Demon's Souls - Catch All

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www.demons-souls.com

So, Atlus picked up the rights to publish this title stateside, and they recently announced the US release date: Oct 6th.

previews:

ps3.ign.com - e3 coverage

Gamespot E3 interview and hands on coverage

Playstation.com blog coverage

Bill Harris has been promising to post impressions of the game for a couple of weeks. He hasn't yet, but I did get an email response from him where he stated that it was "the best game he'd played this year, and nothing else is close". High praise indeed!

Personally, I'm looking forward to the title. I have fond memories of staying up late at night, playing some older From Software titles (King's Field 1 and 2). Skimming walls as fast as possible, looking for secret doors. Trying to avoid the barking skeletons and dangerously low polygon spike and pendulum traps. I hope this game inspires similar play sessions, though I hear the difficulty curve is exceedingly high. I imagine there will be some controllers thrown in frustration, particularly if the cumbersome (yet characteristic) From Software control scheme is present.

Is this on the radar for anyone else, or is it just me? Anyone imported the Asian version? Impressions?

I imported the English/Korean version awhile back but haven't had a chance to put too much time into it. Just finished up a couple of other games, though, and have been thinking of firing it up again. It is pretty overwhelming to start. The controls take some getting used to but are pretty cool and the learning curve is steep. Apparently some classes are significantly easier to learn than others but there is no indication of this when you select so I unintentionally selected one of the harder ones; need to start over with one that is a little more basic.

From the little bit I've seen, though, the graphics are gorgeous, the combat system is fun and the integrated online stuff is really cool. You can leave messages for other players to find, some of which proved to be really useful for me. Blood stains show up where someone died and you can click on it to see a little ghost replay of their last few seconds to give you an idea of how they might have died. If someone is working through the same areas as you they'll also show up as a ghost so you can see them walking along side you. You can't really work together but you can see if they are fighting something, etc. The first real level I worked through was huge and looked to have a few different areas that I didn't even know how to access.

Hopefully I'll get to spend some more time with it soon. Really liked what I saw so far.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

The controls take some getting used to but are pretty cool and the learning curve is steep.

I've noticed in some of the gameplay movies that it looks like the shoulder buttons are used for attack / defend / block / parry. That would take some readjustment on my part, I think. Despite the fact that most 360 games use the triggers for these functions, I will have some trouble dealing with them on a PS3 controller.

I'm also a little concerned about the fact that other high level people can apparently force their way into your game for the sole purpose of killing your character.

Fired up the game last night and started over with a different character. It's amazing what a difference a different class and knowledge of the game and level I was playing made. I didn't quite finish the first area but it was way easier than my first attempt with the game. Died a little ways into the level but it was because I got a little cocky against one guy and wanted to work on my melee skills instead of sticking with magic like I should have.

Love the note system, it's a really cool way for players to help each other out. Had a couple really useful ones as I played last night.

The controls actually aren't that bad at all. You assign right and left hand weapons which map to the left and right shoulder/triggers which do different things based on the weapon type. A shield in your left hand block with L1 and parries with L2. Sword in the right does a weak attack with R1 and strong attack with R2. A magic wand in the right casts a spell with R1 and does a melee attack with R2. You can have two weapons assigned to each hand and switch between them with left and right on the d-pad.

One really cool touch is that one handed weapons can be used as two handed weapons by pressing triangle. Apparently this gives you a strength boost but uses more stamina. Still, it's cool to be able to switch between one and two handed stances on the fly like that.

Demon's Souls is very old school in that you'll probably die a few times working through a level. Once you know where the bad guys are you can deal with them much more easily. My guess is I'll get through this level next time I sit down to play.

As you kill enemies you collect their souls which serves both as money and experience. The catch is that there's no way (that I've discovered yet at least) to store collected souls and you lose them all when you die. Weapons wear down over time and need to be repaired so losing your collected souls can be a pain; you may need to work through part of the level and head back just to spend your collected souls. It really adds to the tension as you get deeper and deeper into the level and have collected more souls.

Here's to hoping I can finish this first level soon and see what all the game has to offer It reminds me of Enclave on the original Xbox for anyone that may have played it. Certainly having fun exploring what the game has to offer, even if it is challenging.

This game seems interesting.. it might be to hardcore for me and the fact that I'd have to suffer with the PS3 controllers and even worse its shoulder buttons makes me sad. Gameplay sounds interesting though... I might give it a shot in August when I have some free time.

Keep the impressions coming, DG. I'm interested to hear how your feelings change as you experience more of the game. It's still pretty high on my list of gaming purchases for the latter half of the year (right behind the new Ratchet and Clank, actually).

My correspondence with Bill *almost* had me importing a copy, but I still have several titles to play through before I can really justify the purchase of another new title.

Some Gameplay vids

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...

Looks cool..

TheGameguru wrote:

Some Gameplay vids

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...

Looks cool..

Yeah, it does. I am a total sucker for the single player action RPG genre. Party based stuff can be fun, but single character control (especially when co-op is available) is what I really like.

This definitely sounds like my kind of game. Where are people importing PS3 titles from these days?

Certis wrote:

This definitely sounds like my kind of game. Where are people importing PS3 titles from these days?

www.play-asia.com has it for a reasonable $64.99

Does the import have all the online functionality here in the US?

TheGameguru wrote:
Certis wrote:

This definitely sounds like my kind of game. Where are people importing PS3 titles from these days?

www.play-asia.com has it for a reasonable $64.99

Does the import have all the online functionality here in the US?

I got mine from Play Asia, arrived nice and quick.

All of the online functionality works. I can read and leave messages, see blood stains and see people running around in the game world. Haven't actually tried interacting with someone although I think I could invite them into my game if I needed help. I'm not sure how that will work when it comes out in the US; don't know if it'll be connecting to different servers or the same ones.

From what I've gathered, the US version from Atlus will not communicate with the existing, Sony-published version of the game at all. They're worried about new players encountering all these experienced players who have been playing for months.

Gives me pause when it comes to importing. Dreaded, is there a way to specifically play coop with a friend, or is it all random? If it's random anyways, then I guess it doesn't matter so much

Checking Quarter To Three, it looks like coop with friends would be such a pain, it's not worth considering as a feature. Screw it, I've put my order in with Play Asia.

I haven't done any coop stuff yet. Here's my understanding of how it works. Your character has two states in the game: alive and dead. Eventually you get a blue stone that, when dead, you can use to put down a marker in the game (like the notes). An alive player will see that and can activate it to summon you back to life and join their game. So you could possibly meet up somewhere I suppose but I don't know that you'd be guaranteed to see your friend's message and have them join your game. By doing this you raise your white tendency which makes monster easier but drop not as good loot. There's no voice chat, so I think the experience would be pretty much the same with random people as it would be with friends.

As a living player, apparently it is also possible for dead players to use a black stone that lets them hop into your game and try to kill you. I guess this adds to their "black tendency" which makes monsters harder but drop better loot.

I don't fully understand all this and haven't experienced any of it for myself yet. It's just the bits and pieces I've been able to gather. The other thing I don't fully understand are all the stats in the game. Right now I have a tough time comparing two weapons and figuring out which is better; I need to spend more time reading up on this stuff online.

Certis wrote:

Checking Quarter To Three, it looks like coop with friends would be such a pain, it's not worth considering as a feature. Screw it, I've put my order in with Play Asia.

Seems like a strange thing to leave in such a state. I would have hoped that grouping with people on your friends list would be an option, rather than it being a gargantuan trial to setup. It doesn't sound like Atlus was doing any major revamping of the title, other than tweaking the english translations.

I'm still a little torn about importing. On the one hand, instant gratification. On the other hand, I'd like to support Atlus' decision to bring the game over here. What to do, what to do...

Well, if you look at it from a game design standpoint, it makes a kind of sense. Roguelikes are more about happenstance than planned coop coordination. At least, that's what I learned from Shiren The Wanderer.

Certis wrote:

Well, if you look at it from a game design standpoint, it makes a kind of sense. Roguelikes are more about happenstance than planned coop coordination. At least, that's what I learned from Shiren The Wanderer.

This is true. From all information available, it does share a lot of similarities with roguelikes, doesn't it? Particularly with the "drop all your souls when you die" bit.

Honestly, I'm much more interested in the game itself than any particular network functionality. Heck, I'd be fine playing it in offline mode.

Well, come back to the thread and share your impressions after you've spent some time with your import copy.

From everything I hear, this game is a jewel - with the steep difficulty being the only thing that might put some off. I'll be waiting on the US version.

Ditto on waiting for the US Version, being a gaming masochist, I look forward to the sweet, sweet rage inducing bliss of a wicked difficulty curve.

That and if it lives up to the Kings Field vibe, I'm sold..

NCSX has it for a whole dollar cheaper!!

And backordered. Dollar well spent!

Certis wrote:

And backordered. Dollar well spent!

Sweet.. I must have snagged the last copy

Then you sir, owe me a damn dollar.

You people keep talking about importing the game, and it's breaking down my resistance.

Why are you so mean?!

Beat the first boss tonight, was easier than I expected. There are some really cool moments just in this first level... I can only imagine what the game is like later on! Nice thing is that I can now level up my character which should help out a lot. I think there are 8 stats and you spend souls to put points into them. Thankfully it very clearly shows you the effect that new stat point will have.

If you are getting the game and don't know what class to try out, I suggest Royal. My first character was a Wanderer and I was having a really rough go; I don't think it was a good learning class. Tried out Royal with my new character and combined with my experience that first time I was able to get through the first area without too much effort. Seems like a good initial learning class.

Can't wait to check out the next area! Someone left a note just before the boss fight: "Now Demon's Souls begins." That got me excited

I have been following this game for a while. It's been said and said before, but for a Japanese developed game, this sure feels very western. I can't understand why. In any case, I love the game's concept, and can't wait to get my hands on a copy when it's out in the US.

I am so looking forward to this. I always liked From's stuff, even if (because) it's a little bit out there. Otogi is one of my favorite games ever and while different and more down to earth, this has a bit of the same flavor.

Because I never import: can I just get the disc from Play-Asia and have it play on my European PS3, on my European TV?

Anyone have a link to the manual translation? There are some faqs up on the gamefaqs.com website but at first glance they appear a bit to spoilery and less just instructions about what the buttons do etc..

TheGameguru wrote:

Anyone have a link to the manual translation? There are some faqs up on the gamefaqs.com website but at first glance they appear a bit to spoilery and less just instructions about what the buttons do etc..

This may be closer to what you were looking for, just avoid the other sections

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/controls

Tyrian wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

Anyone have a link to the manual translation? There are some faqs up on the gamefaqs.com website but at first glance they appear a bit to spoilery and less just instructions about what the buttons do etc..

This may be closer to what you were looking for, just avoid the other sections

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/controls

Awesome.. can't wait to try this game out. I should start updating my PS3 now so it will be ready by this weekend

TheGameguru wrote:
Tyrian wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:

Anyone have a link to the manual translation? There are some faqs up on the gamefaqs.com website but at first glance they appear a bit to spoilery and less just instructions about what the buttons do etc..

This may be closer to what you were looking for, just avoid the other sections

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/controls

Awesome.. can't wait to try this game out. I should start updating my PS3 now so it will be ready by this weekend ;)

Heh. It only take ~3.5 hrs to get a PS3 ready for use these days. Regardless, I'd suggest laying in a store of canned and dry goods. Once you start the install process, you could be there for a while!

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