Atmospheric, Deep, Creepy, and Artistic. Requires Patience and quick Reflexes. Provides a 'HIGH' like no other!
Pros:
-Five Atmospheric Worlds
-16 (or 20) Engaging/Varying Boss Fights
-Three levels for each world with thier own personality (4 for the first)
-Nasty Looking Enemies
-Beliavable NPC's
-Belivable and Creepy Story
-Challenging
-Alot of Weapons
-Character customization/ Leveling up progression
-Perfect Gameplay
-50+ hous of gameplay
-Realistic
-Soul Farming (love and hate)
-Online Help Feature
-The OLD ONEs(reason why you are fighting demons) first appearance
-Beautiful Ending Credits
Cons:
-Bosses have long life bars
-Unforgiving in the Beginning towards the middle
-Annoying RPG leveling up requirements
-Souls are the only way to Level Up
-Die, lose collected Souls
-Die before or during boss fight, Start the level over
-No character development
-Weapons are not as powerful as they should be unless upgraded
-Black F***'in Phantoms
Demons Souls offered me a challenge that I was more than happy to accept because I haven't played a 'hard' game in a long time except Killzone 2, but comparing DS difficulty to KZ2 is an insult to Demons Souls. Anyway, my instinct told me to buy this game because I needed this fix. Demons Souls is a game for people who want a challenge, but I would be crazy to say that this all it offers. Demons Souls is full of many enemies and even bigger and badder bosses. For those who have not played this game yet, pretty much you start a level off in one of the five worlds fightiing enemies to get to one boss, then you are granted a checkpoint. Then you fight through another level to get to another boss, and then another checkpoint. Then you fight the ultimate boss for that world, and now you have conquered that world. You do this for each of the 5 worlds, except for the first world which is split into four levels. Now this seems pretty straight forward, but these worlds are far from straight forward and none of them can be viewed as easy except maybe, the first level.
If a world seems to have easy enemies, then that means the enviroment is more of a risk than the enemies. Example is one world has you fighting deformed ghouls while you walk in a pool of poison or on sensitive roofs. If the world is easy to scale, then the enemies will be hard. One place that symbolizes this is place where skeletons roll at you very fast with a quick striking attack which will kill you with one hit it you are not leveled up enought to tackle this level. Each world offers a different experience and requires thought and strategy. And each level inside of a world drastically changes and enemies either get bigger, more skilled, or both. Trust, there are alot of different enemies, and some are easy while others are straight brutes. It is best the learn the motives of each enemy, because once you do this, the game becomes much easier and you die less which is always a good thing right. Boss fights are extremely difficult if you do not know what to do so my best advice is to use a game guide or hints from wiki because without these hints, it may have taken me more than the 60 hours it took me to beat this game the first time. Trust me win I say this, each world will amaze you and the way they change is just brilliant. But each new world will frustrate you too because now you are introduced to new enemies which you have never encounter. Mastering how to destroy hydras with high magic skills took time, but in the end, it truly paid off. When you think you have mastered the game, the next challenge will still be a challenge. Best way to play this game is to level up magic, stregth, endurance, and vitality. Then intelligence for longer magic power and dexerity if you want to be a diverse melee player. Leveling Up is key and pretty much makes up the meaning of all the gameplay which is very addicting.
Each boss encounter, too me, was memorable, and that was outside of the memorable moments before each boss encounter. Before most boss fights, a cinematic cutscene plays which shows who or what you are going up against. These cutscenes create a feeling like no other which really shows the brillance of this games atmosphere. Each one nails the intensity this game is trying to create for gamers. Boss fights offer a different challenge, but for those who are playing the game or want to play this game, magic, crossbows and the Theif ring (makes you pratically invisible at a certain distance) are your best friends. Using melee attacks to take down bosses are far more risker than using range weapons or magic. I usually used melee attacks more than magic before boss encounters, but once I got into a boss fight, I definitely stuck to magic (Firespray (the best weapon choice), Soul Ray, Flame Toss, etc.) or long rang weapons. There are a so many ways to plays this game and I think this is where the game truly shines, even more than Fallout 3 and of course GTA IV which I believe doesn't own the free world genre anymore.
The online feature is something I love and hate in this game. I love it more than I hate it. I love it because when I am in body form, I can summon Blue Phantoms who can assist me in killing enemies and a bosses and I get to move on to the next level and they get their body back when they reenter their world and vice vesa. Its is a win-win situation, and it can be real fun to have two other guys or girls with you during this game. What I hate is these little b*tches who want to become Black Phantoms and destroy your game. For those who play the game, you know what I am talking about, but if you don't, pretty much someone who has died in their world invades your world so they can kill you so they can revive them selves, but the bad thing is all your level progression and patience has just be wasted. On top of that, you lose your souls and have to retrieve them the next playthrough. Annoying, but you know what, I only died once by a Black Phantom and that is because I fell off a cliff. Anyone and everyone who tried to kill me either got they a$$ handed to them or they fell off a bridge, cliff, etc, and the best part is knowing they lost a soul level. Everytime I ended a Black Phantom invasion, my heart was always beating....DAMN thats an awesome feeling.
The only bad thing about this game is basically character story progression and difficulty. First the story is far and in between once the game starts. Between killing alot of demons and leveling up, there is not much story outside of what NPC's tell you. But honestly, I didn't care and this is coming from someone who loves stories. The reason I say this is because from the beginning you are given a mission and it is presented in high quality and set in stone. Most RPG's stories are told by side characters, so this is nothing new, but I would have loved to have seen my character reactions to most of these events through cutscenes. But anyway you are given a mission, kill all the demons so you can summon the Old One and put it back into is slumber. So it makes since why the only true cutscene outside of the intro pops up at the end of the game. I loved the story and thought it was perfectly crafted in its own right, though it presentation may not be the best.
Difficulty though is a real push over, especially in the beginning. Dying before or during a boss fight is annoying and downright irritating because now you must start the whole level over and not die, so you can pick up your lost souls and beat that opponent who killed you in the first place. But after you beat a boss, that point is your checkpoint for the next level. Once you start getting into this game, you realize that patience is the best way to prevent the lose of souls and entering soul form. With patience, beating one of the many bosses can feel like you won a marathon, and thats how I felt everytime. And speaking of marathons, if you are not leveled up enough, bosses can take quite some time to put down. Annoyingly enough, you are never prepared for boss fights unless you use game guides and you will definitely die on your first try even with a game guide so either way you are screwed and you are forced to level up. Best way to take down bosses is the summon Blue Phantoms to help you because some boss fights seem near impossible by yourself. This includes False King, Tower Knight and maybe Maneater and Armored Spider. But alot of the bosses are not that hard, you just need to learn their patterns. Remember, the Thief Ring is your best pal especially certain boss fights, especially if they are blind (Old Hero).
Later into the game, you will be forced to go back into worlds and go soul farming in order to increase you soul level/abilities. You pretty much start the same level over at whatever checkpoint you want and just kill and collect souls. Sounds repetitive and boring, but it actually fun because the gameplay is just satisfying. And as a incentive, it makes you better because if you choose to play New Game plus, then you are better prepared, plus it is also a great way to test out new weapons and upgrades new weapons, armor, magic, etc. Soul Farming is like training for the next big foe or foes and as a reward you get more items like health, magic replacements, and stones to upgrade weapons and this is outside of learning how to get better. It works perfectly though on paper, reads dumb. Funny thing is even though I leveled up and became powerful (Soul Level 104), enemies hardly became pushovers until I played one of the easiest levels towards the end. I really appreciate that realism. Best way to soul farm is to kill enemies before beaten boss checkpoints because enemies that appear before boss fights always have their back turned so you can easily sneak up and kill them. Best place to soul farm is at the Storm Kings layer because you get a lot of souls and the way you do it is cool. If you have beaten the game, you know what I talking about and if you don't know, you will be surprised.
If Assassin Creed II was half as hard as this, that game would have been an easy ten. SO why is DS a 10, well in my opinion, because everything it does works so well. One thing I took away from this game was this is how games should be, but honestly I don't want another game to be as hard as this because it would take to long to beat, and people have jobs. But, having games half as hard as this would be nice because I like a challenge. After beating Uncharted 2, AC II, Batman AA, I felt like I just beat a game, but after beating DS, I was 'HIGH'. I LOVED Demons Souls, it has definetily taken the spot as my number #1 game, but that just for now since I just got done beating it, as Uncharted 2 will always be my number one, but for some reason I feel I will never forget Demons Souls as easily as Uncharted 2 and UC2 never provided the high Demons Souls hooked me up with.
Demons Souls is definetly one of a kind and it is not impossible to beat. The game is hard and unforigiving, especially in the beginning, but death is up to you. If you actually have patience and respect your enemies, you will be fine though you will still die. Or you can play it like hack and slash and die repeatedly, it's up to you. But really, you just need to upgrade you abilities and weapons. The game gets even harder if you start New Game+(replaying the game after you beat it) which sucks because all of my upgrading in the previous game feels pointless because you pretty much start the game over, just with new tricks up your sleeve which I guess makes you more prepared this time around. I am back to being as helpless as I was when I played it the first time. You keep all of your goodies except keys from the previous games, but enemies are just as hard again. No problem with that, but I want to play the game again like a super soldier, not a defenseless baby again and I think this was just a bad idea. But the whole brutal difficulty and forced leveling up which requires soul farming is pretty stupid too. But hey, they designed the game to be hard. This game can definitely teach the impatient to be patient. The game also works you brain which I think is good because too many games actually make us stupid.
This game is just perfectly crafted and I am puzzled as to why a game of such high quality was only produced in Japan before it came to America, but that probably due to the fact that they probably think Americans don't like to strategize (just an opinion). But in the end, would I want to play this game again. Yes and Hell No. I want to play it for the challenge, but its brutality in either a new game or new game+ is truly unwelcomed after just conquering it. I did start New game plus and lets just say I can beat only 3 bosses confidently, but beating a level is another story due to enhanced enemies and I am at soul level 104, I started the first game at 6...DAMN.
OveralI, I was completely shocked when I played this, and I was blown away by how rewarding it was. When the credits role, you know you have done something great. Beating a game never felt so good, I don't think I will ever come down from this high, well thats until I continue playing New Game +.
Ideas for the future:
-Checkpoint System before Boss Fights
-Character Development
-Cut down on forced Soul Farming
Acutal Score: 9.8
Thanks for reading
I will never forget Demon Souls