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How does Demon's Souls hold up?

StoneFox

Member
I played Demon's Souls and then played Dark Souls when it released, and while I liked Dark Souls, it never hit the same bar that Demon's set. Dark Souls felt like a game riding the coattails of Demon's, for example, with the inclusion of fog gates that had a reason to exist according to the story in DeS, but existed "just because" in Dark.

I commend FromSoft from not doing the Nexus again to make a continuous level instead though. The one perk to having the Nexus, however, is that you can make the levels more varied without worrying about how they could be connected.

I wouldn't mind re-buying it on PS4.
 

Styles

Member
I could listen to Ostrava's voice forever and ever and ever..
What a lovely man.

smoochum.gif
 

Drencrom

Member
I love it.

I always post the Phalanx boss battle theme to show how off-beat the soundtrack is. It's not like the rest of the Souls games which went for more traditional orchestral soundtracks. Demon's Souls OST has this odd, cold tone to it, and in cases like the Phalanx theme it even sounds like a soundtrack from a 60s epic (think Ben-Hur). Nobody, not even current film soundtrack composers, makes music like this anymore.

EDIT: The character creation song is still GOAT. I can only describe it as "haunting".

The music of Demon's Souls is really unappreciated overall, it's so enigmatic, subduded and overall "unique" compared to most music in the Soulsborne series and music in games in general. The nexus theme, Maiden Astrea, The ending themes etc are some of the best damn themes in game to me personally

Still really saddened Shunsuke Kida (Demon's Souls composer) wasn't brought back to do any music after Demon's Souls, a damn shame really...
 

dlauv

Member
It's good, but setting art style and narrative aside it feels kind of rough in spots, understandably. There are also more gimmick bosses than I'd like and the bosses you actually fight feel like prototype Dark Souls bosses.
 

Rektash

Member
Still a fantastic game...

... but it does feel a bit archaic if you have played any newer soulsborne game.

This is a testament of how good FROM is at improving their soulsborne formula though.

Personally I don't think it can compete with dks1 and bloodborne.
 

Ogawa-san

Member
I don't know why, but it felt less dated than DS1... Maybe it's the fast travelling from start.

I'd say, if anything, it holds up because no other game in the series managed to bring the same sense of dread, not even BB. All the way through it, there was the feeling that "the world is fucked and so am I".
 

Maddrical

Member
Ahhh dammit. I think I'll need to replay DeS once I've finally finished DS3. Playing through DeS with zero knowledge of the game was probably the best single player gaming experience I've ever had, which is why it's still the #1 Soulsborne game in my mind.

Also I loved world & soul tendency. I would LOVE a fully fleshed out tendency system to make a comeback in another Soulsborne game.
 

Sotha_Sil

Member
It's my least favorite of the Souls/BB line of games. It did a lot of cool things as the original innovator, but ultimately the last time I replayed it I only enjoyed 2 of the 5 worlds.
 

bounchfx

Member
I still like the hub of demons the best, and nostalgia wise it wins for me. I fucking loved bloodbornes combat though and ds3 is incredible so far but demons is still legit because it came out of nowhere and provided a fresh, exciting experience
 

doofy102

Member
The enemies are simpler and have less moves than the enemies of Dark Souls. They're more predictable. I thought it was the superior game until I realised that. The skeleton enemies alone have more going on with their attacking and defending than any enemy of Demon's Souls.
 
Y'know, I hate to say it, but I don't really think I like the bosses so far. They feel more like annoying puzzles than satisfying tests of skill. Also, jumping between this and DS2 makes me want to agree with people who are saying there's something off about the combat (even with DS2's deadzone issue). Maybe that's because I'm demolishing everything running around as a dual-wielding swordswoman in DS2, but fighting shit in Demon's just doesn't feel as good.
 

Thud

Member
I felt the worst killing those plague babies just so I can grab some loot.

Valley of Defilement does something to your mind.

I'm on a NG+ run now, thought about making a thread about it, but idk if it's interesting to read.
 

PoshAlligatorRD

Neo Member
Was really surprised to see a summon sign when I booted it up while waiting for Bloodborne to install the other day.

I'd been stuck on the Man Eaters for ages on my original playthrough, so they helped me out with that.

For me I just can't get my head around not having an Estus. That changed up the dynamic of how the Souls games are structured so much to me. Bloodborne of course when back to full on consumable health restores, but Blood Vials were much more plentiful and useful than the Grasses, I think.

Not sure I'll be trying to finish it but it was interesting to go back. Would love a remaster, though (Demon's Souls / Dark Souls Remaster combo?).
 

thejdv15

Neo Member
Beat Dark Souls 3 in its entirety about a week ago, and got very nostalgic for DeS since DS3 is loaded with subtle references to it.
Whelp, DeS hasn't aged well at all. Level design is all over the place in terms of quality (Shrine of Storms is in desperate need of some DS elevator shortcuts), but more importantly, the difficulty feels kind of BS because of how janky some of the bosses are. Flamelurker and Maneater especially are major sticking points for me because they are both cool concepts for tough bosses (hyper aggressive boss with AoE attacks & surprise duo boss fight, respectively), but then DS went and did both of those concepts so much better that the originals now feel frustrating to slog through (ex: Maneater is tough enough as a duo boss without having the arena be a bridge that is easy to fall/get knocked off of).
Granted, it's still workable (I'm about 80% of the way through NG+ as we speak). The epic architecture and monster designs are still just as beautiful and frightening as they used to be (mancentipedes are still one of the creepiest enemies FromSoft ever made). I just wish that DeS still played well.
 
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