Demon's Souls

[Newtype]

 

In a mediaeval world, you play as a lone hero standing against the forces of darkness in the kingdom of Bokitaria. The region's ruler, King Alant, was clearly meddling in forces he didn't understand in an attempt to keep his northern kingdom prosperous before the inevitable happened: All hell broke loose. This took the form of waking "the old one" from his eternal slumber, which in turn led to a plague of demons across the land and a colourless fog enveloping the country.

 

You're told that the kingdom is being ravaged by demons, who wander around increasing their power by devouring the souls of men. Those without souls descend into madness, and the afflicted end up randomly striking at the unaffected. Anarchy, chaos, and general destruction ensue. The more souls a demon consumes, the more power it gets...and a fully mature demon soul contains power "beyond human imagination." And as a final clincher, in case you were having doubts about the importance of your quest, the demon race is starting to spread from the original kingdom, and so the entire human race now faces extinction.

 

Revolutionary online features support your adventure like never before, presenting seamless interconnectivity that serves in every instance to enhance the single-player game. Team up with two other players in simultaneous cooperative play, working together to topple some of the game's colossal bosses, or force your way into the games of skilled players and challenge them to PvP battle. Leave hints and clues for those who will follow in your footsteps; either intentionally or through your own inadvertent demise, your bloodstains will allow your successors to view a replay of your death, hinting at how to avoid your gruesome fate. Unprecedented in its depth and subtlety, peerless in its relentlessly challenging gameplay, Demon's Souls is the ultimate action RPG.

 

Available October 2009.

[The NZA]

i read mixed things, but those who took to it, loved it. Totally gonna have to see what you think of it, man - like WKS, some of the lesser reviews killed my buzz.

[Newtype]

I bet if Maldron was here he'll be happy about this.

[Newtype]

One of the odder things about video games is all the work that's put into new ways of killing virtual enemies or having one's own character meet their doom. Atlus' Demon's Souls showed a new twist at E3.

 

I was given a quick demo of the dark upcoming PlayStation 3 third-person action game Demon's Souls during E3. The game features a knight who hacks his way through both knight-sized and dragon-sized enemies.

 

The hook for the game are the ghosts that appear. They appear to be other players' characters or enemies running in unexpected patterns through the levels that you're playing, but not quite. They're not, the developer playing the game in front of me explained, programmed by the Demon's Souls' creators. They are generated by the game's other players and randomly sent out to haunt other people's games.

 

This is a very different approach to pulling other people's content than Spore pulling in your buildings into my copy of the game or even of me downloading ghost data for your run through a Mario Kart track.

 

Demon's Soul pulls snippets of real players' actions in the game. It then randomly replicates snippets of other players' actions, rendering them as the actions of ghosts in the levels that you would be playing through. Players can also manually leave messages for others to discover (all based on a canned phrase-list, so you can't write anything you want). They can also offer to help other players and be invited in for brief co-op action. But the ghost appearances are the most clever touch.

 

The most interesting application of the ghost mechanic may be how it handles player death. Throughout the darkened caverns of the level I was shown that there were bloodstains on the floor. Some were at the edge of a chasm. Others were in the middle of an area where open combat was waged. The bloodstains represented the deaths of other players. Stepping on the stains and pressing a button activated a ghost rendering of some other player's final moments in the game before getting their character killed. Stepping on it would reveal how they met their fate.

 

One blood stain on a stair case caused a ghost-character to spawn. It represented that doomed other player. The developer at the controls next to me watched as we observed this ghost-player run up the stairs, turn and jump to their doom. That's what happened to someone else who was playing the game who knows where at some earlier time — it happened to a tester, I assumed.

 

And I thought death in adventure games was a private thing.

[Newtype]

Video Games | Demon's Souls | Co-Op And Devestation Gameplay

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

[Newtype]

 

The game will run you $59.99, but for $10 you can score the deluxe edition, which comes with a 150-page strategy guide not available anywhere else, along with a special cover to house the game / guide combo. On top of that, fans who preorder either version will get a Demon Souls art book, which GameStop will be out of when you go to pick it up. This always happens.

[The NZA]

haha, so true. im inevitably gonna play this one off you down the road, then...mixed reviews, but the kotaku kids seemed to dig it.

[Newtype]

haha, so true. im inevitably gonna play this one off you down the road, then...mixed reviews, but the kotaku kids seemed to dig it.

 

What mix reviews?

 

The only bad review I came across was some guy bitching about how hard the game is. Said it needs to find a way to hold your hand a bit.

[Losifer]

Mixed reviews or not! Take this Hondonian's word that this game rocks. Certainly a challenging game, but a fair one none-the-less. What makes it so difficult, I believe, is the steep learning curve. So much info is thrown in your face and at the same time Demon's Souls forces you to learn and perfect combat. Not getting a grasp on swordplay will pretty much be your downfall. Even the toughest of enemies (big menacing ogres and such) fall to your blade with well places hits, correctly timed dodges and tons of patience. And when you do beat that big enemy...Man!!! It really does feel like you just beat the game.

 

Personally, I wasn't going to buy it (I'm broke like a joke). But thanks to my little bro's interest in this game, it resides in my PS3 now. SO if you're on the fence, at least rent it...and make sure you're ready to buy afterward (given you're an RPG buff).

 

Edited October 6, 2009 by Losifer

[The NZA]

/borrowing one day from Los CONFIRMED

 

i havent really watched the videos much, what would you compare the gameplay to?

[Losifer]

/borrowing one day from Los CONFIRMED

 

i havent really watched the videos much, what would you compare the gameplay to?

 

Well, I'm certainly not going to say Zelda (since I really haven't played one since 'A Link to the Past'), but it certainly has an Oblivion vibe. You do have swords and eventually magic so it's the closest thing I can relate it to. I mean, there is a bit of Wow in this thing too where you do have a cool-down time for stamina. Uhm...Your armor needs constant repairs, you can forge. Uh, oh yeah, a big thing about the game is that it's always live so there is no pausing since your online. Overall, it just blends many other games into one neat and difficult package. Sorry for the terrible description but that's really all i can go on... haven't really been gaming much. Regardless, its game that needs to be tried out by RPG enthusiasts... and masochists.

[The NZA]

this was indeed good. played through the first boss at newt's.

 

i got weird momentary zelda vibes (music/slight battle wise) with diablo loot, but it reminded me of the bleaker games of PSX - Blood Omen and this one i completely forget. Anyway, my clunky knight did not die once (past that @#$% giant), but alex did give hints.

 

Controls are pretty tight, there's lot to like here - the online thing is just awesome. seeing "ghosts" of other players, the ability to basically have your game hijacked, watching the red shadows of others' deaths, the players leaving hints etc - there were really innovative uses of the online function for a basically single-player game, and i got a kick out of them. when im doing well, the game is good at sort've disarming me and making me want to bite off more than i can chew, then showing me why this was a poor idea.

 

cant wait to play more at some distant point off of newt or los' copy. this game does deserve more hype.

[Newtype]

Dearest Customers,

 

Over the last couple weeks, we’ve received reports from owners of the Deluxe Edition of Demon’s Souls that some copies of the Official Strategy Guide were experiencing unusual cover ink wear/fading.

 

While it seems that not every copy of the guide is affected, and the specific cause of the issue remains unclear, Atlus always strives for nothing less than the full satisfaction of our customers. Therefore, we will soon launch a program to replace defective strategy guides.

 

Stay tuned for details on when the program will begin and specific steps on how to submit your replacement request. We can say at this time that we will ask customers to mail in their cover and the first page of their guide as proof of purchase, leaving them with a usable book while we process their replacement claim. Full instructions will be posted in this thread next week.

 

Thank you for supporting us and making Demon’s Souls such a big hit. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused, but fear not: we’ve got you covered (pun intended).

 

And this is why I love atlus.

[The NZA]

damn, that's good of them. the new Working Designs, indeed.

[The NZA]

haha, GAF's mock-up ads deliver again.

 

[90sKid]

Just bought this beauty yesterday and as a result I'm poor until next week... which is not really a problem, as I'll only leave my house for classes and the rest of the time I'll be studying for finals.

 

From the little bit I played, man, I hadn't been so immersed in a game in a very, very long time. I thought the combat was going to be sort of boring but hell no, those blue faced demon knights can sometimes feel you very tense.

 

I chose templar knight for my first round. What about you, guys?

 

 

Also, I gave a pass at Dragon Age for this gem, and while I don't regret it, I'd like to read some opinions and compares between the two.

[The NZA]

i should have this one next week, man. cant wait to get in on it with the cool kids. i think i was a knight when i tried this at newt's house, what're the other options again?

 

as for Dragon Age: if the gaming forum is quiet, its cause half these fucks are playing that one, should speak well of it at least.

[The NZA]

oh, snap. my copy came inna mail today, woo hoo!

fuckin' shame im breaking in the new TV till wednesday

[Newtype]

Just bought this beauty yesterday and as a result I'm poor until next week... which is not really a problem, as I'll only leave my house for classes and the rest of the time I'll be studying for finals.

 

From the little bit I played, man, I hadn't been so immersed in a game in a very, very long time. I thought the combat was going to be sort of boring but hell no, those blue faced demon knights can sometimes feel you very tense.

 

I chose templar knight for my first round. What about you, guys?

Also, I gave a pass at Dragon Age for this gem, and while I don't regret it, I'd like to read some opinions and compares between the two.

 

Wait till you meet his brother red face.

 

oh, snap. my copy came inna mail today, woo hoo!

fuckin' shame im breaking in the new TV till wednesday

 

That was fast.

 

In a totally unrelated note

did you picked up my package that has you know what?

[90sKid]

I wrote "feel you very tense." I am ashamed and will atone for the dishonor I brought to my family.

 

About red face: I saw him, but I was also standing on a message that said "Beginners should try this area later," so I went to Latria =)

 

 

 

...where those fucking Cthlhu guys fucked my shit.

[The NZA]

That was fast.

 

In a totally unrelated note

did you picked up my package that has you know what?

 

...right? this chick is awesome. man, GAF ships way better than ebay people do.

 

tuesday morning after work. im gonna go ship off that grrl's games, plus the ones ive put in the "free to a good home" thread, should make a lotta folks happy at once.

[The NZA]

jesus christ, demon's souls. jesus christ.

so i started off yesterday, thought id ease through the first level since id beaten it before at newt's...and i die like 4 times in the same goddamn staircase full of torch-wielding assholes. what's better is the last time, i get pissy and fuck around and die on the way there, thereby losing the 2300 souls id saved up so far.

 

so i beat the first boss, and some blind chick keeps saying i should go upstairs and talk to somebody about the nexus, but i go up there and there's a statue i cant seem to interact with, and at the very top, the hall of badasses meant to remind you how poorly you're doing so far. awesome.

 

i return today, and my primary sword breaks. im effectively using a dagger-like object from home depot, and what's worse is, i traverse back through the stage id just conquered (dying only once along the way! yay for pointy-objects-of-tickling) to find this one gnome-like thing that sold way better shit than the asshole in the nexus does (he's got like a rusty axe, that's about it) and thing was, when i found him yesterday, i whacked him once since he looks like a bad guy. he bitched, but offered to sell me shit - i was in the process of getting my souls back so i declined. i go back today - dude's gone. im sitting on almost 7k souls and shitty weapons because fucking Tom Nook or whatever nexus asshole's name is is selling jack and shit, and he's offering to repair my sword but it looks like itd shave -20 to its attack (if im reading this right) to do so. great man, id just have a longer tickler, that's cool. fuck.

 

what am i supposed to be doing? is there another dealer nearby, should i just keep moving past the first boss' room and hope to not die? who's the blind bitch talking about, anyway? the statue? goddammit, im off to gamefaqs.

[Maldron]

She's talkin' 'bout the Eternal, sittin' on the balcony you come out on. You should play online, there's messages in front of the bloke.

 

If you've hit the pantheon, you've gone too far.

[90sKid]

So far I've beaten the Phalanx, Tower Knight, Armor Spider, Fool's Idol, and the Leechmonger. I freaking love this game! Also, it's great when someone recommends your messages.

 

Nick, the Lady in Black is talking about the Monumental. Once you reach the statue, you need to take the stairs to your left and keep walking. You'll see a bunch of dead guys sitting and then there's one with a lit candle in front of him. That's the Monumental.

 

 

EDIT: I also made the red faced knight my bitch. Hell yeah.

Edited December 9, 2009 by 90sKid

[Newtype]

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.