Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: Thanks.

[quote name="Lizard_King"]Did I mention the game has a very streamlined approach to new game +? Up to and including a magnificent kick in the balls in the form of waiting PVP black phantoms just dying to jump on your ass with your 200k souls when the game restarts? It really doesn't penalize you much since even if they win you just have to survive until that point again and hit your bloodstain, but it definitely motivates you to start again. You keep all of your items and levels apart from quest items (so to speak), and the enemies ramp up in traditional as well as AI-specific ways. Also, I forgot to mention that any multiplayer action has to be within ten levels of the human player, so it never gets too far out of hand in terms of the raw materials available to all players in a game. So to play with a friend who picked up this month, I created a new character and had him within spitting distance of his modest level within an hour or two, which made me actually the underpowered companion to his more methodically constructed build. If someone is doing something incredibly powerful to you, odds are they found a way to capitalize on a choice that you didn't, or made some significant sacrifice to obtain that power. For instance, most major souls from bosses can be traded to three different magic/faith providers and the blacksmith for significantly different combat options. Or with the limited number of special upgrade souls (colorless demon souls) available in each playthrough, you have to choose which kind of item you want most developed...the guy with the upgraded shield-ignoring sword is going to be a very different enemy from the one with the upgraded regenerating shield. Also, you can completely ignore the online component and still get an unbelievable game out of it. I didn't touch it for most of my time with the Asian version because I was obsessed with tweaking the world tendency uninterrupted. Most importantly, here is the link to the <a href="http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/">unofficial wiki</a> and the <a href="http://www.atlus.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page">Atlus wiki</a>, both superior to the print version so long as you have a laptop. Unfortunately the stupid publisher pulled the online scans of maps from the Japanese guide that had been painstakingly translated by fans and I haven't been able to find the ones I printed out. And now I'll stop, but only because between sucking ass at the caltrops free throw contest and more demon's souls, my schedule is packed today. [/quote]