[Sir Viver]

The spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls finally hits like fist of an angry Dragon God. October 4th will be a day of furious rage for newcomers and sensual bliss for masochistic Demon's Souls veterans. Hands-on accounts have already confirmed that this will be an even more brutal experience.

(Trailer)

(Screenshots)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

(Recent developer interview)

According to Horono, Dark Souls environment is a “seamlessly connected world. If you can see an area in the distance then you can go there. This world is about three to four times as big as the world in Demon’s Souls. There’s also double the amount of accessories and weapons in this game.”

While this is primarily a thread for Dark Souls, the Demon's Souls servers will be shutting down on October 11th, so Demon's Souls discussion is also welcome and encouraged. After all, it's the only game that will properly prepare anyone for this.

Personally, I'm going to miss the realm of Boletaria, the Maiden in Black, Stockpile Thomas, and even that jerk Yurt the Silent Chief... But this will supposedly be a significant improvement of the Demon's Souls formula.

Spoiler

My body is not ready.

[FlyingElf]

Definitely the next game I'm looking forward to. Loved me some Demon's Souls.

[Prayer Police]

harder?
Boo!!!

[Sir Viver]

Prayer Police, on 31 August 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

harder?
Boo!!!

Please tell me you're joking. This is a good thing for Demon's Souls fans and hardcore gamers overall. Not only is it one of the game's selling points, it will also encourage players to make the most of their abilities, and all the little "tricks" from Demon's Souls (such as exploiting i-frames while dodging) have been removed.

Also, found some more info on the game: There's a spell that allows you to spawn enemies in 3 random players' worlds. However, if they find said monster-generating soul sign, they can invade you directly. Apparently, Black Phantoms can only heal using magic now (no nomming on herbs while invading people), but to balance it out... up to three Black Phantoms can invade someone's world at once. Yay, Black Phantom gangbanging! This particular spell has me stoked. It's like challenging someone by slapping them with a glove... except the glove in this case is an enemy-spewing symbol.

This post has been edited by Sir Viver: 31 August 2011 - 08:40 PM

[FlyingElf]

And lets face it, while Demon's Souls was hard, at no point was it unfair. It punished mistakes. It was one of the best designed games ever in that respect. Never did it really just kill you simply because it could. Likely every time you died it was because you made a mistake. Now you have to learn from your mistake and do better next time.

[Valkyrie]

My hubby LOVES Demon's Souls, mostly because of the difficulty and because it punishes mistakes. It doesn't hold your hand like most games do these days. Sure, it's hard, but not in the impossible sense like Battletoads. Each task offers a certain sense of fulfillment, not just "yay." And some missions do an excellent job of making you stop and consider what you're doing.

Plus, the team aspect provides its own level of fun mixed with difficulty - you have no way of effectively communicating with your temporary partner, so you have to try to work in tandem as best as you can (and hope that he/she doesn't choose to betray you at the first opportunity).

To that end, Dark Souls should prove to be veeerry interesting XD

[Sir Viver]

FlyingElf, on 01 September 2011 - 08:47 AM, said:

And lets face it, while Demon's Souls was hard, at no point was it unfair. It punished mistakes. It was one of the best designed games ever in that respect. Never did it really just kill you simply because it could. Likely every time you died it was because you made a mistake. Now you have to learn from your mistake and do better next time.

Nail on the head, Felf. Nail on the head. I could only blame death on camera angles a small handful of times, out of my 100+ deaths. Granted, the learning curve is like running straight into a brick wall. Trying to climb it proves useless, and the more you try to handle Demon's Souls the way you'd handle a traditional action RPG, the more will fail. So, you can do one of three things. You could keep breaking your girly little nails trying to climb it, you go back to WallStop and trade it in for something easier to climb (but without all the glory), or you could man up, beat Demon's Souls maliciously at its own game, burst through the wall and yell out, "OH YEAAAH!" Much like God Hand, it's an unorthodox "love it or hate it" game with a mean learning curve, hard but fair.

Also, the atmosphere. Every area of the game had a haunting aura that made me feel like I was there.

This post has been edited by Sir Viver: 01 September 2011 - 11:05 AM

[Malkozaine]

I remember seeing the Tower Knight for the first time. I was like "Oh look a fog door I bet the boss is in the next room. Can't be that bad the Phalinx boss wasn't that bad. *walks through*................uh......why am I just looking at a big metal foot? *looks up*........oh fffffffffuuuuuu*wets himself*."

[Sir Viver]

Malkozaine, on 02 September 2011 - 07:07 PM, said:

I remember seeing the Tower Knight for the first time. I was like "Oh look a fog door I bet the boss is in the next room. Can't be that bad the Phalinx boss wasn't that bad. *walks through*................uh......why am I just looking at a big metal foot? *looks up*........oh fffffffffuuuuuu*wets himself*."

He wasn't so bad after you took out the snipers. Then it just became a game of peering around the corner and using Soul Arrow or Soul Ray about 50 times... for Royalty, anyway. I'd imagine archery would be a bit more difficult. What class(es) did you play in Demon's Souls?

Also, I had a lot of fun with the Phalanx, though I wish I brought more Firebombs in with me. It became hilarious on New Game+, where all I had to do was walk up to it and cast Firestorm. The massive slowdown and insta-death of the Phalanx (as well as every Hoplite surrounding it) elicited a fit of laughter from me and a "wow" from my girlfriend.

[Malkozaine]

Sir Viver, on 02 September 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

He wasn't so bad after you took out the snipers. Then it just became a game of peering around the corner and using Soul Arrow or Soul Ray about 50 times... for Royalty, anyway. I'd imagine archery would be a bit more difficult. What class(es) did you play in Demon's Souls?

Also, I had a lot of fun with the Phalanx, though I wish I brought more Firebombs in with me. It became hilarious on New Game+, where all I had to do was walk up to it and cast Firestorm. The massive slowdown and insta-death of the Phalanx (as well as every Hoplite surrounding it) elicited a fit of laughter from me and a "wow" from my girlfriend.

I played the Wanderer. No magic for me. ;_; (Oh if you want my PSN name is Malkozaine.)

This post has been edited by Malkozaine: 04 September 2011 - 05:20 PM

[Sir Viver]

Malkozaine, on 04 September 2011 - 05:13 PM, said:

I played the Wanderer. No magic for me. ;_; (Oh if you want my PSN name is Malkozaine.)

What level are you? I'm 125, so if we're within 20 levels of one another, we can play.

[Malkozaine]

Sir Viver, on 04 September 2011 - 05:38 PM, said:

What level are you? I'm 125, so if we're within 20 levels of one another, we can play.

85, and stuck at Old King Allant boss fight.

[Sir Viver]

Malkozaine, on 04 September 2011 - 06:17 PM, said:

85, and stuck at Old King Allant boss fight.

Ahh. Well, I'll add you. My PSN ID is pills4louis. Good luck on Allant, he was a pain the first time through. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to fight him without magic, the guy hits harder than Capcom's news about NO MEGAMAN LEGENDS 3.

This post has been edited by Sir Viver: 04 September 2011 - 08:41 PM

[Valkyrie]

Actually, he just got lucky ^^ Malkozaine got summoned to help another player fight him. It was the other guy's first time. They double-teamed Allant, poor Malkozaine got shanked with Soul Sucker...and they beat him. I can't be sure, but I don't think Malkozaine or the other player used magic, either. It was quite a fun fight to watch.

[Sir Viver]

Valkyrie, on 04 September 2011 - 09:34 PM, said:

Actually, he just got lucky ^^ Malkozaine got summoned to help another player fight him. It was the other guy's first time. They double-teamed Allant, poor Malkozaine got shanked with Soul Sucker...and they beat him. I can't be sure, but I don't think Malkozaine or the other player used magic, either. It was quite a fun fight to watch.

You were there? Awesome! But... if he defeated a boss in someone else's world, that wouldn't count as beating the boss in his own world. Wish I could help but I'm above his matchmaking range. When did this happen, anyway?

[Valkyrie]

Sir Viver, on 04 September 2011 - 10:00 PM, said:

You were there? Awesome! But... if he defeated a boss in someone else's world, that wouldn't count as beating the boss in his own world. Wish I could help but I'm above his matchmaking range. When did this happen, anyway?

Malkozaine is my hubby in question, so I get to watch him most of the time XD That particular battle happened around 10:30 tonight.

Sadly, right after I made that post, he opted to go after the Good King on his own. It didn't end well. Sooo he's been practicing on Penetrator and Maiden Astrea in the meantime. ^^

[Sir Viver]

Valkyrie, on 04 September 2011 - 10:49 PM, said:

Malkozaine is my hubby in question, so I get to watch him most of the time XD That particular battle happened around 10:30 tonight.

Sadly, right after I made that post, he opted to go after the Good King on his own. It didn't end well. Sooo he's been practicing on Penetrator and Maiden Astrea in the meantime. ^^

Ahh, the Astrea fight. Love the music, but... DEM PLAGUE BABIES. I just stay back and fight Garl Vinland, every time. Even though he heals himself fully twice, blocks everything unless you lure him out, and parries more and more with each New Game+, it's better than dealing with Astrea using God's Wrath to knock me over to the plague babies. Penetrator, on the other hand, was my #1 favorite boss fight in the game.

[Malkozaine]

Just beat the game this morning but now I am getting my butt kicked in NG+

[Sir Viver]

Malkozaine, on 05 September 2011 - 10:06 PM, said:

Just beat the game this morning but now I am getting my butt kicked in NG+

NG+ wasn't that hard... Then again, I played as Royalty... So what'd you think of

Spoiler

the real Old King Allant being the easiest enemy in the game? At first, I was disappointed, but then I realized it completely made sense from a storytelling perspective.

Which ending did you go for? The "evil" ending is mildly chilling...

Bring more souls, man. Let me know when you get to level 105. :]

[XenoBlade]

Now I can play a Demon Souls like experience since I don't have a ps3

(tho I might get one since Vanillaware is making their next game on the Ps3 *sighs*)

[Sir Viver]

XenoBlade, on 07 September 2011 - 08:12 PM, said:

Now I can play a Demon Souls like experience since I don't have a ps3

(tho I might get one since Vanillaware is making their next game on the Ps3 *sighs*)

The free online service ain't bad, either.

[Malkozaine]

Sir Viver, on 05 September 2011 - 10:32 PM, said:

NG+ wasn't that hard... Then again, I played as Royalty... So what'd you think of

Spoiler

the real Old King Allant being the easiest enemy in the game? At first, I was disappointed, but then I realized it completely made sense from a storytelling perspective.

Which ending did you go for? The "evil" ending is mildly chilling...

Bring more souls, man. Let me know when you get to level 105. :]

I went for the good. I also kinda spoild how easy the Allant battle would be.....I toyed with him.

[XenoBlade]

Sir Viver, on 07 September 2011 - 08:46 PM, said:

The free online service ain't bad, either.

Tis is true

[Sir Viver]

Malkozaine, on 12 September 2011 - 06:36 PM, said:

I went for the good. I also kinda spoild how easy the Allant battle would be.....I toyed with him.

So did I, the second time I went through the game. I left a message on the ground a few feet away from him: "The true Demon's Souls starts here."

This post has been edited by Sir Viver: 15 September 2011 - 09:16 PM

[YoungBirdcall]

I WANT TO PLAY DEMON'S SOULS SO BADLY

My PS3 broke a while ago, and I still haven't gotten it fixed. I only got past the first boss. MUST. FIX. PS3.

I've gotta beat Demon's Souls before I can play Dark Souls!

[Sir Viver]

YoungBirdcall, on 14 September 2011 - 12:36 PM, said:

I WANT TO PLAY DEMON'S SOULS SO BADLY

My PS3 broke a while ago, and I still haven't gotten it fixed. I only got past the first boss. MUST. FIX. PS3.

I've gotta beat Demon's Souls before I can play Dark Souls!

Aww. Well, good luck with that, Demon's Souls servers go down on the 11th. For the plus side, Dark Souls is looking to be a bit more personalized, like you'll be able to choose who to play with or against. There's guilds, reportedly, as well as a "book of the guilty" where you can enter the names of people who invaded you-- and they become invasion targets for people in your faction! Oh, the trolololols to be had with that little feature...

[Valkyrie]

You know your husband is a Demon's Souls fan when he suggests cosplaying (as a couple) as Garl Vinland and Maiden Astrea. Astrea wouldn't be too bad...but Garl? Oh my head....

[Sir Viver]

Valkyrie, on 20 September 2011 - 07:16 PM, said:

You know your husband is a Demon's Souls fan when he suggests cosplaying (as a couple) as Garl Vinland and Maiden Astrea. Astrea wouldn't be too bad...but Garl? Oh my head....

That would be pretty frickin' awesome, though. ... Man, I love her battle theme...

[Sir Viver]

This just in:

Demon’s Souls Servers Given Stay of Execution, Remains Online Through 2012

"While it comes at significant cost to us and although it has been over two years since the game revolutionized the notion of multiplayer and online functionality in an RPG," said Atlus' PR man Aram Jabbari, "Our commitment to the game and the fans that turned it into an incredible success remains as strong as ever. While the reality is that one day the servers will ultimately close due to operation and maintenance costs, that day is not today, nor will it be this year."

This truly is God's divine doing. Umbasa.

[Valkyrie]

I think this calls for a worthy sacrifice to the Dragon God in thanks for this wonderful news. <3