Today I'll present you one of my favorite game on PS3 : Demon's Souls. It's a japanese RPG/Action game, developed exclusively on PS3 by From Software (Armored Core, Tenchu). It takes place in a dark, medieval world.
"Nowadays games are too easy..."
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| This guy will surely be the cause your first death |
The first thing that strike when you start playing this game is the difficulty. Some people think that games were better back in the days because
they offered more challenge. Well, these persons should be satisfy by this game, it will give them a rough time. Why ? Because Demon's Souls is merciless and unforgiving. If you make a mistake you will instantly pay for it. You will be mistreated from the tutorial where you'll be violently killed by a boss until the end of the game.
A matter of life and death
However, your first death in the tutorial is the first step of your learning about Demon's Souls' world. After your death, you are transported into the Nexus, a place between life and death. Here you can rest, learn magic, buy items, repair your broken weapons and armors or improve your character's skills. Most important, it is here that you can access the different levels of the game. But, when you die in this game, you loose your physical form and become a spirit. There are 3 ways to recover your body. The easy way consists in using the appropriate item but it's rare. You can also go to the place where you have been slaughtered and touch your corpse or you can defeat a boss. It doesn't sound complicated but when you are in spirit form you have only half of your health point. Oh, and when you die, all the enemies in the level will respawn so it won't be a simple jogging to get your body back.
A tense gameplay
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| Some bosses are massive |
"Just avoid being killed" some might say. Ok, but death is everywhere in Demon's Souls. Every fight, even against the weakest enemy can be lethal if you don't pay attention. Indeed, your character have stamina gauge. Sprinting, using your weapon, dodging, rolling or protecting yourself with a shield will lower this gauge. If the gauge is empty you can't do anything, and usually two attacks and one parry are enough to drain all your stamina. So it's crucial to managed your stamina otherwise it will lead you to your death, and you don't want to. Not only because you'll become a spirit (or stay a spirit if you already were) but because you will lost your "souls". Souls are collected when you kill an enemy and are used as a money to pay the blacksmith or to learn spells but it can also be transformed into experience points. If it happened you have only one way to get back your souls : you have to find your body. And if you die again before reaching it, the souls will be lost forever. Most of the time you will die because of your haste and negligence. Demon's Souls is a very requiring game but won't take you off-guard and even if death is frustrating, the satisfaction is greater when finally you succeeded. It's one of the most gratifying game I ever played.
Help and death come from other worlds
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| Help is always appreciated |
Demon's Souls have also some great online feature. By using the proper stone you can summon other players to help in your quest. You can also leave messages on the ground, it can provide very helpful advices such as warning you about a trap or an extremly powerful enemy that you may not be able to defeat. Plus, when a player dies, he leaves a bloodstain on the floor, if you interact with it you'll see the last seconds of his life and how he's dead so you can try to not finish like him :). But interactions between players aren't always friendly, the game also provide a PvP function. You can invade another player's world and try to kill, which will provide you some souls and you can get back your physical form if you are a spirit. In this game the danger can come from other players.
Perfection doesn't exists
Despite the awesome dark and desesparated atmosphere and a good background universe, the story of Demon's Souls is poor and sparse. The different NPC are really static and except the Black Maiden, you won't get attached to them.
Graphically speaking, the environements are uneven but always oppresive, and the characters' faces are quite ugly.
Conclusion
To conclude Demon's Souls is a cruel but gratifying game. It will punish your ignorance and imconpetence without mercy but each minute of survival is a victory. Despite some drawbacks, the game is a real black treasure with a
spellbinding universe and a well thought out gameplay.
A sequel called "Dark Souls" will be out in October and will be released on PS3 and Xbox360.
I love this intro, it's like it says "Welcome to Demon's Souls, now you're fu*ked"
