Zero Punctuation: Demon's Souls

[MasterTroll]

Sounds like someone treated the game like any other western style RPG and got hillariously wasted for his foolishness.

It is legitimately hard and requires you to learn and be cautious and to measure your movements, but once you do it is not that hard at all.

Some people just think they can run in, wail their weapon around like a madman, spam the heal potion button, and win like in most games. Then when they can't and get their asses handed to them, they complain it is too hard.

He had some legitimate complaints, but it is obvious he treated the game WAY to lightly.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think I'm going to pick this game up at my local Hollywood Video on the way home. I'm willing to put up with the extreme difficulty if it is at least FAIR, as opposed to relying on cheap killing like most old 8-bit titles would. However, from all the rave reviews this game has been getting, I have to believe that there is some tangible reward for those willing to tough through the beginning growing pains..

While greater weapons, spells, armor, etc. are the most common rewards, I feel that the greatest reward is knowing that you just took down the enormous boss that was menacing you mere seconds ago. The game certainty didn't help you do it, and it wasn't because the bosses are easy. It was all YOU. (...and possibly one or two other players that you might have summoned to help you fight through a particularly difficult area).

Also, for those of you who don't mind some slight spoilers (what the boss is/looks like/ how to kill it), here is a video of the archdemon of the Shrine of Storms. Now imagine that you just defeated it, and the feeling you would have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tENmFe09bOE

I thought the Archdemons were piss easy.

Compared to the other Bosses ofcourse. If you have soul ray and a good amount of magic power, that flabby pancake is toast within a few minutes.

 

[KamachoMcSagget]

i just got this game over the weekend

 

[sanzo]

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.

It's worth it to see the animation, which I find hilarious

But yeah, you really don't need perfect timing unless you're trying to be fancy, or against stronger stuff. If you've got a shield and stamina left, just let enemies hit your shield; odds are, their attack will bounce off and leave them open. Of course, that won't work against all enemies

 

[oranger]

you guys ever consider that maybe yahztee just sucks at games like this? there are plenty of other strategies that would have worked, but instead the guy just kind of ran at the bad guys and expected things to work out...

 

[Hazy]

[From what I gather this is a game of old fashioned pattern memorization. No actual challenge has been provided.

I [http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/985/985673/demons-souls-20090521022431657.jpg] beg [http://scrawlfx.com/gallery/albums/demons-souls/january-30-2009/Demons-Souls_2009_01-30-09_01.jpg] to [http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/11/demons-dead.jpg] differ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pwuhlYL7Yo]

Pattern memorization isn't so useful when another player invades your world.
You make it sound like this game sports little innovation in how you play, which couldn't be further from the truth.

 

[zondervan]

I think that ZP?s Demon?s Souls review is fine on its own, the problem is that Yahtzee presents himself as this sort of champion of originality in video-games, then when original games like Demon?s Souls come along, games that do so many things right, he tears them down or gives them the cold shoulder. It seems that having to do ZP every week has turned Yahtzee into a reviewer instead of a gamer that reviews games. His review was akin to the casual gamer friend that you let borrow an awesome game only to find out a week later that they couldn't get past the first level.

The real irony here is that the game is not even that difficult, it?s only been hyped to be super hard. (Which is something that could be satirized by the way.)
As others have pointed out, the game only punishes you if you are not paying attention. Demon?s Souls is about dying the same way that playing WoW or Diablo is about dying. Without the extra help in the form of messages and blood stains, the game would still not be unfair.

Another thing about his "reviews" that I find unprofessional is that he doesn't finish the games. Another example of this would be his review of ?The Witcher.? Yahtzee played the first area and then reviewed the game. Anyone critic worth his spit knows you have to experience the entire product before you give an opinion. That would be like someone watching half of the Sixth Sense and saying it's a drama about growing up. That is really what has happened here. Yahtzee, for whatever reason, probably gave up after an hour or two of play, and wrote a review for it.

 

[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.

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?

Well considering the game comes with a manual AND considering the game is an RPG, I would hope that most players at least gave it a cursory look-through. I was able to get far into the game without looking at game-faqs but I must admit that doing that made the game much easier. However, you could say that about pretty much any RPG, so we would have to criticize the RPG genre for this point.

EDIT: I didn't learn that dodging was easier for characters with light armor from a guide, I learned from creating a light armor character, which is the reason why RPGs have character classes. Choose the one that suits your style better, etc, etc etc...

 

[Chaos Theory]

Haha that review was awesome

 

[The1stMJC]

I have to agree about everything said in the video, but yet I still love Demon's Souls and don't know why.

 

[rdrouyn]

I think that ZP?s Demon?s Souls review is fine on its own, the problem is that Yahtzee presents himself as this sort of champion of originality in video-games, then when original games like Demon?s Souls come along, games that do so many things right, he tears them down or gives them the cold shoulder. It seems that having to do ZP every week has turned Yahtzee into a reviewer instead of a gamer that reviews games. His review was akin to the casual gamer friend that you let borrow an awesome game only to find out a week later that they couldn't get past the first level.

The real irony here is that the game is not even that difficult, it?s only been hyped to be super hard. (Which is something that could be satirized by the way.)
As others have pointed out, the game only punishes you if you are not paying attention. Demon?s Souls is about dying the same way that playing WoW or Diablo is about dying. Without the extra help in the form of messages and blood stains, the game would still not be unfair.

Another thing about his "reviews" that I find unprofessional is that he doesn't finish the games. Another example of this would be his review of ?The Witcher.? Yahtzee played the first area and then reviewed the game. Anyone critic worth his spit knows you have to experience the entire product before you give an opinion. That would be like someone watching half of the Sixth Sense and saying it's a drama about growing up. That is really what has happened here. Yahtzee, for whatever reason, probably gave up after an hour or two of play, and wrote a review for it.

Exactly what I was thinking. He criticizes games for being too easy and holding your hand through everything and along comes a challenging game and he shits on it.

 

[obliterate]

Well I already played it and I must say nothing but the truth...although practise makes perfect I still find the game extremely hard and the game itself wants you dead...yes it hates us very very much

 

[Cunnysmythe]

Great review. One of the few I've really laughed at in a while.

 

[sleeperhit79]

why are people being put on probation for their comments??? none of the comments I've seen so far seem offensive at all.....oh oh I just got put on probation for saying that lol, j/k

 

[Random Wanderer]

Hmm... I was hoping he'd review Borderlands. I've been waiting to hear his opinion on it. Oh well.

 

[Lullabye]

...Since when did Yahtzee become a pussy? All I've heard every other review was how games are too easy, now comes along a game with medium difficulty and all he can do is describe how impossible and unfair the game is. I thought he was better than this.
I mean, if describing getting your ass kicked in a game constitutes as a review then I could have been a famous game reviewer by now too.
As for the Demon Souls portion, I own it, I've played it, I've beat it. The hardest part in this entire game, is the army of dead babies. I have yet to beat it, and since I'm on my second run through they are even harder....It's a good thing Yahtzee didn't beat the game, otherwise he might have found the "hard" mode that is the real Demon>'s< Souls. As a final issue, I cannot believe Yahtzee got so many facts wrong in this review. The turd monster(the first one) is not a "suposed to lose" battle. I've beat it.

 

[Rock 'n' Soul]

Since there isn't much to say about this one, yes, egg and cress sandwiches are disgusting.

 

[Verrenxnon]

Well considering the game comes with a manual AND considering the game is an RPG, I would hope that most players at least gave it a cursory look-through. I was able to get far into the game without looking at game-faqs but I must admit that doing that made the game much easier. However, you could say that about pretty much any RPG, so we would have to criticize the RPG genre for this point.

EDIT: I didn't learn that dodging was easier for characters with light armor from a guide, I learned from creating a light armor character, which is the reason why RPGs have character classes. Choose the one that suits your style better, etc, etc etc...

An excellent point. But RPGs are typically collect-a-thons that necessitate external help.

Is Demon's Souls that much of an RPG? It looks like more of an action game with RPG elements. That suggests that the game could be played as an action game alone, thus not requiring supplement. It also appears to lack a compelling narrative, typical of the action game.

Should gamefaqs or a manual be required to play a game?

 

[floppylobster]

Somehow through all that he actually made the game sound fun to me. I'd never heard of it before this.

 

[Rahvinsix]

TL;DW

This game was too hard for him. Aww.

Demon's Souls aint for people who give up easily.