Demon's Souls has a reputation as one of the most brutal, hardcore and challenging games of the year, if not this generation, and those who bought it have often done so under a cloud of fear. According to game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, however, the game was never designed with difficulty in mind. Demon's Souls is all about triumph, not defeat.
"Having the game be 'difficult' was never the goal," explains Miyazaki. "We understood that 'difficulty' is just one way to offer an intense sense of accomplishment through forming strategies, overcoming obstacles, and discovering new things. Our goal of a sense of accomplishment was the basis of the game since the early stages of development, and we never strayed from that."
Miyazaki also explained the "Bloodstain" death mechanic that some gamers have found very frustrating: "We do understand the frustration that players have experienced, but the main reason we settled on this system is that if the Souls could be recovered anytime, there would be no suspense or sense of accomplishment. [We want players to feel] like, 'I can’t die until I get all those souls back,' or 'I did it! I made it to my bloodstain!'"
I personally think that From Software totally succeeded with its design goals. Demon's Souls can indeed be very frustrating at times, but the sense of elation that comes with each success cannot be measured. Hopefully Demon's Souls 2 will arrive and continue this tradition. Miyazuki says a sequel is out of his hands, but that he'd "welcome the chance to create and even better game in the same style."
Yeah, I think we'd all welcome that too!
Contest:
7:40 PM on 11.06.2009
| 
i know you couldnt review it "in time"
but, will you review it sometime in the future?
afterall this would be the perfect test to know if Jim can say something positive about ANYTHING in one of his reviews, har har
And he's only a pain if you're pure melee.
I think they tried to make a game where you can't just play without thinking about what you should be doing. In other words, rush in like a crazy person and get killed. Also, it's a game that has actual consequences at times from death, which doesn't really make it hard, just makes it to where you have to replay certain parts at times. I like that they force players to learn strategies to move forward. I was worried about the difficulty and whether this game would only be suited for gaming sadists (which I am not), and I'm glad that I tossed those worries aside and picked this up.
Of course I could be wrong and its more of a patience / observation deal. Won't know until I borrow a PS3 and play it though.
On my first play-through. Now that I'm on my second play-through, Holy Hell. Maybe everybody who complained about difficulty experienced a glitch that made all the enemies start off as if they were on their second play-through or something, because I never found the game hard until this point.
I really wanted to like it, mostly because I wanted to justify my purchase(and because I usually agree with Jim) but sadly, this is another $60 shelf-stuffer for me.
Sorry for the rant. I just drudged through F.E.A.R.2 for the last 2 days in a row and the length+ending pissed me off. D:
I think most people who hate this game are going into it expecting it to be a full on action game, or full on action RPG when it is not. It is just a different kind of game where you move slowly and think only a little bit before you hit the attack button. Or master the timing of a parry and Riposte which could get you out of most hairy situations considering your invulnerable during the animation.
I can see where someone might think that it is hard, but honestly, if you go in with a cautious, TAKE-YOUR-TIME attitude and maintain that attitude (ie: DON'T GET FRUSTRATED WITH YOUR OWN SLOW PACE AND START MOVING TOO FAST), the game comes off as challenging, sturdy, and very rewarding, but not hard. Ghosts 'n Goblins is hard. Prinny can I really be the hero is hard. Battletoads is hard. I'd even say that Ikaruga is technically hard, although with enough practice is more of a meditation.
Demon's Souls is not hard. At least not the first play through. I'm in new game plus and the PVP is pretty tough because it is so frequent now, and if you have a dark world tendency and a dark soul(see here), the game is pretty damn tough the second time through.
It just bugs me that people always rave about how hard it is. And when others try to explain that it isn't, they get accused of trying to sound badass, which is not the case.
I've grouped with royals who seemingly have a rapid-fire BFG mounted on their wrists, bathing everything in blue fire from very early on in the game with magic-regen items keeping them always ready to fight.
Where as I went through with a melee based hunter for the first few levels and had a hard time (not as hard as many make out)... But now I have a lava bow and a dragon sword,
I still cant compete with those "Gish"/mage-knight royals and my ammo costs me souls to buy while theirs regenerates... But If I found the game too hard I know exactly what character to re-roll after having been in multiplayer... It's just a shame it's not spelled out a bit better from the start.
Yeah but those people who went through with the guide or the wiki and just painted by numbers to create the ultimate killer using every exploit missed a fantastic serving of the games charm. i went in totally blind, relying on nothing but the hints left for me. I think it makes the game take longer because there is a lot of trial and error, but it also feels more real and memorable and brimming with immersion when you do it that way.
Or I was trying to get the Rune Sword and Shield in 3-2. Damn falling mechanic.