Also, being the sword and shield user that I am, should I upgrade my dexterity a bit (it's currently 10)? I just got Demonbrandt and noticed I need more dexterity (and a point of faith) and the Penetrator's sword required even more dexterity. Is it a stat I should be raising?

You should only need to seriously focus on Dexterity if you plan on using weapons that gain damage bonuses from it (such as Hiltless, or any weapon upgraded with Bladestone). Otherwise, just raise it high enough to meet the minimum requirements for the weapons you want to use. Mind you, I don't think Penetrator's Sword or Demonbrandt are worth using, but it's your call.

What about other swords?

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. I finally beat it last night, world 5-2 was a [censored], it took me at least eight stones of ephemeral eyes but at least I did it. Now I'm doing NG++, which seems easy because the jump in difficulty isn't nearly as extreme as the jump from NG to NG+.

Most European swords don't really have Dexterity requirements or bonuses. Granted, the best ones do (like Northern Regalia and Blueblood Sword), but they require you to build your character around them for maximum effectiveness, and it's going to be a while before you get either of these. It's mostly the curved/Asian swords and the Meat Cleaver that require/benefit from high Dexterity.

So, I likely shouldn't worry about it until I get to the point of having the swords you mentioned? When can I finally start getting some better equipment, for that matter? Straight swords are just incredibly rare, it seems, and I've yet to find any new armor, at all. I've completed the entire Stonefang level and I'm nearly done with the Boletarian Palace, but I'm still using the default armor, my default small shield, and my default straight sword (with some modifications).

World 3 is a good start, in 3-1 you find the Fluted armor (armor in the trailer) near the beginning, and in world 3-2 there is a guy named Yurt the Silent Chief, kill him. He has Gloom armor and it's pretty good. In my new playthrough on NG++ I'm using the Brushwood armor, which is good but kind of svcks because I had to get my Endurence to 67 to still be able to roll, you can find the Brushwood armor in 1-2 on a guy named Biorr of the Twin Fangs, but need a key from 1-3 to get it.

I'm not killing Biorr, unless you were referencing the dragon fire he's currently being subjected to. Also, my default armor is the Fluted Armor. I'm a knight.

Oh okay, well there is still Gloom armor in 3-2 and if you really want to bust your ass beat world 5, by the end of it you'll have some sweet Dark Silver armor.

PS Whatever you do, don't let Yurt the Silent Chief live.

About the best straight sword you can find outside the ones I mentioned would be the Knight Sword. You can buy one from the Dregling merchant in 1-3, or find one somewhere in 1-4.

If you're up for a challenge, you can try killing Old King Doran; that can net you one the best suits of armor in the game (Ancient King's Armor) if you're male, as well as one of the best rings. He's tough, though, can kill you in one hit, and resists everything you can throw at him, so you might not be up to it yet. That, and it can make you feel kinda' like a jerk doing so. If you're female, you can try to nab the Binded Armor, but that requires getting Boletaria Palace's Tendency to Pure White, and if you don't mind changing your weapon of choice up, there's a cool axe to get which requires getting Boletaria to Pure Black. Both these methods also lead you to getting a free set of Brushwood Armor without killing anyone good, but it'll be a while before you'll ever be able to use that set competently.

Regardless, you should definitely head for Latria. There's an NPC there that can teach you spells (Sage Freke). And I guess while we're at it, there's an NPC in Boletaria that can also teach spells (Yuria), who you should be able to find right now.

There's a lot you need to know about weapons, Seti. In Demon's Souls, most unique items aren't going to be the best thing to use. Ask any top-end player or PvPer, and they will tell you that in Demon's Souls, strength depends on tailoring your character to one of four attributes: strength, dexterity, magic and faith.** This means that often time, creating a powerful character depends on upgrading normal weapons on specific paths (using specific types of ore) that cause them to be enhanced by one of these attributes. That said, that's a bit advanced. Usually a second or third character you can start paying attention to your build, etc. For now, just know that when you look at a weapon and see the A,S,etc. ranking for the attributes, these are the multipliers for the weapon's power. Work on focusing on those attributes to get the most out of the weapon. Most straight swords will be using strength primarily, so that's not a bad choice. Dexterity probably won't be as important, only get that to the minimum requirement.

**There are also builds that are incredibly specific, built for one and only one weapon, but they're limiting (obviously).

Edit: as for armor, don't worry about it. It's really just for looks, mainly. Also, there aren't many suits. You'll find them eventually.

Seti: You should start bulking up a primary stat, and then upgrading a weapon to meet that stat. Kinda like how I bulk magic up to good levels, and then used my precious Crescent Kiliji +5. If you're into straight, European swords, and kinda wanna be a Paladin kinda building, put stats into Faith, and then create a Holy Knight's sword. I believe you can get a knight's sword from the vendor in 1-3.

Alternatively, invest in Faith, then acquire Moonlight Sword or the Faith-based spear. The sword bypasses blocks

Or chill until NG +, save your boss souls, and make Northern Regalia in your second play-through. Since you get , and combining those makes Northern Regalia. And it's a frikin' sweet sword.

As for armor: I wear mostly leather, but with a chain hauberk. Allows me to move well, while still having at least some protection. Of course, I just throw on Warding whenever something looks dangerous.

Hey what's a good spear? And don't give me that crap about that spear in world 5 because I don't level faith.

Spear, or just one of the longer weapons? Because the Mirdan Hammer is supposed to be ten different kinds of awesome, but apparently I only ever see Faith upgrades for it. Um...Halberd is a cool weapon....Winged Spear is pretty much all purpose. Y'know, if you want a polearm, I'd go with the War Scythe upgraded as a Moon weapon if you invest in magic heavily.

As for spears themselves, I'd go with the Winged Spear or the Scraping Spear if you feel like being a [censored] and breaking people's gear.

The Winged Spear is really the only option if you want the spear move-set aside from Istarelle (and it's not even that great). The Scraping Spear is only used to degrade equipment and grief. And pole arms have an entirely different move-set.

Yeah thanks, I do have a winged spear, so I might upgrade that, and I for pole arms I just found the war scythe so maybe I'll play with that. Btw, what's your Soul levels? I'm 180ish and would love to play with some of you guys some time, assuming you're in North America.

War Scythe's definitely the best polearm, and it's plenty stylish too.

I got a mage who's at around 121, a Dexterity-based dual-katana-wielder at around 76, and a Guts character at around 100.

I've got my very first character still. He's at SL200. And my only other character is at SL 120 for PvP.

Send me a message sometime. Your 180 is in range of my 200.

My Archmage/Eldricht Knight is at SL 125 or so. I should grind more.

Nail on the head. Most uniques seem pretty good for you first playthorugh. As you start your NG and NG+ and your stats get higher, you'll see normal weapons w/ a custom upgrade path start to out perform the majority of unique weapons.


A dragon upgrade weapon is always great for a first time through. You get to increase DAM via the weapon upgrade, not your stats. So this enables you to pump VIT and END while increasing your DAM output through dragonstones. And dragon stones are fairly easy to get.

Honestly, unless you plan on PVPing your build does not have to be very strict.

F.Y.I. the http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/ is up.

I just gave an epic fan-girlish squee. I mean, seriously.

On Demon's Souls: I know how a lot of people can sometimes think World 5 is the hardest...but I disagree. For me, World 3 always kicks my ass.

What gets you? The bottomless pits? Those damn Mind Flayers (especially their Black Phantom variants)? Or the [censored] Maneaters? Those guys are jerks.

It's the damned Black Phantom Mindflayer in 3-2. The one on the stairs. Normally, I just shoot spells at him, and block his spells with my shield. But he's just been so much harder this play-through. I got through once, then accidentally fell off something and died because I forgot the worm dudes are at the top of the stairs.

got to be my favourite level of any game ever, so creepy, the architecture of the asylum, so bleak, the sounds and the colour of the sky, they really achieved something unique and oppressive with this design.
it didn't give me much trouble game-wise (world 5 was the ass-kicker for me), mainly because i really took my time with it, savouring the atmos.

So, I'm reading the 'http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/About+Dark+Souls' of this Dark Souls wiki and there are a few things that caught my attention. For instance: "In Japan, the title is a Playstation 3 exclusive and will be published by From Software; internationally, Namco Bandai Games will be the publisher, and will make the title available to both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360." This is good. Call me shallow or whatever, but I like exclusive titles. I think games generally turn out better when they're focused on and developed for one specific platform. Seeing that FROM is doing just that, and that it's only Namco that wants to port it to the 360 is good. I just hope that Namco doesn't touch the PS3 version. Seriously, they probably won't even have to translate it seeing as how FROM already did that with the Asian versions of Demon's Souls (they'll probably do it again). Don't touch my PS3 version, Namco! I don't trust you!

Another thing I noticed: "The weapon upgrade system will be easier to understand." This could be good or this could be bad. Personally, I like Demon's Souls' upgrade system. It's not really that hard to grasp, yet it's deep enough to actually encourage building characters wisely and present some variety. Now, it seems like FROM could either keep what was good about the system and simply make it less complicated (but not less complex), or just -- as much as I don't particularly like the phrase -- dumb it down. Hopefully it'll be the former.


Edit: back to Demon's Souls: as far as the worlds go, Latria is my favorite. It's so dark, so oppressive. To sum it up in words is to say such words as torment, hopelessness, madness. It does so much in regards to atmosphere. It brings me back to FROM's excellent atmospheric work in their King's Field series (which I still want a true successor to!).