A Story Analysis of Demon's Souls

"You will never see an NPC travel between archstones" Patches enters the chat

I don't know, I miss Demon's Souls' variety in bosses. It had this enjoyable freedom from convention. If anything, constant leaning towards "bosses are only hard, bossfights should not be able to be outsmarted, boss arenas are fair and wide" is what I'm growing tired of in the later entries. When you equip a silencing ring to beat the blind warrior boss, it's like being in an ancient myth, in a fantasy novel. When every boss is just a combat challenge it is kind of immersion-breaking, very game-like. Not a single archstone past the first one has a combat-oriented arch-demon, and that's lovely. They're all gimmicks, they're all weird and memorable. Astraea can't even fight you, Storm Lord is just this weird sky beast. And, after looking at the cut content exploration, the Sixth archstone finale had this weird circular dome room, its walls made of pentagonal ice panels, and you know what, I've always been incredibly curious what that arch-demon might have been like.

I think the boss design choice is what split the souls fandom. Bosses in the latest titles have been more about a big spectacle and difficulty which leans it more toward and action game. Where as the earlier titles really had a sense of overcoming the world and its inhabitants. I still say dark souls 1 was the closest to blending them both.

All the bosses were like puzzles. Most of them had tricks that you needed to figure out. That was the beauty of it. You can't compare a first game with newer Souls game mechanics that literally didn't exist in 2009. It's like using a computer from the 90s and being like "This isn't as powerful or well made". For its time, it is a masterpiece.

14:33 Demon Souls came out before the series’ marketing banked on the “difficulty” sales pitch. Miyazaki in one interview back in 2011-ish was asked about why he made his games so difficult. He corrected them, saying that the purpose of the game [Demon/Dark Souls] wasn’t to be difficult for the sake of difficulty, but to challenge the player and give them a sense of satisfaction when exploring the world. After all, discovery doesn’t mean anything if you didn’t have to work for it. Whether the development team succeeded in doing so is subject to debate, but that’s another argument. So yes, the bosses were meant to be part of the level, rather than a separate entity to serve as a flashy challenge (at least in Demon Souls). The design philosophy did change as the entires went on, which left some fans of Demon Souls behind.

The first two games did not at all "pride themselves on their difficulty", the difficulty was simply a means to create a sense of achievement.

The idea of supernatural creatures existing simply because a great number of people believe that they should has always been super intriguing to me, similar concepts are used in the Percy Jackson series and Chainsaw Man (two series I never thought I would compare to demon souls)

Personally I really love the bosses in Demon's Souls them being a last huzzah for getting through the level instead of a kick in the pants is just more my style. For me the meat and potatoes of souls games for me will always be exploring the levels and not the bosses which is probably why Demon's Souls is my second favorite souls game. Thanks for helping me put my feelings into words on this game.

Demons souls has such an indescribable amazing atmosphere. There's just something about it I can't put my finger on, but I think it's the games best quality that sets it apart from the rest of the series.

My theory for the bosses has been for a while that the strategy of the Old One isn't just "big monster go smash," but that it very intentionally has its demons corrupt/possess/take the form of whatever a particular land most believes in or respects, whether that's a god, a saint, a king and his round table of knights, or a royal sage of incredible knowledge. That way, before they ever have to do any violence at all, many people just walk up and willingly offer their souls to them without a fuss. Then they can send those husks out to hunt other people's souls and bring them back to their masters

Saying the game is decent doesn't feel fair

Playing it when it first came out with no expectations beyond being hard was transcendent.

Oh my goodness. I'd love to see seperate video's for hollow knight and blasphemous. Like on a soulslike level, I don't think any game does the dark tone as good as blasphemous and is genuinely one of my favourite soulslikes.

It is also interesting to understand the context this game was originally released. With a sea of games that were oversimplified to the point of being boring (in a vacuous attempt to make them more "accesible"), many of us were about to abandon the medium. Then, this strange Japanese game with exactly zero "anime vibes" suddenly appears out of nowhere and dares you to complete it. For many of us, it was a challenge we could not back from... And while it had many flaws and was far too punishing at times, it was everything we were asking for and more. Truly, this game was revolutionary at the time.

When playing foundational games it is important to go in with an open mind and try to see the origins of the things you love about the newer entries. I was lucky enough to play this back when it came out and simply saw it as it’s own thing without all the expectations the series had put on it. I encourage anyone who wants to play it to do the same. Think of it like looking at one of your best friend’s childhood photos or something.

Ah, you seemed to have missed talking to Freke and Urbane, after the path to the Old One is open, they say some very interesting things. Urbane says he hears a awful cry, like from a child. Freke asks you to kill the Maiden in Black for her power.

Really surprised you were disappointed with this game. Jank and limited mechanics compared to the future entries aside, it's one of my favourite games of all time and I place it as superior to Dark Souls in many ways. I respect your opinion though, I just don't agree on it being "just decent".

11:30 death isn't a complete reset of progress, you keep all of the items that you gained before you died and your souls are left on a bloodstain where you died so you can pick them up.

Probably my favorite thing about Demon's Souls is the ending. After all these other vague or mysterious endings in the other Souls games, there was something uniquely satisfying about making it through all of Boletaria's challenges and having your character straight-up just save the world (or ruin it, if that was your choice). It's uplifting, if a bit more played out in terms of plots. It was also nice to have a similarly hopeful and satisfactory final boss and ending for Elden Ring as well, and not just "it's all a cycle, lol".

Weird fact about the Dragon God: its what kills you in the Tutorial if you make it past the Vanguard