Policenaut posted:

Grab your sword and don your armor, we're taking a trip to the kingdom of Boletaria! This is Demon's Souls!

What is Demon's Souls?

Demon's Souls is the latest title from famed niche game developers From Software, known for titles such as: Armored Core, Chromehounds, Tenchu, and Ninja Blade. This third-person Role Playing Game is designed to be the spiritual successor to From Software's infamous King's Field franchise, renowned for its ridiculous difficulty and steep learning curve. Published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Demon's Souls brings hardcore JRPG action exclusively to the PlayStation 5!



What makes it different from other RPGs available to the PS5?

Demon's Souls caters to a special audience with a product that simply can't be found in today's modern homogonized gaming market. An experience which you simply can't get in any other title on the PlayStation 5 or any other major video game console on the market! This game can best be described as a macabre mash-up of titles such as King's Field, Monster Hunter and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.



Demon's Souls takes its inspiration straight from European and American developers, while giving it a distinct Japanese feel. It plays itself straight up in a gritty traditional European fantasy style, featuring full English voice acting and environments that vary from decrepid castles to the dank depths of Hell.

The equipment set-up is reminiscent of computer-based RPGs of the late 80s and early 90s, featuring a plethora of equipment and weaponry for you to utilize. Your opponents? Dark knights, brain-eating zombies, gigantic lizards, slimes, and everything the twisted world can throw at you! Your bosses? Humongous trolls wielding cleavers, red dragons that burn you to cinders, gigantic tarantulas which wrap you up in webbing, and the list goes on! There's nothing like a mascot enemy here, and your final boss certainly isn't a winged dude with symphonic accompanyment.



And the cherry on top? This game is completely balls-to-the-wall hard! That's right, there's no hand holding in Demon's Souls! There's no thirty minute long tutorial sequence, unskippable in-game pop-ups, button mashing battles, or Quick Time Events. If you want a game that rewards hard work and effort, Demon's Souls is the game for you!

This is a game that pulls no punches, gives little thought, and spares few words. The monsters will gang up on you, you'll fight bosses that will kill you in a single hit, you'll lose your footing and fall to your death, and be abused for your mistakes. You'll have to fight tooth and nail for every inch, fleeing from traps that come without warning, just to get that new piece of equipment or item you need. There's no safety in menus, and even other players will be out for your blood!

In short, Demon's Souls is a game with a sick, twisted sense of humor but an oddly rewarding and challenging title. It requires a certain penchant for masochism and the bravery for a true challenge in today's easy win RPG environment.



What's this game all about

Demon's Souls has a fairly simple story, much like its older brother King's Field. It takes place in the fictional European-inspired kingdom of Boletaria, where a corrupt King summons the Devil and uses unholy powers to bring unrivaled prosperity to his lands. Only to fall victim to his own vices and traps and abuse his power to cause great destruction, causing a great fog to cover the country and summon countless demons to devour the innocent. This is where you come in! You are a lone adventurer who quests into the depths of Boletaria to put a stop to the fog and bring peace to the land, not even death itself can stop your pursuit!



How does it play?

Demon's Souls plays from a third-person perspective, and acts like the unholy love child of King's Field and Monster Hunter. Your character is one you can name and design yourself! The game offers a robust facial creation system that allows players to customize their lowly adventurer. Players can equip all sorts of armor, weapons, and accessories and utilize a varied array of magic attacks known as Spells and Miracles. All of your actions have a weight to them, and the environment must be taken into account at all times. That cool sword you got may be strong, but how will it fare in a tiny corridor?

Survival is dependant on your ability to always be aware of your surroundings and quickly adapt to change in it and the enemies that you meet. Each new beast provides a new challenge in how to properly face and destroy it in battle, and each new area is a host to remarkable deadly traps and towering bosses. Demon's Souls demands a lot from its players but the reward will undoubtedly be worth it, so keep striving!

Aside the typical Health and Magic Points system found in every other Role Playing Game, Demon's Souls utilizes a Stamina system reminiscent of the Elder Scrolls franchise. All your actions take a certain number of Stamina points to perform but your bar is always refilling! You must take your Stamina into account when adventuring, is it wiser to go for a barrage of sword swinging to defeat your foe or should you wait for the parry? Do you stand your ground and fight the gigantic spider, or flee at top speed so it doesn't swallow you whole?

It also provides a wide variety of classes for you to choose from! Demon's Souls allows players to choose a "starting class" that suits their desired playstyle. Are you the type who loves to get up in a monster's grill and rip their guts out? Be a Knight! Do you like casting magic missile? Then Magician is right up your alley! Love the sensation of driving your knife into someone's unsuspecting back? Try a Thief! There are numerous job opportunities, each with their own natural advantages and special starting equipment. Your job doesn't totally limit your playstyle though, you can later improve your statistics and branch out into other jobs! Need a magic spell but you're a claymore-wielding knight? Go level up and learn it!

The entire game is based around deep, complex dungeons that take ages to fully explore. Your only refuge from the monsters is the "Nexus" which is the hub or "town" of Demon's Souls. Here you can talk to the locals, level up, learn new magic spells, repair or buy new items and equipment, and store your unwanted junk. Don't think though you've got it all down, New Game+ provides even more to see at the Nexus!

Did I mention this game has New Game+? That's right! Demon's Souls has tapped into the desire to carry on our legacy by allowing the player to carry over their character into a new game once they beat it! Don't think thought that you'll be right into pulverizing the enemies like you were earlier though, the game's difficulty ramps up every time you beat it!

Can I play it with other people?

You bet! Demon's Souls offers a trio of special multiplayer options for you to choose from! You'll never be lonely in Boletaria, not when you've got the souls of your dead PSN friends to come with you as you venture out to kill the giant Manta Ray!



Co-Operative
Players can utilize a special item called the "Blue Eye Stone" to set a marker on the ground that acts as a gateway to a multiplayer Co-Operative game! There's no lobby or matchmaking system, the offline game is your lobby! Other players online can see your marker and invite you into their world, and soon enough you and two other adventurers will be on your way to questing!



Competitive
What's that you say? You don't want to play nice?! Demon's Souls has got you covered! With the use of the "Black Eye Stone," players with evil intent can literally force themselves into another player's world! Taking the role of the "Black Phantom," the player must hunt out and kill the invaded player to recieve a special Souls bonus! However, if the invading Phantom is killed then you lose all your Souls and he gets a big reward for killing you.



Educational
Huh? "Educational?" Don't worry, this isn't a codeword for "scripted tutorial!" Demon's Souls offers a special method of communicating with other players in other worlds, to help (or decieve) other players about events that may be coming up in the near future! By utilizing a wide selection of stock messages and phrases, players use a bizarre Twitter-esque system of leaving messages on the floor for others to read. These messages can be read by anyone, and can even be graded on their usefulness! Players who leave helpful messages are rewarded with a full health restore!

... Of course, you could also use it to grief other players and trick them into killing themselves! Try leaving a "Jump here for a reward!" message at the edge of a cliff and see what hapless idiot tries it!

When does it come out?! Where can I buy it?!

A long time ago, goony goons such as myself were totally brave and hardcore and had no idea if this game was even going to be in English on PS5.

You can buy Demon's Souls as a Greatest Hit in North America for $69.99 in 2 weeks.

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

Shrine of Storms is god-tier level design imo

Lumpy posted:

I have never finished a Soulsborne game. I pledge to make this the first. What is the n00biest bad at games person build I should use?

Lumpy posted:

I have never finished a Soulsborne game. I pledge to make this the first. What is the n00biest bad at games person build I should use?

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

Vikar Jerome posted:

blizzard? lmao what

is this a joke based on atlus publishing the ps3 usa version? bandai namco published it over here and i was watching brad at easy allies play through it recently and i saw the atlus logo and thought he had loaded up persona instead or something, i was so confused.

Attitude Indicator posted:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C7NqSTQvRBw

Red Warrior posted:

Edit: Interview with more details
https://www.polygon.com/interviews/2020/10/29/21539158/demons-souls-ps5-remake-changes-sixth-archstone-world-tendency

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

The Walrus posted:

Long ago

The people who united the world by the power all alone the Old One with her Insatiable drains. The Uld Une brought it a thich colorless log and hurda al dem halt the world and countless Jouta wireless The ancients scaled the dozing beast inside the Rexus and entrusted sts ciders with als

precious Archstones and to the king of a amall ye diligent land unc to tse king ul the

burrovera underground on to the wise queen of the great ivory tower uncN he chiftun uf lost and ill-lorfuned souls one to the ahaman of the tempest-soraluping shadowma and last to the great giants of the Northern Landa

In the present day the northerm hingdom ut Boletaria ruled by King Allant the twelfth. vas

abruptly svalovou by strange colurleas fou Rone who dared penetrate the dep fug ere

returned, Vallarlas of the Twin langa brote trec and tuld the world ul Doletariaa pligt

The atd ing lant around the old one the great beaal below the Rexus from a dumal

slumber which brought the colorless log unleashing terrible demuna hat huntad mun and claimed their duula Those who lost their agula alao luat heir minda. The mad attached aane and chaos reigned. The legend spread quickly mighty warrior vere drawn to the accuracd land but nune

have hurnad The uturtuaa deep log now alowly creeps beyond Boletarta's burders and

humankind lucea astus and steady extinction aa the decp lug will eventually allow all

lands near and far.

But Boletana has e Alone warrior has braved the baneful fug

has the land lundi u have the demens found a new alaver

Lumpy posted:

I have never finished a Soulsborne game. I pledge to make this the first. What is the n00biest bad at games person build I should use?

Fister Roboto posted:

Is there any indication that this is ever going to be available on PC?

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

from the ps5 thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-b-dRWLhsk

The Walrus posted:

I am pretty curious how people will react to this game. I think the bosses are going to be a big disappointment for many. I hope the things that are great about Demon's stay great so the stuff that's less good doesn't hurt as bad.