Seriously guys... Demon's Souls

If anybody is looking for a hardcore, in your face, no mercy RPG with a rich, troubled storyline mixed in with a bit of horror... get Demon's Souls. The game is downright brilliant and it's, so far, been my favorite game of the year. That may change with Dragon Age, but it's not likely.

Here's seven reasons why this game is so badass:

First, the game is not easy. Not since the days of NES have I played a game that was this challenging. You are not a super hero... you can't destroy everything in your path. It takes skill, tactics, and a little bit of luck sometimes to survive.

Second, the game is a sort of "shadow MMO". Now I say that because all throughout your journeys you'll see other player's "ghosts" going about their own business. You can't directly interact with them and they can't directly interact with you. They primarily can serve as a guide, but none the less, it's a really cool and slightly disturbing feature. They are real-time players...

Third, the games story reminds me a lot of Shadows of Colossus... they aren't related but it carries that same empty, hollowed, yet mesmerizing feel to it.

Fourth, the game is sickly dark. Those looking for a good horror/RPG mixer will definitely enjoy this game as the environments are as sickeningly scary as they are detailed.

Fifth, the battles are intense! Aside from the first boss battle (which is more of a segway into the rest of the game) I have struggled with each one there after. They are nasty, big, and cause some serious hurt. Bottomline they will destroy you if you don't watch what your doing and what they're doing.

Sixth, multiplayer is a blast! In Demon's Souls you can either choose to offer yourself up to help somebody (in which case you'll help them with a specific section of the level) or you can invade their realm for some good ol' PVP action. It's a unique system that lends itself to the game without being dominant. Although one thing that sucks is that there's no voice chat... lame.

Seventh, the game has about 6-7 different classes and each one plays very uniquely. This makes replaying as a new character feel a lot different because the tactics used for a mage-type character will be way different than the tactics used for a fighter.

Bottomline, this game kicks ass and you should buy it if any of this sounds appealing to you at all. :D

I thought about picking this one up, but just haven't. Every review I've read and every player I've talked to about it basically mirror what you're saying: that it's sickeningly hard and fun.

What sort of RPG is it? Is it free control of your character throughout, turn based battles? I don't know... I don't think this game is out in the UK yet, I've just noticed the mentions of it such as yours that have caught my attention. I need to take a good step back and decide exactly which games I want this xmas. :lol:

What sort of RPG is it? Is it free control of your character throughout, turn based battles? I don't know... I don't think this game is out in the UK yet, I've just noticed the mentions of it such as yours that have caught my attention. I need to take a good step back and decide exactly which games I want this xmas. :lol:

Oh sorry, it's a third person action RPG... kinda Fable-ish but a bit slower and more realistic.

If I ever play this one it will have to be during the slow season for gaming as there is too much to play to spend my time on a frustrating RPG.. I read a first playthrough takes anywhere from 40-60 hours, but the new game + can be done in under 8 hours no problem...

KEEBS, my friends who play this just get on xbl and make a party and then communicate where they are going to be, they drop whatever stone you need to drop for co-op and they play that way.. You can only join or be joined by someone is +/- 15 levels from you, or so I hear..

Oh sorry, it's a third person action RPG... kinda Fable-ish but a bit slower and more realistic.

Sounds good! :thumbsup: I'll definitely keep an eye out. Think my plan of action for now is gonna be make a list of games I want, and just pick em up when they're on the weekly promotions or whatever. There are too many out for £40 a pop gaming now.

Btw Mase, when is the gaming quiet season? Don't think we're getting one this year with everybody shatting themselves over Modern Warfare 2. Q1-2 10 look as quality packed as Q4 is this year.

Q3 man, like you said Q1-2 and filled with games that did not want to be eaten up MW2 and the likes and W4 is always rich with game. So Q3 of 2010 seems to be pretty dead or at least thats what my release chart shows

It's on my radar, but my gaming $60s are really scarce right now.

I might have to rent it first to see if I can cope with that difficulty thing. I've been known to break some controllers and pulling a few 'rage quit - disc palm - knee slap - disc shatter' moves.:o

Yeah, better GameFly's disc than mine.

Q3 man, like you said Q1-2 and filled with games that did not want to be eaten up MW2 and the likes and W4 is always rich with game. So Q3 of 2010 seems to be pretty dead or at least thats what my release chart shows

Your backlog will be so big by then that you'll have more games to play than there were released last November :lol:

So I picked this up and since I'm hobbled up from a work injury I figured WTF let me try this frustrating as hell game. So I spent 2.5 hours getting my fucking ass kicked in the 1-1 world. I say to myself "self, you're not a bad video game player what's going on?".

I go to gamefaqs and I see "All worlds are set to dark tendency beware". Apparently since the game automatically goes online and dark tendency worlds are super hard and they set them that way for Halloween anyone JUST starting out is fucked. LOL Guess I'll wait a day and try again. If this isn't the case I just suck or something.

Oh it's harder alright; it's kicking the ever-loving crap out of me tonight. And I quote my wife circa two hours ago: "Wow, I don't remember the last time I saw a game hand you your a$$ like this."

Amazing game; reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark on 2600. Every time I play I get about three feet further then I did the time before, but I keep going back for more abuse...

Oh it's harder alright; it's kicking the ever-loving crap out of me tonight. And I quote my wife circa two hours ago: "Wow, I don't remember the last time I saw a game hand you your a$$ like this."

Amazing game; reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark on 2600. Every time I play I get about three feet further then I did the time before, but I keep going back for more abuse...

Oh damn! I completely forgot about the Halloween event... is it a weekend thing or is it over now?

Definately still going on, I just got jumped by another magical glowing red demon that wasn't there Friday...

Definately still going on, I just got jumped by another magical glowing red demon that wasn't there Friday...

Haha and I'm already on New Game+ so things were already incredibly difficult. :D

Can't wait to see how hard it is now!

Wait so when will it be safe for me to play this game? I mean I'm all for fun online events, but my world tendencies being set from neutral to deep black thus making things that are normally killable in 1-1 beat the living snot out of me as a new player doesn't seem very fair. Also bad marketing on their part I almost broke the disk against my knee but figured I could trade it to someone instead if I really got disgruntled.

Wait so when will it be safe for me to play this game? I mean I'm all for fun online events, but my world tendencies being set from neutral to deep black thus making things that are normally killable in 1-1 beat the living snot out of me as a new player doesn't seem very fair. Also bad marketing on their part I almost broke the disk against my knee but figured I could trade it to someone instead if I really got disgruntled.

It'll probably be safer tomorrow. It was probably a weekend event. Have you beat the first boss: Phalanx yet?

I got like within inches of him and then some big red thing blew me to hell and I gave up. I was well past the merchant guy. It's really a very unforgiving game. I may try again later with a fresher set of hands and mind. I was playing rather late yesterday.

I got like within inches of him and then some big red thing blew me to hell and I gave up. I was well past the merchant guy. It's really a very unforgiving game. I may try again later with a fresher set of hands and mind. I was playing rather late yesterday.

The red guys should definitely not be there... especially in 1-1 before you even kill the first boss. The game is hard, but not exceedingly so.

Also, you can try playing offline. At that point you should be playing a normal game, otehrwise just wait until tomorrow.

I'd jump in an give you a hand if I could, but unfortunately the multiplayer just doesn't work like that. :(

Good luck! And give it a second try after this event is over before you swear it off for good! It's still hard but not unreasonably so... :o

is there a way for me to log out of PSN through the XBAR? I want to delete my save file from Demons Souls and turn it on as if I don't have PSN hooked up. So a brand new fresh game. Gonna use a male soldier for the long range spear.

Well I too picked this game up with the BB: B2G1 deal (along with Ratchet 2 yums and Uncharted 2 (gift receipt gonna try to trade it in later for something.)

Anyways, I read the Hallow's End shit after I bought the game.

If the difficulty of the game on Halloween (when I finally got time to play it) is the standard difficulty this game is outright insane!

It is very frustrating, and what adds to the frustration even more are small quirks in the system that should have been ironed out. Camera can get on your nervous especially when the mobs just rape you, targeting system is awful especially if you have 4 or 5 mobs in front of you, and collision detection is a pain - four times I died because the mob I target would walk close to a wall so when my camera turned so did my player and when I swung instead of hitting the mob I'd knick the wall causing a freaking parry like bounce which would leave me open to the mobs swings.

And why are we limited by stamina when some mobs can do freaking Ultra Combos on us? Haha.

Aside the screaming, crying, and urge to throw my controller at the nearest cat it was a pleasant welcome to the slumber/bore-fest most RPGs have been this gen.

I beat the Phalanx dude on one try. He sure did look intimidating. I'm told you need to use fire of some sort, I didn't have any...well I did I just didn't know till after I killed him.

And avoid the dragons, really, haha.

can I ask how long it took you to get to Phalanx, and did you grab the cling ring via the shortcut? I never got that far again but it's supposed to be pretty important and apparently the hallows eve event made it impossible to get.

can I ask how long it took you to get to Phalanx, and did you grab the cling ring via the shortcut? I never got that far again but it's supposed to be pretty important and apparently the hallows eve event made it impossible to get.

I'm going to say 4 hours. Not straight through, I was working formatting and install windows 7 on the PCs (why I was playing the PS3 haha) but I'd say anywhere between 3 to 3.5hrs of solid hacking, slashing, and dying. A lot of dying. The Tutorial Level doesn't prepare you for the horrids that await you in the game.

I died three times on the left path (left tower if facing the main building) by some freaking death knight with red eyes. He would one hit me. And stupidly I kept trying "maybe this will work." I figure the red eyes were a warning that this guy is out of my league so I ventured the other way (through a fog.)

I did find a ring, don't recall the name, that increases your HP in Soul form. Phalanx was pretty easy, although I consumed my share of grass. Just use a good two-hander (I had a halbred - sp?) and I was able to hit three sometimes even four of the shield demon guys per swing. Also, use the awful AI to your advantage. I stay in one of the corners with the Phalanx on the opposite of the column, poking around left and right until I got him pretty much stuck haha. So I just took turns whacking at him from different sides. Once I got him there he went down pretty fast and I didn't use as much grass.

So I just deleted my save, made a brand new game and created a solider. I was doing AWESOME. Got the cling ring, made it back around killed the blue eyes night, and then blew up by some barrels. Okay whatever. Went back in, went up the stairs killed the fire dudes, killed the blue eyes knight again and then I got knocked off a cliff into a red eyed knight....

This game sucks. LOL It's fun but I can't keep playing hte same level over and over. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I like check points...

So I just deleted my save, made a brand new game and created a solider. I was doing AWESOME. Got the cling ring, made it back around killed the blue eyes night, and then blew up by some barrels. Okay whatever. Went back in, went up the stairs killed the fire dudes, killed the blue eyes knight again and then I got knocked off a cliff into a red eyed knight....

This game sucks. LOL It's fun but I can't keep playing hte same level over and over. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I like check points...

At least be grateful that you don't lost your items when you die.

I'm torn. The gameplay flaws I mentioned earlier really really REALLY pissed me off. Mostly because of the games unforgiving approach at mistakes. In wide open areas, I don't have an issue (unless the targeting system screws me haha. Swing at a monster without locking on, instead of using some kind of 'swing at the nearest target' system most hack and slashes tend to use your guy swings in a straight line, often missing the target even by a hair - only for them to wail on you haha.)

I think check points would have been nice, but look at what it did to Ninja Gaiden. Even I admit the inclusion of check points removed that "I need to get better" mentality and you'd just stumble in over and over until you won. The penalty of death is huge, and that leads you to observe your actions more closely. I try not to fight in corridors now.

Man, I'm hungering for some Demon's Souls now haha.

Well I finally beat Phalanx and now that I have an understanding of the game I realize there is SORT of a checkpoint system in place. Short cuts. For example in 1-1 you can open up the area with the fire guys and have a quicker path upstairs to ol' blue eyes. Then later you can open a direct path to Phalanx and return to the nexus to repair.

I'm not following any guides or anything and just trying to have fun. But in 2-1 without a bow and using my long spear I can barely get across the bridge without having a boulder rock me. But apparently once I do get all the way around I'll open a shortcut to an elevator and never have to go that way again. So there is SOME sort of reward system in place. And you can always farm souls.

I think I DO Like the game it just takes a bit of getting used to. And I must say after finally beating Phalanx I REALLY felt like I achieved something.

Well I finally beat Phalanx and now that I have an understanding of the game I realize there is SORT of a checkpoint system in place. Short cuts. For example in 1-1 you can open up the area with the fire guys and have a quicker path upstairs to ol' blue eyes. Then later you can open a direct path to Phalanx and return to the nexus to repair.

I'm not following any guides or anything and just trying to have fun. But in 2-1 without a bow and using my long spear I can barely get across the bridge without having a boulder rock me. But apparently once I do get all the way around I'll open a shortcut to an elevator and never have to go that way again. So there is SOME sort of reward system in place. And you can always farm souls.

I think I DO Like the game it just takes a bit of getting used to. And I must say after finally beating Phalanx I REALLY felt like I achieved something.

I wouldn't call those shortcuts checkpoints haha. In the end dying is a bitch especially when you have like 3000+ souls at your posession.

I'm about to log a few, see where I die haha.

I wouldn't call those shortcuts checkpoints haha. In the end dying is a bitch especially when you have like 3000+ souls at your posession.

I'm about to log a few, see where I die haha.

Wait until you lose 100,000... like I just did.:crying:

Anyways, the game is fairly unforgiving in the beginning, but as you gain more skills, and spells (btw being a mage is much easier than being a knight imo) you'll be walking through normal guys like they are cake. It's a game of patterns and patience. Try to hack and slash your way through and your toast.

As for the camera issues... I never had any to be honest. Even in small winding stairs did it get in the way. Maybe I just got used to it...

Oh and watch out for red eyed knights. There's one in 1-1 and he will MESS YOU UP if you anywhere below soul level 30.

Also if your really having a hard time I hear (haven't tried) the royalty class is the easiest one to start out with. :D

Well I re-did level 1-1 last night again.

It wasn't cake, but it was definitely easier than on Halloween. I'd say...2 to 3 times easier.

Also, factor in I knew the area better, and I've memorized the attack pattern for all the mobs in the starting area. So I'm not sure if its just experience or the event being over.