Demon's Souls Remake

[Zlaja]

What I wanna know is how SDG could afford getting a PS5, despite losing 2 jobs in a year?

 

[mediocrepoet]

What I wanna know is how SDG could afford getting a PS5, despite losing 2 jobs in a year?

Stopping drinking saves you a ton of money.

 

[NJClaw]

Aside from Old King Allant and the Dragon, not sure which level bosses in Demon's Souls you expect the player to die at least once to (though, to be sure, I died to more than two bosses in my first playthrough; several of the others are a significant danger).

I'd expect most people to die to the Flamelurker and Penetrator. Old King Allant and the Maneater are other great candidates. I can see all of the others getting beaten on a first try even without "extensive experience with other Souls games".

It reads to me like the boomers I meet every day that like to brag about benching 500 and leg pressing 1600 in their high school days. I don't buy it, I don't care how many times you say it, no matter how much you try to convince me. But keep at it, I'm sure someone's impressed.

I'm replying here because I can't find a thread for the original DeS (but at least this is still better than the ER one): could you make a list of what bosses you think are beatable on a first try during your first playthrough? I'd love for anyone interested to do the same.

For me, it would probably be something like this:

Almost impossible to die to
Phalanx: there's no way you die to this guy if you were able to go through the level
Fool's Idol: one of my favorite bosses in the series, but it's basically this game's Pinwheel. She has no attack that poses a real threat and dies in a couple of hits (but my opinion may be skewed since I'm used to fight her as an endgame boss, maybe she's harder if you face her early?)
Adjudicator: if you face him in melee (like I would expect most people to do), he only does the most telegraphed attack in the entire series
Storm King: same thing as Phalanx, but this time you've also already dodged tens of times the only attack you'll face during the fight
Leechmonger: the only thing he does is flail his arms around aimlessly. His attack won't one-shot you and it has an unreasonable long recovery time that allows you to heal, attack him, and get away
Dirty Colossus: he only does two attacks in melee and they're both extremely telegraphed

Will probably kill you
Penetrator
Old King Allant
Flamelurker
Maneater

Unsure
Tower Knight
Armor Spider
Dragon God
Old Monk
Old Hero
Maiden Astraea

I don't know how to classify these last six bosses. They can be incredibly easy to beat, but can catch you off guard if you're careless (for example, in my first playthrough I got one-shot by Garl Vinland a couple of times.). I'd be inclined to put the Tower Knight under "almost impossible to die to" and the other five in an intermediate category.

 

[Wunderbar]

Fool's idol may kill you if you come unprepared and without knowing her gimmick.

 

[Dadd]

Without guides or experience with other Souls games many would have difficulty with even the easier bosses.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Fool's Idol: one of my favorite bosses in the series, but it's basically this game's Pinwheel. She has no attack that poses a real threat and dies in a couple of hits (but my opinion may be skewed since I'm used to fight her as an endgame boss, maybe she's harder if you face her early?)

Try doing it early and without knowing/stumbling on to her secret.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

I'm replying here because I can't find a thread for the original DeS

The original thread (as in the first) was made back in the days when people used to make multiple distinct, yet similar, threads for the same game
This is the closest we have to a "main" DeS thread:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/its-another-demons-souls-thread-god-damnit.53777/

 

[perfectslumbers]

My deaths per boss personally, in my blind playthrough (I did beat ds1 first.)
17 - Dragon God
8 - Storm King
4 - Man eaters
1 - Allant, Old Monk
Rest I beat without dying. Demon's Souls bosses are mostly beatable on your first try which I enjoy much more than the later games, where you respawn next to the boss and usually need 5 or so attempts each time.

 

[MajorMace]

17 - Dragon God
8 - Storm King

 

[Machocruz]

Had the game day 1, some of the punk bosses did get me first attempt. Adjudicator killed me seconds after I ran into the room for the first time lol, the tongue attack while I was still on the upper levels; I was like one of those guys in SPR who got killed immediately after leaving the boats at Omaha beach Dirty Colossus got me with something the first time, but I forget what. I think Garl, Phalanx, Monk, Old Hero, Storm King, Leechmonger were the only bosses I beat first try. Not even sure about Old Hero, I do remember being overly confident once and he got me with something, but don't remember if it was NG or NG+.

 

[mediocrepoet]

17 - Dragon God
8 - Storm King

Not sure what you find surprising about those, particularly Dragon God. That thing's basically a QTE, so if you don't know where all the triggers are, you'll probably get one shot a bunch trying to figure it out. After that though, you're unlikely to ever die again, or even find it interesting.

 

[Dadd]

The stage is structured in a way that you have to be retarded to not know where all the triggers are. But you can die from the dragon breath easily when you're trying to attack the dragon's chin horn.

 

[MajorMace]

where all the triggers are.

These are two giant arbalests laid on the only, linear corridor that the area is made of... ? I mean, I guess it's correct to say "all the triggers" since there's more than one but come on...

8 deaths on Storm King due to figuring things out and getting sniped by his shit makes sense but I genuinely don't understand how you can die 17 times to Dragon God.

edit : Actually I can see it happen if you try to fight it from afar, not realising you can destroy the debris. Which, to be fair, is not all that obvious there (no damage animation on it and they require several hits).
I assume that's what happened to him.

 

[mediocrepoet]

where all the triggers are.

These are two giant arbalests laid on the only, linear corridor that the area is made of... ? I mean, I guess it's correct to say "all the triggers" since there's more than one but come on...

8 deaths on Storm King due to figuring things out and getting sniped by his shit makes sense but I genuinely don't understand how you can die 17 times to Dragon God.

The arbalests are true, but it's more the cover to cover and crap in the way that are likely to gum you up and get you one shot while making your way to each side of the thing. Anyway, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. I know I didn't one shot Dragon God, I have no idea how many times I died to it, but I also haven't played it since I beat it after PS3 launch 14 years ago.

 

[MajorMace]

Yeah I edited my post but it does make sense indeed.

 

[Dadd]

I guess you could die while trying to figure out how to pass the broken pillars but you would have to be retarded to die more than once to that.

 

[Machocruz]

I guess you could die while trying to figure out how to pass the broken pillars

Exactly how it happened on my first attempt. Didn't have the timing down. Also I think there was a little ambiguity with at which point when he turns his head is he actually not seeing in front of him.

Btw, a lot people dismiss Dragon God because it's a "gimmick", and maybe the execution could have been better, but I think the basic idea is solid. It was a good choice considering we had just had an intense mano y mano, 'real' boss battle minutes earlier. And it's a good concept from a adventure/narrative perspective imo; you don't want every conflict to be handled the same in a fantasy novel or movie , and dragons are often something you have to contend with using alternate solutions like trickery, seige weapons, legendary weapon, etc.. Yes games have different requirements than stories, but better execution of the concept would answer to that. I won't deny DeS has some weak/lame bosses, but DG is kind of cool to me.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I'm replying here because I can't find a thread for the original DeS (but at least this is still better than the ER one): could you make a list of what bosses you think are beatable on a first try during your first playthrough? I'd love for anyone interested to do the same.

If anyone is wondering, this was prompted by posts in the Elden Ring thread:

This is what I don't like about DS/ER/DS games and why I don't play them. Correct me if I am wrong, but I feel that hardly any mini-boss or boss fights can be passed without dying several times first in order to learn what's what. That being said, I have respect for people who play DS/ER/DS games and succeed. Your videos, in particular, are great to watch. I've learned from your videos that: 1. It is never about one dodge. 2. Raise your reaction guard and be prepared to dodge again and again after the first strike until there's a clear signal of a standstill. 3. You can take the risk of parrying or interrupting enemy combo by your own hit, but if in doubt, revert to item 2
Never understood this until now. Awesome, thanks!

Even in my original playthrough of Demon's Souls, I beat three-fourths of the level bosses on the first try; though of course the bosses in Demon's Souls were intentionally somewhat easy as compensation for the player having to restart the level after each death, whereas the introduction of the bonfire system in Dark Souls permitted an increase in boss difficulty. Elden Ring, as discussed extensively in this thread, offers various means of alleviating the difficulty, principally via ash summons and weapons skills, and certainly with those the player should be able to defeat most bosses on the first try, keeping in mind that Elden Ring has myriad dungeon bosses and many bosses out in the Open World, with only a relatively small portion comparable to the bosses of earlier Souls games.

Your post is sound but I call bullshit on this. No one one-shot their way through the bosses of Demon's Souls on their first playthrough, if that's what you're saying and I didn't misunderstand you. Unless your original playthrough of DeS happened after extensive experience with other Souls games, that's a load of BS.

Aside from Old King Allant and the Dragon, not sure which level bosses in Demon's Souls you expect the player to die at least once to (though, to be sure, I died to more than two bosses in my first playthrough; several of the others are a significant danger).

Depending on character build and play-style, any boss in Demon's Souls other than Old King Allant can be defeated on the first try, which is why the responses diverge so much.

 

[perfectslumbers]

I think Dragon God is a great boss but I had to google an explanation to understand the shadow mechanic. I thought it was a line of sight thing but it isn't, it's literally based on the shadows on the ground.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Depending on character build and play-style, any boss in Demon's Souls other than Old King Allant can be defeated on the first try, which is why the responses diverge so much.

While I do agree that the absolute difficulty of the bosses in the game is not terribly high, the relative difficulty of the game at the time has become gradually underestimated to a degree that makes me believe people are Mandela-effecting themselves into these absurd narratives. Hindsight is 20/20 but your recollection of a 2009 game isn't necessarily so.

It is technically possible, yes, to beat DeS's bosses on the first try; without dying once to them, yes; on your first playthrough of DeS, sure. Technically possible, yes. In practice, implausible. The game's bosses have multiple mechanics and timings which, while not necessarily unique at the time, were hardly predictable and needed time, practice and exposure to figure out.

Again, you can keep repeating it as much as you want but I'm still not going to believe that you figured out the original DeS's bosses on the first try in your first playthrough, which was the original claim. "Oh, well, I meant most of them and not all of them", as well as "well, I meant it's doable except for this one guy" are completely different goalposts and statements which I'm not arguing about.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Again, you can keep repeating it as much as you want but I'm still not going to believe that you figured out the original DeS's bosses on the first try in your first playthrough, which was the original claim. "Oh, well, I meant most of them and not all of them", as well as "well, I meant it's doable except for this one guy" are completely different goalposts and statements which I'm not arguing about.

Even in my original playthrough of Demon's Souls, I beat three-fourths of the level bosses on the first try; though of course the bosses in Demon's Souls were intentionally somewhat easy as compensation for the player having to restart the level after each death, whereas the introduction of the bonfire system in Dark Souls permitted an increase in boss difficulty.

The original claim concerned defeating most, not all, of Demon's Souls bosses, so I'm not sure why you keep willfully misinterpreting it.

 

[kites]

It's been awhile but I'd say I got about half on the first or second try; though I remember I had a lot of luck, such as Flamelurker's AI breaking while trying to maneuver around the bone set-pieces where you first enter the arena, or finding the guy above Fool's Idol beforehand. I also played DS1 first. I recall being more frustrated getting worn down on the way to the bosses. One that stands out, I think it was Old Monk, could have been the Maneaters - with the Mindflayer on the spiral staircase leading up. I don't know why he gave me so much trouble.

 

[Abu Antar]

If Demon's Souls was your first Souls game, it's not strange if you died a lot.

I think that it counts your deaths when you beat it. I was on 187. A lot of bs deaths to environmental stuff. No idea if they count MP deaths, too. I remember getting killed by the skellies in world 4, at least 10 times. The red knight in the first world probably whooped my ass just as many times.

 

[kites]

Exactly, I recall some of the trickier enemies in the stages more than I do the bosses. That giant depraved one that ambushes you in the Valley of Defilement, for example.

 

[FreshCorpse]

This thread is discussing how easy demons souls and whether or not it is possible to defeat each boss the first time, playing blind - but meanwhile I am getting wrecked by the armor spider....

And I've beaten ER including most optional bosses...

Am I just shit?