Demon's Souls PS3

[Champloo]

Judging by some of the comments in this thread, if you don't coop for some of the bosses, you're finished.

[dvdx2]

Judging by some of the comments in this thread, if you don't coop for some of the bosses, you're finished.

I beat all the bosses in single player mode, but some of them can be tricky until you know the best way. I loved this game and would highly recommend it. It lasted me a good 70+hrs, but i found myself using the 'quit' cheat too many times near the end, which spoilt it a little

might pick it up again at some point

[Darwock]

Yeah I did everything solo the first time round, then co-op afterwards - I'd really recommend doing it this way as you really get to appreciate the game (pus you will be much more helpful to other people if you have learned the hard way). Nothing requires co-op on the first play. Except perhaps black phantom invasions, but you can summon help and then dismiss them once the invader is dead if you want - when I do this I always drop some revival items for them as if they don't fight the boss with you they won't revive.

NG+ on the other hand is a different matter. Some of the bosses will kick you to kingdom come if you don't have blue phantom assistance (Maneater I'm looking at you). Also one of the easiest bosses from the first play became one of the hardest in NG+! (that would be Penetrator).

Now I'm on NG++ and once again there's a huge increase in enemy toughness - I would say co-op is definitely best saved for repeat plays.

Nemesis - yes to all your questions. The multiplayer is tremendous.

[Darwock]

Winding down on this now, I decided to see how the other half live and did a bit of player hunting as a black phantom.

It was possibly a bit too cruel of me but I chose the valley of defilement as my stalking patch (second area) - reason being you can spot the player a mile away, even more so when he gets poisoned. Also it has some real choke points that are the perfect place to apply extra pressure.

So I broke in, and the guy was waiting at the narrow path at the start - I legged it past him while he was buffing up and ran deep into the level - hid on an island in the poison swamp where there are a bunch of enemies and one giant.. the plan was when he got there he'd be so busy with the giant that I could finish him off easily.

He wasn't gonna make it that easy for me though and called up two blue phantoms before proceeding - I could see them from all the way across the map, little glowing balls on the high walkways.. heheh! So eventually they are approaching the island I'm on... and when the giant I'm hiding behind starts to behave aggressively I run forward and cast firestorm, the whole island goes up in flames and I can see some of the players taking hits... I cast again, then run forward and swing at a target - one hit and he dies - then someone else appears and I swing at him too... also dead immediately, but that was the two phantoms! I found the player and he had a tiny bit of health left, but I had to attack head on and his dark silver shield blocked all the damage from my north regalia, so this time I was the unlucky one. I'll take some satisfaction from the fact he was probably ****ting his pants.. I know I would have been! And 2 out of 3 ain't bad

[Darwock]

I picked up the final trophy last night, so it's time to reluctantly hang up my claymore and eject the disc... for the first time since I got the PS3 I've got 2 games on the shelf that I haven't played through yet - I'd been doing well this gen with sticking to one at a time but the lure of Demon's Souls was too strong.

I got to platinum with 188 hours on character 1 and 49 hours on character 2... that's some serious longevity and I still don't feel I've done everything - I've only just started messing with the black eye stone, also I've never seen what happens when you defeat the Vanguard in the tutorial. I guess I'll save those things for another day... hopefully the 6th archstone in the Nexus is broken for a reason and will be added as DLC in the future. Or maybe when the US version hits the hype for it will get me playing again.

Awesome, awesome game - this gen has been remarkable in that I haven't really played any average titles at all, but this one has been the best by far.

[NemesiS]

Arrived this morning and gave it a quick blast. Whoever posted the advice "keep your shield up at all times" gave the best advice since charlie said don't play with matches. Bloody hell, i'd be shagged without it.

Also whats considered the best Class as i'm right at the first castle boss (fat tw*t with a big axe) so can restart. I picked a knight. Is it better to picked a class with ranged abilities or magic tho as i don't want to get hours in and realise i've cocked up with class selection.

Lol, how do you throw a firebomb. Its says equipped........but with what button. I've tried em all. Sussed it. Didn't realise you had to cycle thru stuff.

[NemesiS]

Gotta be honest here. The having to redo the entire level when you die isn't very amusing. Those blue death knight things can kill you easily with one mistake and if you are well into the level it grates when you have to do it all again regardless of the shortcuts.

I thought this gameplay mechanic had been left back in the dark ages.

[Darwock]

Knight is a good choice. You don't have to do the whole level if you make it to the short-cuts (on the first that means pulling levers to open the side gates)

[NemesiS]

Knight is a good choice. You don't have to do the whole level if you make it to the short-cuts (on the first that means pulling levers to open the side gates)

You still have to kill all the fodder upto the gates tho and then all the fire ghoul things on the stairs plus the blue knight at the portal.

It would have been less frustrating to start at the last portal gone thru.

[NemesiS]

First few hours in:

This has to be one of the most frustrating games i have played recently.

Maybe as i have gotten older my gaming tastes have changed. But constantly dying and having to restart a level from scratch and killing all the enemies you have already slain again becomes very tedious, very quickly, for me anyway. I like to feel that i am at least progressing al la Fallout 3.

The lock-on is iffy at best especially when you are confronted by more than one enemy, and is practically useless when ambushed. Health packs are useless midfight as you just get killed trying to heal against anything tougher than a bog standard grunt meaning you have to run away....a....lot, and if your locked on while trying to leg it, lol. Instadeath.

The fighting is pretty good though and there is a compulsion to go back when your killed, a bit like Mirrors Edge. I'll keep at it for a few more hours to see if it improves and grows on me but it doesn't look promising atm.

[Darwock]

Don't think of it as a pure action game, it's far more tactical than that - you have to consider your environment and always have an escape plan, because you're right - it's very hard to heal yourself while you are under attack. You shouldn't be letting yourself get outnumbered either.

A couple of tips, there is a crossbow to be found in the very first part

->Open Spoiler<-

drop off the wall opposite the fog door that the blue knight was guarding

that will help you to pick off enemies one by one.. also don't use up all your firebombs - they will come in very handy for the first boss.

But honestly, you can't say you weren't warned! It's been said all along that this isn't for the faint-hearted... the strict punishment for death is why I compared it to Ghouls n' Ghosts. It's very old school in that regard. I'm surprised you never feel like you are progressing though, I would say every single death I have ever suffered at the hands of the AI enemies (bar one) was entirely my fault, and I could always see exactly where I had gone wrong. It's very fair.

(also as a side note, when starting my 2nd character from the beginning I ran through the entire first level without dying once, so after learning the techniques to survive it becomes a walk in the park.. you won't care a jot about having to repeat that first section.)

[NemesiS]

A couple of tips, there is a crossbow to be found in the very first part that will help you to pick off enemies one by one.. also don't use up all your firebombs - they will come in very handy for the first boss.

The crossbow is another bugbear. I've got the crossbow and the bastard sword. I equipped the crossbow but i can't fire it. I don't know if i'm doing something wrong but when i try to fire it my char just pulls it out, waves it around and puts it away. How do you fire it I have bolts. I'm obviously doing something wrong.

The firebombs are a boon as is turps for defeating the blue eyes, I just wish there were more. And if you target a blue eyes and throw a firebomb it nearly always drops short wasting one.

Also its sometimes impossible not to fight more than one mob as there will be mobs hiding behind corners with you focused on another. But then i can't fire the crossbow so i can't pick them off one at a time.

I wouldn't say in general its overly difficult, just more frustrating than anything else as some of the mechanics i mentioned above can be iffy. I certainly wouldn't liken it to G&G as that was the pinnacle of hard core but when i played that i was about 22 and my mindset was a little bit different and i didn't think twice about keep going back as that was the norm for games then.

It maybe once i have figured out the controls fully i will start to enjoy it as i like hard games as, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it....yet. Theres nothing worse than an easy game. But if this, the Asian version of the game has a dumbed down difficulty as is the norm, i'd hate to see how hard the western version is, lol.

[mr_woo]

With the crossbow it looks like you haven't assigned the bolts/arrows to the needed slot in the inventory, there will be two empty slots, one where bolts go into and one where arrows go into.

Might go back and have another go at this, had finished my first playthrough by haven't got that far into my first New Game +

[NemesiS]

With the crossbow it looks like you haven't assigned the bolts/arrows to the needed slot in the inventory, there will be two empty slots, one where bolts go into and one where arrows go into.

I've just sussed that now. So used to having stuff auto reload etc that having to manually put stuff in slots to get it to work is something i'm not used to. Finally sussed out the blue eyes as well without needing fire.

->Open Spoiler<-

Also, what hapopens to the souls i collect. Can i depositr them somewhere.

[mr_woo]

Ah do you mean things you collect like the 'Unknown Soldiers Soul' etc are the souls that add to your total tally in the corner ?

If it's your total soul tally you currently have then you can't put them anywhere and lose them when you die (well you lose them if you get killed going back to the spot you died at before retrieving them). If it's the souls you collect before you redeem them then you can just put them into storage in the nexus or keep them on you, you won't lose them when you die.

The game works on a risk reward principle. Shall I return to the nexus and level up a bit ? Shall I risk it and go further forward without knowing what will happen ? It really does add to the tension though it can lead to you being absolutely gutted when you lose a lot but it's a very rewarding game when you achieve something. It's a very challenging game but thankfully not a cheap one and all the better for it.