^ no, diablo is completely different. with diablo, you don't HAVE to necessarily repeat whole sections of the game, exactly like you just did awhile ago.

one great feature that diablo included was that maps are always randomized every time you boot up the game. also, monsters only regenerate when you log out of the game (or after a certain period of time), which means you don't have to fight through the same guys just to get your body back.

see, in demon's souls, everything regenerates and the area is always the same. so you really gotta kill everything you just killed 10 minutes ago in the same area, again and again.

so actually, if demon's souls didn't regenerate everything after you die, it wouldn't suck. the fact is, it's a forced repetition with absolutely no variety.

Actually demon's souls works a lot more alike with Diablo (and Diablo 2) than you think.

Regenerating maps in Diablo don't change the fact that both enemies and the overall layout of the levels are already predetermined, just like in demon's souls. Also, in higher difficulties, dying in Diablo 2 spells even more doom than dying in Demon's Souls.

Take for example, chapter 5, Hell Difficulty. You die while fighting Minions of Hell that Baal summons. Trying to get your body back from it's borderline impossible. If you log out, you lose your body as well.

Demon's Souls corrects that fundamental flaw. Even if you die and log out, your bloodstain remains in the same place, and will continue to remain there until you get it or die again. That means that you can die in a hard place offline, go back into the game online, get some blue phantom help and go back to the place you left your bloodstain. It's all a matter of adapting your needs to the overall situation of the game.

Also, Demon's Souls challenge is pretty equal to the higher difficulty levels of Diablo 2, meaning that you will be doing the same parts over and over again in Diablo 2, just to get better loot or to gain some levels before tackling a pretty difficult boss. Doing solo Hell runs, will have you replying the Black Marsh Countess tower over and over again for hours, just to get some decent runes for your character. The same happens with Demon's Souls, you'll be replaying the same parts over and over again, either for souls to gain more levels or to upgrade your weapons, or to gain stones. 

Actually, Demon's Souls regenerating everything after you die it's one of the best additions they could have ever add. I hated to kill everything in a Diablo 2 map, Save & Exit just to have everything reloaded.

Plus, as a finishing line, you're not forced to do any kind of repetition in Demon's Souls. You can lineary go through levels, only defeating the bosses and not caring for stats or anything else. A straight run in Demon's Souls without doing anything on the side, will take you 20 hours tops.  Also, most of the deaths you saw on the pantheon from top players, are forced deaths in order to enable some of the World Tendency events, not actual deaths from screw-ups.

bugrimmar said:
you gotta look at past games that have been bashed because they're repetitive. then all of a sudden, you have a game here that gets you to repeat entire sections of a level, again and again, yet it gets high praise. i simply don't understand that. the design of the game revolves around having to re-play levels, and that is treated as a good thing?

For the life of me, I cant tell how this is different from other games?  Let's use Little Big Planet for example.  If you were to die several times in a row at one checkpoint and use up all of your lives at this checkpoint (Repetition)  you would start the stage over from the start?  (Repetition).

The game is meant to be a slower, methodical, plodding along, analytical type of game.  Gratification comes slowly, but it will keep increasing and keep increasing. 

isn't variety supposed to be far better than repetition? where's the fun in doing the same thing over and over again?

When you beat a level,  you do something differet?  This is a dynamic that exists in almost every game out there.  Beat Stage One,  Play Stage Two.   You couldn't play Metroid and jump to the end boss could you?

and don't say "you suck at the game". that's not the point. everyone dies in the game. even the best bloody player (i looked at the pantheon and looked at the best players there, most of them have died over 100 times) dies a whole lot of times. so in the end, it's not a game of skill to avoid death because death will come no matter what you do. it's a game of patience where you have to fight the urge to stop playing. it's just a grind, plain and simple, with no variety.

and i don't suck at the game. actually i only had to die twice in 2 hours (i'm in the section after beating phalanx) and i'm already sick of repetition.

It's just like ANY RPG.  You cannot play for a marginal amount of time and expect to fall in love with it.  It will get better with each and every level, especially as your character grows and you start to feel a sense of power.  I mean you played the first boss who can be reached in about 10 minutes by an experienced player.  An easy, plain boss at that. 

Keep playing and I promise you will atleast get some satisfaction out of the game. 

died only twice in 2 hours?
You're either lying or you're using a strategy guide.
Or you're using royal.

No one is impressed or convinced by this bullshit.

I dont mind going back the way i came but when they respawn the same enemies in the same location  then that is just lame development.

Why?  If they did that, then you certainly wouldn't be able to beat it and would be crying about not being able to complete a stage.  Demon's Souls is a VERY straight-forward game.  Use your brain, analyze, make wise choices and methodically move through the game and you will do fine.     Demon's Souls provides enough of a challenge by itself,  moving enemies around would just exponentially increase the difficulty for players. 

Again over complicates things, Just make it so i can only use the sword with two hands, why would they even give you the option to use it with one hand? If your using the sword with both hands then you can block with it, if your using it with one hand you cant... that makes sense.

Because if you played a high Endurance/Strength class you would be able to wield a powerful '2h' weapon in one hand as well as use a shield and protect yourself.

I would rather be babied through a game and have fun than have a game  that is boring, tedious and repetitive. Maybe thats why FF games are so well liked?

Well, that is totally an opinion.   That is why Call of Duty is so popular.  It takes very little skill to be an adequate player.   The real gem of Demon's Souls is that you have to play a bit into it and really engross yourself into the game and it's an absolute delight when you do.