It's a recession... €5 an hour...

Demon's souls was a good game and I'm looking forward to this definitely. Specially after they said they've upped the difficulty by a considerable amount.

Oh, they have.
Those max level black phantoms we were just talking about?
You have to beat them just to open the game's case.
Every. Time.

Do they turn their crossbows sideways to kill you?

Nope.
Backwards.



Picked this up yesterday. Put several hours into it.
My first impression is that it's at least on par with Demon's Souls in most respects.
Graphic seem to have been toned down a bit, likely to compensate for there being so many new environments. It's not a problem for me, but it was a bit of a surprise.
The loading screens are gone (or at least cleverly disguised as elevators), so that's pretty cool. Less immersion breaking.
There's no hub like the Nexus anymore, so you just respawn from the last bonfire you rested at. Bonfires do all sorts of things too. They respawn all enemies (which is either really annoying or good for quick soul farming), allow you to level up, repair your equipment (once you get the proper kit), and a bunch of other stuff I haven't seen yet. I do know that eventually you're allowed to warp between them too.
A few new combat options as well. Like the ability to do a downward stab as you fall from a height. Does a ton of damage, and I've used it on a couple bosses so far. Not every boss will allow it though, of course. Surely they can't all be fought on towers.
There's also a kicking move that can be used to make a bit of space or rattle some opponents' guard so you can get at them. Or, most importantly, finding enemies near cliffs and kicking them off while yelling about how this is Sparta (even though it's really not, you liar).

As of yet, I haven't encountered anything I couldn't defeat through skill. It might take forever to kill something if your weapons aren't up to snuff, but you can do it. Took me about 20 backstabs to kill this huge armored knight with my crap starting equipment, but I did get it. Just too patience and care as any one hit from him could have killed me.

One complaint I have is that there's too little explanation for a lot of stuff. For example, I'm collecting Humanity, but nothing's told me what that'll actually do. I can use it to stop being an undead, but unlike in Demon's Souls, I don't know what that really does either.

I started with a knight character, which has pretty fair starting stats, but I've hit a small problem with the armor. It's too heavy. You can't properly roll (key evasive tactic) if your worn equipment weighs more than half your max allowable equip weight. I've actually ended up unequipping the armor so I was weaker until some lighter stuff dropped. I've since buffed my Endurance until I can wear all but the mail. Gonna focus on upping my Strength now as my damage has started to flag a bit.

In a move reminiscent of the Red Dragon from Demon's Souls, I've killed a poison spewing dragon with 300 crossbow bolts. The cost of the bolt cancelled out the 3,000 souls it gave, but I got the stuff it was guarding. Sweet sword and shield. And a Dragon Scale, which I hear collecting and joining a certain Covenant will let you take on a more draconic form. Could be fun.

Interesting...

I've picked it up, but have yet to pop it in. I will tonight! I can't wait.

Looking at the class descriptions the theif comes with a master key. I can guess what it might do, but don't know for sure. Anyone know? Does it open doors? chests? misc items? All?

I was a holy knight/paladin in Demon's souls, and am used to hitting hard and wearing heavy plate, thought I might go a different route with this game. Thief being top on the list , almost tied with pyromancer. I guess, realistically, it doesn't matter in the end, as you can up any/all stats and play anyway you want (part of why I love this game (and Demon's Souls)).

Started as a Knight. I picked the Master Key for my Gift. I hear it's the recommended choice by the Japanese player who've had the game days ahead of time.
The Master Key has opened several doors for me so far. At least some I think had an alternate key. Others I've seen no sign of it.

Solved my equipment problem. Twice.
Firstly, I came up against a boss that, while rolling in the fight was definitely advantageous, the nearly unavoidable damage was too much. So, I just put my Knight stuff on. It worked eventually. Had to use an NPC summon, but it worked.
Secondly, I beat down another one of those heavily armored knights at the bottom of a spiral tower and got a ring that sent my Equip allowance way up. He's tough, but I suggest killing him as early as you can manage it.

I"m going to have to pick this game up. I played and beat Demons souls.... was dang hard... and loved it (i'm used to grinding out levels in MMORPG's) so finding sweet spots to level up is deffino in line with my play style. I may look at trying to get it this weekend

So, a giant wolf pulled a sword on me.
A giant sword, of course. A normal size sword would just be silly.

He's a boss character, and I've almost worked out how to win. Best I've managed is to get half his health.
Like all enemies, you can about tell what he's going to do through his body language. He's just so darn fast. He jumps around a lot and I can't stay centered on him, even with lock-on. (Actually, bosses are usually best fought without lock-on. You usually need to spend a lot of time running, and that makes you strafe instead.)
I keep hoping for a Soul Sign to show up outside his gate so I can get some backup, but no luck so far.

Joined the Forest Hunter covenant. Gets you a ring that you can wear to be summoned to defend the forest area. This pretty much means that whenever someone else is playing online and they enter that area, one or more of the Forest Hunters can be summoned from wherever they are as a Dark Spirit with the goal of finding that player and killing them. If the player dies while you're summoned, whether or not you kill them, you get random item too.
Get enough kills and the NPC you made the covenant with rewards you as well. It's only a couple things, but you only have to kill three people to get them both. One's a healing item, but the other is a very sweet ring that makes you halfway invisible. What this does is A)make you harder to detect, and B)make it so others can't lock-on to you. That just plain shut down a couple of the magic users I faced. There are still AoE spells that can hit you, of course. They just didn't have them.

It was a bit dicy as sometimes I'd get set against people who could just one-shot me, while other times it would be an even fight. The former are most likely characters built more specifically for PvP like that. This made for a good place to display a little honor among phantoms, as it were. Some guys you could tell were just trying to get through the area, while others just sort of hung around to fight. For the former I would always allow a one vs one fight, even if there were other Hunters summoned. But for the latter, it would depend on the apparent level difference. I always hang back and see how it's looking when there are other Hunters, and if it looks like the player is just going to dominate completely, I'll jump in to make it a more even fight.
It was also nice to see players respect one another by using the "bow" gesture before a fight.
Of course, it was just as fun to have a sneaky rogue slip up and plant a dagger in someone's back too. Just depends on how your character is built.

I was enjoying this and getting some souls when I went back to see if I'd done enough for any other rewards when the NPC says I've broken the covenant by attacking another Forest Hunter. The only thing I can think of is that maybe my sword's wide strikes hit another phantom during an invasion. Kicked me out and the NPC Hunters turned on me.
The only named one put up a good fight, but I got him eventually. (Took his sweet samurai armor too. ) And then it wouldn't let me leave the forest until every other NPC Hunter was dead. And then a couple phantoms showed up as well, so that was fun.

Sadly, it doesn't look like I'll be able to rejoin that until the next playthrough. That's okay though, as I plan to join the Darkmoon Hunters when I can. It's got a similar setup, only you're called in to hunt anyone who's broken a covenant, or those who've just invaded other worlds. Should be fun.

Ok,

FIRST: Cobalt, we need to connect on PSN! We can team up. Do you know if ther are voice comms in this game? I know there wasn't in Demon's Souls.

That wolf with the big sword, as a reg sword is silly, really did make me LOL. Sounds so good (what is in my future), and can't wait to get home and play some more.

Second: I'm not that far in the game, but got a bunch of time in last night. I decided to go with a pyromancer. I hit pretty hard with my axe (the back stabs animations are great with it, and the 2 handed stance back stab... so much blood!), and my fire ball spell hits like a truck - to bad, and no offense meant, just an expression, as I throw like a girl. You have to get pretty close to hit with the fire ball. The nice part is that you can move while casting, and only stop to actually throw it.

Having no mana is nice. There is a limit to how many fireballs I can throw before I have to rest at a fire. Currently that number is 8, and/but I'm not sure if I can increase that number or not.

I took the master key as my gift as I know that is the only item you can't get else where in the game.

I used my key and went down the spiral stair case, saw the night with the huge arm and giant sword and ran like the wind! I didn't even bother, as my level was pretty low, and sometimes you can just tell that you don't stand a chance. (Pyro's start at level 1).

I did beat the full armored night at the bottom of the stairs before you get to the spiral staircase, 5 fireballs.... DEAD. Got a ring that when my health is low, all my DEF goes way up. It helps. I really want that ring you talked about, sounds like the thief ring from Demon's Souls, which I pretty much wore all the time. That said, I may have to try and kill that guy tonight.

Before I went to bed, I managed to kill Tartus, or Taurus, or whatever his name is. It was pretty easy actually. I climbed the ladder and did a lunge attack in to his forehead for huge damage. When I recovered from that I ran down the bridge, with him chasing. Then rolled through his legs, hit his tail, then ran and climbed the ladder again. Another lunge attack... repeat. The last time I went to do it, I almost got destroyed, as somehow I accidentally switched from my axe to my casting "charm". Luckly when I landed I hit him with my fireball that I started casting as I was falling off the tower, lol. Lucky because I wasn't targetting him, because, as you mentioned, bosses are easier without targeting. Fireball hit him and he evaporated... phew! I was a little upset that he didn't drop anything though, not sure if that's normal, or the fireball fall of doom, bugged him. Oh well, there's always next playthrough.

I logged off at level 15.

Love this game!

Bosses can drop stuff, but it's not a certainty exactly. It's like this... Some bosses (and other enemies) can drop stuff depending on where you hit them. For example, that big red dragon atop the bridge. You can get a bow from the merchant and hide out on a lower part of the bridge, then sink a number of arrows (I keep a couple hundred on hand, just in case) into its tail specifically. If you do, it'll eventually break off! When it does, you automatically get the Drake Sword (don't have to go pick it up since you couldn't). Excellent weapon that I'm still using. 1 handed, broadsword type moves. Requires 16 Strength. 300 attack power, but no stat modify it, so it'll get obsolete eventually. In the meantime, it's still serving me quite well. That's not to say it's decreasing the challenge, mind you. I needed every scrap of it in the next boss fight, and it still doesn't 1 shot many early game enemies.

Without getting into any more spoilers, you can similarly get something from the next boss you'll face has a long tail with an axe on it. If you attack the tail enough, it'll drop a unique axe that bends when you do an R2 attack because it's basically still a tail. Looks neat. That enemy also dropped a special Halberd when it died.
Taurus, I hear, can drop a Demon Greataxe or some such. He didn't for me. I don't know if it required a specific attack target or not.

Feel free to add me, but I don't know if we will be able to team up right off. If you recall, in Demon's Souls, those you could connect to were limited to people within 20 levels above and below your Soul level.
On top of that, there's no guarantee that either of us would be able to even see one another's Soul Signs.
Ugh. It's frustrating that they give you so little information about how the game actually works.
It's definitely worth a try though.

There's still no voice chat allowed, so any communication is done through Gestures, in game messages, or (for those on a friends list) PSN messages.

From what I've seen, you won't ever be able to increase the number of a specific spell you can Attune, only get more spell slots. Thing is, your spells will get stronger as you increase your Intelligence stat (or Faith for Miracles) and improve your catalyst (or whatever pyromancy uses. Can't recall, atm).
I'm using some pyromancy myself, and I just met a master trainer for it. Learned the Fire Whip spell. 80 uses, which will be nice. But I haven't managed to try it out yet. I'll see tonight.

If you do take that heavily armored guy on, make sure you have a shield that blocks 100% Physical Damage, and enough Stamina to block a hit without flinching. I killed him one small damage backstab at a time by carefully watching his moves and strafing around behind. Not sure what kind of damage that fire might do. Just takes time, patience, and a little luck.

A wolf with a big sword huh?? I dont think I could bring myself to defeat such a boss. Just too close to the heart
This seriously looks epic.. Ive seen a couple of reviews and gameplay and I really like what theyve done with the free roam aspect. What do u guys think?? Is the game still sort of linear or do u have more freedom?

Once I finish demon souls this holiday Im defo moving straight onto this.

My mission tonight will be to buy a bow, about 300 arrows, and kill that dragon!

If I didn't kill the dragon, how would I get across the bridge? I don't want to say how many times I was burned to a crisp last night lol. Well, not that many, just 3 or so, but still.... (if you feel like posting it, just pop it in a spoiler tag... I feel bad talking about to much, for the people that haven't gotten this far, or don't want to know).

Either way, I want to kill him!

I read about the Great Axe that Taurus drops, and I would need about 46-48 str to even use it so I'm not to concerned.

I do like the auto loot feature in this game, but I miss the demon soul "gems". I liked that feature.

The level gap in this game is 10%. I'll work hard, so we can at least try lol.

I only have fireball currently, but it can one shot most of the Undead Burg mobs, and if they are grouped it will do the same damage to 2 of them. Approx 150-160 at the moment.

Did anyone get the Dark Souls CE? If so, did your code work? Mine didn't. I found on the Namcobandaigames.com support site that it's a known issue, and had to email my info to them. I hope I get my stuff soon.

Side Note: Just got a 2nd Anniversary email from Atlus about Demon's Souls, Starting today, until the 17th Boletaria will be Pure White. After that, until the end of the month, the world will be Pure Black (Colourless Souls, here I come!)

Also just got an email from Namco Bandai, looks like the issue about the CE codes has been fixed, and I should be able to redeem when I get home! Woo hoo!

Some bosses still drop their souls. You can use them in making weapons. I haven't yet found the right smith to do it though.

Dragon:

Spoiler:

Ten percent, huh? Ugh. That means you'll need to be within four levels of me. Hmm. I'll focus on buying spells and crafting for a bit to try to give you time to catch up.
On the upside, this might help prevent character development from stalling at 125 like happened in Demon's Souls.

I love when they do World Tendency events for DS, but it always seems like the Black ones don't work. Anyway, I'm glad they don't seem to have done WT in Dark Souls. It was kind of a pain.

Quote :

What do u guys think?? Is the game still sort of linear or do u have more freedom?

It is and it isn't. I guess where you can go is partly determined by how much skill and patience you have. I paid an early visit to a later area, pinged an enemy there, and hightailed it out. I could have stayed to fight and brought him down with backstabs, but it was pretty obvious that my stats wouldn't let me progress too easily. I'm actually back there now, and it's still kind of a pain.
It's nice to be able to explore a bit, but it also gives you the problem of sometimes not being about to tell where you should go next.

I appreciate it, but I can't get going hard core until after this weekend. Not only is it Thanksgiving here in Canada, the inlaws will be here, I'm working, AND I am beta testing SWTOR again this weekend, starting tomorrow night.

So, please don't hold back on my account. I really do appreciate the thought though.

Thanks for the dragon/bridge advice

Yeah, world tendency was a pain for sure. It wasn't near as bad as character tendancy though :/

As you wish.
Any other advice needed, let me know. I'll do what I can.

Really enjoying this game so far. Been putting down my summon sign and helping other people. It amazes me how naturally you can work with people you can't really communicate with.
Another guy and I were helping out a player when we came to an undead dragon miniboss. The host pinged him from a safe spot while the other phantom and I split its attention with spell and sword. We just fell into the perfect attack pattern without a word. Thing of beauty.

The only bad part is that the game runs on multiple servers, so there's no reliable way to summon the same person. There's currently a petition to get From Software to make a way to access one's friends list, but I doubt anything will come of it. Pity, really.
Still, great game so far.

I'm really enjoying it too.

I can't wait to get up there in level content to see what you are seeing. On that note, tonight is the last night my SWTOR beta weekend #2, and I will back in to Dark Souls big time. I have farmed enough to get my Dex high enough to use that bow. I need a couple more runs to get all the arrows I will need then that piece of tail... err that dragon is mine! Muah haha!

Part of the reason I like this game and liked Demon's Souls so much, I can run around do the same thing over and over, not advancing, and still have a blast - not wanting to put my controller down.

- Side note: Exporing and running right in to a scary mob, running away, and being chased almost 3/4 of the way across the world. Scary and exciting all at the same time. I will come back when I'm ready to fight that guy...

I love how the game makes you evaluate everything as a potential threat.
A bridge? "ZOMG IT'S GONNA KILL ME!"
A skeleton? "ZOMG IT'S GONNA KILL ME!"
Every single thing I come across is classified as a world-destroying-murder-machine until it proves itself otherwise.

Of course, the fear is also balanced by the anticipation.
"ZOMG IT'S GONNA KI-- Hey, I wonder what it drops?"

HAHA! Yup, exactly.

"Hey, after 5 tries it killing it, I finally succeeded and it didn't drop ANYTHING... Oh well, WHO CARE!? I KILLED IT!!! WOO HOO!"

Love that feeling too.

I am wolfcub's unfathomable envy right now guys... I actually dreamt about this game last night.
I wanna get killed over and over by mythical things goddamn it!!

A guy on reddit has posted a reliable way to summon your friends into co-op!

Quote :

I'm not sure if many have figured this out yet, but I haven't really seen it posted here.

I was watching a stream of some dude playing Dark Souls the other day and he was constantly summoning his friend into his boss fights/areas. I asked him how he did it and he happily told me. Apparently, whenever you drop your White Soapstone, it's placed on a random server. If you drop it again, it's placed on a server different than the one it was before. So a buddy of mine thought we'd try out this guy's method of summoning his friend. My friend would drop his soapstone, and wait about 20 second, and drop it again until I told him I seen it, which I did eventually, every time. Sometimes it took five minutes, one time it took around 11 minutes, but that's because the first two times I seen his stone, he dropped another one before I told him I seen it, so the summon would fail.

TL;DR: Drop Soapstone near buddy every 20-30 seconds. Buddy should see it eventually when it lands on his server. Summon him up.

I want to thank twitch.tv/brandon505 for this.

...Drop the soapstone...
(o.O) ummmm...