Demon's Souls, a true masterpiece waiting for you to uncover it.
The story takes place in the kingdom of Boleteria. Boletaria began to have enormous prosperity after its king awakened the Old One through the power of the souls. This would also cause the kingdom's doom. One day, a deep colorless fog fell upon boletaria a man eating demons began to appear. Many kingdoms sent messengers to see what happened with Bolataria but no one that stepped into the fog ever came out. That was until Vallarfax of the Twin Fangs managed to exit and he spread the news througout the world.
After this, many brave warriors went to Boletaria. Some did it for fame and glory, some for stealing the riches of the dead. And so, you create your character and step into the fog to try to save Boletaria.
The main objective of the game is to slay demons. Once you have killed all major demons you will have your chance to put the Old One back to slumber to save the world.
The game's currency and experience level are the souls. When you use souls to increas your level, the next time it'll take more souls to increas it again. Souls cannot be deposited in some sort of bank. You'll be carrying them all the time and if you die, you will loose these souls. You will be given one chance to reach your bloodstain (which is placed where you died), if you reach it you will recover your souls. If you don't manage to do that, your souls will be lost forever.
There are also other types of souls. For example we have the demons' souls which are the souls collected from a major demon (the boss in each level). This souls have unique uses like being able to create a special weapon or learn a magic or miracle. Demons' Souls can also be used to gain regular souls, though it is not recommended until you have no more uses for that particular soul.
The gameplay mechanics in this game work great. Controls are intuitive and the game feels very different depending on how you're playing. For example, a first run on a melee based character is harder than that of a mage/ranged character.
The developers managed to create a great environment which adds greatly to the game experience. You'll find that most places barely have any light, levels don't have any music. The only sounds you'll hear are the background noises of vultures, prisoners, or your enemies. When you meet a friendly NPC, you'll notice that their attitude is mostly negative which adds to the feeling of despair going on in Boletaria.
Another important feature is online play. When you're in body form, you'll be able to summon other players as blue phantoms to assist you in beating a level. While being in body form, you can also get invaded by other people and you will have to eliminate them if you want to go any further in the level without much trouble.
The only aspects I feel this game could improve on are the loot system and some minor presentation issues.
Demon's Souls is one of the best RPGs I've ever player. If you love RPGs and old school games, you should definitively give it a try.