Demon's Souls - Catch All

Ya, you will likely go 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 4-1, etc and not complete the x-4 stages until very late.

You may consider doing a little research into the tendency system now, or just wait for NG+ if you think you will end up playing it again. There is nothing similar to it in Dark Souls, and it masks some of the most intersting and obscure things in the game.

Dyni wrote:

You may consider doing a little research into the tendency system now, or just wait for NG+ if you think you will end up playing it again. There is nothing similar to it in Dark Souls, and it masks some of the most intersting and obscure things in the game.

Already done.

The sad part is to really work the tendency system you have to play offline.

But playing online with messages and ghosts and summons makes the game feel so much more alive.

Stele wrote:

The sad part is to really work the tendency system you have to play offline.

But playing online with messages and ghosts and summons makes the game feel so much more alive.

The ghosts and messages are FAR more useful in Demon's Souls than they are Dark Souls. That's probably because the game has been out for so long and the good messages have been highly rated and are sticking around.

D_Davis wrote:
Stele wrote:

The sad part is to really work the tendency system you have to play offline.

But playing online with messages and ghosts and summons makes the game feel so much more alive.

The ghosts and messages are FAR more useful in Demon's Souls than they are Dark Souls. That's probably because the game has been out for so long and the good messages have been highly rated and are sticking around.

That and you see a much higher number of them because it's one central server instead of lots of small random servers.

Maybe this is just because I was better at Dark Souls but I also feel like Demon's Souls had a lot more situations where notes really came in handy. In Dark Souls I rarely even read them.

Yeah it's the centralized server thing. Messages actually show up to enough people to get a chance to get rated.

I've only seen one message in Dark Souls rated over a 2 or so. But there are tons in Demon's with ratings in the hundreds.

It's not just a server issue. The possible combinations of words and phrases were far more useful in Demon's Souls. I'm not sure why they decided to dumb it down for Dark Souls so much. Dark Souls improved upon many aspects of Demon's Souls, but most of the multiplayer features were changed for the worse.

What does the message that says something like "I need help - rate this message" mean?

What do you get when someone rates your message?

D_Davis wrote:

What does the message that says something like "I need help - rate this message" mean?

What do you get when someone rates your message?

You get healed in your own game.

D_Davis wrote:

What does the message that says something like "I need help - rate this message" mean?

What do you get when someone rates your message?

Health recovery!

EDIT: Tannhauser'ed!

Dyni wrote:
D_Davis wrote:

What does the message that says something like "I need help - rate this message" mean?

What do you get when someone rates your message?

You get healed in your own game.

Ah, cool.

Just in the few hours that I've played Demon's Souls, I can tell that the online component is far more important and implemented better.

I put down my summoning sign in 1-2 and was summoned twice within minutes, and this game is two+ years old.

In Dark Souls I'll sometimes wait 30+ minutes to get summoned.

Did any of you ever rely on message for healing? I pretty much never quit the games outside of the nexus/bonfires so it never really mattered to me.

I really am going to buy Dark Souls for the PS3 - I have a feeling it will be a completely different experience than playing it on the 360.

D_Davis wrote:

I've been summoned twice to help with the 1-2 boss, but I haven't seen any summon signs to call for help. That's weird

You have to use the blue summon stone to create your own summon signs. These should appear in the games of other players who can then select them to come into your game.

So 4-1 seems to be where the game gets difficult. 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, and 3-1 were all pretty easy for me.

I've died twice in 4-1.

The flying enemies in 4-1 drove me crazy. Possibly my least favorite part of the game.

D_Davis wrote:

So 4-1 seems to be where the game gets difficult. 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, and 3-1 were all pretty easy for me.

When the game came out those levels certainly weren't "easy"..... of course, none of us had any practice with the formula either.

Don't remember if he said... did you start as a Royal?

Cause yeah those 4-1 skeletons would make it pretty impossible to stay ranged.

Stele wrote:

Don't remember if he said... did you start as a Royal?

Cause yeah those 4-1 skeletons would make it pretty impossible to stay ranged.

Is 4-1 the constant spawn until you kill the controller guy? I did it as royal without much issue, i also used that spot to farm for quite some time as well.

Nah that would be 4-2.

4-1 is loads of those fast rolling skeletons, with some flying things shooting at you from the sky too.

I got confused.

3-1 is hard for me. The one with the Cthulhu guys ringing the little prayer bells.

4-1 was great, and that's where I got my Crescent Falchion +1.

Yes - I started as a Royal. I read a few things that said magic/melee is a good way to start out.

AndrewA wrote:
D_Davis wrote:

So 4-1 seems to be where the game gets difficult. 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, and 3-1 were all pretty easy for me.

When the game came out those levels certainly weren't "easy"..... of course, none of us had any practice with the formula either.

Yeah - I'm sure my 180 hours in Dark Souls prepared me a bit.

Crescent Falchion is great. Think I was still using that (+4) in NG+. Just got used to it, and I kept pumping INT for spells, and it increased the sword damage too.

And yeah 3-1 can be a little annoying. Those guys go down to Soul Arrow pretty well. Or Fire Spray, you can retreat from them and still hit them.

Can't remember if you have the next spell trainer yet though. I think maybe he's in 3-1 to rescue, to get more spells?

Stele wrote:

Can't remember if you have the next spell trainer yet though. I think maybe he's in 3-1 to rescue, to get more spells? :?

That's what I'm working towards right now.

Is he the guy that is screaming bloody murder towards the beginning of the stage?

Also, will playing online basically mean that my World Tendency will forever be right smack in the middle?

I sure wish I could play this with my 360 controller. Having the d-pad above and to the right of the left a-stick on the dualshock really messes up all of my strategy. With the 360 controller, I can run around and reach over with my right thumb to switch weapons and items. The dualshock doesn't work like this. I also prefer the concave shape of the a-sticks on the 360 controller; I had forgotten how often my thumbs slip of the a-sticks of dualshock controllers because they're convex. Really odd design choice to continue with.

5-1 down.

I died at the exact same time that I killed the boss. Had to trek through the entire level again. Ugh. Luckily, the boss stayed dead and I retrieved my souls (15,000).

I'm finding that the best strategy for this game is to kill myself in the nexus before tackling a new area. Then in each new area throw down my blue stone to get summoned, and then run through the area as a phantom a couple of times until I learn the area. Then kill the boss as a blue phantom, get my body back and then do the level myself.

Yep. That's the way to go.

I played mostly as a phantom, and didn't bother summoning people to help me.

The tendency thing is a little weird too though. If you die from human form then your tendency gets black and all the enemies get harder... if you revive and die again, it gets harder... and so on. So it really is better to stay in soul form if you're just trying to beat the level. No chance to make things tougher on yourself.

Stele wrote:

If you're still around, you should check our Catch-All for the game. I believe someone has the bladestone weapons to trade around to help you finish that off if you want.

It's like a stranger offering me money, just because they want me to have it... can I even accept such a gift? Also I'm Soul Level 211, so according to the wiki's level-restriction tool they would have to be between SL 182 and 242. Although, I daresay I'd grind a few levels if anyone willing is higher than that!

I only need to touch a +5 Sharp weapon made with Pure Bladestone... is there anyone who would help me with that?

Obviously I'm happy to offer help with any of the game's other trophy weapons, either for someone who lucked into Pure Bladestone or to 'pay it forward', as it were. I'll keep on this thread for awhile, but if I'm gone I can be found on Twitter under the same username.

I have a bunch of stuff that I can trade, but I think casual_alcoholic, the fine gentleman that helped me get my platinum trophy, might have kept the pure bladestone weapon. I also can't remember what SL I was...

I'll check soon for you.