What are you playing?

[Sload Soap]

That scimitar is a dex based weapon so it will probably be worth ditching for a straight sword or axe at some point if you're going for a strength build.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Just a reminder...DEX builds are boss. My ninja was chopping heads like Ryu Hayabusa by the end of the game, and you don't need shields and armor if nothing can hit you.

[fastbilly1]

Monkey Island 2 SE - Just got Rapps piece of the map.

[Exhuminator]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

I guess I'll stop pumping vitality and start pumping endurance next, maybe it will help against magic and elemental attacks, which my character is very weak against.

Right now the scimitar+4 is doing a lot of damage, but obviously I have more of a strength build, so whenever I end up with a strength based weapon that's stronger than the scimitar+4, I'll start using it. Or if I get enough sharpstone shards I could just buy an axe from Ed and upgrade it. I think I'll have to go back to 2-1 to get sharpstone shards again though.

At any rate, I'm certainly enjoying Demon's Souls more and more the longer I play it. It's always fantastic to play a game that respects your intelligence and doesn't hold your hand. Has this forum ever had a collective Souls thread? If not I think I'll make one soonish.

[isiolia]

Many of the weapons in DeS scale on both STR and DEX, and simply favor one over the other. You can change the upgrade path as well, to suit a build, though not to the degree of the later games (DeS's upgrade system is certainly the most complicated, but also a little limiting).

If you like the curved sword move set, then you could just increase DEX long term. Right now, assuming you're still on the Basic path, scaling is D/D/-/- anyway. It won't actually start favoring DEX again until +7 (when it'll be D/C/-/-). Essentially, your STR is still fine for supporting a scimitar, if you just happen to like that weapon. It just wouldn't make sense to keep just upgrading STR if you're planning to stick with it.

Generally speaking, you may want to experiment with other weapons - the upgrade materials for earlier stages tend to be easy to get, where high-end upgrade materials are limited in Souls games, meaning you can only usually max out a handful of weapons per game cycle.

You also might want to investigate different upgrade paths, if you think you might want to, since several of them branch off at +3 and I don't think you get credit for anything past that when reformed. Not that you need to, Basic is perfectly fine.


Also, edit:

Has this forum ever had a collective Souls thread? If not I think I'll make one soonish.

It does not appear so, though every individual game has a thread (or more) about it.

Demon's Souls (and this one)
Dark Souls
Dark Souls II
Dark Souls III
Bloodborne

...and however many other threads that have been derailed or otherwise talked about 'em I guess.

[Exhuminator]

Thanks for the advice.

I think my issue right now is I don't know what kind of "build" I'm going for. I keep hearing about all these different builds. I guess I'm just going for a strong knight. Hit hard, take hard hits, keep on trucking, that kind of thing. I know Xeogred keeps talking about being nimble and fast, but I have to wonder if that's really the only way to succeed. For example, I know you can be a royal magician and that's basically "easy mode" for Demon's Souls. So there's two viable builds. Surely a beefy swordsman is a viable build, even if he rolls like a beached whale. We'll find out!

[isiolia]

Well, as you've probably discerned by now, leveling in these games is always a tradeoff. Maxing out everything is technically possible, but not realistic over any reasonable amount of playthroughs.

To be fair, stats do tend to have a soft cap (usually around 30 to 40) where their benefit per point drops, and sometimes a hard cap on some benefits as well. For example, in DeS, Stamina caps at 160 with 40 Endurance. Exact amounts (and stats) change between games, but generally that seems to be where things end up.
Couple that with base requirements for weapons and spells, and what you (for whatever reason) want to use, and take it from there. For instance, you mentioned wanting to get another Miracle. Well, if you want to equip that at the same time as Heal, then you'll need to get 16 Faith for a second Miracle slot.

Maybe if you build Faith up high enough, then the overall scaling on a Blessed path weapon becomes attractive, which might suggest going for a weapon that can be upgraded with that...which might make yet more Faith work well, and so on... could turn into a make your own paladin. Or not.


I think the main thing about being nimble, however, is that avoiding damage is always ideal. More practiced players tend to be able to do that, or set out to learn to (those that have played Bloodborne had no choice but to adapt to that style ). Plus, for speedruns/etc it's less to build for. So, you do see a gravitation to dodging over other strategies. It probably is viable to tank better (though with a shield, not just taking hits), but can take away from building for better damage or whatnot.
Personally, there are some fights I do just use a shield for, and some in Dark Souls where a common NG strategy is using heavy armor and try to zerg...but it's just a lot less common.

Still, that's the fun of it. Viable strategies don't need to be the best strategies to be fun or satisfying to pull off.

[Xeogred]

Yeah kind of what isiolia is getting at, I'm just telling you to learn how to roll and dodge brah!

So, I'm hyping up speed not in a technical sense like there's stats or anything for it, just try to get a handle on it. Of course, you need a good setup with stats/equipment which you're working on. But beyond that I think you're favoring the play style I go in with these as well. Not a total tank per se, more like a medium brute force soldier type and 110% melee. But it's always fun to have some magic, specifically Lightning Spear in the Dark games is amazingly fun to have.

Anyways dude don't want to keep overwhelming you here. Your build is great. Don't get too caught up on builds in Demon's. You can experiment a bit in this one more than Dark Souls. Bloodborne on the other hand has so little stats that it's almost impossible to make a weird messed up build, I think that game simply favors focusing more on the weapons themselves (more dynamic movesets and such). When I look back on Bloodborne, I have no idea how I would play it differently and don't think it's possible. But with Demon's and Dark, the possibilities are kind of endless.

Just never be that magic caster guy. We can't be friends then.
(but I want to do some magic user builds someday for kicks, maybe I wont' be bored and it will be fun?)

I want you to report back to me when and if you ever find the Claymore. Just look at it because it will make you laugh. It's about as big as the character model.

Glad you're turning around a little more positive on it.

The True Demon's Souls Stars Here.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Thanks for the advice.

I think my issue right now is I don't know what kind of "build" I'm going for. I keep hearing about all these different builds. I guess I'm just going for a strong knight. Hit hard, take hard hits, keep on trucking, that kind of thing. I know Xeogred keeps talking about being nimble and fast, but I have to wonder if that's really the only way to succeed. For example, I know you can be a royal magician and that's basically "easy mode" for Demon's Souls. So there's two viable builds. Surely a beefy swordsman is a viable build, even if he rolls like a beached whale. We'll find out!

Dodging is VERY important. Maybe I'm just more used to Dark Souls as it was the last one I played, and I'm hardly the biggest Souls-like veteran here, but tanking is rarely a strategy that works all the time, in my opinion. There are some hits you just NEED to dodge, or you will definitely die, because you're just gonna get stun-locked. It won't matter how many hits it takes to kill you if you're stun-locked. Putting at least some stock in not-fat-rolling is a very good idea, methinks.

Maybe we can have a "Let's Modern Together" sometime where we play a Souls-like game as a community or something

[BoneSnapDeez]

"Let's Modern Together"

I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that.