1741

I think I’m “finished” with Demon’s Souls for the time being. Great game but I have no desire to play through a new game +. This is one of those games I would pay for just about any kind of DLC, anything to pull me back into the game.

1742

Damn Flame Lurker is tough! First time fighting him got him 2/3 beaten. Then I ran out of healing items, and now I’m out of souls… I need to go farm souls now to buy some new healing items. Kind of a pain. This game is brilliant though.

1743

And none of them have actually played Demon’s Soul, complaining that it looks too hard and refusing to even give it a shot. So they feel entirely justified in bitching that a website they hardly read honors a game they never played over games they’ve played and liked.

To be fair, I like all the games they’ve mentioned, but yeah, they aren’t exactly critically thinking their way through here. I’m happy enough that a game like Demon’s Soul can get Kudos from a major site that has been accused from being a sellout. There needs to be more games like Demon’s Soul. There are already enough Uncharted 2, and Modern Warfare clones out there.

1744

You stole my post :)

I’m in, uh, 2-2 now I think it is. My overall success rate on reaching my bloodstain after death is about 20%. I must have dumped over 125,000 souls now in not being able to reach my bloodstain. And I’m only at soul level 40.

1745

Whenever I join another player as a Phantom to help take on a boss and he ends up dying I feel kinda bad but at the same time can’t help but laugh. Today one guy got himself fatally impaled by The Penetrator when we had him almost dead. I was wailing on him trying to kill him futility as he chucked the corpse of the player across the arena.

1746

Quick question guys, I killed Miralda in white tendency. If I get pure black tendency, will I find her as a black phantom or is she gone for good?

1747

You will find her as a black phantom. She also drops her Guillotine Axe only as a black phantom.

1748

You know how you see those white gohsts running around, or see the bloodstain tips? Multiplayer is not too much different from that, except they are blue and can hit /see the monsters in your world. I ignored it initially too, but it is really cool, and there is literally no real method of communication, so they will not annoy you. I think you can dismiss them at any time as well.

I always feel bad when I do somethnig dumb, like fall off a cliff, because I know it dumped them back in their worlds when I died :/

1749

I killed my first game invading black phantom the other day. It was very satisfying. I enjoyed the part where he ran at me, but turned to retreat after I smoked him with my magic. The hunter became the hunted.

I am going to log on tonight to murder Yurt, who I did not know is not a good person to rescue. I know it can kinda be a spoiler to say that, but what Yurt does to your game is infinitely worse than knowing ahead of time that he is a bad naughty.

My experience with Blue Phantoms is mediocre. By that I mean two Blue Phantoms abandoned me right as I charged in to face Flamelurker. I barely died after a ten minute fight with only crescent grass and ten spices. Chalk that up to being able to roll like a cartoon hedgehog on ecstacy.

No, I’m serious, chalk it.

1750

If you really want to have a coordinated assault, you should consider the skype/whatever alternative. The game is somewhat straightforward to navigate without voice chat, but you can really pull off some great teamwork with a little vocal coordination. With Flamelurker, it’s all about having someone else pull the damn thing off you, and you being able to return the favor. It’s a lot easier to incentivize that transition if they can hear you screaming like a little girl. Figuratively, of course.

I squeaked by into New game + on the American version, and I remember now why I spent so much time leveling in the Asian version before making that switch. I’m gaining levels quickly, but NG+ starting at 90 is still brutal, by my measure. The more aggressive AI coupled with the damage ratio variations really make it very difficult. Dogs are back in the mix as a legitimate threat, and sweet mother of god that fucking dragon can eat arrows. A maxed weapon (eg White Bow +5, Moonlight +5) is almost just a basic element in your toolkit. I just hope skeletons still crumble to maces.

1751

Yeah, I think I tried him last time when my bow wasn’t good enough, because he’d heal faster than i could kill him. Last night, though, was a different story. EAT ARROWS, slime creature!

One thing that someone said (LK, perhaps), that makes a lot of sense is that you should approach each run out in one of the following manners:

  1. Grinding for Souls
  2. Exploring
  3. Serious runs to complete the level

If you have a lot of souls stored up, there’s really no reason to go exploring or making a serious run; grind enough to gain a level. You should really only explore or make a serious run when you have very few or no souls stored up; that way, if you die, it’s not a big deal.

And if you want hints on grinding; go to 5-1, pick up either the Blessed Mace or the morningstar (there’s one right near the entrance, actually). Head into 4-1, and kill the skeletons. You’ll be able to gain souls quite quickly that way. 4-2 is even better…and 4-3 is pretty ridiculous.

1752

I strongly recommend the blessed mace, as it works on the golden skeletons as well (they are somewhat resistant to non-magical damage). Also, it regenerates health, which is a nice if non-essential feature.

1753

Well, this game is on it’s last legs for me. After Flamelurker I figured one more shot. Now I’m on the 2-2 end boss, the Maneater, and I can’t even get him down to even 1/2 health. His attack goes right through my shield and kills me. Which means this is an all-dodge reflex battle and I just have never been good at reflex games. I’ve tried standing and blocking. I’ve tried dodging backwards (not much space to dodge sideways). I’ve tried running past him, having made it in 5 attempts as he knock me down then finishes me off before I can stand up. Not sure what tactics I have left.

And apparently, even if I killed this one, the walkthrough I’ve been reading says there’s a 2nd Maneater to kill afterwards.

The alternative seems to be endless soul grinding for hours on end so I can level up enough that even I could take him on, which doesn’t sound like much fun.

It’s a shame the bosses are so infuriating and lacking in fun. The rest of the game is pretty nice. Exploration, some interesting, but feasible, battles. Combined with the constant running back to the battle over and over again, bosses are just punishing and tedious.

Edit: Yea, makes no difference what I do. He does some knockdown thing that takes 75% of my health, then kills me in the 2nd shot while I’m down. I’ve never gotten off more than 3 attacks against him except once when for some reason he passed me by and sat a little bit away for about 5 seconds. Calling it quits after 20 deaths against just the first Maneater.

1754

I can’t tell if you’re just being dramatic because the game pissed you off or you’re serious and on the verge of pulling a Full Nahr. It seems like you want feedback, but I’d hate to sound like I’m trying to convince you to do something you don’t want to do out of some strange sense of masochistic duty.

After Flamelurker I figured one more shot. Now I’m on the 2-2 end boss, the Maneater, and I can’t even get him down to even 1/2 health. His attack goes right through my shield and kills me. Which means this is an all-dodge reflex battle and I just have never been good at reflex games.

I just completed that battle, and I didn’t dodge once fighting him. I sidestepped with my shield up a lot, but little or no rolling that I can recall except when I was frantically trying to make up for a stupid overreach and had to roll back frantically. That is, it wasn’t a required part of his pattern.

  1. If you press up against the left side of the misty doorway, you can shoot arrows through the mist (only boss you can do that for). That means you can take care of the 1 visible maneater before even entering the arena, assuming you have a bow and some arrows.

  2. The remaining maneater always flies to the entrance, then rushes at you in the center area if you head in that direction. Large enemies lumbering at you is your cue for locked backpedaling and your missile spell of choice (I don’t know if the flame spell that works while moving is effective on him, but regular magic missile does fine so long as you sprint in reverse), as you might have found out with the Red Eye knights and the like.

  3. With a little offset space, the center fountain blocks almost all of his attacks and throws off his lunges. I believe it works a lot better if you rotate counterclockwise, but that could be just the habit that I’ve developed. All you need is a weapon long enough that you can poke him around the fountain with minimal exposure…I recommend the spear as your shield should still be up if possible. Just don’t get greedy and it should be fairly straightforward. If he flies away, just make an effort to keep the fountain between you and him, and don’t get too crazy with the missile weapons (I don’t recommend first person view at all).

And apparently, even if I killed this one, the walkthrough I’ve been reading says there’s a 2nd Maneater to kill afterwards.

The alternative seems to be endless soul grinding for hours on end so I can level up enough that even I could take him on, which doesn’t sound like much fun.

You are still ethically opposed to multiplayer, I take it? Maneater is probably one of the most manageable for a single player, once you eliminate his buddy, but whenever I get smoked by a boss I just jump into someone else’s game and try a different approach risk free. The wiki usually gives you multiple tactics for each boss, in case you’ve run out of ideas.

I’ve gotten killed by dogs twice now, in Stonefang on NG+. And Phalanx surprised me with one shot kill before that, as I watched my 240000 spirits from the old game waft away into limbo. And Red Eye killed me before that like he hasn’t in weeks, dammit, because I hadn’t realized how resistant to spells he’d become in NG+ and was fighting him on autopilot. It’s just how the game goes, and I’m enjoying it much more again with the challenge upped proportionately than I did the original game end. NG+ is really forcing me to work on the nuances of neglected moves in my arsenal like the R2 strike, the roll and strike, and the run the fuck away because this is getting out of hand and I need to fight this crowd in smaller batches. The realization that fully upgraded weapons are no longer instakills for most significant lower tier enemies, who have become more aggressive generally, means that a lot more of my arsenal is being used as I try to come up with safe plan Bs for what used to be straightforward segments. I’m sure they will be again soon, and from what I understand og-NG+ is the biggest jump, and every subsequent replay is much more gradually incremental in terms of difficulty.

The boss tweaks are great, as I simply expected more health and damage (which is all that the lousy armor spider got, apparently), but it’s interesting how they take a really easy boss like Tower Knight and by simply accelerating his pattern make it a comparatively high risk proposition to pelt him from the battlements. At least, more than I recall the original fight being.

1755

No idea what Full Nahr means. It’s a game I want to like, but parts of it are just maddeningly frustrating and needlessly so.

I’d love to know how you got that to work. I walk through the door, I stand, purple flame shield up. Just to test, I wait. He walks up, hits me once and blows through my shield and knocks me down. He follows up with a 2nd attack before I can even stand up.

No bows for me. I just have spells and the scraped spear.

I’d have to get past him to make that work. I can run up to him and backpedal and get off 2 or 3 shots, then I’m pinned against the entry point. I’ve never successfully dodged, sprinted, or otherwise gotten past him.

Again, can’t get to it because I can’t get past him. I tried 10 times (I check off the number of attempts on the same strategy, get to 10, then try something else). I know I’m not much of an action gamer, but I don’t entirely suck. I finished Halo 1, 2, and 3 campaigns on Hard on single player. I’m not good, but I’m not completely inept.

Pretty much, yea.

Outside of looking on wiki/faq/walkthroughs, how do you find out what anything is vulnerable to? Just lots of trial and error?

1756

He means rage quitting. Man-eater was the most frustrating boss for me as well. A large part of Demon’s Soul is also knowing when to quit banging your head against a wall. If you’re having trouble with one particular boss, you can go explore another world and come back when you acclimatised to another method of attack. Often you find yourself learning new tactics in combat to better handle a boss fight.

I’d love to know how you got that to work. I walk through the door, I stand, purple flame shield up. Just to test, I wait. He walks up, hits me once and blows through my shield and knocks me down. He follows up with a 2nd attack before I can even stand up.

What’s your stamina like? You shouldn’t really be using the shield to absorb blows if your stamina isn’t too high. Use it sparingly to soak damage when you didn’t expect it, but like LK says, sidestepping Man-Eater isn’t too hard. Or even back-stepping to avoid his smash. With 30+ stamina you can absorb 2 blows from him before being thrown to the ground.

Yet the point remains, don’t get hit. Sidestep instead.

No bows for me. I just have spells and the scraped spear.

That’s a shame. Bows are uncommonly powerful and a really useful tool in your arsenal. It’s also the way I killed Man-Eater twice, so I don’t have any other useful tips if you’re not using bows.

I’d have to get past him to make that work. I can run up to him and backpedal and get off 2 or 3 shots, then I’m pinned against the entry point. I’ve never successfully dodged, sprinted, or otherwise gotten past him.

Again, what’s your stamina. Even on at a stamina of 20, you should be able to easily sprint pass him to the central platform and then use the giant Bier as a shield, keeping it between you and 1 man-eater.

Again, can’t get to it because I can’t get past him. I tried 10 times (I check off the number of attempts on the same strategy, get to 10, then try something else). I know I’m not much of an action gamer, but I don’t entirely suck. I finished Halo 1, 2, and 3 campaigns on Hard on single player. I’m not good, but I’m not completely inept.

I died to Man-Eater and his run-up (Damned Black Medusaes!) 25 times in normal and 9 times in New Game+. I think he’s the hardest boss in the game.

Outside of looking on wiki/faq/walkthroughs, how do you find out what anything is vulnerable to? Just lots of trial and error?

Yes.

Have you visited 4-1 and 4-2 yet? Those levels are a goldmine of soul grinding, and holds one of the most powerful early bows you can get. With a shield and spear setup, you should have little problems with the rolling skeletons as well. Just shield up and poke through as they roll towards you.

You’ll need a bow to deal with Reapers effectively though.

1757

Stats say I have 97 stamina. Or were you meaning Endurance, which is at 13.

Feels really weird to need bows when I’ve got magic missiles, but I guess I’ll have to get one.

I’m trying 4-1 (or maybe it’s 5-1) now. I’ve had to give up on section 2, stalled at the Dragon Lord. Spent about 3 hours trying to get through it. One-shot killed by his breath weapon every time. I have a ring of flame resistance, but it doesn’t seem to help enough. I always die hacking up rubble. Or the claws. I never did figure out the timing on his claw going to the first ballista. I just keep guessing and sometimes get through.

And of course, I’m also stalled on section 3, the Maneater.

We’ll see if section 4 offers anything.

That’s one of my big frustrations though is almost zero feedback from the game on why you’re dying with the bosses. I have no idea by how much I get killed, so I don’t know if I’m just barely toasted by the dragon or it’s always a 1-hit. There’s nothing that gives me any clue I’m underpowered for a boss or if I just haven’t found the “trick”. With the grunts, it’s not so bad, but the bosses do indeed have me feeling like rage quitting. If it weren’t for the fact the non-boss parts of the game are fun, I’d have dropped it already.

I think part of the problem is this isn’t an action game as much as a timing game. I’m ok at action games (like I said, completed the Halo stuff). I downright suck at any kind of platformer timing gaming. I thought Demon’s Souls was more FPS/Diablo-ish, but I’m thinking now I was mistaken.

1758

Yeah, you get a bow because if the game were real, and that were your life, you’d get a bow just in case. You can’t care how you kill stuff, or whether it fits your chosen character build, because you chose your character when you knew nothing about the game. So you adapt, you get the bow, you shoot the mosquitos, and a couple of bosses, and the reapers in 4-2. For me, I didn’t want to spend points on endurance, since I didn’t want to wear heavy armor. Endurance is now my highest stat, and I can survive multiple mind flayer paralyze stabs. I’ll tell you, that’s kinda nice.

1759

Yeah, I meant endurance.

In general, it helped to think that all Bosses are 1-hit or at least 2-hit. I wasn’t going in with the mindset that I might squeak by on 2 HP left because he was doing just that much damage to me. Anytime I survive a hit from a boss, I thank my lucky stars I’m still alive and figure out his patterns.

I think part of the problem is this isn’t an action game as much as a timing game. I’m ok at action games (like I said, completed the Halo stuff). I downright suck at any kind of platformer timing gaming. I thought Demon’s Souls was more FPS/Diablo-ish, but I’m thinking now I was mistaken.

It’s more tactical combat that twitch combat. This isn’t Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden or Halo. You have to consider each attack, defense and position very carefully, often several steps in advance before you even commit to the attack. One good way to describe is that it’s a lot like chess, in that once you figure out the opponents moves, you can plan your responses and attack accordingly.

Incidentally, Dragon God is probably the easiest boss in the game, you don’t actually have to hit him with your weapons, just avoid his bashes.

1760

For the Dragon God, watch his eyes and time it to the first speargun. For the second speargun, you can whack the closest couple rubble piles about 3 times each, and the further two about twice before running like the dickens back to safety. Do that until you get it clear and then bolt. For the third one, you can kill him with arrows or magic from a safe distance. I went to fight the Dragon God for the first time tonight. I went in with two blue phantom companions, they promptly died, I stood around for a minute or three, wondering what to do, just thinking, and then I decided to give the level an honest shot. I beat him without getting hit.

For Penetrator, I rescued Biorr and took two Blue Phantoms in, and we killed him. Biorr by himself keeps him pretty occupied.

For Maneater, I used the fire spray and Warding. It took me quite a few tries, since I kept getting pushed off the ledge.

If you haven’t been taking all the armor you find back to Nexus and storing it, you should do that. It’s nice to be able to change at least a few parts of your outfit into something with a higher resistance to what you’re about to fight.

Oh, and again about the bows, maybe nobody told you, but the bows have a much longer range than spells. Much. And you can target the bow with L1 like you’re a sniper.