PixlBit

Developer: From Software/SCE Japan Studio
Publisher: SCE/Atlus USA/Namco Bandai
Director: Hidetaka Miyazaki
Platform: PS3
Release Date: Oct. 2009
Genre: Action role-playing

What is the Pixlbit Game Club?
A new idea we had among the blogging community about choosing the same game to play each month and then blogging or commenting about it once a week, Mondays for now.

Who is running the club?
At the moment that responsibility lies with the Community Managaer @Chris Yarger. 

How do I join the club?
You don't need to join. To participate, you just need to play as much or as little of the game as you want and join the discussion on Mondays.  Heck, you don't even need to play the game if you don't want to, but it would be more fun! All opinions are welcome! Discussion topics will be posted on Mondays.

Questions or Suggestions about The Game Club? 
PM @Chris Yarger or @asrealasitgets

PSN
 
asrealasitgets (PSN ID) sharky_321 "Feel free to friend me!" 

Community Manager Chris (PSN ID) MrYarger
 

KnightDriver (PSN ID) AIwithWarpDrive

First week was cool! I learned a lot about the game, making me less discouraged than I was initially thanks to the club. There are ways to win! I can't wait to get back in there next week. I'll be sure to post on the day this time. I'll probably play 5 to 8 PM EST like I did last Monday. My PSN is AIwithWarpDrive (not sure if the four humped camel-case is necessary or not, but probably).

Glad our advice helped! The revisit to this game has been fun!

Thus far all I've done is gone back to get the Thief Ring.  I've been so elated with being able to play my PSP again and so charged up with the goodness that is Persona 4 that I've not had too much time during my spare time to dedicate to Demon's Souls.

However, with the Thief Ring firmly in my grasp, I feel more confident about getting close to those fucking Mindflayers in 3-1.  Lord Rydell's screams come to mind whenever I think about the Tower Of Latria.

Well that was the point. You don't have to race through it all in one week. You can just play a bit at time. I've been reading up on the lore as well. 

Hell yea for Souls!!!

For anyone struggling, hit me up on PSN at  MrYarger

Also, let's lay a whooping on this game!
Bow-Build ftw!!

Yeah yeah.  I was just throwing an update up so as to join in the thread.  =P

What is the proper way to do a magic build? I'm putting points into INTELLIGENCE and MAGIC. Should I put some into FAITH and will I regret it later if I don't put points into STRENGTH, DEX or VIT. 

Also, what is the proper way to do a bow-only build? I want to try it too. Which class do you start with. We should all do a bow only run and have a bow fest. Maybe I'll do Derryl from Walking Dead or Black Canary or Red Arrow from Arrow? 
 

I never really used faith in Demon's Souls. It could be cool, but I wasn't huge on it in that game. 

The biggest things to remember for Bow-only Builds are to have High Dex and High Stamina.
You need to be able to dodge and run a lot, so stamina is actually more important than health. Basically that's it though.

I also utilize a lot of Poisons/Bleed effects as well.

Are the best Bows DEX only? I thought you needed STR for the best bows in the game? Also, what are the rules for bow-only? Can you use daggers or defensive/healing magic? I started with a Hunter, but already ran out of arrows, so I have to farm to buy more arrows, or run around with the axe? Kind of annoying.

I try to stay as flexible as possible in terms of equipment and the builds.
For my Katniss Bow-Only Build, I used Daggers since she used them in the movies to an extent.

For my Oliver Queen Bow-only Build, I'm using dual clubs in place of the Tonfas he practices with. I only use them whenever I'm completely out of arrows though, so it's a last ditch effort kind of deal. In any other circumstance, I typically stock around 300-500 arrows at a times, and I try to restock before I get below 100 so I'm always packing some heat. I have ran out though twice, so yeah, it happens..

Basically when I 'cosplay' a character, I try to keep my weapons and armor as close to the original model as possible.
If I remember tonight/tomorrow, I'll try to grab you a picture of my Oliver Queen build!

And as far as Strength/Dexterity goes in terms of Bow-Building; you aren't thinking of the Great Bows as being the 'best' are you? While they are indeed powerful, they're more for sniping and they're damn-near impossible to dodge-shoot-dodge with. I typically stay with the small and more compact bows (Composite bows). They typically have a higher dexterity scaling, so they damage is more potent via dex-stats. However; once I hit the nerf point of stats (typically 40), then I start raising strength a bit for the extra damage.

I did a magician build. I found the crossbow too. Thing is, you run out of mana really quickly, so I ended up doing a lot of sword fighing anyway. I practiced my dodges since the magician is really quick. I also threw a lot of fire bombs. I did better than with the Knight, but I was still getting killed a bunch. I couldn't find that ring. I know it's near the beginning of the Boletarian Palace, but I couldn't find it. 

I thought cutting those chains opened the barred door down below it but it didn't. It just dropped a pair of dead guys with some beaten up equipment. Maybe there was another door?

Magic build is definitely the easy mode. If you started off with the 'Royal' class at the beginning, you would have started off with the 'Fragrance Ring' which restores a bit of MP at a time. If not, you will run out of 'Spice' which restores Mana, and will most likely have to farm and buy some from the Nexus. Anyhow, you don't really need magic or a specific build to get through the first area or boss, as there is a cheap trick to the boss. So don't worry.

As for the 'Cling Ring' I think that's what it's called, which gives you extra HP-- When you start off in World 1-1, you need to go forward to the big ass gate that's locked and take a left-- it's the only way to go really. You need to work your way up to the top of the castle, until you meet the first 'blue face' knight blocking the fog door. If you ignore the fog wall and pass the blue knight you should be able to work your way down stairs to the bottom of a tower. At the very bottom, there is a lever to open the nearest door (which opens a short-cut back to the top) and there will be a dead soldier with a glowing light, the 'Cling Ring'.  

The Cling Ring is at the beginning of the game, but you can't access it until the end of 1-1 unfortunately.

To give you the 'exacti location, start the level (1-1), go straight towards the castle and look to the right behind the barred gate. The item you see behind that gate is the Cling Ring, you just need to get through the whole level before you can safely grab it and call it your own.

@asrealasitgets: I was working that area of the Cling Ring. I guess I didn't go far enough to find it. Will do that for sure next time and probably use the Royal for his Mana regen. Thanks.

@Chris Yarger: Thanks for the info. The Cling Ring shall be MINE!

Give 'er hell bud!

Convenient timing. I was farming for Pure Bladestone the week before this club started.  Thinking of starting a new character because I have the suspicion that rare stones drop with more frequency on New Game than NG+, and I'm on NG++.  It's the only thing standing between me and the platinum trophy for this game.

Oh man...
The Bladestone was my last trophy when I nabbed my platinum.

What I did was going to the Shrine of Storms, last Archstone, and back track until I found a Black Phantom katana weilding skeleton on the edge of a cliff. You need to have Pure Black World Tendancy for him to appear, and he's tough as balls... But he dropped it for me after 4-5 runs.

Hope this helps!

I creep up on him and use Soulsuck. I always have bad luck when it comes to rare drops in games.  Never got any of the good shit in Diablo 2.

You can always look in to pumping a few points in to your Luck stat. There's also a sword that increases Item Discovery as well I believe. Either way, good luck! That was by far the worst farm I had to do in Demon's Souls

I'm back in....

finished up 3-1 tonight, beat Fool's Idol like it wasn't shit.  I used a +4 winged spear.  I actually ended up beating the Fool's Idol 2x, as I didn't know I had to fulfill a small obligation up at the top prior to the fight.  I freed Freke and purchased Enchanted Weapon and Soul Ray...Soul Ray is a fucking BEAST of a spell, takes out the Gargoyles floating in 3-2 in 2 shots with 20 points in Magic.

The Thief Ring makes the game much, much more bearable.  I advanced down to the bottom of 3-2 and was making decent progress before getting killed by a gargoyle and then starting back at the 3-2 archstone.  I decided I'd had enough for 1 night, will probably throw another 2 hours into it tomorrow.

I thought I was done with DeS but that shit sucks you right back in with making very little progress.  Weird.

Nice! Party on Darth!

Party on, Wayne! I mean, erm, Chris! lol

Ah, I was hoping you would get my reference!