Demon's Souls

[Sir Prize]

True the health regeneration is good point, because it's better not to waste potions that could be useful later. Whilst on this topice there is one more thing I'd like to question about Demon's Souls.

Why does it take so long to heal yourself? I know that in the real would we may take just as along but I think games should not always try to mirro reality, at least not in the case of healing.

 

[Sir Prize]

Fair points, but it just seems very annoying to add that on all the others stuff. I'd like the game to just appear fair.

 

[MightyMouse]

I had exactly the same experience as Yahtzee. I normally love hard games but Demon's Souls felt like it was just wasting my time.

 

[beastrn]

Fair points, but it just seems very annoying to add that on all the others stuff. I'd like the game to just appear fair.

Yeah I don't get why some games don't let you press X to get all your health back. Especially in a game like Demon's Souls where the PvP is intense and fun. I can only imagine if you could instantly heal it would be was more fun and way more intense.

...
...
...

 

[DayDark]

And now I get to email Michael Atkinson the entire Offended page from Encyclopedia Dramatica, good times.

Oh...Gawd!...why do I always look things up...cursed be my curiosity...I feel horrible now, I made it to the crucified kitten.

 

[Disaster Button]

And now I get to email Michael Atkinson the entire Offended page from Encyclopedia Dramatica, good times.

Oh...Gawd!...why do I always look things up...cursed be my curiosity...I feel horrible now, I made it to the crucified kitten.

After I saw it I just showered and showered and still couldn't make myself clean.

 

[theexhippy]

I'll probably get some abuse for this comment but in response to Demon Souls having no difficulty setting; surely most gamers tend to pick "normal" difficulty when starting a new game? Only masochists or people with something to prove, to whom I?m not sure, choose Hard/Veteran/Murderous (pick your adjective that means ?Really difficult?) for their first run through of a game. And for a similar reason no one picks Easy because it feels a bit like cheating or wimping out.

For difficult games: Unless the game is rock bloody hard from the get go you quickly wind up in a situation where you find yourself wishing you had maybe chosen an easier setting. However, since you?ve burned several hours of your life getting there it seems easier to plough on rather than starting again. Basically you find yourself in a Demon Souls type situation only now you have no one to blame but yourself.

Just a thought

 

[duchaked]

"it wasn't a test of skill, but of my willingness to roll over and take it like a *****"

hahaha that got me

it's really weird when a game will record how many hours are spent playing it
I'm like "okay I get it...I've spent a total of 2 days of my life playing this game already" or something like that haha...oh crap

 

[fieryhotaru]

lollipants cowpat. You never cease to make me laugh week after week.

 

[biji-san]

I emailed saying I want the R18 rating!

 

[sleepyperson]

I still don't get why people have a problem with this game.
I found after I got a hang of it that it really wasn't hard at all.
Then again I am a person who blind runs on the hardest difficulty in any game I play so that might be why.

 

[Weaver]

Sure you could put difficulty levels in, sure the game doesn't need to be needlessly cruel (like when Yurt kills every NPC in the nexus and you have no idea he's going to do that), but really, this is the game they wanted to make and wanted people to play. They carved this for the niche market of insane people (like myself) who like a near masochistic level of challenge, it's like the old roguelikes.

This is an issue i take with a lot of reviewers today. Instead of taking the game as it is, they take it as what they wanted it to be. Just like a sculptor would make whatever statue he or she wanted it to be then subject it to review. One could clearly list everything you don't like about the statue, but you can't complain that the statue SHOULD have had hands because that's just how the other statues are - it's art.

I'm not saying to have to like the game, or even that you should! You offered your reason for dislikes and no one can fault opinion, but the unfortunately named From Software team made the game how they wanted. They knew it was hard, and that's what they wanted to do. They knew they would be alienating a lot of potential players, but they still did it, and I applaud them for sticking to their guns and created something that wasn't made for the soul (haha) purpose of making stacks of money.

In my opinion Demon's Souls is a rare gem and we aren't going to see many more games like it.

I'll probably get some abuse for this comment but in response to Demon Souls having no difficulty setting; surely most gamers tend to pick "normal" difficulty when starting a new game? Only masochists or people with something to prove, to whom I?m not sure, choose Hard/Veteran/Murderous (pick your adjective that means ?Really difficult?) for their first run through of a game. And for a similar reason no one picks Easy because it feels a bit like cheating or wimping out.

Maybe I'm an old and jaded fogey, but I usually pick "hard" unless I know the game is more difficult than usual. Games these days really aren't hard and I get bored on "medium". This is especially true in RTS and FPS games since your skills generally transfer from game to game as they're all very similar.

I think part of the problem is developers KNOW everyone picks medium so they make medium actually kind of easy so that most people can get through it without much trouble.

 

[Sir Prize]

I can see what you mean, it just wasn't the game for me but I just do not see the point in not having the save option and pause. Those are the things that really get me, because those are what made it so annoying for me. I don't mind dieing in game, I mind doing things over again when it would make sense to let people save when they know a hard boss is coming. It makes sense to let people pause when they have to go and do something, such as taking the dog out, do the washing up or answer the phone. You see these two small things would have made me less annoyed with the game.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

I'm a huge fan of Demon's Souls and had a great laugh at the ZP episode... not just Yahtzee's usual wit but his misadventure is a perfect chronicle of almost every newbie mistake possible between the start of the game and the second boss battle. A lot of the problems had with the game seem to be of the "why didn't you just do this? or that?" variety ... aside from ignoring his shield (everybody starts with one and its use is explained in the tutorial) they're all among the huge reams of stuff that From Software left buried for players to find out for themselves or through hints on the ground etc. Sticking lizardmen with pickaxes right around blind corners is only one example of how From didn't pull any punches when they made the game.

It's possible to avoid going back to the hub after beating the first boss in favor of pressing on in the first world, but the hub visit opens up new areas to explore as an alternate to that horrible bridge level, NPC's to level you up and improve weapons, and most importantly the couple of items that let you start doing real multi-player co-op instead of just seeing ghosts wandering around or watching replays of people dying. Not that those aren't amusing... I love the chance to see someone make a fatal mistake in real-time, and touching bloodstains in areas where I have no idea how someone could possibly find a way to die.

The game has good design and combat, but it really is not a fair game, you can normally pause most games, online not counted for understandable reaons. Before you try it, Demon's Souls is not an online game because the other players are not actively fighting with you or against you.

BTW this (and the similar bit in the episode) is absolutely false. While alive your character can see blue runes on the ground that let you summon another player's phantom to help you with the level and boss fight. Also you can be invaded by other players in red phantom form and have to fight them to the death. Really good XP if you win, free revive for them if you lose. The probability of invasion is what makes this game really awesome, once that red message that you've been invaded shows up you have to be ready for an attack from virtually any quarter at any time.

Aside from making it annoying to review, I think the die-and-restart part of Demon's Souls was incredibly well done. It's nothing innovative, just the return of good old-fashioned videogame playing. You shall not pass an area until you're good enough to do it in one go like a proper hero, end of story. When you finally get through a place you will have truly deserved it, there's no chance that you win just by fluke. Also, the levels are very well designed for replays. Their end-to-end lengths are very short if you learn them and have done the requisite checking of every nook and cranny for treasure, shortcuts, and ambushes. You can lose an hour's work in one bad move, but your bloodstain is generally within 5 minutes walking distance at the very worst if you go get your souls right away without distractions (which is a good idea since goofing off and dying will cause them to disappear). In some cases the shortcuts aren't obvious, they may not be new pathways you open by unlocking doors etc. In one place you can simply sneak a near-beeline through 2/3 of the level, in another you just need to make a non-obvious jump down from a parapet.

 

[rize]

I'm so tempted to email [email protected] and ask him if the Jews in Nazi Germany were just a vocal minority? I mean, apparently it's OK to oppress minorities (vocal or otherwise).

 

[Gondito]

Some of the points are about half an hour away from each other and I believe that is asking a bit much from players, you cannot really say that having to go through that amount again isn't annoying. Also, the lack of an easy, normal and hard mode makes the game even worse of those who haven't played games that much.

In my view a game shouldn't force you into do-overs too much, because it gets boring after that. Also, the whole 'oh you fell for a trap and have to start again' thing is not really fair, it is cheap. So is the whole no pause thing, that is just plain rude, suppose you have to stop playing for a few moment, then what?

The game has good design and combat, but it really is not a fair game, you can normally pause most games, online not counted for understandable reasons. Before you try it, Demon's Souls is not an online game because the other players are not actively fighting with you or against you.

There is an online component, other players can invade your game to kill you any time you are in human form, you can summon coop partners or join other players in their world at any time. how is that not active?

 

[Sir Prize]

Some of the points are about half an hour away from each other and I believe that is asking a bit much from players, you cannot really say that having to go through that amount again isn't annoying. Also, the lack of an easy, normal and hard mode makes the game even worse of those who haven't played games that much.

In my view a game shouldn't force you into do-overs too much, because it gets boring after that. Also, the whole 'oh you fell for a trap and have to start again' thing is not really fair, it is cheap. So is the whole no pause thing, that is just plain rude, suppose you have to stop playing for a few moment, then what?

The game has good design and combat, but it really is not a fair game, you can normally pause most games, online not counted for understandable reasons. Before you try it, Demon's Souls is not an online game because the other players are not actively fighting with you or against you.

There is an online component, other players can invade your game to kill you any time you are in human form, you can summon coop partners or join other players in their world at any time. how is that not active?

Okay, that kinda stuff did not happen to me, but I may be wrong. A game should have still have pause when you need to select stuff and alike.

 

[HotFezz8]

Extra Punctuation: Demon's Souls

The problem with Demon's Souls isn't that it's hard, but that it purposefully wastes player's time.

Read Full Article

ahaha, I am, in fact, quite proud of my letter:

Subject: Legal Question on Acquiring Public-Affairs Permit

Greetings Mr. Atkinson,

I was wondering what the legal process would be for reserving a large area on public property in order to hold a community event. This year, the C.F.L.D.C will be hosting a rousing book-burning on the lawn of city hall. Coincidentally we will also be going through several works of world literature and drawing giant black Xes on anything that might make someone feel uncomfortable. We will then proceed to censor all other great works of cinema and video gaming and make sure that all incidences of violence, sex, or creativity are replaced by unicorns and rainbows. After all, how would children know about violence if we never TELL them? This is why times in the past pre-videogaming were so idyllic (Ah, to live again in the halcyon days of the dark ages, world wars, and near-nuclear annihilation!) This has clearly been shown to drastically reduce all manner of violent crime and deviant behavior in society (please ignore all those fancy "Scientists" and "Statisticians" in their ivory towers whose libertine "Scientific Methods" of study have found no such link whatsoever and claimed the media is merely scapegoating as a way of avoiding any analysis of serious sociological issues.) I applaud your continued resistance against public opinion and the concept of free speech. It is good to see that someone at least cares about the messages we pass on to our children

Sincerely,

- Walter A. Silveira
Chairman of the C.F.L.D.C (Censorship and Fascist Luddite Douchebags Committee)

P.S. Don't you just LOVE the game Yahtzee?

Damn. Mine wasn't nearly as creative. Though my only goal was to just add another entry into his inbox.

my entry sounds downright boring in comparision...

my respect for yahtzee is going up and up and up... i'd give my right leg to see Atkinsons face when he opens his in box the first day after this thread was posted...