). Once I exited the cave, I re-entered it and backtracked to the stairs leading to the second Reaper. Here you can see the Shadow man and the Reaper to your right (facing the stairs) in plain sight. Takes 2-3 arrows to take the Reaper out. It's like free souls ^_^
You may not like the answer,but wandering through different forums a lot people are frustrated and some of them in fact claim that they sell their game (because of a neural breakdown )
Yes, some will quit if they are impatient. That's not necessarily the game's fault though.
The game may be flawed in some ways, but it does not assume the player is dumb. I find myself thinking about the game (solutions and alternate plans) at work because of the challenges. It's been a long time since a game makes me feel this way. If you're scared, there are ways to cheese the bosses anyway as a shortcut to the next stage.
I use them myself to save time. ^_^ But I have a lot of fun fighting the regular guys along the way.
The game is hard because it is unforgiving. You cannot rush into a situation and just start mashing buttons and expect to come out alive. You have to plan out your attack. Even when you've built up your character so he's strong enough to one hit kill strong enemies, they can still overwhelm you and kill you easily if you're careless.
The game makes you experiment with multiple strategies to successfully overcome a particular encounter. During that process you will inevitably die. As others have mentioned, it never really feels unfair when you do die and there is a great sense of accomplishment when you do succeed.
Regardless of whether the game is good or not (I mostly think the good outweighs the bad), it most certainly is capable of leaving the user feeling that a death is unfair. People are using the catch term "difficult" to the point of machismo when what really is going on is a terrible to mediocre game engine put into the hands of gifted level designers and artists. This game is good in spite of itself - it tries very hard at times to convince you it is a steaming turd but then surprises with ICO style atmosphere.
It's control implementation is often *very* poor as is the in game camera. There is at least one level from what I have seen so far that is close to being unplayable due to horrific camera issues (can't target enemies without lock on but lock on causes the camera to swing behind walls / objects). It also certainly does not feel fair when you tumble to your death because lock on decided to latch on to an enemy beneath you and then swung your character around and off the ledge.
The game has tons of that sort of clunky behaviour. While that provides a bit of a puzzle feel (a la Dragon Slayer or other laser disc games) I think it is odd that Demon Souls gets a pass here when other games are called to task when the controls and camera suck. For some reason with Demon Souls it seems to be considered a "feature".
People also do not seem to mention issues like uninterruptible NPC dialogue (which makes using the merchants a tad annoying after a while) or lack of iterators in the inventory (able to select n from a list to use). The forced repetition due to lack of save points is another obvious glaring issue. Yes you need to level your character, yes you need to learn the ropes. However you have no way of knowing in many, MANY cases that what lies ahead is instant death. So it is pretty lame that a game that is designed around killing you punishes the user by not providing arbitrary saving to avoid grinding the same areas over and over. The lack of map also sucks when you have to retrace your steps.
The multiplayer aspect is also not always all that great. A good portion of the messages you read are either unnecessary spoilers (i.e. not helpful) or useless. The mechanism for getting them off of your screen is also broken (you have to move away which is dangerous in some cases).
Where Demon Souls excels is atmosphere. What would in most other games be considered terrible AI (sits there dumb as a stick until you get within a specific range, very canned behaviour) is a bonus in this game because it allows the user time to look around and take things in.
I am still undecided on whether I think this game is worth the effort but it is for sure different and I do like the old school atmosphere.
Deathindustrial some of what you are saying with regards to getting things off your screen isn't accurate; you can press 'x' in order to speed through merchant dialogue, and likelise in order to clear messages you are reading off of your screen - you don't need to move away from them in order to do so.
Also the lack of save points thing is a contradiction - everywhere is a save point! It's just what is saved here isn't character location, but character state. And the map feature - hey, that's why you have those guiding light stones you can use. I definitely got lost on several levels when I was first going through them, but now I think I have every level in the game completely memorized. Maybe it's a failed design, maybe it's a 'feature'... but it is satisfying to feel that level of self mastery in a game again.
The lock-on and camera though could use improvement, I won't argue anyone there, save to say you can compensate for it a bit if you anticipate in advance what you predict it will do.
That's right. deathindustrial's post has a few factual errors (e.g., No save, and uninterruptible dialogue). In fact, the game saves and restores you to the exact same spot. I interrupt the merchants' speeches all the time also.
The camera is controlled by the user. The only time the camera is out of your hands is during lock-on. You need to react quickly to disable it when some enemies try to disorientate you (e.g.,
The Maneater
boss fight.). That's partly why the player has to pay full attention to the battle on-hand. Every little detail counts, and is controllable by the user. I just completed said boss fight 5 minutes ago. Died once because I lept off the stage due to the lock-on and desparation. Needed to get away from boss quickly, so I jumped without looking where I should land on. Second time round, I am more careful with the lock-on. Managed to clear the stage on second try.
I don't know how you can compare it to a Laser Disc game. This is a 3D action RPG title, with embedded online features not found in any other game. Beyond the main mission, there are tons of equipments, character stats, sidequests to dwell on. You can also play co-op or PvP with folks.
The player messages can be helpful, deceiving, misunderstood, or useless. Then again, so is the B3D forum. It'd be missing the point altogether if people close down B3D just because some messages are useless or deceiving. The messages have user rating. You also have blood stain "memory system" to complement the user content. It's usually pretty easy to decide which way to swing.
There are some missing elements (e.g., Cannot peek into dropped items -- The player has to add a dropped item to the inventory before finding out what the item is). The lock-on can be improved to make it more friendly (e.g., don't center the lock-on). The combat is the most fun so far. Every enemy is different and deadly.
EDIT:
Heh heh, got invaded by 2 more phantoms. Cornered the first one and killed him with my Dragon Long Sword + 4. Unfortunately, I fell to my death together with the second phantom in 4-2. Since he's invading, he'll lose a stat point for terrain kill (Serve him right ! ^_^). Now back to my soul form. Going to pick up my souls now.
, because I would not care for this game when difficulty is the only 'positive' thing.
