• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Demon's Souls |OT| Soulsuckingly brilliant RPG full of Demon's Crack

Status
Not open for further replies.

lupinko

Member
One of my local import stores has the Asian version of Demon's Souls in stock. Quite amusing to see actually considering the game seems to be hard to obtain online.
 
Valpurgis said:
The same people that are cheering for the difficulty here will be the ones that lament on the poor sales of this game in NPD threads. I've been playing games for 20 years, played end game MMORPGs, been into ladder competition in FPS, and I still find this death system to be a complete pain in the ass, so imagine anyone in the guitar hero crowd picking this up, or the vast majority of people that don't have more than a couple hours every other day to play games.

The chances of this game coming out in the US and therefore making it into a NPD thread, are slim to none - but anyways, this was never advertised as anything other than a hardcore RPG, the spiritual successor to From Software's other insanely hardocre RPG series King's Field and I doubt that if it was released here that it would appeal in the slightest to the guitar hero crowd or those that have little time to devote to games. I have about as much sympathy for any casual RPG player with little time to spare struggling with Demon's Souls as I did for the console only gamers experiencing a hardcore PC RPG for the first time when Morrowind released on the Xbox.
 

mujun

Member
Valpurgis said:
The same people that are cheering for the difficulty here will be the ones that lament on the poor sales of this game in NPD threads.

dont paint me with your broad strokes please.

i totally disagree with you about the death detracting from the game (and its atmosphere).

i have never felt tension like i do in this game. until recently (since ive started to enjoy phantom invasions) i used to get a sort of sick feeling in my stomach when i had a haul of souls and was making my way through a level in flesh form trying to kill off the boss, never knowing when a phantom would invade and try to take me out. the feeling i got when having taken one out was huge relief and triumph. i literally felt like id triumphed over some huge obstacle.

ive never felt this way playing a game before. its one of the games charms and id hate for it to be taken out.

this game has really done some things very few other games have done for me (and i try/play a lot of games).

its almost totally skill based which is a very rare thing to find in games imo. i can control and plan for pretty much every thing a level can throw at me. it makes the difference between going through a level the first time and the 100th time huge which is one reason this game is the first ive ever played for more than 200 hours.

the atmosphere is pretty much second to none imo. re5 was laughable, dead space never came close to scaring me, etc etc. the chills i got playing 3-1 the first 20 or so times was awesome. i absolutely loved soaking up the sound of the bell and the eerie womans singing. i wish i could do it again, erase my memory of it and experience it afresh.

finally the depth. there is so much hidden in there and a lot of it requires really inventive ways to discover or get to. tendency, very very cool. crafted special weapons and unique equipment (i gave someone keel smasher the other day because i had two and they were having trouble getting pure white on level 2, someone gifted me blind which i had never gotten because i was obliterating the enemies in the level as a blue phantom and was considerably stronger than the player and the other blue phantom). there is so much there to find out.

sure other games do the same things to varying degrees but this game is just like a perfect storm to me.
 

RavenFox

Banned
Mujun your right on with that man. Just a couple days ago I was in Latria and I put my head down to look at my phone at a text message looked up a and a damn ghostly image of a player made me jump two inches off my seat. Mind you I already beaten this beast and my Soul lvl is in the 100's.Its that foreboding sense of dread this game gives ya.
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
There are a lot of incredibly frustrating cheap insta-deaths though.

The dragon in 1-3 that you have to run behind is one of them. Especially when you run back, you -always- get hit by his claw that takes out half of your health. If you don't have health items left to get yourself above half health, it will kill you every time.

EDIT: Also, trying to get to the corpses where the two dragons are in 1-1. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to judge where the fire is going to hit. There is not enough depth perception when trying to observe it. I died about 5 times trying to get to those corpses.
 

fanboi

Banned
BobTheFork: You got your copy from HK right? How many days was it untill u got when the tracking page said "processin to ship"?
 

DunpealD

Member
FlyinJ said:
EDIT: Also, trying to get to the corpses where the two dragons are in 1-1. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to judge where the fire is going to hit. There is not enough depth perception when trying to observe it. I died about 5 times trying to get to those corpses.

Shoot the red dragon away with your bow or just take death into account when you're going to get the loot there.

Haven't played through yet, but I still have to find a cheap death.
 

PuMa

Member
FlyinJ said:
EDIT: Also, trying to get to the corpses where the two dragons are in 1-1. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to judge where the fire is going to hit. There is not enough depth perception when trying to observe it. I died about 5 times trying to get to those corpses.

Hint: White tendency
 
Valpurgis said:
I'm sure the difficulty is what some people are into. And as always you'll find plenty of people that have a lot of free time clamoring for games to be longer and harder, but I just don't have the time to redo a whole level because I didn't know you couldn't fight that red eye knight the first time around.

one has to ask: given the unbelievable amount of warnings in this thread regarding it's unforgiving difficulty, why, then, did you ever get it?...

Valpurgis said:
Ultimately why not have a mode with regular re spawning for people that want to have a good time and experience the world they have created and make a hard mode with no re spawn for those that want that. What possible reason would there be to not give people that choice?

well, why not have a ninja puppie mode, where the enemies smile cheerfully & hand out treats? or a god mode? & why don't all games do this? what exactly do 'people that want to have a good time' want, & how can you 'experience the world they have created' if they remove the fundamental premise of that world? again, i'm not sure why you got the game...

Valpurgis said:
The other thing is that the way they deal with death in the game is totally non engaging, I mean they seem to think that making death a massive pain in the ass is gonna give it some emotional quality, it's actually doing the exact opposite, unless aggravation is what they were aiming for.

not sure what you're saying here. i never felt there was supposed to be an 'emotional quality' when i died (tho there was some serious 'emotional quality' involved when i'd finally beat several of the bosses :) ). at most, i'd get pissed off sometimes, but that's about it...

Valpurgis said:
The same people that are cheering for the difficulty here will be the ones that lament on the poor sales of this game in NPD threads. I've been playing games for 20 years, played end game MMORPGs, been into ladder competition in FPS, and I still find this death system to be a complete pain in the ass, so imagine anyone in the guitar hero crowd picking this up, or the vast majority of people that don't have more than a couple hours every other day to play games.

npd threads = '#1: wii fit' for me - don't read them, & don't comment on them. most of the games i enjoy are never on them, anyway, & i'd never expect this one to be, either :) ...
 

lupinko

Member
Can't believe Salesage/anti-PlayStation/whatever trolls found a way to troll this game, even though it's not even coming out (presently) in North America. :lol :lol :lol
 
lupinko said:
Can't believe Salesage/anti-PlayStation/whatever trolls found a way to troll this game, even though it's not even coming out (presently) in North America. :lol :lol :lol

Huh?

The person people are responding to owns the game. What in the world are you talking about?
 

sykoex

Lost all credibility.
Man I just had an awesome thought, remember how they released Siren on the US PSN in the summer? They should sooo do that with Demon's Souls.
 

mujun

Member
lupinko said:
Can't believe Salesage/anti-PlayStation/whatever trolls found a way to troll this game, even though it's not even coming out (presently) in North America. :lol :lol :lol

why are ppl so quick to call someone anti ps3?

i propose we welcome anyone into this thread.
 

mujun

Member
sykoex said:
Man I just had an awesome thought, remember how they released Siren on the US PSN in the summer? They should sooo do that with Demon's Souls.

thats a good idea. they should release the whole game on psn for 40-50 bucks.
 
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
Ok friends I've updated the OP with another shining review - EUROGAMER gives it a 9 out of 10.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/demons-souls-review

Our pride and joy continues to gain momentum!

It's an awesome review. It mirrors a lot of what I like about the game.

Thanks for the PM Wollan!

His check is most certainly in the mail. :lol Jesus.

sykoex said:
Man I just had an awesome thought, remember how they released Siren on the US PSN in the summer? They should sooo do that with Demon's Souls.


They should do that with every game, IMO.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
gregor7777 said:
They should do that with every game, IMO.

yup their first party titles with their 19 to 25GB sizes like Uncharted , R2 , KZ2..ect should be very fun to download and HDD friendly .
 
Well, I'm getting hammered just trying to get through 1-2, but I think I'm going to go online and see what happens. I have a bad felling some vet with a new toon is going to turn me into paste.
 

mujun

Member
BobTheFork said:
Well, I'm getting hammered just trying to get through 1-2, but I think I'm going to go online and see what happens. I have a bad felling some vet with a new toon is going to turn me into paste.

boss is easy but youll need a bow or soul bolt spell. if you want to make getting to him easier then use the tunnel rather than running across the bridge. thief ring and inch forward so the dogs dont maul you. shield guard and let them pounce then punish.

your only sticking point really should be the three crossbowmen and the first blue knight. you can use the wagon on the right as cover to take the crossbowmen down without attracting the knight.
 

Esorciccio

Neo Member
mujun said:
dont paint me with your broad strokes please.

i totally disagree with you about the death detracting from the game (and its atmosphere).

i have never felt tension like i do in this game. until recently (since ive started to enjoy phantom invasions) i used to get a sort of sick feeling in my stomach when i had a haul of souls and was making my way through a level in flesh form trying to kill off the boss, never knowing when a phantom would invade and try to take me out. the feeling i got when having taken one out was huge relief and triumph. i literally felt like id triumphed over some huge obstacle.

ive never felt this way playing a game before. its one of the games charms and id hate for it to be taken out.

this game has really done some things very few other games have done for me (and i try/play a lot of games).

its almost totally skill based which is a very rare thing to find in games imo. i can control and plan for pretty much every thing a level can throw at me. it makes the difference between going through a level the first time and the 100th time huge which is one reason this game is the first ive ever played for more than 200 hours.

the atmosphere is pretty much second to none imo. re5 was laughable, dead space never came close to scaring me, etc etc. the chills i got playing 3-1 the first 20 or so times was awesome. i absolutely loved soaking up the sound of the bell and the eerie womans singing. i wish i could do it again, erase my memory of it and experience it afresh.

finally the depth. there is so much hidden in there and a lot of it requires really inventive ways to discover or get to. tendency, very very cool. crafted special weapons and unique equipment (i gave someone keel smasher the other day because i had two and they were having trouble getting pure white on level 2, someone gifted me blind which i had never gotten because i was obliterating the enemies in the level as a blue phantom and was considerably stronger than the player and the other blue phantom). there is so much there to find out.

sure other games do the same things to varying degrees but this game is just like a perfect storm to me.


TOTAL QUOTE.


This game simply left me from the gaming apathy I fell from a lot of time till now.
The sensation it gives me are the closest to what games like Amiga's Dungeon Master
left me, sensations almost forgotten.

Maybe animations ae not perfect, maybe the graphic is not perfect (even if for me IT IS)
but the game in its totality (gameplay, structure, difficoulty calibration, graphics and anim, sound and vocal) is absolutely PERFECT IMHO. I would change really nothing.

These are the kind of games that you play to enjoy, not to see polycount or shaders or other crap while gettin bored.

Particularly, in this game, you're her to fight your tremendous battle, to challenge evil enemies, to face the real scare. If you feel a hero, slip in. If you tink you will not be able to handle, jump out.
 

Kogepan

Member
Nope....just got back from the game shops in HK....still completely out of stock. There's not even any 2nd hand copies for sale (not that i would).

Game shop guy says there should be a new shipment next week.....
 
Kyoufu said:
NCSX is sold out until sometime in May. lol

This game is impossible to obtain it seems. :(

I really hope this whole little supply and HIGH demand for this game makes Sony consider releasing it in non Asian regions for the non importers, that way more people can enjoy it. I can't recall a time in recent history where we had a PS3 game in such high demand local and import scene a like.
 

mujun

Member
Indeed said:
can anyone tell me if this version

http://www.acme-importvideogames.nl/v3/index.php?kategorie=20&id=3661&group_id=250

is the one with full english text etc? i guess asn means asian version so it should be right?

if this was answered before in this thread - im sorry, i cant search.

have a look here : http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/

the one at the top (which is the same as the one in your link) is most certainly the japanese one. i can double confirm that because its also the one i own.

apparently (or so the link i provided says) both the chinese and korean versions are full english (in game that is).

good luck, hope you manage to get it at a decent price and in a reasonable time!
 

The_Rebel

Member
"It's Kind of Like Monster Hunter with a Little Oblivion Thrown in, Structured Into Levels!"

Very, very difficult. If you like the challenge and control of Monster Hunter, chances are that you'll love this game.

Demon's Souls is a new PS3-exclusive game that so far has only been released to Japanese and other Asian audiences.

The game is sold in three different versions - Japanese, Asian and Korean. The Japanese release has Japanese text and dialogue, just as you would expect from a Japanese game. However, the Asian and Korean versions feature full English text and voice overs. Coupled with the fact that the PS3 has no region coding, this title is wonderfully easy to import and enjoy without knowing a single word of Japanese. It should be noted, however, that the manual for all three versions is written in Japanese. The Asian version comes with a quick reference sheet in English though.

Demon's Souls was developed by From Software, a company known for their Armored Core and King's Field series. Other games include Eternal Ring, Evergrace and Forever Kingdom, all of which I think are great games. After seeing a preview trailer for Demon's Souls (which I will be abbreviating as "DS" from here on), I knew that this would be another great From Software title. DS is an action-RPG that feels a lot like Monster Hunter. You can roll and backstep, can upgrade various weapons, and pick up different pieces of armor. The structure of the game is level based, instead of being a free-roaming ARPG like Eternal Ring of Oblivion.

When you start the game, you are presented with a character creator. It functions a lot like the character creator from Oblivion. You choose your skin color, hair color, hair style, as well as get to play with a large number of slider bars to change the positioning of facial features. You also get to pick from 10 different classes. Each class has different starting equipment and differently-balanced stats. Which class you choose will greatly effect how you play through the game.

For example, the Knight class starts you off with metal armor, a shield and a long sword. You also have a good amount of strength to begin with. With this choice, you'll be able to take more hits and deal out more damage. The Thief class, on the other hand, has very light armor and a dagger. While you take more damage and have a shorter weapon, you are more agile and able to slip behind enemies to try for a critical strike to the back. As you raise your character's experience level, you can increase your stats however you choose. If you wanted, you could start out as a Magician, but then later increase your strength and endurance, buy a longsword and then play as a Knight. Your class choice mostly effects how you play at the beginning of the game.

You start the game in "Body Form", which is to say that you are a regular human. When you die at any time in the game, you revert to "Soul Form". Soul Form and Body Form have their own unique differences. In Body Form, you have a full HP bar and are able to accept invitations from other players for multiplayer parties. In Soul Form, you only have half your HP max and are able to send invitations for multiplayer parties. I'll explain more about the multiplayer system later on, as it is a little tricky. Once you lose your body, there are only three ways to get it back. You can defeat the boss at the end of a stage, join a multiplayer party and defeat the boss at the end of a stage, or defeat another player in PVP. It is safe to say that you will be spending a lot of time playing the game in Soul Form, as it can be quite difficult beating a boss or another player.

You enter levels from the Nexus, which contains a couple shops and portals to all of the different levels. The levels are divided up into stages, each stage in a level being unlocked by defeating the previous stage's boss. You can warp to each stage you unlock from the Nexus. Throughout the levels, you'll encounter various enemies, item pickups and obstacles that you have to get past. With a few exceptions, if you make it all the way up to the end of the stage, then either die or warp back to the Nexus, all the enemies, traps, doors and such will respawn and you will be required to go through the whole level again. At the end of each stage is the boss. When you kill the boss, you open up the next stage. When a defeat a boss, that boss will never respawn for you (unless you do a New Game + or enter a multiplayer game). If you die or warp away after beating the boss, you will always be able to warp to the next stage.

Combat is a bit like Monster Hunter combined with Oblivion. Like Monster Hunter, you need to be careful fighting enemies. Unlike what you may think at first, this is not a hack 'n slash game. Unless you are way above the normal character level for that stage or have very powerful equipment, caution is a must. The standard controls have L1 and L2 set for left-handed equipment and R1 and R2 for right-handed. With a shield in the left and a sword in the right, L1 will block and R1 will perform a light attack. L2 performs a parry with the shield while R2 is a heavy attack with the sword. Parrying an enemy's attack at just the right time allows you to follow up with a "Riposte" counter-attack that is usually enough to instantly kill an enemy. O is another button you'll use frequently in combat. Pressing it will allow you to roll or backstep, while holding it allows you to dash. Different attacks can be used by pressing R1 while rolling, backstepping or dashing. X picks up items, Square uses items and Triangle allows you to toggle your right handed weapon to a one-handed or two-handed stance (for example, if you don't have enough strength to use a greatsword with one hand, holding it with two hands may allow you to effectively use it). The left stick is movement, right stick controls the camera, the d-pad switches equipment.

Most enemies will require that you approach them slowly with your guard up, then attack once their attack bounces off your shield. Once you get the hang of combat and learn the enemies' moves, you can defeat them with a parry and riposte or getting behind them and stabbing them with a critical hit. If you have a bow, you can either lock on or free aim and shoot arrows at them. If you have magic in your arsenal, you can blast them with a fireball or a magic arrow. Earlier enemies are pretty predictable and easy to beat once you get the hang of it, but later enemies will require a lot of practice. A lot of times, later enemies will be a lot stronger than you and are able to kill you in a couple hits. Like I said before, this game is very difficult and you should expect to be dying --- a lot! It may take several deaths just to even get up to a hard enemy, only to have it whack you a couple times and make you start all over again. To beat this game, you'll have to suppress your urge to throw the controller, and take each section in turn, learning each enemy's strengths and weakness, placements, etc.

Progressing through the game can be very hard for a number of reasons. I've already mentioned that you are going to be dying hundreds of times trying to learn each enemy's fighting patterns and weaknesses. Another thing that will kill you is falling off the edge. Sometimes you'll be so focused on fighting a zombie wielding a flaming sword that you'll accidentally roll backwards over a cliff and die. Sliding off one ledge and landing on another can be tricky as well. Another thing early on that will get on your nerves is the currency system. Killing enemies yields "souls", which can be used to purchase level-ups, new equipment and items. However, should you die in a stage, you lose ALL of your souls. ALL of them. The only way to recover them is to return to the exact spot where you died and touch the bloodstain that you left behind. Should you die before touching your bloodstain, it will be erased and your latest bloodstain will appear instead. Because of this, it can be hard to accumulate and hold onto funds, which means you could find yourself running out of healing items at bad times.

Multiplayer is handled in a very unique fashion in DS. Instead of the usual lobbies or friend invites, this game uses an entirely new system. While it may sometimes feel awkward, it is actually pretty cool. After you reach a certain point in the game, you gain the ability to place down a Soul Sign if you are in Soul Form. The Soul Sign appears as blue text on the ground and can be seen by all players that are in Body Form and have not defeated the boss in that particular stage. A player in Body Form can then activate the Soul Sign to invite you into their party. A maximum of two Soul Form players can be summoned into a party at once. While Soul Form players, or "Blue Phantoms" when they are added to a party, cannot pick up items, they can acquire souls. If the party defeats the boss, the Body Form host player advances his progress. The Blue Phantoms do not gain progress (i.e. they will have to defeat the boss on their own to access the next stage), but they do get their bodies back. This can be very helpful because it allows the host to beat a boss he may be stuck at, while at the same time giving the Blue Phantoms a chance to fight a boss and learn strategies, while at the same time getting their bodies back. A Blue Phantom who got his body back can then try the stage again and invite a couple Blue Phantoms to help out! It's a bit confusing at first, but after a while the system can be quite fun.

In addition to Blue Phantoms joining a Body Form host, there is another aspect of multiplayer: PVP. After getting a certain item in the game, Soul Form players are given the option of joining a Body Form host as a Black Phantom. A Black Phantom replaces the boss of the current stage and in effect becomes the boss. The Black Phantom's stats and equipment do not change, so everything he currently has is carried over into the host's world. The Black Phantom spawns somewhere in the host's stage and must then kill the host (and any Blue Phantoms he may have hanging around). If the Black Phantom is killed by the host or the Blue Phantoms, they party receives the Black Phantoms accumulated souls. But if the Black Phantom defeats the party, he steals the body of the host, turning the host back into Soul Form. Playing as a Black Phantom brings a whole new side to the game that is both exciting and fun. Enemies in the stage will not harm a Black Phantom (with a few exceptions). The host and any Blue Phantoms receive a warning that a Black Phantom has broken into the game, but have no idea where he is. The fun and challenge of playing as a Black Phantom comes from tracking down and sneaking up on the party. Sometimes the Black Phantom will go into a room and find the host alone and with his back turned, an easy kill. Other times, a full party is prepared for the attack and holes up in a small room to set up an ambush. You never know what you're getting into when you break in. It's worth mentioning that should you, as a Black Phantom, get killed by a stage hazard because of your own negligence (run off a cliff, roll into a campfire; I've done both a few times!), you actually suffer a penalty by losing a point off your highest stat! Plus the host and the Blue Phantoms will laugh at you.

Communication in DS is another intuitive feature. Players have the option of putting down pre-set messages on the ground for all players to see. For example, if you are playing in a stage and are suddenly killed by surprise ambush from a molotov-throwing knight, you can warn other players by leaving the message "Beware of Ambush Ahead". Using this system, players can leave short hints and tips about upcoming enemies or tricky sections that can help unaware players. If a player finds one of these messages helpful, he can then give it a rating point. Messages that receive no rating points vanish after a while, but messages that get a lot of points stay around longer. This keeps players from writing false hints or nonsense, and as an added bonus, everytime your message is rated, you get healed a small bit. During multiplayer, there is no voice chat. You are limited to messages and a short list of gestures such as pointing or sighing.

There's a large variety of weapons in the game from greatswords to crossbows to spears to claws. Almost all weapons can be upgraded to get a stat boost, and a select few can become new weapons all together. There are also several diffent kinds of armor, though nowhere near the amount in Monster Hunter. There are also various throwing weapons that are used as items, such as kunai, firebombs and throwing knives. While some items are dropped from enemies,
others can be found lying on the ground or bought at the shop.

Story 7/10
The opening gives you some background on the events of the game. You can also rescue NPCs and learn a little more. But this game isn't very story-driven, and it could be a long time before you hear more about what's going on. Yet although there isn't much story (at least compared to many other RPGs), the gameplay itself is very fun.

Graphics 10/10
The visuals in this game are amazing. It takes advantage of the PS3's great hardware to render beautiful scenery and characters. The intro itself is simply stunning. Each of the levels looks different, from medieval towns, caves, castles and the much hated swamp. Yes, as much as we all hate the evil swamp with its poisonous water and many sheer drop-offs, the portrayal of the level is awesome. Most of the levels are rather dark and creepy, some never showing any sunlight. This can be a pretty creepy game sometimes and you'll find yourself getting pretty scared when you see shadows moving past the dark doorway in front of you. Character models and enemies are well rendered while bosses are spectacular. Excellent use of the PS3's graphical capabilities!

Sound 8/10
First off, for a Japanese game that is not intended to be released in the US, the voice-over work is great. So many games that are released in the States are poorly translated and have even worse voice acting (Castle Shikigami 2 anyone?(even though I love CS2 because the dialogue makes no sense!)). This game though is really good and actually sounds authentic. Second, the sound effects are well placed. The sounds of swords slicing into people or ringing off of armor, or the sound of a gigantic dragon barbeque-ing you. Just awesome. The only part about the sound that disappointed me was the music. There's very little music in the game. Some of it is pretty cool, but most of it is ambient and creepy. It suits the game really well, and helps to build on the tense atmosphere, but I suppose I was expecting something that would make me want to run out and buy the soundtrack (or rather, order off of the internet since I am not a resident of Japan). I guess I was hoping for something kind of like Eternal Ring. Aside from that though, which is really only a minor issue, the sound is good.

Controls 9/10
The Controls feel a lot like Monster and Oblivion combined. It takes a bit getting used to them, but you'll realize why they put those buttons where they did once you get into the game. Much like Armored core (though much less confusing, but I'm not complaining about that). The actions are very responsive and realistic. Camera control is excellent. This game did not feel the need to revive the ongoing battle of man vs. camera! The camera is easily spun with the right stick and doesn't get hung up or stuck. There are, however, a few glitches, such as trying to roll off of one ledge onto another. Since there is no jump button, it gets a little tricky and can cause you to fall off the edge many times over.

Gameplay 10/10
Here's where it comes down to the "you either love it or hate it" part. This game is very, very hard. It's like Devil May Cray 3, Monster Hunter 2 and...let's say the original Ninja Gaiden on NES all rolled into one big ball of hardness. Unless you have an extremely slow and patient temper, or you are someone who can pick up and beat just about any game, you are going to get angry. You'd better prepare to be screaming and thowing things around the room when you were THIS CLOSE to getting that guy when the FREAKIN' SPEAR-THROWING OOZE knocked you into the FLAMING ZOMBIE and you fell down off the tower! If you like a good challenge, then this is all thumbs-up! But if you are more of a casual gamer, you may not enjoy spending two hours just trying to get up to the boss of STAGE ONE. I, personally love this game to death (many deaths, actually) and enjoy the difficulty (sometimes only after the fact). Amazing experience. Epic boss fights against giant dragons as well as gigantic manta rays that shoot exploding spears at you. And the joy of breaking into people games and trying to assassinate them (or trying to foil their assassination on you)!

Replay Value 10/10
After completing the game, you are give the option of starting a new game + in which all your items and stats carry over. Many items can only be collected by going through the game multiple times. And if you ever feel like making a new character all together, I'm pretty sure they give you at least 6 character slots per file!

All in all, I give it a 9/10. Definitely one of the best games I've played on PS3, probably one of my top 10 ever! I'm tempted to give it a full 10/10, but I can't really do that if I'm picking at issues back there. Definitely check out YouTube videos of people playing this and hop onto the board at GameFAQs. This game is a rare masterpiece that I think everyone should at least consider buying if they love action RPGs, Monster Hunter, really hard games or fighting giant spear-throwing oozes!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/09

Game Release: Demon's Souls (JP, 02/05/09)

That's the review that sold me the game, mr arpantz from Gfaqs wrote it :)
 

The_Rebel

Member
mujun said:
if you really want to level up quickly or to higher levels you are going to have to do new game + and ++ and +++ etc. so dont really worry too much about missing an npc. i know it sucks to have to wait that long but as you play the game more youll see how it doesnt matter as much as you think it does ;)

@gregor, the best way to throw down with blue knights if you are using a sword or the like is to lock on and walk backwards. when he does a vertical slash hit him either once with a slow weapon or 2-3 times with a fast one. move back and do it again. if you stay closeish he shouldnt run. if he does and he looks like hes going to lunge then roll backwards. double roll is your friend. you can avoid pretty much any attack with it.

I've almost beaten the game mujun and it took me 4 hours just to find enough ore to uprade my hammer 6 levels, if I never had killed that npc I would have gotten it a lot faster :( :lol

Can't wait to start a new game+, thanks for the info though dude :D
 

eXistor

Member
I never really got the Oblivion references tbh, it's a completely different kind of game and I really don't see a lot of similarities anywhere. Combat is 100% different, the environments are different, the perspective is completely different. Except for some superficial aesthetics it's just something completely altogether.
 

Oni Jazar

Member
alba said:
Quoting if people are looking for good a ebayer selling the game! (took a week for me to get it so, quite fast!)

Damn you alba. I still haven't gotten word from the ebay seller that my copy has shipped. He said that he "got the stocks but just could send as the post office close" 5 days ago.
 

mujun

Member
The_Rebel said:
I've almost beaten the game mujun and it took me 4 hours just to find enough ore to uprade my hammer 6 levels, if I never had killed that npc I would have gotten it a lot faster :( :lol

Can't wait to start a new game+, thanks for the info though dude :D

yeah getting ore can suck sometimes ;) im 3 chunks of faintstone short of finishing off my blessed northern knight sword :(

check out the wiki though, i just realized i can pick up certain ores without having to farm them.
 
A 10 for graphics though? Seriously?

I love the theme, but there are no character shadows :lol None. Not on enemies or players.

I hear they had to remove them last minute to get the game to a playable framerate. Some areas have massive frame drops despite of that. Not to mention the absoulutely ridiculous physics system. Take a walk over some bodies and get ready to laugh at how they react.

I'm not very bothered by it, but a 10 for graphics? Taking advantage of the PS3? (actually the rag doll stuff does pull me out of the 'immersion' of the game a bit)


On a different note, thank the lord for that wiki/forums. I've been needing help like crazy. :lol

@mujun, yeah I can take those dudes down easy.


EDIT: One thing that isn't mentioned enough is how OUTSTANDING the VA is. There's not a ton of it, but it really is high quality. That really surprised me.
 
That's a great review, I hope it keeps the ball rolling (possibly rollin'). I agree, the graphics are smooth and the monsters are top notch, but I would have never given it a 10 on graphics. I'm getting my butt kicked so far, but it's not annoying for some reason (this coming from someone who recently 'Gief raged' a controler) so I don't mind learning. I think the real key so far is not to try to move on too fast, but play a level a few times and rank up a bit. I went on-line for an hour or so last night and it's really cool. I freakeda out at first when I saw all the other souls running around, I thought I had to kill them for a second. There was an embarrassing moment when I touched a blood stain; I thought it was another player as a phantom that appeared and I ran away to 2 minutes before I figured it out lol.
I have to go score some pet food and beer while I have a chance, but then I'll be on for awhile tonight, so I'd love to try co-op with someone if they have a new character. Send me a message or just add me - id BobTheFork
 

mujun

Member
gregor7777 said:
A 10 for graphics though? Seriously?

I love the theme, but there are no character shadows :lol None. Not on enemies or players.

I hear they had to remove them last minute to get the game to a playable framerate. Some areas have massive frame drops despite of that. Not to mention the absoulutely ridiculous physics system. Take a walk over some bodies and get ready to laugh at how they react.

I'm not very bothered by it, but a 10 for graphics? Taking advantage of the PS3? (actually the rag doll stuff does pull me out of the 'immersion' of the game a bit)


On a different note, thank the lord for that wiki/forums. I've been needing help like crazy. :lol

@mujun, yeah I can take those dudes down easy.


EDIT: One thing that isn't mentioned enough is how OUTSTANDING the VA is. There's not a ton of it, but it really is high quality. That really surprised me.

technically its 7 or 8. artistically though, id give it a 10.
 
mujun said:
technically its 7 or 8. artistically though, id give it a 10.

Yeah, also it's aliased to all hell and has some pretty overused bloom effects.

From an art/theme point of view though, it's right up my alley.
 
BobTheFork said:
That's a great review, I hope it keeps the ball rolling (possibly rollin'). I agree, the graphics are smooth and the monsters are top notch, but I would have never given it a 10 on graphics. I'm getting my butt kicked so far, but it's not annoying for some reason (this coming from someone who recently 'Gief raged' a controler) so I don't mind learning. I think the real key so far is not to try to move on too fast, but play a level a few times and rank up a bit. I went on-line for an hour or so last night and it's really cool. I freakeda out at first when I saw all the other souls running around, I thought I had to kill them for a second. There was an embarrassing moment when I touched a blood stain; I thought it was another player as a phantom that appeared and I ran away to 2 minutes before I figured it out lol.
I have to go score some pet food and beer while I have a chance, but then I'll be on for awhile tonight, so I'd love to try co-op with someone if they have a new character. Send me a message or just add me - id BobTheFork

Bob, I tried to add you but there's no room left on your FL.

psn: gregor_7777
 
gregor7777 said:
Bob, I tried to add you but there's no room left on your FL.
Ack, again? ok, let me bump someone who isn't on and I'll add you when I get back. Please Pm me your Screen name so I can add it.

edit: or I could just read it :p
 

truly101

I got grudge sucked!
I'm still stuck on the 1st level. Is there no way to use your souls that you've gathered to power up your character unless you complete the level? I had about 2000 souls and went all the way back to the beginning and warped back to the Nexxus thinking I could either upgrade my character or buy new equipment. I could buy new stuff but not much, and I didn't see any way to power up my character at all. I ended up getting killed by a second blue eyed knight and lost everything and I haven't played it since. I'll wait for someone to post up a walkthrough before I try again.
 
truly101 said:
I'm still stuck on the 1st level. Is there no way to use your souls that you've gathered to power up your character unless you complete the level? I had about 2000 souls and went all the way back to the beginning and warped back to the Nexxus thinking I could either upgrade my character or buy new equipment. I could buy new stuff but not much, and I didn't see any way to power up my character at all. I ended up getting killed by a second blue eyed knight and lost everything and I haven't played it since. I'll wait for someone to post up a walkthrough before I try again.

Nope, 1-1 must be completed before you can level up.
 
truly101 said:
I'm still stuck on the 1st level. Is there no way to use your souls that you've gathered to power up your character unless you complete the level? I had about 2000 souls and went all the way back to the beginning and warped back to the Nexxus thinking I could either upgrade my character or buy new equipment. I could buy new stuff but not much, and I didn't see any way to power up my character at all. I ended up getting killed by a second blue eyed knight and lost everything and I haven't played it since. I'll wait for someone to post up a walkthrough before I try again.
There is a walkthrough on GAmefaqs, and a wiki link is posted here. I just did it yesterday and the answer is no, you can't upgrade until you beat the first level. It took me many tries before I got it right; I use a soldier and I had to make sure to block. If you wait and block a strike you can hit the blue eyes pretty easily.
 

mujun

Member
truly101 said:
I'm still stuck on the 1st level. Is there no way to use your souls that you've gathered to power up your character unless you complete the level? I had about 2000 souls and went all the way back to the beginning and warped back to the Nexxus thinking I could either upgrade my character or buy new equipment. I could buy new stuff but not much, and I didn't see any way to power up my character at all. I ended up getting killed by a second blue eyed knight and lost everything and I haven't played it since. I'll wait for someone to post up a walkthrough before I try again.

did you get the thief ring? after you beat the first blue knight and walked through the shimmering green curtain you went down some stairs right. dont go to the room with barrels where the guy throws the torch instead drop down to where you can see a guy in heavy armor who needs to be helped. drop down there and get the ring. put it on. now youll need to inch forward every time you find an enemy and back up when they come at you. use your shield or roll take them out one at a time. if you want to get one out of a group of enemies hit them from distance with a ranged weapon.

your toughest challenge will be phalanx. avoid fighting his minions and make sure you have at least 3+ turpentines. slash him two or three times then run away. dont get stuck fighting his minions or youll get spear raped.
 
Yeah, definitely use turpentines. It will make that battle 100x easier.

Thanks for the Thief Ring tip. Didn't know about that.

EDIT goddam this game can be frustrating :lol , I'm done for tonight
 

RavenFox

Banned
gregor7777 said:
A 10 for graphics though? Seriously?

I love the theme, but there are no character shadows :lol None. Not on enemies or players.

I hear they had to remove them last minute to get the game to a playable framerate. Some areas have massive frame drops despite of that. Not to mention the absoulutely ridiculous physics system. Take a walk over some bodies and get ready to laugh at how they react.

I'm not very bothered by it, but a 10 for graphics? Taking advantage of the PS3? (actually the rag doll stuff does pull me out of the 'immersion' of the game a bit)


On a different note, thank the lord for that wiki/forums. I've been needing help like crazy. :lol

@mujun, yeah I can take those dudes down easy.


EDIT: One thing that isn't mentioned enough is how OUTSTANDING the VA is. There's not a ton of it, but it really is high quality. That really surprised me.

There are shadows in the game[even self shadowing]. Just not everywhere.

Also I don't know if this was answered but has anyone gotten the treasure behind the altar after defeating fools Idol?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom