| smbhax [sys=PS3; cat=Adventure; reg=NA] |
| | |
Trying Demon's Souls on PS3, played on The Archstones private server ( https://thearchstones.com/serverinfo.html ). Blood is Off.
(The fan-run private server allows what became Souls-standard networked features to continue; set its IP as your PS3's "Primary DNS" and they just work. Apparently for emulator too, with a more slightly complicated set-up.)
Had thought this disc-only but nope, $19.99 on the current PS3 PSN store. Oh: disc hit 2009, Store not til 2013.
20+ years ago I played a demo of a Souls game on PS3. Until today, I wasn't sure which game it was, or that I hadn't somehow imagined it: splashing footsteps in a narrow canal, wooden catwalks between high stone walls, armored foes on a parapet, and ghosts of other players running past me, which amused me--but not enough to have bought it, or to remember its exact name.
It didn't match what I saw in my play of Dark Souls: Remastered a few days ago. But I saw it again, today: the tutorial stage, Nexus hub, and first main area of Demon's Souls.
The internet has no record of a PS3 Demon's Souls downloadable demo; neither does my PSN download list. Could it have been on some other Atlus game disc? No: DeS was their first PS3 disc. Had someone loaned me the disc? But my memory says this was before I had friends with PS3s--and I didn't save notes of it as I did with most of the non-demo games I played. The internet mentions a "demo" shown at TGS 2008, the year before the game's launch, the demo revealing to Sony the incredible difficulty they thought awful, and doomed to flop, and decided not to publish outside Japan, where it indeed sold poorly at first. But Atlus brought it to the States, selling 3x what they'd hoped, probably saving what would become the "Soulslike" genre.
There is clarity. There is pace. There is balance. There is art. There is harmony. There is elegance. There is care. There is strategy. There is thought. There is growth. There is a beautiful gradual organic unfolding of the mysteries and deepening challenge of the stage played over and over from the beginning after each death, each death a joyful opportunity to find new ways through a living environment continuously evolved by your own action.
This is the Souls game I'm going to keep playing.
Like the later Souls games I've just briefly tried--DS:R & ER--there's a Blood toggle. |
|
|
| | | | Ah the TGS demo was different, at least from the sound of this description https://www.engadget.com/2008-10-15-tgs-08-hands-on-with-demons-souls-ps3.html -- going straight from character creation to the palace, bypassing the tutorial and Nexus. |
|
|
| | | Slightly OT but the JP PS Store has 12 free DS2 avatars and 9 free DS1 dynamic themes:
(Later found Darkmoon Blade (the cathedrally one in the thumbnail) DOES change from sunlight to moonlight at night. : ) I have a screenshot of the night version on my tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/smbhax/735928485106876416/that-one-of-nine-free-japanese-dark-souls-ps3?source=share ) |
|
|
| | | | Argh it's been so long since I recorded a 720p game I forgot to change quite all of the settings over, so that first video came out blown up to 1080p--and I forgot it's only a 30fps game so it was unnecessarily recorded at 60 fps, too. Sheesh! Next one'll be proper 720p60. |
|
|
| | | | Oh, not quite: it was 720p, blown up to 1080p, then shrunk back to 720p for the output--so it came out slightly blurry. : PP |
|
|
| | |
The scimitar is fast but kinda short range and "has a limited effect on metal armor and hard scales"; I should probably go back to the long sword.
Managed to click though Ostrava's introduction somehow so I missed it when playing through. The Brass Telescope they gave me magnifies so weakly it's barely useful. ^ _^ I wonder what they would have done when wandering around the level after being freed if there had still been live "dreglings" about?
Hadn't realized you can save mid-stage! And uh that the fact I'd broken the cage of boulders would be saved, but not the fact that they'd previously rolled out. So when I saved right in front of their then-empty cage, and loaded back up... |
|
|
| | | Download added: 03_roasty.jpg (178823 bytes)
"Roasty toasty, blobbos, & touching demons in the nexus"
I'm gonna have to wean myself off shields, just like I did the Guard button in VF--holding Block all the time just ain't ergonomic! Darn my old shoulder. ; )
Heck maybe I'll have to see if I can sprint across that dragon-riddled bridge in time if I take off my armor... = o
That first boss fight was really unexpected, pretty mellow, and a lot of fun! Really cool! So
(MINOR SPOILERS here, I mean they're all right there in the episode)
...
...
there ARE mid-stage save points, and multiple bosses (probably =o) per stage. And yeah after that, talking to wax-covered-eyes lady in the Nexus lets you raise stats, and various other things open up in the Nexus as well (miracles, and magic (I think? Oh that guy probably won't talk to me 'cause my INT is too low ; D)).
...
...
END spoilers!
OH I forgot I gave some equipment I was too low-stat to use to the storage guy in the Nexus, I'll have to check on that, maybe I can use some of it now. I think there might've been a two-handed sword?
And yeah maybe I should try going lighter equip weight for non-clumsy rolling, since I'll have to do lotsa rolling going without a shield, I'd think. Phew probably gonna die a lot more, oh well, it'll at least be faster action and probably more fun just to play--and more ergonomic, hopefully! I think my shoulder was feeling it particularly this time because of all the blocking I was doing vs the blobbies. Blocking just drains your stamina anyway so, pfft!
OH and I should probably ditch stuff I don't really need in the DOWN equip slot, like the throwing knives and the darned Brass Telescope that I've got myself killed with twice now forgetting I had it equipped instead of a crucial healing item! ;o; And it doesn't help see stuff really anyway!
And I should ditch--can they go in storage?--the MP stuff like those eyes things since I don't think I'm even gonna be trying to use them anyway.
Dang soul form is just annoying graphically, my character looks so much shinier and clearer in human form. Oh I see, I guess that clumsy roll I made earlier didn't make noise because you don't make noise in soul form? = o I love the footstep sounds in this game though, so dang. Dang the aesthetics of soul form! (And apparently dying in human form in the world pushes the world toward black tendency and makes things harder, so that's why you see players suiciding off ledges in the Nexus: they always want to be in soul form when they go into the worlds so as not to risk dying in human form and pushing world tendency toward black. This is what reddit says anyhoo. https://www.reddit.com/r/demonssouls/comments/jxu7lc/noob_question_human_vs_soul_form_advantages/ And apparently https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/606312-dark-souls/60505376 soul form is not a thing in the later Souls games; there's hollow form but I think it looks more "zombie like" rather than spectrally, so you don't lose SFX, don't have a darned glowing rim all the time, and don't have the big health reduction requiring you to wear a ring just to get some of it back. Oh well for DeS just gotta get used to it I guess, blah. I was thinking DeS was gonna be my favorite system in the series but ah I guess probably not, probably the changes they make for later games make some sense. ; )) |
|
|
| | | Download added: 05_light.jpg (130686 bytes)
"Going with a lighter build"
The light build went better than I expected, uh maybe aside from a certain torch-wielding dregling near the end. : PPP |
|
|
| | |
Yeah maybe spear for the blue visor guy. Gotta keep it together there, not get distracted by the dragon breathing down my back. : PPP
Hope I don't run outta turp for the dogs! Then I'd have to learn to fight them legit or somethin', sheesh. |
|
|
| | |
This Tower Knight guy could be a problem. ^ _^
Was reading some wiki or other about the bridge, turns out I passed right by a stairway I gotta check out, and also there IS a way to bypass the dogs! It just might take several hundred+ bolts... = o
And apparently the second blue visor at the end of the bridge is due to the server's World Tendency being in the black?
I kinda wanna grind my strength up to see how my character handles that two-handed sword. Is it just gonna be slower than the long sword? If it is, maybe I'll just hafta stick with solo-handing. I like the speed & range. Hm.
Also wanna see how I do against the red guys now~~ = o
The blobby guys with the shields are called Hoplites, the wiki said--which fits in with their boss' name of Phalanx.
Oh yeah I gotta try talking to the Dregling Merchant now, maybe he'll have something new to say since I've seen the Tower Knight. |
|
|
| | |
Used the walkthrough at https://demonssouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Gates+of+Boletaria to look up some of this stuff like how to get that soul item stranded on that beam down in that cistern thingy. ^ _^
Just two more points in Strength and I'll be able to try the two-handed Bastard Sword and the bow! Then I'll just have to grind for like maybe 300 arrows to use on the next thing I wanna try. ; D
Those "Black Phantom Dreglings" just off to the left side of the bridge at the start of Boletarian Palace sure are the place to farm cheap grass now that I can take them on! Suddenly got like what over 70 or something, jeepers. Although the walkthrough says you can only open the entrance to get down there off the bridge when the world is in either pure white or pure black tendency, so I guess I got lucky when I first tried going down there, because I don't think it's pure white or black now, otherwise a certain special NPC would have appeared in there somewhere, according to the walkthrough.
That Red Eye Knight is still way too tough--just runs right at me and gores me, ouch! = oo
Was really bad at staying on those beams. ^ D^ |
|
|
| | |
Hm yeah just past the two-hour mark in the previous episode https://youtu.be/px77KZE0vmg?t=7220 , with the Winged Spear at +3, I had the option to forge it to +4, or to a "Quality Winged Spear+1" for more souls (770 vs 520) and less damage (98, vs 119 for going to regular +4)... Oh I see, it required three "Shard of Clearstone" but I didn't even have any. And then once I leveled to regular +4, there was no "Quality" version option! |
|
|
| | | Download added: 09_drag_knight.jpg (146352 bytes)
"Vs Red Dragon, Havok physics maybe, and Tower Knight, in Boletarian Palace"
Think I'm gonna pack the Long Sword in, just not tempted to use it now, having too much fun with the spear. ^ _^ Bow worked better'n I thought it would! : D And the Knight wasn't nearly as tough as I thought he'd be, whew!
The Havok physics engine is still around, even after being acquired by Microsoft in 2015 = oo. For instance it was used for cloth physics in Street Fighter 6, according to the Havok web site https://www.havok.com/havok-powered/ . 'p'
And yes it's stayed in the Souls series all along: Wikipedia lists DeS, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls I-III as using it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_games_using_Havok -- but no mention of Elden Ring there, curiously; the Havok site lists Demon's Souls (with a screenshot obviously from the PS5 remake) as using Havok Cloth and Havok Physics, and Elden Ring as using those as well as Havok AI. = ooo |
|
|
| | | | @ philipplaysvideogames on YouTube pointed out that the demo I played wouldn't have been 20+ years ago, since the game didn't come out until 2009! ^ _^ |
|
|
| | | | Souls is (are?) relatively slow and grindy and I've recently taken up loads more fast action games, which currently feel more like what I want. I was looking at Souls as games to carry me through at a time when I'd narrowed my game playing down to like four fighting games and was feeling the need for a change of scene. Maybe that urge will come around again if I eventually narrow down this big list of arcade-ish action games. |
|
|
| | | | In RPCS3 (see entry 1745), "Configuration - GPU - Write Color Buffers" fixed black screen in Demon's Souls. |
|
|
| | | Oops actually there are various settings and patches, including a 60 fps patch: https://wiki.rpcs3.net/index.php?title=Demon%27s_Souls
Problem is though the downloadable version, which is what I have, is misconfigured, and uniquely among PS3 PSN games, attempts to mount itself as a disc game--this does not work in RPCS3: https://forums.rpcs3.net/thread-197387.html
So, gotta rip a disc version, d-arr. |
|
|
| | | | Hm but I wonder if my PSN saves for it will work with the disc version. ; ) Guess it'll be worth a shot. : P |
|
|
| | | | The talk is that games that this has something to do with Demon's Souls having started as a disc-only game for PS3, and only later got a downloadable PSN version. |
|
|
| | | | https://thearchstones.com/serverinfo.html has instructions for getting its Demon's Souls private server netplay working through RPCS3. You set up an account with their open-source version of PSN, RPCN. |
|
|
| | | The disc version automatically used the save created in the digital version, and it worked fine.
Copying the files from disc to my 64 GB USB thumbdrive, Managunz File Manager says will take a little over a half-hour for 9+ GB in 12K+ files. |
|
|
| | | | After 18 minutes, Managunz shows nearly 3 GB of oh maybe it was 8.11 GB for Demon's Souls copied from the disc, but still just over 30 minutes remaining, so who knows. : P |
|
|
| | | The only PS3 game I've checked so far that has patches available for it.
Runs kinda dark. I upped the brightness to 8. Looks pretty good at 1080/60. It's gonna have to wait until I'm in the mood for a slower-paced game, though. Also feeling kind of uncomfortable with the analog stick and hold-button-to-run controls. |
|
|
| | | | Oh and yes, the save file from the digital version just worked in the disc version. Online seems fine, too. Pretty smooth! |
|
|
| | |
Took me hours to kind of work out the intentionally mazelike layout of the dark, partially ruined, multi-floor mirrored prison cell blocks. Didn't help that I kept falling down the same dark hole. ; D "There a hole here"--*immediately falls into it*. ;_;;
I *think* I probably lost about 10K souls in a compound death or two. Kept thinking it would be like the only other stage I've played, Boletarian Palace, where at regular points you unlocked major shortcuts at least back to the first archstone; and also it had been so long since I'd played that I somehow started imagining that there would be mid-point archstones before a boss or something. And I was mostly kind of lost in the prison maze. So like a dope I never went back to cash in my souls at the first archstone.
The mind flayer-looking things guarding the cell block are CALLED mind flayers on the wiki--it's a name straight from Gary Gygax's D&D; I wonder if that name is from an actual Namco source--it isn't in the manual--or if the wiki just used it for convenience; in-game, the sage guy just calls them "octopus-headed guards."
They killed me a lot at the beginning. Eventually realized I could shoot 'em from distance with the bow. Still got killed by their bolts once trying that 'cause I'm so bad.
I wore my poison protection ring, didn't get poisoned by the iron maiden trap!
Gotta remember you can shoot the hanging prisoners down w/ the bow (says wiki).
Only got really stuck once I think--that last key hiding spot is ooh errr kinda cheap.
The game runs shockingly well in RPCS3, even at 1080p60! Using 4 fan patches: Disable Dynamic Exposure (some kind of rendering optimization; also makes it a bit darker; I upped the game's Brightness setting from 5 to 8), Disable Motion Blur, Skip Intro Videos (the skips the logos, not the intro videos ^ _^), and Unlock FPS (enables 60 fps; was 30 fps on PS3). It's the only game of the various PS3 games I've dumped from my recently jailbroken PS3 that has fan patches in RPCS3.
I sure didn't predict that the 720p textures would look this sharp when seen on PC at 1080p, either. What was a muddy game on my PS3 over component (necessary for vidcap due to the always-on HDMI HDCP encryption) is a really crisp game on PC! (I mentioned I have RPCS3's Output Scaling on Nearest--but that'd only be used if I hadn't also set Resolution Scale to 1080p; it's a bit chunky that way so I won't.)
This is the disc version of the game; turns out the downloadable PS Store version, which came out AFTER the disc version--the game was originally disc-only--just crashes in RPCS3; something about it trying to mount as a disc game, or something. Apparently a set-up unique to DeS, & not one the RPCS3 devs seem to consider their problem.
My save from the downloadable version carried right over to the disc version!
Super slick how RPCS3's open source RPCN network and The Archstones private server work together to keep the game's online play going, too! Fantastico!
The Elden Ring-inspired synth album I mentioned at one point is https://cthulhuseeker.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-the-synth-elden-ring by @CthhuluSeeker -- Pumps!
I love how chill the boss fights in this game are--so far, at least.
Gotta farm sharpstone to raise my weapon levels next. = P
My crunky ol' right shoulder isn't real happy w/ holding buttons for bow shooting & running, gotta be careful with that. Wish you could run by pumping the button like GTA--I guess that would do lots of rolls in this game, bah. |
|
|
| | | | Demon's Souls PS3 animated icon: https://smbhax.tumblr.com/post/751756694493839360 |
|
|
| | |
Finally got back into the swing of the basic hand-to-hand controls after about an hour of flailing here. : P
Didn't expect the lizard to suicide like that! Hahaheee oh. ; D
I don't remember having this much time dodging mind flayer bolts while bow-ing at them but eh maybe I wasn't using the zoom toggle--really annoying how you can't side-step very well while zoomed in. ; D But hey you can cheese him with the collision boxes he can't see on those stairway chains!
Last boss 2nd phase is rough. Probably need to get to a spot with more dodging room. Also realizing the drawbacks of roll having only 8 directions in this first iteration. ^ _^ |
|
|
| | |
Trying the red visor in Boletaria again 'o', finding out what the prison key I got in Latria Tower does, and grinding a bit with an eye toward the flying gorilla boss in Latria Tower.
The world tendency on the Archstones server must have been pure white for that secret jail floor to open up, according to the wiki; don't know if it's always pure white so maybe I got lucky! ... Oh hang on, apparently the Prison of Hope 2F West Key https://demonssouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Prison+of+Hope+2F+West+Key isn't found in Upper Latria WITHOUT pure white world tendency, so maybe the server IS pure white generally.
Probably SHOULDN'T carry this parrying dagger I found in the jail 'cause I'm terrible at parrying, and anyway from the numbers it doesn't look like the damage from its quick jab would be worth the stamina cost. Plus it adds some weight. : P So yeah I shouldn't keep it equipped, but I'm sort of enjoying the novelty of having something in my left hand. ; D
Forgot there's a lotus (Royal) that cures poison. Or wait, did I have one on me when I got double poisoned by that prisoner guy ~45 min? I don't see one in my inventory scrolling but maybe I didn't scroll down far enough. Thought I found some later.
Still can't beat that hole boss. ; )) |
|
|
| | | A recent change in RPCS3 to an "Advanced" configuration setting called "Maximum Number of SPURS Threads" means that you need to have that set to the "Default (Unlimited)" setting, not to the setting "3" that is still recommended in the Wiki https://wiki.rpcs3.net/index.php?title=Demon%27s_Souls .
Also just noticed the Wiki recommends this mod (registration with nexusmods--requires giving them email address, otherwise appears to be free--is required to download) https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/8?tab=files for fixing the gray boxes in the UI when upscaling (I'm upscaling from the game's default 720p, to 1080p); it also says to follow the install details in the Description box on that web page carefully:
"Install:
Just drag/drop the menu and other folders into Demon's Souls USRDIR folder.
If Demon's Souls has previously been ran on RPCS3, you must delete the contents of RPCS3/dev_hdd1/cache/"
And yep, the mod gets rid of the gray boxes on the game's UI, neat. |
|
|
| | | Installed a few more mods:
https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/53 - Hi Res Font Update With Button Glyphs
https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/20 - ReShade by Boczekek
A script that turns on a collection of ReShade (see entry 1851) shaders; the only one I really found helpful was AdaptiveSharpen, which DOES help a lot for upscaled 720p PS3 games like DS--so don't bother with the mod, just install ReShade and its AdaptiveSharpen shader thing (and maybe don't crank it all the way to max like Boczekek had it, that ads halos around everything : P)
~ ~ ~
I tried https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/11 ("Boletaria Reborn"), which overhauls the lighting, but it made like the prison way too dark. |
|
|
| | | | (Note that ReShade makes RPCS3 crash when you quit. :P The shader will also affect ALL games you're running from RPCS3 unless you switch their renderer to something different than that ReShade is working on--ie set ReShade to use Vulkan and set the games you don't want it used on to OpenGL.) |
|
|
| | | | OOPS it's LumaSharpen, not AdaptiveSharpen. |
|
|
| | | | I set LumaSharpen to Strength 1.727 (Limit 0.131), then checked Performance Mode. |
|
|
| | | | That Limit amount was just what Boczekek had set it to, so credit to them for that. It's higher than the default; going higher than 0.131 didn't change much anyway. |
|
|
| | | Found another mod I like:
https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/111 - "Subtle Soul Form Effect"
Boczekek strikes again, this time removing the strong glow effect over character model has while in soul form--which is where I spend like 95%+ of my play time, since you're only in human form if you haven't died since killing a boss or starting your character. I was worried it would be hard to tell which form I was in with this mod, but a) that doesn't really alter how I play 'p', and b) there's still a shimmer effect over the character, and your footsteps still make no noise (darn it). But now you can actually see your character pretty clearly while playing! |
|
|
| | |
Trying and reverting some graphics mods, also dying extremely foolishly several times during rushed and botched grinding in Tower of Latria.
0:00 - start
2:06 - Max SPURS Threads now has to be "Unlimited"
3:40 - about "Gray outline removal" mod
4:45 - "Hi-Res Font Update with Button Glyphs" mod
6:37 - "Subtle Soul Form Effect" mod
9:39 - "LumaSharpen" ReShade shader
18:01 - missing d-pad HUD icons
21:39 - partially reverted "Hi-Res Font Update with Button Glyphs" mod
27:00 - somersaulting gargoyle body (twice!)
29:44 - stupid death #1
31:58 - stupid death #2
36:00 - fully removed "Hi-Res Font Update with Button Glyphs" mod
39:54 - installed "Gray outline removal" mod on its own
44:26 - removed "Gray outline removal" mod
47:17 - installing just the two "na" font files of "HRFUwBG" mod
50:00 - fixed mod set: just "Subtle Soul Form" & 2 "HRFUwBG" font files
59:09 - notes about ReShade in RPCS3
Hadn't realized the acid spray from the worms is a) THAT gushy and damaging and b) damaging to your equipment! Man, it's just like the early levels in Angband! Acid equipment destruction everywhere! ; D
(For the below: note that you have to register an email address with nexusmods.com in order to download mods from that site.)
The one mod with which I HAVEN'T found a significant drawback yet is "Subtle Soul Form Effect" by @Boczekek -- https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/111 -- which removes the glow on the character when in soul form. It could potentially make it more confusing as to whether the character is in soul or human form, but you can still tell if you look closely or listen for footsteps.
I'm still using PART of "Hi-Res Font Update with Button Glyphs" -- https://www.nexusmods.com/demonssouls/mods/53 -- JUST the two files in font/na_english -- because in the course of this episode I found that the other parts of the mod a) add to load times and b) remove helpful button identification icons on the d-pad key in the lower right corner of the HUD.
And I ended up completely removing the "Gray outline removal" mod, which a) was--rather irritatingly--incorporated into the "Hi-Res Font Update with Button Glyphs" mod anyway, which I hadn't realized at first, and b) causes the aforementioned additional load time, seen as a twenty second black screen before the usual loading screen when warping between Archstones, for instance back and forth between the Nexus and the Fool's Idol Archstone in Tower of Latria.
I'm also using ReShade -- https://reshade.me , specifically the smaller version WITHOUT "full add-on support -- and its "LumaSharpen" shader (set to Strength 1.727, Limit 0.131 -- that latter setting from Boczekek's first shader pack for Demon's Souls).
ReShade has a few complications in RPCS3: a) it can occasionally cause RPCS3 to crash when closing a game and b) when installed for RPCS3, will run its shaders on every game launched from RPCS3; I get around that by setting it to use Vulkan, and setting any RPCS3 game I DON'T want being affected by it to use the other renderer, OpenGL. (I wonder if you can also target it to specific games by generating a desktop shortcut for them from RPCS3 and targeting ReShade to that? But I tend to think eh probably that wouldn't work and anyway to don't want to deal with separate shortcuts so I haven't bothered testing it.)
Oh and if you're recording/streaming your footage using the free and fairly wonderful OBS Studio like I am, another thing to be aware of when using ReShade is that its "Game Capture" mode does NOT capture ReShade's post-processing shades such as LumaSharpen; to get those in you have to use either Display Capture--which captures everything on the desktop--or Window Capture...which like Game Capture only captures the window/screen you specify, but unlike Game Capture currently is for some reason--on my desktop, at least--also capturing the mouse pointer, even with the "Cursor Capture" box unchecked. : P |
|
|
| | | The "Maximum Number of SPURS Threads" problem has been fixed, so I've gone back to the Wiki-recommended custom setting of 3 for that. Actually, I'm right on the edge for that one: the Wiki says
~~~
Helps with performance. Don't mess with this if you have a CPU with more than 6 cores and 12 threads as you may experience performance loss.
~~~
and my CPU has PRECISELY 6 cores and 12 threads
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/201837/intel-core-i710750h-processor-12m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz/specifications.html
soooo I guess I'll use "3." I don't notice an immediately obvious performance difference either way, really. |
|
|
| | |
So yeah edge around the chain and shoot that mind flayer in the knee. ^ _^
And with gargoyles and worms, being patient and backing off, backing up a bit, spear thrust as they come in, repeat. |
|
|
| | |
Okay so two-handed with the spear is definitely working better here, and spear instead of my bow incompetence is working quite well on the mind flayer, whew! Bumping the level of the bow did eh not much.
Didn't know the flayer's hypno blast shoves you a bit--oooooooooops ; D
Oh right Select button does messages. |
|
|
| | |
Upper Latria
Not much that I tried on Maneater seemed to work super well. PROBABLY should try dodging FIRST, then attack if/when they're stunned and trying to recover--and they seem to do that more in the pillared hallway areas, rather than in the open rotunda. So maybe something like
- target tail
- dodge so they ram into pillar
- hit tail while they're recovering
I did knock the tail off of one, which at least made it possible to distinguish between them.
Thought it was funny how I found that little ledge beside the stairs by being slammed down into it. And then punched off! ; D |
|
|
| | |
Through several bosses in Tower of Latria - Upper Latria, then delving a bit into The Inner Ward of Boletarian Palace in Demon's Souls PS3 disc version with the emulator RPCS3, in Windows, on The Archstones private server ( https://thearchstones.com/serverinfo.html ), with some graphics-sharpening mods. Blood is Off.
The fextralife wiki walkthrough says The Inner Ward in Boletaria isn't accessible until you complete some other archstone, or something. It definitely feels like I'm pretty well over-level for the area.
This and the shield needed to beat Old Monk in Upper Latria's Ivory Tower are making me think hey maybe all I need is a shield to beat the red visor dude back near the start of Boletarian Palace?
All I hadda do for Maneater was learn to roll and stab, I guess.
There is that awkward thing with the mind flayers where when they start their animation for their stun zap thing, raising their arms over their head, your hits will no longer knock them back--so you can stab them, but they'll just carry on as if you're not hitting them at all, and zap you anyway. ; P Feels bad, they should have at least put some FX on the flayers at that point to make it clear that they're like not hittable then or something.
The wiki says the Old Monk bit would summon a PVPer to fight you if one was available, and that otherwise it will summon a "random" NPC with a claw attack and those little yellow magic zappy things. But the first few times, instead they had a fire area attack and a huge cleaver--and shield, which was really what stumped me until I went and looked them up in the wiki and it said I needed either a shield or a knock-down weapon like a big two-hander. (Maybe if you don't have a shield, they use their shield loadout?)
Annoying you can't skip that Old Monk cinematic so you gotta sit through it each time you have to run back up the stairs. : PP
Can't zoom in with a Light Crossbow! : P |
|
|
| | |
Yep, just need to know how to use a shield, and some patience, to beat a red visor. I'm still learning shields (my ol' joints don't like having to hold the button to keep them readied so I've been avoiding them 'p'). And having an invulnerable gold knight friend handy to distract them doesn't hurt, either! ^ _^
Speaking of which, Biorr made the boss fight pretty much a cake walk! Hmm... Okay Biorr isn't (Prince?) Ostrava's brother--the other "Twin Fang" to Biorr was(?) someone named "Vallarfax." (Per fextralife wiki.)
Ostrava constantly getting recaptured is a weird running subplot. And if he's really determined to go to see his dad, THE (I guess) King, then well there's pretty much he's NOT gonna have got himself into huge trouble by time I see him again, I suppose in the final act of the game since that's the order in which the wiki suggests doing that last Boletaria stage.
Oh! One of those two keys I got in The Inner Ward might work on that door behind that lone red visor off to the side of the start of Boletarian Palace--the one I tried unsuccessfully at the start of the episode. Gotta go give that another shot!
Guess I've missed the two Inner Ward crystal lizards--they scuttle into a corner and fade out before I can spear them. Ehh gotta bow-shoot 'em I guess.
OH the name of the witch is Yuria, not Lucia (dunno where I got that name : P). I don't remember where her name actually gets mentioned--if it does. Once you rescue her she becomes a witchcraft spell teacher in the Nexus--don't have enough MP for her first spells (100 MP).
And other stuff's been showing up in the Nexus at some point, apparently! Several bodies with soul items scattered around, and that knight with the pointy-toed gold armor that I rescued or something from Upper Latria, who is standing in a nook higher up in the Nexus, with a few books and a sack beside him, and says he doesn't have anything for me...yet. ... Ah, that's Yurt the Silent Chief, says Google. And Yurt pronounces the "a" in "Latria" like uh the one in "lats" the muscles (latissimi (single: latissimus) dorsi, the long ones running up and down the sides of your back, under your arms), or "cats," whereas I'd been pronouncing it like "late" or "lake." |
|
|
| | |
Cheated and looked up maps of 2-2 on the fextralife wiki, looks like I'm closing in on getting back to the start and the Archstone, having done the huge confusing loop of the area. : P And then the third path from the start leads to the boss. Really confusing level. ; D Also there's some NPC who only appears during extreme world tendencies, in that really confusing dark shaft of hard-to-see platforms you have to drop down in sequence, and potentially has like high level mage stuff or something I dunno.
I'm carrying too many rocks all of a sudden! Darn mine. ; D
Not a fan of stage design that goes really hard on trying to disorient you, and the drop-down shaft and mazy worm tunnels of 2-2 are definitely trying to do that, blah. ; P
The inventory overload is the worst enemy though. ; PPP
But the flumphy segmented worm things are kinda fun, even if the big ones take forever to wear down. |
|
|
| | |
Flamelurker was a weirdly incompetent boss, seemed to miss me more often than not when he'd jump right on top of me.
When you defeat a major demon, the World Tendency of that particular world increases significantly (toward Pure White). In this case, beating Dragon God raised the WT to pure white, so when I sent to the Nexus and then back to his lair, it was now in Pure White configuration, with the wreckage that had been blocking off Dragon Bone Smasher cleared away.
And it stayed Pure White long enough--even with me dying in the flesh from a silly fall--for me to find peaceful Scirvir. But I'd hurried and hadn't taken DBS with me, foolishly, so I didn't have that to get the bonus rock from him--and it was no longer Pure White by the time I lugged DBS back there, after ehmm lots more death falls down that darned shaft in soul form. : P
Dragon Bone Smasher is basically a gigantic cartoon dog bone with a hilt on one end. ; D |
|
|
| | |
Shrine of Storms area 1
Darn skeletons and their weird timings = P |
|
|
| | |
Tried to max out my Winged Spear and my Quality Compound Long Bow.
According to the fextralife wiki, crystal lizards only regenerate so many times, then they're gone for good. (But killing a major demon in that world will respawn the still available ones, or something?) I was a bit confused on that 'cause I missed at least one in the nest and it doesn't seem to be coming back. But I guess maybe I got it on the second pass and had already got it a time or two before or something.
Guess I'm just gonna have to get in the habit of massacring that tunnel of scale miners--particularly the pickaxe wielders--a few times each outing to hope to get those last two sharpstone chunks for the spear. : PPP
There are other lizards, like one or two in Upper Latria for instance, but they aren't listed on the fextralife wiki's list of lizards that have clearstone or sharpstone chunks, so eh I dunno.
Eh hm I think I've been pronouncing that guy Scirvir's name without the "c" for some reason; well I somehow read it without the "c" once and thought oh it's a play on "server" and then even though I visually knew it had the "c" in it, I kept pronouncing it that way because my old neurons aren't connecting like they should be. ; ) |
|
|
| | |
16:15 - 4-2 Adjudicator Archstone (The Ritual Path)
29:01 - harpoons & forgetting block kills stamina
1:24:55 - 4-2 boss (Old Hero)
1:49:14 - 4-3 Old Hero Archstone (Altar of Storms, Storm King)
2:14:35 - 5-1 Valley of Defilement (Depraved Chasm)
2:53:30 - 5-1 boss (Leechmonger)
3:10:37 - 5-2 Leechmonger Archstone (Swamp of Sorrow)
3:37:53 - the woman in the swamp
Still a shield noob, forgot blocking kills stamina regen, kept getting butchered by the fast skeletons and wondering why I couldn't fight back or roll away. ; DD
Haven't actually fought a lotta giant humanoid bosses you gotta like dodge and counter-attack, properly speaking, so still rough on that vs Old Hero. ; ) Hadda work out clicking the camera lock off so I wouldn't get stuck in little nooks. : P
And in the swamp, took forever to get it through my head that I wouldn't be able to dodge while standing in the muck. : PPP |
|
|
| | |
I feel like you basically kill them by an unpredictable AI exploit. ; P Whatever. Stupid swamp. : PPPP
These trolls or whatever drop loads of Ephemeral Eyes and I've never used those all this time so I have nearly 40 now and I guess I might as well start using 'em--almost 50% more HP! ^_ ^ And since I'm not in soul form I can stop using one ring slot for Cling Ring and go for something else....HP Regen is seeming nice so far.
Probably more useful even in the swamp than the silly poison resist ring. : PPP
Got myself killed over and over with my inability to fight in the swamp--no dodging really--until I finally gave up and bought hundreds of arrows and just went hit and run with my maxed Quality Compound Long Bow. Actually pretty fun! ^ _^
Still hate the swamp though. ; PPP |
|
|
| | |
Cheesing the final bosses in 5-2 and 5-3 (Valley of Defilement) and a pesky black phantom in 1-4 (Boletarian Palace - Penetrator Archstone) with my maxed-out Quality Compound Long Bow +5
17:13 - Dirty Colossus
41:06 - Maiden Astraea
1:05:37 - Yurt throws down
1:19:22 - Metas, Knight of the Lance
1:20:29 - Alfred, Knight of the Tower
2:07:34 - arrows for Alfred
2:12:47 - Long Bow Oolan
Was having a tough time in melee with Alfred, the knight with the big tower shield--I guess you're supposed to be good at dodging, wait for his biggest attack, roll behind and backstab? that's what the fextralife walkthrough says, anyway...I kinda think he would'a just stabbed me a lot though--until I backed off with the bow and found that at a certain distance, he turns back; he'll psychically know when you're drawing your bowstring to shoot him in the back, and spin around to block with his shield, BUT like 1 in 7 times or something he's a little slow and gets hit. ; ))))
And Astraea and and Dirty, I just shot from range and they couldn't do anything about it. That knight with Astraea, Garl Vinland (apparently there was some other Vinland in the swamp that I missed), was doing the psychic blocking thing, but he was gone with his armor dropped on the ground when I died in the swamp after killing Astraea and came back. (That swamp sucks even worse than the one before it. : PPP)
... Oh, apparently the NPCs disappearing in the Nexus were actually being assassinated by Yurt. = ooo (They'll be back if I start NG+, it says...) |
|
|
| | |
Got through the first loop of the game close to a year after I started, play time at about 73 hours.
I like how the last parts of the game keep you guessing with varying difficulties, different mechanics, varying tempos, and the funky story which I don't think I really followed very well. ; D And you get to hang out a bit with the Maiden in Black, who's always a fun weirdo.
Skimming around the fextralife wiki here and there I've noticed I've missed a lot of semi-hidden/mysterious stuff in the later parts of the game, that's probably for the best as it gives more stuff to do if I ever do want to keep going in new game plus. I've never REALLY got into any game's ngp, and some of the aspects that would be involved here--like grinding for rocks for crafting--aren't my favorite things, so I'm not sure that's going to happen for me with this game, but in the fullness of time, who knows. Anyway, up next for my Soulsing is the Steam version of Dark Souls Remastered. |
|
|
| | |
