glassdragon

Just got this and I don't at all understand the intricacies of the leveling system or the weapon leveling system. I keep getting ones that say I am not good enough to use them so they do less damage. No matter how much I use them and do 2 damage they don't level. There doesn't seem to be an accessible strat guide that i can buy to help out

porieux

I haven't used these yet but they look good
http://www.demons-souls.com/wiki/
http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/

Baron Of Hell

Each weapon has a number of stats that you also have. So If a weapon has a strength stat of 17 you need a strength stat to use it correctly. So to figure out which stat you are lacking in just bring up the item on screen where you can select weapons. Highlight your weapon until you see the stat screen. The stats you are ok with will be white. The stats you need to improve will be red.

To raise your stats you pay some blind lady with souls. If you haven't met the blind lady you haven gone far enough in the game. I think she shows up after you defeat the first or second boss.

UncleGramps

Based on all the raves, I decided to pick this up with some trade-in credit. I haven't had time to play yet, but hopefully over the long weekend, I can dig into it.

Dorsalphin

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one. I never read the instuction manuals, but I think I'll need to read this one b/c I'm completely in the dark since the game uses symbols instead of words. I'll be dammed if I know what three side-ways squiggly lines mean...

So that's what you do with all the souls; I'll have to try this tonight. I've lost about 8,000 souls on two separate occasions b/c I bought most of the weapons but still had a ton left over. Of course... I eventually died and then died again before getting back to the spot where my souls were. The entire time I kept thinking to myself, "I have to be missing something. There's no way the game would expect you to hold onto souls for so long."

I don't know how hard I'm making it on myself, but I'm at the and I haven't leveled my character up at all.

hardcore

Once you killed the first boss (Phalanx), you can level your character up talking to the Maiden in Black. She appears in different locations around the Nexus, but she is always near the main hub of zones.

Honestly, I've played through a fair bit of the game, read a lot of the wikis, and I still don't have a good grasp of what stats to level, and what weapons and armor to use. I'm playing a level 55 thief, and I am still wearing the starting armor, and I'm using a Dagger +7 for my weapon. Looking at all the wikis there doesn't even seem to be anything better to use for the dagger class.

starseed1981

Oh yeah, alot of people have recently found at that all you really need to do in the game is have a speedy theif, a leveled up dagger and a bow. You can pretty much kill everything from a distance with the bow. Actually, it makes the game abit to easy IMO.

Fandango

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/12/30...-demons-souls/

UncleGramps

Found some time today to delve into this, and it was a lot more fun than I expected. I agree with those who have said that the game's reputation for punishing difficulty is a bit exaggerated. It is pretty unforgiving, but if you can't reach your dead body, you don't lose your equipment, just your collected souls. It seems like that's not a super big deal unless you're stockpiling them instead of spending them frequently.

Granted, I've only beaten the first boss so far, and I'm sure it gets much tougher, but it really is fun. The combat is enjoyable enough that I don't mind replaying sections. It's mildly frustrating at times, but the other side of that coin is that when you accomplish something, it really feels like a big deal. I'm looking forward to spending more time with this game.

tlwizard

Been playing this the past coupla days and have been enjoying myself.

However, I'm pissed. I just fought Milanda, finally beat her after however many tries, found the Brushwood armor but couldn't carry all of it. So I spent 30 minutes dropping things, picking up things, trying to figure out how and what I could carry, when I fell off the ledge and died. There went most of my belongings (including all the Brushwood armor, save the guantlets) and the 5000 souls from beating her.

This can be a grueling game.

porieux

^ I realize it's too late now, but if you can't carry everything you can put on the Ring of Great Strength. When you get back to the Nexus to drop stuff off (even if it is by dying), you can take the ring back off.



Glad to hear it. Beware this game is very addicting.

tlwizard

Sadly i didn't find the ring until after I lost everything.

porieux

The brushwood armor is so damn heavy you probably wouldn't use it much anyway, though that depends on your character/playstyle of course. Hopefully you didn't lose anything else more important.

kegman

I can't figure out how to get the special upgrades I gave ED the Fire lurker's soul don't know how I did that I just kept talking to him and eventually I gave it to him. Im probably 75% done the game and I have all these Demon souls. I freed Sage Freke he was supposed to go to the Nexus I can't find him. WTF am I missing.

hardcore

To upgrade weapons to the specials, you need to have the appropriate weapon type upgraded to +7. So to get the Lava bow you need something like a short bow +7 and the Lava Spider's soul.

Sage Freke is just around the corner from the other guy that sells spells in the Nexus.

Chris_D

I seem to be close to the end. I guess I have 1-4 and 5-2,5-3 to go. The end bosses of 2,3 and 4 were a bit easy but otherwise it's been a good ride.

Dorsalphin

Well... I made it to the Flame Lurker boss about 5 times last night and I was completely destroyed each time. It's pretty easy to get to him (although it takes me 5+ minutes to kill those large lava bug things), but after 5 tries I called it a night. I don't think I even got him below 1/2 health on any of my attemps. For some reason I don't seem to have many problems with the actual levels in this game, but I'm horrible when it comes to fighting the bosses. They just completely own me.

I think part of the problem is that I'm a thief but I rarely use my bow (go figure). This is probably a stupid question, but can someone explain the differences between arrows/hard arrows/bolts to me? Is it just that bows use arrows and crossbows use bolts, or is there more to it than that? I think I upgraded my compound bow to a +5, but it just doesn't seem to be very effective. Maybe I just need to upgrade my character some more to make him a little more powerful. I really need to sit down and learn the intricacies of this game, but so far I've just kind've winged it -- for better or worse.

What character class did everyone else end up using and how'd that turn out for you? By the way, is there a cap as to your soul level, or can I continue to lvl up forever?

Okay... enough questions.

Noonan

Try using magic on Flame Lurker. I think that's how I beat him (it's been a while since I finished the game). Or use Sticky White Stuff on your sword. If still no luck, try bringing in another player to help you while in body mode.

You're correct on the ammo. Bolts are for crossbows, arrows for bows. There are different levels of each. Hard arrows/bolts do more damage than regular.

You can continue to level up but there's now way you'll get very high in one play-though. The amount of souls you get just isn't enough, even in the last few areas. You can continue with your character and restart the game with harder enemies who drop many more souls.

Chris_D

Yeah, I used magic on the Flame lurker as well, and also had a blue phantom with me who was at least as strong (using the same tactic - Soul Arrow).

I primarily boosted my magic attribute and then used crescent weapons. So I had strong melee and strong magic attacks. Level 4-2 is probably the best to boost your soul level, that area seems to give up a disproportionate number of souls. So just keep helping others as a blue phantom, which is pretty safe (watch out for black phantoms though, who can take your souls). You can get 20-30k even if you die on the boss (which happens most of the time) or ~50k if you finish the level.

UncleGramps

My apologies if this was discussed earlier, but do you experienced players have any suggestions on which stage to tackle after 1-1? I can get through most of 1-2 easily, though the bit right before the boss is tricky, and the boss kicked my ass the one time I did get to him. I tried out the first stage of the other 4 worlds and none of them seemed easier than 1-2.

Should I just grind for a while and raise my stats and get better gear?

Chris_D

What's your build?
3-1 especially, and also 4-1 are good stages to explore. 4-1 will seem pretty tough at first, but as long as you go in with no souls then you can mess around a bit and work out good strategies. Once you have some confidence on these levels you should use the blue soul stone to go into other players worlds and assist them. This is a low risk way to level up quickly and is pretty fun. Also, you'll learn strategies and secrets about the levels as you play.

5-1 I found really irritating to begin with because of poison, lots of ambushes and places to fall off. I went back and knocked that one on the head later.

Anyway, you're not doing anything wrong so far so don't worry .

Noonan

I think I did 2-1, then 1-2 after the first stage. I remember having a lot of trouble in 3-1 when I tried it out early on. 4-1 is a great stage but I don't think you'll get too far into it after only finishing 1-1. You can farm a decent amount of souls at the beginning though.

UncleGramps

IIRC, I went with a hunter. I've been raising stats to improve my HP and physical damage. I guess I'll go back to 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1 and give them each another shot.

Chris_D

I had a wanderer originally, and piled into dexterity (seemed in keeping with the class). It didn't really work out so well, melee was fine but I had no magic so no ranged attack and all the bows require strength (urgh). Rerolled a mage (or whatever it's called) and have had a lot more success with that.

I think you don't need to stress out too much about not defeating the bosses of each level at first. A couple of runs through will familiarise yourself with the layout, traps, enemies etc. along with picking up the loot. Also, you should be using the blue soul stone (assuming you're in spirit form) to assist other players. Not only will you get a ton of souls with little risk but also you'll learn useful strategies from the people you team up with. Btw, make sure you have the Cling Ring equipped when in soul form, otherwise you'll be stuck on half health.

UncleGramps

Cool, I'll give that a shot. I do have the Cling Ring thanks to the Demon's Souls wiki, but I haven't played around at all with going into other peoples' games or inviting them into mine. They don't explain that aspect too well in the game, so I'll give the wiki a look.