Demon's Souls: Real dififculty or Fake difficulty?

I've heard a lot about how hard the game is but I've yet to get a good idea in what manner it's hard. I can deal with real difficulty, because real difficulty can be surpassed with enough practice, but fake difficulty just gets on my nerves. I'm going to rent it at least, so I'll get to try it, but I'm curious what folks here have seen.

Real. It's like Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter 's bastard child. Because the art style is decidedly un-anime most of the time, mind you, not because of anything related to the gameplay.

There we go, finally got my rental copy. Kinda wish I had a manual though, the tutorial seems kinda barebones. And yeah, it seems to be real difficulty, not fake, though possibly too difficult for my relatively low skill level, though I suppose if I keep at it, I'll get the hang of it eventually.

I have a relatively low skill level too and I still managed to beat DMC 1, 3 and 4 in DMD and Viewtiful Joe in ultra-V rated. Not without items, mind you, but it's still proof you can go very far by not giving up. In those games I reached the point in which the stages got harder than the bosses themselves as the bosses were mostly predictable and there are too many variables to take into account when taking on thre or more mooks at once.

Usually real difficulty, occasionally fake. The camera dislikes narrow corridors, and there are a LOT of narrow corridors. Getting onto a moving ledge is also a bit iffy, as there is no jump button and it amounts to a "step of faith."

Sorry to revive a month-old topic, but Id like to point that Demon´s Souls dificulty is entirely up to the player. It can and has been completed with level 1 characters (granted that class starts with a ranged Magic spell) and I personally consider it far easier than any Devil May Cry game ever.

Hell, Ive managed to beat the game without the use of co-op and staying below level 70 yet I cant for the life of me get past mid game in the DMC games. All it requires is patience and paying attention to hints in the enviroment and the monsters themselves. And for further detailed information/help there is an oficial wiki online and another (more complete imo) non-official one.

Cheers.

edited 8th Mar '10 4:52:10 AM by Bluesang

Necro

What does this game play like? Is it an action RPG roguelike or is just just an action RPG?

Action Rpg its not a roguelike thats for sure. There is none of the randomness from roguelikes.

It certainly doesn't seem random. Hell, from the looks of it you might need to rely on how predictable it can be if you aren't good. The three hour speed run seemed to rely on the guy knowing where every single enemy was.

edited 26th Oct '10 9:22:53 PM by Beforet

I would say it's Real Difficulty. The major challenge, in my opinion, is that it's very unforgiving.

Here's a good video discussing this, in fact.

Been playing this more and more.

I'm reminded of the frustration I felt playing Classicvanias as a youth.

I like this game.

Necro, again.

I would say it is real difficulty. Very, very real difficulty. The game doesn't throw anything at you that you can't technically handle, it just punishes you hard for messing up.

If you die, you can be sure it wasn't the game's fault, at least usually (there's that one level with the swamps and stuff where you're constantly poisoned/plagued and the computer is suddenly not affected by these inconveniences), and in a way, that's kind of a good thing. The game actively makes you get better at as you die again, and again, and again.

I had a Fake Difficulty death today, via a fall I should've survived considering how far it's possible to fall and survive in this game. You know that cycling mill you use as a shortcut towards the beginning of the mines? Yeah. Fuck that thing.

On the other hand, the game's biggest failure in terms of difficulty is not explaining its own damned self. This game would be much, much less frustrating if it told you how to take advantage of its own economic factors and thus minimise the losses associated with dying. My advice:

• When possible, level up.
• Secondarily, upgrade your primary weapons.
• Then get your gear repaired.
• If you still have a considerable amount of souls, grind to the next level in a location you're comfortable with. The starting castle is great for this in the early game because you can get about 4000 souls if you destroy every enemy up to Phalanx and the Miyazaki slug-things right after his chamber. Note that this involves taking on the Red Eyes Knight, though.

I've read a couple of FA Qs for this game, but they're scarcely better than the game itself in this regard; they want you to either come in with knowledge of how the game works (nice FAQ there, buddy) and/or cater towards a specific build. As someone who plays a Knight — one of the more cumbersome and challenging classes due to limited access to ranged weapons or dextrous moves — this can be quite an issue.

This Might help the lack of Guides but otherwise its more of a learned skill than anything else.

I can also give a few suggestions of my own

• Go to 4-1 Get that Crescent Scimitar+1 its worth fighting the black skeleton for.
• Its also worth clearing 4-1 for a certain farming trick in 4-2
  • The deaths in 4-1 will be made up if you can clear it.
• Do not try to play the game in a linear order. 1-2 IS NOT FUN.

I might add a Guide Dang It! for this game. any player who tries to play through the levels in a traditional order will be unhappy.

edited 13th Mar '11 10:53:45 AM by stevebat

It's often easier to start as a mage than a meleer. Namely the noble who can regenerate magic.

However, if you're feeling tough, take the Templar Knight. Never use the halberd one handed, you always want that sucker in both of your hands. When you get a decent one handed weapon, then feel free to try out the shield some. Rule of thumb, if enemy has big weapon, don't use the shield, you'll get it knocked back, you just want to get out of the way. Small weapon? Shield.

EDIT: Hmm... we could start a group for tropers to help each other out via phantoms.

edited 13th Mar '11 2:10:15 PM by Usht

^I dont know theres something "awesome" about holding a Dragon bone smasher. Unfortunately for the unskilled getting the Dragon bone smasher is Difficult due to no death requirements in world 2

edited 13th Mar '11 2:50:57 PM by stevebat

Or just go in as a soul for the entire time and get some blue phantoms to help.

Regardless, the bone smasher and butcher's knife are both good for newbies, they don't take much skill to use but pack quite a punch and only get stronger. It lacks the finesse of sword and board, but they kill just as well.

I actually haven't beaten this game yet, I got all the way to 4-1 before I ended up changing to a different game and never went back.

I've started it up again and I'm amazed at how skilled I've become. And yes, it is real difficulty. I've still died at least a dozen times just fighting the Tower Knight. Not because I'm a bad player, I was just overconfident.

Heh Tower Knight.

1) Run to stairs and kill archers.

2) Heal up and run back down to ankles. GET BEHIND THE DAMN THING, when it drops that shield, it's going hurt.

3) Attack both ankles until it falls over. Make sure to be between the legs.

4) ATTACK THE HEAD FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE.

5) Repeat steps 2-4.

6) PROFIT AND SOULS!

And you definitely don't want heavy armor for the fight, or at least have armor you can do the fast roll in.

edited 13th Mar '11 4:54:55 PM by Usht

^OR theres the cheap option nail him with a ranged attack from above

1) Coward.

2) And take his spear to my face? Pass. Everything is easier to dodge on the ground, ironically enough.

Tower Knight is piss easy. I took him on today after I got invaded and died, still never got hit.

edited 14th Mar '11 8:13:50 PM by Shlapintogan

^Boss Dissonance the bridge (and those damn blue eyed knights) killed more players than the Boss itself

The most fatal part of that bridge is definitely the two Blue Eyed Knights beforehand, but with a couple of two handed strikes, you can take them down pretty easily.

That being said, the hardest boss in the game, minus the pre-final boss has got to be the Flamelurker. Jerk hits you hard before you can get decent weapons and just keeps pounding on you. That being said, having a heater shield helped so much for that fight.