Demon's Souls PS3

[Darwock]

I had a bit of a sucky experience with it today - the online components just don't seem to be working out as well as they did in the asian version. First of all I was trying to get some help, and the phantom I summoned just immediately returned to his world using the white eye stone. Maybe he was waiting for a friend, I dunno... but the next two phantoms I called did the exact same thing! Honestly, if you don't want to be summoned then why put your sign out in plain view?

Then I had more trouble with the Latria archdemon. First guy, I ran in and caught him by surprise with my anti-magic field, so he was stuck in the "can't cast" animation. I took the opportunity to take a swing at him, hit once, and he disconnected. I was left with an empty room and a boss health bar but no boss, I had to reload my game to get back outside the room. Why the hell would anyone bother to do that when there is absolutely no penalty for losing as the boss?

Second attempt and the guy also got caught out by the anti-magic, but this time I was chasing him all around the room - he tried to fight back but I really had him on the back foot, then when he was at 50%.. poofffff he vanishes. I was so narked I sent a message calling him a coward, he replied that his girlfriend had been playing. Yeah right.

Third guy.. hey guess what! He disconnected after I hit him 2 or 3 times.

Then the 2nd guy came back, this time he knew what I was going to do obviously so he caught me as I rushed in and took me out in a single flurry of attacks (he was using a dragon +5 weapon I think) so I died. More annoyingly, he sent me a message after that saying "Told you.".

Next attempt was him again - obviously he suicided so he could come in again. I just went for a cup of tea and let him sit stewing until he d/c'd, then fought the AI boss for the win.

I'm so glad I played the Asian version first because back then I was totally in love with the online mechanics of the game, but the attitudes of players now just makes it look horribly broken.

Ho hum, anyway only one more game cycle until I get Platinum for the 2nd time

[jimtendo]

This is precisely the reason why i haven't opened my Deluxe version, and instead kept on trucking with my Asian release.

Online etiquette.

I feared that when the USA version had it's own localised server (probably a good thing now) that you'll see the majority of knob-ends transgress their virtual teabagging to this game.
I haven't played this a lot online recently (just been playing offline, so my world tendancy doesn't reset) Darwock, how would you rate the online community between the two regions?

[Darwock]

No contest, the Asian version had none of the problems I've encountered since starting the US one. I never had a disconnection mid-fight, not even once.

Although I haven't played the Asian version for a while (and I've since sold it on), so I don't know if it's still got a thriving community or not. It would be pretty sad to be playing Demon's Souls and not see any white ghosts running around.

[Atticus]

I had a little mooch around 3-1 and 4-1 at the weekend. Didn't get very far in either (kept wussing out and going back to the Nexus) but at least I hit lvl 22 strength so I'm rocking the Purple Flame Shield.

Might go and look for Flamelurker again now I have a better shield, though I still feel my lack of magic will let me down. Maybe that's my next grindathon ... to get my magic up from lvl 8 and learn a few basic spells at least.

Not used any of the online features involving other players as I'm never human long enough. I did get invaded once though, mid way through luring the red-eye knight in 1-1 ... got the shock of my life

[Brad]

I think trying to level up too many areas is likely to turn this into a grindfest mate. A few weedy little spells won't help you against some of the more powerful foes later on but a massively upgraded shield along with huge strength will. Similarly if you have powerful projectile magic then a shield becomes completely unnecessary as you can kill everything before it even reaches you

[Atticus]

Thanks for the advice. I'd always planned to specialise in a particular character build but I was just starting to get a bit concerned about how in-effective i am against flame-based foes.

But the last thing I want to do is start wasting valuable stat upgrades on something I'll never be competitive with so your advice is spot on and much appreciated

[crocky-chocky]

Could anyone tell me if NG+ throws any curveballs in the form of new enemies/attack patterns etc? That'd be ace if so. I'm in a bit of pickle about whether to start an NG+ or just build a new character from scratch. I didn't bother with any magic spells at all and thought it'd be nice to play through in a totally different manner.

Regarding the online stuff. I found the community to be generally decent, though I could understand it being a step down from the Asian version. Never had a problem with the blue phantom folks, but I was only invaded once. My lack of spells coupled with the guys downright meanness (e.g. him standing still while I pepper him with arrows, only to magic his way back to 100% health when he was just about deaded) made it one of the most annoying spells I had with this.

[Brad]

Well, that's just my opinion mate. I'm not a fan of grinding so I kind of did as little as possible. I specialised in magic though and played the last half of the game without any kind of shield. I must confess to being disappointed at not being able to wield the big swords and shields though!

[Darwock]

Could anyone tell me if NG+ throws any curveballs in the form of new enemies/attack patterns etc?

No new enemies or different locations or anything, but you may still find yourself getting caught out by things that were a cakewalk on the first play.

I'm on NG++ now and it took me three attempts to beat Leechmonger, not to mention the Fool's Idol gave me a lot of trouble (and she's normally a breeze).

That said there's a lot to be said for starting over at the beginning with all that you have learned - it's extremely satisfying to go through the game trimming off all the excess fat and just making yourself super-lethal.

[Darwock]

Got my second platinum for this game tonight

It took me over a month and about 300 hours the first time, on this one I did it in 12 days and about 75 hours. I've loved every minute of it*, but time to eject the disc again and make way for the God of War Collection.

The Nexus shall imprison thee no longer...

*(apart from those minutes I was ranting about a few posts up)

[Atticus]

Got quite a way through 4-1 last night before accidentally locking on to a flying ray (instead of the skeleton in front of me) and tumbling off the cliff edge.

To make it worse I got beat down by every Demon's Souls player's worst enemy; complacency.

I thought I'd blitz through the level to get all my souls back and couldn't help picking a fight with one of those dual katana weilding skeletons on the way ... you know the rest.

[rmoxon]

Just started playing this, and so far it seems to be an absolubtley fantastic game.

Although it does seem quite challenging the first level wasnt anywhere near as hard as I had heard (Games tm said it took them 8 hours, where as it took me about 2), in fact i only died twice. The phlanx boss at the end of the level took me about 15 minutes to kill which might make it sound like a mundane chore to acomplish, but it wasnt, it was really enjoyable.

The whole thing is really enjoyable to be honest, Its nice to play a game that dosent guide you by the hand through every little moment too, cant wait to play more.

[saif]

After reading the reviews, thought I would check in on the 1st play as am now interested. Worried about Darwock's comments about online - I know a lot of games have Japanese only servers and, having played on them, can understand why.
Do other people encounter the online etiquette probs?

[Darwock]

Just to put my complaints into perspective I should probably add that the online stuff is really just icing on the cake, as it's an incredibly satisfying single player experience before you even take that into account.

The online features were so well done though, and such a fresh take on multiplayer experiences, that I do find it sad that so many people on the US servers can't just play it the way it's meant to be played.

[Synthesthesia]

Just bought the deluxe edition off ebay for £45. Just missed the guy for postage today ah well, says he's sending it tomorrow. Was going to wait for this til xmas, but after reading all the impressions and reviews, I just can't wait It sounds amazing.