Demon’s Souls – PS3
I finally found an affordable limited edition copy to pick up. Typically Atlus games don’t sell out so I didn’t expect to have a hard time finding a limited edition a couple months later. Boy was I wrong.
Pretty much the typical thing I hear about this game is how meticulous it is and how often your character dies. Its a bit unfortunate in that those things aren’t the game’s greatest strengths, they’re simply what composes those strengths. The game’s greatest strengths are its tension and atmosphere that keeps you on the edge of your seat with very little story or character interaction. Oddly enough the sparse story and few NPC’s are what creates this tension and the result is far more stressful than most if not all horror games I’ve ever played.
Playing through the intro, I found the game’s look to be quite different that I expected. The graphics aren’t horribly good, possibly even bordering on bad. The fonts and menus are not particularly attractive. The CGI scenes and drawn images however are gorgeous. The character movement is a bit stiff.
This game accomplishes so much in the details and these are details that I’m guessing most didn’t even realize. The first time you die the game announces that your soul is forever trapped in the nexus and cannot leave. Ever. And after a couple sentences you move on in hopes of gaining your physical shell back. The few inhabitants in the nexus are so depressed and barely have any will to go on, merely looking to “eke” a living.
The level design is borderline brilliant in its enemy layout. The game is super hard and if you’re not in a zen like mood, you probably should wait until you are to play it. By zen I mean able to accept humility. To fail countless times to succeed only once.
The brilliant part is in its level design are the enemy types. Typically enemies, at least in the first level before Phalanx (I haven’t played past here yet), are all very similar in height, structure and color. They primarily vary in their weapon and attack methods. But the game trains you to be scared out of your mind at the prospect of any new enemies and constantly reminds you of just how mortal and ill-equipped for this job you are. After fighting dozens of drab zombies you might encounter a figure in full plate mail with red or blue eyes. Or a giant monster. And there is no telling whether you are capable of beating the creature at this point in time or whether you should come back later. All you can do, is try. Or ya know, look up an FAQ.
The online implementation is fairly genius as well although this part you may already know about. From the onset of the game other players are constantly appearing as ghostly specters in a seemingly random fashion. Their blood stains bring messages and will also show you their specter in their final moments before their defeat. Later on you can summon their souls to fight with you or invade the realm of other players. This is so subtle yet so utterly fascinating.
Demon’s Souls is a system buyer hands down. If you don’t own a PS3, this is a game worth owning a PS3. The only problem is you might not have the patience for Demon’s Souls and throw it out the window and then call me a dirty liar and throw a brick at me. But considering Atlus only promised to keep the game running online to last April, you better hurry if you want to experience this since they can pull the online plug at any time. Find a way to demo the game, see if its something you have the patience for. Its not unlike the old Nintendo games where you have to memorize the level through infinite deaths. But the effect the game has is truly astounding. I know many will hate it, but I can’t recommend it enough.
