"The Charge:
Man was given a soul on the first day. On the second day however, a soul devouring demon was also saddled on the Earth.
Opening Statement:
Originally announced at the Tokyo Game Show in October of 2008, Demon’s Souls turned some North American heads with the promise of a PS3 exclusive Action Role Player with a dark theme and highly realistic visuals. Developer From Software (with help from Sony’s Japan Studios) Have endeavored to fill one of the gaps in the PS3 library. With the game available completely in English in Asian territories, it has become something of a hot commodity with importers. With no North American release announced (or even in the cards if you believe the word from some camps), is it worth the effort to procure a copy of your very own?
Sit back and get comfortable as I take you into the world that is Demon’s Souls, but be prepared, this is a long one!
Note: the screenshots in this review were taken from the screen and not captured, and do not represent the true quality of the game’s visuals.
Facts of the Case:
The land of Boletaria is in turmoil. The False King, Allant has awakened the “Old One”, and a colorless fog has shrouded the kingdom, bringing with it a legion of Demons, and the curse of death. Vallarfax, a member of the King’s elite “Twin Fangs” has escaped the ruined kingdom, and spread word of Boletaria’s plight. Seven heroes answer the call, seeking power and glory, and promptly disappear, failing in their attempts to banish or harness the demonic evil. Summoned by the “Maiden in Black”, you are tasked with destroying the forces of evil, exploring the kingdom in the hopes of finding the lost heroes, harnessing Demon’s souls to enhance your own power, or joining the souls of the damned, trapped in the accursed land.
The Evidence:
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan originally approached From Software, hat in hand, with a request for an exclusive action role-player in the same vein as the venerable King’s Field series. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki took the idea and ran with it, and the end result actually turned out very differently from King’s Field’s first-person dungeon slogging (last seen on the PS2 quite some time ago). Miyazaki thankfully took things in a different direction, and instead created a third-person action RPG with emphasis placed on enhancing existing equipment and abilities rather than hoarding loot drops and constantly swapping gear. The game is an epic-length trip through five huge regions, each separated into multiple sub-levels, with a swarm of diverse monsters and several colossal boss creatures to dispatch.
From the moment you boot up Demon’s Souls, you know you’re playing something different, something new. The game’s “gothic fantasy” aura bleeds through every nuance of the game’s opening cinematic, and sets the tone for the adventure to follow. You are initially granted a few choice selections for character class, ten in total, raging from the customary spell slinger to the heavily armored knight, nimble thief and several in-between variations. Facial features can be heavily customized, allowing for a unique looking (and in some instances, incredibly ghastly) in game avatar, and you can choose to play as either a male or female character. Starting stats are determined by class, and are essentially a guide to how you will play your character early on. The character creation is as in depth as any other RPG without getting into the more obscene micro-management of stats and attributes we’ve seen in some Western RPG offerings.
Once you enter the world of Boletaria, you are off and running. A brief tutorial chapter gives you the basics in a very rudimentary fashion that somehow works without overwhelming you with the games many complex systems, and finishes up by resoundingly thumping you. Right from the get go, Demon’s Souls impresses upon the player that they are diving into something that is substantially deep, something with an unforgiving learning curve that does not suffer foolish noobs. It also feels completely unfamiliar, lacking the Dungeons and Dragons, Tolkien-lite feel of your typical role-player. There’s a very European-Gothic feel to the game, like the world of Boletaria is only a half step removed from some forgotten period between the Renaissance and the Medieval. Sure you’ll see dragons and spells galore, but the typical fantasy trappings have been entirely discarded for a more “real” feel.
Demon’s Souls is probably most fleshed out in the control department. As is typical of From Software, the controls have been honed pretty sharply, and yet defy comparison to any other game in the genre. The left and right shoulder buttons control left and right hands, with swords typically equipped in your right, and shields in your left. The game’s equipment setup is such that you could pretty much mix and match any combination and generally succeed. Want to wander around with two shields, bashing everything in sight? You can. Dual wield Katanas or great-swords? Go ahead, but without the proper stats, you won’t be very effective. The 1 and 2 triggers offer different means of attack, with 2 typically a heavier, slower strike with a sword, and a bash attack with a shield. On top of this, the game allows just about every weapon to be wielded either 1-handed or 2-handed with a tap of the triangle button, and methods of attack change based on which attack button you use (A katana using R1 is a slashing weapon, while R2 allows for a thrusting piercing attack, for example). All of these options afford a great deal of tactics and strategy to combat. You can switch your trusty longsword +3 to a two-handed stance and wade into a swarm of lesser creatures, dealing bonus damage, and quickly switch on the fly with a tap of triangle to grab your shield and parry when a stronger foe counters your charge. There are also two slots available for each hand allowing you to switch between weaponry with a tap of the cross pad.
When in combat, the animation is very well suited to the style of weapon you’re carrying, and the reaction, speed, and damage dealt on varying types of enemies feels startlingly realistic. Depending on how weighed down with gear your character is, your reaction speeds will be faster or slower, and when maneuvering around an enemy which you’re locked onto (using a click of the right analog stick) you will circle and dive accordingly. A nice touch is the effect heavier armor has on your maneuverability, when wearing leathers or clothing, you can dive and roll with impunity, your run sped is much higher, and this agility serves you well, able to close gaps or create them with ease. In heavy armor, the diving roll becomes a last ditch escape attempt, as you hit the ground hard, your dual shock 3 issuing a heavy shudder in response. It feels amazing, detailed, and entirely convincing. Weapons also react very well to surrounding environs, any sword you swing in a wide arc will clatter off of tight walls and corridors, hindering your attacks (it’s here a piercing weapon will come in handy), and in general, your attack animations with a given weapon feel deeply researched and authentic, swinging a large Katana looks and feels completely different from swinging a Claymore, or thrusting with a rapier or dagger.
Each of the five regions in Demon’s Souls has a distinct look and feel, typically broken into 3 or 4 sub regions, and takes hours to explore. Each huge environment features hidden pathways, hidden characters, hidden items, and a wealth of content to uncover. The game uses a sort of “light and dark” system that governs both your character, and the world he inhabits. If you can manage to sway the world’s “tendency” entirely to either light or dark, additional pathways open, revealing additional characters and the chance at some choice unique items. You’ll need good items.
This is a brutal game. I’ll reiterate, just so you understand, this is a BRUTAL game. Death comes cheaply, either slowly piling damage from swarm after swarm of generic bad guy, from one or two solid hits of a particularly powerful enemy, or through a sudden misstep on a rickety bridge or narrow cliff side path. You must be constantly vigilant, as one lapse in judgment will send you careening back to the nearest archstone, which leads me to my next point. Death in Demon’s Souls has serious consequence. When you die you are teleported to the archstone at the beginning of the current level (a sort of teleporter that links you to the Nexus, the town-hub of the game.) When you respawn, you will be in soul form, a glowing phantom with only half of your total XP, and you’ll be stripped of any and all souls you’ve acquired thus far and haven’t spent (I’ll get to that shortly). Your next step is to get to the point where you died (or close to it if you plummeted to your doom) and touch the bloodstain you left on the ground. This gives you back the souls you’ve lost, however you’re stuck in soul mode until you kill one of the game’s titular Demons, usually a level-end boss. There is an item you can use to resurrect, as well as a ring you can find that allows you to hold onto some extra HP when in soul form, but soul form does have its own advantages, for one, bosses are generally easier and take more damage, and secondly, the game’s online features really open up.
Demon’s Souls has one of the most unique implements of online functionality I’ve ever seen. The director has said that he wanted the online mode to augment the single player game rather than exist as a separate entity, and it certainly succeeds in that fashion. Two separate gems you receive early on allow you to take advantage of two distinct features when you find yourself in Soul form. The Blue Eye Stone can be dropped; creating a beacon in another player’s game, allowing “living” players to summon your soul form into their game for a little help. Officially, the game supports three players in co-op, one living, and two in “blue phantom” mode, though crafty people have managed 4 players. You keep souls from what you kill, but otherwise you are playing as a secondary character in another player’s game. The co-op works well, and makes for some fun, but communication with other players is limited to select emotes like wave, nod, etc. When you defeat a level boss, you receive the same benefits as the main player, and are granted a revival to living form (and dumped back into your own game). Also present is the Black Eye Gem, much more nefarious. When dropped in soul form, this gem allows you to invade another “living” player’s game as a hostile Black Phantom. The player in question gets the chilling “Black Phantom has invaded your game!” message in nice bold red text, and the hunt is on. If you can successfully kill the player, you will be revived immediately, and also gain all of the souls said player was carrying. It’s a bit of a dickish move, but it can work for a cheap revival or otherwise cheap thrills. If you are killed by the host player though, kiss a level good-bye. Also worth mentioning is the notes system. Players can choose from a library of pre-selected phrases and words and leave simple notes anywhere in a stage for other players to read, it could be something simple like, “Safe spot” telling a player they are standing in an area where they cannot be struck by a powerful enemy, or “Treasure ahead”. More often than not, the notes are somewhat useful, and you’ll typically see a concentration of them in areas of particular interest. God knows they made one or two boss fights considerably easier for me by pointing out good sniper spots or safe areas. You’ll also see bloodstains all over the place, marking where other players died. Touch one of these, and you catch a glimpse of the last 10 seconds or so of the player’s life. It doesn’t really offer much aid, but it’s a cool feature.
Finally, the game uses the souls of enemies you’ve killed as both the currency of the realm and experience for upgrading your character. You can spend souls with any number of merchants to upgrade existing weaponry, buy new gear, consumable stuff like arrows and healing items, and learn new spells or miracles. You also use them to upgrade your characters chief abilities, which governs pretty much all aspects of your character and what kind of gear he can use or carry. Inventory management eventually plays a very important part in the game, as you steadily acquire weapons of various types and use precious stones and souls to power up your existing stuff. This gives way to visiting and revisiting familiar areas to farm for souls and item drops, something akin to Massively Multi-player behavior, I spent a great deal of time early on in the first section of level 4. It’s all incredibly substantial, and you’ll find yourself exploring every nook and cranny of Boletaria for anything that might serve useful.
Technically, Demon’s Souls looks simple at first glance, with a distinct lack of shadowing, but as you dig in, the games beautiful lighting, excellent character models, and solid animation become apparent. The environments all look suitably excellent as well. Mist hangs low on vacant battlements, stone walls gleam in the faint glow of ethereal light, dank corridors look suitably spooky and uninviting. On top of that, the gigantic bosses all look intimidating as hell and really excel in the design department. The characters, armor and weaponry also share a sense of realistic design that suits the game incredibly well, and never ceases to impress. The sound is also brilliant in its minimalist approach. Music is passed over for environmental audio during levels, swelling up only when a boss fight hits, and trips into the Nexus, which is another stunning looking environment. Voice acting is unique sounding and very well executed, with some suitably medieval sounding accents and gravitas that suits the game’s darker feel. The graphics and sound package is as good as it gets in this sort of game, and is bound to impress, even if it does so in subtle fashion.
Rebuttal Witness:
Demon’s Souls is an unbreakable wall of a game, and the aforementioned difficulty may turn off all but the most masochistic gamer. The degree of depth present, combined with the lack of hand-holding also serves as a bit of a deterrent for all but the most hardcore role-players. If you like the idea of taking notes, mapping out areas, scouring information from like-minded players, and generally pouring yourself into a game that doesn’t offer instant gratification or in-game visual aids, you’ll do fine, and probably played a ton of this style of game in days long gone.
Then there’s the import factor. As of this writing, Demon’s Souls has no announced North American release date, and beyond that, there are unfounded rumblings that the game may never come to our shores. Sony hasn’t said anything, and Ubisoft, who handles From Software’s North American product for the most part, have said even less. It’s as though the game doesn’t exist outside of Asian territories. It’s also probably the most popular import to come along since Pokemon Green, and the Asian version is available through many popular import sites, though these days it’s regularly on back order. Copies are readily available on Ebay. Be aware going in, the Asian version features English language throughout, including menus, while the Japanese version features only English voiceovers, which makes the menus impossible to deal with for someone unfamiliar with Japanese text.
I’m sure I’ve made my love for the game apparent enough, looking at it in a vacuum. It’s a serious niche title, and while I think it could garner a strong following here and in Europe, some changes would have to be made to really endear it to audiences outside of Japan. Voice chat would have to be implemented, first and foremost, allowing co-op players to communicate with one another. The game already displays other players of roughly equivalent level to your own as ghostly white phantoms, but the game could definitely use a more Fable II-like approach, tying these phantoms into your PSN friends list, and allowing the trading of items or other interactivity. There is also currently no way to invite friends into your game outside of hoping they’re in your vicinity when you drop a blue soul stone. The ability to quickly banish black phantoms from your game would also be welcome, as it’s a royal pain in the hole to have one of these bastards jump you whilst you’re traipsing through a particularly tough area and making headway. I’d also love to see a means to part with older items and gear outside of just dropping or stockpiling them, perhaps being able to strip them down for common stones or soul payouts, as it stands, I have a ton of useless gear clogging my stockpile. Finally, I think this is truly a special game that would appeal to very specific people, and I’d love to see it get the deluxe treatment once reserved for titles from companies like Atlus and Working designs. I’d love to see a nice slipcase with a metal tin and a detailed artbook, something of that nature.
Closing Statement:
If all of this sounds incredibly deep, it’s because it is. Demon’s Souls is right up there with the deepest computer Role-players from days long gone, and easily eclipses any other console offering in the depth department (save maybe Oblivion). This depth comes at a price, as it makes the game nigh impenetrable for people not used to this degree of detail and effort. If you’re an old school table-top dice roller, or have a history with stuff like the Elder Scrolls and Might & Magic series’, you’ll have no trouble adjusting. If you’re not used to a game that doesn’t do any kind of hand-holding, and delivers swift, harsh punishment to the careless, maybe Demon’s Souls isn’t for you.
On the flipside, there hasn’t been a more in depth and rewarding experience this generation for people who are willing to spend the time with it. I’m willing to bet that come E3 in June, we’ll be seeing some sort of a release announcement for North America, whether or not there have been changes made to the game, particularly in the online component, will ultimately decide how people respond. As it stands, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend an import purchase to everyone, unless your tastes run similar to mine, in which case Demon’s Souls is very nearly a perfect gameyou’ll easily blow 45-50 hours on. Putting a score on it is a difficult prospect for me, in spite of the flaws apparent, and the difficulty, I don’t think I’ve had more fun with a game on the PS3."
the veredict........ 5/5
here is the link: http://pixelverdict.com/2009/04/15/review-demons-souls-ps3-import/
wow this game is getting really great import reviews. for me this game is looking awesome and i hope it comes to America. what do you guys think?
