Overview
- Trophy Breakdown: 1 / 5 / 5 / 27
- Estimated Trophy Difficulty: 8/10
- Offline: 38
- Online: 0
- Approximate Time: 100+ Hours
- Minimum Playthroughs: 1-3
- Glitched Trophies: None
- Cheats: N/A
Introduction
Demon’s Souls is a difficult, time-consuming game with a steep learning curve. One of the major hurdles for new players is understanding the game’s World Tendency and Character Tendency concepts. I recommend consulting my Demon’s Souls Tendency FAQ for a detailed explanation of these concepts, and how they affect gameplay.
The trophies themselves are relatively straightforward. 19 of the game's 38 trophies are unlocked by killing the game's bosses and sub-bosses. The remainder is, on one level or another, dedicated entirely to the collection and, in most cases, usage of various items. Because you need duplicates of many of these items, most of which appear only once per playthrough, at least 3 playthroughs are required (unless you are using glitches; see below). I recommend consulting my Demon's Souls Collection Guide, which provides you with the information required to unlock these collection-related trophies.
Getting Started
When creating a character, choosing the Royalty class is recommended, as they start with the Soul Arrow spell and the Fragrant Ring, which allows you to regenerate MP. Note that all character classes eventually gain access to these, but starting with them will make the game’s earlier levels much easier to manage.
Upon finalizing your character, you’ll face the Vanguard boss in a tutorial level. This first encounter will, more than likely, not end in your favor, but that’s alright. When the dust clears, you’ll be transported to The Nexus.
You will have to complete Boletarian Palace (1-1), the game’s first proper level, before you’re allowed to do anything else. This level's end boss, Phalanx, will drop the Lead Demon's Soul when killed. Demon's Souls are items dropped by the game's end bosses and sub-bosses and are used to forge unique weapons, learn spells and learn miracles.
Upon your return to the Nexus, the Maiden in Black will instruct you to talk with The Monumental, whom you’ll find on the second floor of the Nexus. As you’re facing the giant statue, turn left. There is a lit candle on the floor in front of her. After your conversation, you can spend any Souls (the game’s currency) you obtain to increase your Soul Level by visiting the Maiden in Black.
Character Development
When increasing your Soul Level, I recommend focusing on Vitality (increases Max HP and Item Burden) and Dexterity (increases the power of your bow). Which direction you decide to develop your character in will determine which other skills you should devote your attention to… spell users will want to focus on Intelligence and Magic, whereas melee characters will be more interested in increasing their Strength.
Check out Phorus's Character Builds thread for more insight into Demon's Souls character creation.
Walkthrough
First Playthrough:
You’ll want to aim for the bulk of your trophies in your first playthrough, as New Game+ is substantially harder and by the time you've fulfilled the requirements for these trophies, you will be of a sufficiently high enough level to handle it. By the end of this playthrough, you should have all of the game’s bronze and silver trophies, and at least one gold trophy.
Which weapon you choose to make your primary weapon depends on your character build and personal preference. I recommend consulting Phorus's Demon's Souls Equipment Paradise thread for a much more thorough exploration of this topic. Regardless, I highly recommend at least hanging on to a Compound Long Bow, and upgrading it to a Sticky Compound Long Bow +5 with Spiderstones. The Sticky Compound Long Bow +5 is the most powerful bow in the game, and an indispensable tool to have in your arsenal, particularly for the game's boss battles.
As you collect Demon's Souls, use them according to what will be of the greatest benefit to you. You will be completing multiple playthroughs regardless, and may as well be as prepared for them as you can possibly be. Note that you should avoid consuming Demon's Souls unless you've already exhausted all of their trophy-related uses.
First Playthrough Itinerary:
- Kill every boss and sub-boss in every World up to, and including, Tower Knight (1-2), Flamelurker (2-2), Maneater (3-2), Old Hero (4-2) and Dirty Colossus (5-2).
- Push all World Tendencies to Pure Black by dying in Body Form seven times in each World, obtaining all rings and unique weapons exclusive to Pure Black World Tendency in each.
- Farm weapon upgrade stones, using them to obtain all “Best Weapon by…” trophies.
- Using the method outlined in the Demon’s Souls Tendency FAQ, push all World Tendencies to Pure White. False King should be the only boss remaining. Obtain all rings and unique weapons exclusive to Pure White World Tendency in each. Note that fulfilling the requirements for pushing World Tendencies from Pure Black to Pure White has probably given you Pure White Character Tendency. Talk to the Monumental to receive the Friend’s Ring.
- Hunt down any rings that you haven’t found yet, as well as any unique weapons found within the game's levels.
- Push your Character Tendency to Pure Black by killing 5 innocent NPCs, such as the vendors found in the 5 Worlds (Dregling, Filthy Man, Once Royal Mistress, Graverobber Blige and Filthy Woman). Next, rescue Yurt from a cage surrounded by Augites of Guidance in Tower of Latria 3-2, then kill him. This should trigger the appearance of Mephistopheles on the 2nd floor of the Nexus. Fulfill her side quests to receive the Foe’s Ring.
- Complete 1-4, killing False King.
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When you’re ready to proceed to the finale, talk to the Maiden In Black. After confronting the Old One, leave the area without harming the Maiden In Black to receive the Maiden In Black Demon’s Soul, and the “World Uniter’s Trophy” trophy.
Your items (as well as Character and World Tendencies) carry over to New Game + with the same character.
New Game +:
Kill the level bosses and use their Demon’s Souls to forge unique weapons, learn spells and learn miracles to unlock the remaining gold trophies.
Limiting Playthroughs With Exploits / Glitches:
You can obtain the in a single playthrough by using a glitch that allows certain items, including Demon's Souls and upgrade stones, to be "duped" in single player mode. Those wishing to take this route are advised to consult the "Duping" section of my Demon's Souls Collection Guide to learn more about this process.
General Tips
- Always play in Soul Form. While in Soul Form, your character does more damage and is more difficult for enemies to detect. Additionally, your world cannot be invaded by Black Phantoms. Perhaps most significantly, death while in Soul Form has no effect on World Tendency. The Max HP reduction can be offset by wearing the Cling Ring and/or increasing your Vitality stat. Whenever your character revives (by killing a boss or by helping an online player defeat a boss as a Blue Phantom), commit suicide in The Nexus, where dying has no effect on World Tendency.
- If you're having trouble completing the levels, your Soul Level is probably too low. Wearing the Ring of Avarice and/or Silver Bracelets (female characters only), casting the Soul Thirst spell and defeating enemies with the Soulsucker spell are great ways to increase your Soul farming yields.
- Play offline. There have been reports of World Tendency being reset to Neutral by playing online.
Supplemental Materials
- Demon's Souls Tendency FAQ includes detailed explanations of the concepts of Character and World Tendency, Primeval Demon locations, unique Tendency events etc.
- Demon's Souls Collection Guide includes information on using Demon's Souls; rescuing Sage Freke, Yuria the Witch and Saint Urbain; the locations of rings, unique weapons, upgrade stones and Crystal Lizards etc.
[PST Would Like To Thank jqtaxpayer for this Roadmap]