Advice for Dark Souls player coming to Demon Souls [no spoilers]

I remember the first time i played Dark Souls. I thought of it with both admiration and a respectful fear. Having clocked several hundred hours in Dark Souls I'm ready to try Demon Souls. After all, it is the reason I initially bought and fell in love with my PS3. What can a Dark Souls player expect going into Demon Souls? What kind of experience does it offer? Please: NO SPOILERS OF LORE OR TOO MANY GAME PLAY MECHANICS! I wanna go into Demon Souls with a fresh mind like i went into Dark Souls.

Well my experience, it's easier then Dark Souls. Okay a lot of people will disagree with me on that but that was my experience with the game. I started with Dark Souls like you and then got Demon's Souls. However Demon's Souls is more atmospheric and dark.

Played DS 2 weeks, was hard, put it down, bought Dark Souls. It too was hard but "picked it up" and got good. Went back to DS and now I feel it's much easier than DkS. Some of the bosses are crazy ez. Still way fun, atmosphere kills it.

A tip: Don't think of there being any linearity, don't look at the world numbers.
Edit: a few key differences though
-There are only two blacksmiths
-Demon weapons aren't the only thing demon souls are good for
-Magic is SERIOUSLY OP in this game. Like, seriously.

densetsushun wrote:A tip: Don't think of there being any linearity, don't look at the world numbers.
Edit: a few key differences though
-There are only two blacksmiths
-Demon weapons aren't the only thing demon souls are good for
-Magic is SERIOUSLY OP in this game. Like, seriously.

Ohhh i didnt know Demon Souls had Dark Bead and Crystal Tin Catalyst too! hahaha jk

Tanking really isn't viable in Demon's. You can do it of course, I've done a few playthroughs like that, but essentially you'll want to be fast rolling always in the game.

Just remember there is no Oswald of Carim figure, so if you aggro a vital NPC you need, you'll have to restart or wait till NG+ to regain their services.

I also went from DkS back to DeS, and here are my high level thoughts:

-- Zones tend to be harder in DeS, but the bosses are usually easier

-- Slightly less variation in successful PvE tactics in DeS. In DkS you can often overcome a challenge or foe a dozen different ways, but in DeS there are usually only 2-3 "guaranteed" ways to deal with something and it make take a while to figure out what they are

-- Even more confusing storyline. I'm still not sure how to make all DeS NPCs appear or how they all interact from a lore perspective, and dealing with something called "world tendency" in DeS is very different than DkS.

-- Carry encumbrance is very important. Unlike DkS, you have a limit to how much you can carry in inventory (related to but distinct from how much you are wearing/wielding). You have to be VERY careful about this not just for general encumbrance, but because if you try to pick up something that is too heavy it will drop on the ground and if you then die before you can pick it up again it is lost forever. I lost a very useful unique shield this way when I picked it up from a set drop but dropped it again due to its weight and then got melted by a dragon. Poof, item gone forever.

Tolvo wrote:Tanking really isn't viable in Demon's. You can do it of course, I've done a few playthroughs like that, but essentially you'll want to be fast rolling always in the game.

That's true, I made a Tower Shield + Quality Winged Spear build, and still one of my priorietes was to be able to fast roll, so basically, I'm a wall, but only if I raise my shield. No thing as "Giant's Armor" in this game, neither extremely protecting armor, you can't even upgrade armor lol

I really feel like one of the evolutions Dark Souls made was to introduce armor upgrades, thanks to it, you can almost use near to any armor because fully upgraded is decent/almost decent, and that a lot of variety.

Though I disagree with that thing about Demon's Souls is easier, Demon's Souls is way harder. It's way more harder any weapon to any path besides common, because it's very hard and exclusive to each world to find the required stones. Though it's true that Magic is OP. But in your first playthrough you don't know that, and neither you know how to properly build your character. Because you came from Dark Souls, you already have experience with character building which is a key point when it comes to survival.

Think of your first character in Dark Souls and how you built it. Well, now that fail of build (we all failed in our 1st playthrough ) and take it to Demon's and you will get owned.

Use a no magic first playthrough, and while you'll experience bows to be necessity at certain parts of the game, i'd advise against using ranged attacks for the most part. The game is made rather easier with magic and ranged attacks...

That coupled with the fact you're a dks vet means you shouldn't get too troubled by it, just killed a couple times here and there as you'd expect.

My general advice, is only take advice from this thread that makes the game HARDER, because you won't really enjoy it as much if you troll through the game with the best stuff, high level magic and hp regen through the roof.

When you all say magic is op, or not good for my first playthrough does that include faith?

Well, Dont care about armor stats, its all rubbish. Higher miracels make things loads easier, ie second chance which is exactly what it sounds like. Magic is high damage and infinite casts. 'mana' system. And keep brightness lower, makes things look better and more immersive.
Also HUD is optional.

If you do actually value the NPC's in the game then you should be wary of Laut.. I mean that one other shady NPC.

But yeah, most of what's already been said blah blah etc. You should be fine by using what you know from Dark souls. The only things that were really " new " experiences in terms of mechanics were item burden and the jumping. Instead of jumping, you can kind of vault over smaller obstacles by running towards/into them.

hows the pvp?

Jiub of Carim wrote:hows the pvp?

I couldn't really say. I haven't tried invading anyone, nor have I been invaded once.

I'm hoping its not too dead. I still wanna experience the thrill of worrying about getting invaded. And possible doing several playthroughs to make different pvp builds

I'm invading.

Don't expect the same level of invasions that you see in dark souls. You might only see a handful during your whole game.

What to expect in Demon Souls?

Harder levels
Easier Bosses
Overpowered magic
Sorcery school (Sorcery and Pyromancy); Miracle school
Better use of Boss Souls
Little online activtiy
No poise
Item Burden
Hyper Armor
Overall overpowered builds (Game never got patched...)
The following might seem like spoiler or warnings...whichever way you like to see it:

Spoiler:

I still have yet to play DS... I cannot tear myself from DkS, especially knowing that DS's online is relatively dead.