Demon's Souls PS3

[Darwock]

He wasn't talking about that bit though as he mentioned 1.2. In any case the very first thing you see when you go to Boletaria Palace is a cinematic sequence of the dragon with a mouthful of people, so it's not really a secret that there is one in the game.

[Tig]

And this is where it's all gone wrong for me. Hours and hours have passed since Phalanx and I've not progressed a single bit since then. My meds are nearly totally depleted and I've long since lost the thousands of souls I built up and I'm struggling to get my head around the game's structure.

I was exactly like this. I felt like I was making no progress whatsoever - the fact that my souls (and thus, my progress) was taken every time I died seemed like a horrible, weird design decision.


It took me a while to figure it out- but it's actually a rather genius (and rather evil) risk/reward mechanic.


you always need to ask yourself - "can I get through the next bit without dying?"
If the answer is yes, continue exploring, at the risk of losing all the souls you've collected so far. If it looks too risky, retrace your steps to 'bank' your souls in the nexus - spending them on stat/weapon upgrades so that the next attempt will be easier. You'll also get better at anticipating traps and enemies with repeat practise.



In effect, the game is always asking you to place a bet on your own abilities.
And it goes without saying that the stakes get higher the more successful you are - always culminating in a heart-in-mouth boss battle with several thousand souls burning a hole in your pocket.
If that sounds like your kind of thrill, this is your kind of game

[C']

Well after reading MisterBubbles's and Darwock's comments I decided to have one last try today see how things went. I had actually been repairing my weapons so that wasn't where I was going wrong but trying to clear Valley of Defilement was obviously a big mistake. Not sure why but in my mind I had this idea that the 2 levels on the lowest level of the staircase in the Nexus would be the easiest, with the next 2 highest being harder and the final one at the top being the hardest. Clearly that was a big mistake based on Darwock's clockwise comment.

I find it interesting that MisterBubbles referred to the levels as 1-1, 2-1 etc. Is that an official term from the game or just what players have assigned to them so it's clear what's being talked about? I couldn't see anything in game that referred to them in this way but would have gone some way in removing the confusion I had in being unsure where to go next if they are there.

So I went back in to Boletaria. Firstly I went around the opening level again farming souls/meds and then proceeded beyond Phalanx's lair heading out onto the battlements. Got to the end and there were 2 knights guarding the entrance to the boss that basically seemed immune to my attacks. Was about ready to chuck it in when I remembered the different weapon types Darwock mentioned and recalled the instruction manual stating blunt weapons were good against armour.

My dicking around in the Valley of Defilement had actually led to me finding a +1 mace of some kind so equipped and tried again. And the knights went down in 2 hits. Couldn't quite believe how such a small thing made all the difference.

Took down the Tower Knight (really thought this was going to take forever until I

->Open Spoiler<-

knocked him over

after which he took the kind of damage normally reserved for flipped over Giant Enemy Crabs) and then proceeded into the second area and sure enough, the mace made short work of most of the enemies there that my sword barely scratched.

Armor Spider took a few attempts (and eventually cost me 9000 souls that I couldn't reclaim on one occasion) but felt good to finally get it.

I expect I'm going to go back and to a lot with regards to my opinion on this game but right now I'm really glad I gave it one last chance.

[MisterBubbles]

Here's the order most people on other forums and some wiki's do ,
1-1 1-2 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 2-2 2-3 3-2 4-2 1-3 5-2 3-3 4-3 5-3 1-4.
(1 = Boletaria, 2 = Stonefang, 3 = Tower of Latria, 4 = Shrine of Storms, 5 = Valley of Defilement )
ie 1-1 is from Boletaria to Phalanx and 1-2 is over the bridge to the next Boss etc.

Im not sure if this is offical but i seen a map showing you the areas on the demonssouls.wiki which i had to use when i first got the asian version and got stuck at a few things and i never had soul arrow Ever , i just hacked n slashed my way no wonder it took me forever , then my PS3 60Gb YLOD ;( , so not sure how many times ive re started , once my blade was so blunt it took me 5 minutes to kill anything and i needed about 1000 souls to repair or get heals so that why i asked, at this time the demonssouls.wiki wasnt as complete, i did it the hard way

[J0e Musashi]

I might get back into this once I've finally sorted out my new HDD. I still need the Monk's Head Collar, and a Gargoyle Crossbow. I need to get my White Arrows up to 999 too.

[Darwock]

My dicking around in the Valley of Defilement had actually led to me finding a +1 mace of some kind so equipped and tried again. And the knights went down in 2 hits. Couldn't quite believe how such a small thing made all the difference.

Yeah maces and hammers make short work of shields. Although actually you only have to get rid of those guy's stamina to destroy their guard. A few repeat hits of any weapon would do that, but you have to be careful because you are vulnerable for a second when the shield repels your attack (unless you hold the weapon in both hands). Another option is to wait for them to start an attack and hit them with something faster.

I might get back into this once I've finally sorted out my new HDD. I still need the Monk's Head Collar, and a Gargoyle Crossbow. I need to get my White Arrows up to 999 too.

Gargoyle crossbow is the only drop I have never had in a gazillion plays. It's probably not even that rare a drop, it's just the gargoyle archers are few and far between and the corpses tend fall off the ledge, making it a pain to try and get. I've never bothered as... well.. crossbows have their uses at the start of the game, but never again.

[J0e Musashi]

It seems quite a rare drop. I get soul drops everytime. I only want it to be completist, and it's keeping me playing I guess.

[Golgo]

Did my first stint as an invading black phantom last night. Pretty much fluked the win. But damn it felt good to be bad - lol

[C']

Think this is really starting to click with me now. Felt like I actually made decent progress today. Defeated Fool's Idol, Adjudicator and the Leechthingie all in a single "life" which I was pretty pleased with. Before this I was nearly constantly in soul form and reliant on sacrificing a ring slot for the Cling Ring.

Can be a really unpleasant game to play. Reminds me of when I went through Silent Hill 2 constantly on edge all the time panicking about what comes next.

Still lots about the game that I don't understand. This whole World Tendency thing I've seen mentioned in a couple of messages for one. Messages saying that I can proceed with white or something but being able to go on anyway. I presume this means the tendency is actually correct already but I don't know what I did to make that happen.

Also, things seem to be disappearing. After beating Phalanx I noticed that the gate down the steps on the left at the very start of Boletaria Castle opened for me. Crossing the field there (which was a good place to farm some Crescent Moon Grass) and went into the tower there was a hooded executioner hidden around the corner (I presume from the loading screens I've seen this is Miralda?) Despite a few tries (one where a massive amoutn of dodging I very nearly won) I gave up and decided to come back later after gaining some levels. However, since beating Tower Knight, she seems to have disappeared. Now that meant I was able to proceed and get the loot inside the tower but was disappointed that I never got to beat her.

[Darwock]

That gate opens and Miralda appears when you are in pure white tendency. She will not be there if your tendency drops below pure white (or if you kill her). However all physical changes to a level remain even after you lose the pure tendency. Since you didn't beat Tower Knight & Phalanx in a single game, chances are you either shifted down a notch when you restarted or you died in body form. If you get pure tendency back she will return.

If you did all those worlds in a single life then you probably did hit pure white, because they start off just one step short of it. However the changes wouldn't show (gates open/ladders drop etc) until you returned to the nexus once, so that's pretty odd.

Can I ask a question about Miralda - how many people hear her laughing and talking to them before she attacks? I've only heard that twice, and I've lost count of how many times I fought against her. The trigger for the audio must be glitched or something.

[hudson]

Quick question: I've I start a NG+, will I still be able to help a friend who is in his first playthrough?

[Darwock]

Yes, as long as your soul levels are close. You can catch out some new players if you stay at a low soul level and go on to NG++ etc - they expect to be able to easily kill the enemies and find out that it's a lot tougher than they are used to!

[hudson]

Oh? I can't be spawned into a friends game if my Soul Level is around 70 and he is just starting out anyway? Damn.

[C']

Maneater - seriously just **** off.

[Brad]

Oh? I can't be spawned into a friends game if my Soul Level is around 70 and he is just starting out anyway? Damn.

Think you need to be within 10 levels of each other. New Game+ raises this restriction to 20 levels I believe.

Maneater - seriously just **** off.

Weird, I found Maneater to be the second easiest boss! Are you using ranged or Melee?