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Note: There are additions to the review below my original review.
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I wanted to provide a review, but I see that most of the others have already addressed most of what this game is all about. This review is based off of the "Deluxe Edition," which differs from the regular edition in that it includes an official strategy guide and a slip cover case that houses the game and strategy guide. The game is exactly the same in both versions.
Demon's Souls is a worthwhile experience in itself, and I highly urge any who are on the fence about it to at least give it a rental. It's a game that one will need to play through more than once in order to feel as though the game has been completed. Read other reviews for details into all of the aspects of the game.
I am going to focus my attention on the "extras" provided with the deluxe version. Is the strategy guide worth the extra $10? As somebody who did not play the import versions of Demon's Souls (many people here have), I can safely endorse the purchase of the deluxe version in order to get the strategy guide. For one, it's beautiful. There was much effort in organizing the art and text in a concise and useful way. It's very easy on the eyes. Each walkthrough section has pictures to go along with the walkthrough instructions, which is helpful. It runs 159 pages and is as big as the game case not bulky at all. Even though it is small, it does not look or feel cheaply made. Here are the topics considered in the table of contents:
Introduction, Class & Gender, Character Building Guide, Survival Guide, Non-Player Characters, Merchants, Living Body and Soul Form, World Tendency and Character Tendency, Demon's Souls Usage, Magic Guide, Weapons Guide, Weapons Upgrades, Armor, Rings, Items, Enemies, Crystal Lizards, Quirks & Tricks, Trophy Guide, Online Mode Guide, Leveling Guide, Walkthrough (Worlds 1-5), End Game, Perfect Run Walkthrough
There are a couple drawbacks to the strategy guide. Demon's Souls has been out for awhile in Japan, Korea and China. This means that there are already plenty of online resources that discuss just about everything provided in the paperback guide. The guide does not provide illustrated maps of each level, which would have been icing on the cake. This is especially true since the game does not have any sort of mapping system. It would have been nice if the guide were a bit fatter more detailed descriptions but sufficed to say, this is a small gripe considering that all items, weapons, rings, monsters, and NPCs got descriptions and pictures to go along with them. It's a blessing and a curse because there is always a want for more content, but an efficient guide is also desirable. This strategy guide is efficient to say the least.
Again, I recommend the "Deluxe Version" even though the only real difference is the strategy guide. If you have no need for a tangible guide then there are online resources that definitely match the content. However, the guide is organized, in full color, and there are pictures that go along with the walkthroughs, items, monsters and other aspects of the game. Most online walkthroughs/guides I have looked at do not provide these things, and the ones that do are not in the same league as the guide provided with the deluxe version.
In summary, the guide is NOT necessary, but it is useful and convenient. Hope this helps!
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*Edit: A few additions to the review. It was brought to my attention that the cover of the guide, most noticeably the spine, fades easily. I found that both the spine and front cover have begun that process.
The information in the guide is still very good. However, after much use of the walkthrough I can honestly say that it's not as extensive as I initially thought it was. It covers the essentials for getting main items and tackling bosses, but it does not cover most items that can be found in each level it does note which levels all items are located, but the walkthrough section skips over where to find them. The walkthrough also minimizes boss battles in some cases and I found myself deviating heavily from the boss guide. Again, it's still a very good guide overall, but do not expect it to have an answer for everything in the game. If you want to get the main, most powerful items, this guide is definitely for you.
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I know a lot of people are on the fence about getting this, just as I was, so I will explain my habits and how I feel about the difficulty .
When it comes to hard games I get a temper, I become easily frustrated, frequently yell at the screen, and on more then one occasion have almost thrown the controller across the room. Have you ever played Ninja Gaiden 2 on xbox 360? I think most consider it a very difficult game. I can't stand the game. The difficulty has me screaming at the screen in less then 5 mins.
I consider Demon's Souls to be the hardest game I have ever played, much harder then Ninja Gaiden. Each time you die you loose all your saved souls (cash/experience). Many enemy's can kill you in two hits. You will be ambushed frequently, dieing many times. You will be roasted by dragons. Many times you'll die in places where you can't reach your body to reclaim the souls. On top of all this there is no pause button (This one annoys me. Everyone has to take bio breaks). I know this sounds frustrating, but it's not. What i have just described is what makes the game fun. If this game were easy it would suck. For the record I have yet to yell at the screen and as I previously stated, I'm a "yeller".
You have to go into the game accepting that it's hard. Why is this fun? Every time you level it really means something. Every time you successfully beat a demon it means something. Every time you avoid the ambush and slaughter all of your attackers it makes you feel great. When you finally learn the level and can run around without much fear of dieing, it's a huge accomplishment. Each time you advance your character just a tiny bit you'll feel like you accomplished something. There is no hand holding in this game. When your character increases his stats, learns a new spell, upgrades his weapon or armor, it's from your hard work. You'll just have to trust me (and the other reviewers), this really makes the game GREAT.
If you are on the fence...I recommend buying this now. If you have to choose b/w this or Uncharted 2 (coming out tomorrow), chose Demon's Souls. With all the hype around Uncharted 2, I feel 100% comfortable telling you to buy Demon's Souls first.
With that said here are a few tips that helped me (SPOILERS to some):
1. I found Royals and Temple Knights to be great first characters.
2. When you start in level 1-1, approach every enemy like you will die. Plan ahead. Make sure you won't get to many adds on you.
3. I found a spear to be a great first weapon. The Temple Knights halbred is fantastic as well. You can buy the spear in 1-1 from a vendor you will discover. I recommend doing so immediately if you start as a Royal.
4. Learn to use your shield. It will save you more then turning and running. Get in a corner and "turtle" if you have to.
5. Learn to parry then riposte. When you get this down you'll kill most enemy's in 1 hit.
6. The Red Eye Knight in 1-1 will kill you instantly. Lure him across the walkway with the catapults and down the stairs. There is a place with 2 barrels next to each other. Don't destroy them. When the knight is coming for you, stand around the corner just past the barrels and he should fall and die.
7. When you save up enough souls go back to the nexus and use them. The level will restart, but you'll be stronger.
8. Stay in 1-1 until you can defeat it easily. Then try 2-1, 3-1, 4-1 etc.
9. For the last boss in 1-1, save the firebombs you collect. Use them against the minions guarding the boss. If you have a halbred, coat it with turpentine (fire) and go to town.
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10. Expect to die when exploring a new area, fighting a boss or going against a named black phantom NPC. Don't go into these fights with 100,000 souls saved cause they will be lost.
11. KEEP this in mind when you start: There's an item in 2-2 you want but requires the world to be pure black. It's called the Talisman of Beasts. This item lets you use both miracles and spells without changing wands/talismans. Every time you are revived go to 2-1 and kill yourself. This will make the world darker (harder). When you kill the 2-1 boss, kill yourself before returning to the nexus. When the world is pure black, go kill Black Phantom Scirvir. Pick up the Talisman. Commit Suicide. Go kill the primevil demon under the building with the guys throwing rocks. Now you can return to the nexus and World 2 will be white again.
12. You get the Black stone when you kill your first Black Phantom NPC. This will probably be in 3-1. At this point you can be invaded by player Black Phantoms when you are in living form unless you're in offline mode (log out from Sony network).
13. IN 3-2. VERY Important. You'll see a platform with several lights, blue red yellow etc. There is a guy hanging in a cage named Yurt. If you release him and let him go he'll eventually return to the nexus and murder all the NPC's. He drops good armor so release him then kill him immediately.
14. In 1-1 you'll meet someone named Ostrava. He has an ongoing quest that continues to 1-2, then 1-3. If Ostrava dies at any point be sure you're there to pick up his key. He annoyed me so I offed him when he appeared in 1-3.
Buy Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition Now
The video shows the unboxing of the Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition. Enjoy!
My Review. So I have just put a good solid 5 hours or so into this game and it's hard lol. But that's what makes it great! I love the challenge those far and it proves to challenge the minds of gamers to come up with different strategies after death.I'll go over a few categories of the game and once I finish the game I'll write a final review on the game!
Gameplay: 4/5
The gameplay is great and easy. You use the trigger buttons for combat, blocking, parrying and for powerful strikes! There is a lock on system that works well and targets the closest enemy to you. The d-pad is my only (nit picky) gripe in which your items and weapons are displayed. You push down on the d-pad to cycle through your items but can't go back to an item you passed instead you must cycle through them again to find it. The combat is great so far and my favorite part is actually dodging! It's easy to do and works very effectively and if you perform it perfectly after a foe throws a strike he's wide open for a nice back stab and the illustration of this is awesome!!!
Presentation: 5/5
This game is so beautiful! I have been catching myself stopping on the edge of towers, cliffs, bridges etc....just to view the scenery in the background the mountains, sky and forests are all so detailed it's gorgeous. The blood stains on the ground brings the creepy vibe of the game together well and the Soul forms of real playing gamers looks great!
Online: Haven't explored yet
I have yet to invade or help out another player but once I get the chance I'll write about the experience
Overall: 4/5 ATM once I finish the game I'll write a full review. Till then please enjoy the unboxing vid!! Take care and have a great day!!
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An action-RPG that prides itself on its difficulty, Demon's Souls is not a game for the faint-hearted. However, for a player willing to overcome a few hardships, Demon's Souls is a well-made, well-executed, highly enjoyable game.
Demon's Souls' basic gameplay is hack-and-slash similar to The Legend of Zelda or Kingdom Hearts, i.e. you swing your sword, block with your shield, roll, dodge, and so on. However, Demon's Souls has much higher stakes your character can die in 2 or 3 hits, for one. Enemies telegraph attacks well enough, and are generally as weak as you are in health terms, so it's at least fair in that regard. It's less that the game is hard directly, and more that the game is unforgiving of carelessness; charging at an enemy as though they can be easily dispatched, like you would in most action games, usually ends up with your death.
There's a fairly wide level of customization available in terms of gameplay choices, though. Souls are the game's currency, and are obtained from every enemy defeated. They are used to buy stat upgrades, spells, weapons, armor, and items. In essence, you have a fairly wide set of choices available in terms of how you play the game as a direct fighter, as a lightly-equipped archer, or as a supporting magic-user. Your class influences your starting stats, but there are very few class-based limitations in terms of equipment and spells. As long as you've upgraded your stats to the right level, you can use almost anything.
There is some difference in terms of what weapons are used, so there's at least a lot of diversity in terms of your character's development. In addition to enemy weaknesses, the weapons in the game also take how the weapon is used into account. Most directly, walls and corridors will make it impossible to swing a weapon a problem if you're using a giant sword and can't get the room necessary to swing it. Generally, stabbing weapons like spears and rapiers are useful in close-range areas, while the giant swings of greatswords and polearms are useful in wide-open areas. It's possible to wield weapons one-handed or two-handed; it's also possible to dual wield weapons, to varying levels of effectiveness. The two kinds of ranged weapon are bows and crossbows: the former can be aimed manually, but requires two hands, while the latter must be locked on automatically, but can be used with a shield.
Death in Demon's Souls is frequent, and comes with a few penalties. Upon death you become a ghost, with only 50% of your normal HP (though this is raised to 75% by an item found early on, which is much more tolerable). When you die, you lose all your current souls (but not items or abilities), but if you can get back to the spot you died in and touch your body, you can at least recover it. There are a few ways to recover your body, the most common of which is beating a boss while in spirit form. However, it's often not worth it you can only beat a given boss once, and it's fairly easy to die afterwards to some simple trap or surprise attack. And given the number of things that are trying to kill you soldiers, monsters, dragons, rolling balls, pit traps, and the occasional explosion care should be taken at basically every opportunity.
The game's multiplayer is probably its most innovative feature; rather than a direct sort of "join someone else's game" feature, Demon's Souls is more like a persistent online world where you can only occasionally interact with other people. The most common online interaction is messages. These messages are assembled from premade parts ("look out for the ____ ahead", etc.) and left on the ground near whatever they're talking about. Any player can put down a message, regardless of content, so it can be used to help people ("there's a trap ahead", "don't trust this guy") or to hinder them ("if you jump down into this bottomless pit you'll get some treasure"). Trustworthy messages can be recommended; recommending a message provides the player who put it down with an instant full-heal something that's not to be sneezed at, especially during boss fights. Therefore, it's to the player's advantage to put down helpful notes, and the game is certainly hard enough to warrant them. In one case, for example, an otherwise innocuous NPC was marked with many runes nearby indicating that said NPC was a liar and I should attack him. As it turned out, the NPC was powering a ritual that made the level's boss immortal, and without killing him I never would have been able to beat said boss.
The other way that the game presents a passively online universe is through player ghosts and bloodstains. The former is just a glimpse of other people playing the game i.e., their characters running around in the same level you are in. These are mostly just there for show, though seeing a ghost pull a lever or break down a wall can provide a helpful hint. When another player dies, their bloodstain is left in the location where they died. If you touch a bloodstain, a ghost pops up and runs through the last few seconds of that player's life. This basically shows you where traps are in a lot of circumstances you just have to watch for the part where the ghost "dies" when you go forward. In some cases, the presence of a great deal of bloodstains serves as warning enough.
There are more direct ways of interacting, as well. When you're a ghost, you can offer your services as a Blue Phantom and enter another player's world as a cooperative helper. Beating the level's boss transports you back to your own game and gives you your body back. You can also take the darker path of the Black Phantom and invade another player's world; if you manage to kill them, you get your body back. Overall, there's not a lot of communication possible in-game. The messages serve as the only actual communication; blue phantoms must communicate with gestures and emotes, and there are only a few of these. There's no friend lists or anything along those lines, so you're really just grabbing any random player either as an enemy or a friend.
The graphics in the game are excellent the designs and effects are detailed and well-executed, there are plenty of incredible panoramic views (many of which can be noted with messages) and the characters all move with realistic weight and effort. On the other hand, the Havok physics used in the game are completely ridiculous. Bodies, for one, can be easily kicked around by a player walking slowly into them, which causes them to go into humongous spasms and flail around. The sound is great, being distinctly atmospheric while also serving as a warning. The music is good, but only shows up for boss fights (in a manner similar to Shadow of the Colossus), while the rest of the game is music-less to let you focus on approaching footsteps or flapping dragon wings.
As a whole, Demon's Souls is a great game with solid gameplay and fun online multiplayer. However, it's also a very unique game casual gamers, people who dislike losing repeatedly, and people who want to play with people they know in real life are probably better staying away. The game's difficulty will drive away most gamers; even gamers who stick with it will likely find it frustrating when they die for the hundredth time. The online mode, while interesting and fun, is limited in its long-term applications due to the short "pick up game" nature of coop play.
In conclusion, the game is a 9/10 for hardcore gamers, and a 6/10 for casual gamers.
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I ve been eying this game since it was released in japan and after i got the American release all i got to say is this game is money will spent , over 40 hours of gameplay , wonderful online integration you will get so immersed in this game you wont believe it , the atmosphere is spot on , the music is will created and the gameplay mechanics are tight youll rarely feel that you lost control of you character , this is my first time getting a deluxe edition in my life ive never bought any limited edition version before am i happy with this one i am totally 70$ you get the strategy guide which is alone worth 10-15$ in my opinion and a beautiful hardened box , so gt the deluxe edition its will worth the money the game is awesome if you're a fan of action RPGs or RPGs in general .
one more thing is that i never felt that the game is cheaply hard every time i die it was because i did something stupid or i was careless and met my doom , I've been waiting for a game like this that is challenging and i forgot to say that the art style , graphics and other graphicly stuff is all beautiful and what you expect from a PS3 exclusive .
