Zero Punctuation: Demon's Souls

[sanzo]

You cant even pause it?!

Well screw that ...

Thanks man.

You can't pause most online games. You just have to find a safe spot. Nothing new comes to an area you've cleared out.

I'm too lazy to go back and look up the quote, but someone said anyone who buys/doesn't buy a game based on Yahtzee's review is a moron.

I'd like to extrapolate on that: Anyone who buys/doesn't buy a game based on any review is a moron. Try it for yourselves

That was me! Though I will say reviews are a useful tool to determine whether I should drop 60 bones on something. No review should be taken as law but if you don't do some research you're just being careless with your money.

Yeah, I should've said "if you buy a game based solely on the review". I think reviews are good to get a basis on what the game is generally about; like how the combat or other mechanics work

 

[Godpyre]

Demon's Souls is an amazing game...I actually thought Yahtzee might like this one, oh well.

 

[jboking]

Ah yes, Demon's Souls. The game that can't be won without a strategy guide or so many retries that you lose any semblance of a social life.

 

[DigitalSushi]

What,it's not my fault your annie and cant take getting hit by:A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!

I'd like to retract my previous statement with regards to you being a troll and state your just a bit rubbish.

 

[technotica]

In demons souls case, the combat is actually quite amazing. It requires skill. (ya rly)

 

[Knight Templar]

Everything I hear about this game makes me want to play it more and more. I really do enjoy a good challenge so long as it's possable for me to win. Like the boss fights in Dragon age when the Leveling system works, those are fun.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

You live next door to a goat, that must be fun, a lot of city folk never get to see farm animals.. lol

 

[SAMAS]

Did anyone else get the feeling like reading someone's first thoughts playing Super Kaizo World or I Wanna Be The Guy?

Some people just like their games to be brutally difficult.

 

[Captain Kangaroo PIMP]

i guess he never got the blue eye stones

 

[varoksa]

hehe i found the game pretty easy ... guess im just better at it than yahtzee is
also i wonder what he would think of what happens when you beat the game , everything does pretty much 3 times more damage XD

 

[Hazy]

Everything I hear about this game makes me want to play it more and more. I really do enjoy a good challenge so long as it's possable for me to win. Like the boss fights in Dragon age when the Leveling system works, those are fun.

This is perfect for you, then.

Fairness? Not an issue. Demon's Souls strikes a fine line between very, yet still bearably difficult, and unfair.
If you can withstand the long, painful, and ball-breakingly tough journey that proceeds it, the victory is all the more sweet... As cliche'd as that sounds.

 

[Smudge91]

I enjoyed this one. Lately the humour has gone a bit dry and boring but as theres something new and shiney i will stop complaining.
Also who the hell thinks its a good idea to make a game that hard?

 

[magnuslion]

excellent as always.

 

[daedrick]

Very good review, finaly a game with a challenge, I must play that game. Good. Very good. And Im glad you got stomped, become a real player now... Hardcore games or nothing, always on hard mode, and always use the worst weapon in every game. Thats how manly games are played by manly players.

HOOHAA...

 

[varoksa]

wish he got up to the bits where you get stomped by players who invade that would have been hilarious to ninja kill yahtzee with my pvper or at least got up to the tower knight that dude is my fav boss almost just cos of the awesome soundtrack

 

[rdrouyn]

What a terrible review, and this considering that I'm usually a fan of Zero Punctuation. I guess he just played the game for two hours getting his ass kicked and just gave up on it. I'm also shocked at how many facts he got completely wrong about the game. Dodging is really quite easy, especially if you have a character with light armor. And not all attacks can be dodged, but that's why you have that nifty shield to block attacks with. Learning magic also makes the game quite easier, as its quite overpowered compared to melee/ranged IMO.

Having said that, this game can get pretty difficult, so it's a matter on how willing you are to learn about the game and how to do combat effectively. Reading the manual and gamefaqs.com helps a lot.

This game isn't that much harder than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry.

 

[Soigieoto]

... Dodge works maybe you just had too much armor on...

Seriously so many comments are like OH so this totally sucks but its a great game that isn't unfairly hard just somewhat difficult

 

[Pimppeter2]

I agree [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158526]

 

[Verrenxnon]

The 'supposed to lose fight' is an arbitrary, lackluster trope in the context of a videogame; removing choice from a medium defined by it reduces the medium.

Game Producers seem to have this terrible misconception that 'hard' translates to poor game mechanics and/or 'survival horror syndrome,' where the player is as slow as an amputated-sloth in a world of hopped-up cheetahs. Is this lack of ingenuity on the part of developers, or are they repressing themselves to appease genre traditions? Both are equally sinister.

You frequently mention difficulty curves in your reviews. What games have you played are 'sufficiently challenging' (i.e. Not rendered 'difficult' through cheap/arbitrary kills and poor design, etc.)?

Given that Demon's Souls narrative sounds putrescent, how frequently does 'sufficiently challenging' coincide with great to excellent stortelling, if at all?

 

[Dyskresiac]

As big of a fan as I am, I can honestly say that Yahtzee isn't exactly... shall we say... the most skilled gamer, and that's fine, I'm not judging him. But playing a game like Demon's Souls when I've heard him complain about other EASY games being unforgiving or difficult to know what to do (The Darkness comes to mind) seems a bit obvious what his response would be. I never would've thought that people would be encouraging him to play Demon's Souls with even the slightest bit of hope that he'd like it.

I don't discount Yahtzee's views based off his occasionally glaring inability to know the obvious, because saying that the game isn't for everyone is in itself an accurate description. Still, while I agree Demon's Souls was fairly bland for different reasons, I'm not saying he's wrong to say what he did. I'm saying people are stupid for suggesting it to him.