Demon's Souls (questions, please no spoilers)

[Dgc1808]

bugrimmar said:

1.) How does the online thing work? I don't understand it at all.. I watched some video reviews, and it seems I share a world with all the other players at the same time, and we can kill each other at will? Can I turn this feature off?

2.) People keep talking about how hard this game is. Is it really that hard or are some players just pansies?

3.) Am I dead in this game and trying to get my body back? I saw in the video reviews too that you're supposed to be more powerful if you're "alive".. I don't understand. Help please?

1) Once you visit the first archstone in the Nexus [pretty much where you TRULY begin the game] you will be in Soul form. You have only half your full health and I think your defense and attack are lower [that's how it always feels for me] but I'm not sure. In soul form after you've killed the first Boss, you can use a blue stone to leave your Soul Sign in a certain area. If another player around your level [and in body form] chooses to touch your soul sign they summon you to their world which will be an area in which they HAVE NOT killed a boss yet. That's what you're there for. To help them through the level and kill he boss.

You obtain your Body back by:
Killing a boss in your world.
Helping to kill a boss in someone elses world.
Invading someone else's world and killing them [you also get any souls they've collected. Double win! If you lose, there's no penalty.] 
Using an item called Stone of Ephy...errr It's green and you'll know it when you see it...

When you're in Body form and in an area where you haven't killed a boss yet, you can summon people from any soul sign that you see. They'll be blue and when you get close you should see a some blue spirit on them. You can summon up to 3 of these guys to help you out. However, when you're in body form you can also be invaded by another player who's in soul form. All of the people who you summon or invade you are around you level so you're not really at an overwhelming disadvantage. 

Two other parts of online are the hint system where players can leave hints and clues for each other [very helpful]. You could also recommend messages or leave your own hints. When a message is recommended, the person he placed that message gets a free heal. Also the Bloodstains. THese basically show the last 10 seconds of another players death. They're basically to show you what not to do but they've never really helped me out...

If you don't want to work with this system, simply sign out of PSN b4 you launch the game. When you start it up and you're prompted to sign in, just decline and you can play offline. After thinking about it I'd recommend playing online for your first play through. That hint system and those soul signs can be pretty help full.

2) Yes, it is hard. You die very easily, especially in soul form. When you do, you're taken all the way back to the begining of the level you were on and you lose all of your souls and a bloodstain. You can get them back if you go to the point were you died and touched your blood stain but if you were in BODY form, you don't get your body back. Also, if you die again after you've already left one bloodstain, those souls are gone and a new bloodstain appears. Your souls are you money AND exp you need to cash in for stats so losing a ton will leave you pretty pissed. When you die, all monsters you've killed respawn and slightly stronger btw. Basically the game forces you to play better and think b4 acting. 

3) I guess I explained this in number one.