Demon's Souls

[Sheikah]

Talk to the Maiden in Black...she levels up your stats for soul points.

 

Check a guide to see what you can trade the lead demon's souls for...can't remember now. Getting weapons with demon's souls first requires you to give the Flamelurker's Soul (from 2-1 boss) to a blacksmith deep in 2-1.

 

Store it for the time being...they can buy miracles and spells too.

[dwarf]

It's actually laughably convoluted, but I love the sound of it all The Zelda-like vibe I'm getting is great, the music in the Nexus sounds very familiar. I can still be a panicky little dweeb when facing enemies though, I usually run back for ages just to get the right equipment sorted out and think about what attacks will work etc, but as I've progressed this short while I've been improving somewhat.

 

Feel a bit out of my depth with all of the options and whatnot, I don't think I'm ready to start using axes and javelins and shizzle yet.

 

Finally, what are soul points? Or do you just mean souls? And what is the soul level? Is that the number of demons you've defeated or?

 

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

[Sheikah]

soul, soul points, basically the same. You get them for killing enemies. By using souls to get soul points I basically meant use the 'unknown soldier soul' items to get soul points.

 

It's pretty simple and easy to understand once you play for a little while. Also, start upgrading a long bow/composite longbow. Look up how to get a viscous compound longbow; it's a great bow and makes things much, much easier.

[dwarf]

How do you upgrade the Catalyst itself, and how do you learn new spells? Plus where do you use the boss souls anyway?

 

A little update of where I am - I defeated both the Tower Knight and Armour Spider. Then I explored the many branching paths of the spider stone level entry point, went down a few tunnels defeating those annoying fire enemies, then there came a point where one of the paths branched into a lava part. This was the only place left that could've lead somewhere, but the big creatures took a lot of magic to take down and I had no spices to get the MP bar up quickly, plus I was overburdoned for a while on that level, so in the end I ran all the way back to the sword and warped to the Nexus.

 

Basically I've dumped all of my ore off and shields that I can't use yet, leaving me tons of space left. Had around 30,000 souls to level up with, so I'm pretty much just cramming it on magic, as well as a bit on strength and vitality.

 

What was the mission I accepted to undertake by the Monumental. Plus, what is the 'Old one' the maiden keeps banging on about. I think I'm meant to kill it but I have no idea what it is.

Edited April 14, 2010 by dwarf

[Sheikah]

How do you upgrade the Catalyst itself, and how do you learn new spells? Plus where do you use the boss souls anyway?

 

Don't think you can. Although you can technically get an insanity catalyst later with the old monk's demon soul and a regular catalyst (cuts your max MP though). To be honest, magic spells seem great at first but get less useful unless you properly invest stat points in mostly magic stats.

 

You learn new spells from Freke's apprentice (should already be there) and better spells from Sage Freke himself after you save him (google). And for miracles, first you need the talisman of god (on the floor in world 4) to use them, then you can learn miracles from urbain's apprentice (or whatever he's called) and even better Miracles from saving Saint Urbain in 4-1. They go back to the Nexus after you open/find the way out of wherever they're trapped.

 

Also don't kill/attack a guy called Patches who asks you to go near a hole in 4-1. I did on my first playthrough and then you can't use him as a merchant in the Nexus.

 

One good miracle you can get in exchange for a demon's soul is second chance. Basically whenever you take a hit that would kill you, you are instantly revived with half your full HP. VERY useful. Also save the adjucator's soul to make a meat cleaver at blacksmith boldwin (world 2-1, google how to find him). The meat cleaver is a great sword...looks like Cloud's buster sword too.

 

A little update of where I am - I defeated both the Tower Knight and Armour Spider. Then I explored the many branching paths of the spider stone level entry point, went down a few tunnels defeating those annoying fire enemies, then there came a point where one of the paths branched into a lava part. This was the only place left that could've lead somewhere, but the big creatures took a lot of magic to take down and I had no spices to get the MP bar up quickly, plus I was overburdoned for a while on that level, so in the end I ran all the way back to the sword and warped to the Nexus.

 

Basically I've dumped all of my ore off and shields that I can't use yet, leaving me tons of space left. Had around 30,000 souls to level up with, so I'm pretty much just cramming it on magic, as well as a bit on strength and vitality.

 

Always dump ore at the stockpile. You never need it on you. When you go to upgrade, it counts as you having it even if it's miles away in your stockpile.

 

I would actually, for now, concentrate on VIT, STR and END. Strength for being to equip better shields and weapons, vit for more HP and End so you can equip stuff without being overweight AND for better fatigue (very useful).

 

What was the mission I accepted to undertake by the Monumental. Plus, what is the 'Old one' the maiden keeps banging on about. I think I'm meant to kill it but I have no idea what it is.

 

They're the same thing...finish all levels (bosses) and beat the final boss).

[dwarf]

I died a really shit death earlier, and then I died an even shitter one when I tried to reclaim the soul, so I ended up just using the stone of ephemeral eyes. Seemed a bit of an easy choice, are they meant to be really rare or something? Because I had 6 which seems plenty atm.

 

This'll be the last thing I'll ask help for, and it's just about the basics: can you give me the lowdown on the whole dying thing? When I die, half my hp goes, but when I find the spot where I died it doesn't go back up. Do I have to defeat a boss to get the health back (if i'm not using the ephemeral) ?

 

And what's a phantom state, is that dying without a soul? And what will repeated deaths lead to, if anything?

Edited April 14, 2010 by dwarf

[Choze]

Namco Bandai are bringing this over to Europe. Its the best thing they have done this whole generation.

 

Really looking forward to it after the lousy game design of FFXIII.

[Sheikah]

I died a really shit death earlier, and then I died an even shitter one when I tried to reclaim the soul, so I ended up just using the stone of ephemeral eyes. Seemed a bit of an easy choice, are they meant to be really rare or something? Because I had 6 which seems plenty atm.

 

I would avoid doing that. Quite often you will want to reach pure white world tendency in a world in order to get certain rare pieces of equipment; something you do by killing bosses in a world, or black phantoms (basically only there in pure black world tendency).

 

When you die in body form you get closer to black tendency, making getting pure white world tendency harder. It can actually become extremely difficult to get pure white world tendency if you go too black, whereas getting black for some events/items is as simple as use stones of ephemeral eyes and then killing yourself.

 

This'll be the last thing I'll ask help for, and it's just about the basics: can you give me the lowdown on the whole dying thing? When I die, half my hp goes, but when I find the spot where I died it doesn't go back up. Do I have to defeat a boss to get the health back (if i'm not using the ephemeral) ?

 

You have full HP in body form. When you die, you go to soul form. In soul form your HP is halved (unless you equip the cling ring to have roughly 75% HP).

 

You ONLY have full HP when you are in body form, which you ONLY get by defeating a boss OR using a stone of ephemeral eyes, OR by killing someone as a black phantom (or getting revived by someone as a blue phantom, but that's really rare).

 

And what's a phantom state, is that dying without a soul? And what will repeated deaths lead to, if anything?

There's a few types of phantom:

 

NPC black phantom - basically quite a few in-world NPCs, such as Sasuki at the very beginning of world 4-1, become evil black phantoms when your world tendency is pure black. They run at you and attack you, and are pretty hard to kill. But they always drop something that's very good. When you kill them, your world tendency returns to neutral.

 

You as a black phantom - when you get to a part in the game you get given a blue eye stone and a black eye stone (they never get used up). When in soul form (halved HP) you can use a black eyed stone to invade someone elses world. Then you can try kill them...in doing so, your character tendency (not world tendency; they're different things) becomes more black. And if you kill them, you get your body back.

 

You as a blue phantom - if you're a soul you can use your blue eye stone at certain points within a level (usually at the beginning or just before the boss) to create a blue blood stain on the floor. Anyone in body form can click this and summon you so you fight alongside them. You get sent back to your world the instant you die or defeat the boss, and get a share of the souls (more if a person rates you well).

 

Namco Bandai are bringing this over to Europe. Its the best thing they have done this whole generation.

 

 

 

Really looking forward to it after the lousy game design of FFXIII.

 

 

It's good to hear that it's coming to Europe. Although FFXIII is a very good game, and worth it once you get past the earlier bits.

[dwarf]

OK cool. I clicked on someone's blue-eye thingamie earlier and they helped/I helped to defeat the Flamelurker boss. Since then I spent a frustrating time trying to get through the Boletaria dungeon that's beyond the mist. Have now managed to open a gate so that I've got quicker access to the boss.

 

I love exploiting the AI so they run into fire, saves me the hassle.

[Sheikah]

On that level you can get a key and go back to just after/before (I forget) where you fought the tower knight. There's a door you can unlock and reach a prison cell. Here you can defeat another of those Magistrate enemies to get another key, as well as rescue Biorr who makes boss 3 on that world a breeze.

 

That other key opens the gate near where the dogs and locked caravans are at the beginning of 3-3, and if you go down there after getting the official's cap (from a magistrate somewhere in the level) one of the magistrates there lets you in and you can kill him. You can get some rings there as well as rescue Yuria the Witch who teaches some great spells.

[dwarf]

Oh well I defeated that quick knight boss already without knowing what those grinning axe wielder's keys were used for. I take it keys only work in the same 'realm' where you find them? Otherwise I think I'll figure it all out by myself without your help without sounding too rude :p

 

Managed to find Yuria without your help, so I think I'm officially done with help seeking. Apart from I keep getting told that my armour is broken, have the little icon in the top right corner saying sow, yet all my armour and my shields and weapons have endurance above 0. How do I find what needs fixing?

 

Btw I can officially say that this game is fucking awesome. It's surprisingly close to what I was expecting and wanting, but obviously there's a lot of really cool stuff I hadn't really thought of. The online stuff I actually think is pretty damn revolutionary. Man, this shit has to be bought by every PS3 owner!

Edited April 16, 2010 by dwarf

[Sheikah]

Oh well I defeated that quick knight boss already without knowing what those grinning axe wielder's keys were used for. I take it keys only work in the same 'realm' where you find them? Otherwise I think I'll figure it all out by myself without your help without sounding too rude :p

 

That's pretty good. In New game + the Penetrator is pretty tough. It's good to have Biorr (the NPC) accompany you for that.

 

Managed to find Yuria without your help, so I think I'm officially done with help seeking. Apart from I keep getting told that my armour is broken, have the little icon in the top right corner saying sow, yet all my armour and my shields and weapons have endurance above 0. How do I find what needs fixing?

 

Take some Ed's Grindstones with you...souls come easy in 4-2 (get the Viscous Compound Longbow; may as well since it earns you a trophy anyhow; it's an awesome bow). Bow the grim reaper-type thing at the start of the level for some easy souls earlier on (for 4-5 arrows you net something like 6-8k souls). You need to keep your pure spiderstone from the spider boss as well as farm some chunks and shards/splinters (forgot what they're called, it's one of those).

 

 

Where it says duration (durability)...that's the life of the equipment piece.

 

Btw I can officially say that this game is fucking awesome. It's surprisingly close to what I was expecting and wanting, but obviously there's a lot of really cool stuff I hadn't really thought of. The online stuff I actually think is pretty damn revolutionary. Man, this shit has to be bought by every PS3 owner!

Yup, it rocks. But these days everyone just buys games that are hyped, that they're heard of, or played prequels to death already. :P

 

The online side is awesome, and so much better than hearing young teenagers screaming down microphones about pointless crap...this way the atmosphere is retained while still having player interaction.

 

It's great how it's difficult...too many games are a pushover and there's often little consequence to dying. This makes you actually care about what happens more.

 

By the way, I'd check our world tendency events and the world/character tendency section here as that really is one of the few things you can miss, but is so useful to know as many of the best things are obtained that way (e.g. Talisman of Beasts; lets you cast both miracles and spells without switching talisman/wands, and the dragon bone smasher).

[dwarf]

I got the dragon bone smasher, need a lot more strength to use it though. Haven't actually used my bow or crossbow yet because they just seem seriously underpowered and ammo is sparse. Bare in mind I probably have the worst bows going.

[Sheikah]

Yup, I've changed my mind about which bow you should get. Because the other option is so much easier to get, and initially will do as good/better damage (providing you don't bother with dex much).

 

Get the lava bow. Basically buy a shortbow, then go to the very beginning of 2-1 where the filthy man merchant is and buy 30 shards of hardstone and 11 large shards of hardstone. Then take the hard demon's soul (the spider demon boss) to the blacksmith in 2-1 (you have to take the Flamelurker's soul to him first and give it to him for him to make weapons using demon's souls - talk to him lots and offer it him when he asks) and make the lava bow.

 

It does an additional 100 fire damage ever shot, and stuns. Bows become almost essential for some bosses, particularly in New Game +, and make hunting things so much quicker (grim reapers in 4-2). Totally worth it.

[dwarf]

Would I be able to kill the red dragon with that? I couldn't even hit the bastard with my magic or bow when I was on the sniper perch on the bridge.

[Sheikah]

Yup, I did. You will pretty much need a good bow to be able to do this. Same with the blue dragon later on. You can probably kill it in less than a hundred arrows with a good bow and some heavy arrows. You can only kill the red dragon in 1-2 on the top of one of the little forts while in continuously swoops down, as far as I know (you'll see its HP bar show up if you land; you'll eventually get a good rhythm).

 

Then when the red dragon is dead, feel free to go loot the stuff in 1-1, including the purple flame shield.

[Pit-Jr]

its always fun to read how people progress in this game and whether they love it or hate it.

 

On my first playthrough someone left a 'sticky white stuff'

soul sign on Ed's bed in the corner. This game is pure class im telling ya.

[Sheikah]

its always fun to read how people progress in this game and whether they love it or hate it.

 

On my first playthrough someone left a 'sticky white stuff'

soul sign on Ed's bed in the corner. This game is pure class im telling ya.

lol, there was something like a 7,000+ rating for the same message next to Yuria in the Nexus once. Sad but true. :p

[dwarf]

I just upgraded the compound short bow to 10+ and thought he would then offer to make the lava bow, but apparently not. I gave him the Flamelurker soul he wanted too. Pretty pissed off, I had to do a lot of hardstone farming to get it to that level, yet it still does fuck all damage.

 

Apparently it needs to be +7 or something. I'm kind of tiring of the lack of information. Why aren't I told about this black smith and his desire for this particular soul, why doesn't he tell me what he can do with it and why doesn't he clearly say he can make a fire bow once I've upgraded my bow?

Edited April 16, 2010 by dwarf

[Cookyman]

From Joystiq

 

Namco Bandai will unleash Demon's Souls upon European territories on June 25, ending the region's dearth of pleasurable pain, the publisher has announced. The PlayStation 3 exclusive will be released as a limited "Black Phantom Edition" retail package, featuring the game, a soundtrack CD, an artbook and a strategy guide (trust us, Europe, you'll need it!). Atlus, as you may recall, published the game in North America, following its debut in Japan under the Sony label. The game was co-developed by From Software and SCE Japan Studio.

 

Hmmm save me hunting for this on ebay then.

[Sheikah]

I just upgraded the compound short bow to 10+ and thought he would then offer to make the lava bow, but apparently not. I gave him the Flamelurker soul he wanted too. Pretty pissed off, I had to do a lot of hardstone farming to get it to that level, yet it still does fuck all damage.

 

Umm, you don't upgrade anything to +10.

 

You need to upgrade to a certain level for it then to be able to upgrade to a base lava bow. Often specific.

 

In this case, a short bow to +7 and then no more, at which point you take it along with the hard demon's soul. Before I said the correct amount of hardstone to get to +7, although I should have perhaps mentioned go no further than +7. Still, it's cheap to buy hardstone shards and large shards (trust me, you won't notice the amount of souls it takes). Plus you might have got a trophy for getting it to +10?

 

When you get the lava bow your damage will be much, much higher.

 

Apparently it needs to be +7 or something. I'm kind of tiring of the lack of information. Why aren't I told about this black smith and his desire for this particular soul, why doesn't he tell me what he can do with it and why doesn't he clearly say he can make a fire bow once I've upgraded my bow?

 

You take the demon's souls along and see what he can make. But you really should just check this stuff online...there's so much you will miss. I don't check guides for how to complete levels, purely for equipment guides as often in RPGs that's the stuff that no amount of exploration that could give you most of the answers.

Edited April 16, 2010 by Sheikah

[dwarf]

Well my bow definitely is +10, it says. And what? I have him the soul he asked for? I don't understand how I've gone wrong.

[Sheikah]

You needed a +7 bow, not a +10. It's gone too far. Make another by getting a short bow and 30 hardstone shards, and 11 large hardstone shards, and upgrade to +7. Make sure to take the spider demon's (hard demon soul) and talk to Baldwin (not Ed). The Flamelurker's soul was just to enable the use of forging with demon's souls. The lava bow also needs the spider boss's soul.

[dwarf]

You can degrade bows can't you? With meltstone?

[Sheikah]

Yeah but that probably just sends it way back to +0. Seems a waste. Plus meltstone is pretty rare I think; I only remember getting one. Just buy another bow...play 4-2 and kill the reapers at the beginning for mass souls, then leave (also I found world 4 bosses to be by far the easiest, although the level of 4-2 can be a bit tough. Plus world 4-1 boss gives you the penetrator soul to make a meat cleaver if you take a club and its soul to Baldwin)

 

Oh and get this; the last boss in world 3 summons another online player to fight in his stead; buffs the person and you have to kill them to get the demon's soul. Awesome or what?