[PS3] Demon Souls

I didn't know Amazon had a tradein service.

 

Is DS out in the EU? I can't find it anywhere here in Greece... Damn you guys have hyped me up quite a bit!!!

 

I have not seen any announcement to bring the game to EU. You'll need to import it.

The characters already speak British English. So I'm a little surprised it's not available in EU.

 

Even after a reprint of Persona 2 that game has still become rare. Although the reprint of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has made that game widely available. I think Demon's Souls is always going to be widely available. It doesn't have enough animu crap to make it highly sought after in Atlus' gamer demographic.

 

Should I import from the US and is it going to work on my launch unit? I'm really hyped about that game...

 

PS3 games are region free, so nothing stops you there.

 

Thanks! I only hope that there won't be a problem with PSN.

 

Probably future DLC from any other store than the US one, will NOT work with your copy. Ie DLC is region protected.

 

Yay! 1st Demon in the bag!! Died the 1st time, but got back to recover my Souls, then unleashed hell on him....................ok, so it took me 20 mins of fanny tapping and running away!!!!!

Man i`d love to see a sequel with a true next ge engine! Don`t get me wrong, its perfectly functionable, and the atmosphere created is great, but can you imagine something up there with the likes of Unchartered? .........

 

What were you fighting ? ^_^

I think the Home team should do a meta-game on Demon's Souls. Will explain more in the Home thread later.

EDIT:
I just saw the GoW III screens. Your next-gen RPG visual wish will be granted there. Over here, the art, atmosphere and combat will be your primary sensory experience.

 

The Phlanax...........and his little minnions! ......

 

Ah, the real Demon's Souls starts after the death of the Phalanx since you can level up now.

 

Played this game last night for a couple of hours. I understand the attraction folks have to it (this post is not a diss of the game in its entirety) but I am surprised that there hasn't been much mention of the really awkward lock-on system and controls.

The most common thread I have seen is that the game is hard but fair, tough but not cheap. Well, I find that the controls and camera lead to a lot of cheap deaths due to not being able to actually target your enemy properly or accidentally walking off a ledge because the camera gets swung around at the wrong moment. I chose the "royal" as my character based on recommendations and the magic blast power (forget the name) is basically useless unless you can target an enemy as there is no reticule and the direction of fire seems based on a point somewhere near the end of the animation sequence that gets trivially moved off target. Targeting using a standard sword is also twitchy and even when totally surrounded with a monster closet of baddies in a section of 1-1 after falling off a ledge the sword did not seem to actually find any of them much of the time - the targeting seemed to become somewhat confused. I survived via multiple taps of "o" but the whole sequence did not strike me as fair.

The menu interface is a minor annoyance with its forced use of the D pad. Also, having to lock on with R3 seems like a bad choice since your movement also relies on that stick (which means that your position gets changed). The targeting system also has a finite distance which seems too short considering that you can see the enemy clearly. The character animations also seem to be non-interruptible which leads to death while taking health packs which is the definition of cheap. Another camera issue is that when moving in tight spaces it is pulled too far back. There is a spot early on in 1-1 where you have to walk through a doorway which has monsters waiting out of sight. Even after you know it's coming, the camera makes it difficult to react properly because it is hard to swing it around to get a decent enough view to target and then attack.

On a separate note, the manual is absolutely useless on how saves work in this game. I played the game for 2 or 3 hours so far, read the manual and still have no idea what I need to do (if anything) to save my game progress. That's a core enough thing that I should not have to Wiki it to find out.

On the plus side, anyone else reminded of Ico by this game?

Cheers

 

That confused me at first too. Then again, I had the import version so I didn't even bother trying to read the manual. Anyway, you don't do anything to save (just quit from the menu when you're done). Keep that in mind before doing something stupid, like hitting an NPC you might need later. Better yet, keep that in mind when doing anything around NPCs.

Also keep in mind that the game is still live when you're in the menu (in case you didn't notice already). It's best to just quit if you need to walk away. You'll start back right where you left off (including killed enemies). When you're outside of the Nexus, that is.

 

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1345043&postcount=80

Targeting takes some getting used to but it's not a big problem for me. Usually I plan my route of attack. In subsequent levels, you'll have enemies distracting you off the cliff. It's better to kill them first before crossing the ledge.

The Soul Arrow's range is limited. You need to get closer to the enemy to target it. The game won't let you off so easily with a long range weapon until later in the game. It's rather scary to try to close in on a fierce enemy to fire Soul Arrows. This prevents you from cheesing the monster too easily. I love the tension. Later, you can use a bow which allows you to target enemies further away, and using FPS view (with a reticule) too; but not now. Note that the crossbow does not have a reticule also. You need a normal bow for that.

If you start as a hunter, you'd get a normal bow at the beginning though. However you'll need to spend Souls to buy arrows. Royal is great not only because of Soul Arrow and MP regen ring. It has a low Soul Level, so you can level up quicker and adjust your character stats early to suit your play style.

The targeting works very well for enemies in general, especially when you face a fast rolling skeleton later. Your character will swing around automatically to hit the nimble enemies. If enemies are bunched together, they will all take damage when you swing at one of them.

It's how the game is designed. Once you know the rules, you'll have to plan your attack around the rules. The tension are all built around known rules. Whether you accept them or can manage them or not depends on you. There are enemies who can heal themselves too (and yes, they'd be stationary for you to hit). So in that sense, it's fair. There is no advantage given to them or you in the actual action.

Also, note that a character who is out of stamina may not respond to your action. Along the way, you may have to adjust your melee style and pattern based on enemies and your equipment. The game has a sense of weight built around the equipments you use (and your character stats). If you wear a light armor, you will be quicker. The starting Royal is not bad, but not the fastest either.

Targeting range depends on weapon type. You're only a level 1 character facing low level monsters. You may not want to expect super-human ability. The Soul Arrow is already a one-hit kill weapon for most enemies in 1-1.

Sometimes, the game will intentionally design enemies in places you can't see to get you into trouble. The only safe way is to lure them out. In a new area, I always proceed extremely cautiously around corners or through a door. Usually, there'd be blood stains and player messages to warn you anyway.

Yes, the game is in need of a thick manual. The deluxe edition has a guide that is extremely helpful. Demon's Souls is a very deep game. Concepts like World Tendency online/offline is specific to the game and requires explanation and experimentations.

As for saving, I found it without problem. It's the last icon when you press > (Start). You return to the exact same spot you saved the game. So you don't have to worry about restarting from the last check point. The game also autosaves whenever you die or make a change.

EDIT: Regarding enemies hiding around corners, there will be a spell for you to rid them later. Now they are only low level monsters, might want to use the opportunities to tackle them. You'll need to face the bosses some day.

 

Hey Patsu. There is no "save" option under that menu. The choices are just: "options", "load profile" and "quit game".

As an aside, what are the "fog" doorways for? I might have missed it but didn't see anything in the manual abut them and it was not clear from the gameplay what was different either.

Cheers

 

Ah... quit game saves the game and exit. ^_^

It is the next area. Enter it. Once you enter a fogged door, it will remain open for the rest of the game.

Some of them leads to boss battles.

EDIT: deathindustrial, you might want to watch the video Yemeth posted. It contains helpful walkthrough to get some useful equipments in 1-1 and subsequent levels.

 

deathindustrial, I want to take back one thing I said before.

"You are a level 1 character facing low level enemies"

The above statement is not true in Demon's Souls. It is important to realize this. The game mixes high level monsters even in introductory stages regardless of your character level. Usually you'd be warned by player messages and sometimes, blood stains. The (red eyed ?) knight wielding the lance on the bridge and the dragons in 1-2 are good examples. There are ways to kill/trick them even when you're only an entry level character. But it is not wise to challenge them head on. In Demon's Souls, don't be ashamed to run away. Running away is a valid tactic, and sometimes the only answer.

You don't have to kill them to progress. You can come back later to tackle them.

Spoiler

The knight guards the entrance to an optional sidequest. The dragon is an environmental hazard that you can get rid of to simplify the game later. I killed the red dragon with a mix of bow and Soul Arrows before I attempted to cross the 1-2 bridge. I heard it's a b*tch to cross the last segment of the bridge with the dragon alive. So I nailed it in the second segment.

Also, events in the game is affected by World Tendency (White, Black or in-betweens). Some monsters appear as a phantom or don't appear at all in certain World Tendency. Some special items can only be retrieved in Pure White/Black Tendency. When you play online, your World Tendency will be affected by all the collective players' worlds.

 

Yemeth, I found 16 copies of Demon's Souls in Fry's this afternoon while hunting for Afrika. My GameStop has a few copies too. So the new stock seems to be in now.

 

I'm about to start the assassination quest. Does anyone know if I'm requested to kill person B, and then I watch him killed by other enemies, do I still get reward for his death? Do I still get to proceed to the next assassination target?

Regarding the lock on camera swing etc., I think choosing when to toggle lock on and lock off is seen as an important skill to master in this game. Well, at least the wiki and a guide says so and I agree.