Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #demonsouls more → 
New Demon Souls Screens Arrive Just In Time
Demon Souls Dated And Bundled With Swag
Denver, 9:24 PM
Fri Dec 18
65 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us:
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
| AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
| AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
| AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
| posts about #demonsouls more → |
New Demon Souls Screens Arrive Just In Time |
Demon Souls Dated And Bundled With Swag |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
08/29/09
I can't wait to finally get my hands on it!
08/28/09
Fark. Just when I thought it was safe to put down the Sacred 2.
08/28/09
If you want something "different" on the PS3 and are looking for a little challenge pick this game up.
Im sure you will be quite suprised by what you will find once you start playing.
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
This is just my own personal experience though.
Although you cant really compare the 2 games due to how different both are.
08/28/09
In a way, it's a return to how playing video games used to be: largely a function of prudent judgement and skill, practice and never quite knowing what's around the corner (even when you know where x enemy is hiding, it's difficult to elicit the same response each time -will they leap out at me or will they wait til I walk close by and clip me then?-). Add on to that that there is a significant risk/reward curve and substantial increases in gear feel both earner and, well substantial (they look cool, and they are usually hugely game-changing).
08/28/09
is it 1st person like Oblivion?
how do you get new equipment? looting, forging, etc?
is playing online gonna be like WoW dungeons? u make a party and own everything in sight?
how do they handle ranged classes? do you have to backtrack for miles while shooting enemies in the face while they chase you?
since there is no health regeneration, can you use potions or magic to restore your health?
approx. how long is the game? is it possible to beat in a rental period or is it much much longer (i hope)?
08/28/09
Fully third person.
You get equipment from finding it in dungeons, forging it at blacksmiths, and rarely dropped off of enemies.
Online is a very strange co-op mode, that's hard to explain.
Ranged combat is essentially just aiming and shooting from a first person perspective, or you can just "lock on" and shoot at your locked target.
You can regenerate health with healing items, spells, and a few pieces of equipment have a passive healing ability attached.
Took me over 80 hours on my first playthrough, and the game offers New Game + and lots and LOTS of hidden items and trophies to unlock.
08/28/09
08/28/09
It took me about 160 hours to get the platinum trophy on it, and this involved playing through the game about 4 times, each time you playthrough it gets incrementally harder, but allows you to keep all your loot, armour and any spells, and skills you have learned, but returns you back to level 1.
Demons souls is also the first game since the early 90s that ive played and genuinely been worried as i played:
"am i pushing myself to far? I have lots of loot and i really cant afford to die now...but i really need to find out whats around that next corner and fighting back to this point could be tough... but it could be something REALLY great..just 5 more mins before i head back to the sanctuary..."
Achievement is something you genuinely feel when you defeat a boss, and requires some clever thinking for some of them.
The online play is also excellent, as you progress through the game if you have died (which will happen VERY often) you can allow your spirit form to be summoned by another gamer who is alive to help them in their mission. Your reward for your help is your soul back(giving you a health bonus and other benefits).
Its my GOTY and nothing i have played or am anticipating being released this year can make me think it will be anywhere close.
08/28/09
So many games have intricate combo systems or various weaknesses to exploit on enemies if you know how, and the developers really craft a deep and engaging game . . . and then gamers will put it on the lowest difficulty and button mash their way through it (I'm looking at you, God of War players).
I love how deep and intricate these games are and how rewarding the feeling is when you learn to play it correctly and really dominate the game. The only time difficulty is bad is when it's from cheap AI/moves with no real way to counter it.
I've only played a bit of Demon's Souls at a friend's house, but what I played, I fell in love with. It really brings back the joys of feeling like you've accomplished something rather than just becoming another finished game on your shelf. I just hope there's more people out there who can truly appreciate what a game like this does instead of just crying about it being too hard.
08/28/09
I better like this game, or Archaotic is in deep doo-doo. O.O
(j/k)
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
It will just take you longer to up the required stats to use said skills / weapons / armor.
My character was a magic casting thief that used a pole arm type of weapon and wore mid ranged armor.
08/28/09
That sounds pretty deadly but splitting your skills among a few things can leave you a little vulnerable if you're not strong enough in all the areas I'd imagine.
08/28/09
I have the Asian version of this game (signed by the Demon's Souls dev at Anime Expo) mostly because it came out while I was in Hong Kong. The game itself is HARD because of the wide mix of enemies that you'll face throughout the dungeon.
Good example is world 1-1 where you face off against a large number of easy-to-kill enemies and BAM! There's that Red-Eyed Demon (the soldier with the polearm) next to the catapults at the top of the castle walls who butchers you in one hit.
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
So basically if you died once and had a shitload of souls dont die again until you get them.
Best way to deal with the issue is just spend everything before doing something "new" in the game.
08/28/09
08/28/09
Oh and I'm very sad that Ostrava somehow died in my game and me not being able to go to Doran anymore ;_;
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
Hopefully, they resolve some of the issues surrounding World Tendency.
08/28/09
08/28/09
Perfect! >:3
08/28/09
08/28/09
@Rebochan: I highly recommend that you pick up the STOP-IMPORTING-IT-DELUXE Edition. :D
08/28/09
08/31/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
i still dont regret importing it.
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
I'm looking for a long, engrossing RPG, but I saw a walkthrough for this that said there were only 5 areas -- and they looked kind of small.
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09
I would be further but I have a problem going "I can take out one more guy" and then I die and die again when I come for my souls and lose like 5-10K souls....and sadly even with that constant losing of my souls I have never once gotten frustrated by the fact I keep dieing and losing hours of collected souls.
There is a Hero's hall (in game) and it showcases the top players and I've seen people easily with 100+ hrs of gameplay under one character.
08/28/09
Is it scalable or one set difficulty you have to endure? Anything in particular that makes it so hard, like too many enemies at once, or single enemies do a lot of damage to you?
Appreciate hearing from anyone who's played the Japanese version!
08/28/09
It's just that some enemies deal really high damage and strike really fast sometimes which prevents you from having time to retaliate back. Also, enviromental traps, I've fell into them more often than not XD
08/28/09
Its a difficult game but rewards those who stick with it to learn the basics and work on improving your own control of said character / weapon used also how you build up your character with points put into the various skills.
No scalable difficulty. Lots of trial and error deaths will occur.
Its not a game for folks who quit when shit hits the fan.
08/28/09
The reason DS is so amazing, though, is that as you play, as you get your ass kicked dozens of times, you slowly learn the game's intricacies and tricks, you learn what weapons work well on what enemies, and before the end of the game, you've become such a master that during New Game + (where the monsters are even STRONGER!) you can blaze through the first dungeon without even dying once.
It's a very well-designed game, and aside from some wonky frame rate issues at certain parts of the game (all, notably, involving large amounts of fire effects going off at the same time) it's really quite well-made too.
08/28/09
I'm used to doing the same thing over and over after trying and usually failing at Ninja Gaiden. lol
Thanks for the info folks :)
08/28/09
It's hard, you die, you read messages left by people, you come across a lot of people saying 'this is harsh evaluate me' (because your health is replenished to max if someone rates your message, but it's nice to leave useful messages of course), you die some more and then you learn the best strategies against enemies. You'll get used to the difficulty once you've died a few times, make it to the first land's first stage boss. It gets difficult but it's one of those games that's enjoyably difficult (it's hard to explain why it's so enjoyably difficult - maybe because it genuinely feels more rewarding?).
The punishingly hard bit is to make your way all the way to the boss once you've died at a level.
But believe me it is enjoyable. It's not scalable, it's just always hard but you get used to it.
08/28/09
The best advice I can give you is that if you get stuck and a friend can't help you, go try another stage; your equipment might be better tailored for getting through another level, and exploring a new stage can help ward off the stress from dying repeatedly on the same part.
08/28/09
Is there much of a story to it? Not that I'd mind it being all about the action, but gameplay as interesting sounding as this combined with a solid story and its a definite buy.
08/28/09
08/28/09
I could've probably Googled a lot of that, but I like hearing from someone with hands on time, y'know?
Appreciate all the info guys, thanks :)
08/28/09
It's also very amusing to play the game while being logged into the PSN because you get to watch the last 10 seconds of someone else's humiliating failure at every blood splatter so that you learn from that failure.
The blood splatters don't show you what enemies killed that unfortunate chaps, but you can make a fairly decent guess from the way the other people died.
08/28/09
08/28/09
If anything, it's the most realistic dungeon crawler out there...well, if a dungeon crawler about a dude who gets killed and his soul trapped in purgatory could be considered "realistic".
08/28/09
08/28/09
08/28/09