Demon's Souls - Catch All

TheGameguru wrote:

I hate this...

I got the game today.. get home after going out for dinner.. think to myself.. hey I have a bit of time to play..

47MB Game update.. then after that's finally done my PS3 needs to be updated... I'm going to bed.

F this.

You knew it would be like that. You knew it!

Well, at least there's the weekend!

I should update my PS3, thanks for the reminder. Still waiting for my copy ... *le sigh*

Certis wrote:

I should update my PS3, thanks for the reminder. Still waiting for my copy ... *le sigh*

I played a bit once my PS3 did update last night (it wasnt a horrific long update this time) and its brutally hard.. even the first part after the tutorial is hard.

Once my shield broke I died pretty quick.

TheGameguru wrote:

Once my shield broke I died pretty quick.

Consider the cat dead...
Was that simply due to attrition? Is your character build dependent on balanced defense/offense items? Did your shield break after a reasonable amount of punishment or do you meet enemies that break your stuff?

Maybe preordering vs. importing was a bad idea. I'm really itching for a solid dungeon crawler, Class of Heroes is a little too retro to suit me at the moment.

I'm psyched for this one once it's released. It'll be my first non-used game purchase fur sure.

Rezzy wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

Once my shield broke I died pretty quick.

Consider the cat dead...
Was that simply due to attrition? Is your character build dependent on balanced defense/offense items? Did your shield break after a reasonable amount of punishment or do you meet enemies that break your stuff?

Maybe preordering vs. importing was a bad idea. I'm really itching for a solid dungeon crawler, Class of Heroes is a little too retro to suit me at the moment.

It wasnt broke.. I just accidentally toggled it off somehow..this game is brutal.. I'm in the first dungeon (a huge castle) and its really really hard.. all the more so that when you die.. you have to start from the very beginning and kill everything you just killed all over again.

I don't mind the difficulty but repeating everything could get old quick.. are there save points? or checkpoints or do you have to clear the whole castle flawlessly?

I was doing really good.. and got really far into the castle then made a wrong turn and some Dragons in the distance (I stupidly thought they were just for show) killed me in 2 seconds with flame breath.

TheGameguru wrote:

I was doing really good.. and got really far into the castle then made a wrong turn and some Dragons in the distance (I stupidly thought they were just for show) killed me in 2 seconds with flame breath.

There are sort of check points throughout. As you go you'll open up doors that, when you come through the level again, let you shortcut areas you had to go through the first time. It makes going through the dungeon again much less tedious.

My copy arrived today! I'll be talking about it on the show (of course) but I'll post some impressions here too. Hopefully I'll actually find time to play it tonight.

Certis wrote:

My copy arrived today! I'll be talking about it on the show (of course) but I'll post some impressions here too. Hopefully I'll actually find time to play it tonight.

Nice. I get my copy tomorrow (hope) or Friday. I need to come up with an excuse to stay at home all weekend.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

I was doing really good.. and got really far into the castle then made a wrong turn and some Dragons in the distance (I stupidly thought they were just for show) killed me in 2 seconds with flame breath.

There are sort of check points throughout. As you go you'll open up doors that, when you come through the level again, let you shortcut areas you had to go through the first time. It makes going through the dungeon again much less tedious.

Correct, and this can't be stressed enough. Once certain doors, gates, etc are open the time savings can be huge -- so take heart. In extreme cases, these shortcuts can provide near-direct on ramps to the level boss.

Of note, some doors won't open unless you have a specific black/white level tendency. Personally, I recommend that folks save that aspect of the game for a second run-through as some of the requirements swerve into crazy JRPG-like unlock territory.

Also, as it's in the in the same topical ballpark, once you clear 1-1 things open up a bit. I don't want to go heavy into spoilers, as I believe this game is more fun when played without too much guidance, but (as pure example) don't feel forced into tackling 1-2, in part or in its entirety, as your next stop.

Recreational Villain wrote:
Dreaded Gazebo wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

I was doing really good.. and got really far into the castle then made a wrong turn and some Dragons in the distance (I stupidly thought they were just for show) killed me in 2 seconds with flame breath.

There are sort of check points throughout. As you go you'll open up doors that, when you come through the level again, let you shortcut areas you had to go through the first time. It makes going through the dungeon again much less tedious.

Correct, and this can't be stressed enough. Once certain doors, gates, etc are open the time savings can be huge -- so take heart. In extreme cases, these shortcuts can provide near-direct on ramps to the level boss.

Of note, some doors won't open unless you have a specific black/white level tendency. Personally, I recommend that folks save that aspect of the game for a second run-through as some of the requirements swerve into crazy JRPG-like unlock territory.

Also, as it's in the in the same topical ballpark, once you clear 1-1 things open up a bit. I don't want to go heavy into spoilers, as I believe this game is more fun when played without too much guidance, but (as pure example) don't feel forced into tackling 1-2, in part or in its entirety, as your next stop.

I found one of these doors.. so now this post today makes more sense than when I originally read it.. There are points when its best to explore a bit instead of going through the "Fog" and into a "new" area. I explored a bit one time and discovered some area that opened a door and gave me a huge shortcut back to the "fog" door.

The game is still freakin hard.. even the lowly enemies can frag you pretty quick if your lazy. I havent master the Shield "bash" and riposte which I think is probably key at somepoint... I can't get the timing down.

edit

This game is hella good though.. I just wish it wasnt quite so hard.. or there was some difficulty level toggle I could set to make it a bit easier if I wanted..

oh and it was on the Xbox 360

Parrying is really tricky. Awesome when it works but if your timing is off you get torn to shreds Which is why I recommend playing as the Royal; you get an awesome spell that pretty much negates any need to do melee combat, at least initially.

So I finished up 1-1 a little while back and haven't started 1-2 yet... need to give that a go one of these nights! Nice to know that you don't necessarily have to progress linearly.

In most instances you can retreat past the trail of bodies behind you, but in very rare cases this isn't a viable option. There's calculated risk at work here, but going for an accelerated parry-kill can save your bacon in a few spots. In most games it's a feature you would ignore given the chance for success, but having the option here just feels right on the risk vs reward scale of things.

As to shield "bash", it's worth mentioning that some shields do immediate damage on a hit, others just stun an enemy as the setup for the riposte.

Gut reaction after playing for about an hour with my Royal is that I like it, but I clearly have a lot to learn. Even with the Royal's Win Stick (auto-regen magic range attack) I'm still getting nailed. I already think I'm going to want to play a different class that isn't so range focused. I don't like that wussy rapier either.

Definitely loving the roguelike aspects of this. Yes, you may die and have to re-fight enemies, but at least you only lose your money (souls) rather than all your equipment like in Shiren The Wanderer. Luxury I tell you, luxury!

I like the controls -- the camera does pretty well and the lock-on system is basic, but also does the trick. The game is definitely hard, but I feel like it's a function of intentional design rather than sh*tty interface.

All in all, based on what I read, I'm getting what I hoped for. Now ... to read some basic tips again with hot new context!

Well, I started a fresh game with the Thief and I'm hooked. I managed to beat the Phalanx and only died about three times getting past that point from beginning to end. Doing melee with the Thief definitely feels good. Daggers are a lot of fun ... especially when back stabbing.

Going to be tough going to work tomorrow.

Everyone keeps talking about the Royal being noob friendly, but I'm with you Certis, spamming magic has never been my thing. I like getting down and dirty.

Man, Certis, that's a nasty cough you got going on there. You should probably stay home so as not to infect your lovely coworkers.

Blast.

I finished King's Field 4.

Now I want to play this. But it's not October! You filthy enablers! Don't make me do it!

At this rate I'll be the only one on the US servers.
On the bright side, I won't have to share servers with the insane experts that will invade your games and beat you down for your shiny shiny souls!

Rezzy wrote:

At this rate I'll be the only one on the US servers.
On the bright side, I won't have to share servers with the insane experts that will invade your games and beat you down for your shiny shiny souls!

I'm still holding fast.

Well, that might be a bit strong. I mean to say, I'm not wavering much.

Often.

I mean, a bit.

Seriously, I am a little concerned about the "black phantom invasions". That seems like a really annoying thing to have happen. Anyone who's imported, have you run into this situation at all?

I haven't seen that yet, but I only just got to a place where that could even begin to happen. We'll see how it goes, but worse case scenario I'd just play offline if it got bothersome.

I've been thinking about playing all day, it's driving me nuts. It's a rare feeling to have these days.

Certis wrote:

I haven't seen that yet, but I only just got to a place where that could even begin to happen. We'll see how it goes, but worse case scenario I'd just play offline if it got bothersome.

I've been thinking about playing all day, it's driving me nuts. It's a rare feeling to have these days.

That's actually something else I wasn't sure about, can you flip-flop between online and offline mode?

I can't recall the last game that had me wanting to race home to get some time in. Maybe the PS3 Ratchet and Clank?

Tyrian wrote:
Rezzy wrote:

At this rate I'll be the only one on the US servers.
On the bright side, I won't have to share servers with the insane experts that will invade your games and beat you down for your shiny shiny souls!

...

Seriously, I am a little concerned about the "black phantom invasions". That seems like a really annoying thing to have happen. Anyone who's imported, have you run into this situation at all?

They can only invade your game if their level is within 10 levels. Let me go doublecheck that number.

Edit: 10 looks correct, though I can't find anything official, just people on boards saying that yes, 10 is the correct number. It increases with each NewGame+, though.

So this game is a great way to lose three hours without moving. That's really hard for me to do. The last game I really dug my heels into like this was with Mass Effect. There the story sucked me in, here it's all about the torture . . . err, gameplay.

While I was aware of the mechanics of the game a la dying and souls, it didn't occur to me that the death mechanic is a great way to grind without quite being an obvious grind. As plenty of people have said, you learn more as you die, but at the same time you are getting a bunch more souls (as long as you make it back to the blood stain, of course). That's genius.

Damn it, people. Stop it. Just stop it. Now I think I have to buy this game.

Did anyone else notice that during the intro movie (after you start a new game, I think), it actually says Demons' Souls, which makes more sense than Demon's ever did . . . ?

Certis wrote:

Well, I started a fresh game with the Thief and I'm hooked. I managed to beat the Phalanx and only died about three times getting past that point from beginning to end. Doing melee with the Thief definitely feels good. Daggers are a lot of fun ... especially when back stabbing.

Going to be tough going to work tomorrow.

Whats so great about the Thief? I'm struggling to find much differences in the playstyles of the melee characters.. and ended up with the most heavily armored one.

Well, it's all just skill point distribution and armor, right? So aside from what you start with, the classes are kind of window dressing in some ways. The Thief is fun because you get a bow right away (you can zoom in and fire in first person with those) and you're quick enough to roll around enemies and back stab them with a dagger for a ton of damage. Pretty much a one-hit kill on most enemies so far.

My problem with the Thief is that I had such a bad string of deaths, I spent all my healing grass, firebombs and other sundries. So I'm left with no souls, no items and damaged stuff.

I'm trying a Templar right now

Certis wrote:

Well, it's all just skill point distribution and armor, right? So aside from what you start with, the classes are kind of window dressing in some ways. The Thief is fun because you get a bow right away (you can zoom in and fire in first person with those) and you're quick enough to roll around enemies and back stab them with a dagger for a ton of damage. Pretty much a one-hit kill on most enemies so far.

My problem with the Thief is that I had such a bad string of deaths, I spent all my healing grass, firebombs and other sundries. So I'm left with no souls, no items and damaged stuff.

I'm trying a Templar right now ;)

yeah I guess thats my point.. is there something that makes the Thief's rolling skills more effective? or his backstab? I can backstab with my Plate Armored Knight and one shot guys.

Just speed. Without all that armor slowing you down, you can get around dudes quickly. The dagger specifically gives you a backstab bonus that does more damage even than a long sword. I read somewhere the Thief's stat layout makes it easier for you to sneak up on dudes, but I'm not so sure about that.

If you want to see what it's like, strip off your armor and go forth with a dagger

Now that I've played a solid 4 hours or so, I've decided to peruse the wiki for some basic info like how to learn miracles and some broad overview stuff. I appreciate a game that has exploration beyond the environment itself.

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/

Just have to avoid spoilers and level to level walkthroughs!