Let me introduce you to Demon Souls

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BradF1979

Limp Gawd
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Nov 27, 2009
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Repost from Reddit, but quite humorous... I haven't played it but this makes me want to play it...

Demon’s Souls is a game that will make you into a man. A scrawny fourteen-year-old, after two hours with this game, will be grooming his muttonchops and ready to ship off on the next boat to fight the Kaiser. If you are already a man, it will make you into some sort of bizarre double-man. What’s that you say? You’re a woman? You don’t want to be a man? Too bad. Too bad. That’s the Demon’s Souls way.

You’ve probably heard that Demon’s Souls is hard. Pshh. Lots of games are hard. Some are even harder than this one. The difficulty is not the point. What sets Demon's Souls apart is the way that it doesn't just kill you, but also stomps on your genitals when you’re down. And it will make you realize that that’s what you needed all along.

It’s a lot like life. Sometimes in life you win, and sometimes the giant armored skeleton stabs your face off because the flying mantis monster you didn’t even see shot you in the back with a spike at just the wrong time. And when that happens in life, do you respawn at the same spot and carry on like nothing happened? NO, asshole. You go back to the beginning of the level, leaving all your hard-earned souls out there on the pavement, and you fight your way back. And you learn a lesson from the whole thing, because you should have been wearing your Thief’s Ring, now shouldn’t you? That’s life.

The trend in hard games these days is to unlock “Easy” mode for you once you’ve died enough times. Do you think Demon’s Souls does that? Do you think Demon’s Souls is so much as aware of the concept of “Easy” mode? NO IT IS NOT. If Demon’s Souls even knew we were talking about “Easy” mode, it would come over here and kick the shit out of all of us. And we would deserve it.

I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.

Have I told you about the online elements? At any time when you’re in Body form, another player from anywhere else in the world can invade your game and murder you to regain his own body, or just to keep you on your toes. This happens when you’re in the middle of fighting armies of unthinkable monsters that are probably already three-quarters of the way towards killing you. And no, you cannot opt out of this feature! This is what you signed up for when you agreed to be a man.

When this happened to me -- when a guy strolled into my game like it was Taco Bell and exploded my torso, costing me my body and all my progress in the level -- was I mad? No, because I was too busy being in awe at how fucking hardcore the experience was.

Now, don’t let this dissuade you. Demon’s Souls is a pitiless master, but let it never be said that it is not fair. The game rewards handsomely those who stand up to it, and the greater the challenge, the greater the glory.

What the hell are you waiting for?
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"That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why."

lol
 
And that my friends, is one of the greatest posts ever to enter the online domain.
 
so yea keep hearing about this game. no interest in playing it. Until now. Gonna have to at least try it.

Epic post.
 
Wish I could try it, but I'm a PC gamer. That is a hilarious post though...
 
Nice read. Maybe I'll actually work up the courage to actually pop this game in and play it through this break!
 
From what I have read it is not an RPG, it's hack 'n' slash action game and I am not a fan of that genre. The hype has me interested but I think I should maybe rent before buy first.
 
And this, indirectly, is why the LE has been sitting in my backlog for the last month and a half. :)
 
You guys ever play Severance:Blades of Darkness on the PC? This Demon Souls game sounds similar to that game but Severance is quite old now in comparison.
 
Haha, that was damn awesome and so very true. The game is awesome!

I'll eventually get back to starting New Game ++++
 
Udo said:
From what I have read it is not an RPG, it's hack 'n' slash action game and I am not a fan of that genre. The hype has me interested but I think I should maybe rent before buy first.
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It may seem hack n slash, but you will get your ass handed to you if you don't play intelligently. The combat feels better than most action games. It's a non traditional RPG with a twist. In some ways, it's like a quarter munching arcade game. The combat plays sort of like a 3d Zelda game, except it's much easier to die. It feels realistic. The exploration and looting and items and character advancement are all reminiscent of the dungeon crawling RPG sub-genre. The level design is awesome, nothing is cliche, and the atmosphere is perfect. I'll buy the sequel in a heartbeat. :)
 
I just picked it up at Gamestop but I'm too scared to pop-it in... I got it and Killzone 2, plus Borderlands for $108 on the B2G1 used sale...
 
honestly that post reminds me a little bit of that scene from Fight Club where Tyler Durden is giving his monologue on how we're all God's forgotten children and that he hates us all, and then he pours the lye on the main character's hand and holds it down.

This game is almost as hardcore
 
How bad are the black phantom attacks? I mean, it's interesting PvP, but to get jumped by another payer while in the middle of a fight sounds pretty unreasonable.

I'm an evil bastard, I'll admit it. I kind of want to play just so I can do this to /other/ people:p
 
kelbear said:
How bad are the black phantom attacks? I mean, it's interesting PvP, but to get jumped by another payer while in the middle of a fight sounds pretty unreasonable.
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I only lost once or twice in more than 15 instances, but admittedly I just spam magic. Most people will either rush in and you can kill them easily, or invade for other reasons like killing primeval demons to steal colorless demon's souls, thereby ruining your entire game (colorless souls are few per game and when stolen are lost forever).
 
Stereophile said:
It may seem hack n slash, but you will get your ass handed to you if you don't play intelligently. The combat feels better than most action games. It's a non traditional RPG with a twist. In some ways, it's like a quarter munching arcade game. The combat plays sort of like a 3d Zelda game, except it's much easier to die. It feels realistic. The exploration and looting and items and character advancement are all reminiscent of the dungeon crawling RPG sub-genre. The level design is awesome, nothing is cliche, and the atmosphere is perfect. I'll buy the sequel in a heartbeat. :)
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OK, you have convinced me to buy it but not sure if I want AC2 or DS first.
 
DS has better action and combat in a dark fantasy setting, lots of replay value if you experiment with the different classes.

AC2 has a better story and graphics in a historical fantasy setting. Combat is boring for the most part and little to no replay value.

While I liked AC2, DS just hands down has better gameplay moments and a few of the bosses are epic as fuck.

AC2 is a rental (I got all the achievements on the 360 version in 6 days) and DS is a buy IMO.
 
chineseman said:
Does this game have co-op campaign?
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Kinda sorta, you can play co-op with other players playing the same level either by offering yourself up to be summoned or by summoning other players if you're having trouble with the level. After the level is finished, however, you (if you were the one summoned) or your helpers will disappear; then you basically have to start the process over again with the following level.
 
|Tch0rT| said:
DS has better action and combat in a dark fantasy setting, lots of replay value if you experiment with the different classes.

AC2 has a better story and graphics in a historical fantasy setting. Combat is boring for the most part and little to no replay value.

While I liked AC2, DS just hands down has better gameplay moments and a few of the bosses are epic as fuck.

AC2 is a rental (I got all the achievements on the 360 version in 6 days) and DS is a buy IMO.
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OK, thanks. DS it is then.
 
Got to read a couple reviews for this game today. Looks like you can play with friends but you'll have to beat the starting area first and remain roughly the same level? Seems to be a bit of a hassle but I ordered the game anyways cause the rest of it sounds awesome.
 
Demon's Souls is truly a classic IMO. I've moved on at the moment to play other games (AC2, Brutal Legend, etc.) but I am eagerly anticipating returning to it.

I agree though that the difficulty is WAY overrated. When you die, yeah you drop your souls only (similar to dropping your gold in diablo 1/2), but you can run and get them back. Monsters tend NOT to swarm so they will usually return to their original spot, leaving your "bloodstain" isolated and easy enough to retrieve.

This is definitely one of the deepest games this generation though, it has TONS to do and collect.
 
zaxour said:
Demon's Souls is truly a classic IMO. I've moved on at the moment to play other games (AC2, Brutal Legend, etc.) but I am eagerly anticipating returning to it.

I agree though that the difficulty is WAY overrated. When you die, yeah you drop your souls only (similar to dropping your gold in diablo 1/2), but you can run and get them back. Monsters tend NOT to swarm so they will usually return to their original spot, leaving your "bloodstain" isolated and easy enough to retrieve.

This is definitely one of the deepest games this generation though, it has TONS to do and collect.
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I agree with this. Its an AWESOMe game. Highly recommend it.

Its not THAT hard, but it definitely is challenging. And when you die, and lose your souls, you're scrambling because you can only have 1 bloodstain at a time, which means if you die AGAIN before getting your corpse back, you lose those souls forever. Did we mention the enemies respawn everytime you die? Yea, you have to fight your way back to your corpse.

You can avoid Black Phantoms entering your world by staying in Ghost form.

And I really gotta say, the level design was just superb. Theres no map in this game, but I never felt the need for one. I always knew where I was in relation to the rest of the level, and I always knew where i was going.

The atmosphere was great as well.
 
Looking forward to picking up this game.

I agree about Assassin's Creed 2 being a rental. Uncharted 2 could be a rental as well but it's probably the best game out for PS3 so might be worth buying. It's also got a decent multiplayer.

I'll probably pick up DS after MW2.
 
I say skip MW2 and just play Demon's Souls :p

MW2 will have a huge online community for years, dunno about Demon's Souls since it's not as big as MW2
 
That was one fuck of an awesome write up, you why? Because fuck you thats why!
 
The difficulty isn't exaggerrated. its much harder than most games and doesn't hold the player's hand at all (its about as hard as the initial release of Devil May Cry 3). Its just that some gamers will understand more quickly what the game wants from them, so it will not seem as difficult for them than others.

Until you figure it out, there are two things that make this game as difficult as it is:

A. souls are used for everything. buy stuff, repairing weapons/armor, upgrading stats. So, naturally to afford all of that, you have to do well and kill a lot of stuff, which by the way, is a LOT of killing to afford it all (you don't actually need to afford it all though, which is something you'll learn) But if you die, you lose ALL of the souls that you have earned. Yes, you can get them back if you retrieve your bloodstain (you have two additional deaths to regain it before your souls are lost forever) but its not always easy to get to and in a game where death comes easy/swift, you'll have plenty of times where all of your souls are lost forever.

B. after you die once, you lose your physical form. you are in soul/form (this is different from when you are regaining your bloodstain). which is a noticeably weakened state where you have like half health and do probably 3/4 damage or so. There are two ways to regain your physical form, kill the level's boss, or use a fairly rare, precious item. You are going to spend most of the game in soul form.
 
zaxour said:
I say skip MW2 and just play Demon's Souls :p

MW2 will have a huge online community for years, dunno about Demon's Souls since it's not as big as MW2
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Good point. Actually, I might just get MW2 for PC.
 
I just purchased this for $45 on Ebay. Think there's another copy for the same price, but you would better hurry up.
 
Nettwerk said:
"That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why."

lol
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Pretty much everyone in my office busted out laughing when I said this to them about Deamon Souls quoting the quote.
 
Atlus is at the top of their game, better than every video game company out right now.


I am still waiting on the PS3 though 300 bucks for Demon soul, Valkyrie Chronicles, and Desgea3 isn't enough games for me yet.
 
Zero Punctuation has a review up for this. It's rather scathing considering how much he chastises other games for hand holding, being too easy, or dumbed down.

ZP reviews DS
 
It's hard to hear because he speaks so quickly, but I think he made a few errors in his review. It doesn't take that long to eat grass, but it's not done instantly, so you have to create some space to heal in battle. Also he said you have to go into the menu to equip fire and the game doesn't pause so you die. Well you're supposed to set the turpentine up into the "inventory rotation" and then you can just flip to it on the d-pad. It's supposed to be a hardcore dungeon exploring game. Part of the strategy and essential gameplay is to have the right weapons and equipment outfitted depending on your tactics and the situation. Real time action games that let you pause and juggle inventory etc.. lose some of the tension in a game like DS. Complaining about it is missing the point.

My impression from that review is he got his ass kicked and gave up. And thus missed out on an awesome game. I think he beat 1-1, tried 1-2 for 10 minutes and said fuck this.

It's definitely not a casual pick up and play kind of game. It takes several hours just to become accustomed to the way things operate. Yahtzee said you don't get your body back until you beat a boss, but he neglected to mention how any of the ephemeral/colored stones work.
 
He doesn't do serious reviews though, hes a comic. He finds the things that are wrong with the game and picks on them in a humorous way. It wouldn't be funny if he sang the games praise.

Though I agree, he probably didn't spend enough time with it. Once you get the hang of it, playing becomes quite easy. Its just a matter of not making stupid mistakes after a bit.
 
stevedave said:
Atlus is at the top of their game, better than every video game company out right now.


I am still waiting on the PS3 though 300 bucks for Demon soul, Valkyrie Chronicles, and Desgea3 isn't enough games for me yet.
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Don't forget:

Uncharted 1/2
Killzone 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
Infamous
Ratchet and Clank ToD/ACiT
Folklore (another good aRPG)
and others that I'm sure I'm forgetting.
 
Great write-up. Good to see people writing about games sometimes actually play them:

"And you learn a lesson from the whole thing, because you should have been wearing your Thief’s Ring, now shouldn’t you?"

Walking around in World 4 without the Thief Ring on is like dropping the soap in prison.
 
World 5 is even worse with them Giant Depraved Ones and that nasty poison swamp :( So you need Thief's ring AND regenerator's ring.
 
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