Joe Majewski

Demon’s Souls Leveling Tips

Without a doubt, Demon’s Souls is the most difficult game I’ve played in quite some time. I would expect for a game with this caliber of difficulty to aggravate me and cause me to punish my controller, but there’s something about this game that keeps me coming back for more.

The reason I can’t put this game down is because regardless of how difficult a segment may be, I always have the option of improving my character’s stats by farming souls or crafting materials to improve my weapons. So when I am put in the position where an enemy can take me down in just two hits, I know it’s time to focus on my stats for a little while before attempting to continue.

The different worlds within Demon’s Souls keeps the game very open-ended, giving you five distinct areas to explore in any order you please. If I am getting sick and tired of getting dominated by the Tower Knight in World 1-2, I can play my chances elsewhere.

The point of this article is to provide some early leveling tips for the struggling beginners. I can’t call myself a veteran by any means, but I have about 20 hours clocked into this game so far, so I will share what I have learned.

Upon beating the Phalanx at the end of World 1-1, I felt overwhelmed by all the areas that opened up to me. Demon’s Souls, living up to it’s hardcore name, doesn’t make any of these five levels a breeze, and there is probably a very small chance that you will be able to beat any of them without putting in some mega time and effort. Ultimately, after spending some time exploring your new set of levels, I would expect that the majority of people fall to the conclusion that they are not powerful enough yet to progress any further. Yeah, that’s right. You beat just a single level (and not easily, I might add) and have already hit a big roadblock.

You may have also noticed that each time you level up, you don’t exactly become a whole lot stronger. Molding your character in Demon’s Souls takes a lot of work. My character is a Royal, meaning that I started at soul level one. The second area of the game that I beat was World 1-2, and it wasn’t until around level 30. I would estimate that this amounted to about 40,000 souls, which consisted of the souls I used to level up, repair my gear, purchase items, purchase spells, and upgrade my weapons. This number does not include the thousands of thousands of souls lost due to death.

This may seem like a lot, and it definitely is (at this point in the game), but there are some good places to get souls rather quickly. And don’t be discouraged by the idea that you will be spending a lot of time focusing on leveling up. You will find that the time you put into leveling up doesn’t have to be all that repetitive.

I would recommend that the first place you go to begin your grinding is World 1-2. You are placed in the same room where you fought the Phalanx, and you’ll see that the world is actually continuous, where you are free to backtrack into World 1-2 seamlessly. Anyways, proceed into the level and you will quickly enter a cave filled with mini-phalanx enemies. I believe there are five of them in total, and they grant about 60 souls apiece. Get into the routine of killing them, then returning to the Nexus. Repeat the process as much as you like for a decent 300 souls per run, which takes only three minutes.

This experience will be good for some time, but there are places better. I should also note that these mini-phalanx drop Hard Stones, Sharp Stones, Large Hard Stones, and Large Sharp Stones; all of which can be used to upgrade weapons and shields. Check the vendor in the Nexus to see what you need; I was able to get my Winged Spear to +5 before continuing to the next place of interest. My shield also received a plus five upgrade. Place some stat points into your Luck attribute if you are not getting good drop rates for the large stones.

On occasion, go ahead and try to actually beat the level. You should easily be able to predict how much more leveling up needs to be done judging from how well your battling performance is.

The second good place to get experience is in World 3-1. If you have a good ranged attack, then this will be an easy task for you. Upon entering the level, you are in a prison cell. Exit the cell to the left and follow the path. You will see prisoners (enemies) reaching their arms out of their cells begging to escape. They can’t hurt you from inside, but once you open the doors to the cells, they will be permanently open every time you re-enter the level. No problem. These enemies are easy to defeat much like the hungerers in World 1-1.

The real pot of gold is the hovering enemy that patrols the opposite side of the prison. This lady-like enemy packs a powerful punch. Rather, she casts a stream of magic at you that will probably kill you in a single hit unless your Vitality is around 14 or more. The plan is to attack her with your ranged attack before she sees you, as she casts her magic very rapidly, making it hard to get a chance to return the favor. For me, it took two shots to take her down. Any more than that and it would make things difficult, as it is easy to get two shots in before she can even attack once.

This kill is worth around 650 experience, making it a great place to execute one-minute runs in and out of the level for quick experience. Even once your soul level reaches the twenties you should find yourself leveling up every five to ten minutes before it really starts slowing down. If you are really daring, venture a bit farther into the level and there will be a second enemy similar to her, but uses electric magic instead. This can make you 1300 souls in a short time.

Don’t forget about the Soldier’s Souls that you have been collecting throughout the game. They appear in your inventory, where you can use them to immediately gain a large number of souls. At this point in the game you will find them to be worth 200, 400, 600, or 800 souls. I would recommend using them only if you are going to spend them right away. Otherwise, you might as well hold onto them.

Back in World 1-1, the Red Eyed Knight yields over 2000 experience points per kill. This enemy can easily kill you in one hit, and will put up a long fight. You can find this enemy near the first room that had a fog seal over it. Go to the far side of that bridge, fighting the enemies along the way, and enter the room. To your left is another much shorter bridge with a glowing red enemy at the other side. That’s your target. The Red Eyed Knight is good with his shield, and has a devastating piercing attack that can and will kill you. Be prepared for him to attempt to shield bash you, then proceed with this piercing blow while your character is regaining balance.

If you can defeat him, it’s well worth the 2000 souls. At this point you should essentially be able to level up every one or two runs. I should mention one more trick to defeating this enemy. Instead of fighting him, lure him way back across the large bridge and into the room with the very long spiral staircase. Don’t get too far ahead of him, but keep a distance as you descend the stairs. At some point the knight will turn a corner too tight and fall down, placing him in his eternal resting place, and awarding you with 2000 souls for simply running away (in the direction of the Nexus, making it even faster to do runs).

The last point of interest that I have found is in World 1-2. Past the mini-phalanx room described earlier is a long bridge with dragons circling around, breathing fire in the only path for you to go. You have to have good timing, and starting running across the bridge as soon as the dragon passes by. If you are wearing heavy armor, it’s recommended that you take it off so you can run faster.

When you reach the first tower, fend off the easy enemies that guard it, then climb on top. Believe it or not, you can kill that dragon. You can only kill it once, and as long as you are on top of that tower, it can’t do anything to hurt you. The reward is around 7000 souls, and a Demon’s Soul called the Small Flame Scale, which can be instantly used to reward you with an additional 10,000 souls. Thus, 17,000 souls are acquired for killing this dragon, not to mention the perks. The perks? Oh yes, with the Red Dragon defeated, he will no longer patrol the bridge, making the level much easier to complete. Additionally, you can backtrack to the dragon’s nest in World 1-1 where he used to rest. You will find a ton of items and gear hidden in that nest.

In order to kill the dragon, you need a ranged weapon to shoot at it when it approaches. I would recommend getting around 150 arrows. With each pass, use your compound bow (which you should have found in this area) to take a shot at it. It may be hard to tell if you are hitting it or not, but you will occasionally see some blood. After fifteen minute (give or take), the dragon will be slayed and the Demon’s Soul will be yours for the taking. You should be able to level up four or five times off of this single enemy. Not bad, eh?

I hope this has helped you on your epic journey through Demon’s Souls, which is currently my favorite game. Feel free to leave a comment with your own leveling tips so we can expand our knowledge together.

Dragonica Online Review ( THQ*ICE )

This isn’t a typical blog post like the informative ones that I usually write, but as a programmer and web designer, I have a niche for videogames. In particular, I always like to have an RPG to play, whether it be an offline console game or an online MMO. I would say that I appreciate RPGs because I like numbers, and RPGs tend to rely on them heavily. Playing games also helps me develop ideas of my own for the games that I write myself.

Dragonica Online was launched a few months back in North America by the Publisher THQ*ICE, and it reminds me of a blend between World of Warcraft and Maple Story. Unlike most MMOs, Dragonica has a storyline that doesn’t put players to sleep. During my experience thus far, I have seen over a dozen real-time cut-scenes. Although there is no voice-acting, the text isn’t very cumbersome and is also rather humorous at times.

The graphical style is more cartoonish than it is realistic, but the developers really pulled it off. It is unique in that the environments are 3D, but it is also a sidescroller at the same time. You don’t explore the 3D worlds in the way you would traditionally expect to, but instead you move sideways through the areas, while are limited in your capacity to move “up” and “down”; this reminds of the movement styles of hack and slash games like the classic Streets of Rage series from the Sega Genesis.

Your character begins as either an archer, thief, warrior, or mage. Each class has it’s own unique set of skills which can be attained from earning skill points after leveling up. Each class has an associated skill tree which you use to gain your core abilities. This is very similar to World of Warcraft in that respect.

Upon reaching level 20, your character advances to the next job. You also get to choose a new job depending on your class; for example, a thief can choose to become either an assassin or a trickster after the job advancement. With your new job advancement comes a whole new skill tree, and a skill reset item that can be used to empty your skill trees and gain all of your skill points back (which can be very helpful in the event that you misplaced some of your skill points).

Equipment is a huge part of the game; so much so that a character that is level 25 may be able to out-damage a character that’s level 35 by having the right gear. Gear can be enhanced in two critical ways; enchanting and soulcrafting.

Each piece of gear has it’s own unique soul force value. Thus, two pieces of the same equipment may not have the same stats due to their soul force being different. In general, higher soul force means higher stat bonuses. Soulcrafting consumes “souls” in return for a chance to upgrade your gear’s soul force. You attain “soul” by disenchanting your gear, which consumes your gear in return for a variable amount of soul, which is determined by it’s soul force.

When soulcrafting, you place your gear of choice into a slot. Depending upon it’s current soul force, it will cost a certain amount of soul to upgrade the item. If successful, your item becomes stronger; if it fails, you have a small chance that your gear gets destroyed.

Enchanting your gear is similar to soulcrafting, except that instead of using soul to upgrade it’s stats, you use weapon or armor enchantment powder (which can be found in a variety of ways). The amount of powder that you need increases after each successful enchantment.

Moving on to the battle system, which is my favorite aspect of the game. The battle system is very rewarding, where the experience you earn can be boosted by your combo count, which keeps track of how many hits that you have made on enemies in a row (after a few seconds, this combo count gets erased back to zero). The battle system takes a lot more skill than most RPGs that I’ve played, and feels very rewarding to attain large combos.

Questing is also a large part of the game, where there are hero quests and adventure quests. Hero quests are quests that pertain to the storyline of the game. In order to execute your job advancement, you must first complete all hero quests to that point. Adventure quests are entirely option, but reward players with useful items and experience. Hero quests grant much higher rewards but are also generally more difficult or lengthier to accomplish. There are hundreds and hundreds of quests in the game, keeping players from being forced to grind through levels.

Mission maps are instanced environments where players can group up and go through a series of rooms that ultimately lead to a boss fight. Each mission map has five levels of difficulty. The first four (F1, F2, F3, F4) can be repeatable, but F5 can only be completed once per person, unless you are repeating it with someone else who has not done so yet. The boss fights are fantastic, and from my experience thus far, I have been in battles that have taken upwards of 10, or possibly 15 minutes of fighting.

After winning the mission map, you are a given a grade depending on how well your group performed. The higher your grade, the more items that you will be rewarded. Up to four bonus items can be rewarded at the end of a mission map, and this is generally where most of your gear will be found. Besides gear, rewards consist of enchantment powders, bags filled with money, and experience potions, which instantly grant your character experience points depending upon it’s grade (1 to 4 stars).

The experience curve for leveling up is one of my major complaints. Most games are rather linear, where each level will take a bit longer than the previous level. In Dragonica, the amount needed is linear at times, but then out-of-nowhere jumps to astounding levels, which can be very discouraging when you see yourself gaining .08% from a kill to .04% from a kill after gaining a single level. This is largely due to the level cap currently being at 65 for the North American version of the game, so I could only imagine that after more content is released and the cap is increased that this experience curve will be fixed to make leveling up more “fun” for players, rather than a hassle.

The economy is nice, and whenever you find yourself inside of a town, you can instantly access the “Market”, which is basically like an auction house where players can purchase and sell items from and to other players.

The world map is also very linear, which is something I never see in games like this. When viewing the map, there is a series of areas that move from left to right, which means that you almost never encounter players that are many levels higher than you are, due to the higher leveled areas being completely out of reach. This is neither a good thing or a bad thing, but rather the preference of the player. I can’t really complain about it, as it keeps things simple, where players know exactly where to go and never get lost.

Overall, Dragonica is a fun game that I recommend giving a shot if you are looking for a new and free MMO. It doesn’t take very long to learn how to play, and it’s fun and rewarding. Once again, my only major complaint is the leveling curve, which can be a hassle at times. There is only one server open in the North American version of the game at this time of writing, so if you decide to play, I may very well meet you in-game.

If I had to be a critic, I would give this game an 8.5 out of 10, but I’m not a critic. I just play games, and make them, too.