☠ Souls Series Symposium ☠

[Exhuminator]

If you did the same with King's Field, it would be a metroidvania title I think.

Yes KFs are like a hybrid of dungeon crawler and metroidvania. The world designs are typically recursive and intertwined.

[Xeogred]

Going to pull the trigger on the Dark Souls 3 DLC very soon. Guess I can grab the season pass for both?

My character is level 203 on NG+++, which might be absurdy OP... but who knows. I wouldn't mind having an easy time after doing the Bloodborne DLC on NG+++, that was basically suicide (everything and I mean everything killed me in 1-3 hits).

Heard nothing but great things about The Ringed City and that was an area I wanted to be an actual level, so it worked out!

[isiolia]

I got the season pass for it before the first DLC, it was on sale at some point

Both of them form a continuous storyline of sorts, so you may still want to play them in order.

[MrPopo]

My character is level 203 on NG+++, which might be absurdy OP... but who knows.

The first rule of Souls is that you are never absurdly OP.

[Exhuminator]

Not sure why I'm posting about Genesis games in the Souls thread.

Fine I'll continue discussing my Demon's Souls playthrough here then.

--

Demon's Souls

Wow folks I was on point tonight, made a ton of progress. Here's what went down...

First off I got through 5-2 like it was nothing on first go tonight, made it to the boss fog door. No problems. Even got the dull gold armor and Moonlight Sword. And then I took out Dirty Colossus on my first try, what a chump. I continued on to 5-3 and slew Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland on my first try as well. And then I gleefully warped away from the Valley of Defilement, a hellhole I never plan to visit again so long as I live.

After all that success, I said you know what? Time to take on that punk ass Flamelurker:


This dude was using a royal mage + soul arrow and still died, lulz

So I stepped to Flamelurker next. And I beat his ass down, first try. (Technically speaking, it took me a total of five tries to beat Flamelurker. But the first four were a few days ago.)

Basking in my glory, I continued on, and then holy shit:


WHY HELLO I AM JUST A DRAGON GOD

BROFIST DUDE! OH DAMN WHOOPS

I have to admit, this humongous irrational lizard intimidated me when I first saw him. But then I put my war face on and did what I had to do. And... I beat Dragon God on my first go as well. So in one night, I beat four Demon's Souls bosses on my first try. Maybe, just maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this.

Here's hoping I can have Demon's Souls beat by the end of this weekend. My sleep schedule has been wrecked as a direct result of playing this too late every night. And my poor nerves are shot out. (Playing with a walkthrough would be less dramatic, but I love having no idea what comes next.)

Definitely going to have to play something relaxing after this insanity though.

Edit: I'M A GROWN ADULT AND I CAN'T SPEIL GOD HOELPS ME

[Xeogred]

Haha, yeah like I mentioned earlier sometimes in these if you get stuck on a boss, it's best to head elsewhere for a bit and then come back to destroy them. I would maybe chalk up Dragon God to pure luck though... you can get one shotted in some parts there but once you get past that main hallway or two it's easy. Not a lot of weird gimmicky puzzle fights like that in these, but I kind of like them.

The Maiden Astraea story is amazing. So that part is a bit more than the battle. Love it, the other world 5 bosses are pretty lame and pathetic. Yeah world 5 is a one and done kind of area. BUT, get ready for the other games to have diarrhea levels like this at some point. 5-2 I like a lot actually, but I don't mind the diahhrea zones in Dark Souls 2.

The 3-3 boss is probably going to be a cake walk too, but I wonder how 3-2 will treat you. The 3-3 boss though is the one I mentioned that was generally a summoned player within the vicinity, so that definitely made for some challenging fights. But the NPC is pretty easy to deal with.

Guess you're in the home stretch already. Seemed pretty fast. Maybe we helped you too much.

[isiolia]

Nice, you're down to what, the rest of 3 and then 1-4? Fair warning, 3-2 is another one of the generally toughest bosses in the game, certainly the one I found the hardest. The 1-4 boss is considered to be as well, but I haven't had problems with it (protip: you will want a bow and a lot of arrows to clear the path in 1-4).

There are poison swamp type areas in all of the Souls games, but Valley of Defilement is probably the worst - though I'd say more due to the general design of Demon's Souls than anything else. Those loooong initial runs through the levels.


I ended up rolling credits on DeS last night, which I largely tackled due to having beaten it as a Royal the first time. It was also the only one in the series I hadn't beaten more than once.
This time was as a Soldier, and I didn't learn or cast a single spell. It..was not appreciably different to me. Granted, I meleed a fair bit even as a mage, but I suspect the reputation for Easy Mode on that is more due to specific areas or fights that happen to be weak to magic. Seemed like maybe DeS takes a more extreme approach to defensive strengths and weaknesses.

[Exhuminator]

I would maybe chalk up Dragon God to pure luck though...

I watched his behavior for a while to learn his pattern, then used pillars tactically to avoid his fists and flame. I was also wearing a Thief Ring which made him lose track of me fairly often. And when it came time to destroy his chin horn, I used arrows from far away, didn't get near his mouth. I won this battle with strategy dude, give me a little credit here.

BUT, get ready for the other games to have diarrhea levels like this at some point.

Oh joy!

Guess you're in the home stretch already. Seemed pretty fast. Maybe we helped you too much.

Fast? I've got like 42 hours in this game now. The most useful piece of advice anyone gave me was to get my dexterity up so my scimitar actually did some damage. That, and releasing Biorr so the Penetrator fight was a joke. On another forum someone told me about the Second Chance spell that revives you on death. I'm not even using that bullshit.

Nice, you're down to what, the rest of 3 and then 1-4?

Yes, I've still got to clear areas 1-4, 3-2, and 3-3.

(protip: you will want a bow and a lot of arrows to clear the path in 1-4)

I should be good to go; I always carry a compound longbow+4 and 300 arrows with me into every level.

It..was not appreciably different to me. Granted, I meleed a fair bit even as a mage, but I suspect the reputation for Easy Mode on that is more due to specific areas or fights that happen to be weak to magic. Seemed like maybe DeS takes a more extreme approach to defensive strengths and weaknesses.

Keep in mind you already beat DeS once before, as well as other Souls games. Once you understand how these games work, you are at a big advantage over a newbie. I have read on other forums people say that DeS' bosses are generally weaker to magic, so combine that with ranged magic, and yeah... easier than trying to sword-fight them to death. I'm glad to hear that magic got nerfed going forward into the series, and armor became more realistically useful. Also congrats on your second beat of DeS!

[prfsnl_gmr]

Nice work, Exhuminator. You are really doing well.

The 3-2 boss is pretty nuts, and I hope that you enjoy the fight...especially the second half. (You'll see what I mean...)

Also, once you beat the game, ignore the temptation to dive right into NG+. The difficulty increases significantly, and immediately losing all of the souls you are carrying around from the final boss (like I did) is disheartening. (In other words, bask in the glory of your victory for a while.)

[Exhuminator]

Nice work, Exhuminator. You are really doing well.

Thank you!

Also, once you beat the game, ignore the temptation to dive right into NG+.

Oh no problem there. After I beat Demon's Souls I'm going to play something cute, fluffy, and colorful... like a Wii game of some sort. Gotta douche my soul yo.

While we're talking about NG+... does it offer anything new besides just harder enemies and bosses? (This question is for every Souls game, not just DeS, thanks.)