Lets take a look at what Demon's Souls offered us:
Some of the best, most varied level designs of the generation. Take a look at some videos and pictures - each world had a vastly different art style with varying themes and styles, all beautifully crafted with some gorgeous enemies and bosses. But not only is it good looking, it's effective - everything is clear and concise. You can tell at a glance what you are going up against, and can easily take in the entire level - I cannot think of a situation where something happened that was not obvious.
Probably the most "honest" difficulty of the generation. Where most games manufacture difficulty by upping the numbers and giving the enemies a significant advantage, Demon's Souls provides the exact same chances to you and the enemies. They hit hard, you hit them hard. If you die, it's because you made a mistake, and with the exception of one area of one level, there is no point where an enemy holds a distinct advantage over you - It's all in how you play the game.
So then we get to how hard it actually is. Because of this system, every victory feels rewarding, even against some of the smaller enemies. There's a sense of accomplishment to every level, because you work for it, and when it goes well you know why.
TL;DR: Buy Dark Souls because Demon's Souls was an incredibly unique and well made game and Dark Souls will be the same.
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
So should I bother playing Demon's Souls or just skip straight to Dark Souls, my brother has both and I was planning on jumping in on this next time I go home
-- [NO BARKLEY NO PEACE] If you can't slam with the best, then jam with the rest.
WazzupGenius00 posted... So should I bother playing Demon's Souls or just skip straight to Dark Souls, my brother has both and I was planning on jumping in on this next time I go home
Dark Souls, but Demon's Souls is at least worth a looksee because some of the levels and bosses are amazing.
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
I feel like the Dark Souls guy said something about there being checkpoints in this one. Is that true? Demon's Souls was completely ruined to me in the first level because of the lack of checkpoints.
1. I'm making my way through the level, getting used to the controls, then I come upon a hole in the floor with purple sparkly stuff in it. Curious, I jump into the hole. I immediately die and have to start over. Pissed as hell, I try again.
2. So I get really far, stocking up on all sorts of health potions. There are a number of ways to go. One of them has a note saying it's for experienced players only, so I instead go through the fog door thing. I'm going, going, going, probably playing for an hour. I get to this bridge where a fire breathing dragon shows up whenever I try going across. Remembering how costly a death would be, I avoid it and go a different way. There's a section to the left where this dragon and another are sleeping on a higher cliff. I cautiously make my way under them to see if there's something over there, ready to run away if they get up. Instead, the thing just instantly shoots fire at me before I have a chance to run and I instantly die.
That kind of crap isn't difficulty. The combat was simple. The way you're saying every battle is satisfying is ridiculous. I just shot my spell at guys and they died before they even knew I was there. Give me a break. The way I died had nothing to do with difficulty. It was just bad design. A game with cheap/easy deaths like that is fine if it has a checkpoints system, but it's just garbage when it makes me lose an hour of play.
2. So I get really far, stocking up on all sorts of health potions. There are a number of ways to go. One of them has a note saying it's for experienced players only, so I instead go through the fog door thing. I'm going, going, going, probably playing for an hour. I get to this bridge where a fire breathing dragon shows up whenever I try going across. Remembering how costly a death would be, I avoid it and go a different way. There's a section to the left where this dragon and another are sleeping on a higher cliff. I cautiously make my way under them to see if there's something over there, ready to run away if they get up. Instead, the thing just instantly shoots fire at me before I have a chance to run and I instantly die.
This entire situation can literally not occur in the first level. Why did you make this up? Or did you just watch someone else play and get confused?
Yeah I pre-ordered it and I'm totally hyped, but I kind of hope they add at least 1 checkpoint per area or something. If they don't, I'll be fine. I find though that I'm more adventurous when I have a chance to look around without worrying about losing an hour + of gameplay to something stupid.
-- GameFAQs isn't going to be merged in with GameSpot or any other site. We're not going to strip out the soul of the site. -CJayC
KimPilgrim posted... This entire situation can literally not occur in the first level. Why did you make this up? Or did you just watch someone else play and get confused?
I don't make things up, man. I'm serious. I don't mean that tutorial part. I mean after dying and going to the overworld thing and then selecting the first level. It did happen. Unless crossing through the fog or whatever means I jumped into a different level.
Yeah, I know what level you were talking about. You cannot encounter the bridge dragon until after defeating the first boss. There is also a spawn point directly in front of the bridge dragon, and to get to the first boss you have to open the pathway that is right next to the beginning of the level regardless.
Pretty_Odd posted... I feel like the Dark Souls guy said something about there being checkpoints in this one. Is that true? Demon's Souls was completely ruined to me in the first level because of the lack of checkpoints.
1. I'm making my way through the level, getting used to the controls, then I come upon a hole in the floor with purple sparkly stuff in it. Curious, I jump into the hole. I immediately die and have to start over. Pissed as hell, I try again.
2. So I get really far, stocking up on all sorts of health potions. There are a number of ways to go. One of them has a note saying it's for experienced players only, so I instead go through the fog door thing. I'm going, going, going, probably playing for an hour. I get to this bridge where a fire breathing dragon shows up whenever I try going across. Remembering how costly a death would be, I avoid it and go a different way. There's a section to the left where this dragon and another are sleeping on a higher cliff. I cautiously make my way under them to see if there's something over there, ready to run away if they get up. Instead, the thing just instantly shoots fire at me before I have a chance to run and I instantly die.
That kind of crap isn't difficulty. The combat was simple. The way you're saying every battle is satisfying is ridiculous. I just shot my spell at guys and they died before they even knew I was there. Give me a break. The way I died had nothing to do with difficulty. It was just bad design. A game with cheap/easy deaths like that is fine if it has a checkpoints system, but it's just garbage when it makes me lose an hour of play.
There were no cheap or easy deaths. I know every area you are talking about..
The hole in the floor with a bunch of souls floating around in it that has no bottom in sight? Yeah, great idea jumping in there, so cheap.
The Dragon Bridge, the idea is to outrun the dragon. Not to run away. So instead of running across a bridge where you could easily tell the timing of the Dragon and hear it coming, you run out to a plateau that probably had warnings on the floor, tons of burned bodies, and two giant dragons staring right at you. Sounds brilliant.
Magic IS overpowered in Demon's Souls(toned down in Dark Souls) but even then it's in no way gamebreaking given that it has finite amounts and there are plenty of enemies that can wreck you if you rely on it, dodging attacks and hitting you before you can get a spell off, likely killing you quickly since you focused too much into your magic stats.
You're judging the game on the first level that you played poorly, and from the sounds of it you didn't get any farther. The game is challenging but satisfying. There are few places in the game where you can call a death "cheap".
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
KimPilgrim posted... Yeah, I know what level you were talking about. You cannot encounter the bridge dragon until after defeating the first boss. There is also a spawn point directly in front of the bridge dragon, and to get to the first boss you have to open the pathway that is right next to the beginning of the level regardless.
No no you can. There's one area with the bridge dragon in the opening level that you have to cross on the way to Phlanx, that's the same general principle as the 1-2 Bridge Dragon.
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
From: KimPilgrim | #010 This entire situation can literally not occur in the first level. Why did you make this up? Or did you just watch someone else play and get confused?
No, there's definitely a bridge in 1-1 that the Red Dragon buzzes. Not the pain-in-as 1-2 marathon; the short one before the lever that opens the door to Phalanx.
baron von toast posted... From: KimPilgrim | #010 This entire situation can literally not occur in the first level. Why did you make this up? Or did you just watch someone else play and get confused? No, there's definitely a bridge in 1-1 that the Red Dragon buzzes. Not the pain-in-as 1-2 marathon; the short one before the lever that opens the door to Phalanx.
Actually I'd call it harder than the 1-2 one, because you have a larger amount of enemies at the end, most of them ranged, with no good shields usually and much closer to the dragon's maximum range(it's not uncommon for them to back away once you're amidst them and get killed by the dragon).
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
From: Pretty_Odd | #008 1. I'm making my way through the level, getting used to the controls, then I come upon a hole in the floor with purple sparkly stuff in it. Curious, I jump into the hole. I immediately die and have to start over. Pissed as hell, I try again.
Funny thing is, this is probably everyone's first death in the game, aside if you got beat by the tutorial boss. Well, almost everyone. Though...it's not even that far from the starting point so uhhh, dieing there really isn't that big of a deal.
Sorozone posted... From: Pretty_Odd | #008 1. I'm making my way through the level, getting used to the controls, then I come upon a hole in the floor with purple sparkly stuff in it. Curious, I jump into the hole. I immediately die and have to start over. Pissed as hell, I try again. Funny thing is, this is probably everyone's first death in the game, aside if you got beat by the tutorial boss. Well, almost everyone. Though...it's not even that far from the starting point so uhhh, dieing there really isn't that big of a deal.
Exactly. I was pissed because I really didn't think I would just die, but it was early on enough that I brushed it off and tried again.
Pretty_Odd posted... Sorozone posted... From: Pretty_Odd | #008 1. I'm making my way through the level, getting used to the controls, then I come upon a hole in the floor with purple sparkly stuff in it. Curious, I jump into the hole. I immediately die and have to start over. Pissed as hell, I try again. Funny thing is, this is probably everyone's first death in the game, aside if you got beat by the tutorial boss. Well, almost everyone. Though...it's not even that far from the starting point so uhhh, dieing there really isn't that big of a deal.
Exactly. I was pissed because I really didn't think I would just die, but it was early on enough that I brushed it off and tried again.
Please tell me what part of "bottomless hole in the floor with souls floating around menacingly" suggests you won't die.
-- Joyrock Fresh from my first justified ban. Ever!
From: Pretty_Odd | #008 I just shot my spell at guys and they died before they even knew I was there. Give me a break.
Magic tends to make PvE pretty easy because, iirc, there is precisely one enemy in that game will even attempt to evade magic attacks. Maybe two. Walk backwards -> Flame Toss / Soul Ray will get you through 99% of encounters.
I skipped out on Demon's Souls because... Well... Actually I have no good reason. I should have played that game. Especially since it got real cheap near the end.
Now I'm going to have to pass on Dark Souls for a while because I have no money. Hopefully I can pick it up around the holiday season. The GB Quick Look is basically what did it for me. Hearing people talk about the game it just sounded like it would be incredibly frustrating... but watching them go through it really showed how "fair" the whole thing is. Also, I'm hoping I can use my fighting game reflexes to parry the **** out of everything.
OctilIery posted... Please tell me what part of "bottomless hole in the floor with souls floating around menacingly" suggests you won't die.
Uh, like I said, it was full of sparkly things. I've been playing games since I was a baby. A lifetime of playing games has taught me that sparklies are usually a good thing!