Demon's Souls (12th November 2020)

[Ronnie]

5 hours ago, Esequiel said:

I came here to say this - I managed to get a PS5 yesterday. Went today to get a game but I am spoilt with game pass and can’t bring myself to pay £70 for a game even though I would like to try demon souls. May even get rid of the PS5 and wait for next year.

Yeah it feels really weird to go from GamePass to spending £70 on a game. Even if prices drop, it’s still a big hurdle to mentally get over. 

I’ll definitely be waiting for big price drops instead of playing at release. We’ve been trained to expect them pretty soon after launch anyway. 

[Dcubed]

Honestly? Prices for non-Nintendo games drop so incredibly fast these days that you'd be absolutely mad to buy on Day 1.

Not to mention that you also get a better game if you wait for them to iron out all the bugs and bundle in all the DLC, after the Day 1 buyers have beta tested it for you.

Games aint what they used to be.

[Blade]

I was tempted to buy this game at launch but decided against it for now. I’m unsure if I like the genre and paying £70 is a steep price to pay.

[Julius]

Well, with Cyberpunk not wanting to play nice leading me to shelving it for the time being, but me clearly in the mood for a long-ish RPG...I decided it was time to boot this up. 

I'm a bit over 2 hours into my first From Software game, and have just cleared 1-1. Taking it very slow trying to get a feel for the combat and to gauge which enemies I can and can't take on, which I'm still adjusting to (keep forgetting to lock on!), and died a few times already. Which has also been its own interesting experience once I figured out I could go and get the souls back so long as I didn't die. For anyone wondering, I went with being a Knight, and decided (after very little research) to grab a Providential Ring at the start. 

First death was to the Vanguard Demon, quite predictably, though I did much, much worse than I had expected to against the big guy: I kind of cornered myself immediately when trying to gauge his swing, and after five or six rolls weren't enough to get me out of an awkward position, got hit with the old one-two and was down for the count. The next time was a hole. After that it was a red-eyed demon. And then him again. And again. I learned a valuable lesson about being willing to just grab my souls and run away, that's for sure 

Game looks gorgeous, playing in Performance Mode so it feels super smooth, and I'm quite liking the feel of the haptic feedback so far (even if it's dialled way down compared to something like Astro's Playroom). I feel like I might need to turn the brightness up, because it's ridiculously hard to see in some of the darker areas, but I guess that's the point? Level design has been really solid so far, I love the shortcuts and just how natural the location's layout feels, because in some other games I know levels can feel a bit contrived at times. Really appreciate the incorporation of the bloodstains and messages too, adds a completely new dimension to the game. Been tricked once or twice, but also loved how simple the tutorials were, so can't complain! The number of deaths I witnessed with people throwing themselves from high points in The Nexus is admittedly a little concerning, though  music has made my ears perk up a couple of times too already, I'm a big fan of the main theme of the game in particular; foreboding, menacing, and completely overpowering, I love it! 

Super early impressions, but yeah, I'm digging it so far. It's super tense and has me on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding like only The Last of Us games has before for me, hopefully I'll adapt a bit before the end of the game though because that can't be healthy for my back!  only thing which has felt a bit off so far has been lining up heavy attacks, there are times I'm square on with enemies, launch a heavy attack at them, and completely miss. It's just weird is all, I'm sure I'll get used to it! 

Oh, and Phalanx is perhaps the weirdest boss I've ever come across, in appearance and the tactics required to beat it. I mean, I guess Firebombs aren't so weird a tactic...but yeah, I was long out of them, so spent probably 20 minutes cheesing it by locking on and strafing around the room, coming in to take out one of the little sludge shield dudes at a time, and then backing back off. Was not what I was expecting from my first Souls boss experience, that's for sure! 

Not super sure where I'm going next. I think 1-2 has opened up (The Lord's Path?) but I know I can return to The Nexus and start another world too. I think I'll stick with 1-2 for now, but does anyone have any tips on the order to take things on? Or just any general tips for the game? 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Julius

[Magnus]

4 hours ago, Julius said:

The number of deaths I witnessed with people throwing themselves from high points in The Nexus is admittedly a little concerning, though 

This is because of world tendency: dying while in body form will move an area towards black world tendency, while defeating bosses while move it towards white world tendency. Black world tendency will spawn harder enemies. Pure black/pure white world tendency also unlocks areas with unique items. The reason people kill themselves in the Nexus is because it doesn't affect world tendency.

[Julius]

Continued my journey on, down The Lord's Path aaaaaaaand...yep, been hit with that patent Souls difficulty slap. Or at least it feels that way. 

First time through, I made it to the end against the Tower Knight without much of an issue. Took it slowly, took my time, managed to avoid the flames of that red dragon on every bridge, scoured areas as much as I could, finding my buddy Ostravus again and giving him a hand. Side note: I really like how straying from the beaten path rewards you with character interactions - even if the shopkeeper does give me the creeps which makes me want to cut him down - and saving Ostravus then having him lead the way and take some people down is a great way to repay you in terms of gameplay, which I don't think I've experienced in other games this much before? Anyways, the guy kind of lost the plot and started waving his sword at nothing, nowhere near the guys he was trying to attack (...unless he was waving?), but I appreciate the effort. But yeah, that first run went really smoothly...until I got to Tower Knight. I know I need to slice his heels, gamer gut feeling thing, and so chopped down all of those archers around us and made my way back down, but I just couldn't get inside, and the angle never opened up. Is it because I'm locking on and strafing? Used up waaaaaaay too many health items, and just as I thought I was starting to make some progress, he took me out by hitting me with his spear to stun me, when I was backed up against one of the longer walls to the sides, and then shield slammed his flames at me. 

No big deal, I thought. If I could get that far the first time, this should be fine, I'll get him next time! So thinking back to it, I kind of rushed things, and instead of going under the second bridge I went over it, sprinting across, and didn't gauge my timing or the length of the bridge correctly (or both), and got killed by the flames of that damn red dragon. Souls were lost. 

The red dragon killed me a couple more times, I lost to the blue-eyed knights before the final fog door before Tower Knight a couple of times, and I got cornered by wolves in the underground area. The AI in this game seemed a bit more temperamental in this area than it was before (maybe because it's a pretty tight space the whole way?); I don't need encounters to play out the same every time, but every time I went to make my way across - even after coaxing out to burn the bridge and running behind it - the red dragon would take a different length of time to come back out, and the archers by the blue-eyed knights would be static one time - meaning they were easy to kill with a bit of patience - but other times they were running back to the blue-eyed knight, and I was taking on a tank while being shot with arrows again. It makes the game unpredictable, for better and worse; going to be more patient when I give it another try tomorrow. And there's definitely a bit of jank when it comes to the game's combat, because even though it nails the heft of the weapons and rolls, it just feels off at times, and not as reactive. And then there are the times where I'm still accidentally pressing square and either wasting grass or, in some cases, think I'm eating grass but instead I'm lighting my sword on fire and get killed when I should have healed myself. I'm definitely still on that learning curve! 

I did make it back to the Tower Knight in the end, but got cornered again; I didn't even get a hit in this time. Could sense I was getting frustrated, so even though I'd invested another two hours into the game this evening, I chose to put the game down. Get the feeling it's going to be one of those classic gaming things, where I can't do it no matter how many times I try, and a day later I'll do it with much more ease. We'll see I guess 

On the upside, I've ended up with a ton of Hardstone Shards, and thank goodness, because I accidentally spent some on the Bastard Sword for an upgrade...not knowing it was a two-handed weapon. Yeah, like I'm doing anything in this game without a shield; this is going to be like the shotgun and torch for me in The Last of Us, always equipped and drawn because I know there's going to be something out there  and then I spent a load of Souls not knowing what to do with them but wanting to spend them before going back out to 1-2 (I went back to The Nexus when I started today), so stocked up on way too much grass (which, again, I completely wasted) before learning that the Maiden in Black would accept them to level up my stats. 

But speaking of The Maiden, she needs to learn to give better directions! I spent a good 10 minutes looking for The Monumental after her vague "go through those doors" direction, only to find a bunch of staircases and different floors 

Overall, a bit more of a frustrating session today when compared with yesterday's. I'm still learning and getting to grips with the game, so this was bound to happen. Feel like maybe I'm too invested in retrieving Souls that I lose? Anyways, it's going to take a lot more than my experience today to dissuade me from trudging on, because when this game clicks, it feels so good. It's just unfortunate that there's a bit of jank to hold it back elsewhere, but I've found it clicking much more than I've encountered jank (so far) 

[Magnus]

5 hours ago, Julius said:

But speaking of The Maiden, she needs to learn to give better directions! I spent a good 10 minutes looking for The Monumental after her vague "go through those doors" direction, only to find a bunch of staircases and different floors 

The Nexus is such a mess. Every time I want to go upstairs to kill myself, I end up walking up the wrong set of stairs.

If you don't mind losing your souls, you could just try a different archstone. It's kind of upsetting the first time you lose your souls, but it takes a surprisingly short amount of time to make them all back. I once lost more than 40,000 souls in Bloodborne, to put things into perspective.

I've always seen the recommended order as being 1-1, 2-1, 3-1 and so on. 2-1 has a much easier boss, too, so you might have an easier time there.

[drahkon]

Welcome to Dark Demon's Souls, @Julius 

Last Saturday, when I told my sister I'll buy either this or Cyberpunk 2077, her boyfriend told me to not buy Demon's Souls.
He either reeeaaaally wanted me to play Cyberpunk 2077 or there's a possibility that I'll get a pretty cool Christmas present  

[LazyBoy]

@Julius There is that temptation when you die to a boss or at the end of a level to just rush back to it and skip all the bits in between - resist this temptation, as the game is built to fuck with the impatient. There will be a time when you can speed through the level, but it takes time. Instead of focusing on completing a level for now, focus instead on each individual encounter - how many swings does it take to kill an enemy, when do they leave themselves most open, can I cheese any of them, or best of all can you parry any of them? These games seem unfair (and they can be), but really they're just opaque. You can master them like any other game, you just need to figure it out. Slowly, slowly.

[Julius]

Took a break since Tuesday and got back to the game today; it's definitely something which when I sit down to play it, I want to give it all of my attention. Imagine I might be playing it until the end of the year 

I stuck with 1-2, and a couple more hours later, I've finally beat Tower Knight! That might be the proudest trophy pop I've had.

I decided to stick with 1-2 mainly because I had become so familiar with the level and didn't want to move on, and of course I wanted to see if I could get on the inside of Tower Knight. First time I got to him today, decided to start drawing him in to use his shield slam, step back when he starts the animation, deselect the heel I was targeting, sprint around and behind, centre the camera (but not target), let him react while staying behind him, and then target the heel and start slashing away. I think my problem before was trying to roll around his attacks with very little stamina, but sprinting right at and then around definitely worked. 

@LazyBoy thanks a lot for the advice - I tried to heed it when returning to the game today! Was careful to remain calm and not get carried away, figuring out attack patterns, and, in some cases, cheesing it a bit  

Other than Tower Knight, my biggest hurdle to overcome was the two blue-eyed knights just before the fog door. The first one is within range of some archers I wanted to take out to avoid being stunned, and the other is in a tight corridor, so I started drawing them out to the bridge far enough for the red dragon to swoop in and burn them (it backfired one time where I was on the wrong side to sprint away, and the last time I took them on before beating Tower Knight, the first one got toasted but then the red dragon didn't seem very interested in the second! ). 

On Tower Knight himself, once I figured out how to get on his inside, the main issue I had was actually with the space around me - I noticed I kept getting cornered against walls, and so would end up in awkward spots where I couldn't make an easy getaway. Once I noticed this, started waiting at the bottom of the stairs to draw him over, ran half way up for him to throw one of his blue magic spear attacks my way, and sprinted back down and around him to start attacking again. 

I'm really enjoying it now. I know I'm only 2 levels in, and I imagine there are many tougher enemies to come, but learning the level layout and how to handle different enemy encounters...is it weird to say it really reminds me of 2D Mario games, specifically the castles at the end of the world, in a pretty great way? You learn the level layout, if you lose a life you're sent back to the start (or the last checkpoint) and your learning of the layout is reinforced by dying, and then there's a boss who might send you back to the start/the last checkpoint at the end. It's a really hard loop of play to peel yourself away from! 

Worth mentioning I had one crash today, but what I love is that because this game is constantly autosaving after encounters, I lost only maybe two or three seconds of actual gameplay once I booted it back up. Even though the game is difficult, and I'm definitely still learning, it's surprisingly fair when it comes to this and enemy encounters. It just wants you to spend time learning it, and I'll be honest, other than a few times in JRPG's where I'll find myself underlevelled and purposely refuse to grind because I want to see if I can overcome something without levelling up, it's been quite a long time since I've found myself stuck on a level and a boss like this! It made me feel like a kid, in a super weird way, in that I appreciated the frustration and just stuck with it.

The other great thing is that even if I did end up looking up strategies (quite proud I didn't!), it wouldn't really matter, because, unless it's something which might make it an easier encounter - a lot of the messages were saying to use ranged weapons and magic, so I imagine that's one way for Tower Knight I guess? - it so heavily relies on your skills and reactions to make your way through. 

Anyways, now that I have some idea of what I'm doing with my souls, I finally spent some on increasing some of my stats. I'm playing as a Knight so invested a bit in Vitality and Endurance, fingers crossed that's what I need to be investing in 

Time to take a break, and then it's onto 2-1! 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

I got to the end of 2-1 on Saturday, lost to the boss once, and then called it a night. It was quite late!

But I got back to it today, and yeah, Armour Spider is now down!  had a similar issue with Tower Knight (...though for nowhere near as long) where I kept locking on and finding myself in weird positions, or too slow to react. It might be the new camera for the remake now that I think about it too? But anyways, first attempt back on Saturday, I got in close and then was pushed to the side by it's pincers, trapped in some webs, and got doused in oil before being set on fire. Fun. First few attempts today I didn't use as many healing items, to give myself a better idea of what I'm up against (getting over losing Souls has really freed me of the burden of dying), and got used to timing some of the dodge rolls. Final attempt I didn't lock on unless I was backing away, either from the sea of flames or when in close getting some attacks in, but had a blast just dodge rolling into attacks (pincers, fire balls, and webs), the only real issue I had when in close to the thing was avoiding it's body slam (would kind of lose my bearings a bit because of the camera). Really enjoyed the boss fight in the end! Much easier to say when it's over, mind you 

Really liking the atmosphere and visual storytelling in this game so far, the little description of the level before jumping into an Archstone, and then seeing it all in action, really just makes this game feel so grand and epic in scale. The lighting has been phenomenal too, the yellow eyes of the miners piercing through the darkness, the occasional fire lizard dude pouncing down from above and lighting the place up (as well as setting me ablaze once or twice too!). 

I did a little bit of grinding and farming at the start and end of my session today, mainly because I remember I didn't find many healing items in 2-1 when I last played, so made the decision to hop back to the end of 1-2. This game is weirdly fun to farm items in, considering that you're put in a position where sneaking up on guys who gave you trouble before, and stabbing them in the back, is a very real option to go with. Got quite a bit of grass now, should do me for a little while, but it's a nice way to familiarise with the controls again. 

Also upgraded my sword a couple of times, so now returning to the end of 1-2 definitely let's me play out the power fantasy of annihilating those blue-eyed knights and archers who gave me troubles before 

Busy the next couple of days (for obvious reasons!) but then off for a week from work, so I can finally sink my teeth into this. No rush to it, but I would like to have it completed by the time 2021 rolls around; I'm enjoying it, but it's so damn tense! 

[drahkon]

On 12/16/2020 at 10:25 AM, drahkon said:

there's a possibility that I'll get a pretty cool Christmas present  

Got a copy Can't wait to give it a go next Monday.

[Julius]

Adding the Tower of Latria to the list of places I never want to return to in a video game. The sense of dread and tension in this game is already insane, never mind the fact we've got tentacle-headed dudes and places which are so dark you're questioning whether to crank the brightness way up  

Beat 3-1 on my third attempt at the level, and the Fool's Idol boss on my very first try! Probably the first and last time I'll be saying that, but I'm proud of it  

The first couple of deaths in the level were down to the Mind Flayer and figuring out what my attack strategy was going to be, on 3F the first few times you encounter them. Pretty much just turned into me slicing them up once I'd drawn them into walking towards a corner and giving them the jump, and the few times that didn't work just needed me to roll away to get a bit of space. Quite a few stabs in the back too, they totally deserved it. 

Freed Freke and ran into some other guy, Rydell I think? No idea what I need to do to save him, but something nearby mentioned world tendency...so probably not something I'll go back to do  speaking of which, I got invaded for the first time just before the doors to the boss fight. Is that always supposed to be there? I walked around as much as I could, so killed the guy up top who told me to trust him (I trust no-one in this game so he's dead now), and then yeah, someone with a short sword and crossbow was trying to take me out. Was taken by surprise and a bit frustrated (I'd only just got to where I imagined the boss was, and now there's someone else trying to kill me!). Took it slow, kept my distance to make them use the crossbow, then rushed them with some slashes of my sword whenever they went to change to their short sword. Also, would just randomly change from shield to my Wooden Catalyst, and still holding L1, would immediately cast a Soul Arrow at them, so stunned them and rushed them again. Way too tense to have that happen to the first time just before I reached the boss! 

Going to start throwing my boss fight encounter descriptions in spoilers from this point, I'll probably drop names once I'm a little deeper in too. Just because I want to avoid spoiling it for anyone, the boss fights are a good chunk of the fun! 

Spoiler

Probably one of the easier bosses so far, but still enjoyed figuring out the trick to it.

I walked around a bit of the room to get my bearings first, noticed the guys in there didn't seem too interested in me so let them be, and tested the markings on the floor from safe positions behind pillars, and got zapped.

Attacked the Fool's Idol up by the altar, she disappeared, and then I was getting blasted by a double, which I noticed had its own health bar and was throwing a weaker spell at me (at least I'm guessing so, from it's size!). So ignored her, went and attacked the other one, staying on the outside where I could (don't think I went into the seats for the entire fight?).

It was a bit awkward hiding behind pillars between her disappearing and more doubles showing up, just getting blasted by a spell out of the blue, so early on I healed quite a few times.

I got lucky because the real one turned up twive in a row at the front of the church/chapel (?) where I was hiding behind a pillar to figure out which was which, near the entrance. Final one had doubles everywhere, but the size of the blasts from the back of the place by the altar were very telling, so carefully stopped between pillars and charged her. No big deal. 

Not only was the bronze trophy popping a huge relief to mark another boss down, but a silver one also popped! Just read the description and seems to be because I figured out the strategy to it and didn't attack a double, so that was very cool! 

And then I got whisked away by some gargoyle dudes before I could even grab the thing behind the altar. Darn it! 

Great atmosphere to 3-1, quite enjoyed the boss fight, and thought the track for the fight itself was cool. A lot of choir in this game though? 

Looked up the original and gave it a listen, and I do feel that taking away the choir definitely offers an entirely different tone, more malice and pure horror than with the addition of the choir, which seems to be trying to make it sound a bit more epic? 

Think I might give the original OST a listen once I've finished the game, because based on this track at list, some of the remake's OST seems to starkly contrast against the tone of the original. 

Anyways, onto 4-1! 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Julius

[Magnus]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

speaking of which, I got invaded for the first time just before the doors to the boss fight. Is that always supposed to be there?

Yeah, there are some mandatory NPC invaders in the game. Pretty much the only way to get invaded if you care about soul tendency...

I actually got killed by that invader, after making it through the entire level up to that point without dying. I was up on the ledge above and could hear someone shooting at me. Looked down, couldn't see anyone. Jumped down, and immediately got shot in the back.

Have fun with the rolling skeletons in 4-1!

[Julius]

Going to preface what I'm about to say about 4-1 with this: I'll be totally honest, I'm getting to a really weird spot with this game, and it's something I haven't felt when playing a game before. While I'm enjoying it when I'm playing it, I don't find myself in the mood to return to it often, nor do I actively look forward to picking it up. It's a totally different type of tension to something like TLOU, where, even though that game was tense, the story kept pulling me back. Even TLOU2, which might have been even worse, I pushed on, because there was something outside of the gameplay - the story - which kept pulling me back.

I have nothing but praise for the atmosphere and gameplay Demon's Souls offers, and I think I finally understand why there are so many fans of these games having played through these early parts, but...maybe it's just not for me. Dreading going back to the game and actively putting off playing a game is something I never do, even when I'm not enjoying a game, and here's a game that I do enjoy when I play it, but dread the thought of returning to.

Is it because this year has been bleak enough as it is, and it's just pushing me over the edge a bit? Maybe. Is it because I'm off from work for a week, and the thought of playing this for the next week and the real possibility of not having finished it just depresses me a bit? Maybe. To clarify, it's not the thought that I need to finish this before I get back...but it's not exactly a great way to relax during a break from work, and it still not being done by the time I return and potentially having not enjoyed it during my week off is what I'm getting at. 

It might just be that I'm in the mood for something lighter right now, and maybe I'm forcing myself to play this instead, seeing as I normally only play one game at a time. I don't want to say I'm dropping it, because I do want to see this game through to the end, but I might see how my next session with it goes. If I'm still not feeling it, it might be worth me putting it on hold, at least until I've played something a little lighter? And then I might give it another go, and then if I'm still not feeling it, then...yeah, I might shelve it. I'll see. 

Anyways, 4-1: 

4-1

Got to the boss at the end of 4-1 after a few attempts, it's definitely a level which can be quick to breeze through once you know what you're doing. Taking out the Vanguard Demon was good fun, using Soul Arrows a lot more on this level than others, given just how many enemies are probably best to take on with it (the manta ray things and the golden - ? - skeletons with the larger swords in particular). 

5 hours ago, Magnus said:

Have fun with the rolling skeletons in 4-1!

They haven't caused me too much trouble since the first two attempts where I got killed by them, but now I know a bit more about the strategy to take when facing them, they're not too bad. 

Those black skeletons though? Screw those things. The one in front of the fog door before the boss in particular, whoever decided to put one there is on a list of developers I never want to meet  got to the end just to be killed by it three times, the time I beat it was attacking it with Soul Arrows and running in circles. I fell off a cliff with it targeted, got carved to pieces because the staircase it's on isn't long enough at my level to take it out with just magic, etc. 

And my one attempt at the boss wasn't fun at all either. Peered through the hole in the floor to get a look at what I was facing, locked on...and got whipped by something through the floor. And then when I went to heal immediately after moving out of the way, I got whipped through the floor again (I was in the corner and had a clear view that it came up through the floor)  the sort of jank I really hate in games, where it makes the game seem a little on the unfair side (of the opinion jank should only ever favour the player, or developers will never hear the end of it).

Experienced this back on 1-2 as well, when a guy put a spear through me when he was on the other side of the wall. I know it's a faithful remaster/remake, but I do feel like being hit through walls/floors is something they could have cleaned up, because it's a clear sign of the game showing its age (or lack of work after QA? You get what I mean). 

So, going to be giving 4-1 another go in the morning. Got some 40k souls left by that boss now...going to be pretty hard to not think about those when getting back there! 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Julius

[Magnus]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

So, going to be giving 4-1 another go in the morning. Got some 40k souls left by that boss now...going to be pretty hard to not think about those when getting back there! 

I lost all of my souls twice in 4-1. Probably about 25,000 souls in total. It's the only time I've lost souls so far, and naturally it had to happen in a level where you earn a lot of souls, and not in, like, 1-2, where you're lucky if you earn 2,000 souls before the boss.

Soul arrows are great for dealing with pesky enemies and I've totally been abusing them (although you may want to upgrade to soul rays, which do way more damage). They're also great for dealing with pesky bosses!

The Souls series is the hardest I've ever had to work to enjoy a video game. I love it now, but it took me all of Demon's Souls and a third of Dark Souls before it clicked. So hang in there!

Oh, also the fifth archstone is by far the most annoying, so you may want to hold off on it for now if you're getting frustrated. They actually added a ring in 4-2 to make it easier in the remake.

[Julius]

Throw 4-1 on the done pile. Thank goodness. Suck it Adjudicator, I hate your guts. 

The level itself is quite short, the fights are well laid out, and I love that you're basically circling the island to get to the boss. Today I breezed through the level itself and my only deaths were to the boss, so my number of souls by my bloodstain only kept going up and up; once I finally defeated the boss, there were some 60,000 souls lying around (in addition to the ones I was carrying from my final run of 4-1, and those rewarded for beating the boss). Used up some of the souls I had found too, so ended up spending around 100,000 souls to make me jump from Soul Level 28...to 41  feels good! 

Spoiler

I hated it. 

It's probably the boss I've faced the most besides Tower Knight, which took tens of attempts. This was my fifth attempt I think I beat The Adjudicator on? Phalanx I beat on my second attempt, Armour Spider probably took five attempts too, now that I think about it.

But, unlike Tower Knight, there's so much jank to this fight it's hard to say that it's entirely skill based, and not based on some good fortune that the AI decides to not be temperamental. The first two times I got to Adjudicator, I got whipped through the floor until I died.

Finally did some damage on my third attempt, when I knew I wanted to go ranged (equipped a Silver Catalyst and upgraded from Soul Arrows to Soul Rays just for this!) from the top floor, but in the end, the winning formula was circling the floor until it looked like he was in the middle, peering over the ledges and attacking with Soul Rays twice, rolling away before I got whipped by its tongue, then circling the room again. But there were so many times where he would just decide to whip in succession a bit faster, and again, getting whipped through the floor.

On my final attempt, learned the pattern and his range a bit better, and used corners to heal/restore MP when he was seemingly out of range. Drained all of my Fresh Spice with him on the smallest slither of health, so had to heal and open the menu to swap from my Silver Catalyst to a crossbow. One shot and he was down, but boy was that close to going very wrong (only other item I had to hand was a single Late Moon Grass). 

It's a janky boss fight, plain and simple.

It was simply a relief that it was finally out of the way, versus the elation I had felt with many of the other boss fights. Again, I understand the merits of keeping it close to the original...but so close to the original that enemies can still attack through walls/floors? Especially when the game goes out of its way to bash your weapon of choice off any surface nearby when slashing around? Biggest misstep with this for me so far. 

Going to take a break for now, might give 5-1 a go later. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm sticking with this or not, and I could see myself shelving this until the new year just because I'm in the mood for something lighter right now. We'll see! 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

Two hours in, Phalanx is dead.

It's insane how beautiful this game is...unreal.
And the loading times
Going back to last-gen games now is a major step back

[drahkon]

Armor Spider has been vanquished.
So far I have only died once (well...aside from killing myself in the Nexus a few times) and it was against the Tower Knight.

For the first time in my Soulsborne career I've decided to go with a Mage build instead of a Dex build. Haven't used a lot of magic, though...somehow I keep going back to using a sword
Soul Arrow did prove to be useful for cheesing the Red Dragon.

Now my memory is starting to become quite vague...the first few areas I mostly knew, but 2-2 will be a different beast, I think.

But first: some sleep. Had a huge playing session with this and CoD: Black Ops Cold War today

Edited December 29, 2020 by drahkon

[Julius]

Damn, making some quick work of it @drahkon! Nice job  which is your favourite of the earlier bosses? 

I haven't really had a long session with the game so far, despite playing it for two weeks at this point (with many instances of taking days away from it at a time). Getting through 3-1 and then to the very end of 4-1 yesterday is probably the most time I've spent with it in a day so far. 

For now, I think my mind is made up: I'm way too stubborn and way too invested to walk away, so I'm going to try to stick it out. Now I'm a bit more determined in my approach, hopefully I can convince myself to spend more time with it in my play sessions  I'm off for the week and I've been struggling to dedicate time to it! 

This was a week I booked off to just relax and do what I like, yet I find myself feeling guilty playing games, listening to music, reading books and watching films. I really need to get better at managing stress and my mental state, hate to feel like I'm spinning my wheels when I know I've got nowhere to go fast right now  guess I just figured out my New Year's resolution! 

Back to the game though, it takes up so much of my mind share when I'm not playing it. Thinking about the atmosphere, attack patterns of certain enemies, the boss fights...it's not obsession, but I've definitely formed a lot of respect for what the game has offered so far. Well, apart from my experience with Adjudicator; whoever designed and programmed that guy's AI can get lost. 

[bob]

Is this what playing a game through gritted teeth looks like?

[drahkon]

9 hours ago, Julius said:

Damn, making some quick work of it @drahkon! Nice job  which is your favourite of the earlier bosses? 

Remembering most of 1-1 and 1-2 certainly helped
Tower Knight has easily been my favourite one so far. I do hate that there are ranged enemies involved in the fight, though...Well, I still defeated the knight without killing any of the bolt-shooting assfaces

Currently making my way through 2-2. There's something about places with lava in the Soulsborne games that I simply cannot enjoy.

[Julius]

Yikes, 5-1 suuuuuuuuucks.

Plague is a thing all of a sudden, it is way too dark to be walking across these small planks, and you get caught on things or fall off at the most random of times (had to close the game twice to get to my last auto-save already because I've got stuck on things). 

Tried out my Crescent Falchion+2 and it seems to suit this place, and my answer to the darkness is obviously to crank up the brightness. Now if I can just get past that big guy with the club...

EDIT: okay, just draw him in with an arrow from a distance and walk up the stairs to the weird woman and he got stuck in the corner  also, noticed my character has started randomly dodging attacks after I attack with my Falchion a couple of times? Anyone know why that might be? 

EDIT 2: Okay, 5-1 cleared and Leechmonger down at my first attemot. That was probably the easiest boss so far, think the only tactic really needed is to keep your shield up and remember to heal? More of a war of attrition more than anything else. Guess I'm going to be heading back to 2-2 next...

Edited December 29, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

3-1 done. I hate that prison. Got lost so many times

Missed a trophy by attacking one clone by accident. Oh, well. If I'm going for the Platinum I have a few NG+ runs ahead of me anyways

[Julius]

I just beat Flamelurker on my first attempt! 

I actually think I'm going to throw up...