Demon's Souls

[Meghiddo]

Great freakin game, great. So difficult, and so rewarding. If you have a PS3 and are on this forum, I'd say it is a must buy!

[ASYLUM101]

I've been waiting for MONTHS for gamefly to send me this game. :P They shipped it yesterday though, FINALLY.

[rsy]

Demon's Souls is a fantastic game, and the primary reason I purchased my ps3. Combat system is great, and multiplayer is very unique - players can both help or hinder you (blue/red phantom system). As Meghiddo metioned, the difficulty makes moving forward in the game feel very rewarding. First time I played, I think I died about 50 times on the first level, haha. Now I can breeze through it in about 30 min.

There are a few drawbacks, though. A few bugs here and there.. some minor, some near game breaking. And the absence of a real level cap was a oversight on the developers part.

[Meghiddo]

rsy, Demon's Souls is the only reason I bought a PS3 lol. Well that and the upcoming God of War 3 of course. But if not for Demon's Souls I would not have bought my ps3 until it was time for GoW3 to be released.

I also picked up inFamous btw. That game was way over hyped (Morgan Webb...), nowhere near as good as PS3 owners made it out to be. I mean it was OK, but not anything close to what people made it out to be. I suppose at the time PS3 owners did not have much though, so it may have seemed great to them. I personally think Prototype is a much better hero type game. And of course Crackdown :)

[rsy]

I also picked up inFamous btw. That game was way over hyped (Morgan Webb...), nowhere near as good as PS3 owners made it out to be. I mean it was OK, but not anything close to what people made it out to be. I suppose at the time PS3 owners did not have much though, so it may have seemed great to them. I personally think Prototype is a much better hero type game. And of course Crackdown :)

My thoughts exactly! I enjoyed playing through Prototype, so I figured Infamous would be just as good. Man, what a disappointment. Combat was mostly just shooting little pew pew electro pellets at everything, movement/climbing was slow and laborious, and after you beat it, there's literally nothing to do.. all the enemies are gone! Lame.

I'm really getting my money's worth with Demon's souls, though. I've probably invested well over 150 hours spread across 4+ characters (they really should let you have more than 4 slots :\. I end up deleting old, inactive chars.)

[climber]

My thoughts exactly! I enjoyed playing through Prototype, so I figured Infamous would be just as good. Man, what a disappointment. Combat was mostly just shooting little pew pew electro pellets at everything, movement/climbing was slow and laborious, and after you beat it, there's literally nothing to do.. all the enemies are gone! Lame.

I'm really getting my money's worth with Demon's souls, though. I've probably invested well over 150 hours spread across 4+ characters (they really should let you have more than 4 slots :\. I end up deleting old, inactive chars.)
The game is great and the difficulty made the game very rewarding. I stopped playing a while back due to school, work, and all the great November releases in the console and PC market, but to be honest I still enjoy Demon's Souls for its difficulty. All the other games seem like they hold your hand and the enjoyment factor goes way down when they are so easy. But that is a good thing I guess since I can get through them pretty fast though.

[Jimbot]

Demon's Souls is, indeed, a great game. It's nice to see a game taking a risk and not holding your hand the entire time. I normally don't care for Roguelikes, but this one is a big exception because it's so well put together and tons of fun.

Not to derail the thread too much, but I have to disagree with the Prototype stuff. inFamous is just a better put together game overall. Better crafted city, better characters and story, I feel the combat is better thought-out as well. Prototype is fun for a while, but all the powers do essentially the same thing, and while elbow dropping a tank is great, it starts to lose its luster after the umpteenth time.

inFamous lives up to all its hype, in my opinion. I look forward to the sequel a whole lot. Hopefully Sucker Punch will use an engine built from the ground up on the PS3 and not use an upgraded PS2 graphics engine (which inFamous uses).

[shawnmck]

Yeah, I have been playing Demons Souls since it came out. Really good game.
Not perfect, but real good. I hope they make a DS 2.

On my PC I am currently playing Torchlight & TQ (w/IT exp).

[Meghiddo]

Demon's Souls proves that Eastern devs can make a Western style rpg better than Western devs!

[Malpheas]

That's pretty much up to personal preference, I believe Meg.

[Meghiddo]

I know, I know, that reply was not meant to be taken very seriously... the internet really needs a way to incorporate voice tone into forum boards lol

[yerkyerk]

That's why we have smilies :)

[rsy]

Yeah, I have been playing Demons Souls since it came out. Really good game.
Not perfect, but real good. I hope they make a DS 2.

Not sure about a sequel, but there are rumors that the broken archstone may be repaired and available as dlc. It's supposed to lead to the land of the giants (shadow of the collossus land, lol).

[Renevent]

I've wanted to try the game...looks really cool. I don't think I have what it take though, I hear it's brutally hard and I probably don't have the patience for a game like that these days.

[shawnmck]

I've wanted to try the game...looks really cool. I don't think I have what it take though, I hear it's brutally hard and I probably don't have the patience for a game like that these days.

Demons Souls seems brutally hard at first because every time you die (& you will die a lot), you are sent back to the beginning of an area, & all enemies are re-spawned. It can become very intimidating.
But in reality, it is just a very steep learning curve. Once you get the hang of things, & get accustomed to how the game works (learn to block a lot, when to roll away from an attack, when & how to effectively reposte, memorize enemy pattern & location, etc) then the game becomes much easier.
It also doesn't help that it takes quite a long time before you find get to use better gear. Eventually you just get the hang of things. I almost got rid of the game because I found it so difficult. It takes a lot of patience.

It is not without it's flaws though. Some enemies & bosses are just way too brutal and it takes a lot to take em out. I also didn't like the way you can pick up all sorts of junk armor & weapons, but have absolutely no way of selling it.
The game basically uses the collection of "souls" as an all in one currency & form of leveling up. Not very RPGish if you ask me, but some people love it. Whatever. It's still a fun & entertaining game, and can be rewarding if you like a challenge. But it's not really a pick up & play game. You have to devote a lot of time & patience to it in order to get rewards from it.
Some parts of it are great, while other parts kinda bog down.
Overall its a good game that is unique, & unlike any other I've ever played.

[Meghiddo]

I know what you mean Shawn. I just got to the Maneater boss tonight, and I probably have fought him 30-40 times and haven't beaten him.
I will beat the first one, and get the second down to 20% hp or so, and then I usually get blown off or roll off the bridge ><
That battle is just plain hard

[shawnmck]

I know what you mean Shawn. I just got to the Maneater boss tonight, and I probably have fought him 30-40 times and haven't beaten him.
I will beat the first one, and get the second down to 20% hp or so, and then I usually get blown off or roll off the bridge ><
That battle is just plain hard

Yeah, he was tough for me as well. What I ended up doing to defeat him was to go on the side where he can't hardly get to you. Right before you go up some steps to reach a higher part of the bridge, you should notice a very narrow ledge. On one side (the right I think) there should be a sword. But I noticed that he usually can't get to you there if you position yourself right.
Then I just peaked out far enough to be able to shoot him with arrows. Occasionally I would use poison cloud on him too. Just make sure you go back behind cover when he gets close because he can still knock you down with some of his attacks. But he can't charge you, nor fly right at you. All he can do is his expanding orb attack (or whatever it's called). If that hits you, you will fall off the ledge for an instant death, but if you play it right you shouldn't take much damage.
The only other problem I've had with him was when his clone just vanished & I had to reload.
But the trick of using the big round flaming brazen (whatever) between you & him never worked for me.

The bow actually has helped me out with DS more than I would have liked, as I am not a bow person.

I am currently stuck at the False King (Allant I think). he is way too unpredictable, & has an attack that steals a soul level from you, & usually one or two hit kills me..."ARGH"

I've read that when you start a new game it gets even more difficult, which I am not really looking forward to.

[rsy]

The first ng+ is pretty tough. Enemy damage and hp is increased by 40%(?). But every subsequent ng+ is only 8%, so it's not so bad. Just need to up your character and gear a bit before beating the first playthough.

Maneater isn't too tough, but it's just the fact that they make you fight him on a narrow walkway -_-;;. Using the torch in the center usually works for me. My strategy is target the tail first to take a huge chunk off his life, also removes his ability to shoot magic missiles. This should allow you to kill the first one fast. Second one, I leave the tail, because it will actually attack the maneater on occasion, stunning him and giving you opportunity to dish out lots of damage.

As shawn said, the game isn't too difficult, but it has a steep learning curve. Once you learn how to handle the enemies and the environment, it's a piece of cake. The game still manages to surprise me every once in a while, however. First time fighting bp satsuki and he poked me once for 100% damage, or when bp garl parry/riposte o_O.

[chris01]

do you know when Demon's Souls will be released in Europe??
i heard its been delayed in Europe becuz of Japan's EVIL marketing

[Iconik]

The game is frustrating as hell but so much fun.

[shawnmck]

I read that there is supposed to be an announcement from the same Developer who did DS that could be DS2..?
They say they are going to announce a sequel to a game that is tough & interesting...what else could it be but Demons Souls 2 ?

[Iconik]

There's absolutely no way they don't do a DS2.

[harlequ1n]

Demon's Souls gave me back hope in console videogame design. I can't think of another JRPG that has kept me so entertained and that has innovated so much just by going back to true videogame roots - pushining death/mistakes and forcing the player to learn how to conquer it's over-exaggerated difficulty. That, and avoiding hand-holding the player through the entire experience with checkpoints every 5 minutes, regenerating health or tutorials at each corner.

[sevrun]

Sounds like I'll have to look into it as soon as I can _find_ a copy anywhere. I don't mind regeneration, but with a lot of games lately it's like you're a freaking vampire... or they're just shooting paintballs that sting for a second. slow regen akin to a natural healing I don't mind so much, but even then I tend to ignore it, so.... hrmm.

[ASYLUM101]

Sounds like I'll have to look into it as soon as I can _find_ a copy anywhere. I don't mind regeneration, but with a lot of games lately it's like you're a freaking vampire... or they're just shooting paintballs that sting for a second. slow regen akin to a natural healing I don't mind so much, but even then I tend to ignore it, so.... hrmm.

Lol, yeah, like Gears of War and the like? Ouch, just got shot by full clip of this assault rifle, lemme hide behind this wall so my arm doesn't sting so much...

[sevrun]

More of a PS3 guy, but yeah that's exactly it. I mean I knew a guy who took 11 rounds out of an assault rifle and survived, but don't ask me how he got shot 11 times in the leg... two corpsmen carried him out and from what I understand he kept the leg, and was still in the Corps last I heard. Course that was... damn almost four years now. I'm closing in on four years outta the military. Shit.

[Roland]

I read that players should expect to die (lots?) in this game...that it was expected and actually part of the process of completing the game.

Is that right?

Are there penalties for dying?

[ASYLUM101]

I read that players should expect to die (lots?) in this game...that it was expected and actually part of the process of completing the game.

Is that right?

Are there penalties for dying?

I only played it for a little while, but the only penalty I noticed was that you had to start a stage over if you were in the spirit realm thingy. Otherwise you were sent to the spirit realm. But like I said, I didn't play it very long, probably an hour or so.

[Starkrun]

I honestly hate difficult games, if i can relax and play though the game without being forced to resort to online strategy guides or gameplay videos then im happy. Recently God of War 3 got it perfect... easy mode was easy and the next tic made it hard and it can get brutal... it allowed me to enjoy the game and story and not have to stress out over boss fights...

The more advanced mode made it fun and exciting, it was more of a challenge then. and not to tedious...

Renting DS made me thankful i choose to skip it, its not for me and i love RPG's like that. If it had an easy mode it could easy be a contender for one of my favorite games... though i only saw about an hour or it what i saw was great, i just didn't like the beating you took.

if it ever bargin bins or $5 buyouts on ebay i'll snag a copy...

on the flip side, i love hard game in the PC, expcially like Fallout style games where you need to sleep/eat/drink and bullets are a few hit kills... you need cover tactics and smarts to survive and its created so you advance the difficulty by where you choose to explore. take on 30 super mutants or go around the mine field and pick them off one at a time while you camp at the edges of there territory.

[harlequ1n]

if it ever bargin bins or $5 buyouts on ebay i'll snag a copy...
I seriously doubt (and want) that will ever happen. DS has almost a legendary reputation now and I only see prices for it going up.

[shawnmck]

The thing about Demons Souls is that it is extremely difficult & intimating for new players. It requires a LOT of practice & patience. But once you get the hang of things it becomes much easier. When I first started playing I died so many times that I lost count. But once I got the hang of things I could go through whole sections without dying once. The game forces you to take a slow & methodical approach. You don't just run into any part of the game because you will get your arse handed to you.

It also doesn't help that when you do die the game starts you back at the beginning of an area and re-spawns all enemies. That can get real frustrating.
But all this comes at a price too. The enemies are dumb as dirt & their routines do not alter in the slightest. So just memorize their locations & patterns and you will get through the game easily. personally, I find it all a mixed bag. I mean yes, the game is tough, but there is absolutely no change in the routines of the enemies. They always do the exact same things. The game just handicaps you and forces you to find ways around it, or cheap methods of defeating bosses, and severely punishes you for dying. That's not exactly my idea of a fun game. But some people love the difficulty. The game can be cheap at times though, even if some people don't want to admit it. When arrows will curve & track you, I call that "cheap". But for the most part, if you die it's usually your own fault.

As for the penalty for dying....
That depends. When you die you come back but in spirit form. In this form you can sneak up on enemies a little bit better, and your attacks supposedly do a bit more damage, but your health is cut in half. To get back to normal form you have to beat a boss like monster. If you die while in spirit form then there really isn't much of a penalty, other than having to repeat whole sections of the game. If you die while in human form then you are going to re-spawn in spirit form, and you will have to repeat the entire sections in spirit form. So, the only real penalty for dying comes when you are in normal form & have to complete the area in spirit form (which isn't too bad).
The only expetions to this are....

A) there is a certain boss (False king) who has the ability to drain level experience from you, which if you die again you lose permantly.

B) When you do die (whether in normal form or spirit form), all your experience points get taken away. In order to regain these points you have to make it back to where you died and touch your blood stain to regain the EXP points. Since the game always sends you back to the beginning & respawns all enemies, this can be difficult & extremely frustrating. Be prepared to lose a lot of EXP points this way. This is the most damaging penalty for dying. Like I said, you can get them back, but one little mistake can cost you another death & all the EXP points will be lost for good.

C) There are special areas in the game & special characters in the the game that you come across that depend on your standing of Light or Dark (World Tendancy) in the world. Die a lot and the WT becomes a bit darker or neutral. Complete a level & beat the boss without dying (which is a feat) & the WT becomes light. You will never turn the WT totally dark (black) by dying a lot, and I forget how to do it, but the WT needs to be pure black or pure white to gain access to certain areas & meet specific characters that will grant you quest tasks or give you special items. So, if you are working towards that pure white WT & you die, then you will lose the ability to turn it pure white for the rest of the game within that level. Since the game is constantly saving progress you cannot re-load a previous save from before you died, because the death will still be recorded. And you will not be able to retry until you complete the game and start a new one. This causes another problem, because once you beat a game the difficulty automatically becomes harder, and you cannot choose the difficulty. Every time you beat the game the difficulty raises by a percentage.

[Jorlen]

Demon's souls is the only next-gen Japanese-made RPG I've ever played.

It also doubles as one of my favorite games of all time on any platform, and is made by one of my favorite devs (they made King's Field games that I also loved).

Before Demon's Souls, FromSoftware was not well known, I'm so happy they found success in Americas and Europe with Demon's Souls. I like them so much that I also bought 3D Dot Game heroes, even though that's not really my style of game, I just wanted to support them.

They would be fools not to make a sequel, but devs aren't in charge of these decisions most of the time :(

[Renevent]

If I remember right King's Field was pretty damn hard game as well :p

[Malpheas]

A little bit of a necro here, but man. This game RULES.

The atmosphere, the map limitations (hitting walls etc) and the difficulty.. oh man, the difficulty.

[shawnmck]

^ Yeah, Demons Souls is pretty good. It actually did incredibly well, so much so that there is rumors of a sequel.

[Shen]

I've heard so many good things about this game, but I just can't justify buying a PS3 for it. Too bad they're not porting it to PC.

[shawnmck]

Those that get into it really like it, however I have encountered some that just don't care much for it.
It isn't like WRPG's. You don't get much loot, and can't sell what little you do get. Your EXP doubles as money as well as points to upgrade health, strength, dex, etc.. The respawning enemies & bosses can be a major pain too.

I'm not trying to knock DS, or scare you away from it, just wanted you to be wary of some of it's flaws. If you could somehow rent it or play it at a friends house then you could get a better idea. I just would be bothered if you managed to get a PS3 just for this game & ended up not liking it for whatever reason. Best to be cautious.
But it does have some of the best boss fights I've yet encountered in any game....as well as some lame ones too. Many of them you will resort to cheap tactics in order to beat because they are so damn hard.

BTW
Even if you are not a person that generally uses bows in RPGs, the bow will quickly become your best friend in this game. That is because some enemies & bosses will literally force you to use them because they are ridiculously hard without them. I'm not sure if I like this aspect of the game or not, but at least it doesn't happen all the time.

The best thing about Demons Souls is it's atmosphere and the way it feels more natural. The levels are dark & forboding, and you can't just run in & slaughter a group of enemies, just like you wouldn't be able to in real life. You have to be more cunning, which is a fresh approach, but could suck if tried in other types of games. This game will immerse you in its style, just not in the story, as it is very forgettable.

Another aspect to this game that I don't much like is the fact that you will have to farm for souls a LOT in order to level up your character. I'm am talking about hours of just killing the exact same enemies over & over again so that you can level up & be strong enough to finally defeat that one boss, or handle the tough enemies of a different area. That kind of stuff just pulls you back out of the game that the atmosphere drew you in.

[shawnmck]

The spiritual sucessor to Demon Souls has been officially announced.

Dark Souls will be released for both the XB 360 & PS3 in 2011, and is made by the same Developer.
In order to make it multi-platform, they had to change the name & story (since Sony owns the rights to Demon Souls), but is practically the same in style.

http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/dark-souls-gets-official-announcement

[Renevent]

I hear they are making it even harder than before...oh man.

*edit*

Trailer just released:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-dark-souls/710098

[Sile]

..:Necro:..

I just bought this game last weekend and played around with it. Because PSN was hacked and isn't funtioning, I fear I'm missing out on some of the features of the game, but have been enjoying it in offline mode.

I don't think the game is hard per se.. but it's definitely frustrating having to restart a level when you die with all the monsters respawning etc.

I died quite a bit on the first level mainly due to trying to kill King Doran. I know he is more of an end game mini boss, but I read a way to kill him if you bring him out to the catapaults.. he wont attack you past a certain point because it resets him and he starts walking back.. the idea is to roll behind him and block his path, then keep hitting him all the way back to the staircase so he ends up falling to his death. lol.

Haven't figured out how to roll past him yet without getting one shot! But I did beat Phalanx the first time. ^.^

Bought the game moreso because the new one is coming out this year so I wanted to be more familiar with it.