About a decade and a half ago, I was left feeling underwhelmed by the combat mechanics in the all-too-praised Ocarina of Time. The puzzle elements were great, but the challenging fights from earlier Zeldas were were left nowhere to be found in the 3d age, a shame seeing as how many of the core elements were great. Enemies pose no threat to you outside of the context of puzzles. The folks at From Software must've had similar feelings, as Demon's Souls was drawn up to address the lack of hardcore battles with a 3d sword.
Demon's Souls is a PS3 exclusive wherein you take on the role of another generic blank slate hero who doesn't speak nor has any back story to speak of. Left to create your character yourself, you customize a myriad of stats by leveling up via collecting the souls of your dead enemies, the single central currency. The game employs a number of constraints on your character that forces you to examine your surroundings and plan your way through accordingly. Conveniences like invisible walls blacking you from running off of a cliff are remarkably absent, while slow leveling ensures you'll be careful about how you allocate your points.
If I'm offering up too bleak a picture of this gem, my apologies, because everything is so finely tuned that the pains of the game make the moments of learning and adapting that much richer. While your hero can be fried, impaled, or brutally beaten to death from a number of different angles, you also have the power to avoid every death through a powerful repertoire of Spellsword actions, like acrobatic rolls ala Link or the almighty backstep. While most games, like the aforementioned Zeldas, far undershoot an acceptable level of challenge, and those that don't often leave the player wrestling with poor underlying mechanics, the level of precision offered in Demon's Souls grants what looks by most people to be an insurmountable challenge while in reality getting the balance between the two broken extremes just right.
The boss battles are epic masterpieces, being roughly split between those that offer a significant challenge and those that can be cheesed through a number of methods found online. All bosses, though, contain powerfully orchestrated music (a rarity in this game, as most of the time is spent trans versing levels barren of any tunes). For the bosses some find too hard, though, I must turn to one of the most interesting features of this game, the multiplayer.
Much of normal gameplay, following death you are transfered into "Soul Form", wherein you're only given half of your normal health bar. If you defeat a boss or use a specific item, you are revived back into "Body Form", giving you full health, a stronger fear of death, and more tools to die and stay alive with. First, the stay alive tools. You are able to summon up to two other players into your game who are in Soul Form in their own, usually in an attempt to defeat the boss and return the other players to Soul Form. Words cannot describe how awesome it is to have such an intricate battle system taken online, as this is something never tried in Zelda. Four Swords Online someday maybe? 3d Zelda online? Anyway, now let's turn to the multiplayer aspect to die for. Players in Soul Form may also invade a random person's world who is currently in Body Form to fight alongside the enemies in their world in an attempt to PK the host, stealing a level's worth of souls, a stat point, and the Body Form away from them. What weakness may exist in PvE content with the traditional predictable computer controlled enemy patterns we've seen in every other game gets broken up with the occasional spur of the moment fight with another player using tactics you don't know the optimal strategy against right off the top of your head.
I'll spare an exposition on the graphics, other than saying that they are great. Demon's Souls is a wonderful, challenging, and engrossing experience that gives hardcore gamers a chance to see a grittier take on the silent 3d swordsman. If you have a PS3 and have ever wondered what the Zelda combat would be like if it were actually tough, then you owe it to yourself to check out Demon's Souls. Also, keep an eye out for the sequel scheduled for later this year entitled Dark Souls on both the PS3 and the 360.
Hope you enjoy!
Demon's Souls is a PS3 exclusive wherein you take on the role of another generic blank slate hero who doesn't speak nor has any back story to speak of. Left to create your character yourself, you customize a myriad of stats by leveling up via collecting the souls of your dead enemies, the single central currency. The game employs a number of constraints on your character that forces you to examine your surroundings and plan your way through accordingly. Conveniences like invisible walls blacking you from running off of a cliff are remarkably absent, while slow leveling ensures you'll be careful about how you allocate your points.
If I'm offering up too bleak a picture of this gem, my apologies, because everything is so finely tuned that the pains of the game make the moments of learning and adapting that much richer. While your hero can be fried, impaled, or brutally beaten to death from a number of different angles, you also have the power to avoid every death through a powerful repertoire of Spellsword actions, like acrobatic rolls ala Link or the almighty backstep. While most games, like the aforementioned Zeldas, far undershoot an acceptable level of challenge, and those that don't often leave the player wrestling with poor underlying mechanics, the level of precision offered in Demon's Souls grants what looks by most people to be an insurmountable challenge while in reality getting the balance between the two broken extremes just right.
The boss battles are epic masterpieces, being roughly split between those that offer a significant challenge and those that can be cheesed through a number of methods found online. All bosses, though, contain powerfully orchestrated music (a rarity in this game, as most of the time is spent trans versing levels barren of any tunes). For the bosses some find too hard, though, I must turn to one of the most interesting features of this game, the multiplayer.
Much of normal gameplay, following death you are transfered into "Soul Form", wherein you're only given half of your normal health bar. If you defeat a boss or use a specific item, you are revived back into "Body Form", giving you full health, a stronger fear of death, and more tools to die and stay alive with. First, the stay alive tools. You are able to summon up to two other players into your game who are in Soul Form in their own, usually in an attempt to defeat the boss and return the other players to Soul Form. Words cannot describe how awesome it is to have such an intricate battle system taken online, as this is something never tried in Zelda. Four Swords Online someday maybe? 3d Zelda online? Anyway, now let's turn to the multiplayer aspect to die for. Players in Soul Form may also invade a random person's world who is currently in Body Form to fight alongside the enemies in their world in an attempt to PK the host, stealing a level's worth of souls, a stat point, and the Body Form away from them. What weakness may exist in PvE content with the traditional predictable computer controlled enemy patterns we've seen in every other game gets broken up with the occasional spur of the moment fight with another player using tactics you don't know the optimal strategy against right off the top of your head.
I'll spare an exposition on the graphics, other than saying that they are great. Demon's Souls is a wonderful, challenging, and engrossing experience that gives hardcore gamers a chance to see a grittier take on the silent 3d swordsman. If you have a PS3 and have ever wondered what the Zelda combat would be like if it were actually tough, then you owe it to yourself to check out Demon's Souls. Also, keep an eye out for the sequel scheduled for later this year entitled Dark Souls on both the PS3 and the 360.
Hope you enjoy!
