RPG Genre Discussion Thread

[lestatdark]

ROBOTECHHEAVEN said:
i am gonna restart working on : demon souls . sometime this month and i was wondering what would anyone suggest as a character to play the game through. any help with what character too use and what weapons for that character which deal the beat damage would be nice too. thanks again for the advice and help. :)

I would suggest you a Thief or a Hunter, based on you having previous experience with Demon's Souls. Both are very versatile when it comes to starting game builds, but I'm going to go with my Thief mixed build.

You'll want to go for Sharp or Fatal weapons. A Sharp Uchigatana +5 has an S rating scaling for Dexterity plus the 300 to bleeding output. On PVE it looses it's damage output value on NG+ due to much higher enemy resistances against status, but we'll get to that soon. For Dex builds your main weapon will always be a Sticky Compound Longbow +5 (S to Dexterity, 300+ damage with the bow alone), so your main objective is to hit 30 Dex ASAP, but never go above it (the gains for Dex decreases drastically after 30 Dex and stop being worthwhile at 50). 

I suggest a flow like this for the first 30/40 levels gained: 5 Dex - 3 Str - 1 Vit - 1 End

After hitting 30 Dex, you'll want to build up your Str, so you can start preparing for NG+ (my character was using both the Dragon Bone Smasher +5 and the Sticky Compound Longbow +5) so that's why in the end it became a mixed build. If you don't want to use the DBS due to it's extremely high weight and very slow attack speed, you could go for a Crushing Crescent Axe +5, which has a S scalability with STR and has a average-to-fast attack speed and damage output, or you could just forge yourself the Northern Regalia and call it a day.

You'll want to adapt the points gain to something like this: 3 Str - 4 Vit - 3 End or take some points out of Vit and End for Int and Mag if you want to cast some protective spells like Warding (which needs 2 Slots) or Water Veil (works wonders against the Flamelurker and only needs one slot).

As for overall armour and protections, you'll want to get the Purple Flame Shield and forge it to +10 ASAP (and this one's important, for every melee or mixed melee/ranged build). Not only the PFS gives you 100% reduction against Fire and Normal damage, at +10, it has an 83% Guard Break reduction, which is only surpassed by the Tower Shield (which is unwieldy to everyone but the 99 END and STR tank builds). The PFS weighs 8.0 lbs and needs 22 STR to be wielded properly, that's why my build also focuses on early Str build. 
The only problem with the PFS is the low Magic Damage reduction %, but for that, you'll want to gain the Dark Silver Shield which is dropped by Garl Vinland on 5-3. It has 100% Magic and Normal Damage reduction, but it has a pretty sub-standard Guard Break reduction (50% at start, 65% at +5). It also has a pretty good bonus effect, which is increasing MagDef and a pretty bad penalty, decreasing your magic damage output (at start it gives 10% to MagDef and -30% to Magic Damage, at +5 it's 30% to MagDef and -87% to Magic Damage).

You'll want to wear armour sets that keep your below the 50% encumberance limit (below 50% of your total equip weight) to avoid losing mobility and dodging capacities. It will be preferable to be at <25% on NG+, which is feasible if you start pumping 3 End points for each 10 levels after level 40/50. My favourite set for Female characters is the Ragged set which is then substituted for the Gloom Set on NG+ (both sets have the highest overall resistances) and for males I would suggest to keep the Inital Black Leather set (if you start as a Thief) and then switch for the Gloom Set on NG+.
Of course, if you want to mix and match pieces it's fine too, but if you do so, try to keep a balanced approach for resistances (especially poison and disease, which if they're low, will give tons of headaches on World 5).

If you need any more advice, i'll be glad to help