Demon's Souls PS3

[Darwock]

Hmm yeah I've actually been avoiding pages like that so as to avoid knowing stuff I don't want to know yet, however perhaps it's better than bugging everyone here lol

- Ok so from that page it says the worlds are reset to neutral every time you exit the game from the Nexus as well as in several other circumstances... I've always been doing that, surely most people have? :/ How did the rest of you reach black tendency?

Perhaps it's better to play offline?

[MisterBubbles]

theres all headings so you cant just read stuff you dont want to know, it tells you what to do to get the tendencies,and you aint bugging nobody thats what forums are for go have a wee peek you know you want to

[saturn-gamer]

Hmm yeah I've actually been avoiding pages like that so as to avoid knowing stuff I don't want to know yet, however perhaps it's better than bugging everyone here lol

- Ok so from that page it says the worlds are reset to neutral every time you exit the game from the Nexus as well as in several other circumstances... I've always been doing that, surely most people have? :/ How did the rest of you reach black tendency?

Perhaps it's better to play offline?

What I did was playing offline. Then using a Stone of Epheremal Eyes, getting myself killed and repeated this 7 times in a row. Then returned to the Nexus, checked Tendency (Which was Pure Black) and reentered 1-1 and went to the newly unlocked spot.

[Darwock]

Jesus the Shrine of Storms is brutal..!

[Darwock]

Another 6 hour mammoth session and the shrine of storms is completed. Seriously once I start playing this I don't even think about stopping, it's scary!

I had the same issues as Riskbreaker with the boss.. went in slowly and carefully trying to see where it might be hiding and got killed by an attack that came out of nowhere. The same thing happened the second time when I thought I'd be safe hiding on the stairs. Third time I just ran all the way in without stopping and didn't have too many problems after that.

Annoyingly I wasted my new body by falling off a ledge while farming souls in an area I'd already beaten - decided to use that chance to try out the co-op mode to get my body back. It was good fun, although everyone still seems to be way more powerful than I am. On the first two attempts I died, then somebody kept summoning me and after five minutes of doing nothing he would banish me again (got that twice).. next I ended up with a guy who had a death wish and kept running into traps, but he must have been using ephemeral eyes cos he summoned me again twice more. Finally I got someone who reached the boss and we beat it.

What I noticed is that it's waaaay too easy to farm souls in co-op, because you get rewarded when other people kill demons too and also when you die you don't lose any of them! I wound up with around 30,000 I don't feel I earned.. so I'm going to use it to buy that NPC item I mentioned earlier (as EightRooks says it can be found somewhere for free then I don't mind buying it with my ill-gotten gains)

[Riskbreaker]

I wouldn't worry about not feeling like you earned them, soon enough stat upgrades get very expensive

[Darwock]

Onto the Valley of Defilement and for the first time I've noticed a shift in world tendency (to the black obviously). It's hurting me having an even smaller energy bar. Compared to the Shrine of Storms the enemies here aren't too bad, but the level itself is bloody dangerous. Another superb atmosphere with some nice touches -

->Open Spoiler<-

a pregnant lady in the middle of all that filth and maggots.. lovely!

Got to the boss and after locking on from very far away I thought it was gonna be another magic spamathon - no such luck.. the bugger made me use up all my MP recovery items, and when I closed in to attack directly I was caught out as I didn't know what was coming. For the second attempt I went and farmed up a huge supply of old spice in an attempt to be cheap but it still didn't work after I used it all.

I've got a plan B but it'll have to wait until tomorrow.. I want to drag this game out cos when it's over I will be quite sad

Kind of on that note I counted up the demon related trophies that are left and there are 14 (excluding the 5 bosses i have seen) and I know some of them are optional trophies.. That doesn't seem to be enough as I thought there were 4 levels in every archstone which would make 15 remaining... Do some levels not end with a boss?

[MisterBubbles]

Darwock once you finish you can continue but the game is EVEN harder LOL if thats possible

[saturn-gamer]

New game + is extremely punishing. I'm about level 80, and its like starting all over. enemies make short work of me if i'm not paying attention. Soul bonuses are way bigger though.

[Darwock]

Fecking leechmonger! I fought through the whole level again having assigned fire spells and carrying black turpentine to see if that would work.. got in to find out that the fire spells were just as ineffective as my other magic, and that my crescent rapier must have flammable parts - as I couldn't apply turpentine to that or any of the other weapons I was carrying. I'd left my crushing axe at home which is what I had used it with before. Doh! I didn't have evacuate equipped either.

I did my best but it was completely impossible to keep the rate of damage up, so I took it on the chin and died again. Fetched my axe, went back and that finally did the business.

That's all the X-1 levels finished now - before moving on to the 2s I wanted to go back and check those dragons on the first level again cos I thought I might be strong enough to kill it completely. The first time I scared it off by attacking it as it flew over the battlements, but this time it wouldn't come there so I had to go down to where it was perched. The only way I could get my magic to hit accurately was to wait until it breathed flame at me and then chuck a bolt directly at it's mouth.. that meant I had to take damage in order to do damage, so used my regeneration ring to avoid wasting supplies. It took even longer this time than it did before, and I took a lot more damage... but eventually it buggered off again.

It was bloody scary creeping up to the other one to try and get the treasure! I think I got everything but the last item before he swiped at me and smashed me into the ground.. I escaped with a smidgeon of health, recharged and tried again, this time I dodged away just in time and ran in immediately to get the last item..

This is completely filling the gap left when I quit FFXI - not just for the hairy moments like that but also the multiplayer. I love the unspoken camaraderie, doing hurrah emotes before entering a boss battle.. it makes me all kinds of nostalgic

[Eight Rooks]

You are so going to platinum this.

You know that, right?

I'd like a few more trophies but I'll need to beat the game again to build on what I've already earned with the save I lost, so I doubt I'll go for that many more.

[mr_woo]

This has been confirmed for a release in North America courtesy of Atlus this autumn

Maybe they'll do a funky preorder goodie such as a dead plush knight with arrows sticking out of it!

[Darwock]

Great news, but no word of Europe? I noticed Demon's Souls isn't even listed on From Software's website as one of their titles.. mental. It's word of mouth that has done the business for this title - once the average gamer in the US gets hold of it I wonder if that will continue or get nipped in the bud? I'm sure Atlus won't go crazy with the disc pressing either, so I'm sure this is always going to remain a niche title.

Eight Rooks, I think you're giving me far too much credit. I've had a few indications that I'm struggling badly in comparison to other players.. firstly that I'm already 30 hours in despite not having moved on to the second stage on any level (I gather most people have finished it in 60 hours so I'm seriously behind schedule!).. also that I still have a morbid fear of close combat. On the shrine of storms there is a particular red glowing eyed knight with dual katanas - I would never even go near this guy, preferring to hide on a nearby roof and blast him with magic. In one co-op game I was astonished to see my partner run right up to him and bash away - that gave me the confidence to try too, but as soon as I got it's attention I was dead lol.

On the other hand I can't see myself getting bored of it in this lifetime, not as long as there are new enemies to face... so if it's a matter of patience then hopefully I will reach platinum some day. I think I will start a normal new game after this one but go as a melee class to force me into overcoming that weakness.

In some ways I wish this was an MMORPG, just so there would always be the prospect of new areas to explore. The recent Ico news made me think about this, and I have to say Boletarian palace is the best castle in a game that I've ever had the opportunity to get lost in.. even better than the one in Ico.

[Darwock]

Sorry for the double post but I just had an epic afternoon

Started the next section of the Boletarian Palace - no sooner had I satisfied myself that the first room was safe, than a black phantom broke in and charged right for me. In a panic I cast the first spell I had, which was my new one Poison Cloud. It got him, and he immediately ran away to hide behind a pillar. I could see his HP bar ticking down even though he was trying to hide, and obviously he didn't have any antidote - when it got low he used some full moon grass and came out again.. cue much rolling and diving as I tried to zap him, and he ran away in the other direction (still poisoned). He must have rolled one too many times, as he then staggered and I got him full on with a magic blast, and he died! Woo! First invader slain!

Shortly after that there was another dragon encounter - I settled in at the top of the tower for a long siege - exactly like before using regeneration rings instead of items, so I was just scraping enough MP to attack it on each pass. Unfortunately it took too long, as another black phantom broke in. The tower was a good defensive spot though - I downed all my remaining MP recovery items and watched him approach - chucked out a poison cloud as before and hit him twice (while I presume he was going into his inventory for antidote, cos he just stood there like a muppet) and defeated that one too!

Back to the dragon battle and about ten minutes later... yep, another invader lol. Now I didn't have any MP recovery, only my fragrant ring so I only had one chance for a spell. I opted for poison again, switched to my axe and prepared the black turpentine. Fortunately the phantom missed where I was and ran on through the level (killing things and earning me souls!).. gave me lots of opportunity to recover magic for when he came back.. but this guy was canny and snuck up on me while invisible then hit me a lot - I had to use a full moon grass and do a lot of dodging until eventually my very fiery axe broke through his defences. Number 3 down!

At this point the dragon was at 10&#37; HP, but I was desperate to leave as my character was now at pure white tendency and I was almost certain the world would be too, and dying would screw it up. I kept missing with my magic blasts, getting frustrated as I expected another Phantom at any moment. Sure enough, the second guy came back again. But this time he didn't last two seconds - as soon as he appeared on the stairs I hammered him with the burning axe and he was dead. The dragon died about 2 minutes later and I SPRINTED all the way back to get out before I could be attacked again.. made it!

Surely enough the world is now glowing brightly.. it has to be pure white.. to try and save it I killed myself in the nexus as I have read that you don't shift to black for dying in soul form, only with a real body.

I went back into 1-1 to save and quit - from here on I'm going to play offline, and as much as possible I will stay in the small king archstone only. Then I'll take it back online and hope for more of the same in stonefang etc. Thank you to the invaders!

I'm seriously in love with this game.

[MisterBubbles]

Darwock i wouldn't worry about time its not a race im my case i love taking my time searching every nook and cranny plus just taking in the atmosphere im 30+ and have even killed

->Open Spoiler<-

flamelucker

only wish i had more time to spend on it as working shifts and so many other things stop me playing hope theres a UK release and it does well in the US