Demon's Souls - Atlus & From Software's Action RPG - October 6

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']If you like RPG's with no checkpoints and no ability to save on the fly so you don't lose your progress and having to restart from the start of the level should you die, then you'll love this game.[/QUOTE]

So, how often can you save in this game? Is the saving spot rare, hard to find, annoyingly far?
 
[quote name='Serpentor']So, how often can you save in this game? Is the saving spot rare, hard to find, annoyingly far?[/QUOTE]

If I remember correctly(and it's been a WHILE now) it auto saves at random spots through the levels, as well as each time you die. Unfortunately, there are no save spots that I've seen and no real checkpoints.

If you die during a level, you get to go alllllllll the way back to the beginning and start it all over again. Fun, fun, fun. So much fun that after the 20th restart, you'll wanna throw something.

But as they say, practice makes perfect and you'll get ALOT of practice.
 
[quote name='theblizzman']Need help from those that finshed the game. I have read the wiki and it is not specific enough. I am on 1-4 and stuck at the blue dragon battle. I can get him to fly away at first, but I cannot figure out how to make it up the long stairwell the second time you meet him. I just keep getting fried. I have total protection on and +9 flame shield (no auto-life spell) but it does nothing.[/QUOTE]


WARNING! SPOILER VIDEO! SPOILER VIDEO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffLaTQ9AonE

STOP watching the video after the 1:30 mark if you wish to avoid even further spoilers.

Basically, there's a blind spot along the right side you can use to run across after the first dragon fire breath. Once you get past him though...

IMO, if you lack confidence (like myself) in one-shotting the rest of the level after running past the dragon, you should consider shooting the damn lizard to death. Makes multiple run-throughs easier should you die before finishing the level.
 
shogun316;6134226 Basically said:
Thanks,
I actually was able to get past the flame and stand under the dragon and pelt him with Soul Arrow. The next boss was a pain (only in that if you die you need to run all the way back to this point and go up an insanely slow elevator to get back to the boss). Finally finished the game. I am praying for DLC when it is released in a couple months.
 
Man,
I am so pumped! I have been following this game since the Japanese/Asia launch but was iffy on importing. I was excited when it was announced for NA and a few days ago I Pre-ordered on Amazon.ca
I just can't wait for my Deluxe edition with strategy guide, art book, and soundtrack.
It's just too bad Oct.6 is soooo far away. :(
 
Hey some Japanese dude sent me a message that said, "ずるいね" or "That sly."
I gave him an A rating after he helped me kill a boss. Does A mean bad? Or is there a different meaning in Japan for that phrase?
 
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Is there any info on the quality of the soundtrack and artbook. I'm tempted to preorder through amazon, but half of me feels like I could wait a few months and pick it up from ebayers who are really frustrated.
 
Quick question: Is it possible to kill that first demon/boss at the end of the tutorial level? I ask because my one buddy was hacking away at it and had about a tenth of it's health gone when he listened to me and decided to try rolling out of the way of an attack from it.

He got grazed by the club or whatever it wields and it instantly drained all of his health. Suffice to say, I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the night till he got torched by the one creature later on and died, after which he gave up after realizing he lost all of his souls he had collected when he tried to go to the blacksmith in the Nexus.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Quick question: Is it possible to kill that first demon/boss at the end of the tutorial level? I ask because my one buddy was hacking away at it and had about a tenth of it's health gone when he listened to me and decided to try rolling out of the way of an attack from it.

He got grazed by the club or whatever it wields and it instantly drained all of his health. Suffice to say, I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the night till he got torched by the one creature later on and died, after which he gave up after realizing he lost all of his souls he had collected when he tried to go to the blacksmith in the Nexus.[/QUOTE]

From what I remember from listening to the developer interviews, they explicitly made you die at the end of the tutorial to get you ready for your many deaths to come.
 
But what happens if someone manages to kill the demon at the end of the tutorial? Does the game crash? About the only thing I'm really not liking thus far with the game(and the main reason I haven't played it in a while) is the lack of the ability to make a hard save of my progress or some sort of checkpoint.

Then again, I played tons of games in prior gens with no real save points and I enjoyed those immensely, especially the 16 bit era ones.
 
I just got this today from Atlus, so I'm testing it out and seeing if I'll be keeping it to play and review or pass it on to a friend to review. I just started working on making a character and it's similar to Oblivion's editor in that you're not making a decent, attractive person to play with. I conducted an experiment to turn all of the nobs to the left and see what comes out of it and I'll post that result in a bit. I'll probably just keeping pushing the random generator until something decent comes up for my actual character.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I just got this today from Atlus, so I'm testing it out and seeing if I'll be keeping it to play and review or pass it on to a friend to review. I just started working on making a character and it's similar to Oblivion's editor in that you're not making a decent, attractive person to play with. I conducted an experiment to turn all of the nobs to the left and see what comes out of it and I'll post that result in a bit. I'll probably just keeping pushing the random generator until something decent comes up for my actual character.[/QUOTE]

If you want an easier go of it I would start as a female Royal. You will start with Soul Arrow, a MP regen item, and eventually will be able to get access to an accessory (only usable by females) that gives you a boost to souls. I imported back in Feb and put in roughly 75+ hours into the game. Well worth the money.
 
[quote name='GeorgeCostanza']Curious why people have this already. Amazon has it on Oct 7th or something like that. Did atlus do some advance pre sale or something?[/QUOTE]
Nope, Frisky got an early copy since he reviews games for a site.
 
[quote name='GeorgeCostanza']Curious why people have this already. Amazon has it on Oct 7th or something like that. Did atlus do some advance pre sale or something?[/QUOTE]

Others have imports.
 
So anyone who has this game, is it like Oblivion other than the character creation? I don't get the impression that the game is open-ended from the trailers, like Oblivion is.
 
[quote name='jh6269']So anyone who has this game, is it like Oblivion other than the character creation? I don't get the impression that the game is open-ended from the trailers, like Oblivion is.[/QUOTE]

I imported back in February. From a viewpoint it is 3rd person (as opposed to Oblivion's 1st person). The leveling is based on collecting "souls" from defeated foes and when you have enough you go to one person and spend the souls and pick one attribute to level up.

Everyone has their own opinion, but this is hands down my favorite game on the console (I am also a huge fan of the Kings Field series so). The graphics are the best of any game I have played.

There are five "worlds" and a central hub "nexus". Each world has different enemies that will require different tactics (and weapons). You can spend a lot of time grinding to get shards to upgrade weapons, and there is a whole "tendancies" system where as you defeat bosses you shift worlds towards dark or light which opens up previsouly closed areas.

This game is brutally tough. If you get frustrated with dying in games this is not for you. I am praying for DLC
 
First non-Japanese review is online from GameCritics.com.

Final Score: Extremely Positive Review

[quote name='Closing Paragraph']In every aspect, Demon's Souls is fantastically creative and adheres faithfully to its own identity in a way that so many other titles only stumble at. Although players expecting something more conventional may be coldly taken aback by its unflinching boldness and refusal to compromise its vision, those who can see it for what it is and appreciate what it does will find themselves knee-deep in adventure, never wanting to look back. Without question, Demon's Souls is one of 2009's finest titles, and an amazing, challenging journey without equal. Rati[/quote]
 
@theblizzman & cheapest

Thanks for the answers. So, when you level up, can you become a big badass? When you say that you can grind, does that mean that weak enemies stay weak ( as opposed to Oblivion where the enemies get stronger with you)?

I'm interested in this game, but I get pissed when games get too tough, so I know this game will probably drive me insane. However, it looks like an awesome game, so I'm considering getting it when it's in the bargain bin, or used.
 
This game sounds incredible. I thought after everything that I wasn't going to grab it... but after all the praise I have read and after some of your impressions... I think I have to. Can't wait!
 
I kind of want this game... but I'm not sure I like the games idea of "co-op". I guess I could always just disconnect from PSN and play it that way...
 
[quote name='jh6269']@theblizzman & cheapest

Thanks for the answers. So, when you level up, can you become a big badass? When you say that you can grind, does that mean that weak enemies stay weak ( as opposed to Oblivion where the enemies get stronger with you)?

I'm interested in this game, but I get pissed when games get too tough, so I know this game will probably drive me insane. However, it looks like an awesome game, so I'm considering getting it when it's in the bargain bin, or used.[/QUOTE]

I played as a mage and only leveled str minimally to carry the best shield in the game so I was too weak to wear strong armor so even when I was at the end (I finished around character level 80) if you are not careful enemies can kill you in four hits. Enemies do not level up with you (they are just always difficult until you learn their attack patterns). The one thing in the game you need to get over is dying is no big deal. When I first started the game I was frustrated when I died and lost 500 souls I spent time building (game similar to Diablo in that when you die you leave a bloodstain that if you get back to before you die again you get all of your souls back). Later in the game dying and losing 20,000 souls is no big deal.
 
I finally got back into this game last night/this morning. I was testing out a few things for a fellow CAG who might be grabbing it from me and I went through about 2/3's of the first real level after the tutorial and I remembered where all of the traps and major enemies were.

The best character class to play as is a Royal, since you have Soul Arrow and can shoot harder enemies from further away and not have to risk getting annihilated.

It's a fun game if you learn how to get around behind enemies, since then you can just do the kill move and take them out in one shot. I did that on all of the minor enemies just about.

I may try a bit of it again later today and try and finish the game before getting rid of it at this point, since it's one of the better games I've played for PS3(and judging by the trade receipts I have I've gone through almost 40 PS3 games in about a year of owning the console, most of which were bought for way under MSRP).
 
My one concern with the game... Will I lose a lot of the value if I'm not playing online? I lack broadband, so I'd have to be purely solo. :(
 
[quote name='Abalistar']My one concern with the game... Will I lose a lot of the value if I'm not playing online? I lack broadband, so I'd have to be purely solo. :([/QUOTE]

You will be missing out on some cool aspects of the game if you are not online.

When you are playing along and you are online but in your own game by yourself, you will come across blood stains where other players have died. When you click on the blood stains, an animation will pop up of the players' last moments, so you can see what they were doing as they died. It will hopefully give you a hint so you can avoid the same death.

Another online perk is the ability to see scripted "notes" on the ground in your own game left by other players in their game. Hopefully the notes give you hints as to what to expect next, like maybe monsters hiding ahead or whether you need something special to progress. You can rate the notes so the good notes stay around longer to help other players and high rated notes give the person who left the note some health.

Additionally, as you play you will see ghostly figures of other players as they are playing the same area as you are in real time but in their own game.

And of course you will miss out on multiplayer stuff like PvP and joining another person's game or summoning help from other players to go through a level.

The online stuff is really well done. There is no voice chat but the way everything listed above is handled voice chat would take away from the overall game.
 
[quote name='rgd2blck']
And of course you will miss out on multiplayer stuff like PvP and joining another person's game or summoning help from other players to go through a level.[/QUOTE]
That is pretty cool, but my problem with the online is the idea of someone being able to invade my game.
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']That is pretty cool, but my problem with the online is the idea of someone being able to invade my game.[/QUOTE]

I think it sounds pretty cool. Also, they don't know who they are invading. So, they may be rolling up on some one who is double their power. That video makes it sound like only people in spirit form can do this as well, and if that's the case they will only have half a life bar. Plus, you could have friends summoned to you and they not know it... totally possible the PKer would just get squished.

It is also mentioned that this won't happen often at all. So, who knows. I would be mad if I kept getting invaded and died... I do know that! :lol:
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']That is pretty cool, but my problem with the online is the idea of someone being able to invade my game.[/QUOTE]

Also remember a player can only invade your game if you are alive in body form. If you are in spirit form, which may be more often than you are alive (!), you will be safe.

A preview video I saw put it best: the online components serve to enhance the single-player game.
 
[quote name='Abalistar']My one concern with the game... Will I lose a lot of the value if I'm not playing online? I lack broadband, so I'd have to be purely solo. :([/QUOTE]

The online aspect is just a bonus, you can beat and platinum (if you like trophies) this game totally in offline mode.
 
[quote name='Saint Noir']I think it sounds pretty cool. Also, they don't know who they are invading. So, they may be rolling up on some one who is double their power. That video makes it sound like only people in spirit form can do this as well, and if that's the case they will only have half a life bar. Plus, you could have friends summoned to you and they not know it... totally possible the PKer would just get squished.

It is also mentioned that this won't happen often at all. So, who knows. I would be mad if I kept getting invaded and died... I do know that! :lol:[/QUOTE]

I played through the game and only once had my game invaded. There is a level range (I think it is 10 levels) to stop players from entering your game. Pretty good idea in my opinion that stops people who have already logged 100+ hours entered your game and killed you in one hit.

I have said this before in this forum but I think this is the best game on the system (right up there with Uncharted, Fallout 3, Bioshock). I also loved the Kings Field series.
 
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[quote name='Saint Noir'] It is also mentioned that this won't happen often at all. So, who knows. I would be mad if I kept getting invaded and died... I do know that! :lol:[/QUOTE]
But it's still something that can happen and it annoys me that I have no choice but to play offline to avoid it or play in soul form...
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']But it's still something that can happen and it annoys me that I have no choice but to play offline to avoid it or play in soul form...[/QUOTE]

Actually playing in soul form is a better idea overall since there isn't many good reasons to revive yourself.
 
Yes, I have this preordered, but I'm sort of... terrified. Terrified that I'm buying a game I will absolutely hate. I haven't taken that risk since I bought Jak 2.

I hope people in this thread will be helpful when I ask questions... Rather than turning into the Uber Ninja Gaiden Horde with responses like: 'That waz teh Easy, u suxxor.'

Honestly, other gamers turn me off hard games. (Jak 2. Ninja Gaiden. Viewtiful Joe. Various others.)
 
the video was hilarious, especially with atlus pr manager rom taking a whiff of everything. and he set the tone by fondling the "foiled, accented embossed" slipcase cover. and i loved his comment on how you can "relive the songs that you died over and over to."

already ordered my copy. the video was typical of great atlus fan treatment.
 
Jak 2 was hard? I didn't think it was that hard, but I just hated that game and all the sequels. The original was great though. Thanks for the video, it will help me decide whether I want the deluxe edition or not now.
 
LMAO That video was hilarious with him whiffing every single item pretty much. I wonder if the guide included in the DE is going to be able to work for the import version or if Atlus ended up changing anything while bringing it here.

If so, I wonder if there's someplace(besides the DE) that I could get the guide by itself for a reasonable amount, since I already have the import and I don't wanna shell out for another copy of the game JUST for the guide.
 
That video has me tempted to get the collector's edition, although I doubt I will really have use for the guide - I'll just find something on gamefaqs if I need, and I'd rather see how far I can get without it... But it is tempting.
 
Oh god. I thought I was the only one that sniffed the shit out of every new item I buy. Well, almost everything.

I'm even happier that I decided to get the Deluxe Edition now after seeing that video. So now the waiting game begins...
 
Damn guys I am going to jump on the CE I think, great video... I was going to wait, damn guide has me eager to order early...

to gamestop I go.

What is this $70 for the game and guide?
 
Anyone know when these preorder bonus are going to show?

Muramasa (Wii) had the bonus listed and then 1 of my 3 preorders had it available... so far 3 of the local Gamestops gave me a blank stare and said it should come in the CE case... yeah thats the guide not the preorder bonus...

I know the preorder bonus should come in with the game, if not before... just curious if anyone has gotten one yet, given we are about a week out.

Thanks Saint Noir, I have GS credit or I would use ECA + Amazon for sure.
 
The bonus should ship with the game but be a separate item. It isn't something GS would have beforehand. So, when they get their orders in, chances are every copy they get initially (preorder or not given how Atlus works) will come with the art book and CD.
 
ahaha, that "unboxing" vid was great. I lol'd every time the PR guy took a whiff of the products. Cheers to Atlus for their fan service and lack of shame.
 
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