From Software are famous for their Souls series, which are widely regarded as some of the most difficult games in the industry. While this topic is up for debate, it is no doubt that the games are not meant for the more casual players. This usually stems from the games requiring players to often read between the lines and figure a lot of things out for themselves with little to no guidance from the game aside from scraps of dialogue, a handful of cutscenes, or item descriptions.
One such mechanic is Tendency, which is exclusive to Demon's Souls - both the original as well as the remake.
To Put It Simply
Tendency influences the difficulty of the game. There are two types of tendencies - World Tendency and Character Tendency. Character tendency is affected by your actions, a sort of gauge for your "karma". It is independent of world tendency, which affects the events that occur in the world. Also, the words corresponding to each archstone have their own tendencies independent of each other. Tendency also carries over to NG+.
Tendency ranges from Black to White, as depicted in the image above by the icon underneath the Tower of Latria.
- Killing bosses, named black phantoms, the red and blue dragons, or a primal demon moves your tendency towards white, and
- Killing friendly NPCs, old King Doran, dying outside the Nexus in body form, or invading as a Black Phantom moves your tendency towards black.
Each side of the scale has an extreme version, called the Pure White and Pure Black states.
Keep in mind, the global server settings might automatically shift your tendency towards their fixed settings so if you need either pure tendency, it is recommended you play offline.
If you're in body form and wish to not risk shifting tendency towards black, it is recommended that you head over to the nexus and jump off the stairs in order to die and respawn in your soul form. Tendency changes do NOT take effect until you return to the Nexus.
Now, what does Tendency actually do in Demon's Souls?
White tendency makes enemies easier to kill (lower HP and defense), but in return, they drop fewer souls and have poor drop rates. The black tendency has the exact opposite effects of that. Additionally, each tendency has its own unique events.
Tendency also affects the HP in soul form of the character. The changes shown are as follows:
|
Tendency |
Pure Black World Tendency |
Black World Tendency |
Neutral World Tendency |
White World Tendency |
Pure White World Tendency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure Black | 40.5% | 40.5% | 45% | 45% | 45% |
| Black | 42.75% | 42.75% | 47.5% | 47.5% | 47.5% |
| Neutral | 45% | 47.5% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| White | 45% | 47.5% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Pure White | 45% | 47.5% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
There are also specific in-game events that occur depending on your tendency.
White tendency events mainly reward the player with items, crystal lizards, special unlocked paths and encounters with Black Phantom NPCs. Additionally, the blue and red dragons will not be in their nest, allowing you to loot freely.
Pure black tendency events mostly involve encounters with black phantoms and primeval demons that reward the player with strong weapons and colorless demon's souls.
That's all you need to know about Tendency in Demon's Souls! Feel free to check out our other guides on our website!
