Demon's Souls PS3

[Dazzyman]

Cheers m8 will save it for when back on net then

[Darwock]

I finished it today So sad that it's over!

I 'united the world' at around half past three, but as the game drops you immediately into your new game+ I couldn't help myself and continued playing. Boletaria is so much more satisfying when you are tooled up with gear and knowledge but also have decent adversaries. I finally stopped playing at 9pm having defeated phalanx and the first two bosses of stonefang (getting pure white via co-op and doing the sidequest in the process)... the bosses put up a much better fight the second time round.. we failed on numerous occasions.

I just have the four gold trophies for owning all the spells etc to get, but judging by the rate I can tackle the levels (now that I know what's in them) it shouldn't take too long.

[Darwock]

So I was having a rough time in NG+ until I started using the North Regalia - holy **** that sword is powerful!

It has a basic attack value of 300 odd but when you have pure white or pure black soul tendency that gets doubled via a magic attack bonus. I was one hit killing the jailers in Latria (which I couldn't even do to the weaker versions in the regular game!) and the Fool's Idol nearly died before she had a chance to disappear even once!

It might actually be too powerful, unless other factors were at work I'm not aware of.

[Darwock]

I invaded someone's game tonight (Latria part 2) - first thing that greeted me was another black phantom waving excitedly.

I got to be part of a tag team!! The host was behind us at the start of the level and kept summoning blue phantoms to try and clear us out, but we took positions either side of a door way and whichever way they went one of us was able to backstab the phantoms as they came through

Eventually the summoner tried to rush us, but I got him running back where he eventually did a roll right off the ledge... sweet!!

I actually spent all evening in Latria as Maneater is ridiculously hard on NG+. I needed co-op help but getting my body back each time I failed meant having to beat Maneater for someone else first.. nightmare! I basically had to win twice in a row to do it for myself

[Riskbreaker]

How did you manage to join a level with a Black Phantom on it? I thought you could only have one invade at the time?

Had my best Black Phantom kill the other night. Working my way through 1-2 when I got invaded, I equipped the Graverobber's Ring and stood on one of the ramparts watching as my stalker ran past. Being the last rampart before the boss battle I knew he'd have to come back once he realised I wasn't there. So I just stood out of sight in the doorway with the Firestorm spell equipped and waited patiently. When the poor sod eventually came back he didn't see what hit him. Died instantly

[Darwock]

Nice

I don't know how it happened but it's the second time I've encountered multiple black phantoms (and the first time I've been one of them)... on both occasions it's been during a really busy server, loads of soul signs down and invasions every 30 seconds or so.

Either the game occasionally allows it when the host has blue phantom support, or something gets confused when there are lots of people trying to invade at the same time. Whether accidental or not, it's great fun!

[Decider-VT]

I have shipped the following item to you. You should be receiving it shortly.

Item title: DEMON'S SOULS ****** NEW SEALED ******* PS3 English PS3

Once your item arrives in satisfactory condition, please leave feedback for me.

Thank you again!

I am a weak, weak man. Now I can't wait!

[Darwock]

Good timing, it has just been patched to version 1.03.

No mention of the online world tendency problem in the bug fixes though, it was all just exploits and things. We'll have to wait and see.

I need a better strategy for the black phantom Selen in the Valley of Defilement. You have to fight her in the swamp, so dodging is impossible. She uses a magic sword with a transparent blade, so blocking is impossible. And she casts anti-magic field, so nuking her is impossible!

Hitting her with arrows from the distant walkway IS possible, but it takes forever, and on new game+ she heals herself fully around 5 or 6 times so it's just stupid, and might as well be impossible for the time it takes.

I've read comments online that people consider her to be the easiest black phantom... so what am I doing wrong! Does anyone have any tips?

[Riskbreaker]

Dunno matey. I hate the Valley for the exact reason you mentioned above, in the swamp you can't dodge. If I was to tackle her in my new game+ I'd go for Total Protection with One Time Revival and try to hit her with Firestorm. Although I'm a tad bit suspicious of the latters damage on NPC Phantoms and you'd have to survive until the Anti-magic field runs out.

Maybe you just need better Bow and Arrows?

Have you tried bolstering your magic defense to see if that limits the damage from the sword?

[Darwock]

This was my female character so no dark silver armour available, I was wearing the same gear that Selen has which is just about the best magic defence I can get. I don't have the lava bow yet but I was using a viscous compound long bow +5 which seems to be the best available. Toad-eye arrows were doing around 100 per hit while the 'Light Weapon' spell was active.. more effective than white arrows.

The problem was interrupting her healing magic - she runs around a lot and if she moves too far away there's no guarantee I can hit her before she casts, and you lose about 10 minutes work if she succeeds.

My next try will be with my male character, he does have the dark silver armour so I'll see how that goes. The best bow I've got for him is the White Bow so I'm thinking I will need to try and sneak up onto the island she stands on so I have more manoeuverability for hand to hand.

I share your concerns about firestorm - I used it on Rydell previously and it only did 200 damage to him, tried it on Selen but she backed off out of range and I missed completely

P.S. you may be aware of this already but I found a great way to use the soul remains in the valley to protect yourself from the giant's rush attacks.. if you get to lock-on distance and fire whatever ranged attack you have available, then immediately press square to throw out some soul remains, the giant will start rushing towards you and then turn around to chase the remains instead. You can get a good few attacks in safely.. before discovering this I was doing one attack at a time and running far away... it was a really painful process! Unfortunately soul remains don't work on the human black phantoms

[Riskbreaker]

Well there always is the other option. Get two people to help you mate

[Darwock]

I wish I could! I already defeated the boss in that area so co-op is unavailable.

I went on a drive to get white tendency in the Valley as soon as possible since that was the area I screwed up on last time. Doing it solo I was really able to appreciate it more. The whole end fight is tremendous, a real test of reflexes and I love the atmosphere - appropriate voice acting really helps. I also have to say Garl Vinland's armour design is superb... I'm desperate for some artwork or even decent screenshots, it's cool as f**k! In fact the artwork in the opening sequence really makes me wish there was some media available, hopefully when the US version comes there will be more of a promotional push.

I would say one thing to anyone who is starting a new character - don't try to balance all your stats out. I did that on my first character (the one that is now doing NG+) and she is far too wishy washy - despite levelling her as a mage I also added strength/dex so I could use some of the weapons... all of that would have been far better channeled into her magic to simply emphasise her strong points. Jack of all trades, master of none really applies in this game, and it will become obvious in the PvP.

I noticed it when I started my second character - I was going for melee this time so I put everything into strength and endurance.. no faffing about with pointless things meant he became far more effective much earlier.

[Darwock]

Some WTF things coming from the new patch -

Firstly, the game has shadows now - apparently there weren't any before but can't say I noticed! So they have actually improved the graphics.

Secondly, they have removed the ability to cast poison/death cloud on the bosses - that's kind of a good thing as it was way too cheap a method.

Thirdly, and most bizarrely - the MP stealing dagger no longer steals MP!! It still says that it does in the item description, but nowt happens when you use it. I'm thinking maybe it only steals from certain enemies now or something, it's just too weird otherwise.

There are some other things like the attack boost items (clever rat's ring, morion blade) no longer affect ranged attacks - this also makes me happy as people kind of exploited that, it was becoming the 'default' way to win.

[Riskbreaker]

Hmmmm I don't mind the patch amending affects so long as it amends the descriptions too otherwise the whole thing gets a bit silly.

And it's all well and good removing attack stat boosts from ranged attacks, but what if you're a ranger or mage and rely on them?

Interesting (or banal) note about the shadows, I remember alot players noting there weren't any but they are in there. For instance, if you've got a post patch game, go to 2-2 and stand on the lift, watch as it goes up or down. Voila, there are character shadows. Makes me wonder if some sort of lighting effect was obscuring them before and have figured out what it is.

[Jebus]

It seems everywhere I go I see this game mentioned! Rather than reading a review or something, can someone on here (IE someone who's opinion I'm interested in as opposed to a reviewer ) tell me what type of game this is, what it involves etc?

It's piqued my interested because I keep seeing it bloody mentioned!