233: Ghosts in the Machine

[Brendan Main]

Ghosts in the Machine

Demon's Souls is a difficult RPG that offers strange connections. Remnants of other players' experiences are scrawled on the walls and you can view echoes of their deaths. Brendan Main relates a personal haunting and how it made him feel like he did when playing the game.

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[Xersues]

Wow no replies yet? This article is phenomenal! I felt the exact way playing through Demon's Souls. Sense of eerie creepiness that follows you in the beginning. If I let paranoia get a hold of me I found myself taking less risks and playing the game less often. Eventually I just became more immune to it, and just expected it, doing the best cost/benefit analysis with my hoard of precious souls I could. Once I started looking up min/maxing guides I definitely saw a difference in my original character with my new one (I really hate min/maxing, but I definitely felt like I made my first character not as good I should have). Once I had a proper clue to the stats and possible very useful items, the game made more sense, and it was just thrilling.

Very quiet, very creepy, and everything... EVERYTHING... Hates you. For simply being alive.

 

[BrotherRool]

I love reading about Demon's Souls. I just don't think I could take the terror, I've got a very very low threshold.

I@ll be terribly pedantic now. "Punishing in the biblical sense" What the heck was that supposed to mean? You qualified it with, castigating the bad rather than rewarding the good. As in the other non-biblical type of punishment involves giving people good things for doing good things? It was an incredibly weak and silly sentence to contain a sophisticated word.

Not only that but the core tenant of Christianity is that we're forgiven by God even when we screw up, and we'll never stop screwing up but God will never stop forgiving us. So in fact, the sentence means the exact opposite of what you meant it.

/End of a pointless rant by an internet pedagogue.

 

[Flionk]

Well, before I thought that Demon's Souls might be interesting to try out, but now...you've gone and got me both intrigued and terrified of what the experience would do to me. Especially with the sleep paralysis comparison - I get that way too often and it completely freaks me out every single time (especially when I've just dreamed that I'd woken up in bed, only to later wake up [or not] another time, something which also happens to me far too often). I'll have to make sure to have some friends around to keep me from losing it if I ever give it a go...

 

[Brendan Main]

I love reading about Demon's Souls. I just don't think I could take the terror, I've got a very very low threshold.

I@ll be terribly pedantic now. "Punishing in the biblical sense" What the heck was that supposed to mean? You qualified it with, castigating the bad rather than rewarding the good. As in the other non-biblical type of punishment involves giving people good things for doing good things? It was an incredibly weak and silly sentence to contain a sophisticated word.

Not only that but the core tenant of Christianity is that we're forgiven by God even when we screw up, and we'll never stop screwing up but God will never stop forgiving us. So in fact, the sentence means the exact opposite of what you meant it.

/End of a pointless rant by an internet pedagogue.

I certainly didn't mean to touch on any theological ground - if I had been more precise, I could have said punishing in an "old testament," or even "deuteronomic" sense. Not the "lion with the lamb blessed are the meek" stuff. The "Oh no it is raining blood and locusts are eating my eyes" stuff. More S.L.J. than J.C.

But you raise a fair point, and I concede I could have been clearer. Us internet pedagogues got to stick together, after all.

 

[LorChan]

Being pretty bad at gaming in general, despite my love for it, I don't think I could take Demon's Souls. But reading this article... I may just buy it for one of my better friends and watch over their shoulder.

I don't know if I'd enjoy it, but it intrests me.

I don't know what's on the other side, and I've never been pushing to try and figure it out, but for once, I'd like to talk about death. I can't talk with my family, because they'll think I need mental help. I can't talk with my friends, because their lives have never been touched by death and they won't understand.

And all together, in a world of Halo and Zelda, I appreciate the origionality of games like Katarmari, Viewtiful Joe, etc. but even for the ideas that manage to be both origional and serious, like Assassin's Creed, I've never seen a downright phylisophical game. Could I have found one?

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Article background picture contains a huge Demon's Souls spoiler.

 

[Donrad]

i know this isnt really a review but its made me want to buy the game more then Zero Punctuations review.
you made the game sound very amazing.
and that sleep paralysis seems a tad on the frightening side!

 

[JustRadek]

"We become unknowable things, somehow less that ourselves..."

Less than ourselves?

Either way, very nice writeup.

 

[KingKamor]

"Turn on. Tune in. Drop dead."

I see what you did there.

Before I get Demon's Souls, or even a PS3 for that matter, I need to get a job. I've always planned on getting it, though, and this article helped to further cement that fact into my mind. I have always loved the kind of game that conjures up emotions, and Demon's Souls looks to be a prime candidate. A great article, but you might want to lessen up on the flowery language and imagery. The more casual crowd might not take it as seriously. Just a thought.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

To be honest, the "picture" that this article painted in my mind sort of unnerved me. It seems that at least some people find Demon's Souls to be a unique and involving experience, and as it's been described as a spiritual successor to King's Field (which I loved), I'm rather interested. Unfortunately, I do not (nor will I ever) own a Playstation 3, so I suppose I'm out of luck.

 

[The Random One]

I wonder if this deep metaphor for the internet age sparked in the developer's minds, or would need a hilarious amount of enter key presses to illustrate how far it flew over their heads.

...Does anyone else feel like sharing NetHack graveyard files?

 

[copycatalyst]

I think the paradox of "constantly communicating, never connecting" is a fascinating one, and this game's unique quasi-multiplayer setup does seem like it offers an interesting way of viewing that. Good insights, well written.

 

[MNRA]

I've never played the game (the Arian god of PC gaming that I am) and from what I hear it isn't the best game ever made. But you my friend make a very, very compelling argument to go buy a console and decent into the murky depths commonly sneered at as "casual gaming". This was an exquisite article, a gerat read and my only fear is that 800 word (or whatever) or your writing outclasses the game you describe by far.

Well done.

 

[InvisibleSeal]

I haven't actually got the game, but I just have to say: the article is truly amazing!

To tell the truth, it is a far greater insight into the game than most reviews I've seen, and the extra link to sleep paralysis is done astoundingly well

 

[vxicepickxv]

This sounds like quite possibly one of the creepiest things I could ever think of doing in a game, however, because I'm not that kind of player, I don't think this game is for me.

 

[fogmike]

I am inspired!


....I shall write a book.



....And probably buy Demon's Souls

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Interesting... I just got a PS3 a few days ago, and I think I'm getting this game for my birthday in a few days, so yah!

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

That's pretty interesting. Demon's Souls is the best game I've played.