Topic: Demon Souls Remastered. Is it, isn't it?

@MaulTsir You’re doing well and if you have that obsession where you can’t stop thinking about the game then you’re probably going to do just fine. One good thing about this game is the first boss is fairly easy and straightforward when compared to Cleric Beast in Bloodborne.

@MaulTsir Sounds like you are making good progress. One of the things in these games is that even when you are not getting any further you are making progress by learning enemy attack patterns, or an item/weapon that makes your life a bit easier.

Interesting that you are finding it more difficult than Bloodborne, as I think the general consensus was that most people found Demon’s Souls the easiest. But I suppose after having come straight from Bloodborne with its faster paced combat, Demon’s Souls may feel a bit difficult at first.

Adjudicator is down. Odd boss fight and another one that would surely be much much easier with magic. Can’t seem to get past the bell people in the prison so not sure where to head now.

@nessisonett I just used my trusty bow and arrows with that boss.

Good luck with the prison as it can be almost maze like at times. But I proper loved it as I found it so atmospheric!

@nessisonett So you made it past the skeletons in 4-1 easier than the magician squids in 3-1? Having done chiefly a magic build, 4-1 was a huge stumbling block (although yeah, the boss was pretty easy picking off from a distance, so long as you didn’t get within the range of his tongue). The Prison of Hope is also a pretty big early obstacle on account of the convoluted maze like structure. The enemies weren’t so much the issue as much as it was just so easy to get lost.

You could always move on to 5-1, but it’s not a cake walk either really, depending on your build. Or you could tackle 4-2, which is probably not much worse than 4-1 in my opinion. But honestly, 3-1 is the logical place to go now. If you want to cheese things a little then you can take advantage of photo mode to look around corners to make sure the magic squid suckers are turned away from you walking away, and then you can sneak behind for relatively easy first hit. It can be a little tedious, but it works well most of the time. Once those guys get a bead on you they hit so hard.
The prison level is pretty much the main place I used that trick. The purists will call it cheating, but I have no shame. 😄

@Th3solution I thought it was odd that the skeletons gave me so many souls when they took 2 hits to kill with a morning star or 1 backstab. I’ve been alternating between that and the crescent falchion depending on resistances. 4-1 was probably the easiest boss run outside of 1-1 after the shortcut. Is 5-1 the one that’s pitch black and you fall off the edge at the drop of a hat? If so then I tried that about 5 times then gave up.

@nessisonett Yeah, if I remember correctly, 5-1 starts with the narrow makeshift shanty walkways which are kind of easy to fall off. Reminds me of the mines of Moria from LoTR for some reason.

Phalanx is dead, a strange boss fight and relatively easy if I'm honest I did it first time( I used my experience and expertise from bloodborne and realised all them fire papers I was picking up must be for the first boss. From Software's got nothing on me now 😎. 2 hours later I'm in the corner rocking and crying) so far so good, starting to get to grips with the combat I think, them red Knights are brutal at first though so fast compared to every other enemy I've faced so far.

I've noticed a bit of a trend with these games, in any area that I come to I'm like a little lost lamb and I feel so nervous running around don't know what lurking in the corner or the darkness and I move so slowly, after dying about 10 times I end up thinking I'm rambo and just run around killing everything like I'm Muhammad I'm Hard Bruce Lee lol.

@MaulTsir Not to take anything away from you but I wasn't sure if Phalanx was meant to be really easy. I dunno, maybe it's build specific but I thought it was meant to be a bit of a joke boss given how straight forward it was. Tower Knight is pretty challenging by comparison.

@kyleforrester87 I fully expect that the first boss is the easiest, and I only expect it to get harder and harder.

Where I am now is the bridge part, and there is a firey nuisance and a hell of a lot of enemies, and no doubt my reward for making it to the other side is gonna be a nice friendly boss

@MaulTsir That bridge is pretty challenging, although I was able to kill the dragon with some well timed spells, the aid of the first shelter there, and a lot of patience. You can kill it with arrows too, but that’s a little harder and takes a ton of arrows apparently. But I think the game intends for you to just run past it for now and it’s hardly worth the effort and time since there’s no special reward outside of a few extra souls.

I know what you mean about walking into each new area feeling like a lost lamb to the slaughter. The beauty of FromSoft games is that the enemy placement is always the same though and without conscious effort you learn enemy placement and tactics through repetition.

As far as the Red Knights, and Blue ones too (I forget which type is harder) where possible I took advantage of the enemy aggro distance limits, which can often be used against many of the enemies. Chip away a little and then run out of aggro until turn their back and walk away, then sneak up and chip away some more from behind, repeat, repeat.

I can’t remember when you get access to the thief ring, but it shrinks the enemy aggro distance and is one of the most useful items to tactically utilize against many of the enemies, and even bosses. I didn’t really realize how useful it was until late in the game.

@Th3solution yeah I've heard that you can take the dragon down with Arrows, magic would be easier but I haven't got any yet lol.

Yeah I think repetition and familiarity with this game that gets you through, I just start to become more comfortable in each area the more I die and have to replay it.

The blue Knights go down pretty easily compared to the red knight's or so I've found, I did that with my first red Knight kept waiting for him to give up chasing me and turn round then ran back an stabbed him before running off again, not very Soul's esc I admit but when I killed him I was pleased with my self 🤣

I've already picked up the thief ring but I'm yet to test it out, I'm sure I'll unsuccessfully use it at some point lol

@MaulTsir Honestly I think you'll be surprised by just how easy some of the later bosses are.

The boss challenges have a bizarre 'inverse' difficulty curve... not to mention that the majority of them can be cheesed in some way or another! Compared to Elden Ring, there is nothing as savage in late-game that rivals Malenia for instance.

I found that the runs to the bosses, especially Tower Knight in 1-2 (?), were often harder than the bosses themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed my time with it - but you can certainly tell that this is early output from FS in terms of general game mechanics.

Still IMO the most graphically gorgeous game on PS5, but I much preferred Sekiro and Elden Ring.

Umbassa!

@CJD87 @MaulTsir Yeah, good point about the erratic boss balancing. Some of the bosses were a breeze and then you have Flamelurker and Maneater. 😅 But yes, overall the bosses were ‘easier’ than Bloodborne bosses to me (haven’t played ER yet). Honestly, now that I think about it, the bosses I struggled with were the ones that were quick, could close in rapidly, and couldn’t be effectively battled from distance, so players with a melee style build who git gud at using the shield might be fine with them. I never really was good at shield and parry.

@CJD87 yeah I feel like the more time I spend on it the more I'm becoming familiar with the gameplay and becoming alot more comfortable, I think because my only experience with a FS game was Bloodborne that I didn't really know what to think in terms of combat mechanics and enemy difficulty, I think the enemies for the most part are definitely easier on DeS but also because the combat mechanics are a bit slower and rougher round the edges it sort of balances it out so the enemies are tough at first if that makes any sense lol.

After Bloodborne I am honestly looking forward to giving all of the other games a try but I just thought I'd start with this one as it's the original and I heard that the mechanics are the most under developed so to speak so seemed like a good place to start.

Graphically its absolutely gorgeous, probably the best on the ps5 so far, imagine what Bloodborne could look like if it got the same treatment!

@Th3solution I think that's my biggest struggle so far, in terms of how fast some of the enemies are compared to your character, like I know that the enemies and bosses where alot faster in bloodborne than anything I've come across yet in DeS but I felt a lot faster in bloodborne and like I had alot more control over my character, some of the combat animations are a nightmare I'm like roll roll roll quick but my guys still doing sword slashes and getting killed half way through lol I know it's probably a case of skill/familiarity or git gud but at first that change in pace is really a pain in my....you know what lol

@MaulTsir One of the things that you might want to consider (if you haven’t already) is not letting your weight load or equip burden go over 50% capacity because then your dodge roll becomes a “fat roll” instead of a quicker regular roll. So you can roll and dodge a smidge quicker (and I think maybe have more i-frames) if you’re not over burdened. Apparently I saw online that there’s an even quicker “fast roll” if you keep your equipment burden less than 25% capacity, but I think that might be urban myth, but I never tried to experiment. You can definitely feel the sluggishness of your roll once you hit the 50% mark though. And to me it made the game feel slower and dodging enemy attacks more difficult. Since I didn’t use shield or parry much, I relied on my dodge so kept my equipment light. It’s tempting sometimes to put on the big bulky armor or shield because of the high defense ratings it give you, but often it’s better to use lesser stat armor so as to keep your weight down.

Of course this is just my own opinion, but a lot of the YouTube videos and strategies I’ve seen the “pros” use talk about avoidance of the fat roll. Coming from Bloodborne like me, you’re likely more used to roll dodging instead of parry and blocking, so you might want to consider the quicker load out strategy too.

Of course pouring points into either strength or endurance (I forget which) does increase your total encumbrance burden potential, so theoretically if you level up the necessary stats your be able to stay below 50% and roll normally and still be able to have heavy armor equipped for a best of both worlds approach. However, every point spent on one attribute means you can’t level up another attribute so… welcome to the dilemma of Soulsborne games! 😅

@MaulTsir Glad you're enjoying it man!

In all honesty, it is probably an ideal place to 'start' with FS games - as generally I would argue that the mechanics and gameplay elements improve drastically in later series entries.

For sure it will feel slow after Bloodborne, but sounds like you're getting used to it.

Such a great catalogue of games awaits you.... my personal favorite being Sekiro, followed closely by Elden Ring.

Enjoy! Let me know if you want any boss backup as well, I still have my saved character online

@Th3solution Yeah increasing your endurance will increase your equip load. Strength will increase you attack power in some weapons, Dexterity in others.

And nope there is no such thing as a faster roll for equip load below 25% in this game, that is only from Dark Souls onwards I believe.

@Th3solution @CJD87 Thanks for the advice guys, and CJD thanks for the offer of help on co op, I will definitely let you know if I need any help, but I will also need some coop for trophies aswell! Lol.

I've been getting through quite well, I have now slain the Tower Knight, on my second try and also with out killing any of the archers for that secret achievement! I was well buzzing with my self 🤣 I didn't think the fight was that hard to be honest it was more just learning the move set and being able to get out of the way! Now I'm below 50% equipment rating I can also roll around and attack a lot faster, I've swapped my halberd weapon for a sword that does magic and normal damage and its been a game changer!

I've took down the dragon on the bridge, took about 70 well played arrows and also killed Executioner Miralda, I've done every thing I can in Bolteria so far I believe so onto 2-1 next!

@MaulTsir Well done! You’re on your way now! Although there are still some tough encounters ahead, it sounds like you should be set to make it through. I thought Executioner Miralda was as tough or tougher than some of the bosses. Fortunately she’s right at the beginning by the archstone. I think it took me 3-4 tries with her and maybe the same for Tower Knight.

Looking forward to hearing how you get along with the upcoming levels.