Demon's Souls

[The Dual Dragons]

Alright, I am a huge story fan.. Normally I don't want to touch story-less games or games based on pure game-play..

But this title has me on the edge of curiosity..

So I thought I'd ask if it's worth playing, of course most people think so, so I guess that question is a bit thin.

So, maybe this one is better: When you play the game, does the music and setting feel so great and the fighting feel so awesome that you become mesmerized by it?

Keep in mind that Ninja Gaiden Sigma made me angry due to stupid dialog and ridiculous story scenes.

[Schwaltzvald]

http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27851&highlight=Demon%27s+Souls

Just get it... Story isn't complex or difficult to understand however certain things are not so clean cut at first glance as well.

Also helps not having ADHD but who am I to criticize...

I will say you will die a lot, as for music, generally it's non-existant except for certain moments like boss fights

One boss in particular is capable of lowering your "level" That is, if say you were at Souls level 69, he's very capable of lowering your level by one with each successful spell cast; or at least until you've grinded it back again elsewhere.

[Sixto]

Hard game is HARD. But I loved every minute of it. Was pretty addicted to it for a while.

[Schwaltzvald]

For shits and giggles if you've managed to clear 3-3, go back in soul form, and set either a blue or black stone in around 3-3; You'll stand a chance at being summoned thus becoming the "Archdemon Boss" for the Tower of Latria.

You'll go in as however you've geared yourself up with. No restrictions at all on what you want to use, what spells as well as what items to help you with.

I've crushed a few people with a double Guillotine set while wearing Garl Vinland's armor set with a fire shield and Scraping Spear as back up.

[PriZm]

lol using scraping spear is so gay (read, frustrating for other players).

game is OK... I did not find it THAT hard compared to other games like GTAIV (yeah I don't know why I cannot play this game)... Voice acting is good; I would say the only thing you can be mesmerized about when playing this game is the maiden's voice .

But yeah, I thought the game was good, but not great; especially if you want a good story, you certainly won't find it there. Nothing is really stupid or poorly executed about it, it's just not the focus of the game.

[Schwaltzvald]

lol using scraping spear is so gay (read, frustrating for other players)

For the record I've fought a couple of players that were able to quickly get away from my scraping spear. One battle I recall lasted for a good fifteen to twenty minutes because we both had a supply of grindstones that restored durability on our weapons.

I had these three tracks (Don't mind the third one as I may as well be the Yellow Devil) playing on loop throughout that fight. It felt incredibly awesome fighting some one that was capable of going toe to toe with me.

Wished I had the foresight to record it all... :banghead:

[zircon]

Absolutely worth playing. I haven't quite beaten it yet - I'm on 5-2 which is a frustrating world because you have to walk through muck all the time - but I've enjoyed the hell out of it so far. It's definitely hard. Honestly, it's like a spiritual successor to Castlevania. There's a big exploration factor, it's non-linear, your characters can advance (a little bit at a time) and there is a huge memorization and player skill element to winning fights. You can easily die to normal traps and enemies, too.

[metalsnakejuice]

Really good game. My soul level is over 160 and i am on my fourth play through so far.

[The Dennis]

Love love love this game. It is, literally, the sole reason I bought a PS3.

It isn't a story-driven game. What's there is pretty clear-cut though, it's not hard to understand.

The music only exists in town and during boss fights. I find that to the game's credit; it creates a unique tension within levels when you're fighting difficult battles and there's no music. Think the LotR trilogy: thematic music as the hordes of troops charge at each other, right up until the point they collide, then the music stops. It also makes the music for the boss fights more meaningful and dramatic. Each boss also has their own music, seemingly crafted with the specific fight in mind.

There is no stupid dialogue, except maybe a line or two by the Maiden in Black in town. Any dialogue at all, and any cutscene (with the exception of one) is skippable, in case you've played through it before.

I will be posting some gameplay videos to my youtube channel soon, featuring some pvp, a new game+ speedrun, and all the boss fights done at level 1!

[Tinaddar]

Absolutely worth playing. I haven't quite beaten it yet - I'm on 5-2 which is a frustrating world because you have to walk through muck all the time - but I've enjoyed the hell out of it so far. It's definitely hard. Honestly, it's like a spiritual successor to Castlevania. There's a big exploration factor, it's non-linear, your characters can advance (a little bit at a time) and there is a huge memorization and player skill element to winning fights. You can easily die to normal traps and enemies, too.

To be clear, the "non-linear exploration experience" is really that you can choose between five levels. Each level is pretty linear, although there are secret areas and treasure to get, and reasons to go back to levels you've completed already.

"Hard" game is really not that difficult. While you're learning the game you're going to die, but once you've figured it out, it isn't inconceivable to get through the entire game without getting hit. Most of the time the hardness of the game comes from ambushes from enemies you didn't see and weren't prepared for. Your next time through, you'll remember to look around that corner, and you'll be fine. Keep in mind I don't remember how many times I've played through this game, only that I'm too high level to EVER get into multiplayer again (it restricts what worlds you can enter; you have to be close level).

"Story" consists mostly of the main plot, which is "Save the world." Sorry for spoilers. Other than that, there are a number of important NPCs, each with their own little story, and while some of them relate to other characters, there isn't a whole lot of explanation.

I'd recommend two things. First, if you want all of the achievements, find a friend to share some of the weapons with you... Crafting your own (of specific ones) can be truly annoying. Second, before you play, look up and understand the world affinity rules. On my first playthrough I happened to get the fire world to pure white, but I had no idea how or why.

Alright, I'm gonna go make a new character and do up some multiplayer. That was good times. See ya.

[zircon]

To be clear, the "non-linear exploration experience" is really that you can choose between five levels. Each level is pretty linear, although there are secret areas and treasure to get, and reasons to go back to levels you've completed already.

Well, that's still pretty nonlinear though. Most people don't think of the Mega Man games as very linear, and they have even less selection than Demon's Souls does. The world feels pretty open and there are a lot of ways to approach any given challenge.

"Hard" game is really not that difficult. While you're learning the game you're going to die, but once you've figured it out, it isn't inconceivable to get through the entire game without getting hit. Most of the time the hardness of the game comes from ambushes from enemies you didn't see and weren't prepared for. Your next time through, you'll remember to look around that corner, and you'll be fine. Keep in mind I don't remember how many times I've played through this game, only that I'm too high level to EVER get into multiplayer again (it restricts what worlds you can enter; you have to be close level).

Yeah, but that's like saying Contra isn't hard because once you memorize the spawns and attack patterns, it's easy. The point is that there's a lot of stuff to memorize, most of it can't be readily anticipated, and the game is rather unforgiving of your mistakes (eg. you tend to take a lot of damage from enemies, you can get dazed/stunned easily, there are basically no checkpoints, no save/reload system, gimped lifebar in spirit form.) The combination of those things makes it a hard game.

[Drack]

Played this game at a friend's place for an hour.

Absolutely hated it.

[Schwaltzvald]

Played this game at a friend's place for an hour.

Absolutely hated it.

Doesn't hurt to know why though does it..?

[The Dual Dragons]

A lot of rich responses here.. Got me quite pumped. I've ordered it together with Darksiders, another gamble title on my part. But still... never know if a game is good/great until it's tested right?

I hope both are great!

[The Dual Dragons]

I forgot to mention that I finished the game 2 times and I thought it was a cool experience. The best part of the playthrough was to connect to other players and kick the bosses during times when I sucked too hard at the game to manage the battles by myself. Ohwell lol

[Esker]

It's the first hack and slash I played over three times since my memory doesn't fail.

Needless to say I like it. It's been a long time a non-blockbuster impresses me heavily.

[The Dual Dragons]

It's the first hack and slash I played over three times since my memory doesn't fail.

Needless to say I like it. It's been a long time a non-blockbuster impresses me heavily.

Does the difficulty increase a lot from play-through 2 to 3? I haven't checked it out, if it's a big gap I guess the game will be beyond my skills. Round 2 was hell enough.

[Sixto]

I *think* the way the increase works is that all the enemies are matched to your level.

[Esker]

King Allant is the only one who decreases your level actually.

[Bigfoot]

Apparently Project Dark is Demon's Souls 2.

http://kotaku.com/5641393/yup-project-dark-is-basically-demons-souls-2

[Harmonious Dissonance]

Does the difficulty increase a lot from play-through 2 to 3? I haven't checked it out, if it's a big gap I guess the game will be beyond my skills. Round 2 was hell enough.

40% increase from 1 to 2. 4% increase after that.

[Drack]

Doesn't hurt to know why though does it..?

Well, I don't want to get into a debate about whether it's a quality game. It is. I just don't like it.

-Don't like the controls. It may be because I only played the beginning, but the player character felt very constrained and not easily maneuverable. I have the same complaint about Resident Evil (and sometimes MGS) games too, though, so take that any way you want.

-Don't like the frailty of the character. The initial boss kills you in 2 hits, not even enough time to figure out the pattern. Ok, I can understand frailty in and of itself, that's a big part of Ninja Gaiden, for example .. but in NG you don't have the first problem. Your character is fast and nimble and when I got hit I genuinely thought I could have avoided it by playing better. In demon's souls when I got hit I felt like the game had forced me into it by making my character as clunky as possible, then the excessive damage killing me off in punishment for the game's own faults. Not a recipe for fun.

-Random death traps (like bottomless pits) that don't even look significantly different from the other scenery. Seriously, punish me for going to the sparkly thing, sending me back 5 minutes with an instant death? Way to go, game.

-It seems that playing along with the game's parry system wasn't worth it, and didn't fare significantly better than regular attacks.

That's why I didn't like it. You asked for it, and I bet you disagree. I'm not interested in debate, it's just my opinion.

I've ordered it together with Darksiders

The same friend whose house I went to to play demon's souls also had Darksiders. That game I liked much, much better. It actually felt like a proper action game, with much carnage and over-the-top attacks. Thumbs up for Darksiders.

[Schwaltzvald]

-Don't like the controls.

-Don't like the frailty of the character.

-Random death traps

-It seems that playing along with the game's parry system wasn't worth it, and didn't fare significantly better than regular attacks.

Well damn I guess you'll dislike the upcoming Demon's Souls 2-I mean "Project: Dark"

[The Dual Dragons]

40% increase from 1 to 2. 4% increase after that.

Good to know!

Apparently Project Dark is Demon's Souls 2.

http://kotaku.com/5641393/yup-project-dark-is-basically-demons-souls-2

Excellent! Let's hope it is as good or better than Demon's Souls then. I would prefer a bit more story in this new one though.

Um.. Bigfoot just posted a link to the trailer. Don't need another one lol.

[Harmonious Dissonance]

Correct me if anyone doesnt feel this way, But the game generally is fairer than most. Each time I die its from my own stupidity. Not from a fail on the game's part. I do believe the one death I had that wasnt this way was a true glitch. "Random death traps" (such as the bottom floor of 3-1 near the lizard) Can be easily avoided by maybe... Looking in front of you? And if you had issues seeing how a trap is different from the rest of the landscape try turning the brightness up so you can see the details.

Actually there are two traps in 3-1 that harm you and occasionally poison you, But I hardly count those as true "Death traps". But if you would care to share ones you ran across I would be happy to correct myself.