Zero Punctuation: Demon's Souls

[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.

 

[gerrymander61]

Weak. Yahtzee is weak. If only I owned a PS3, I would totally go buy this game and obsess like it's nobody's business. I want to see how it compares to I Wanna Be The Guy.

 

[kawaiiamethist]

I suck at games that involve perfect timing, so I shall be avoiding this one.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Yeah, I know what they were going for with this game... but come ON. Does it have to be this fucking hard? I can understand Yahtzee's aggression against this game. I hate ragequitting. It's just like Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, where just winning the battle wasn't fucking enough.

I just don't have enough time to myself to waste on games like I used to when I was a kid. Sure I'd play old school Mega Man all day, but I didn't have a job, a girlfriend, or reponsibility back then. This game has it's own appeal, but the difficulty doesn't appeal to everyone.

 

[KingOfRoll]

I'm not too sure about the quality of this review. It was really funny and I experienced much of the same pain Yahtzee did, but I can say that the game is really one of the best I've played in a long time. It's true that the game really isn't unfair, quite the opposite in fact. It punishes you when you screw something up, but it doesn't set out to screw you over. The game is very deep and it's a lot of fun, especially some of the later boss fights (Maneater was pretty cool, as was the Penetrator). I've died lots of times but it's just so incredibly satisfying to win that you can't help but to come back.

It's also true that the game becomes much simpler with magic and when you figure out the enemy patterns and weaknesses and develop a strategy to fight them.

I say give it another try.

 

[axleblaze]

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?

First off the "Supposed to lose" fight is winnable in this game AND it fits the game quite well. Really when you get one hitted by a huge demon in the intro, you know what type of game you're getting yourself into.
Also, it should be noted that this is not a game that has bad gameplay at all. In fact it's all top notch. and actually finds a happy medium where if you want high defense, you'll be sluggish, but if you can deal with wearing light armor, you're character is fast as hell.
But yes the story is nonexistant in the game. Really there's a bit of story at the end and the beginning but really it's more of a backdrop than anything.

 

[axleblaze]

I suck at games that involve perfect timing, so I shall be avoiding this one.

The only thing you need perfect timing for is countering, which really isn't worth doing because of how perfect the timing needs to be. Really, this game doesn't need timing, you just need to be careful at all times and be aware of your surroundings.

 

[varoksa]

First off the "Supposed to lose" fight is winnable in this game AND it fits the game quite well. Really when you get one hitted by a huge demon in the intro, you know what type of game you're getting yourself into.
Also, it should be noted that this is not a game that has bad gameplay at all. In fact it's all top notch. and actually finds a happy medium where if you want high defense, you'll be sluggish, but if you can deal with wearing light armor, you're character is fast as hell.
But yes the story is nonexistant in the game. Really there's a bit of story at the end and the beginning but really it's more of a backdrop than anything.

i think your supposed to figure out what happened from the world around you use your imagination etc although there are a few things such as descriptions of instances in the nexus and talking with merchants

 

[Verrenxnon]

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.

1. We need to stop looking at Yahtzee as a reviewer. If anything, he's our Andre Bazin. He's a prototype film theorist. Read between the lines in his videos/writings. In this case, he's showing how game mechanics made to artifically enhance challenge are foolish and alienating to the gamer. A sufficiently challenging game will kill you, but you'll never have a sense of helplessness; you'll think (in that instance) 'I deserved to die.' This game does not adhere to that. Think of Capcom's maxim: 'easy to play, hard to master.'

2. Here's a theoretical dilemma: should a game require external help? You've mentioned that the manual/gamefaqs told you how dodge effectively. What if you had no manual and no gamefaqs? What would your level of competancy be then? Would people still leap to the game's defense?

 

[Casanova]

for the guy above. Benjamin only has 1 week to play the game, write a review for it and slap silly-awesome cartoons on. it must get tiering every bloody week. hats off to him i guess, personally i would have given up after the first 5 reviews.
f*cking great review, yats. much better and funnier than the last bloody one. please don't hate me!

 

[Producer]

Good to see that "The Escapist", in their infinite wisdom, have decided to finally improve the video quality if only to increase the sharpness on their logo watermark so that it's at least legible. Why in the name of fuck they couldn't just use the characteristic 'e' from the logo as a watermark and have that suffice instead of the entire Internet address that takes up about half the entire screen width I cannot possibly fathom. Perhaps they just love themselves THAT much.

 

[Kazturkey]

I might actually get that game.

Looks like a challenge.

Like doing a maths exam while hung over.

Fun.

How the fuck do you do that?
I have enough problems doing a calc 2 exam while sober.
Granted I have seen two hung over guys walk 5 miles through the woods using only a compass and not get lost.

Also as far as Demon's Souls go. This is a game which I would get a friend to play so I can sit behind them and laugh. Granted I do like playing "I Wanna Be the Guy".

Did it this morning, it wasn't calculus though.. Calculus is not something I would do while hung over for a laugh.

SRSLY.

 

[varoksa]

1. We need to stop looking at Yahtzee as a reviewer. If anything, he's our Andre Bazin. He's a prototype film theorist. Read between the lines in his videos/writings. In this case, he's showing how game mechanics made to artifically enhance challenge are foolish and alienating to the gamer. A sufficiently challenging game will kill you, but you'll never have a sense of helplessness; you'll think (in that instance) 'I deserved to die.' This game does not adhere to that. Think of Capcom's maxim: 'easy to play, hard to master.'

2. Here's a theoretical dilemma: should a game require external help? You've mentioned that the manual/gamefaqs told you how dodge effectively. What if you had no manual and no gamefaqs? What would your level of competancy be then? Would people still leap to the game's defense?

i found a manual ( on the internet) only really useful for when i wanted to find out what of the excruciatingly hard weapons to make was the best for me although i can thank the Japanese and their very thorough notes throughout my first play through although. i even forgive the black phantoms i killed and promptly harvested the souls off

 

[FoolKiller]

Omg that was one of the funnier ones. All of the dying is just hilarious. I would actually play that if it was on the 360. No ps3 for me. Although I'd probably end up breaking the damn disc in half out of frustration. Prototype almost made me do it. Haven't been that angry at a game since I was 12 lol. I did beat it though and Demonsoultrain would prove to be an exercise in futility. Looks hilariously difficult.

Hahaha!!!

I actually broke a controller playing Prototype and the 360 controller is built sturdily. From what I gather this is a game of old fashioned pattern memorization. No actual challenge has been provided. And the name was probably created by Gollum. Demon'ss Soulsesss, my precioussss.

 

[MrGFunk]

The apostrophe indicates there is one Demon who has many souls. Is that an accurate description of the game..?

 

[Shankity Stick]

This video is much better then last week's. i wouldn't be able to say "back to it's former glory" without being a total lier, but it went in a new direction which is also good. on a different to all the people who say that ZP made their week. do you realy have so little in your life that an online video makes your week you need to take a hard look at your life and find something to do.