by Sentiel Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:17 pmHello and welcome to this fine guide for all your travels in the accursed land of Boletaria.
General Tips
Prepare to DIE
- Spoiler:
- This is not a joke. You will die. You will die a LOT.
Souls games teach their players to accept death and overcome it.
It may sound strange at first, but the concept is very simple to get used to.
In any game, once you die, its game over. You lose all your progress and have to start from your last save, or checkpoint. In Souls games, your death will simply return you to the beginning of the location, or any checkpoint you reached on your way.- You will retain all your picked up items, but won't get back the items you already used.
- All already picked up items will remain in your inventory and thus won't appear again in the world.
- All non-boss and non-NPC enemies will respawn.
- You will lose all your Souls.
- The Durability of your items will be lowered. It's lowered by your death, but also by fighting.
Souls are the game's currency, but also experience points used to level up.
You use Souls to purchase items and weapons, to upgrade and repair your gear, to learn spells and to level up. However once you die, you lose all of your Souls. They can't be stocked anywhere, so you always have to carry your Souls on you.
No need to panic if you have a large sum of Souls on you. While it is best to use them as soon as you can, if you die, not all hope is lost. Once you die, you leave a Bloodstain on the place of your death. If you can reach this Bloodstain without dying, you will recover all your lost Souls. - You will retain all your picked up items, but won't get back the items you already used.
Soul and Body Forms
- Spoiler:
- First thing you must learn is the difference between your Soul and Body Forms.
You start as a human, in your Body Form. Once you die, you will be in the Soul Form. Being in the Soul Form has several effects.- In Soul Form your maximum HP is reduced to half, that is 50% of the HP you have in Body Form.
- In Soul Form you can place your summon sign by using Blue Eye Stone, or invade other players by using Black Eye Stone.
- In Body Form you can summon other players and be invaded.
You can be revived back to your Body Form if you:- Kill a boss in your world.
- Kill a boss in somebody else's world as a Blue Phantom.
- Kill another player, which you invaded, or were summoned to as a Black Phantom.
- Use the item Stone of Ephemeral Eyes, which can be found in many places in the whole of Boletaria.
As you can see, the concept is very easy to understand. However it doesn't end here, because player's Soul Form is further affected by Tendencies, which are explained later.
Tip:
In world 1-1, which is the first world you'll visit after leaving Nexus for the first time, you can find the Cling Ring. This ring raises your max HP in Soul Form. I strongly recommend that you take this ring and have it on you whenever you're in Soul Form. - In Soul Form your maximum HP is reduced to half, that is 50% of the HP you have in Body Form.
Equip and Carry Burden
- Spoiler:
- You have a limit to how much items you can carry on yourself.
This limit is split into Equip Burden and Carry Burden.
Equip Burden is the total weight of the gear you have currently equipped.- If your current Equip Burden is less than half (50%) of the max Equip Burden, you will move quickly and will roll around quickly as well. This is called a fast roll.
- If your current Equip Burden is more than half (50%) of the max Equip Burden, you will move slowly and roll slowly as well. This makes you more vulnerable and makes evading enemy attacks more difficult. This is called a fat roll.
- If your current Equip Burden is more than the max Equip Burden value, you will only be able to walk. You will become overencumbered and will not be able to run and sprint and you will also not be able to roll to evade enemy attacks.
Carry Burden is a total of all the items in your current possession. If you carry too many items, you won't be able to pick any new ones. There is a very nice NPC, with very poor mathematical skills named Stockpile Thomas. He is the guy sitting in Nexus with several boxes behind him.
If you bring him a Jade Hair Ornament from 1-1 he will reward you with the Ring of Herculean Strength, which raises your Carry Burden by 50%. - If your current Equip Burden is less than half (50%) of the max Equip Burden, you will move quickly and will roll around quickly as well. This is called a fast roll.
Archstones and the Nexus
- Spoiler:
- The place where you will find yourself after the tutorial level is called the Nexus. It houses most of the NPCs and it's a place of rest. The Nexus serves as a hub for your journeys and you travel to each of the five worlds through their respective Archstones.
In the cutscene you're welcomed to the Nexus by the Maiden in Black. After killing Phalanx in 1-1 she will allow you to use her powers to gain levels, to level up your stats and SL. This can be done only through her.
You will find other NPCs in the Nexus.
All available trainers here who will teach you Sorceries and Miracles, however you must first free the best of them to be able to obtain the best spells.
There's also a blacksmith who will sell you some starter weapons and do some basic upgrades and repairs. Lastly, there's Stockpile Thomas, who will take care of your belongings.
There are five worlds in Demon's Souls.
Each symbolized by an Archstone in the Nexus.- [1] Boletarian Palace.
[2] Stonefang Tunnel.
[3] Tower of Latria.
[4] Shrine of Storms.
[5] Valley of Defilement.
With exception of Boletarian palace, each world consists of three parts, each ending with a boss. Boletarian Palace has four parts, because the first part, guarded by Phalanx is still considered a tutorial of sorts.
Most players refer to the worlds by numbers, like 3-2. the first number is the number of the world. This number is given to the world from left to right, when you view them in the Nexus. Boletarian Palace is first and Valley of Defilement is last. To make it simple, I put a number for each of the worlds in the list above.
The second number is the part of the specific world. In case of 3-2, it refers to Tower of Latria and to the part of the world you get into after killing the first boss in that world.
You will be able to venture to other worlds as you please once you kill Phalanx in 1-1 and talk to few NPCs in the Nexus.
I'm sure you noticed the notorious Sixth Archstone. It's a destroyed Archstone between Tower of Latria and Shrine of Storms. It is even mentioned in one of the cutscenes. There have been some wild speculations that it can be unlocked, or that it is a DLC, but none of those are true. Whatever the reasons are behind its current state remain a mystery, however one thing is clear and that is the player's inability to use this Archstone.
Online
- Spoiler:
- In order to play "online", all you need to do is be signed into PSN. The game takes care of the rest, giving you the bloodstains, hints and ghosts from other players.
Co-op and PvP are rich aspects of this game and it's recommended you dive right into it. You will win some, you will lose some, but you will have fun and will make a bunch of new friends. Working as a Blue Phantom in particular is a great way to help a fellow rookie and learn about the worlds in a risk free way. If you die as a Blue Phantom you won't lose your Souls. Helping as a Blue Phantom is also a great way to earn those valuable Souls early on.
Demon's Souls was released by a different publisher in different regions. That means that EU, NA and Asian players cannot play together, because each of these regions has servers from a different company.
You can see messages written by other players on the ground. These messages can be helpful, but they can also deceive you and lure you to your death.
If you write a message, which is done by pressing the Select Button (no item required), other players can view and rate this message. You have to choose from several pre-set words to create your message, which can ultimately say anything you wish. If they do so, your HP will be completely recovered when your message gets a positive rating. This happens immediately when your message has been rated. In case that you're offline, this HP rejuvenation will be remembered by the server and will happen as soon as you get online again.
You can see Bloodstains of other players. If you touch these Bloodstains, you can see the last few seconds before they died. This can reveal dangerous traps, or hiding enemies. Learn from the mistakes of those that walked this path before you.
There can be spirits, or ghosts if you will, that will move through your world. Grey, human-like apparitions. These ghosts are other players. You can see them and they can see you as well, but you cannot interact with each other. If there are a lot of these ghosts nearby, you may be able to traverse across the worlds to assist one other in jolly cooperation.
...or fight each other to death.
The guide will cover Co-Op and PvP separately in other sections.
NPCs
- Spoiler:
- This is just a short warning.
Any NPCs that will aggro on you, for whatever reason, like falling on the, or outright attacking them, will remain in this state until you kill them, or finish the game. This applies to every NPC in the game, even merchants, trainers and Stockpile Thomas.
It's best to unequip all weapons before talking to NPCs, just to be safe. Nobody wants to be left alone without an option to stock, or retrieve his items.
Out of all possible NPCs I will mention here only four. Three are trainers, which will teach the player high level spells in trade for Demon's Souls. and one is a blacksmith, which will enable you to do higher levels of upgrades and will make Boss Weapons for you. You first have to find and free the three trainers in order to gain access to their services. After freeing them, they will move to the Nexus.SPOILERS AHEAD!- Spoiler:
- Sage Freke
Sage Freke will teach you high level Sorceries.
He is locked in a cell in 3-1. You'll need the Special key, found right before the boss to free him.
Saint Urbain
Saint Urbain will teach you high level Miracles.
He is trapped in Patches' trap in 4-2. To free him, simply defeat the Black Phantom guarding the only way out.
Yuria the Witch
Yuria the Witch will teach you high level Sorceries, called Witchcraft.
She is being held prisoner by a Fat Official in 1-3. Getting to her is quite tricky though.
First, you need to go 1-3 and kill the Fat Official who has closed down the iron bar gate in a cutscene. He will drop the Official's Hat and Iron Ring of Keys. With these keys, return to 1-2, right before the fight with Tower Knight and you'll see a locked door on your right. Open the door and enter a dungeon. In here, you can free Biorr, of the Twin Fangs, who will the assist you with fighting Penetrator. There is also another Fat Official who drops Bloody Key.
With the Bloody Key and Official's Hat return back to 1-3 and unlock the small door on the rightmost side of the plaza with dogs and wagons with dogs. Proceed further on to reach a small tower where Yuria is held. The top floor is guarded by a Fat Official who has to lower the stairs for you, but will not do so, until you equip the Official's Hat. So equip the hat, kill the Fat Official and you have freed Yuria.
Blacksmith Ed
Blacksmith Ed is a brother of Blacksmith Boldwin who resides in Nexus. You can find Ed in 2-1 after you activate the second elevator.
Ed will allow you to use more upgrade paths than Boldwin and if you give him Red Hot Demon's Soul from Flamelurker, he will make Boss weapons for you from Demon's Souls.
Tip:
In your travels, you will, sooner, or later, meet a peculiar character. If you free this person from his predicament, he will move to the Nexus. Once he does so, two dead bodies will appear on the stairs leading to the second floor of the Nexus. For every boss that you defeat, this character will kill one NPC in the Nexus. The NPCs that can be killed include all trainers and even Stockpile Thomas. I strongly recommend getting rid of this malicious NPC as soon as possible, or he can ruin your game, by killing an important NPC.
World Tendency
- Spoiler:
- World Tendency and Character Tendency are a large part of this game. HOWEVER, it may be better to disregard their effects in your first playthrough. If you want to see all this game has to offer, plan on multiple playthroughs at which point you will be more prepared to manipulate tendencies.
World Tendency, or in short WT, is one of two Tendency mechanics in Demon's Souls. Both of these affect your character, the world around you and can unlock several events. Events unlocked by changes in World tendency are called World Tendency events. These usually unlock new locations and powerful enemies to fight. They also hold valuable rewards if the player completes them.
WT changes in response to your actions towards either White, or Black side. However, to see the change, you have to leave the world and return to the Nexus. Only then the icon in the Tendency menu will change, depending on your actions.
White World Tendency Effects- Enemies have lower HP, attack power and defences. The further the world shifts towards Pure White, the weaker the enemies will be.
- Enemies are more likely to drop healing items.
- Enemies are less likely to drop upgrade materials and rare loot.
- All damage dealt is increased in Soul Form by 10% on White and 20% on Pure white. This damage increase stacks with Character Tendency.
How to move World Tendency towards Pure White- Kill a boss, or a sub-boss (anything that drops a Demon's Souls, except for Vanguard in 4-1).
- Kill one of the special Black Phantom NPCs that appear on PBWT.
- Kill a Primeval Demon, which spawns on Black WT and PBWT.
- Kill an invading player.
- Resurrect a summoned Blue Phantom, by using the Miracle Resurrection.
White World Tendency Events
1-1- The iron bar door at the beginning of the location will be unlocked.
You can find Brushwood Set, Binded Set and Colorless Demon's Soul in there.
However you will also encounter a hostile NPC, Executioner Miralda. She drops Binded Set. - The dragons left. That means no more aerial fire breath attacks (this applies to whole Boletarian Palace) and their nest will be empty, so you can go pick all the treasure in there without worrying about getting killed by the dragons there.
2-2- Scirvir the Wanderer will appear in a small cave in the middle of the shortcut leading to Flamelurker. If you show him Dragon Bone Smasher from 2-3, he will give you a Pure Greystone. Just equip it (stats doesn't matter) and talk to him.
2-3- The debris on the left side of the first intersection will be gone and you can proceed to pick the large "sword" that is stuck in the ground there. This is the Dragon Bone Smasher, which Scirvir in 2-2 wants to see.
3-1- The blocked path in 2F West will be cleared. You can find Three-Cornered Hat and Venerable Sage's Set in there.
- Lord Rydell, the Blue Phantom imprisoned in 2F West can be freed with the key from 3-2. He will give you Dull Rat's Ring, which raises your defences by 50% when your HP is critically low.
- After you free Lord Rydell, the locked cells in 2F East will be accessible. You can find Rogue's Set, Parrying Dagger and two Chunks of Mercurystone in there.
3-2- The broken path on top of the first tower with chains will be repaired. You will find the key to Lord Rydell's cell in 3-1 in there.
4-1- NPC Satsuki will appear next to the first skeleton. He will ask you to show him the Magic Sword "Makoto". If you have the sword, Satsuki will present you with three choices. All of them result in Satsuki attacking you. Killing him reduces World Tendency.
4-2- In the room where you met Saint Urbain, the inaccessible treasure has dropped down and you can pick it up. It is the Magic Sword "Makoto“, which Satsuki in 4-1 seeks.
5-1- On the small path between the rats and the giant enemy will be a ladder leading upwards. You will find three giant enemies guarding the spear Istarelle.
5-2- Selen Vinlad will appear on a tiny island...I can't really describe where exactly, but it should be close to the first fog. If you give her the Crest of Vinland from 5-3, she will give you Ring of Devout Prayer. Drops Dull Gold set if killed, but it can be found on a lone Slug as well.
5-3- Black Phantom Carl Vinland will appear if you already killed the Archdemon in this world. He will drop Bramd and the Crest of Vinland, sought by Selen Vinland in 5-2.
Black World Tendency Effects- Enemies have higher HP, attack power and defences. The further the world shifts towards Pure White, the stronger the enemies will be.
- Enemies drop more Souls (1,5 times more on Pure Black).
- Enemies are less likely to drop healing items.
- Enemies are more likely to drop upgrade materials and rare loot.
- Maximum HP in Soul Form is reduced to 47,5% on Black and further reduced to 45% on Pure Black. This stacks with Character Tendency. That means, that a player with PBWT and PBCT will have only 40% of the maximum HP of his Body Form.
- Black Phantom versions of normal enemies appear in the world. These enemies have higher stats than the average enemies, but they have 100% chance to drop items and also drop more Souls than their normal versions.
How to move World Tendency towards Pure Black- Die in Body Form.
- Kill one of the special NPCs that appear on PWWT.
Black World Tendency Events
1-1- The iron bar door at the beginning of the location will be unlocked.
You can find Brushwood Set and Colorless Demon's Soul in there. However you will also encounter a Black Phantom NPC, Executioner Miralda. She drops Guillotine Axe.
1-3- Primeval Demon will appear on the landing with two archers, close to the stairs leading to the boss.
2-1- Primeval Demon will appear outside the first elevator, on the lowest floor.
2-2- Black Phantom Scirvir the Wanderer will appear in a small cave in the middle of the shortcut leading to Flamelurker. He drops the Talisman of the Beast.
3-1- Black Phantom Lord Rydell will spawn outside of his cell in 2F West. He drops Phosphorescent Pole.
3-2- Primeval Demon will appear in the dead end part of the swamp, where you can find the Ring of Disease Resistance.
Tip:
I recommend clearing PBWT Tower of Latria from 3-1 onwards, because it's impossible to go back to 3-1 from 3-2 without returning to the Nexus.
4-1- Black Phantom Satsuki will appear next to the first skeleton. He drops Hiltless.
4-2- Primeval Demon will appear on the sidewalk leading to the White Bow. You can get there by finding a secret path in the first room with a Reaper. Take care that the path is guarded by a powerful Dual-Katana Black Skeleton.
5-2- Black Phantom Selen Vinland will appear. Again...I have no idea how to navigate there, but she should be close to the location of her Body Form version.
- Primeval Demon will appear in a dead end cave, close to the second fog.
World Tendency Manipulation
If you wish to manipulate WT to get all of the WT related events in one playthrough, it is recommended by reaching the world's Archdemon, but not defeating it. Instead, commit several suicides in Body Form. 7 should be enough to switch from PWWT to PBBT. Don't forget to return to the Nexus to see the changes done to WT.
After achieving PBWT, return to the world and do all of the PBWT events. You must do so without returning to the Nexus and without dying in Body Form, so using Soul Form is recommended. After killing Primeval Demon and Black Phantom NPC, proceed to kill the world's Archdemon. By doing so, you will achieve PWWT and can return to do PWWT events. With exception of killing Satsuki in 4-1 all PWWT events do not shift WT towards Black, so after completing all PWWT events, your worlds will remain in PWWT. Retaining worlds in PWWT will give you advantages in Soul Form and will boost your summoned Blue Phantoms. Since the game retains WT upon entering NG+, this will make starting NG+ slightly easier.
Tip:
If you wish to manipulate WT, it's better to do so offline.
When you log onto Demon's Souls servers, your overall WT is shifted closer to server median, which is calculated on the collective WT stats from all online players. To use an example. Imagine you wanted to do PBWT events and prepared one of the worlds for doing so and left the game. When you resumed the game, you'll notice that the said is no longer in PBWT, but shifted slightly towards White WT, thanks to server median.
Also, manipulating WT is more difficult, because all of the offline actions, such as killing Black Phantom NPCs and Primeval Demons won't be enough to achieve PWWT. You will also need to kill at least one invader, which can be difficult to achieve, especially now, when the game has only a handful of players.
On the other hand, if you wish to get PWWT, being online can help you as the server median is usually set to PWWT and will shift you closer to PWWT with each log in to the game's server.
World Tendency is displayed in the menu, however it is hard to ascertain the current Tendency and the game doesn't really explain it to you.
In this picture, you can see all WT levels, from Pure Black to Pure White.
- Enemies have lower HP, attack power and defences. The further the world shifts towards Pure White, the weaker the enemies will be.
Character Tendency
- Spoiler:
- World Tendency and Character Tendency are a large part of this game. HOWEVER, it may be better to disregard their effects in your first playthrough. If you want to see all this game has to offer, plan on multiple playthroughs at which point you will be more prepared to manipulate tendencies.
Character Tendency, or in short CT, is one of two Tendency mechanics in Demon's Souls. Both of these affect your character, the world around you and can unlock several events. CT changes in response to your actions towards either White, or Black side. You can think of it as karma, Jedi/Sith, Good/Evil, whatever stains your sword. There are rewards waiting for the player if he manages to achieve one of the Pure sides of CT.
To put it simply, CT moves only when you kill another player, or NPC.
White Character Tendency Changes- All damage done in Soul Form is raised by 10% on White and by 20% on Pure White. This increase in damage also works when you're summoned as a Blue Phantom and it stacks with Friend's Ring and World Tendency.
How to move Character Tendency towards Pure White- Kill an invading player, either as a host, or as a Blue Phantom (you must strike the killing blow as a Blue Phantom to change your CT).
- Kill one of the special NPC Black Phantoms that appear only on PBWT.
When your CT is Pure White, the Monumental will reward you with Friend's Ring, which increases all damage done by its wielder by 20% in Blue Phantom form.
Black Character Tendency Changes- Maximum HP in Soul Form is reduced to 47,5% on Black and further reduced to 45% on Pure Black. This stacks with World Tendency. That means, that a player with PBWT and PBCT will have only 40% of the maximum HP of his Body Form.
- All damage done as an invader is increased by 10% on Black and by 20% on Pure Black. This damage increase stacks with Foe's Ring.
How to move Character Tendency towards Pure Black- Kill a host as an invader.
- Kill one of the many non-hostile NPCs, most notably merchants and trainers. This part is quite tricky, because there are several NPCs that will not affect your CT even if you kill them. These NPCs and Black Phantoms are usually story related, or will get aggressive towards the player at some point of the game.
When your CT is Pure Black and you killed Yurt, the mysterious Mephistopheles will appear on the second floor of the Nexus and will have several quests for you, which all include killing non-hostile NPCs. After you complete all of her quests, she will reward you with Foe's Ring, which raises all damage done by its wielder by 20% in Black Phantom form.Story spoiler ahead!- Spoiler:
- Old Monk fight counts as a normal invasion and as such will affect CT of both the host and the invader.
Character Tendency is displayed in the menu, however it is hard to ascertain your current Tendency and the game doesn't really explain it to you.
In this picture, you can see some CT levels, from Pure Black to Pure White.
Repairing and Upgrading
- Spoiler:
- As you no doubt noticed, repairing your gear is quite expensive in Demon's Soul and your gear gets damaged fast as well. This can be especially troublesome at early stages of the game. The best way around this is to change your gear after it gets below half of its Durability, especially if you don't have enough Souls to afford repair costs. You can repair everything once you get more accustomed to the game and will be able to gather more Souls.
Upgrading can be very confusing at first.
The basic upgrades are done by Hardstone and Sharpstone, depending on the weapon you wish to upgrade. Upgrade paths deviate further on as you use either Sharpstone, or Hardstone. There is no general way the upgrade paths go, because each has one, or few weapons that are upgraded slightly differently.
Hardstone is used for Str weapons, such as Axes, Straight Swords and Blunt weapons. It is also used to upgrade Shields and Bows.
Sharpstone is used for Dex weapons, such as Curved Swords, Piercing Swords and Spears.
These charts will show you what weapons are upgraded by Hardstones and by Sharpstones and on which upgrade level will they be available to upgrade in a different path. The chart also contains how much of each upgrade stone type you'll need and in what numbers. Since the number of stones required for upgrades differ weapon by weapon, I've put a rough estimate that you'll need to reach the next upgrade level. You can precisely find how many stones will be required for the next upgraded when you compare the amount for the current upgrade with the numbers in rough estimate shown next to each upgrade level.
It sounds more difficult than it really is.
The charts have been made very large so that they can hold all the relevant information. Please open it in a new window to see it in full size.- Hardstone Upgrade Chart:
- Sharpstone Upgrade Chart:
New Game Plus
- Spoiler:
- New Game Plus, or NG+ for short is a New Game, which you enter automatically after viewing the end game credits.
You start the game again from the beginning, however you retain your level, items, spells, everything. Except for Key Items, like keys and other things that unlock you progress.
When you go to NG+ all enemies will get tougher. All their stats will be boosted roughly by 50%, but it varies slightly enemy by enemy and location by location. You will keep all your items, even those kept by Stockpile Thomas. You will however lose all Key Items.
Lastly, you will also keep your World Tendencies and Character Tendency, just like they were before completing the game.
Tip:
Before completing the game, prepare for some PvP. You will be forced to clear 1-1 again before you will be able to venture to other worlds. People like to invade 1-1 on higher SLs to attack players who just got to NG+.
Trophies
- Spoiler:
- Please follow one of the following links for a complex guides on how to get Platinum Trophy in Demon's Souls.
www.ps3trophies.org
www.ps3trophies.com
~This guide has been created in collaboration with Walter_White, Emergence and FexDS.
Last edited by Sentiel on Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:57 pm; edited 9 times in total (Reason for editing : Fixed typos)
