I was at a local store when I first saw a copy of Demon's Souls at the time I had heard nothing but good things from the game but as well as learned it was supposedly very difficult I also was contemplating on if this “From Software” game will be worth my time. I decided to take a go at it despite my fear of the difficulty I was surprised to find the enjoyment I had with the game.
The game first starts off with a brief history lesson on how the Demon's came into control and creating your character. The character creation has you choose a name, gender, edit the facial features, and a class which only technically affects your starting statistics in the sense that a Knight can be as proficient in Magic as a Magician if you choose to upgrade him that way. Later in the game after regaining your soul you’ll finally be able to raise your soul level which is basically your level. You level up using souls you have collected through your adventure and the amount of souls required to level up increases for every level making you think more carefully where you place your stats. The stats are all very important Faith so that you can remember more miracles, Will for magic, Endurance increases your Stamina and Equip level that if you go over your equip level your character won’t be able to roll, Strength for the attack power and how much load you can carry and so on and so forth.
After creating your character you are placed in a tutorial level where you'll get a hang on the game's mechanics. This game has been described as "very difficult" and there's a very good reason for that, the main reason is that you will die a lot especially if you're just starting out but that's what makes Demon's Souls so special Death is so essential in the gameplay that it forces you to adapt to the enemies patterns, it forces you to learn where an enemy may attack you when you're not looking and makes you understand the pattern of their attacks through trial and error. Death is such a strong part in the game that when faced with death in other games I end up feeling frustrated but with Demon's Souls the frustration I usually get from this instances are far less than if it were any other game. The way death is placed in the game makes you feel like you're just another warrior that seeks fame for saving the land, you're not some chosen one that would save the land without suffering you're just a warrior who is fighting the Demons, a warrior that can die at the hands of any of the enemies encountered be it a Boss or the first enemy you face. When you die you’ll be placed in your soul form which only has half the health when you’re in your body form, you can only be revived back to your body form by either killing a boss demon, invading another players world as an ally and help defeat a boss demon in their world, or invading as a black phantom and killing the player whose world you invaded you’ll also lose all your souls that you’ve collected and haven’t spent when you die but you can still regain them by touching your bloodstain located near or exactly where you died.
Another reason some find it difficult is the pause menu without the pause, again this forces you to adapt to the situation that you can foresee and the ones you have a feeling off, you are not given the luxury of healing yourself by pausing and using the menu to heal yourself and be free from enemy attacks. You have to learn to prepare in time when to heal, or learn where it's safe to take a break from fighting. This game is for the patient minds those who accept that this isn't a hack-n-slash game and must be treated with preparation and patience and if you play it with those two in mind it will feel much easier and all the talk of it being extremely difficult will seem nothing more than an exaggeration. This game is extremely fun for the hardcore gamer who’ll want a challenge but for the gamer that can get easily frustrated this may seem like a double edged sword where on one hand you could get frustrated with dying every time and on the other you could enjoy the satisfaction of getting through the hard parts and learning from your mistakes and make you better.
The game is an RPG and you may not have branching storyline's or a script of hundreds of pages it doesn't even have a strong plot it does however do well with the rest of the elements found in RPG's from collectible items like unique weapons and rings to learning magic and miracles. All of which really feel they are collectibles due to the fact that some can be gained through certain areas only accessible when a certain World Tendency is achieved which also helps up or lower the difficulty of the enemies. Other RPG elements like learning magic and miracles can be bought with the in-games universal currency (souls) and unique spells can be bought from the more special souls (Boss demon's souls). The game has a lot of depth especially if you are one to choose to go and play a New Game+ to gather all items otherwise inaccessible due to different world tendency or after using one of the Demon’s Souls to learn a new magic that would prevent you from learning another (example: The Dragon God’s Soul can be used to learn the Rage of the Gods miracle or the Fireball spell)
The graphics aren't amazing but it's not bad either with the vibe you get from all the levels it gives off a more immersed feel of being in a "dead" land, the levels are not all dark which is a good thing so as to give a feel of variety, from the cloudy skies and death filled caves of the Shrine of Storms, to the depressing death filled prison found in the Tower of Latria and the variety doesn’t stop there each sector of each level also has its own sense of being unique even if the general look is the same, an example would be the Tower of Latria’s prisons to the skyway and swamps. However certain areas look like they could be worked on a lot more with some texture’s looking like they were just placed there. The design on the enemies looks good with a few exceptions everything from the Tower Knight to the intimidating looking Dragon God and Storm King to the minor enemies like the Fat Ministers, however not all the bosses look as interesting as the aforementioned three some rather felt uninspired like the Leechmonger but the overall quality of the design was beautiful.
The sound usually is just the environment of the level you are currently in which shifts to a different style only when a boss fight is happening and although most of the time it will be the similar intense sound you’ll hear for each boss some boss have a more soothing dark feel like when fighting the Maiden Astraea the voice acting (English) is surprisingly good which kind of gets me disappointed that this game has little use for them but overall the sound can be sometimes okay sometimes perfect.
The online aspect is quite unique in its own way you can help other players around the world by leaving messages and others can help you by leaving messages of their own some may write false messages but eventually these false messages would just disappear as each message can be rated which would help filter the real messages from those that others would use just to get you killed. The other aspect are the bloodstains that other players leave which shows you another player and how he died this can help you learn of possible traps ahead if you see him die with no enemies in sight or if he fell victim to a false message asking him to take a step out or maybe he just died accidentally. There is also another feature where you can either invade another player’s world as an ally or as an enemy. With the use of the blue eye stone while in spirit form you can invade and assist another player in his path and help him defeat a boss to regain your soul and note you can only summon other blue phantoms when you’re in your body form. The other way is by using the black eye stone which gives you the objective of killing the player in the world you invaded where you can either stalk them or just show yourself and start fighting and when the enemy is killed you’ll regain your body.
Overall this is an enjoyable game that has a good feel to it from the death filled air to the intimidating opponents. It executes many RPG’s elements greatly and has a lot of replay value. Demon’s Souls is a game that is only hard if you let it be that way.
You might not be able to believe this, but Dark Souls is a pretty tricky game on the PlayStation 3.
Dark Souls and its antecedent, Demon's Souls, changed the gaming industry, but some games came away with the wrong lesson.
I’m not at all saying the souls like games are bad. The fans speak to how good the games are, but those games just bore me to tears. It’s just combat combat combat. I know the worlds are interesting and there is lore if you search for it, but there just aren’t enough lulls in all the fighting to enjoy any of the art and lore. Wish there were more story elements.
Are you saying people can't have a preference towards story-driven games?
My wife is, frankly, not very coordinated, and that's a big reason she gravitates towards easier gameplay and more story.
And having many people (gamers) who have many different preferences and opinions is very good for the gaming industry.
You don't have to understand, but you certainly should be thankful and respectful, because diverse interests bring variety. That's a great thing to have for anyone who loves games.
I’ll try to explain. Not everyone wants to only do combat for 50 hours. Lack of combat doesn’t mean boring to some people. I never said I didn’t want there to be combat, but when there is a beautiful intricate open world with lore it would be nice to have the time to explore it and have some down time. In the souls games there is very little in the way of narrative, cutscenes, or exploration other than just finding the next boss. Too much of any one element can be boring. Sorry if that is too big of a concept for you.
"I never said I didn’t want there to be combat, but when there is a beautiful intricate open world with lore it would be nice to have the time to explore it and have some down time. In the souls games there is very little in the way of narrative, cutscenes, or exploration other than just finding the next boss."
These games are quite well known for their lore and narrative, it just isn't spoon fed to you. I really appreciate that the games aren't out to insult your intelligence and trusts you to read item descriptions, explore locations, meet NPCs, and put the pieces together. The macro level narrative is easy enough to understand, but it's when you want that granular understanding of the lore that you need to explore, talk to people, find items, play the DLC, etc etc. It often invites multiple playthroughs. It's one of the unique qualities about these games where you don't have to learn what happened/what's happening in detail, but it's a lot of fun. Reminds me of reading the diary entries in Resident Evil titles.
Yes, there's a ton of combat (who would've thought in a broken world of miserable vagabonds and corrupt abominations, am I right?) but they do a great job of varying it: you can play defensively, aggressively, evasively, from a distance (bows, spells, pyromancies), with various weapons, and any combinations thereof while incorporating secondary weapon effects like elements, toxicity/poison, bleeding effects. The combat isn't stagnant. If you find it boring, you might not be exploring your possibilities very well.
"Too much of any one element can be boring. Sorry if that is too big of a concept for you."
You don't have to be condescending about it. I don't take issue with you not liking these games or finding them boring, but I also think your take is a bit myopic.
I don’t understand why people like Fortnitre ,CoD etc. I enjoy story driven games but love souls games too. We all have different tastes though
That's what people love about it. It's all about the Gameplay, challenge, world building. What more do you want from a game.
I though Gameplay was one of if not the most important aspect of a game? What's your idea of a better souls like game then?
"What's your idea of a better souls like game then?"
World building isn't the only element of story that people care about. That user said, "more story elements (plot, characterization, story growth, etc) and less combat."
It's perfectly healthy for people to express why they don't like From Software games, because a new dev might create a new, amazing game that bridges those dislikes into the genre for something new.
It's also great that you love all the aspects that Souls have brought to the gaming industry. Enjoy what you enjoy and let others do the same.
Some people prefer games where you spend more time watching than playing, and that's okay. Everyone doesn't have to have the same tastes.
Are CBR so desperate to generate clicks to their articles that they've got obviously spam accounts leaving random positive comments? sakshi97978 & arpitachowdhary9797 in case they've been marked as spam by the time you see this comment.
I thought I was the only one that noticed the spammish nature of those accounts. Glad to see I wasn't the only one
The spirit of each game ripples into the next, and Demon’s Souls was the trailblazing catalyst.
'Helped' shape? I mean this is the blueprint that the rest are built on. I often see many claim Dark Souls as the revolutionary entry in the series and responsible for the Soulsborne genre, but when I ask what Dark Souls did that Demon's Souls didn't, the only answer I get is 'it had a connected level design rather than separate levels'. Something that could be in most genres of games. The truth being that Dark Souls is the first one they played or the first one that came to their platform, it has a special place in their heart, and they want to give it more credit than it deserves.
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No, King's field was the blueprint that layed the foundation for future FromSoftware RPGs and Demon's Souls built on it. Environmental storytelling, difficulty, weapon degradation, strategic combat where every move counts and that opressive atmosphere of loneliness were all present in King's Field.
"Environmental storytelling, difficulty, weapon degradation, strategic combat where every move counts and that opressive atmosphere of loneliness were all present in King's Field."
These alone do not make a Souls game or else playing Fallout 3 with a hardcore mode would be a Souls game. To be a Soulsborne, you need to be a 3rd person action RPG. You need the death mechanic where you're gambling your XP (essentially) 'souls\blood echoes\runes' with one chance to win that progress back if you return to where you fail, this risk-reward element is essential. You might also need the co-op mechanic that allows you to be invaded and turned into PvP.
"These alone do not make a Souls game" I didn't say it did. I said that King's Field layed the foundation for future FromSoftware RPGs and that Demon's Souls built on it. The things I mentioned immediately come to mind when I think about the experience I had with Demon's Souls and I would bet that most people that played it think the same as well.
"The things I mentioned immediately come to mind when I think about the experience I had with Demon's Souls"
That's cool but my point and what this article is about is what shaped the 'soulsborne' franchise. Soulsborne is a distinct genre, Demon's Souls did all the heavy lifting for what we call Soulsborne today. King's Field contributes nothing unique to that genre.
Agreed. I personally enjoyed Demon Souls much more then the Dark Souls series for whatever reason, and it definitely served as the blueprint for those games and most of Fromsoft’s other IPs to current date. They found their “style” of game making Demon Souls.
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I remember playing demons souls on ps3 when it was released(not popular yet during that time), I didn't expect to be mind blown. Can't forget the feeling. Without it no DS1, 2, and 3 for sure.
