Demon's Souls

[Bootaaay]

The barbarian is one of the toughest character classes to start with and I wouldn't reccomend it for your first playthrough - for an easier time try Temple Knight or Royal.

[enderfall]

The barbarian is one of the toughest character classes to start with and I wouldn't reccomend it for your first playthrough - for an easier time try Temple Knight or Royal.

I agree, I should try a different class, but it just doesn't make any sense to me how anyone can play with a barbarian, veteran or not. I wasn't trying to run up to guys Gauntlet/Hack N'Slash style, I was trying to time my attacks and take on one enemy at a time. I couldn't get past the first dozen or so enemies so I doubt a veteran could actually succeed with how crappy the barbarian is equipped from the beginning.

Is the thief a relatively easy class to start with? If not, I think I'll just go with Royal.

[Bootaaay]

Nah, the Thief is also quite difficult - fighting with a dagger you have to rely on stealth and parry moves and it can make combat with some of the tougher enemies a whole lot harder.

[MrPopo]

The biggest weakness of the barbarian is his shield isn't 100% block. The tactics you use with a 100% block shield are very different from one that doesn't block everything. With my Temple Knight the first stage generally boiled down to let enemy hit shield, go into stun from bouncing off the shield, and then attack with my halbard.

[(-_-)]

Ugh, I just played for 90 minutes on the first level with a barbarian, and let's just say that I got as far as if I had not even turned the PS3 on. When I first bought the game a couple weeks back I started out as an archer and while I didn't complete the first level, I managed to get much farther than I did tonight and didn't die once. I ended up shutting it off at the time because I didn't like the mechanics of the bow and figured I'd try something else when I was done with U2.

Well I finished U2 the other day and wanted to try DS again. Man, I must be doing something incredibly wrong because I barely got to the first part of the interior "castle" on 1-1. I kept dieing, and I eventually ran so low on HP herbs and patience that I had to turn it off. I was trying to be careful and set myself up for timely attacks, but it seemed like every time I went to swing my club the enemy would get a slash in at the same time. I would kill one guy and need to heal to prepare for the next guy!

Please tell me there's something to look forward to. I realize I probably didn't pick the best equipped character, but for god's sake, there has to be some way for a barbarian to succeed in the early stages of the game....

I got this game a few days ago and it's one of my favourite games on the ps3. It's so incredibly satisfying and the way the game works immerses you in the whole world. I can't think of any other game I've played maintains my attention like this. I started out as a barbarian when I was just testing to make sure the game worked and I honestly died like a hundred times while my friends kept telling me they were staring at two dragons and they hadn't died once. They both beat the first stage before I did. After wasting a lot of items I restarted as a night and beat the first stage only dying once at the red eyed knight standing across the castle wall. I was able to retrieve my soul after that so it was fine. I beat the first stage with 19 000 souls and surpassed both my friends in one go and I can't stop playing. Planning how to tackle levels is so much fun and I'm always tempted to explore a little more.

[the7k]

Nah, the Thief is also quite difficult - fighting with a dagger you have to rely on stealth and parry moves and it can make combat with some of the tougher enemies a whole lot harder.

The thief was the character I played through with the first time. I really enjoyed it, actually. Dagger, while short range, is also very fast and uses very little stamina.

[enderfall]

Thanks everyone for your input. Maybe I'll try the thief and if I can't get any farther, then I'll just go with Royalty.

[DerekG52]

After having it on my wishlist, I just picked it up on Black Friday. It took me at least 2 hours to beat 1-1 because of the numerous deaths, but it was so rewarding when I beat Phalanx. It has been an absolutely addictive game because you have to learn the right way to do the levels. I just got into the multiplayer aspect, which has been fun helping others to get my body back. Tower Knight was definitely one of the coolest boss fights I've seen in a while.

[Niode]

Finally got my hands on this game, thanks Hobie-wan! I love it, although I'm not really having much difficulty with the game. The red eye knight took me a few attempts before I got the theif ring and then found he gets bored easily and is very susceptible to a good 'ol backstab. Got the purple fire shield the first time I killed him and the game went from mildly challenging to pathetically easy. Farmed him for a while and then decided to go kill the skeletons in 4-1 (who are ridiculously easy with the purple fire shield, move away when they roll towards you, when they do their strong attack, counter attack, hold shield - they weak attack and get staggered - finish them off) Killed the Vanguard demon (without magic or arrows, you pussies), the black skeleton, a couple of mantas, pressed forward and got stuck down some big rock steps, unable to get back up faced with some ridiculously hard gold skeletons on a really thin path. Bastard. Had nearly 30k souls at that point. That sucked. There's no way that I was going to be able to get through all those gold skeletons without knowing what was there waiting for me on the other end. I tried to kill one but managed only to do 40 damage even with a backstab and got cornered between an insurmountable ledge and a never-ending drop. Shit. That was annoying, but for some reason even that didn't piss me off, just made me laugh at my foolhardy dash into the unknown and made me try a different tact.

To the people who have given up after a mere 4 hours in the game, you really should give it another chance. Pick a Knight, it's definitely the most forgiving class in the game but it doesn't make the game ridiculously easy like the Royal class does. Take your time with it and work out what attacks work best against each class in the game. Phalanx took me 1 attempt due to the helpful hint given to me upon entering the chamber, 'use fire weapons' several firebombs later and it was toast. Same thing happened with the Tower Knight, my first death was quite cheap due to being knocked down by the knight and then skewered by the archers. Second time, I took care of the archers first, then handily, was informed 'The weak point of this enemy is it's feet'. Knowing this invaluable knowledge I removed my armour (It's no use when he can 1 hit you with it on anyway) and rolled round to his back and hacked away with my turpentine'd blade.

Sometimes the game can get frustrating like the example mentioned before but for some reason, like other games with this 'hardcore' difficulty level, you blame your own failings rather than the game, it doesn't make you feel completely cheated by being overpowered. You just dust yourself off knowing that at some point you will be strong enough to wipe the floor with those foes. I totally get what the fuss is about and it's one of those games that just needs to be played. I actually feel sorry for the people who have dismissed this game because it is too hard for them. You really are missing out on one of, if not the best defining experience of this generation.

[MrPopo]

Honestly there is only one time where it's not your fault when you die, and that's in world 4 when you're on the cliff side. The game engine has a nasty habit of when you kill a dude you're locked on to of switching the lock to a manta, causing you to fall off quite easily due to your view focus being off of the cliff.