Demon's Souls: Difference between revisions

The game includes a very unusual online multiplayer mode that avoids direct interaction almost entirely. You will often see ghostly forms of other players fading in and out of your game; you are unable to interact with them in any way, but it adds even more to the atmosphere of the game. When other players die in a dungeon, they leave behind a bloodstain which shows a replay (in ghost form) of how they died or a message that can contain a helpful tip. The ghost-replay can be helpful in showing you how ''not'' to die just ahead like that other guy. Useful tips can be rewarded, which gives the player who left them a temporary power boost; however, this doesn't stop some players from giving deliberately bad advice [[For the Evulz]]. Under certain conditions, you can receive direct help by sending out a summons that will randomly pull another player into your world, while others are out to kill you for the Souls that you hold and can enter your world uninvited. Fun times.

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* [[Bladder of Steel]]: You cannot pause the game at all. The game continues to run whether you're checking your inventory, writing messages, or even changing game options. The only way to stop the game is to quit from the menu. However, enemies don't respawn or chase you without attracting attention, so it's generally safe to park yourself somewhere unless a black phantom invades your game.

* [[Blob Monster]]: Phalanx. Played with however, since it's actually some kind of magical glowy thing covered in slug-like, shield and spear wielding Hoplite monsters.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: You can get through certain stages by sniping the demon to death. It takes a long time, so you better have a ''lot'' of extra arrows in case you miss. And even then, you might need to go back and get some more.

** The official strategy guide even flat-out states that the easiest way to kill the red dragon is to do this. Sure, you ''can'' kill it with melee weapons, but why the hell would you when it can kill you with one swipe of its tail?

** [[Dual Boss]]: {{spoiler|Maneater, to the dismay of many a player who did not expect last-minute reinforcements}}

** [[Flunky Boss]]: {{spoiler|The Phalanx Demon, The Tower Knight}}

** [[Mirror Boss]]: {{spoiler|Old Monk, of the "equivalency" rather than "identical" type. You actually fight another player in Black Phantom form if you are online.}}

** [[Stationary Boss]]: {{spoiler|The Adjudicator (which isn't actually stationary, but is so immobile it might as well be), The Leechmonger, The Dragon God}}

*** {{spoiler|Abuse the AI by sneaking behind it and sniping it with spells, bolts, or arrows?}}

** [[Zero Effort Boss]]: {{spoiler|Maiden Astraea, if you kill Garl Vinland.}}

* [[Call a Rabbit A Smeerp]]: The Mirdan Hammer, called a Lucerne hammer in the real world. Justified trope; there's probably no Lucerne, Switzerland in the Demon's Souls world.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: The assassins that you see after the Tower Knight's arch stone look a lot like [[Assassin's Creed|Altair]]. The Tower Knight himself bares a striking resemblance to [[Berserk|Grunbeld.]]

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Patches, the backstabbing thief, will warn you to stay away from [[Complete Monster]] Yurt the Silent Chief.

* [[Evil Pays Better]]: Doing generally evil things, like murdering friendly NPCs or other players, darkens the World Tendency, which causes slain enemies to drop more souls and items.

* [[Evil Plan]]: {{spoiler|The Old One has a simple one: collect souls for eating. Allant found this out the hard way.}}

* [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]: Most boss names say it how it is: {{spoiler|Tower Knight, Armored Spider, Phalanx, Penetrator, to name a few.}}

* [[Fake Ultimate Mook]]: The Blue-Eyed Knights. They can do a lot of damage to you early in the game, but their attacks are predictable and they're quite easy to outmaneuver.

** The fireball-using Fat Officials in Stonefang Tunnel can count as this to players who first meet them, as they are the first enemies that use spells if the player hasn't been to the Tower of Latria yet.

* [[Fan Nickname]]: [[Armored Core (Video Game)|Otsdarva]] of Boletaria.

* [[Fat Bastard]]: The Fat Officials; the Adjudicator.

** Likely a foreshadowing of how many times you will die in the game.

* [[Flaming Sword]]: Just add turpentine.

* [[Justified Tutorial]]: It's your entrance into Boletaria. It can be skipped, though, but it's recommended to go through it for the souls and extra items.

* [[Karma Meter]]: Soul Tendency.

* [[Kevlard]]: The Adjudicator qualifies, although the Meat Cleaver stuck in his chest was a pretty good indicator of where you had to hit him.

* [[Kill It With Fire]]: An effective tactic against the Phalanx demon.

** {{spoiler|Miracles may seem all dandy and righteous, but when you realize they require demon's souls to learn (not at all unlike spells) and that God is really the Old One, well...}}

* [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]]: Or out of The Nexus at least.

* [[Made of Iron]]: All of the NPCs are incredibly sturdy and have a lot of health, but special mention has to go to Biorr. He helps you in your fight against the Penetrator and the Blue Dragon, and both times, he takes the brunt of the punishment, the kind which you'd die from easily, yet he can keep taking all the damage and keep standing up to charge.

** To put that into perspective, when you see him the second time, Biorr takes repeated blasts from an enemy that would kill you in one hit (at around 600 HP). Biorr takes 20 HP from the attack. This becomes less fun when dealing with enemy unique [[NPC|NPCs]] (Rydell has more HP than you can max out at in the game).

** YMMV on Mephistopheles, depending on your play strategy. The rewards she offers {{spoiler|for killing your fellow Nexus inhabitants}} are generally rare or unique, including a ring that can only be obtained by completing the list. Furthermore, her trigger for appearing in The Nexus is Pure Black Character Tendency, {{spoiler|1=which can only be gained by murdering friendly NPCs (but not the ones on the list, or you'll miss the rewards), or other players as a black phantom}}. In this case you'll want to work with/for her, until {{spoiler|you assassinate the last target and she turns on you, at which point you'll want to run, or kill her}}.

** The Penetrator.

* [[Nice Hat]]: The Fat Officials wear them. Also, in order to rescue Yuria, the player has to wear one of these hats as a disguise.

* '''[[Nintendo Hard]]'''

** On the other hand, males have exclusive access to the Old King armor Set (heavy armor with high fire resist and no stamina penalty), Dark Silver armor set (heavy armor with remarkably high magic resistance), and others.

* [[Ravens and Crows]]: They're present in various locations, usually feasting on the abundant corpses. The Shrine of Storms implicitly even has a ''talking'' crow (popularly called [[Fan Nickname|Sparkly]]) who you can trade "sparkly" items with.

** One sure way to tell a strong enemy from the rest is whether or not its eyes glow.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: The two dragons in World 1-1. The red dragon is standing at its nest in an attack position, searching for prey, and will immediately come after you if you dare set foot on the bridge several hundred feet away. The blue dragon, meanwhile, is taking a nap.

* [[Sequence Breaking]]: Normally, while advancing in a level, the player has to go through fog gates, usually 3. In world 4-1, however, it is possible to bypass all 3 fog gates and finish the level in 5 minutes.

* [[Serial Escalation]]: Depending on how you play the game, you may end up facing the final boss with the following equipment setup: The armor of [[Bonus Boss|an ancient demigod king]], a shield dedicated to the judge of fallen warriors, [[Infinity+1 Sword|a spear that is considered a Revelation From God (and boosted five times from the souls of demons)]], a bow forged from the soul of a [[Demonic Spider]], and a divine talisman crafted in the image of the [[Big Bad]]. Need I go on?

** Another example is simply having 99 on all stats, due to the insanely curving amount of Souls needed to upgrade the more you go on. Full Brushwood Armor set (heaviest in the game) and dual wielding the Dragon Bone/Keel Smasher (also the heaviest in the game), ''and'' still able to keep it under half maximum equip burden for normal rolling? Experienced players' responses would be somewhere along the lines of: "Been there, done that."

** One could say the game is at least partially inspired by [[Berserk]], [http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/oracrest/Demons%20Souls/1271717936246.jpg given the grim atmosphere and many shared elements and aesthetics]. People have even made a Guts build.

** On a note unrelated to [[Berserk]], you can get some [[The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (Advertising)|Old Spice]] in the game.

** To the point, it's From Softwares' most successful game ever.

*** And it's getting a sequel that is getting a lot of publicity.

* [[Socketed Equipment]]: Almost every weapon and shield in the game can be imbued with "[[Green Rocks|Transmogrified sprites]]," or shards of special stone, that can affect how weapons deal damage, what sorts of damage weapons deal, what player abilities can affect a weapon's damage output and by how much, etc.; and can even confer small bonuses to health or mana regeneration. By imbuing mundane weapons with certain demon souls, you can change weapons into special unique versions with vastly different properties. These and other special weapons you find throughout the game can be further enhanced by applying the souls of infant demons.

* [[Speech Impediment]]: Scirvir the Wanderer has a stutter.

** ''[[Dark Souls]]'' is this to '''Demon's Souls'' itself.

* [[Stupidity Is the Only Option]]: In order to save Saint Urbain, you are required to fall for the exact same painfully obvious trap that he fell for -- one which his disciples warn you about multiple times, in fact.