Review: Demon's Souls

Prepare to beg for mercy. You won't get it, though.

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nice, great review.
i like the fact that while the game is tough, its fair.
though i dont like most games where you haft to buy your next lv, DS makes it work.
Hopefully ill get to play it.
Im looking forward to your next game announcment and review.

It's always comforting to know that Atlus maintains a strong tradition of actually making difficult games to go with good stories.

I will never forget the moment in Persona 4 when, after grinding and gaining 5 levels, I went one floor too high in the dungeon and got curb stomped. Game over, would you like to load your last save? It had literally been years since a game slapped me that hard.

How did I go so long without hearing about this game? I didn't know it existed until I saw an advert for it yesterday.
It sounds like the sort of game I'd like, though it also sounds like I'd need to devote a lot of time to it, maybe I'll mark it down for my summer games next year.

Actually it's not that extremely hard. Just be cautious, keep your shield up and raise your vitality as high as possible.

That hint system is awesome. I might see if I can rent this game, course I'd probably still break the disk in angry and swear words.

Hi!......and "hi" to you too. HA! That was funny.

I've been waiting on this one for awhile. While I've had the temptation to just import one of the version in English, I figured Atlus would pick this one up eventually. I love a good dungeon crawl (or roguelike... I hate that word) so this seems like something that will keep my PS3 occupied for awhile.

...when October arrives. Sigh.

ssgt splatter:
Hi!......and "hi" to you too. HA! That was funny.

The most frequent message is, as far as I noticed, "it's harsh. Evacuate me.")

Something I neglected to mention in the review is that, unlike in Oblivion, your stamina (the green bar) actually matters. Run out of stamina, and you're staggered until you get a bit back. Swinging your weapon, blocking, running, getting hit, all of these use up stamina. So it's quite easy to find yourself in the middle of a knot of enemies, suddenly unable to do anything but watch in horror as you're shredded because you ran out of stamina. So it's not quite as simple as just blocking. :)

Finally a game to make those young whipper snappers learn their place. I think I'll be picking this game up.

Maybe I'm just jaded but when I think of interactions with others online my thoughts are more of them being dicks then them being helpful.

Great review as always.
As for the game itself.... eh, very hard to choose wheter I would love or hate it.
I'm really bad with dealing with failure, especially if it's unfair, but then again I also managed to beat Ninja Gaiden on xbox on all dificulty levels because I refused to let a game beat me. And yes, when you manage to get as good as to breeze through a level or boss fight without getting hit, it does make you feel really godlike. :)

My question; if you get really good at the game (like with Ninja Gaiden where you needed to get into the flow of the game) does the unfairness factor go down? I.e. does it keep you crying bitter tears through to the end, or does it eventually let up a tad?

Also, how many hours of gameplay are we looking at?

Good Review.
I've played the game as well and I agree.
Awesome game, but don't play it if you have a tendency to destroy things every time you lose in a game. you will probably end up destroying everything you own.

Lord_Gremlin:

ssgt splatter:
Hi!......and "hi" to you too. HA! That was funny.

The most frequent message is, as far as I noticed, "it's harsh. Evacuate me.")

I usually find the message "white sticky stuff", usually clustered around the female NPCs

I have been playing this game for a good few months now and I still love it

Still no European publisher, I presume?

Import it is.
Better figure out whether I can use paypal through bank transactions since I have this special credit card that isn't supported by any site.
EDIT/ Quite amusing, Amazon is not willing to ship that particular game to an address outside the US. As if the gods are mocking me.

Shame that it's an exclusive, I'd have liked to play it.

Kenjitsuka:
Great review as always.
As for the game itself.... eh, very hard to choose wheter I would love or hate it.
I'm really bad with dealing with failure, especially if it's unfair, but then again I also managed to beat Ninja Gaiden on xbox on all dificulty levels because I refused to let a game beat me. And yes, when you manage to get as good as to breeze through a level or boss fight without getting hit, it does make you feel really godlike. :)

My question; if you get really good at the game (like with Ninja Gaiden where you needed to get into the flow of the game) does the unfairness factor go down? I.e. does it keep you crying bitter tears through to the end, or does it eventually let up a tad?

Also, how many hours of gameplay are we looking at?

Ok, let me stress this -- while the game is very hard, it is never unfair. Yes, there are sneak attacks and traps, but when you die, it's not because the game is being cheap. I will say that at times the camera works against you, making it hard to see what you're fighting, but I don't personally count that as unfair.

If do very well in the game, the game gets easier and the loot becomes crappier. Conversely, if you fare poorly, the game gets harder, but the loot gets better. This is known as the world's "tendency" (light is easy, dark is hard). So the difficulty can adjust, yes, but let me be clear: Demon's Souls does not let up. You will never be able to relax. You will find, though, as you begin to understand the game, that areas you once found impossible become child's play. Not so much because you've leveled up, but because you're in the proper mindset. It's kind of difficult to explain.

Oh, and as for interactions with other players -- yeah, I assume people are going to be jerks, too, which is why it makes me glad to say that the messages I found were, in almost every case, quite helpful and well-meant.

I was quite curious about this game. I figured the combat (since I heard the words; very hard) would be like DMC or ninja gaiden whereas this seems kind of wooden similar to baldurs gate so I may give it a miss.

Well when I get this I suppose I will be the last one to make it to the boss for I will make base camp at each level and grind out for awhile. If I find one room that's better for grinding I will drop a note.

Now, this, along with LBP, Uncharted, and inFamous are reasons I want to get a PS3. Thanks for the review, I might have to pick this up if I ever do get a PS3.

The looks very much like Severence: Blade of Darkness to me, fairly frustrating at times but hugely satisfying when you get even with that horde later on

I usually try to steer clear of games that kick my ass. Though, that hint system sounds pretty freaking neat.

Really to bad this is not on the PC.

Hopefully this game is half as great as it sounds. If so, it will be mighty.

Susan Arendt:

Kenjitsuka:
Great review as always.
As for the game itself.... eh, very hard to choose wheter I would love or hate it.
I'm really bad with dealing with failure, especially if it's unfair, but then again I also managed to beat Ninja Gaiden on xbox on all dificulty levels because I refused to let a game beat me. And yes, when you manage to get as good as to breeze through a level or boss fight without getting hit, it does make you feel really godlike. :)

My question; if you get really good at the game (like with Ninja Gaiden where you needed to get into the flow of the game) does the unfairness factor go down? I.e. does it keep you crying bitter tears through to the end, or does it eventually let up a tad?

Also, how many hours of gameplay are we looking at?

Ok, let me stress this -- while the game is very hard, it is never unfair. Yes, there are sneak attacks and traps, but when you die, it's not because the game is being cheap. I will say that at times the camera works against you, making it hard to see what you're fighting, but I don't personally count that as unfair.

If do very well in the game, the game gets easier and the loot becomes crappier. Conversely, if you fare poorly, the game gets harder, but the loot gets better. This is known as the world's "tendency" (light is easy, dark is hard). So the difficulty can adjust, yes, but let me be clear: Demon's Souls does not let up. You will never be able to relax. You will find, though, as you begin to understand the game, that areas you once found impossible become child's play. Not so much because you've leveled up, but because you're in the proper mindset. It's kind of difficult to explain.

Oh, and as for interactions with other players -- yeah, I assume people are going to be jerks, too, which is why it makes me glad to say that the messages I found were, in almost every case, quite helpful and well-meant.

Thank you so much for the extra information, it made it even clearer that this is an amazing game! And a game for me :)

Can't wait to get it, maybe I'll even see you invading my game :P
(And then I'd be dead for the billionth time, lol )

Looks really cool, and I haven't actually had a real challenge in a long while. Totally checking it out! :D

Awesome, I wanna play this badly.

Monocle Man:
Still no European publisher, I presume?

Import it is.
Better figure out whether I can use paypal through bank transactions since I have this special credit card that isn't supported by any site.
EDIT/ Quite amusing, Amazon is not willing to ship that particular game to an address outside the US. As if the gods are mocking me.

http://www.renchi.com/renchi/PS3_Games_Asia_Demon_s_Souls_AS.htm

Thats were me and my friend got our copy. Works perfectly :)

As for the game, definitely one of my favourites. I love the feeling you get after you get past that room you've been trying to do for hours. Although I had the benefit of watching my friend play through the game while I waited for my delayed copy so I knew about alot of the early traps :P

Also, brilliant review. Really did the game justice.

BlackDodongo:

Monocle Man:
Still no European publisher, I presume?

Import it is.
Better figure out whether I can use paypal through bank transactions since I have this special credit card that isn't supported by any site.
EDIT/ Quite amusing, Amazon is not willing to ship that particular game to an address outside the US. As if the gods are mocking me.

http://www.renchi.com/renchi/PS3_Games_Asia_Demon_s_Souls_AS.htm

Thats were me and my friend got our copy. Works perfectly :)

As for the game, definitely one of my favourites. I love the feeling you get after you get past that room you've been trying to do for hours. Although I had the benefit of watching my friend play through the game while I waited for my delayed copy so I knew about alot of the early traps :P

Also, brilliant review. Really did the game justice.

Would I be correct if I'd assume that version is completely in English and has no subtitles written in strange characters?
And does the game still have an active playerbase in those servers since those servers are supposedly separate and a lack of players to co-op or murder/be murdered by would probably detract from the overall experience.

I've had this game (imported) for a few months now and I have to say it's one of the most unique games out. To me it brings those challenging dungeon crawlers of the NES day to full HD life with great graphics and physics. The atmosphere it builds is haunting and it translates into the gameplay wonderfully.

I think the challenging nature is a bit, well, misunderstood. Don't get me wrong, the game is hard and it's 100% based on how skilled you are at playing. But I'm no where near a hardcore, challenge-oriented RPG player and I still have a lot of fun. That's because the game itself is built around the trial and error of the adventure, getting a little farther in a dungeon each time, banking on your skill in new areas, and of course, memorizing where the ambushes are.

One of the most rewarding aspects is that a big part of all of this is interacting with the community. You're constantly reading messages to know what's ahead of you, and leaving your own when you figure something out others before you might've missed.

Again, it's a very unique game and I absolutely recommend it to RPG enthusiasts or anyone who just got a PS3.

I imported this game a while back as it seemed that there's no hope of a EU release, and I absolutely love it. Great game. Its hard, but its hard in a really fair way - when you die its not because the game did something unfair, its because its better than you.

And when you complete it it basically restarts the game with you having the same skills but the enemies being a lot harder, so there's a good amount of replay value in it.

Definitely would recommend this, its a great game.

Looks interesting. I've never been too much of a fan of insanely difficult games, but that's because most of the ones I've played were only difficult because they were unfair about it (Resident Evil 5 on Professional mode unfair, I mean). If this is truly fair about it, I might get it. Besides, I think I have enough patience for this; I certainly have a high tolerance for repetition, if that helps.

orannis62:
Looks interesting. I've never been too much of a fan of insanely difficult games, but that's because most of the ones I've played were only difficult because they were unfair about it (Resident Evil 5 on Professional mode unfair, I mean). If this is truly fair about it, I might get it. Besides, I think I have enough patience for this; I certainly have a high tolerance for repetition, if that helps.

Yep, that'll help. Success in the game comes from learning its vagaries, which comes only from playing it over and over and over again. It's also fun to try different character builds -- an armor-heavy Temple Knight won't be as quick as Royal, for example.