Demon's Souls: Help Me!!!

[Lord Loss]

I'm about to go and buy Demon's souls with very little information on the game. However, I have a few questions so that I don't get eaten alive as much as I could.

1) What class should I take. I generally don't enjoy playing magic-users and was leaning towards the Wanderer, but apparently he's horrible. What would you reccomend for someone who eants to be nimble but nevertheless efficient.

2) Any order to tackle the levels in? I'm really hyped up for the tower of latria but i'd like to know what order to proceed in (not too many spoilers, please).

3) Any general tips and tricks or spells/items I absolutely need to survive?

4) Should I play with online on or off? Are killer phantoms common or uncommon? Is the help useful or overly obvious?

Build advice or other kinds of advice I'm not thinking of right now (excluding tips on beating specific bosses/enemies, I'd like to do that on my own) is also appreciated.

Thanks in advance, guys!

[junglesteve]

I have very little experience even though I have owned the game forever haha. But all the min maxers are going to say go with the royalty or w/e his name is. Starting low level is a good thing because then you get to put more stats where you want. Magic users seem to be the end all be all sadly. But my friend has taken on the game with his greatsword wielding paladin esqe character, typical melee / healing magic character.

[SKarious]

Hi. Demon's Souls is a great choice of game.
The beginning can indeed get hard, but after a certain point you'll get used to the game and the difficulty will not bother you.
1) Royalty is a very good choice for beginners. You start with a good spell and means to regenerate mana. This will help you clear the first bosses, after which you can start upgrading your character.
You can build your class any way you want, so you can invest in melee later if you want.
If you really can't stand magics, Ranger is also not bad.
2) Tower of Latria is the third world. You should probably clear world 2 before going in there, as you'll need the experience. maybe take a small dip in world 4.
3) Be patiant. Don't rush. Keep your health up if you can. Try not to die in body form - it makes the levels harder. If something doesn't work - try different approaches/weapons/spells. Keep yourself stocked with healing items. Fire and magic damage can bypass shields and armor.
4) I'd say play online - it makes the experience different and the help is sometimes very useful. Just don't believe everything you read. You can also transfer to other worlds to help/kill players for nice amounts of souls and fun.
Killer phantoms can only invade you if you're in body form, so it won't bother you most of the time.

Have fun.

[Vitruviansquid]

1. Soldier or Knight (buy a spear asap). Sure, Royalty's easy, but it's also going to make the game really boring in a lot of parts. I highly recommend against playing someone "nimble" at first since they usually just plain start with less souls worth of stuff. You can eventually build any class to be nimble, if you so chose, though.
2. Uhhh... I did the first boss in Boletarian Palace, then found the Stone Tunnels to be the easiest place to progress in. Not sure how I did it after that. I may have done the second boss in Boletarian Palace or Stone Tunnels before even touching Tower of Latria
3. Experimenting is fun!
4. I'd bet online is significantly harder because people will try to pk you, but it's actually really boring to play it offline. I'd recommend online, at least to take advantage of the servers still being up.

[valadil]

1) What class should I take.

I went with knight. Supposedly it's a hard starting class, but I had a good time with it. The starting gear lasted 95% of the game. But, the knighti s not a speedy class. I rarely tumble. If you want something faster, stay away.

2) Any order to tackle the levels in?

My favorite world was 1. I was more interested in the castle than the rest of the fantasy worlds. I did 1-1 and 1-2 before playing anything else.

I'd actually suggest doing the first level of each world. I didn't have much fun in Tower of Latria, but I found it to be pretty easy and I got enough spices (mana potions) that I didn't have to worry about spell points for the rest of the game. If you're going to be casting, I recommend stocking up here. And I think in 3-2 you can find a fragrant ring (constant mana regen). So if you have any interest in spells (even if it's just casting heal over and over) you probably want world 3 early. The only thing I found challenging about these levels was Maneater.

2-1 is a good time. You also unlock a blacksmith here. Guides online put a lot of emphasis on unlocking him, but I never really got into crafting so he wasn't as useful for me. The boss in 2-2 is arguably the hardest in the game. It definitely made me put the game down and stop playing for longer than all the other bosses combined.

4-1 and 4-2 are good for grinding souls. They're reasonably fun too. Some enemies are frustrating though.

I saved world 5 for last. I'm still not sure why. By the time I got to it it was stupid easy. Also most of the enemies dropped crescent grass, which was not useful healing by this point. You can probably take it on earlier than I did, but I'm not sure what the benefit is.

3) Any general tips and tricks or spells/items I absolutely need to survive?

I know you said you weren't interested in magic, but it's worthwhile to dabble. I think I started out with capacity for one spell and one miracle. I bought up int and faith to get one more of each. The spell that lets you bail out and return to the nexus is awesome. Saves a ton of time, especially if you grind. I also really liked healing. On the magic side, I kept one long range blast spell and one enchant weapon spell up. I didn't do a ton of casting, but I liked having extra utility that wasn't consumable.

4) Should I play with online on or off? Are killer phantoms common or uncommon? Is the help useful or overly obvious?

Help is useful. Killer phantoms are annoying, but they don't become a factor till later on. When challenging another player, they have to be within a certain range of your level in order for you to invade. When you start out, no killer phantoms will be able to touch you. Or if they do, they're also low level newbies.

[Lord Loss]

Well guys, I think I'll play a Soldier and dabble in magic, as reccomended. I'm onloy just ordering the game, so I still have a while before actually receiving it. One last question:

How should I invest my skill points to build a melee character with a few spells? Having a good dexterity is a must.

[AgentPaper]

Build your character how you want it. It's very possible to beat the game with nothing but an axe. It'll be hard, especially a couple bosses, and you'll die a lot as you get the hang of it, but you can do it and if you're up to the challenge, the payoff at the end is great.

Magic definitely does make the game easier (though not easy, still have to be very careful) so if you're just interested in being as effective as possible, go for that. If you're not much for magic but aren't up for going barbarian with axe and loincloth, then go for shield and spear. Wear as heavy armor as you can and still be able to roll around well. It's not worth it to wear really heavy armor if it prevents you from dodging.

The spear is great because you can keep your shield up while you attack with it, it has a pretty good reach, and if you need to you can put away your shield and lunge with it for a lot of damage, which is important against stuff that casts spells at you. (which the shield isn't much help against) You can block a lot of stuff with your shield though, even a lot of boss attacks, so keep your shield up and your endurance bar high.

[Lord Loss]

Wielding a spear seems good. I know I'll probably find out when I get the game, but that's in a while, so I'd like to know when/how you go back to the Nexus without completing a world?

[valadil]

Wielding a spear seems good. I know I'll probably find out when I get the game, but that's in a while, so I'd like to know when/how you go back to the Nexus without completing a world?

You can return to the start of the level. Otherwise there are some one time use items you can get or a spell for 20,000 souls (worth it IMO).