What Games Are You Playing?

I play Demon's Souls at the moment, I am playing as Royalty. I am at the level 32 or so and completed 1-1, 2-1, 1-2 and 1-3. Right now I die at boss fights in 1-4 and 1-5 but don't want to spoil myself by reading tutorials on how to fight them so it'll take some time until I finally come up with proper tactics.

For now, 3-1 is my favourite, however I also like 3-2 which I played for few times but get lost (didn't know where to go after I got into a dead end).

 

3-2 and 1-4 are the toughest boss fights. The toughest black phantoms are in 5-2 and 5-3.

In general, the x-1s tend to be easier than the x-2s. I'd recommend working on the lower numbers first if x-2s and x-3s are too hard. 4-1 had a nice weapon near the beginning you could pick up. You turn left right as you enter the ruined castle wall and circle around where you'll find a black skeleton. It's behind him if you can manage to avoid his strike. He may kill you in 1 blow if you are at a low level, however. Bait him into attacking and then run past to grab it. Or kill him from a distance. There's a really fantastic weapon in 2-2 dropped by miners early in the level. It's called the Mirdan Hammer. If you know how to use it and upgrade it properly, I am not exaggerating in saying it's one of the absolute best weapons in the game. You use it 2-handed, especially for PVP.

Upgrades really open up after 2-2, but the boss is tough. Having an upgraded Purple Flame Shield (great shield for your first time through) helps a lot. Make sure you give the soul from 2-2 to the blacksmith in 2-1. And NEVER strike that guy because he won't forgive you.

I liked all the areas pretty well. 4-1 and 1-3 seem to be PVP heaven. You will constantly be invaded there. Many go there with the intention of just fighting incoming phantoms. I have done this several times. You'll sometimes see a small group of people gathering for 1-on-1 matches. Overall, the PVP community has shown outstanding sportsmanship. If you pull any nonsense, the group will probably converge on you and thrash you. It's rare to be cheapshotted. Most bow before and after the match. Online matches like that were a treat for me.

 

My intention was of course to write that I die at bosses in 4-1 and 5-1 (and not 1-4 and 1-5). And yes, I got the weapons from 4-1, two katanas, although my character is too weak to hold them at the moment.

Also I've found that magic weapons are better for these silver skeletons, so at the moment I fight with a basic shield in my left arm and Crescent Falchion in my right hand (which does about 60/60 for physical and magical damage). Also, in 4-1 I've found the Adjudicator's Shield which regenerates HP and it's quite handy as a support for the MP regenerating ring. Thus, both my HP and MP regenerate automatically.

Because I am at 32nd level, I run through both 4-1 and 5-1 with no issues at all. It's just that I have to find proper tactics for both bosses.

 

The Crescent Falichon was the weapon I was referring to. It's very effective early in the game. There's also a decent Dragon weapon somewhere in the caverns of 2-2 you can find. Dragon Long Sword I think.

Later on the specialized weapons you can get boosted by individual stats will become much more effective as your stats increase. It might be a good idea to start thinking about which stats you'd like to focus upon raising. I wouldn't pick pure DEX/Sharp the first time through because the large ores are so exceedingly rare (nearly drove me mad getting the platinum trophy). STR (Crushing), Faith (Blessed), or STR + DEX are solid choices. I can give you my stats for my lvl 120 PVP builds if you decide on one. If you like regen, a faith build with a Mirdan Hammer+5 and Adjudicator Shield+5 is brutally effective at let's say lvl 80 through ~100. At the higher levels, enchanted weapons (casting Cursed Weapon on a Crushing Great Axe, for example) begin to have the advantage. Also, you don't want to have an equal distribution of all the attack stats, as a Crushing weapon is only boosted by STR and a Sharp weapon is only boosted by DEX. Blessed weapons are mostly boosted by Faith but I think get tiny bonuses from STR and DEX as well.

The Adjudicator Shield is a VERY popular weapon to pair with 2-handed weapons like the Mirdan Hammer. If you go 2-handed while the Adjudicator Shield is on your back, you still get the same HP regen. Never try to block fire with it, though. I think it's wooden, and you'll get roasted regardless.

If you're going melee, try going down to ground level with the Adjudicator boss. Clobber him with a good strike and you'll hear a weird gelatinous sound. Then back up and dodge whatever attack the throws at you (slow giant sword strike or tongue). Keep this up and he'll keel over for a few seconds and open himself up so that you can land some real damage. You can also try targeting the bird with ranged attacks from the upper level, but he'll do massive damage if he lands with that tongue, and he's pretty accurate. Melee is easiest. Just keep up the attacks and don't let him corner you.

I'd recommend completing 2-2 as soon as you're strong enough to do so. If you don't know your way through, you might want to try summoning a blue phantom or two and carefully follow them. It's easy to fall to your death if you don't watch where they drop. The downside is that the boss there will probably smash you a few times. It's a nasty brute. Bring the Purple Flame Shield and try to put distance between the two of you using the pillars in the room. Having decent END helps so you can withstand a few blocks before your guard is broken.

BTW, the Uchigatana is an elite weapon, but it's rather fragile and is eventually upgraded by hard to find pure ores. So I'd say try that if you build a PVP character later rather than the 1st run through.

 

Thaks for all these tips, I've read all of this carefully twice

I am rather lame player plus I do not play much. However, DS it's just such GREAT game that it even competes Oblivion on my personal list of games of this generation. And this is rather unexpected, as reading through all DS stuff BEFORE you play the game by yourself, makes you think that the game is not intended to be played by average gamers but rather by some extreme freaks. Fortunately, this is not so - even if will not be able to complete the game, I still enjoy it very, very much.

From what you write I conclude that your advice is to invest in STR. I got the opposite impression, I thought that playing as Royalty would rather assume investing in magic + intelligence and endurance as minor skill. I thought that investing in magic will give me an advantage, as more powerful spells are available. Currently I am using the Soul Ray (got it for killing the Fool's Idol in 3-1) and it's deadly effective. I expect to find even stronger offensive spells further in the game.

Also, I thought that two-handed weapons are not suitable for Royalty as you lower your defense comparing to the situation where you use one-handed weapon and a shield. Your tips then give me another, fresh look at the possible progress path in the game.

 

The classes aren't that important after the first few levels. Royalty is the best because it starts at lvl 1 and lets you shape it however you like.

You can make a mage type character if you wish, and I can give you some tips for that, but it's more difficult to manage and maintain. The offense of a mage is the most powerful, but you'll go through consumables and have less HP. I have pretty decked out mage character, but I wouldn't recommend it the first time through. Maybe you could post your stats to give me an idea of where your points have been allocated? That could help. I can give you the stats of my optimized characters when I have some more time.

I have a graduation ceremony to attend (a friend in the same program I'm in is graduating this morning; hopefully my time will be in a month or two), so I'll have to get back to you a bit later. Glad to hear that you're enjoying the game. The difficult is not as overwhelming as many think. If you learn to adopt a cautious, defensive strategy, it's not as tough as people make it out to be.

 

Sure, thanks in advance. I will probably play for a while in the evening (in 6-7 hours) so I'll write down my stats and post them here.

I think that I am a little too impatient, as for example 4-1 is a perfect level for "soul farming" (as I've read this people call it) but I've already died 3 or 4 times during the boss fight every time losing about 5-6k souls or so just because I haven't gone back to Nexus to spend my souls on leveling.

 

Am playing Torchlight (PC) I HATE that there is NO controler controls and you HAVE to control everything using the stupid mouse.

I was expecting Diablo and badass, not fairys and butterflies so far... I'm probly only 5 hours in.

 

Fairies and butterflies? I love fairies and butterflies. It's like glitter and unicorns.

 

Well this is like the ultimate fairy dungeon crawler. I suggest the Xbox version, it's gotta have better controls. Another game like this is the 2004ish release of Bard's Tale.

 

I posted my stats for my 3 PVP builds on the Demon's Souls thread in the PS3 section.

 

At Demon Souls I defeated the 2-2 boss on my own below level 30.
Bought soul arrow (or something like that) and stayed the hell away.

I focused on running and my wife (watching me struggle ) told me where the boss was at that point.
It is a shame that she missed being with me when I went for boss 2-3. She would've loved that one.

 

I think the 2-2 boss is the first real challenge in Demon's Souls, and winning that battle rewards you by really opening up opportunities to upgrade your gear. Make sure you take that Red Hot soul to Ed the Blacksmith in 2-1. He is the guy who hooks you up with the best upgrades for your gear.

 

I need to update my guitar hero set. I joined the fad when Guitar Hero World Tour (GH4) came out. Since then they've made Guitar Hero Metallica (I'd like to play that), Guitar Hero 5 (my mate had it, most of the songs were crap) Guitar Hero Van Halen (I want that game now) and Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock. I also want to get the guitar hero greatest hits so I can play Dragon Force!

 

I stopped playing after 4 and now if I try to play I suck balls. I can still complete mostly everything on expert but my scores are dreadful.

I haven't picked up a real guitar in more than 2 years now and my fingers are slowing down and feel stiff as a result even in GH.

 

I used to play Guitar & Bass so was able to jump in on the highest difficulty straight away but I know many people who can't make the jump to using all 5 buttons. A lot of if is about practise, you will get better.

I never actually tried the drums, one of my buddies who was our drummer (but now like me has a wife and child and doesn't play anymore) has the set but whenever we all gather at his we usually end up doing something else. I used to fiddle on the drums at practises but always found the double bass pedal is killer, rock/metal drummers need massive amounts of stamina these days. You can use a double pedal with GH Metallica I believe and I think he has it but again I haven't tried that version of the game.

 

Steam says I hit 400 hours on Counter Strike Source. I don't think the counts go back more than a few year though.