A Look Back At • Demon's Souls (Analysis)
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- čas přidán 5. 03. 2020
- Before Elden Ring, before Sekiro, Bloodborne and the Dark Souls Trilogy, there was Demon's Souls.
Demon's Souls launched in 2009 and began the From Software Ascendancy.
It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki who would later helm the Dark Souls games (mostly), Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring (oh Elden Ring).
In this video we Analyse the game go in-depth, this isn't the Prepare to Cry esque Demon's Souls video in case you were wondering, this is more of an exploration of the game's systems and implications.
Hope you enjoy.
Special Thanks to:
*soulslore.wikidot.com/
*VaatiVidya.
*BlueLizardJello.
*Usojin.
*Hidetaka Miyazaki
*MatthewMatosis.
*Noah Caldwell-Gervais
*Zullie The Witch
Footage from:
*BlueLizardJello
/ itsbluelizardjello
*Usojin
/ @usojinstreamarchives
*WorldOfLongplays: (Ultima)
/ cubex55
*Razorhen
/ razorhen
*VaatiVidya
/ vaatividya
Patreon: / medievalmegaman
Essays&Espresso:
/ @essaysespresso8637
Exploring the Story of Demon's Souls: - Hry
![DARK SOULS • The Ultimate Analysis • [The History of From Software]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5h8YArGb_Jc/mqdefault.jpg)
Thing is, World Tendency isn't adjusted until you return to the Nexus, meaning the difficulty doesn't change until you either give up or succeed.
Not necessarily. When online, World Tendency among all players is tracked, and when first logging in your tendency is set to the global average.
Also, Atlus used to do Pure Black tendency events.
@@Null_Experis Rule 1 of controlling World Tendency is to play offline.
@Boco Corwin Actually, I did. Bought it at launch, learned the hard way and started playing offline right away. Something I carried through DS1 until I beat the game the first time.
@@gozinta82 Damn right man, thats the way to play. IMO you're ruining the experince by bringing in help on your first play through of any game.
@@c0unt1ng5heep4 Meh. I play online in these games in the hope that people invade. It brings some much needed beat downs to my doorstep. Lol
I've been saying Demon's Souls has a fantasy action RPG coating but it's actually survival horror at its soul since 2009 and that's the first time I've heard someone else say it
Always thought it was like d&d with elements of lovecraftian horror.
@@Garviel-Loken in setting, totally, and that made it so uniquely awesome!
survival horror is more on how the gameplay feels: it's tense, moody and unsettling, instead of a power fantasy; the player feels small and oppressed instead of strong and capable; combat and navigation are slow and methodic; you think before spending healing items; you watch every corner you take -- all stuff you see in survival horror, not action RPGs
@@Garviel-Loken SAME BRO SAME, the storm king and the shrine of storms all together felt so lovecraftian, even boletaria reminded me of the story the alchemist in some sort.
@OX XY Both the gameplay and lore is affected by Lovecraftian concepts(hope, bleak and dangerous towns and people,etc). I would second that it takes survival horror and makes an RPG out of it. The modifications for time windows with Adaptability vs investigation in a Survival horror matches up pretty well. Weapons that break, people that give virtually no information on the puzzles at hand in the level.
The original game seemed to have amore oppresive tone, the remake seems to have more of a medieval tactical RPG feel imo. Cant say I ever felt scared or anxious in it
Demon's Souls's poison area is the one that makes the most sense in terms of it's lore background and design imo.
Eternal ring’s poison valley fits very well with the island layout and lore, and the poison filled vats before the ancient battleground in KF4 make a lot of sense too. 4-2 expanded this gameplay/lore connection and created the best mechanical poison area I agree (lack of roll is good imo)
The Blue Blood Sword is amazing. Its literally saying to the player that luck favours the well prepared man! Diegetic storytelling.
Well it also points out that you need a balance of all stats as well to even wield it, so some faith some intelligence and some strength and speed, but in the end it boils down to luck.
Especially in the remake with the inf luck stat glitch
@@insertedgynamehere___969
Eww. Imagine buying/playing that Bluepoint monstrosity. 🤢
Welcome back, king.
Demon's Souls reliance on grass for healing is due to each archstone/level being discrete, with no mid point "bonfires" or checkpoints during the level. It worked for that game. Subsequent games have linked contiguous levels, which is why estus works best there.
"Not because he's a sadist"
"..."
"Not _only_ because he's a sadist"
Lol, just heard that part xD
Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Thanks for the opportunity to be featured in a positively beautiful video essay of one of the best games of all time!
Thanks again for letting me use your footage.
It was easilly the most high quality (which is why it composes 95% of the videos).
This game made me fall in love with video games at a time when I couldn’t possibly give less of a shit about playing them and I’ll always have immense respect for it even though I’ve probably only played it half as much as any other game in the series.
just borrowed a ps3 from a friend and im playing this legend, 11/10 would die again
I’m so glad you made this video. Demon’s Souls is my personal favorite in the entire series (it was also my first so I might be biased)
Average Players samesies. Regardless of bias, I think Demon’s Souls has a special something the others haven’t will never have, it came first and laid the foundation in a way the Dark Souls was more a refinement than a reimagining, while removing things like world tendency and the hypnotizing Shrine Maiden. Demon’s Souls is my personal favorite forever.
@@JC-cb8oi That's honestly one of my favorite things about DS1 that the other games never really touched on. Having your own personal waifu with a tragic backstory is cool and all, but there is something so melancholy of having the bonfire take the place of people like the Maiden in Black. You don't really have a "home" per se like in the Nexus. Sure, Firelink Shrine is the hub, but almost all of the NPCs that go there move on at some point (most end up hollowing). You have no Maiden to come back to with souls to level up with and to show your character growth, you have no Stockpile Thomas to help carry your item burdens, and to a lesser extent, depending on your choice of weapon, you don't even really need a blacksmith aside from a few key items. All of this is taken care at the bonfire and there is a level of solitude from this feature that just can't be felt in the other games. Even in DeS and BB, which had highly oppressive atmospheres, I could always look forward to meeting the Maiden and Doll as they provide a high level of comfort. I personally think this aspect of DS1 blows every other entry out of the water, even DeS. Not only is it just mechanically more useful, but it holds so much more thematic weight to it. It's mostly just you against the world, with the exception of lone bonfires and unlikely companions who will break the fissure every now and then.
It was my later souls game and it's still my favorite next to bloodborne.
Two big Demon's Souls videos? On the same day?
Great day
he's been working on these for a long time to get them ready.
Glad there is someone giving this game the attention it deserves. It was such a groundbreaking experience for me and while it wasn't the biggest success I think the demons souls fanbase was a big part of dark souls' attention and explosive influence.
“Well they already expect me to fail so I’m just going to try a bunch of new stuff and see what happens”
I've beat all the souls games including Sekiro, and I often think of Demon's Souls. I love this game. It needs a remaster and rerelease.
MY FRIEND, I HAVE GOOD NEWS
You wish has been granted
Corrections:
45:40 = RAISES your world tendancy.
52:50 = Razorhen, not Rzorhen.
AesirAesthetics also during the world tendency part you mention you lose up to a maximum of 50% HP while in soul form but in actuality the more dark character tendency you have you can lose more, closer to 40% at maximum dark character tendency. Totally a small thing though haha
A little note too when discussing the grass you should’ve also linked that to the legacy of kings field/eternal ring/shadow tower. In those games the healing is the same (until late game when spells are your primary healing source) whereas you have to farm them off plant enemies or buy them from merchants (KF4 thank god gave them more stock.)
Loved your two videos though, and it makes me wanna go through your channel some more. Thanks for these!
The whole point of the game was that evil must alway be fought,but it takes one defeat against it,for the world to be ruined.Doom mongering and giving up,because of the insurmountability of the task or its unending work is the struggle of the character and by proxy,the player.As long as you exit the nexus,continue struggling and don't give up,when sent back over and over again,you will eventually face the Old One.Giving up or getting corrupted from the pursuit of Demon Souls,that you have lost the grasp of over and over again seems like an insult to your struggle and very purpose in pushing onward to that point.Nevermind the fact that you slaughter the very person,that can imbue to you those very souls you desire to acquire.
I'm glad people can emulate this now.
Also I heard this might get a remake
I assume you've seen the trailer by now?
@@WolfHreda so hyped for it 👌
Even more so now.
Naw the remake is just a rumor
@@Ricekrispy10 So was dark souls remastered, and sadly elden ring is a fabrication by the us government. Lowly times these are
I am playing Shadow of the Colossus for the first time in my life and I can see a lot of influence of SOC in Souls Series, emptyness, big bosses, the atmosphere, lizards, dark souls... and a lot more, the more I play Shadow more I see the influence. Impressive
Miyazaki is a big fan of Fumito Ueda and his masterpiece ICO.
Final Fantasy XII too! Playing through again reminded me that they did mimic treasure chests first. Big RPGs were really trying to figure out combat back then; see FFXII, Oblivion, etc. We forget but that's one of the things that made Demon's Souls and Dark Souls so revolutionary.
And now, the company that remade Shadow of the Colossus has remade Demon's Souls. Isn't that beautiful?
I loved experiencing Shadow even with the awful controls (which is an easy turn off for me usually) because the atmosphere kind of reminded me of Demon's Souls but obviously vast, and yet you're completely alone. But the soundtrack, oh my it's easily one of the best I've ever heard.
@@Walamonga1313 I actually really like the controls, mainly because Wanda feels so accurately inexperienced compared to other protagonists. Of course the strange controls might not have been intentional, but overall I feel like it adds to the experience.
As someone that's completed every souls game I've never had a preference for Estus or the grass healing system, as long as I have a way to heal I'm good.
Wow. What a great video. That part about luck gave me chills.
That was a incredible take to me. But I'm not seeing it as a troubling message to me cause being Versatile (flexible) is a always a winning strategy and the facts something so powerful come from something and someone so broken is beautiful to me and the fact it scales when luck is there way of saying always be hopeful it always makes you stronger. Hence the name! Blue is the color of hope!
The soundtrack, man...
Dorin Alexandru flame lurker theme legit af
There's a private server available for demons souls and is available on ps3 :)
How? That sounds awesome. O.o
How?
When in network settings on the PS3 home, instead of auto DNS, set your primary dns to 142.93.245.186. That’s it, when loading up the game it will link you to the private server and you can invade & co op again.
It will also show you how many players are active in each archstone so you can invade accordingly :)
@@Biobillybonez wooow i am impressed. The souls community is awesome. I really have motivation to finnish demons souls now. (Yeah shame I know but I just spent to much time in Dark Souls lol)
Yeah! Yuvi's server. Easy to access, plus the discord is cool. Works like a charm!
Thanks for making these two videos about Demon's Souls. The content is good and it seems like you put a lot of effort into it.
I had to come back to this video, it's way too good. I fully agree with you that Demon's Souls is the best game of all time, to this day I think it still reigns supreme.
Edit: I hope one day to finally see the Dark Souls video and the comparisons to Demon's Souls.
Edit 2: Demon's Souls commentary when?
Mattewmatosis has a commentary on Demon's Souls and Dark souls 1.
I highly reccomend both.
@@insertedgynamehere___969 already seen them, I want it from Aesir though.
WELL worth the wait🙏 thanks for all your updates on the creation progress of this video, Demon's Souls was my first souls game and it blew my mind, still one of my top 3 favorite games ever
This is such a great work. Excellent video. Really made me get a cup o coffee and relive my experiences. It's been too long since I have played the game and and I forgot about how deep and interesting this more was.
Isnt bloodborne's blood vials the perfect marriage of Grass and Estus, though? You still have to farm them and value them so when you run out you feel that loss but you cant just carry around 400 of them to trivialize every encounter
@mzero bruh, there's like 3 or 4 different kinds of grass
Blood vials were easily the worst healing system out of all the modern FROM games
@@Strangely_Brown i disagree!
@@sawcleaver i never personally understood the complaint about farming for blood vials due to two reasons. one being the fact that you can just buy them, but the main reason i don't agree with the complaint is the rally system.
due to having the rally system, we don't NEED to immediately heal every time we take damage. in fact, if you're quick enough, you can regain 100% of your lost health back through rally alone.
obviously, they changed the limit for consumable healing items from 99 to 20 so we would have that resource management that estus gives us, but i think it was a deliberate choice to not just permanently give us 20 vials. they wanted to give us incentive to make constant use of the rally system, which we wouldn't have if we always had healing items available
@@cynicalgold9992 Because the rally system falls apart by mid game where enemies start hitting very hard. In my experience, it's almost always part of a long combo string by a boss or enemy and not worth attacking directly after you get hit because trading hits will just lose you more health or outright kill you. It ends up being far more consistent to back off and cut your loses. Nobody in their right mind is going to try using the rally system against NPC Hunters or Old Hunter's DLC enemies because they hit fast and like freight trains, which are synonymous with other parts of the game that people die more in.
As the games tend towards more combat focused design like Bloodborne, being forced to farm for health items just because you don't immediately pick up on boss patterns can turn into tedium and many Bloodborne fans seem too eager to overlook the downsides. The game already promotes aggression by removing every other option, it could at the very least respect a player's willingness to put effort into the combat challenges it presents by not wasting their time further on repeated failure.
Once in a few months, i watch this analysis for inspiration and game design insight for the game im working on. Thank you, sir, for your amazing work!
Late comment, but I really enjoyed the crystal vials in King's Field IV. They function the same as the estus flask, but instead of automatically refilling at a checkpoint you have to physically go to the springs in the world and fill them up yourself.
Imo it added a layer of immersion with the world, not only could you drink from the healing/mana spings, you could use the vials you found to fill them up and drink later when needed. Also made the springs important, instead of a free heal when you happen to be near it, there is incentive to return to them. Finally, it adds some forgiveness in the sense that if you run out of consumables you aren't completely out of luck. The vials are permanent, but you have to return to the springs to refill them.
I also like those, I thought it was interesting how the game asks you to not use one of your vials so that you can get poisoned water for that dude.
I remember seeing trailers for this while in my first apartment, I was so stoked for this game! And it didn't disappoint.
Demon's souls was the best 20 dollars I had spent on a game
Demons souls was the best 3 dollars I ever spent on a game.
Demon's souls is the best $12 I ever spent on a game
Demon's souls was the best 0 euros i have spent on a game...because i was never able to play it but i still love it😭
Demon souls was the best pkg file I have downloaded
@@cringeandpunishment3140 jailbreak for life
Wow. Someone who gets it. I agree with literally everthing. Especially the grass system--the fear of wasting grass was a huge thing which made me feel anxious before runs. Estus leaves me feeling...unconcerned.
Yeah, estus changed the mechanics from "have I got enough grass to do this?" to "how long before I can refill my estus?"
I also preferred the archstone check points rather than bonfires as they are far fewer in number and made you run the area to get to the bosses. They made shortcuts in levels more important and challenge you to either run through or get good!
But at which point is it enough stress? Personally I feel less inclined to play a game like Demon's Souls because of wasting resources like that. Venturing into the unknown with the knowledge that your punishment is losing your souls and going back to the last checkpoint is more than enough stress for me.
There has to be a balance. Your are playing a videogame, after all.
@@AndresLionheart Your comment really throws me off. I mean DeS allows you to farm grass and spices to 99 and multiple types, how much resources do you need and losing your currency, does it mean you wont play other Souls games, Nioh, BB, Nier, SardewValley, etc? Heck BB's more stressful for the Winter Lanterns.
But how fast is the farming? When I played BB for the first time I had to stop and farm some vials 3 times during the playthrough, so it wasn't that bad.
Souls games use estus, so you don't really wasted the healing if you die (although during the beginning of DS2 you kinda need to use gems because the flask has so few charges)
I never played the first Nier, only Automata. For Stardew Valley I don't know what you can waste. The desert cave is not that bad and you can always quit out without saving if you feel you wasted something.
And yeah, the Frenzy mechanic overall was very stressful, lol, but that's just a small portion of the game.
@@AndresLionheart ....Depends on how fast you can kill an enemy? Level your luck if you want a guarantee drop from enemy. Or buy them if youre in need for healing, every area has a vendor that sells healing items, among other things.
''The desert cave is not that bad and you can always quit out without saving if you feel you wasted something'' Uh huh, nothings wasted, but my time.
Great video! Demon's Souls is probably my favorite souls game and it's mainly because of the reasons you pointed out in this video. Keep up the good work!
Such a deep in depth analysis of this modern classic
very comprehensive retrospective. subbed!
Thanks for this man! This game and it's community deserves it.
I can't wait to witness your channel blow up in popularity. Your videos are of so high quality and the amount of depth you get across to the viewer is astounding. I absolutely love your analysis videos. Your channel reminds me very much of my favorite game reviewer/ game analyst, Noah caldwell Gervais. His videos too take a deep intellectual dive into our favorite medium. His videos literally just a year ago were only getting around 16k or 30k views and now his videos usually have well over the 100,000 mark. And the reason for his channels success will be the same reason yours succeeds. And that is because there is a real hunger for these kind of videos that take a deep look at our favorite games and try to unpack them. Thanks for your amazing videos and im telling you now keep up the amazing work your time is coming my friend.
Thank you
Great stuff brother! Much appreciated
Thank you
Well, towards the healing with grass in Demon's Souls: I don't feel like running out of grass is ever really prominent, as buying it doesn't cost too much most of the time. That just makes it easier overall, as you CAN outheal opponents in an easy way. That's why I didn't really feel accomplishment when defeating King Allant.
I mean, I still get your point though :) I think, Bloodborne does it better, making you run out of healing... But either the 20 heals are more than enough when you have them or it gets annoying really fast having to farm for them.
In terms of gameplay flow, Demon's Souls does it best. In terms of overall experience and balancing, Dark Souls is superior imo.
Yeah, I heard him out, and while I can see his point about some things, I still can't agree that grass is superior because it just lopsides the difficulty towards how much or how little you're prepared to farm (OK, lopsides it MORE- you can always grind levels, but honestly those provide very incremental increases in power over the short term and provide diminishing returns). I haven't actually played Demon's Souls myself, but I've watched a few let's plays and I just find it underwhelming watching the player get beaten around by some of the supposedly difficult bosses in the game (e.g Flamelurker) but they just roll away and scarf down some more grass, over and over again, until they've basically eaten the boss to death. The Estus system in Dark Souls (1 & 3 at least, the healing items in 2 ruined it by trying to do it both ways) put a cap on your progress which was mitigated by your skill- if you weren't good enough to dodge the boss, you could survive for _this_ long before your supply of Estus ran out, and then you were done. The bottomless stomach of the Slayer of Demons meant that didn't happen- as long as a boss or tough encounter couldn't one-shot you, you could go on practically indefinitely. The difference between Demon's Souls and Resident Evil is that in Resident Evil the herbs were _very_ finite and when they were all gone, they were _gone._ That's what made it survival horror.
I don't know about him, but I think Estus as a system produced way more of the "survival horror" energy that he was talking about. Sure, it can be replenished at the bonfire, but while you're playing the game, what you have is all you got. So, unless someone strengthens a bonfire in another game and gives you that extra drink, you're screwed if you run out of it. I can recall many times when I was still trying to get good at the game where I would run out of estus and would panic because I knew that if I died before reaching the midway bonfire, I would be sent all the way back to the beginning of places like Anor Londo or Izalith. It's a fantastic system and it feels jarring when playing Demon's to just overload on healing items and kind of takes the tension away in some spots.
Exactly. The fact that he was running around with 70 grass that pretty much fully heal you while talking about it was the cherry on top.
@@ArcaneAzmadi I think grinding (in this case for grass) should be a strategy. You’re preparing aren’t you? If you can’t keep up with a fight you have the option to find an alternate way at the cost if some grind.
I like the grass mechanic.
Demon's Souls, Silent Hill and KOTOR?! Dang man, ez subs
Great vid! Yeah, I also feel like having the grass system made it so that the EXTREMELY LONG levels in DeS were more viable, because you could actually have the resources to get through them if you planned accordingly. Ultimately I feel Grass and Estus are both good systems for the games they were designed for.
There aren't that many levels in demons souls that are THAT long. The other games have arguably longer levels but have a better checkpoint system. Still, I feel DeS could have benefitted from an estus type system.
imma be straight up, i love this channel and i see great potential here, ive been a watcher since around 2k ish subs and i love the work you put in.
i never want you to quit. i see a great future ahead of you, this channel may one day be among the other great analysis channels like GMTK, KingK and raycevick.
:)
I agree these are amazing but not mentioning matthewmatosis or the best imo Noah Gervais?
You gotta check them out
@@Biobillybonez Matthew and Noah are top tier along with our man Aesir, and I definitely rec KingK GMTK and Raycevick. I hope all 6 continue to flourish
This video makes me so nostalgic. My experience with demons souls was brief but I loved this game very much. My absolute favorite souls game (and I’ve played them all, including bloodborne). Wish they would go back and remake the game but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. There’s just something about the story and environment this game offers.
Very interesting analysis, you have opened my mind to a lot of this game's features even if I don't personally like all of them.
I think it's right up there with the best games ever too.. great videos today, thank you!
I got Demon's Souls the day in came out in the US, the deluxe version because I felt with what I had seen of this game that is was worth the time and money... 11 years later I only have just gotten the platinum recently of this game despite the lack of online, and I have felt the same about this game in comparison of dark souls. I still kinda like this game more than dark souls... okay I love both very much but Demon's Souls will always have a special place in my heart.
~7:40
Demon's Souls: be careful that when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster
Dark Souls: Everything is transitory, entropy eats away at everything
Bloodborne: An examination on evolution and expanding conscience; if humans can transcend being just animals, what could transcend being just human
Sekiro: immortality bad DO NOT TRY TO BE IMMORTAL
lol sekiro oh my god
That's because Sekiro isn't the same kind of story. It's about loyalty and duty and selfishness, told through Sekiro's relationships and choices. Not the extremely deep topics of the other games.
@@user-vt6td9hp3g After the somewhat infamous reception of Dark Souls 2 with its two directors, and how a lot of DkS1 fans felt it was markedly inferior, did you notice ALL other FROM games have Miyazaki as the official director? Even when he is focusing on a different projects and just passing by b dev team to say "ok cool keep it up guys", FROM still uses his name because of how hallmark is has become.
You CAN see a lot of visual design, ambientation, lore and gameplay choices which are a lot poorer in DkS3, Sekiro, and Bloodborne's 2nd part of the DLC (which was originally a 2nd, separate DLC). Even though they all have Miyazaki's name on the box, its consistent differences and the time schedules say he either only partially or barely oversaw most of production for those games, in contrast to closely directing it like BB, DkS and DeS.
Sekiro was good quit being ass blasted
@@bloozism a lot of people did enjoy it. personally, having it be that challenging just for the sake of challenge, with little to no payoffs in story, world building, and memorable characters/character lines that stick with you, it felt empty and kinda pointless, specially considering all BB, DkS and DeS had.
y'all really be sleeping on Sekiro? Its a great game and if that's your only take away Im sorry to say you missed out
As if i didnt already want to play this bad enough, this video just made me that much more bummed i cant experience how wonderful this looks.
Started my journey into Fromsoftware last year, did DS1, DS2, DS3, Sekiro, and Bloodborne.
Just got my first plat trophy ever on Bloodborne last week :')
Thank you for the great content, sorry gor the ramble 💚
Demon Souls has been one of my personal favorite games. I haven't played most of the sequels because they lack the sense of depth that I found in Demon Souls, and I am a serious fan of immersion games.
@Robert E. Speedwagon I did enjoy Dark Souls. But with Dark Souls 2 and further the games felt like they were becoming mainstream and less immersive.
@Robert E. Speedwagon Not the case for Bloodborne
The biggest immersion factor in DeS in my opinion is the pacing. It's much slower and more methodical until you become over powered, so the early to mid game is a tense, oppressive, and dangerous time to be alive. It's uneasy for the right reasons: the reasons you would feel uneasy in the same situations.
I personally love video essays, this is my third time since release watching this vid lol, you're really goid at these
Danke :)
So I've finished this video and wow, great work! I have subbed and am going to be checking out further videos from you but first haha, I've setup RPCS3 and have Demon's Souls emulating at 4K with a 60FPS patch because this wonderful video encouraged me to play it. Great work mate. This only saddens me we never got a real port outside of the PS3.
Awesome to read :)
Have fun playing
35:17 - 37:00, a thing to note about Latria that l haven't seen anyone point out, though to be entirely fair, is just pure conjecture on my part since l don't think it has been confirmed by FromSoft or Miyazaki in an interview.
ln Greek, Latria (λατρεία), literally means worship, so the world itself translates to "Tower of Worship", which fits considering the lore of the place and the bosses that you face, like the False ldol.
30:00 Really like how well the ER bosses were predicted.
😎
Awesome video, friend 👍
Demon's Souls will always be my favorite. Full stop.
Because of this video, now I'm replaying Demons Souls as a Magic build. Thanks! 😄
thank you for doing this amazing
Glad you enjoyed.
@@AesirAesthetics grass sytem i went over it with regen hp armors i was like ok problem solved the regen shield adjudicators has a very nice paint on it despite making your life easier they really put details and effort into many aspect of the game. I would love to confirm the story besides that shields looks adjudicators boss. a paint on a shield what kind of great game is that. I was very impressed how you covered the story of tower of latria
The item description telling lore was used in King's Field too. You can in some of the games take with you an item to a wise man and he'll tell you about the item, often revealing lore and useful information about the item. IIRC, there's also some mirror or something which can do the same in at least one of the games.
I am really enjoying the video a lot!!! I am not finished, but I stopped at your point regarding online...
There are fan servers always online, and that is a lot of fun. It's a quick search, you can find a reddit thread and go to the discord server and do the ps3 thing. The online servers are pretty active regarding NA because I keep getting mentioned with the NA stuff.
It's great! :D
Gonna continue more tho, this is a really great video.
Great video
Demon' souls' Item carry limit is interesting system, but I don't think it would have worked in some of the sequels, in Bloodborne it could have worked since the game has similar amount of armour, weapons and other items, but in Dark souls sequels you have hundreds of items and having item carry system would be annoying and not tense at all.
Is what a great take on this masterpiece
Glad to have been one of the lucky ones to play this in its prime, and able to eagerly await the release of Dark Souls
(Long comment incoming from someone who's never finished playing the game that stumbled on the video through a friend, tl;drs between)
I think playing though Dark Souls a bunch of times and deeming it my favorite game of all times really tainted my first impression of Demon's Souls.
Things like the interconnected level design of the first half of Dark Souls and nature of difficulty as well as the game's communication of such were my main draw to it, alongside the reasonably satisfying combat and base negativity it exuded.
From the brief period playing Demon's Souls, the bleakness is what was without a doubt better in comparison and the combat was more or less the same in slightly clunkier. My main issue with it was the different approach to difficulty. It's more about teaching you through ambushes, traps and overall "unfairness" where to go and and which areas to avoid as opposed to warning you prior and showing you what's going to beat your ass prior. As for the level design, glimpses of it were there, but the hub-like structure of the world made it difficult to be as open and fluid, so to say, as its sequel.
Tl;dr going in without preferences makes it easier to like something than after establishing them.
As for the actual video: I haven't gotten to the parts of the game I'd probably like most (e.g. Maiden Astraea) but both its story and characters seem to have been strong suits since the very beginning. Not necessarily just in the conventional sense. One of my personal gripes with a lot of games is being forced to sit through hours of cutscenes and world building before I can actually get to the important part, the gameplay. While it's completely optional in the Souls series and approachable at your own leisure. Sub stories, like that temporary vendor among others being so fleshed out would definitely not be noticeable for me, a skipper of almost all dialogues in games, but that's exactly why the Prepare to Cry series, this video and some others serve well to compile the information afterwards in a digestible format.
Only played the game in offline mode and never died enough in the areas I finished to change the world tendency, unfortunately. So the sense of connection to others and camaraderie in the game isn't something I can relate to all that much. I guess most of the hurdles the good design gets stuck on are those set by personal preference.
I respect your take on the grass vs Estus debate. I'm personally more of a "get punished for using something wrong" person than "get punished for using something", so I end up not using any item that can run out unless I have dozens of them (e.g. the requirement lowering items for spells in Dark Souls 2 or healing items in Pokemon), but I can see where you're coming from. I do mostly prefer muscle memory and reflex based challenges like memorization of attack patterns over strategic ones like inventory and resource management, though both should stay around in gaming.
For the bleakness, I'll direct you to a german song called "Wir werden alle sterben" or "All of us will die" by the band Knorkator. It's about as negative and hopeless as the world design and character interactions in this game. Listening to your descriptions for it also reminds me of the movie End of Evangelion. In a very short, not entirely representative form: It's about characters that try walking the easiest possible path towards what they misunderstand as happiness and the subsequent reality check they're forced to endure. Like our dear miracle tutor, as well as most of the merchants in this game. Instead of actually working towards a common goal that'll stop the demonic blight once and for all, they equate success and happiness to personal wealth. Though at least some of them are happy with where they're at, unlike EoE.
The dynamic of good vs. evil is something I like a lot about the game, particularly in the case of Maiden Astraea, and I wish more properties would adapt towards it. A lot of the more conventional storytelling I've seen binarizes it entirely or only shows glimpses of what could be, but Demon's Souls uses the full extent of the grey scale, so to say. And it has the balls to make the player commit horrible atrocities for the sake of progress that make you question the status quo. Dark Souls kind of cheated on that front by making its Maiden in the form of Quelaan a character you didn't specifically need to get rid of, so I definitely prefer the Astraea way. Though I wish you could actually oppose the game's story in an alternate setting, but having a choice would kind of invalidate the game's message in that area.
The last part is something I hadn't seen in other videos on the topic of this game before and I really appreciate it.
Tl;dr personal preference hinders my appreciation of a majority of the game's well designed systems. The game's as good at storytelling as its sequel series, if not better. I can't comment on the multiplayer aspects. The grass > Estus argument is neat, even if I don't agree with it. Massive negativity in games is always a plus ;). Dynamics of good vs. evil as well as questioning the status quo is something I want to see more often. Everyone should get lucky.
(I don't actually expect for anyone to read all this. The comment was more of a way to sort my thoughts and rationalize them. Sorry for the jumbled mess.)
the best video on demon souls and maybe the whole souls series
High praise :)
Your stance on grass is coherent and while I didn't mind it since my first game was Bloodborne i think the potential for 99 full heals really transforms the fun and potential terror of PVP into a torturous tedium.
Do you think there's a way to bring back that sense of terror without grass? An evasive enemy that perhaps does minimal damage but steals an estus then runs into danger like a crystal lizard. Some kind of object that seals the bonfire's full potential and limits the amount to be found later and give a release to that tension. Maybe a curse that cuts off estus and other enemies in the area drop lifegems? Whats your stance on the DS2 system?
Grand. As someone who loved Demon's Souls then, and still does, I am thankful for this video. Both your Lore and this 'A Look back...' hits all the right spots, and makes one love the game that much more.
I still play the game now and then. And with the Remake, I truly, truly hope that luck ran a high dice roll for Bluepoint, to have watched your videos as well. Because I fear, in their quests to maybe "improve" certain aspects, might destroy the core philosophical messages, and may turn it into some Dark Souls' Demon's souls, than keep the 'Soul' of the original game.
I want to hope, but see that it's our luck stat that weighs the heaviest here. May the dice roll a favorable number.
How do you feel about the remake?
Big fan and veteran of the soulsborne games and must say Demon's is my favourite
Huh!? Two videos so close together in time! I must be dreaming!
I'm very close to finishing demon's souls for the first time (PS3 version cause ps5 is still impossible to get and I want to experience the *vibes* of the original) and personally I love the grass system. It's not as frustrating as the blood vials, more focused than the confused dks2 system, and really only rivals the ds1 estus system as far as the best in the series. So many times I would end up burning through my grass faster than I anticipated which, especially combined with the item burden system, led to a few great nail biters that the estus system couldn't quite manage
1 Legend 🤝 Another Legend
Good video 👌
Your argument for the grass system is one that I really like. I dunno if I’m able to call Demon’s Souls my favorite of the series, but I really like it for all that it does and all that it establishes in future installments
great stuff
9:07 On this regard I've always found interesting and striking the difference between the old woman merchant in the Valley of Defilement and Astraea. One is a misfortunate mother that "cares" for her child, the other is a fortunate lady who gets "corrupted" by the demons. Things are not what they look like on the surface and good and evil aren't as clear as they seem.
I caught onto that dichotomy as well! This game has so many subtle storytelling elements it's awesome
i love this analysis too
A great essay, liked a lot of thoughts of author.
I had no idea that ICO was one of Miyazaki's inspirations, but thinking about it it makes a ton of sense.
Classic Game Room introduced me to Demon’s Souls back in 2013. Never heard of Dark Souls back then. I thought Demon’s looked really cool and the NES difficulty everybody referenced this game to appealed to me. I’m really glad this was my first Souls experience because playing all the other games, basically in chronological order, I could sense the legacy of this masterpiece through all the other games, thinking to myself “Oh, this is just like Demon’s Souls. Oh, I recognize those sounds from Demon’s Souls”. Dark Souls really owes everything to this, as you stated in the video, and it’s a shame that this game has been so overshadowed by its younger siblings through the years. To my mind, this game is the most experimental in the series and has the most interesting level locations and boss room designs (whereas the other usually just have an open space arena). Glad it got the remake it deserved.
I remember trudging through this game when i was hungry and it was such a great experience i miss it so much
@AesirAesthetics Great work, I’m glad to see another analysis and hope your well. Since last talking I’m wondering how your Silent Hill 4 analysis is coming as well as what other games you’ve been playing or replaying for inspiration. As always thanks and keep up the good work.
I haven't yet decided what game to cover next but I know it'll be at least a year before I make the Silent Hill 4 commentary.
@AesirAesthetics Of course you want to be in the right mindset to not be fatigued with the series and fresh when writing up a script. As a writer I know it can be very difficult and rather unenjoyable to force yourself to work on something you don’t feel like doing.
@AesirAesthetics I’ve personally never played any of the Souls games and am curious do you think this game would be worth playing now? I really liked the line towards the end when you talked about the forging of the broken sword to face the ultimate fight.
It's well worth playing today.
My first time through Demons souls was like right before they closed the server. I have fond memories of getting invaded by the same guy over and over again for the old monk fight. As well as summoning someone in 1-3 and getting invaded and we worked together to kill him and then ganked the penatrater with biorr.
Then when i went to go platinuming the game, the servers were gone and i had to do it all solo and it was rough but I loved it. Demon's souls is my personal favorite souls game.
I hope the remake let's us choose what controls and music we use in the remaster nothing wrong with having options. I'm not a fan of some the boss redesigns of vanguard demon but more flamelurker but if they add and tweak things right it shouldn't matter to much but I'm fearful that from soft not really being mentioned could mean they are just gonna do what they want with the remake. I dont think many people really understand the souls games because they are more than a hard video game and they aren't that hard of games in the first place.
Great retrospective. Very nice take on luck being a core pillar of the games philosophy, rather than simply a gimmick stat. Almost makes me want to believe in the power of resistance in Dark Souls... Almost.
I also think this game is a strong contender for the best game ever made. Thanks for the videos.
I completely agree that souls is not just about the combat. You're goal isn't to fight everything, its to get through the world. The enemies are just one obstacle. Navigating and surviving the world is your goal. Sometimes combat is unavoidable.
The bosses are a definite improvement in ds1 over demons souls. They are almost all actual fights but it's important to note there are bosses like moonlight butterfly and gyndowlin that aren't neither gimmicks like demons souls nor standard bosses which is all you really get in elden ring.
When i try to explain why ds1 is my favorite in the series I often say it had survival horror elements.
That's not to say the combat couldn't be excellent to. There is room for improvement in ds1, but those improvements can be melded into and work with the core mechanics that make dark souls the greatest game I think I've ever played.
I seen potential in the grass for longer exploration. You have more healing and you can get very deep into a level easily. The pressure exists in finding your way out with a few levels worth of souls on you. If you drop them deep in that level, now you need to find your way back through the long structure of the level, remembering where your souls are and not falling to any of the traps or enemies you passed when you ventured deep into it. Demon souls levels though are not long enough and the lack of interconnectivity hurts the entire premise.
Estus is superior because ultimately I never had any issue with low moon grass except in the very beginning of the game. You can get the same long term exploration out of Estes and it doesn't require farming.
My main thing issue with grass though is that I NEVER had to worry about being low. Not once did I turn back because I didn't have enough grass. I beat almost every boss on my first try. Not because I played so well or that they were easy to learn but because I barely needed to know them due to the fact I could always get space and heal infinitely.
I'm so damn glad this got a Remake and I was finally able to nab a PS5 to play it, this was the one game in the Souls series I hadn't played and so far I'm loving it, I've got about 2 or 3 Archstones left
I love how you manage to mouth off "Demon's Souls' significance" without sounding like you're struggling with it.
Also great analysis!
Pre-patch (AKA before NA release), the world tendency would go darker even in soul form. :) I think it was considered too punishing and was therefore patched, alongside the Firelurker AI (so you can't as easily get it stuck, you can still, but it will try to jump to the side back and forth after a little while). Can't remember what more was patched.
I personally love the grass system and I believe that dragons dogma dark arisen did a good job of implementing a grass system in that game as well even though it’s not necessarily built around it I believe it was originally meant to be a bigger part of the game as the game was meant to be a lot bigger and have much more exploration as well.
Hey Aesir, I have a suggestion for a new video or series if you'd like. Would you mind doing a lore and cut content video for Dragon's Dogma? Some crazy stuff was unfortunately never realized and tragically it never received a true sequel (i don't really consider DD online to be a true sequel). Also, while there are several videos on this game already as it's very popular, some Shadow of the Colossus lore and cut content would be great to see. If none of these strike your fancy, no worries. Cheers!
I love how you hold demons souls in the highest regard even among its successors
What can I say, you only play your first Souls-like once 😉
Are the kings robes a reference to Hastur the king in yellow from Lovecraft?
yes
A remarkable and intelligent write up.
What's the song playing at 26:25? It sounds so familiar but I cant remember where it's from. Lol
About the grass system: I mostly agree with you, but the whole system becomes a little obsolete after 5ish hours of gameplay. At least that's how it went for me. On my 1st playthrough, I ran out of moon grasses in 1-1 and almost gave up. I thought I'd be better off starting a new playthrough lol. But I persevered and made it through. Still, the anxiety of not having grass in the first hours of gameplay, where you're still learning the mechanics, was always bothering me (but in a good way, as you put it, adding another element of dread). After I beat 1-2, I just barely made it through world 2. I remember when I first beat Flamelurker I had just ran out of grass. It added another layer of reward when I realized I had beat him right after using up my last grass. But after beating the Dragon God and using all the souls I gained to level up, there just wasn't any more risk involved in going through 1-1 or 1-2 to farm more grass. It became sort of an annoyance, actually. If they somehow managed to make it harder to find grass as you level up, I would fully agree with you. Well, here's my 2 cents. Great analysis btw!
Demons souls got me back into gaming after a long long break. I bought a ps3 just for that game
You bring up some really interesting points as to the purpose of the Old One in terms of why God planted it on the earth. Some theories I have are that God created it to test man and to see if they could overcome their sinful nature to fights towards a common goal (like you mentioned in the video, these characters should REALLY be working together, but just like a zombie movie the real monsters are the people) or if God planted the Old One on the second day as a punishment for mankind after seeing their sinful nature on the first day, and now God wants to wipe the slate clean.
i'd love to hear your thoughts on the Shadow Tower series.
You're in luck, late October.
For ever love Demon Souls!