Author Topic: Demon's Souls - Update: Remaster is coming to PS5 and PC  (Read 47283 times)

Offline MysterD

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Demon's Souls - Update: Remaster is coming to PS5 and PC
« on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 12:46:38 PM »
NEWEST = 9/16/2020:
Demon's Souls (Remastered) is coming to PS5 and PC.

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NEW = 10-6-2010:
EvilAvatar -> Demon's Souls to celebrate 1 year anniversary throughout October will be going through some mode-switching...
Pure White until Oct. 18th and
Pure Black from Oct. 18th-31st.


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OLD
9.0 from GameSpot
Video review.
Written review.

Quote
The Good
    * Amazing, unique online features 
    * Dark, beautiful level design that draws you in 
    * Fantastic creature design and animations 
    * Intense, methodical combat mechanics 
    * Unique world structure.

The Bad
    * Extremely difficult 
    * Some presentation issues.

Online Mode Sounds Awesome
Quote
The challenging combat is enhanced by a number of innovative online features that invite players to interact with each other. To survive, you not only need to pay careful attention to your environs, but you must be mindful of the clues other players have left for you, both purposeful and accidental. The game's online integration is nothing like you've ever seen, and it's a core component of the Demon's Souls experience. The signs and indications of other players are everywhere. You'll see translucent white ghosts roaming your world, moving about and swinging their weapons, though you can't directly interact with them. These spirits are actually other players. They are fighting the same enemies and sprinting across the same bridges, but they inhabit their own worlds, not yours. You see only their apparitions, but those apparitions may be enough to clue you in to a surprise ambush up ahead or a bit of hidden loot around the corner.

Quote
Nevertheless, other players aren't always your best pals; sometimes, they may be your worst enemies. Once you've progressed far enough (and procured the necessary item), you can invade another player's realm as a black phantom--and other players can invade yours. Don't worry that you'll suddenly be attacked by another player many, many levels above you: your invader must be around the same level as you, so you should be on more or less equal footing. Even so, the presence of an enemy player changes the very nature of your exploration. Not only must you cope with the array of demons seeking to slaughter you, but you must also be on the lookout for the telltale blood-red shimmer of your intruder. As a result, you'll move ahead much more cautiously--and when you do finally meet, the ensuing encounter is tense and exciting. Don't be surprised if you let out an audible gasp when you receive the notification on your screen that another player has penetrated your realm; no matter how often they happen, invasions never lose their potency. If you're the one being invaded, the intrusion is exciting and a little bit scary; you'll look around, wondering if you're being followed, and listen for signs of your foe. When you're the invader, you'll feel vaguely evil scouting about, trying to stay out of your victim's sight, and looking for the best opportunity to attack.

And there may be surprising moments in which these various systems coalesce. For example, you may join another player in his or her realm, only to have a black phantom appear. The unspoken (there is no voice chat) partnership between you and your collaborator makes banishing a black phantom from his realm almost as satisfying as banishing one from your own. Of course, the souls you earn sweeten the deal.

EDIT by Que - title of game is Demon's Souls.
« Last Edit: Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 03:01:02 PM by MysterD »

Offline Xessive

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 12:58:51 PM »
I just watched the review at GameTrailers.com and I'm intrigued. The one thing that was stressed throughout was the game's unforgiving difficulty. It's not a major deterrent for me but I do have a tendency to quit a game completely (or at least for an extended period) when it reaches the point of frustration.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 01:04:33 PM »
EDIT:
Credit goes to Xessive for mentioning this.
Here's The GameTrailers REVIEW.
8.9 from GTTV.



ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I just watched the review at GameTrailers.com and I'm intrigued. The one thing that was stressed throughout was the game's unforgiving difficulty.
It makes me wonder if the game company might say via means of (hopefully free) DLC or something release new lower levels of difficulty to the game. I'm sure, as awesome as the game does sound, A LOT of gamers are going to be turned-off by how tough this game actually sounds -- especially w/ the way GameSpot addressed how brutally tough it is.

Quote
It's not a major deterrent for me but I do have a tendency to quit a game completely (or at least for an extended period) when it reaches the point of frustration.
Same here.

The whole soul thing of seeing where other players progress if y'all are online together -- though, playing  in your own world -- sounds awesome. I don't know if I ever heard of such a feature in a game.

And, the whole thing of some players might join you while playing in your would and also another be against you as a bad guy and all -- sounds like what The Crossing was going to do.

I gotta' admit, that sounds like a freakin' blast.

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 03:51:56 PM »
It definitely sounds interesting, but not $70 interesting.

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 06:38:35 PM »
I just got this a little earlier today and played it for a couple of hours and I'm enjoying it so far.  I'll probably play a little more once I finish Valkyria Chronicles though.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 08:36:46 PM »
It's very cool.  I put a good 4 or so hours into it last night and had a total blast.  It's totally unlike anything I've ever played, at least to a point.  It reminds me heavily of the old Codemasters game Blade of Darkness (aka Severance in Europe and elsewhere).  That game was very dark, gritty fantasy with relatively punishing difficulty and felt like a mix of an RPG and action game.  That one veered more toward pure action, but it was quite cool.  They're also both a bit wonky in spots which can add to the frustration.  The one thing that Severance had that Demon's Souls really doesn't was absolutely fucking epic gratuitous violence.  Some of the best blood effects to ever grace a PC monitor were in that game, I tell you.  Little stands up to it even today.  Demon's Souls is plenty violent, but -- sadly -- not graphic.  The game also reminds me a bit of Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm for the Dreamcast, which was a fucking fantastic game.

Anyway, for those who no longer trust reviews, I'll give an overview you can trust.

The game is unique for the following reasons:

A - It's hard.  But not like a little hard, like fuck you hard.
B - The game combines the single-player experience with the multiplayer experience in really neat ways.
C - The game feels both linear and moderately open at the same time.
D - It has a phenomenally surreal feel to it.

Firstly, the difficulty.  While it is hard, the real extent of that will depend on who you are and what pisses you off.  For me, I don't really find it all that bad.  I did die a number of times in the opening level, and a couple of them were cheap deaths related to wonky bits of the game (I once walked off a ledge by accident because my target fell into a pit and shifted my viewpoint before I could untarget him or stop moving), but on the whole you feel as though you learn from your death and have a better idea of what not to do next time.  You may die some stupid deaths, and these can be a little vexing, but if you learn to slow down and play every life as though it were your last, you'll be fine.  It's not that much worse than anything else, you just can't save and load or restart from a checkpoint.

That said, you do kind of get checkpoints, or at least the first area worked this way.  It isn't that you'll be able to start from where you left off, it's that the things you do in the level are persistent.  Enemies respawn every time you die or leave, but the actual level remains as you left it.  Drop a drawbridge or open a portcullis and you won't have to do it again, which may make your life a good deal easier as far as getting back to where you want to be.

But do expect to go through the same areas and enemies a whole lot if you die.  Your bloodstain will remain where you died, along with all the souls (basically the game's currency) you had at the time of your demise, but if you die trying to get back to collect them, only your latest bloodstain remains, which will obviously have substantially less souls with it.  I lost a couple thousand to a stupid death at the hands of a weak enemy last night, and it was pretty crushing to know that what should have been a pretty easy corpse run that would have netted me about 2500 souls ended with a much easier corpse run to my new bloodstain that netted me a total of about 50 souls for the couple enemies I killed.  I ended the night at around 6000, and I can say that having them so easily taken away makes a successful adventure all the more satisfying.

And that's what the game tries to do: reward you for not being a pussy.  It does this very well so far.  If you persevere, you will make progress and feel satisfied.  If you give up fast, you will feel like you wasted sixty bucks.

That brings us to the multiplayer stuff nicely.  The best part?  Watching people die.  The gimmick with the MP is that it's only sort of MP.  You actually almost feel like you're in an MMO because you're constantly seeing the ghosts of other people running around for a few seconds doing something before they fade away, but you can't interact with them in any way and they aren't taking part in your world, they're in their own.  But when they die, they leave bloodstains that may randomly show up in your world.  "Use" them, and you get to view the last few seconds of their misspent life.  The thing is, some of these are really fucking funny.  Some of them are just like, "A guy was fighting and obviously got stabbed to death right here," but others are like, "A guy was walking up this staircase and... uh, sort of walked off of it," or, "This guy was doing pretty well until he dodged his way into this campfire and burned to death."  The noob-deaths are just immensely satisfying to watch, even though you have to use your imagination for some of them, and they make you feel like a total badass when you're doing well because you're constantly seeing all these places that other people are dying but you aren't.  It has quite an interesting effect on your psyche.

The other really neat part is that players can leave messages.  You just drop one on the ground using the selection of pre-set things they offer you, usually to warn people of an ambush or trap, or maybe point out some treasure or something.  Then your messages will randomly show up in other people's games, and if they think it was a good message, they can "recommend" it and thereby refill your health.  Some messages get totally looked over where others get a ton of recommendations, and some people put great messages where some are kind of "what the hell was he trying to say?"  Too, you could totally lie just to fuck with people, and some of those messages can be pretty amusing.

I haven't experienced the coop or PvP play yet, though one of the cool things is you can't opt out of PvP.  The game continues to be hardcore, here.  Basically if you die, you can come back to life in your own game either by helping someone defeat a boss in their world, or by invading their world and assassinating them.  So while you can choose to participate in the coop stuff by either asking people to come help you or choosing to go help someone so as to bring yourself back to life, you can't opt out of PvP.  Somebody may invade your world at any time if they choose to do so.  And, of course, you can try to kill somebody to get yourself back in your own game, too.  I only just got the items that allow you to deal with either of these things, so I can't report on it, but the concept is pretty cool.

I sort of already mentioned the third item, that the game feels linear and a bit open simultaneously.  This isn't eactly true, but has more to do with the feeling of it.  As I mentioned, levels change and stay changed as you do certain things in them, even though enemies always respawn.  Since you're also seeing other players doing stuff and reading their messages, it really feels kinda' MMO-like, despite not being like one at all.  But it doesn't feel lonely.  And since enemies respawn, you feel like you can go back through areas just to farm stuff from them... and there are areas that may be harder or easier, and new paths can apparently open up depending on how many people have died or kicked ass, etc.  I don't know about that part really yet, but supposedly things can shift around depending on what people do.  Doesn't drastically alter things, just gives you a change.  And when you go through a level after death, your next experience may be a little different too, since enemies can occasionally be unpredictable or a change in the level may make stuff slightly different.

Anyway, I've noticed some diverging paths in the first area, and even after defeating the boss, there's still stuff to do there.  But I don't have to.  I could also check out any of the other levels if I wanted.  So while the levels seem like they'll be somewhat linear, you also have some freedom, and there are definitely areas you don't have to go to that may yield more stuff, and sometimes there are multiple paths to an end destination.

This is getting long, so lastly, the atmosphere is neat.  The gritty, dark fantasy feel is great, but the fact that you've got all these other people running around leaving messages and popping in and out of view, dying to warn you of things, etc., works with the art and design they've gone for to really make things feel quite surreal.  It's pretty cool and makes the general experience feel very different from other games.  You never feel alone, but at the same time there's a heavy disconnect from other players.  Even when you're doing coop you can only do a limited set of gestures to communicate.  It's really pretty cool how that feels.

Anyway, I highly recommend the game.  But do know whether or not you've got the balls to stick with it before you buy it, or at least force yourself to stick with it even if you get frustrated.  In the end, it seems like your frustration gets amply rewarded by the game's systems, and there's a lot more depth to this than other games I've played that felt similar.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 09:46:50 PM »
How is the story stuff so far? Is it just typical fantasy stuff?

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 09:59:50 PM »
Pretty much.  It isn't a story-heavy game from what I gather, as there aren't a lot of characters to begin with.  The world is basically overrun and there's just a few people you run into.  It's nicely presented, but there isn't really anything to it.  But at least it's nicely presented.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 11:30:04 PM »
That does look like a lot of fun.  I just might have to pick it up.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #9 on: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 09:15:13 AM »
OFF-TOPIC - Blade of Darkness (AKA Severance):
Quote from: Que
It reminds me heavily of the old Codemasters game Blade of Darkness (aka Severance in Europe and elsewhere).  That game was very dark, gritty fantasy with relatively punishing difficulty and felt like a mix of an RPG and action game.  That one veered more toward pure action, but it was quite cool.  They're also both a bit wonky in spots which can add to the frustration.  The one thing that Severance had that Demon's Souls really doesn't was absolutely fucking epic gratuitous violence.  Some of the best blood effects to ever grace a PC monitor were in that game, I tell you.  Little stands up to it even today.
Holy crap -- how the hell did I miss this Blade of Darkness (Severance)?
Does it work on Win XP? On Modern PC's?

Ummm....any digital retailer sell this?
GOG, maybe? Steam? Impulse?

I'll have to look on Amazon and Gogamer for this, too.

EDIT:
Damn, Blade's expensive on Amazon, hehe. And nobody else really has it.
Hopefully GOG picks it up, one day?
Maybe we should get a separate Blade of Darkness thread going?
Hmmmm...


BACK ON-TOPIC - Demon's Soul:
Quote from: Que
Pretty much.  It isn't a story-heavy game from what I gather, as there aren't a lot of characters to begin with.  The world is basically overrun and there's just a few people you run into.  It's nicely presented, but there isn't really anything to it.  But at least it's nicely presented.
I know it's primarily an action-RPG game, but w/ what some action-heavy games do lately in the last 10-15 years -- System Shock 2 and Bioshock (audio and written logs); Doom 3 (audio, video, and written logs); Witcher (extra written info in the background section of the Journal); Mass Effect (codex) -- does Demon's Soul have like any of those kind of mechanics for the gamer who wants to take a break from the action and maybe dive into more in-game info and back-story to find out more in the story and get immersed into the world if they want?
« Last Edit: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 11:00:49 AM by MysterD »

Offline idolminds

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #10 on: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 11:40:26 AM »
D, there is a Blade of Darkness demo available to mess with. Also I was looking at the Wikipedia page on the game and at the bottom is a link to a fan page. That fan page actually has the full game to download.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #11 on: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 06:20:10 PM »
Definitely try Blade if you never have.  There are some frustrations you'll have to allow yourself to get over (like not being able to sidestep -- unheard of in today's gaming scene), but it's a fantastic game with tons of atmosphere and some great mechanics.

But no D, Demon's Souls is really quite a hardcore game.  There aren't a lot of frills and there's really no way to distract yourself from the core game.  When you sit down to play, you sit down to play, and you should have yourself in a mood to kick some ass.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Soul for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #12 on: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 07:59:18 PM »
Apparently, this is not too easy to find in Canada at this time.  Some of the major retailers (Best Buy/Future Shop) don't have it yet.  I hope they'll get some soon.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #13 on: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 03:15:21 PM »
I just got around to watching the GSpot video review, and you should watch it if you've only watched the Gametrailers video.  It shows a bit more gameplay and some more monsters and stuff.

So I'm an idiot and my first character is now gone forever.  I was playing it on Julia's account not realizing it, and the game wouldn't let me copy it to mine, so I just said fuck it and started another character on my own profile.  I was a wanderer with a +1 scimitar before, now I'm a priest with a +1 mace.  And I gotta' tell you, this mace is the best thing ever.  When you two-hand it and use the heavy swing, the character literally swings it like a baseball bat, including the little forward step.  It's awesomely funny and ridiculously satisfying when you kill somebody with it.  It just never gets old for me.  She has a healing prayer, too, which my other character didn't have, so it's been a bit easier to stay alive this time around.  And different stuff happened in my run through the initial level this time.  During one spot where there were a bunch of guys I had to fight the first time, they were still there the second time... but there was also a big fucking dragon blowing flames everywhere who nearly killed me 3 times.  I got through it and it was a total rush.

This game is amazing.  You guys need to pick it up.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #14 on: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 03:30:39 PM »
I'd love to, but I think the difficulty would make me punt babies.

Plus Brutal Legend hits Monday and I just bought Uncharted.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #15 on: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 05:29:33 PM »
I just showed some trailers to my cousin and now I think we'll both be picking it up. Everything I see and read about it just psyches me up or it!

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #16 on: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 09:59:22 PM »
Logged another 3 hours or so today.  Fucking amazing.  The game just gets so much right.

I've beaten 3 bosses now, and the first and third were fairly easy (first two were from the first area, third was the first boss from the third area).  2nd one was brutal.  I died like 5 times and was ready to give up, but kept at it because of the huge soul stockpile I had... had to keep going back to retrieve my bloodstain, which just got bigger every time because the run to the boss was fucking long.  And it's just such a rush to figure something out when you fail so many times.  You just don't get that satisfaction from games that let you quicksave and what have you.  But so many games get difficulty wrong somehow and just make it frustrating without being satisfying, either because they're cheap or they don't know how to reward you properly or because of raw repetition... this one really manages to avoid a lot of those pitfalls.

Repetition is the biggest issue, but I've been surprised a number of times by different things in a level or different ways to go about something, and each time through you feel like you're really honing your skills, learning how to take down each individual monster more effectively and more safely.  Not to mention you're usually picking up some extra items on the way.  In the end, it just doesn't seem all that bad, especially if you're managing to pick up your bloodstain, because then every time you die the stakes feel like they're getting higher, and instead of making it boring, it makes every swing of the weapon feel even more life-or-death.  Yet at the same time, ultimate failure is still softer than in some games.  You can always go back to prior areas to try and stock up on some items or easy souls, there are places where you feel like you can safely farm for certain items, you can level up yourself and your items to make things easier on yourself, and even if you ultimately die and lose that huge package of souls your bloodstain had... you still have your items and progress.  You did lose all your money, but you didn't lose all your resources or time so it's only a partial loss, even if still a big one.

Things definitely do get more complicated and difficult as the game goes on, too, but it eases you into the mechanics of it all quite well.  The complexity right now feels very balanced.  Not so complex as to overwhelm you (especially bad in a game this tough), but complex enough to allow you some freedom to think in your own patterns and evolve your concept as you see fit.

I really hope this one doesn't get beat up too badly for the difficulty.  I'd love to see the game get reasonably popular and perhaps see a sequel.











No spoilers, but more pics within.
(click to show/hide)

I'm swapping my original copy for the CE shown in that last pic.  I really love the art style they used in this game, so I'm down for any kind of artbook.

EDIT - GiantBomb has a Quick Look.  I don't know, this video showcases exactly why I never liked Jeff and while I still can't fully embrace GiantBomb.  Jeff amuses me, and the videos the GiantBomb guys do are usually funny, but they're so quick to judge things and make fun of them just because of some vague perception they have, which the other members inevitably attach themselves to and proceed to exaggerate even further.  It's kind of annoying.  I probably sound like a fanboy since I'm into this game, but they've done it for other games I didn't even like that much and it still felt like they weren't being very fair.

But it's interesting to see this video in context anyway.  The dude playing (Vinny?) is sort of approaching a lot of stuff wrong, but I'm sure he wasn't playing seriously since he had to talk about stuff and do the video thing.  But I think the difference between he and Jeff shows the kind of people this game is for and who it isn't for.  If you're going to ignore the tutorials, not read the manual, play the game for 10 minutes and say "it's wonky" like Jeff, you should give up and kill yourself because you're an idiot.  But I think that if Vinny sticks with it and actually keeps learning instead of letting other people make up his mind for him, he will turn that corner he was hoping to find.  I turned it after the 2nd boss.  Yeah, there's a couple things that aren't perfect and you could call wonky, but the game is very tight on the whole, especially the combat.

Really interesting to see how polarizing the game is in the comments, too.  People find the most idiotic shit to criticize.  I totally get not wanting to play this because it's too hard for you, but complaining that the menus are ugly?  Really?

The one thing that made me happy was one guy said it reminded him of Die by the Sword.  I don't know if he meant it as a compliment or not, but that was the game Treyarch was known for before they did Draconus.  Interestingly, in glancing at the GSpot review done for the latter game, this is the opening paragraph:

Quote
More hack-and-slash/walk-and-punch adventure games have come out over the last year than in any other time since the days of the Super Nintendo and Genesis. Only a few, though, have adequately instilled the thrill of the old 2D titles - where timing and skill ruled the day - into 3D gameplay.  It's funny that Treyarch, a developer known best for its PC title Die By the Sword, would be able to do that with its first console game, a 3D hack-and-slash with a brain called Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm.

Note the "where timing and skill ruled the day" part.  Lines like that tug at the heartstrings for me, and it's sad to think that such a line was pen almost 10 years ago now, and we've fallen far below even that standard.

Anyway, after that diatribe:

95 from Play
(this is actually a really good read... if you read one review, make it this one)
9.4 from IGN
5/5 from RPGamer
86 from RPG Fan
9/10 from Eurogamer
(this is worth it for the entertaining overstatements on difficulty and great picture captions)
« Last Edit: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 02:20:53 AM by Quemaqua »

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #17 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 06:42:19 AM »
Quote
Repetition is the biggest issue, but I've been surprised a number of times by different things in a level or different ways to go about something, and each time through you feel like you're really honing your skills, learning how to take down each individual monster more effectively and more safely.  Not to mention you're usually picking up some extra items on the way.
Isn't repetition usually what the Action-RPG genre is all about, though? Doesn't that go w/ the territory in these kind of games?

Kill; get more unique loot; kill; more unique loot; kill; do a quest; level-up to gain new unique awesome kills and abilities; repeat cycle? :P

Quote
The one thing that made me happy was one guy said it reminded him of Die by the Sword.  I don't know if he meant it as a compliment or not, but that was the game Treyarch was known for before they did Draconus.
More games I miss'd -- sheesh! Those games look pretty cool. Someone tell Treyarch to leave COD franchise alone for a bit and go work on more of these kind of ARPG's.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #18 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 11:33:42 AM »
I just read this on Wikipedia:
Quote
Atlus is publishing the game in North America. Atlus has confirmed that people with the North American version will be on separate servers, and not able to interact with people playing other versions. Save games from the non-North American version will not be able to be transferred to the North American version.

So.. That means that I'd have to buy the US version and play on US servers (with crazy lag) to be able to play with you guys?! Crap! Now I have to be careful which version I pick up!

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #19 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:14:04 PM »
You can't really play with people you want to play with in this game. 

The online component is fairly unique.  Now, I haven't picked this game up yet (it's sold out everywhere here but I have it ordered online hoping it will arrive in a week or two), but from what I understand, when you're playing, you will see white ghosts of other players randomly... you will not be able to interact with them.  You will also see messages and bloodstains from random players, where you can see messages left by other players and their last few seconds of life, respectively. 

When you're in soul form, you can drop a summon marker and random players that are alive may summon you to their world for co-op.  It's completely random and you can't control who will summon you, if at all, depending on where you place your summon marker.

When you are in 'life' form, either from an item or from killing a boss, you can summon other players when you see their marker.  And in PvP, which you cannot opt out of if you are logged into PSN, you can be invaded by another live player (again randomly) or you can invade into another player's world (randomly as well). 

Basically, there is no way to communicate or to objectively find your friends that are also playing this game.  If you do find each other, it's blind luck.  It was an interesting design choice because it doesn't break the immersive feel of the game (ie.  no friends list, no invites, no waiting for your friend, etc). 

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #20 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:21:11 PM »
Wow this sounds pretty hardcore, which makes me respect the thing.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #21 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:31:55 PM »
So.. That means that I'd have to buy the US version and play on US servers (with crazy lag) to be able to play with you guys?! Crap! Now I have to be careful which version I pick up!
Some games do that -- i.e. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel and Sacred 2: Ice & Blood do the same thing w/ ClosedNet. (Side note: there are many ways around that w/ SA:FA & IB, though -- check the Ascaron forums about I&B.)

That really stinks that they've blocked off a console game like that, though -- 'cause you probably can't fiddle w/ the files like you can on a PC game.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #22 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:42:43 PM »
Well, the reason explained by Atlus (the publisher) was to give US players a fair chance, the comparison being Final Fantasy XI, where the Japanese players had already established themselves and nearly 6 months later when the US players jumped in they were overwhelmed by meta-gargantuan Asians.

Now that I know there's no friend list or any control over who you play with I kinda understand their reasoning. However I don't understand why the Hell there's no friend list! What if I wanna play co-op with any of you guys or my friends here?! WTF man!

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #23 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:51:00 PM »
Well, the reason explained by Atlus (the publisher) was to give US players a fair chance, the comparison being Final Fantasy XI, where the Japanese players had already established themselves and nearly 6 months later when the US players jumped in they were overwhelmed by meta-gargantuan Asians.

Now that I know there's no friend list or any control over who you play with I kinda understand their reasoning. However I don't understand why the Hell there's no friend list! What if I wanna play co-op with any of you guys or my friends here?! WTF man!
If you buy a USA Import, that would force you to be stuck w/ USA servers, right?? Would a USA import work in your country's version of the PS3 even?

Of course, Atlus could make it all easy on you and promise at a later date to open all the servers up to anyone. :)

Plus, I'm sure that keeping all players in one region, makes it easier for gamers not to wind up w/ issues like Demigod has w/ gamers far away from Austrailia timing out against gamers in the USA.

Here's a thought -- you know what Atlus should do? Allow gamers w/ a lot of achievements to be able to play outside of their region, if they so feel like it.



Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #24 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 02:11:47 PM »
It's a non-issue.  Playing with friends is irrelevant as you can't communicate except through gestures anyway.  This is ultimately a single-player game, because even the multiplayer component ultimately centers around your game, not those of other players.  When you're helping someone, you're doing it to come back to life in your world.  If you're trying to kill off another player, it's for the same reason.  As soon as those interactions are over, you're back in your world attempting to go at it again.  And since other players can randomly spawn in and try to kill you, even the PvP has the same kind of feel to it.  It's more like a random super-tough enemy has a chance of spawning and you have to fight it off.

The only difference is the world tendency, where the actions of all players affect what state the worlds are in.  Other than that, nothing is really shared.  You can't even pick up loot in another player's world; your only purpose there is to assist him in defeating a major demon and thereby regain your own life.  So if you're looking for a pure MP game, this would be disappointing, but it really works out to be an amazingly interesting melding of SP and MP that's never really been done before, at least not in any games I've come across.  You feel constantly connected to others and eternally alone at the same time.  It's really quite a trip.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #25 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 03:18:51 PM »
That MP is really sounds interesting.

For all y'all playing the Demon's Souls MP, it must be really weird that they don't have some say AI running around or something for the SP doing kind of what they players do in the MP -- hehe. Must get lonely in the SP without any of the MP stuff going on  -- without anything running around to give hints; throwing illegitimate hints; or anything of the sort.

I found it cool in Hellgate: London that when in the "subways" (towns) when in the MP mode, there were always players doing stuff there -- talking to other NPC's; chatting w/ friends; buying/selling equipment; and most importantly there were ALWAYS A LOT of players running around to the next portal/area; etc etc. It always felt like some others heroes were always there besides myself. It was odd in the HGL SP, I never saw any AI emulating the MP-aspect of it feels like there's others in the gameworld, just to give the feeling that there are other heroes out in the world besides you -- b/c you don't see anybody else running or doing anything in the "subways" or anything in the SP. It's just you.

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #26 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 03:33:17 PM »
I'm intrigued.  I wonder if it would be pretty easy to find down the road.  You guys think this has any chance of becoming rare?

Offline MysterD

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #27 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 04:12:44 PM »
How well did this game sell in Japan?

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #28 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 05:28:02 PM »
I'm intrigued.  I wonder if it would be pretty easy to find down the road.  You guys think this has any chance of becoming rare?

Tough to say.  Initial reports were that, like other Atlus published games that come to North America, it would only have one printing run, so it would be rare.  But considering that the game is getting rave reviews and everybody seems to be very interested in it, it's possible that Atlus may be printing more copies.  If worse comes to worse, you can always import a copy.

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #29 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 05:41:32 PM »
Did the regular version also come with the artbook and such?  That's what I'm seeing on Amazon.

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #30 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 06:48:48 PM »
Did the regular version also come with the artbook and such?  That's what I'm seeing on Amazon.

Yeah, the regular version I picked up at Best Buy had the artbook and soundtrack with it.  I think the only thing extra the deluxe version has is the strategy guide.

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #31 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 06:53:42 PM »
sounds like the guide could come in handy.  Thoughts?

I'm considering grabbing this.  I don't want this to be another one I waited on and then regretted because it went OOP

Offline iPPi

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #32 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 07:51:26 PM »
I was initially only slightly interested in it, but the more I read about it, the more I wanted it.  I already have it ordered and am hoping that the store I ordered it from will get some stock. 

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #33 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 07:52:43 PM »
just ordered the CE from Amazon.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #34 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 08:17:51 PM »
I believe the artbook and CD were just for preorders (though right now it seems easy to find deals where they're still doing the whole package, I got one from ebay for regular price), and it was for both the regular edition and CE.  The CE comes with some sort of slipcase thing and the guide.  At least that's the way I understand it.

I put in another chunk of hours today.  I figure I must be around 10 or so in now.  I'll just throw on here what I said in IRC to Idol:

Quote
<Quemaqua> So the first coop ended in death.  I didn't realize that these monsters could grab multiple people simultaneously..
<@idolminds> haha
<Quemaqua> Well, they can.  We found out as they ate our heads... simultaneously.
<Quemaqua> The second went really well for quite a while until the guy's game got invaded by a black phantom.
<Quemaqua> Apparently the guy was good, because he got us in a narrow hallway and fucked us almost instantly.  I died right off the bat, but the other guy put up a bit of a fight... but it was no contest in the end.
<Quemaqua> So then I said fuck it, I'm just going to go to the end of the level and put my soul summon thingy right in front of the boss, and that went better.  First guy and I were doing well, but then either he kicked me or the connection dropped.  Not sure.
<Quemaqua> I went to do it again and accidentally did the black stone rather than the blue, so I invaded another player's game.
<@idolminds> heh
<Quemaqua> I can tell you what happened, but I don't know if you want it spoiled.  I assume you don't plan to do stuff online with others by choice, so it wouldn't be a spoiler because you wouldn't see it otherwise.

sorta' semi-spoiler follows (not a huge deal unless you can't have anything revealed beforehand)

(click to show/hide)
<Quemaqua> Then I did another coop against the boss with a guy, and we murdered it.
<Quemaqua> I came back to life as a real body, rejoiced, went to a new level, and promptly fell of a fucking cliff like a complete idiot and was back in soul form again.
<@idolminds> it sounds so awesome
<@idolminds> haha
<Quemaqua> Yeah, the game is fantastic

Figuring out more and more as I go.  The game is pretty deep and really forces you to understand the mechanics.  There was one enemy I literally couldn't hit because my weapon wasn't making contact.  I had to fiddle until I found an actual attack that would actually hit it.  Got to my 4th boss today and was mauled brutally and repeatedly.  I have no fucking clue whatever how to fight it.  There were about 8000 messages saying "use arrows!" but I didn't have any.  I'm not built for range at all, and I may have to start looking at that.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #35 on: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 08:31:57 PM »
Yeah Amazon is still doing the art book and soundtrack for both editions.

Looking forward to it.  Hopefully i'll finish Uncharted before Brutal Legend hits, that way I'll only have to divide my attention between two games.

Offline Dragonlor

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #36 on: Monday, October 12, 2009, 06:22:28 AM »
I have been playing belmonts copy of Demon's Souls and enjoying every bit of it.  At the beginning of the game be prepared to die a good amount.  But if you practice you'll start to get down the parries and timing of blocks.  Sadly My lvl 30 Temple knight uses a shield that's to heavy to parry with.  Also uses a Dragon Executioners Axe +1.  I have killed the first 2 bosses of area 1 and the first boss of area 2.  I haven't done much in any of the other areas.  I had my first encounter with 2 phantoms I assumed black at the same time.  I took them out fairly easily.  I honed my skills in the first area to side step around behind them after blocking an attack and doing one of the special attacks.

Edit:  Haha I just got a kick ass sword well i guess you could call it that.  It's called the Dragon Bone Smasher.  It does 200 physical damage and adds fire resistance.  Only problem is it requires 30str to wield with one hand.
« Last Edit: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 06:52:17 AM by Dragonlor »

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #37 on: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 07:11:43 AM »
Finally beat the fucking boss that killed me.  So I come back to life, immediately see a crystal lizard afterward, get greedy in chasing it, die, and then in what should have been a really simple run back to my bloodstain I fucked up and died on two regular enemies.  This game is like what rape would be if rape was sort of enjoyable, but as always, pretty much every death turns out to be user error.  It was my fault I died in the first place, and it was my stupid fault I died in the 2nd place and lost the huge soul reward from the boss.  I was expecting to die the first time, actually... my goal was simply to kill that lizard, which I actually did... but turns out his remains didn't stay.  He respawned, so I couldn't pick up his items anyway, and I didn't try for him the 2nd time because I was worried about my soul stash, which if course I failed to re-collect in the first place.  Go go gadget dipshit!

Had to stop due to exhaustion, but looking forward to more.  Will have to start balancing it with Brutal Legend] as of today, though.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Dragonlor

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #38 on: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 07:16:07 AM »
Yeah at the beginning when I started to far the red eye demon in 1-1 I lost 17k souls.  To say the least I was pissed.  I just finished area 2 and killed the last boss.  Holy crap the boss before him is a pain in the ass.  I died 3 times and on the 4th try I just slowed myself down and took my time and eventually won.  I'll soon start doing more of area 1 after i get the 30 str to wield that one sword with one hand.

Edit:  I have to step away from the game for a few now.  Just lost 20k+ souls to two regular mobs.
« Last Edit: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 11:43:04 AM by Dragonlor »

Offline K-man

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Re: Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3 (Action-RPG)
« Reply #39 on: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 11:26:32 AM »
Got this in today.  The art book is not hardcover, which is sort of disappointing.  Oh well.  Don't know if i'm going to jump into it tonight or continue to play Uncharted 2.