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EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

rednender posted:

Sadly, I just picked up this game. I played through Dark Souls and loved it. I figure I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't play this game.

High five new Demons Souls buddy! I picked this game up recently as well, but haven't been able to tear myself away from Dark Souls to even put it into the PS3 yet.

I went into Dark Souls blind, only really looking at the wiki after I was most of the way through the game. Should I do the same here?

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EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Man, coming to this game after playing Dark Souls for several hundred hours is like picking up a 2D Mario game: you may not know exactly what's ahead, but you know it's probably going to involve jumping on something. I'm parrying and backstabbing like a pro.

My first attempt at this game, well over a year ago, ended with me just not getting it at all. I kept dying over and over, and for whatever reason it didn't grab me the way the Undead Burg did. This time I feel much more equipped, even though I'm still adjusting to the PS3 controller. I haven't got to the first boss yet, but I'm having fun.

I'm posting because even though I haven't figured out any MP stuff, I'd like to add some goons that will be playing the game a lot until the servers go down. My PSN ID is NotECEC. I have zero friends on the PS3 since I don't usually play MP games.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I managed to get past the thing by timing my runs, although it was close when I ran into three dudes with crossbows and a blue eyed knight at the end.

Thanks for the advice though! I haven't even seen half the stuff you're talking about yet. I can't wait to dig in even more. I'm going for a DEC/INT build I think, using my starting rapier that I've upped to +5, although I just found Kris's weapon and i like the moveset quite a bit.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Sheep-Goats posted:

For dex/int I like:
Moon Kilij +5; the fukken buzzsaw
Moon Estoc +5; shield pokes and backstabs
Sharp War Schyte +whatever; enchant with light weapon and two hand it for stupid damage

Other people like:
Moon Winged Spear +5; this plus a fatty shield like Purple Flame +10 or Brushwood +5 can solve 95% of Demon's Souls as safely as possible

Moon/Sharp uchi: the uchi is fast, can stab or sweep, and has decent damage.

I'll keep an eye out for all of those. I take it Moon is the upgrade path that works with INT? I haven't met a blacksmith that'll do that yet. I'm trying to figure everything out by myself on my first run. There's something special about not knowing anything that's about to happen.

I do have a quick question on stats, though: is there any one stat that I shouldn't put points into? Like RES in DkS? I just don't wanna waste any precious souls on anything.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I just chased a crystal lizard off of a ledge. :(

Edit: these things popping out of the ground (after fighting the Armor Spider) are just ripped up by soul arrows. My rapier does maybe 16 points of damage but souls arrows are doing like 1100!

EC fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Apr 16, 2012

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Is it a good idea to drop off my upgrade materials in the Nexus? I'm already hitting my item burden and having to drop stuff.

Edit: the answer is yes, holy poo poo. I was at 93/94, after dropping off all that stuff I'm at 23/94.

I hate burden limits in games, I really do. I like weights systems in place for equipped stuff, but actual item burdens make me get all cranky.

Also I just met Patches, and knew he was being tricky. I killed that fire-slug thing on the ledge above him and then went to get the loot. What would have happened otherwise?

EC fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Apr 16, 2012

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Read posted:

Fire slug hat.

(It would have dropped onto your head)

Figured as much.

I decided to try heading somewhere else as I wasn't doing a lot of damage due to the fire slug mosquito things. I'm in the prison now (Latria) and was doing pretty well. Then I walked around a corner, got hit with a green freeze ray, and a tentacle head skittered over and wiped me right the gently caress out. Between those dudes, the weirdo singing in just one cell, and the guy begging me to help him that I can't find, I'm creeped right the hell out.

I'm not really looking for advice or explanations, just posting my experiences as I'm playing. I dig that in the DkS thread, so figured the pros here would appreciate it

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I was so happy when I figured out the trick to Pinwheel Fools Idol, and managed to avoid most of her attacks and take her out without dying once! I was feeling way awesome, but wait...why didn't I get any souls? Why didn't I get her soul? What's this voice?

:negative:

I put two and two together and managed to beat her, again, without dying. poo poo gets hectic when there's like 5 all firing spells at you. Also, if I was a melee focused character that would have been obnoxious as hell!

Now some gargoyles have kidnapped me, and I have 18k souls and a full backpack. I sure hope I see an arch stone soon...

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Miijhal posted:

Like, right at the start of the area the gargoyles bring you, there's an arch stone. Unless you really, really want to chill with the Maneater and his friend, go back now.

I figured that one out. I just took a quick break from the game once the gargoyles snatched me.

I hope it doesn't gently caress me in the future but I used one of the boss souls to get Soul Ray, and I regret nothing. That thing is amazing.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
The area after Fools Idol (3-2? I'm still wrapping my head around which worlds are which) is killing me. I went all the way down through the swamp, then all the way back up and got on an elevator to go even further up. As soon as I stepped off, two of the gargoyle dudes killed me. :(

Since I've died about a zillion times in this area, would y'all recommend heading somewhere else? I think I've done 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, and 3-1 so far.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I'm still fighting 3-2, but I managed to get up to the second tower and kill the dudes, allowing the heart-thing to drop. I went back downstairs and collected a bunch of loot around it, but now I have nowhere to go. Do I need to head back to the swamp? I suppose I could have missed some stuff there...

Edit: never mind, found the stairs. Got Maneater down to halfway before rolling off the side. :sigh:

Edit: oh gently caress there's two! gently caress!

EC fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Apr 19, 2012

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I'm glad y'all are enjoying my pain. :)

So I'm going DEX/INT, and my first strategy was to roll out of the way of his leaps and hits and hit him with Soul Ray. This works, but since I'm on such a narrow ledge I invariably roll off the edge or get screwed by the camera going crazy. I decided to go melee, and the Rune sword I found does ok against him, but trying to tank his hits with my shield (dark heater +2) isn't working at all. I can't remember my exact SL but I think I'm early 20s.

Any tips?

As an aside, I got so frustrated with this boss fight that I switched to my SL1 run in Dark Souls. Against the Four Kings.

:negative:

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Ineffiable posted:

Check out the bonfire in the center. You can use it as sort of an aggro control.

When I did that last time I spawned a whole other Maneater so I've been staying away.

Let me guess: that was a coincidence and the second one showing up is based on the first one's health, like the Gargoyles in DkS.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Alright thanks for the pro tips. Back at it later this afternoon.

Is it just me or is the message system way more flexible than in Dark Souls?

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Just to confirm something regarding stats: My catalyst scales off of INT, so the higher my INT the more damage my spells will do. What does Magic do? I see that it increases "magic power" but I'm not sure what that is.

And to make sure I'm on the right track at SL27:

VIT 13
INT 18
END 9
STR 11
DEX 19
MAG 18

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I've managed to get down the shortcut and fight Flamelurker once, and have died just trying to get back down there ever since. :sigh:

The good news is I managed to do pretty well against him. I sort of assumed the boss would be a fire dude, so I went in with Water Veil and the flame resist ring. Seemed to work well with me dodging and then casting soul ray, at least until he chained three of his AOE attacks in a row and I got stuck in the first.

If I can manage to get down there, I think the next attempt will go even better.

Edit: oh man that demon hunter dude died. :(

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
So, made some progress today. Took down Flamerlurker the second time I battled him, although I died a thousand times between the first and the second trying to get drop down that hole. After that, I took my Dragon Sword +1 to the blacksmith and got it up to +4, and headed back to put down Maneater. That didn't go near as well, and I died another thousand times trying different tactics. I never even killed one of the drat things.

I decided to hit 4-1, and walked through the level thanks to the aforementioned dragon sword. Skeletons were going down in two hits, archers in one. The red eyed motherfuckers weren't any trouble, and my soul rays were cutting through the flying eels when they got close enough. I ran through the fog wall into Adjudicator's room without realizing where I was, and promptly got slammed through the floor.

Of course I died to the first skeleton when I restarted, but Dark Souls taught me to not care about losing currency so this was no surprise. I eventually made it back to the Judge, who is one weird looking motherfucker. This time I was able to get on the bottom floor, dodge his terrible attempts to make out with me attacks, and soul ray the little birdie on his head until he was dead.

I moved through the next area fairly quickly, and killed Patches when he showed up because gently caress that guy. Seriously.

As I was about to go kill the reaper/necromancer, I noticed my first summon sign! So I brought the dude into my game, and he promptly ran up the stairs and was killed instantly. It was a very :darksouls: kind of moment. I did kill the reaper, getting a sweet war scythe out of the deal, and have hit a very hard and very tall brick wall in the area immediately afterwards. I can't seem to clear out the flying eels with a bow or my spells, and they just tear me up when I try to avoid their attacks and kill the skeletons on the path.

So I've put it down for today. I'll probably go back and see what's after Flamelurker, or try to finally kill Maneater, or even hit 5-1.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
My experiences with Demons Souls this morning:

Hey there's a secret passage in this stairwell after the reaper guy. Oh a message! "Watch out for dangerous foe ah-" oh a red eyed dude one shots me with his dual katanas, excellent.

Ok, let's go check out that incredibly intimidating tunnel after Flamelurker. Dragon God, eh? Let me carefully approach-BAM DRAGON FIST YOU DIED.

I guess I'm gonna have to read up on white/black tendency, as I've seen several messages to the effect that I could progress in certain areas if it was all black/white. Do y'all suggest hitting the wiki, or keep trying to figure it out by myself?

Stray observations:
- Man, clerics are pompous dicks. I see why Patches is always kicking them down holes.
- The woman NPC can toss out a very creepy "Umbasa", right?
- I killed Yirt. The dude just seemed one boss-battle away from murdering everyone, and a bunch of corpses showed up around the Nexus when after I freed him. Hope I dont regret that!

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Ineffiable posted:

also a reminder: servers shut down on may 31st

I really hope I can finish the game and engage in some jolly co-operation before this happens. I'm moving at the speed of slug, though. :(

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Ineffiable posted:

What worlds have you beaten?

I'll have to double check when I get back to the house tomorrow. I've gone through the Tower Knight in World 1, I'm up to Dragon God in 2, fighting Maneater in 3, and I just beat Adjudicator in 4. Haven't started 5 yet.

Does it work the same as DkS, just drop a sign and wait around to get summoned?

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

actionjackson posted:

Starting of 4-2 gets you a ton if you can kill the reaper quickly (fire works best).

Since I was stuck at the beginning of this level, I got really good at rolling off the edge and soul raying the reaper through two of his weirdo friends until they were dead, then I'd finish the reaper with my fire sword. Quick and easy 4k souls.

It seems like you take way less damage from failing in this game.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Finally back to this game after getting bored with Dark Souls again. Figured out how to kill Dragon God (seriously I felt pretty stupid when I figured out you can just hit the stupid rubble in your way) and made it through to the first shortcut of Boletaria Palace. I died a zillion times on the way, mostly to those goddamn ninjas. Also, I learned that you shouldn't try to climb a ladder when there's like 8 dudes waiting for you at the top.

I'm still going for a DEX/INT build, but I haven't found any good DEX based weapons yet, so I'm sticking with a Dragon sword +4 for now. I found a Dark Heater Shield somewhere and that has better defense than anything else. I like a fast roll, so I'm still using the leather armor (can you not upgrade armor in this game? Neither of the blacksmiths give me the option).

Tomorrow I'm going to finish out the Palace and then try to kill Maneater again. I'm really enjoying playing the game blind, I just can't help but feel like I'm probably missing a shitload of stuff. I looked at the wiki for what to use the Dragon God's soul for, but other than that I haven't peeked at it (even though it is incredibly tempted).

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
As much as I love how the environments in Dark Souls tie together, there's something extra creepy about the levels in Demon's. That jail was one of the creepiest things I've ever walked through in a video game, and Dark Souls just doesn't have anything like that. Maybe the Painted World, but that's as close as it gets.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
"Well, let's hit this fog gate in the Boletarian Palace and see what's up!"

*watches chuckles get stabbed*
*dies in two hits*

"Guess that's why they call that dude the Pentetrator!"

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
So, uh, I guess I'm not supposed to take on King Allant at SL50, right? I didn't do too bad at first, but then he nailed me with an AOE attack and killed me in one hit. :(

(I'm sure you can do it at SL1 naked but I'm talking about my first time through)

Also, gently caress that dragon. And the prince bummed me out! Double :(

Anyway, I made some good progress today. Freed two NPCs, took down Penetrator fairly easily, leveled up to SL50, lost 30k souls to Allant, and got a bunch of loot. One of the NPCs is a sorcery vendor, so that worked out. Or would work out, if I wasn't scared to use my precious Demon's Souls for stuff. I keep worrying I'm gonna find something better.

At SL50 I'm currently at 20/24/15/12/20/20/12/7. Any advice on what direction I should go over the next 50 levels? I'm thinking VIT should go to 30, END to at least 20 if not 25, and then I can up INT to 30 for the extra MP and another spell slot. And then just crank Magic until I feel like a god of blue death? I dunno.

I'm still using the Leather armor, having not found anything that I would trade my mobility for. My primary weapon is a Dragon Long Sword +4, which has served me very well so far (if I could find some chunks of Draginstone I'd upgrade it to +5 in a heartbeat). I've got a shitload of upgrade materials that I'm hoarding at the Nexus until I feel like I should research the upgrade process, but I probably won't do that until I fell like my current weapon is lagging. I'm using the Rune shield because it looks aces and I was tired of looking at the Heater shield.

Tomorrow: Maneater. And whatever is beyond. Still haven't touched world 5, so maybe I'll poke my head in there.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
:fuckyeah: Maneater is down! Only took me 5 attempts that time. :)

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
So the Old Monk was the weirdest fight I've seen so far. Maybe because I've been rocking a claw gimmick in DaS for awhile now, or maybe because it was nice to see where Jeremiah's hat came from. Anyway, that's two worlds down.

I'm still leery of world 5, so I think I'm going to attempt to finish world 4 first.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Got invaded for the first time! I'm pretty sure it wasn't a NPC, unless FROM is adding characters named sniper5161719 to the game. I even managed to beat him, which completely surprised me. :)

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Finished off Old Hero, Storm King, and Leechmonger today. Definitely feel over-leveled for the Valley of Defilement so far, but I'm sure that will change soon. All three were kind of middle of the road bosses. I recognized Old Hero's gimmick pretty quickly, so he wasn't difficult except getting used to dodging his attacks. Storm King had an excellent "cliff on the edge of the world" vibe going, but I thought the gimmick was rather lame (can you do anything else with that sword?). Leechmonger would have been much tougher if I had taken it on earlier in the game.

I feel like I'm zooming to the end of the game. In a way, I can't wait to finish it so I can crank up NG+ and start figuring all the stuff I missed. On the other hand, I'll be sad I don't get to experience it for the first time again. :(

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I pushed into 5-2 and jesus christ did I get loving lost. Eventually I stumbled across a black phantom (that reminded me of a certain other butcher knife wielding phantom) that wrecked my poo poo when I tried to roll in the swamp. Where's my trusty Rusted Iron ring when I need it?

Decided to leave it at that for the day.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Wildtortilla posted:

After spending 300+ hours in dark souls across the 360, PS3, and PC I'm thinking about picking up Demon's Souls. Is this a solid decision? Are the servers still up? I hope so! I can't loving wait to get the feeling Dark Souls gave me the first time playing it.

Yes, they're still up. :) Also, it's just as menacing and fun as you might imagine. Some of the basic combat skills will translate, and you'll think you know what you're doing, and then you'll die over and over again. It's fantastic.

There's such a glut of games right now that I haven't had time to finish this yet. Hopefully I'll have some time over the holidays.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

FrickenMoron posted:



I still need to plat Dark souls on PS3, its not as easy because of no more duping. :(

You don't really need to dupe in Dark Souls. To dupe to begin with you'd have to have somebody drop you 99 of something, so it never really mattered achievement wise.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Fergus Mac Roich posted:

God drat. I just today had my first real "The true Demon's Souls starts here" fight with a boss: Maneaters. I don't know what's ahead in 4-2, 5-2, or the next tier, but so far I'd say that's the hardest boss in the game and harder than almost anything in Dark Souls. What a bitch of a fight, glad it's over with.

As a DkS first player, this was my hardest fight so far as well.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
I took a break from DeS after getting lost in 5-2 and then dying to an invader. I loaded up my save and I'm completely lost again! :v: It's good to be back.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Valley of Defilement is kicking my rear end. I lost once to a red phantom with a butcher knife, then came back and killed him before a giant troll looking motherfucker flattened me. On my way to recover I fell off one of the ledges before you even get to the swamp, makings feel pretty goddamn :downs:

I got to the second area after the first troll, and decided for some stupid reason to take on the three that are guarding a hill with a bunch of loot. I started pulling them one by one, and got two of them down, but the third decided to just bitch slap me. My kingdom for a loving rusted iron ring. I obviously can't block these guys, and the game just flips you the bird if you try to roll while in the swamp.

Imma get dem items, though, gently caress those trolls.

I'd like some advice on where to take my build. Right now I'm SL63:

VIT 20
INT 27
END 15
STR 12
DEX 20
MAG 30
FTH 12
Luck 7

I wanted to make a DEX/INT build, using sorcerers and fast weapons. I'm thinking of taking a Defilement break and leveling up a bit, then exploring some other areas. Where should my next 10-15 points go?

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Before I stopped playing yesterday I picked up the Sword of Moonlight, and I got super excited because the MLGS in Dark Souls was my jam. Then I looked at the stats and realized it requires FTH. :(

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Yeah, I started with the I the intention of replicating a DEX/INT build from DkS, so I haven't even touched FTH yet. I'm attempting my first play through as blind as possible, so I haven't like into what weapons are around. I just saw an awesome sword stuck in the ground, and then got real excited when I pulled it out and saw the name.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

FrickenMoron posted:

Int is pretty useless in demons so just put it at 18 max and forget about it. If you intend to use spells at all.

I'm already way past that, but yeah I won't be putting in more points.

knox posted:

I'm still in love with this game but feel slightly weird not buying Dark Souls/wanting to play it. Now that DS2 is coming out there's no chance of me playing it, and it always got the vibe that it was just a little bit too much with the annoyance, unlike where Demon Soul's the potential is obviously there for the annoyance but it wasn't as mandatory. I need to get on my DBS character.

I can't understand what you're trying to say here so I'll just say that you should go play Dark Souls, it's an excellent game. I think I'm a bit biased since I started with Dark and then went to Demon's, but I think Dark is better in a lot of ways. Personal preference aside, they are both amazing games.

EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend
Magic makes the boss of 5-2 kind of a wimp. His projectile attacks were easy to avoid for the most part (at some point they started homing in on me for some reason) and his punches never came close to me.

I can't wait to finish this game and start reading up on the lore and all the stuff I'm missing.

Onto 5-3, right after I see what I can do with this new soul...

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EC
Jul 10, 2001

The Legend

Novum posted:

Turn up the volume on your tv.

Will do!

I finally got around to looking at the wiki to figure out how upgrades work. It seems like with my specs (20 DEX, 32 MAG) I should be using a Crescent weapon of some sort. As I was deciding on which to upgrade, I noticed I already had a crescent falchion in my storage. I don't even remember picking it up, so it was a nice surprise. I took it up to +4 and its doing very nicely. I was using a Dragon Long Sword +4 previously, and was ready for something new.

I also switched out my hard leather set for the Shaman's set and the assassin's mask. Looks balled as hell! The only other new armor I've picked up is for females only.

Edit: what should I be using for a shield at this point? I've been rocking the Rune shield since I got it, but it seems costly to upgrade. Should I just upgrade the heater shield?

EC fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Jan 20, 2013

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