Welcome to the first part in my spoiler-free introductory guide to the game Demons Souls, which is coming out in Europe and Australia next month released by Namco Bandai. The first part of this will involve looking at the character design and class system in order to help you make a character that suits your playing style.
In the game, the characters levelling system is known as Soul Level which is increased by one every time you trade in souls with the Maiden in Black to increase one of your characters skills. As your soul level increases, the number of souls required to increase your skills rises as well, ranging from around a 500 souls per level at Soul Level 1 to around 10,000 souls at level 30. This may seem like a small increase however with the famous ease of dying and low yield of souls, especially on the first round of gameplay, it doesnt allow you to increase your soul level at a great rate.
In the game, there are 8 types of skills, which increase a number of character parameters plus are required to be increased to a certain level to wield most of the weapons ingame, making it vital to invest your souls into the right skills for your gameplay strategy. The skills are as follows:
VITALITY
Increased HP
Increased Carry Weight
INTELLIGENCE
Increased MP
Increased Magic Slots
ENDURANCE
Increased Stamina
Increased Carry Weight
Increased resistance to select magic and status effects
STRENGTH
Increased Damage
Required for Weapons and Shields
DEXTERITY
Increased Damage
Decreased Fall Damage
Required for Weapons and Shields
MAGIC
Increased Magic Power
Required for Weapons and Shields
FAITH
Increased Miracle Power
Increased Miracle Slots
Increased Magic Resistance
Required for Weapons and Shields
LUCK
Increased Item Drops
Increased resistance to select magic and status effects
As you can see, there are many variables that you must take into account when playing this game to make sure you do not mess up your character to the point where it is increasingly difficult to beat even a few normal mobs. The game has a class system, where you can choose a character class in which the game will then allocate a few stat points into the classes respective skills and give you weaponary suited to that class. There are a total of ten classes overall, however regardless of what class you pick, you can still modify the stats to suit a more unique playing style, so you can become a magic swordsman if you can accurately put skills into the right areas regardless of class picked.
Knight
Overall, the most balanced class. Starts off with the most balanced stats overall with nothing being under ten. Starts off with a sword and shield and moderately decent armor and a soul level of 4. I have never actually played with this character class before, however I would say that this is the best class for beginners.
Priest
Miracle magic is pretty expensive, however is extremely helpful at the start of the game when you can easily fall to enemies with a few hits, therefore having healing magic is definately something to consider. Low dexterity and magic might not appeal to those who want to have an all around magic build, however they can heal really well and the weapon and shield combo you are given at the start actually works quite well against the mobs at the beginning of the game. However starts at a soul level of 6, meaning that skill upgrades start off slightly higher.
Thief
A character with high agility however does not have the best attack at the start of the game and with the low strength skill level, they may have some difficulty using shields you pick up in the first few levels. Also, I personally don’t like using daggers ingame due to their very short range, so you will have to get up close to hit an enemy. That being said, their luck is really high, so items will drop at a much greater rate.
Magician
Can use both fire and water veil spells at the beginning of the game, making them effective for several levels within the game, but as with the thief, a low Strength rating means they cannot use all the swords and shields found at the beginning of the game. If you are after a magic-based gameplay, then it is a great class to use.
Temple Knight
Potentially even a better choice than a Knight, as whilst they are not as strong as the Knight class, they can use healing magic, althrough not at the same effectiveness as the priest. Not so great at bosses where you would rather just eat healing items, but still in the normal gameplay, it is a good class to consider.
Soldier
A bit slower than other classes with heavier, but stronger armor as well as carrying both a spear and sword to start off with, allowing them to function in any area. Both magic and faith are relatively low however making this a better pure-melee class.
Wanderer
Complex class with low HP and defense however they do have a good dexterity skill, making them appropriate for a bow/sword combo. I would more say that this is the class for people who want the ultimate challenge during their gameplay, if you can get past the first level that is.
Barbarian
Highest defense and strength overall, however have the small issue of start off with just a club and crappy shield and having no armor, meaning that despite these significant skill levels, you may not get up to the stage where you can get some decent stuff. This is ideal for a pure-fighting build however if you have no interest in magic, which adds to the overall complexity of the game.
Hunter
I personally only used the ranged battle system once during my entire playthrough and it is quite an interesting system, however depending on the time you have to aim your weapon, is either a great thing or a bad thing overall. Overall a decent character class and starts off with both a bow/arrow combination as well as an axe, so you are well adapted for any melee situation.
Royal
Saving my personal favourite class for now, it comes with a soul level of 1, making it the worst starting off class in regards to stats, however allows you a much greater diversity of choosing what class you want to make. Comes with Soul Arrow as well, which I think is the best magic skill and the beginning of the game, however melee battles at the start will be hard due to low strength, endurance and vitality.
Don’t forget that you can choose where you want to allocate your skills during the game, and modifying the classes can lead to some effective character builds which are better than following your normal class.
Look forward to the second part of the guide, which shall be more visually appealing with more images!
Resources Used
Demons Souls Wiki – http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/
Practically the best website for any Demons Souls gamer, however I would recommend avoiding their walkthroughs until you have finished the game at least once to get the full game experience.
English + Chinese Version Game Manual
All in Chinese except for a small english insertion however does contain some decent information on the class stats. I highly doubt this will differ from the Namco version of the game.
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