Demon's Souls to be even harder on Halloween

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 29th 2009 at 5:15PM }

The land of Boletaria in Demon's Souls will be plunged into "pure blackness" on Halloween for players connected to the internet. Publisher Atlus' announcement about its sleeper hit can be interpreted to mean that all players will have their world tendency shifted to black for the day (or a little longer), which affects enemy strength and player stats. A pure black tendency can mean that new passages and enemies may also exist.

"World Tendency" in Demon's Souls is another aspect of the challenging RPG that has a significant impact on the player's experience. If you're a new player who happens to pick up the game on Halloween ... don't panic. Yes, the game is hard, but it'll be a little bit more so with the entire world black aligned.

Tags: atlus, demons-souls, from-software

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NintendoJunkie @ Oct 29th 2009 5:20PM

Wow.

I wish I had this game & a PS3 so I could get my ass kicked even more on Halloween.

Phizzy @ Oct 29th 2009 5:24PM

Pure black? Oh lawd, watch out for unique black phantom NPCs, dem playas got game, yo.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 29th 2009 5:25PM

Good, I'm hoping this will make the game a little tougher for me. Cleared 3-1 last night, dying only once from me being stupid and falling through a hole in a floor. Still haven't died on any of the 4 bosses I've beat.

And no I'm not using a guide, the player hint system is more helpful than I expected it to be though.

Filthy Assistant @ Oct 29th 2009 6:14PM

It's not really that it's HOLY SHIT SO HARD, it's just harder than people are used to these days. There are ramifications for deaths, you can't just charge through every area, etc.

fundando @ Oct 29th 2009 6:31PM

wait till your second playthrough.

E1M7 @ Oct 29th 2009 7:46PM

I cleared 3-1 without dying yesterday. Today I've been killed five times by the boss on 3-2, and I'm not close to beating him. (No hints please. I want to figure it out myself.)

karlwulfekote @ Oct 29th 2009 8:41PM

I thought the game wasn't as hard as it was being made out to be.

I beat it and started new game + yesterday, and wow! What a rude awaking. Basically all of your levels and equipment don't mean squat. It's even harder then when you first started.

bumblo @ Oct 29th 2009 10:45PM

Yeah wait for your second playthrough, it gets about 5x harder. Especially the Valley of Defilement. Not a lot harder on the third playthrough though, only about 8% more.

Marcus70 @ Oct 30th 2009 11:08AM

This game isn't really hard, its just time consuming. After all you can level up to 712 if you want (but that would take a really long time of course). If they wanted to make this game hard you should lose all of your equipment and items your carrying, instead of just souls.

If you want a hard game go play the Wizardry games from the 1980s. If you died in those games and the temple healers failed to revive you, you turned into ashes. If the temple healers failed again, your character and their gold and equipment was gone forever.

AA @ Oct 29th 2009 5:27PM

for all versions, or just the new N.A. version I wonder?

I'd love to have a go of it in my Chinese version.

rohan @ Oct 29th 2009 6:23PM

how many version do u have?

heavens_gatekeeper @ Oct 29th 2009 5:27PM

fantastic! hopefully this will help me out with Mephistopheles, cant figure out how to get her armor

zefur @ Oct 29th 2009 5:27PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DONT HAVE MY COPY YET

(yes it deserved all caps)

justsomeKAI @ Oct 29th 2009 5:28PM

Interesting idea.

Fx.Dr @ Oct 29th 2009 5:29PM

Just when I thought I couldn't love this game any more than I already do.

fundando @ Oct 29th 2009 6:34PM

I wish I wouldn't have beat my first playthrough already. I could of accessed but now I'm at the beginning again.

ShadowSkill11 @ Oct 29th 2009 5:40PM

Meh... I already beat the game with every world in full black and then full white tendency. You just always have to play in soul mode while you're doing it is all.

Traceur_Ryuk [All Digital until December] (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Oct 29th 2009 5:46PM

Is it just me or did this game come out of nowhere? I honestly hadn't even heard of it until about a week before it's release.

RagingStormX @ Oct 29th 2009 6:03PM

I am sure its not just you...but for big RPG fans and people who dabbling in whats good in the japanese gaming market, this was a long time waitng game. They announced the US version of this just when I have had enough and was going to import the Chinese\Asian version.

Patrick Fowler @ Oct 29th 2009 6:02PM

well thats one way to get all those black tendency items

eNrique @ Oct 29th 2009 6:18PM

I just got my copy today, if anyone interested in playing co op, add me;

http://profiles.us.playstation.com/playstation/psn/visit/profiles/enriquelegrand

RagingStormX @ Oct 29th 2009 6:45PM

You can add me if you want (username = PSN ID) and can set up some co-op gameplay through text-chat, but I am not sure if me being on a way higher level than you will cause use no be able to join in the same gameplay.

bluem00se @ Oct 29th 2009 6:25PM

Aren't there certain areas with cool loot that can only be accessed with pure black or white tendency? I've only had this game a week and still have no idea how the tendencies work but I'd be totally down for getting some badass weapons on Halloween!

RagingStormX @ Oct 29th 2009 6:34PM

Sounds like a day of valuable items and soul farming to me... sorry for anyone who will just be starting a new game under those conditions..... Newgame + is no time do be fighting pure black WT NPCs....trust me on this

Spider-Prime @ Oct 29th 2009 7:09PM

awesome, now I don't have to kill myself over and over again to get the last few items in black tendency, Just need the Blind from garland's sister and then the pole from rydell.

Also perfect time to get easy souls from 4-2, just put on the items that give you more souls per kill and you will get easily 200,000 each time you run though it and come back and restart.

Also perfect time to go and find the premival demons, I need to fight the one with the black katana Black phantom in 4-2 so I can also get some more pure bladestones!

Heimbachae @ Oct 29th 2009 7:53PM

dang, i bought the game from best buy last week and when i got it home there was no game in the case :( and it was the last copy. my luck

hfm @ Oct 29th 2009 7:56PM

I love reading everyone's comments and thinking of how lame I am in my so far fruitless quest to down the Tower Knight in 1-2. I almost had him the first time I met him, since them I've failed miserably a few times and almost had him again the last time. The eternal grind to get back to him is both ying and yang.. one the one hand I just want to beat him.. on the other i'm collecting souls and stones regrinding that path across the bridge.

Game is so awesome.. it better get some GOTY awards... and I haven't even scratched the surface...

jaschn1 @ Oct 29th 2009 8:18PM

I haven't tried fighting him yet (that's my last save on the Asian version of the game).

Filthy Assistant @ Oct 29th 2009 10:42PM

You can cheese him with arrows from the tops of the walls pretty easily if you're getting really frustrated. Takes a lot of arrows, though.

devilsei @ Oct 29th 2009 11:56PM

Actually, the way I beat him was the following.

Clear the archers out first.

Then, using either a crossbow or compound bow, and 50 or so arrow/bolts at least, stand at one of the archer points. What you want to do, is shoot his ankles. People will say target the head, but its a lot easier to hit his ankles. Wait for him to put his shield infront of himself, then as he rears back for the magic lance attack, fire, then roll back. You'll hit his ankle.

As you do this, you'll start to see some energy spraying from his ankles, keep going and eventually he'll stumble around and fall onto his back. As he does this, run forwards off the edge and right towards him. Start attacking his head. When he starts to get back up, run to the archer spot and repeat the above.

For me I only had to knock him down twice, because I'm melee oriented so I tore through his health when he was down (PS, fire helps). People will say if you are melee-oriented to just get behind him and hit his ankles at close range, but honestly, he can kill you too easily when you are at his feet, shield slams, stomps, stabs and slices. From the archer points he only has his lance throw.

hfm @ Oct 30th 2009 6:50PM

I'm hitting his ankles, but I'm playing the paladin guy with the Halberd so I don't have a bow i can use it seems.. unless I've done something wrong it doesn't seem like I can use it.... i've leveled it to +5 so far. I also have been clearing out all the archers first..

The last time I missed dodging him as he fell over and he squashed me ...

I'll get it eventually :)

devilsei @ Oct 30th 2009 10:30PM

Well, on the way to the Tower Knight's area, if you run above ground, the buildings that separate each "runway" will have archers on top, and inside of them are the stairs that lead below to the underground tunnel, or the top. Just check the top of each building and you should find a bow, can't necessarily remember where to find them, but I swear there is at least a crossbow in the first area.

kentuckyfried @ Oct 29th 2009 8:20PM

^ I haven't tried fighting him yet, that's my last save on the Asian version of the game before I re-started on the U.S. version (which I've started on a different PSN account so that I can stealth login and have nobody know I'm online, lol).

Gilliand @ Oct 29th 2009 8:41PM

I'm so glad I waited to beat the game. After I get all the primeval demons and kill the BFs, I'm just going to farm 4-4. At almost pure white, I can get 20k-25k in souls in 3 minutes. Wonder how many I'll get with pure black.

Nobledevil @ Oct 29th 2009 9:50PM

I think enemies also drop more souls in black tendency areas, so Halloween might be a good day to do some soul farming.

Loonknight @ Oct 30th 2009 2:10AM

I've shifted a few worlds to pure black, it is interesting to see these black phantoms pop up in areas you were not used to seeing enemies in.

Charlie_Six @ Oct 30th 2009 2:58AM

I'm really enjoying this game, but I wish there was a story of some sort to propel me forward. As it is, the game feels like an unhealthy addiction / power trip. I want to get more powerful because I want to become more powerful. There's no reason for the power.