History VideoGame / DemonsSouls

* AntiVillain: Garl Vinland. Type IV.

* ApocalypseHow/ClassZ: [[spoiler: At least a type 404 version is the ultimate fate of the world if the Old One is not stopped. The Old One is literally nothingness, and lands consumed by the colorless fog are erased from existence. If left unchecked, this happens to every place in the world, effectively annihilating the setting. As there are both mentions of God creating the Old One and of the Old One actually being God, this may instead be an Original Negation, depending on whether the Old One is the creation of God or God itself.]]

** DualWielding in game is about like DualWielding in RealLife, AwesomeButImpractical. To clarify, while you can do all sorts of nifty attacks with the weapon in your right hand, the weapon in your left can parry and do a single, half-inept slash.
*** So, basically, your character isn't ambidextrous.

*** That would be [[spoiler:the Old Monk's friggin' heart.]]

*** However, [[spoiler:the Maiden's soul is the only way to gain the Soulsucker spell, which can give you plenty of souls if you pull it off well. So Evil only pays better in the short term.]]

* Foreshadowing: One of the spears you can find is called a revelation from god. It's made completely from wood. [[spoiler: Since there is no god, only the Old One, that means the spear was made from a piece of the Old One himself.]]

* [[spoiler:GodIsEvil: There are hints implying that God, the deity venerated by Urbain and his followers, and the Old One responsible for this whole mess, are one and the same.]]

* GuideDangIt: Inverted by making help from other players part of the game.
** Also, the official strategy guide is only available in the Deluxe edition. Of which production ceased two weeks after the game was released.
*** But was reprinted for the EU ''Black Phantom Edition''.
** Then there's the Wiki that was written to serve as a guide for the average player. Even some (potentially serious) bugs are noted in the wiki.

* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: Kind of zig-zags. You can't jump even by running off ledges, and just about any ledge higher than your knees is off-limits, but with short ledges that aren't meant to block off out-of-bounds areas, you can move against them and hoist yourself up.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: Played with. Katanas are only better if you have the DEX to back them up. They also have some of the lowest durability in the game, making you a fine target for those that enjoy the weapon breaking spear. They are, however, very good on your stamina, have a very long range, and can exploit a tactic called pushlocking in PvP to make it all but impossible for the player it's used on to strike back.

* LordBritishPostulate: the HopelessBossFight at the start of the game has a health bar just like all the other, non-hopeless bosses. The dev team anticipated this trope and added a scripted kill-the-player-instantly sequence in the very next hallway, just in case.

*** Justified trope when you look at Biorr's equipment. He has the full Brushwood set, a Purple Flame Shield, and possibly a Flame Resistance Ring, meaning that he laughs at flame attacks. This set up can turn make Flame Lurker reasonably easy as barring his claws, he loses much of his fire power.

** YMMV on Mephistopheles, depending on your play strategy. The rewards she offers [[spoiler: for killing your fellow Nexus inhabitants]] are generally rare or unique, including a ring that can only be obtained by completing the list. Furthermore, her trigger for appearing in The Nexus is Pure Black Character Tendency, [[spoiler: which can only be gained by murdering friendly [=NPCs=] (but not the ones on the list, or you'll miss the rewards), or other players as a black phantom]]. In this case you'll want to work with/for her, until [[spoiler: you assassinate the last target and she turns on you, at which point you'll want to run, or kill her]].

* [[spoiler:TakeUpMySword: In a way. If the player chooses to calm the Old One, he or she becomes the new Monumental afterwards.]]

* WithThisHerring: Justified. You go into Boletaria alone, at no one's behest, so you only have the equipment you came in with, which you get to keep after the Vanguard kills you. [[GlobalCurrency You also wouldn't know that the currency of the Nexus is souls]], so what currency a standard adventurer has would be worthless.

* AwesomeYetPractical: Many of the more spectacular spells and weapons are every bit as effective as they look.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: In the Valley of Defilement, AI human black phantoms (who normally operate under the same limitations as you) are not encumbered (or poisoned) by the swamp at all.
** Neither is any enemy for that matter. That includes the [[DemonicSpiders Giant Depraved Ones]], who can't be stunned, have loads of HP, and will relentlessly pursue and attack you with their heavy-hitting giant clubs. Their Black Phantom versions are probably the most hated enemy in the game.

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Sage Freke and his follower despise Saint Urbain and his followers as fools worshipping a false and most definitely malevolent god. Likewise, Urbain condemns Freke and his ilk as heretics who rely on demon magic for power. ''Both'' sides are absolutely correct!]]

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: 1st stage after the Tutorial, there's a Red-eyed Knight. You are ''not'' supposed to casually take them on until about 30 character levels later. You can, however, poisition yourself so the character AI walks off a cliff and kills itself from falling damage. This enemy respawns every time you enter the stage, and you get a lot of souls from it.

* SleeperHit: Developed by a relatively small and obscure developer, released at a time when numerous big titles were coming out, absolutely no advertising or fanfare, NintendoHard... and still sold well. Enough to qualify for a Greatest Hits hits release and extend the lifetime of the servers. Also a critical hit, scoring '''The''' Game of the Year at both IGN and Gamespot. Who saw that coming?
** Its {{spiritual sequel}}/possible actual sequel ''DarkSouls'' and that game's own followup ''DarkSoulsII'' have only bolstered ''this'' game's reputation since, as the foundation for the entire ''Souls'' pseudoseries.

* CrapsackWorld: Let's see, there's Boletaria, a kingdom that is considered a paradise on Earth in comparison to other lands, but is supported by an army of slaves (the Dreglings). The land of the burrowers is a dangerously difficult-to-navigate system of mines and caves that go all the way down to molten magma, wherein lie a powerful fire demon and the bones of a dragon god that the burrowers actually expected to revive one day (given that they created a sword with the sole purpose of killing it, as well as two giant javelin launchers to pin the sucker down). The Tower of Latria was taken over by a madman an unknown amount of time ago, but couldn't have been a land of sunshine and roses before the Old Monk showed up, seeing as the place had obviously been set up as a prison from its construction. The land of the Shadowmen is the home of a long lost tribe of warriors who gave far more care to the dead than they ever did to the living, and whose "gods" include a gigantic man-eating monster and a monstrous flying manta ray. Finally, there's the Valley Of Defilement, where all the garbage is sent, whether it's things, animals, or people. It's the garbage dump of the world, and it was a nightmarish place even before the demons came: when [[spoiler: the Maiden Astraea came and became a demon]], conditions actually ''improved''. The water is toxic, poisoning anyone who isn't a local, and there are plague rats, gigantic maneating insects, the nightmarish plague babies, a monster that is nothing more than a horrendous mass of leeches, and apparently some of the garbage was there so long that it actually gained sentience and started moving around! [[spoiler: And let's not forget: [[DevilButNoGod There is no god, only the Old One]]]] This game brings "Crapsack" to a whole new level.

* FanNickname: [[VideoGame/ArmoredCore Otsdarva]] of Boletaria.

* RavensAndCrows: They're present in various locations, usually feasting on the abundant corpses. The Shrine of Storms implicitly even has a ''talking'' crow (popularly called [[FanNickname Sparkly]]) who you can trade "sparkly" items with.

''Demon's Souls'' is a {{Playstation 3}} game made by FROMSoftware and published by {{Atlus}}.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Your starting level is between 1 and 6 depending on your chosen class, you gain a level each time you increase a stat by one point, and if you grind every stat to 99, your max level will be between 709 and 713. Each level up increases the number of souls needed to level up further, starting at triple digits and ultimately needing ''millions of souls'' to level up each time. It's perfectly possible to finish the game without even reaching 100. Most finish it within the 80-99 range.

** Its {{spiritual sequel}}/possible actual sequel ''DarkSouls'' and that game's own followup ''DarkSoulsII'' have only bolstered ''this''game's reputation since, as the foundation for the entire ''Souls'' pseudoseries.

** To the point, it's From Softwares' most successful game ever.
*** And it's getting a sequel that is getting a lot of publicity.

** The series as a whole is considered the modern reigning champion of this trope, along with the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series. Oh, and ''[=DS=]'' was published by ''Creator/{{Atlus}}'', ''[[=ShinMegaTen's=]'' developer. Coincidence? Pfft, no.

** Spears. Sure, you can use all kinds of exotic and/or gigantic weapons, but the simple combo of excellent range and accuracy is hard to pass up.

%%** HolidayMode: [[http://kotaku.com/5393483/demons-souls-gets-even-harder-for-halloween Halloween 2009]] temporarily made it '''Nintendo Hard''er'''''.
%%*** On the winter solstice of 2009, all of the worlds were set to Pure White Tendency.
%%*** To fit people's wildly varying perspectives on Valentine's Day, the game went to Pure White Tendency for Valentine's Day 2010 (to correspond with love), but for the rest of the week it went to Pure Black (to correspond with bitterness).

* '''NintendoHard''': The game demands impeccable timing to attack and block in a sea of enemies who'll stun-lock you to death - if they won't nail you from afar.

** HolidayMode: [[http://kotaku.com/5393483/demons-souls-gets-even-harder-for-halloween Halloween 2009]] temporarily made it '''Nintendo Hard''er'''''.
*** On the winter solstice of 2009, all of the worlds were set to Pure White Tendency.
*** To fit people's wildly varying perspectives on Valentine's Day, the game went to Pure White Tendency for Valentine's Day 2010 (to correspond with love), but for the rest of the week it went to Pure Black (to correspond with bitterness).

* '''NintendoHard'''
** HolidayMode: [[http://kotaku.com/5393483/demons-souls-gets-even-harder-for-halloween Halloween 2009]] temporarily made it '''Nintendo Hard''er'''''.
*** On the winter solstice of 2009, all of the worlds were set to Pure White Tendency.
*** To fit people's wildly varying perspectives on Valentine's Day, the game went to Pure White Tendency for Valentine's Day 2010 (to correspond with love), but for the rest of the week it went to Pure Black (to correspond with bitterness).

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Demons_Souls_Dragon_God.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Huh? [[MercyMode Easy-mode?]] [[NintendoHard Pfffthahahahaha]]!]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Ostrava, after seeing his father as a demon.]]
** [[spoiler:Saint Astraea too, if you kill her knight first and talk to her.]]
** [[spoiler:The soldier in the Nexus, after enough time passes.]]
*** [[spoiler: Not really "suicide" per say, but it does count in lose terms. He dies because souls that spend too much time away from their body, and it's also implied that without other souls one can go mad due to their own soul being ripped apart but it's less devastating in the nexus, will slowly lose their identity that they had with their body. As you go on talking to him, he slowly loses his memories because he no longer had his identity and was slowly dieing due to, well, being dead. When he finally "dies", he becomes a pile of souls, indicating that his "body" was still there, but there was no "mind" to inhabit it, making it just a shell as his person was no longer bound to the nexus, truly killing him off in a horrible way. Now, this could have been avoided if he had found a way to bring back his body or if he had gone on fighting, thus making it a partial suicide, and he probably knew what was going on but ignored it, as people have told your character the exact same thing.]]

** On the other hand, males have exclusive access to the Old King armor Set (heavy armor with high fire resist and no stamina penalty), Dark Silver armor set (heavy armor with remarkably high magic resistance), and others.