Line #1 YMMV/DemonsSouls


1	* AccidentalInnuendo:
2	** Sometimes, the Maiden's line "Touch the demon inside me" sounds a lot different from what it should mean.
3	** In the original, the item you use to give your weapon magic damage is named ''Sticky White Stuff''. The remake makes the diplomatic choice of renaming it "Sticky White Slime".
4	** The Penetrator is going to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pierce through your armor with his long, long sword.]]
5	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
6	** Since the Old One has no role beyond being the source of Colorless Fog, we learn nothing about its thought process. [[spoiler: In particular, making humans into demons who feed on a stream of souls. Is that a [[PetTheDog reward]] or a [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves punishment?]] Given what happened to Allant once the flow of souls was cut off, someone who chooses to serve the Old One would eventually be subjected to a AndIMustScream scenario.]]
7	** The Monumental gets hit with this hard. At their best, they are portrayed as a GreaterScopeParagon who holds the broken world together with pure force of will and hopes the slayer of demons can take its place. At its worst, it's a ManipulativeBastard who pulled the Slayer into Boletaria, then let them be killed by the Vanguard/Dragon God so they could be bound to the Nexus and ''force'' them to become their replacement. Of course, these are not mutually exclusive.
8	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: After poor initial play-testing responses and Japanese critic reviews, Sony essentially dismissed the game as doomed to failure being one of the last games from the [=PS3=]'s infamous early days and refused to publish the game and attach their name for international releases. The game would end up doing amazingly well with Western critics and with sales across both Eastern and Western markets. So much so that Sony would later collaborate with [=FromSoftware=] on later projects and remake the game, published by themselves this time.
9	* AntiClimaxBoss:
10	** The Vanguard that likely killed you in the tutorial returns in 4-1 where he is incapable of moving from his spot, leaving him a good target for melee hit-and-run tactics and completely defenseless against magic and ranged weapons. Even ignoring that, he really only has two attacks, both of which are hard-hitting but extremely telegraphed. You pretty much just have to dodge one or two swings and then get in his face and wail on him. The only attack he'll use when you're inside his reach is jumping up and slamming down, such is so slow with such a low AOE that you can casually just take a few steps back, wait for the animation to complete, and go back to hitting him.
11	** Every Archdemon except for [[FinalBoss Old King Allant]] is much less of a challenge than actually reaching them due to each (aside from Allent) being a gimmick boss.
12	*** The Dragon God is one of the most heavily hyped Archdemons, appearing in the opening cinematic, killing you in the tutorial should you manage to defeat the Vanguard, and generally being recognized in-universe as a major power. Yet its actual "fight" consists of you running behind some pillars, activating a pair of magic ballista and then hitting it in the face while it's totally helpless to retaliate. Not helping things is how none of this damage seems to be of the fatal kind, and not in the common "hit the giant in the heels a hundred times" way. You impale both of its arms and hit a horn on its head a couple of times, and that somehow kills the giant god.
13	*** The Old Monk, at least while playing offline.[[note]]While playing online, you might get matched with a formidable player.[[/note]] There isn't any explicit hype for him, but he serves as the conclusion of BestLevelEver Tower of Latria – and he also happens to be an Archdemon you can beat to gain access to World 1-3 – and he is just a monk with a couple magic projectile attacks and less health than the Maneaters who precede him. The beefed-up Mindflayers in the stairwell that precedes him constitute a greater threat.
14	*** The Storm King may provide for excellent spectacle but the actual fight consists of instantly killing the Storm Beasts in the arena with the Storm Ruler and then whittling down the King, who only has a single easy to dodge attack.
15	* BestBossEver: The intended FinalBoss, [[spoiler: False]] King Allant is easily the highlight of the game's bosses. He's fast, powerful, has a variety of moves and tactics to keep you on your toes, and has an excellent buildup in the preceding level. While ''Demon's Souls'' bosses are overall much easier and more simplistic than bosses in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls1'' and beyond, King Allant is an excellent capstone to the game, and progenitor for some of From Soft's most acclaimed boss fights.
16	* BestLevelEver: World 3, the Tower of Latria. An incredible and varied atmosphere, memorable foes, a harsh but fair challenge, and an overall sense that you're progressing through an enormous, intricately-constructed world. While the original level design still stands today, the remake makes the architecture so grandly Gothic that it is a plausible sibling of the architecture of ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''. The fact it ends with the Maneater fight hurts the enjoyment for some, but it also serves as a rare fight in the game that basically stands up to the difficulty established by later Soulsbourne bosses.
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18	%%Broken Base and related tropes operates on a 6-month waiting period after the work's release. This is non-negotiable.
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20	* DemonicSpiders:
21	** The skeletons of the Shrine of Storms just keep rolling around and breaking your guard. And don't get us started on those gold skeletons.
22	** The Black Skeletons are the stuff of nightmares, even more so than their silver counterparts, as they are wickedly fast when they decide to start running, are insanely powerful with a sudden leaping attack that will destroy all but the strongest defenses if it lands, have high defense that will shrug off most damage, and will follow you farther than any other enemy you encounter. They're like Terminators with katanas.
23	** The Giant Depraved Ones in the Valley of Defilement. They hit hard, have a lot of health, are not easily stunned, and worst of all, are in a level full of BottomlessPits and poisonous water that removes any and all of your mobility ([[TheComputerIsACHeatingBastard and none of theirs]]).
24	** The Mind Flayers in the Tower of Latria are nightmares if not approached properly. At range, they launch very damaging rapid-fire Soul Arrows. At close range, they use a sonic blast with a [[HitboxDissonance very weird delayed hitbox]] or fire a bolt of magic that paralyzes you, allowing them to pick you up with their tentacles and stab you through the head. Even if you survive being paralyzed and stabbed, they'll likely follow up with a sonic blast that will hit you before you even have a chance to stand up and evade. To top it off, all their spells deal heavy damage even when blocked and the paralysis spell is unblockable.
25	** The Shadow Assassins summoned by the Reapers in Shrine of Storms 4-2. Ridiculously fast and hard to see, capable of turning invisible, absurd range and enough damage to instantly kill most players before they even have a chance to see what was attacking them.
26	** The Reapers themselves can qualify. True, there's only three of them in the entire game and two of them can be taken care of with sniping or by knocking them down a pit. However, if you have to take them on fair and square, you'll find they have a strong Soul Arrow spell and a special "touch of death" attack that can kill you instantly, no matter what.
27	* {{Fanon}}: Due to a line said by Garl Vinland in the boss fight with Maiden Astraea where he claims they were abandoned by "you", a common interpretation is that the Slayer of Demons was formerly a knight or friend of Garl and/or Astraea who traveled with them to the Valley of Defilement but ended up becoming part of the story due to either fleeing on route or while there, or because of some other reason. It should be noted that Garl's line is written and spoken in a way that seems more so to be saying you as in other people, not specifically your character, but the community often takes it as meaning your character due to the player character having nothing to them background wise.
28	* FanNickname: [[VideoGame/ArmoredCore Otsdarva]] of Boletaria.
29	* GameBreaker:
30	** The Thief Ring. While its effect doesn't sound too exciting on paper, it's actually incredibly effective, allowing you to sneak right past everything, sneak up on Black Phantoms and [[OneHitKill soulsuck]] them and become invisible to invaders unless they move in on you (auras and such are still visible though)... oh, and it works on bosses too, including ThatOneBoss False King Allant.
31	** The combination of the Thief Ring and the Poison Gas spell can even [[spoiler:let you effortlessly kill the notoriously difficult False King Allant.]] Poison Gas was also very useful in [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] as it cuts all forms of healing in half, and has a near instantaneous cast.
32	** Dual Katanas. While not gamebreaking for the singleplayer portion, these had [[HighTierScrappy earned a lot of hate in PvP]]. Their attacks are fast, hard-hitting, and stamina-economic. To top it all off, it can combo a main-hand push into an off-hand attack, back into a main-hand push. The added damage following a push combined with the aforementioned stamina economy makes it possible to kill full-health opponents with one combo. To add insult to injury, it is one of the easiest combos in the game to land, as you can chain into it with three different attacks, all of which are powerful tools on their own.
33	** Almost everything in Demon's Souls's [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] could have be considered a game breaker. By casting [[StatusBuff Light Weapon]] [[PowerFist on an Iron Knuckle]] you can kill a high-vitality body form character with Second Chance active when they're at full health by headbutting them. It's an inescapable combo, unlike the Dual Katana combo mentioned above, [[ComboBreaker which can be escaped]]. Despite all that, it's considered one of the worst set-ups in the game.
34	** Second Chance brings the player back to half health if they're killed via an enemy or a status condition. While it doesn't help with BottomlessPits, needless to say it makes PvE a lot more bearable, and also has the handy side effect of preserving a character's human status and leaving the World Tendency untouched.
35	** Warding is a buff that makes almost all physical attacks on the player deal ScratchDamage. Roughly 70-80 percent of attacks are physical, and can make some bosses an outright joke.
36	** Firestorm has a huge cast range and will oneshot most enemies and even certain bosses. Its only downsides is that it has an insane MP cost, at least have 18 in Intelligence to accommodate for its high spell slot requirement, and the soul and vendor who grants it are all tucked away in not one but two worlds that are ThatOneLevel.
37	* GameplayDerailment:
38	** Obviously, having two experienced Blue Phantom players help you would allow you to storm through any level without you having to move a finger save for opening the fog doors.
39	** In the very rare case that a friendly Black Phantom player invaded, it would clear all enemies for you as they wont ever attack it. Of course, most of the time the friendly Black Phantom would be attacked by the host or a Blue Phantom as soon as it approaches them unless it took the time to send a message stating its intentions.
40	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The Japanese response to the game was fairly mixed, with Famitsu awarding it a total score of 29 out of 40. In contrast, ''Demon's Souls'' proved to be a surprise hit in the west, getting much more glowing reviews from the critics and selling far more copies in its first month in America.
41	* GoddamnedBats:
42	** The Valley of Defilement has Giant Mosquitoes who are very annoying if you don't have ranged weapons or melee attacks that work well on them. There's also an annoying group of hard-to-hit rats in the first level of this section. The main mook enemies, the Depraved are also somewhat this; they aren't very dangerous singularly but they can come in hordes, like to sneak up on you, can cause status effects and have an irritating push attack (that can be outright dangerous in the first map with all its pitfalls).
43	** Also, there are Phosphorescent Slugs who have spit and lunge attacks. They are slow to move and are among the easiest enemies in the game, but are quite dangerous when in large groups, which is how you will often find them in the Valley of Defilement. They are even deadlier when found in tight places coupled with moving lights that explode on contact.
44	** The Storm Beasts flying around the Shrine of Storms, at least until you get the Stormruler, due to their tendency to fling massive homing spears at you whenever you turn your back on them, often from outside the range of most bows.
45	* GoodBadBugs:
46	** There is a small glitch in the Tower of Latria stage you could take advantage of, so you only have to fight [[spoiler:one of the two Maneaters.]]
47	** Also, there is a bug that you can use to kill [[spoiler:False King Allant]] ''before'' he even starts moving.
48	** The item duplication glitch and the soul duplication glitch. The latter have been fixed in the latest patch, but can still be exploited by deleting the installation data.
49	** Not so much a glitch but more of an oversight lovingly christened by fans as the "Cracked Talisman of Beasts"; the Talisman allows for the casting of both spells and miracles at the cost of having a high stat requirement to get the full power of said spell, meaning unless you have a very specific build it severely restricts offensive magic... however it doesn't affect the duration and effects of StatusBuff spells and miracles like Warding and Second Chance, greatly increasing a character's versatility. Its main use however is to abuse the spell Cursed Weapon, which grants a flat 50 percent damage increase on a weapon at the cost of draining the user's hp at a fast rate, except if used by an unmet Talisman of Beasts, in which it drains a grand total of 1 hp per second while keeping the 50% boost. If anything, ''[[ViolationOfCommonSense not]]'' meeting the requirements of the stupid thing is far more beneficial in the long run.
50	** The 2020 remake added a new item in a Gold Coin, which temporarily increases luck when used, similar to the Coin items in the Dark Souls games. However, one ''incredible'' bug was discovered when a Gold Coin was used just before leveling at the Maiden in Black. Somehow, it makes the luck stat ''increase infinitely'', boosting item discovery rate to impossible levels, as well as making the Blueblood Sword capable of one-shotting literally every enemy in the game.
51	** In combination with the above, the infinite Luck stat also adds to you Soul Level. This means if you let yourself get soulsucked by False King Allant and come back for your bloodstain later, you'll actually collect millions of souls each time. This will let you reach max stats easily.
52	* HilariousInHindsight: The reason ''Demon's Souls'' was published by Atlus and Namco Bandai outside of Japan was because then-president of Playstation Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, absolutely hated it and refused to have Sony do it. Guess who intro'd the announcement for the remake at the Playstation 5 reveal event? [[note]]For what it's worth, Yoshida had earlier admitted he had really misjudged the appeal of Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls series that would spawn out of it.[[/note]]
53	* IKnewIt: Creator/BluepointGames' remake was first announced in 2019, but due to it being unnamed, it encouraged speculation as to which franchise they were tackling, with popular candidates including ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', and ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}''. However, in early 2020, cryptic hints by both Bluepoint and game journalist Jason Schreier led many people to conclude that it was ''Demon's Souls'', a conclusion proven to be true on June 11th of that year.
54	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks. While the 2020 Remake garnered overall positive reception, it frequently catches backlash for sticking too close to the original. Not only are glaring flaws such as the weapon upgrade system kept in- various cases of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness aren't touched, and the bosses weren't tweaked to be more in line with later games quality-wise. The game's similarity to the original has also led many to criticize it's $70 price tag.
55	* JunkRare:
56	** Pure Sharpstone and Pure Cloudstone. Note that first is not the infamous ''Blade''stone. The problem with Pure Sharpstone is that weapons upgraded with Hardstone and Sharpstone are most equatable to Raw weapons from later games. Good base damage, but lacking in stat scaling, so investing in attack stats is less efficient than in other upgrade paths. Pure Hardstone skirts around being useless by also being used for shields to increase their guard power (and bows, for characters without heavy investment into Dexterity). Cloudstone, on the other hand, increases the magic resistance of Shields, at the cost of not increasing their guard power. The problem here is much more simple. Cloudstone can only increase a shield's magic resistance to 70%, while there also exists the Dark Silver Shield which has 100% magic resistance and can increase its guard power, at the downside of using Colorless Demon's Souls to do so. To wit, a Knight's Shield fully upgraded with Cloudstone has 70 Magic Resistance and 57 Guard Power, while the Dark Silver Shield weighs the same and has the same stat requirement, but when fully upgraded has 100 Magic Resistance and 65 Guard Power.
57	** As far as weapons are concerned, the Gargoyle Crossbow. They're a rare drop only obtained from the three Crossbow Gargoyles that spawn in the game, which are prone to falling off ledges when killed, resulting in their loot disappearing or requiring you to traverse down into the swamp they dropped in. For how much trouble it is to get, crossbows are one of the worst available weapons with low damage, impossible to upgrade, and can't be aimed manually like bows.
58	* MemeticBadass: Due to his awesome-looking Dark Silver Armor, ability to hold a giant mace in one hand and never let his shield down in the other, and fighting you all to protect Maiden Astrea, Garl Vinland was declared the manliest character in the game.
59	* MemeticMutation:
60	** "This is <insert negative adjective here>, please evaluate me."
61	** "I'm in trouble, please recommend this message!"
62	** Messages saying "Sticky White Stuff" placed near [[CuteWitch Yuria]], the Maiden in Black and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Ed the Blacksmith's bed]].
63	** No, his name is Ostrava, not [[VideoGame/ArmoredCore Otsdarva]]. [[OverlyLongGag And no, the white sprinkly particles that came out of Tower Knight's feet when you attack it]] [[WildMassGuessing are not]] [[VideoGame/ArmoredCore Kojima Particles]].
64	** The high level of anticipation and demand for the remake upon its launch as [[KillerApp a PS5 exclusive]] led to people nicknaming the console "The ''Demon's Souls''-Station", following in the wake of the [=PS4=] being nicknamed "The VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}} Box."
65	* {{Moe}}: The Maiden in Black is a perfectly straight example.
66	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Tying into the above trope, ''every single word out of the Maiden's mouth''. Is that accent weird? For sure. Is it incredibly sweet to the ear and soothing? You betcha. It's no wonder people were happy when the actress returned to voice the Plain Doll in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''.
67	* {{Narm}}:
68	** Despite the great seriousness that the Monumental's speech to you should be taken with, it's kind of hard to do because it has a noticeable lisp.
69	** [[spoiler:The Old Monk's]] ridiculous hat. It makes him a whole lot less creepier and funnier.
70	** Garl Vinland's squid helmet looks very out of place compared to his armor and makes his serious character look far funnier than intended.
71	** Old King Doran's scream in the original. It gets really, ''really'' high pitched and loud for no reason then stops abruptly. It sounds like a tropical bird.
72	* NintendoHard: The game demands impeccable timing to attack and block in a sea of enemies who'll stun-lock you into helplessness and can kill you in only a few hits. Levels are [[MarathonLevel long]], filled with hazards, difficult to navigate, and lack checkpoints. Death cuts your health in half, and regaining your human form is done mainly through killing bosses or using a rare and limited item. While the game is fairly designed and gives many powerful tools to even the odds (magic, GameBreaker weapons, summoning help, etc), achieving victory will require both mastery of the game and intelligent, methodical play.
73	* OneTruePairing:
74	** The Slayer of Demons is more or less exclusively paired up with the Maiden in Black in fan works.
75	** There's also plenty of support for Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland, which is pretty much semi-canon.
76	* ParanoiaFuel:
77	** After a certain level. The Nexus, or starting hub, which seemed so safe, the only dangers coming from being an idiot (attacking some NPC's, falling long distances etc.), suddenly feels less safe when you notice corpses that weren't there before...
78	** After the very first level you will only advance through dark hallways very slowly, with your shield raised high, and nervously rotating the camera around trying to spot enemies waiting to ambush you the second you move another inch.
79	* PlayerPunch: Fighting [[AntiVillain Maiden Astraea and Garl Vinland]]. It's around here where many players stop feeling good about slaying demons and [[HeelRealization start wondering if they're]] ''[[HeelRealization playing]]'' [[HeelRealization as one.]]
80	* ScrappyMechanic:
81	** The World Tendency system is certainly good on paper and well intentioned, but it unfairly punished new players by increasing the difficulty of the worlds while also weakening the difficulty for players who wanted more of a challenge. There are also sidequests and hidden weapons exclusive to either pure white/black tendency, and the tendency always adjust to the server average (usually grey tendency) when playing online after you turn back on the [=PS3=], so many players felt they HAD to manipulate to system in order to get anywhere. With the servers off, now players will have more troubles trying to get White Tendency as the only way to get it is by killing the bosses while not dying in Human form ever, or you will lose White Tendency permanently since WT could be only regained by killing invading players.
82	** The Item burden mechanic only limited exploration and collecting, often at really inconvenient times. This forced players to drop certain items in order to get the new loot, permanently.
83	** The weapon upgrade system is considered to be the worst in From Software's games for multiple reasons. Firstly, it has a much bigger amount of specialized upgrade paths, each with its own kind of upgrade material (in contrast to future games which have far fewer paths and stones), which makes it intimidating and confusing to navigate for a first-time player. Secondly, it requires a ridiculously large amount of stones to fully upgrade a weapon, to the point that the amount of stones required for the last upgrade level of a certain path is equal to fully maxing out a weapon in any other ''Souls'' game, which means that upgrading anything more than one weapon is likely to result in a lot of farming. Thirdly, the Pure Ores required for the last tier of upgrades are all extremely rare and often difficult to obtain, requiring farming tough enemies with abysmal drop rates (such as the Pure Bladestone), completing missable sidequests (such as the Pure Greystone), or getting lucky with the limited drops from Crystal Lizards. The game throws you a bone with a few of them being lootable near the end of certain zones, but for many of them this is not the case. Fourthly, the system is simply inconsistent with the upgrade paths, such as the Crushing Path which requires different upgrade tiers depending on the weapon to create, making it unintuitive and possibly resulting in needing to use a Meltstone to bring the weapon back to base tier and upgrade it again. All of this results in a system that is widely regarded as needlessly convoluted, obtuse, and tedious.
84	** New Game Plus makes a hard but beatable game into a nightmare. Remember those enemies and bosses that could kill with two hits, now they kill you with only one plus their hit points are now doubled (or tripled depending on which NG+ you are) and your equipment will be unfit for most situations unless you learn to upgrade the special weapons scattered throughout the game and equip the unique armors of the [=NPCs=]. And to top it off, there are five NG+ with the enemies getting stupidly stronger each time you beat the game until the fifth time when the game no longer scales to your level.
85	** Speaking of Crystal Lizards, another unpopular mechanic that they permanently despawn after they are killed and/or escape enough times, making it impossible to obtain the ores they carry until another New Game cycle, which makes it impossible to fully upgrade some weapons.
86	** In the original, the camera has a tendency to stay at a medium distance away from the player at all times, even in very tight areas such as the tunnels in World 2 of Stonefang or the shantytown in Valley of Defilement where it would make sense for it to pull in closer, causing the camera to get stuck on scenery or clip outside of the level.
87	* SpecialEffectsFailure: The rain in the original Valley of Defilement. It's basically just a very faint filter over the screen that's supposed to make it look like there's a constant drizzle in the area, but you don't see the water actually getting on any objects in the environment and the effect is visible even in indoor areas such as the cave after Leechmonger, making it feel pretty cheap and unconvincing overall. The remake of it, developed by the very technically proficient Creator/BluepointGames, fixes this with very convincing rain effects.
88	* SpiritualAdaptation: Definitely one of [[http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/oracrest/Demons%20Souls/1271717936246.jpg the best game adaptations]] of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' yet.
89	* ThatOneAchievement: Master Slasher's Trophy. Only two enemies in the entire game drop the Pure Bladestone ore, and the drop rate is broken. The very short version of this is that World Tendency does not go from 1-8 as the game implies, but actually from -200 to +200. When World Tendency is around -100 to -149, the drop rate of Pure Bladestone is in the area of '''2/50000''', lower than from 0 to -99. From -150 to -200 it suddenly shoots back up to a still bad but workable rate of around 1% to 1.3% provided you have minimal Luck (as, contrary to all logical sense, increasing Luck actually tends to reduce the chance of finding it). Good luck getting it if you don't know that. It's infamous enough that Sony outright ''cut'' it and the rest of the max weapon upgrade path trophies from the remake's trophy list.
90	* ThatOneBoss:
91	** [[spoiler:False King Allant.]] He's [[LightningBruiser fast]], has wide-sweeping, long-range, defense-penetrating attacks, and has high defense himself; characters that aren't built for melee may have great difficulty with this fight. Oh, and best of all: he has an attack that [[spoiler:''lowers your experience level.'']]
92	** Most players agree that the undisputed ThatOneBoss is the Maneater because not only is it in constant motion, has magic attacks that stun you and can easily knock you down the bridge you fight it in, but [[spoiler:there's two of them.]]
93	** Flamelurker, who is very strong, very fast and agile, has powerful attacks that are boosted by fire damage and often knock you down, becomes stronger and changes his attack pattern as he loses life, and until you beat him, you can't forge many of the weapons and shields that would actually make him a little easier to beat, since his soul is needed to forge demon soul fortified weapons, as well as more than half of the other special weapon types in the game.
94	** The Old Monk had a gimmick that can qualify him as one. Back when the servers were online, he would [[spoiler: summon another player in the same level range who was attempting to co-op or invade in any block of Latria. The player got a boosted health pool, full access to healing items and spells, spirit form advantages like higher damage and Foe's Ring, all of their equipment sans their headpiece(since this was replaced with the Monk's demonic robes), and some boss-only advantages like an automatic, infinite-use homing soulmass attack. If you were unlucky, he'd summon an experienced player who would probably proceed to wipe you out unless you had some competent co-op buddies, and since it was a [=PvP=] battle, latency could have ended up playing a major role in the outcome. With the servers now offline, however, he's since lost this status, as the NPC he summons in a player's place isn't particularly powerful or smart.]]
95	* ThatOneLevel:
96	** The Valley of Defilement. It's dark, you have to traverse wide-open areas so it's easy to get disoriented, most of the place consists of swamp that will infect you with Poison and/or Plague, and worst of all, while immersed in the water, you're completely incapable of backstepping and rolling, and your movement is severely slowed, making you a sitting duck for enemies that can easily kill you in one hit (and are otherwise, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard unaffected by the water]]).
97	** The damn bridge in Boletaria 1-2. It's not bad when you learn how to play the game more effectively, but good lord. You have the dragon shooting you with the fire, but the worst part was of course at the end. Archers in front of you but you can't go forward to much you'll provoke TWO heavy soldiers and you can't move back anymore because the damn dragon will blast you.
98	** World 2-2 is one of those areas where having the right gear can help quite a bit, but it still offers a duo of [=NPC=] Black Phantoms set up to ambush and slaughter the unwary, hard-to-kill giant insects that explode on death, treasures that are placed on narrow ledges over deadly pits and in lava, tight corridors that are hard to fight in, highly damaging explosives, and it tops it all off with a maze of tunnels and Flamelurker, who's considered [[ThatOneBoss one of the harder bosses in the game]]. Even the level's one mercy, a shortcut to the boss near the start of the area, still involves very carefully jumping down from platform to platform or else plummet to your death. The level having a lot of useful loot can also be problematic due to the item carry limit.
99	** World 3, the Tower of Latria, which has monsters that can paralyze and then OneHitKill most players in a single attack. Plus, it's incredibly dark, and several paths drop off very suddenly, so you may be plummeting to your death before you fully realize you walked off the edge. The run to the Maneaters and the Blood Swamp even feature a black phantom guard version of the aforementioned paralyzing enemies, which can shave off humongous chunks of a player's health with a single ''Soul Arrow'', never mind the critical attack for paralyzation victims. You also have to fight it on a winding staircase with no guard rails on one side. Oh, and it makes a comeback in the runup to the Old Monk. ''And they respawn''.
100	** Oh, world 4-2. Dangerous shadow enemies that respawn until you kill the (also dangerous) Reaper that's summoning them, ninja shadow enemies that sneak up on and stealth attack unsuspecting players, Storm Beasts sniping you to death whenever you dare walk outside without a Thief's Ring, and 90% of the level is composed of narrow paths suspended over fatal drops. At least the boss is more fun than the silliness preceding him.
101	** Speaking of World 4, World 4-1. After beating Phalanx, all of the Archstones open up. You can go anywhere, right? ''Wrong''. Visiting World 4-1 after 1-1 will introduce you to skeletons that can stunlock you with their dodge roll, flying manta rays that snipe you with impunity if you didn't bring a Thief's Ring(and even then you aren't always safe), black and gold variants of the skeletons that are even more dangerous(with one of the former being ''in front of the boss gate''), and the return of the Vanguard. You know, the guy who probably kicked your ass in the tutorial? He's back, and just as strong as before. The only mercy is the boss being incredibly easy by comparison, but don't get cocky cause he hits like a ''fucking freight train''.
102	** World 1-3. Specifically, the end of the bridge near the boss door, which hosts not one but three Red Eye Knights, which can be [[ThatOneBoss that one mini-boss]] to melee builds.
103	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
104	** [[Creator/BluepointGames Bluepoint Games]]'s 2020 remake of the game has garnered no small amount of this reaction due to the studio's visual choices. This ranges from perceived changes to the game's overall atmosphere and visual style, down to small alterations such as the size of the Vanguard's eyes and teeth, the "[[GameOver YOU DIED]]" font being changed, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the HUD icon for the Cat Ring being changed from a low res JPG of an actual cat]].
105	** While the remake has been well received for being faithful yet visually amazing, the music has not been as well received. The soundtrack is grandiose, but many find that it takes away from the somber and bleak atmosphere the game presents, making fights more epic than they actually are. The Maiden Astraea theme in particular is often cited as the biggest offender, as it sounds like it's trying to turn the fight into an epic battle against a powerful foe rather than an unique track that fit the somber atmosphere the original track helped inspire.
106	* UnintentionalUncannyValley: In the original game, the soldiers in the Boletarian Palace have very low-res, expressionless faces that make them look more like plastic army men than human beings. This is especially obvious in the intro cutscene for the Tower Knight. The valley is at its deepest in the character customization screen, in which any human-looking face is a vaguely malformed, intensely unblinking, low-poly piece of plastic, and it doesn't have the relative benefit of being only a small part of the screen or hidden by the back of your character's head in normal gameplay. Thankfully the 2020 remake has fixed this.
107	* TheWoobie:
108	** Maiden Astraea. [[spoiler: An AllLovingHero who came to the Valley of Defilement to ease the pain of the people that the world had literally thrown away. She eventually realized that "God" was actually The Old One (or at least concluded that no loving God would ever let a place this terrible exist) and, to gain greater power, took on a Demon's Soul. While plenty of other people became demons as well, Astraea's the only one to [[BadPowersGoodPeople use her power to help others]]. Unfortunately, this was NotQuiteTheRightThing, as the grateful residents went on to hunt down any newcomers in hopes of finding new souls to feed Astraea. Additionally, the souls she consumes all feed the Old One, meaning that her continued existence is actively putting the rest of the world in danger, thereby [[ShootTheDog forcing the player to kill her to complete the game]].]]
109	** The Maiden in Black. We're not sure [[MysteriousPast what her deal is exactly]], (though [[EpilepticTrees not for lack of guessing]]) but there's no way it could have been happy. Tellingly, if you attack and kill her, ''[[SorryIFellOnYourFist she apologizes for not being able to die]]'' seconds after resurrecting.
110	** Yuria the Witch. Discriminated against and tormented since ''birth'' just because she's naturally gifted with magic. Her hatred of her oppressors drives her to become stronger, so she travels to Boletaria to harness the power of the Demon's Souls. Upon arriving she is defeated and captured by Executioner Miralda, then locked up, alone, in a dark tower, where she is tortured and implied to have been raped by the Fat Officials, repeatedly, in the name of "purification". Is it any wonder she so quickly takes to the Player Character, considering they may be the only person in her entire life to show her any kindness?
111	** The Crestfallen Warrior. While he starts as a bit of a jerk to the player, if one keeps talking to him, he'll drop the attitude as he starts losing his memory and fading away, before outright yelling at the player to leave him alone because he can't remember who he or anyone else is. If the player exhausts his dialogue before killing the Tower Knight in 1-2, they will return to find him gone, and one can grab where he was sitting a Storied Soldier's Soul completely identical to the hundreds you will be munching on later on in the game. ''God. Damn.''
112	* VindicatedByHistory: Very much so. The very abstract game design and brutal difficulty did not impress the Japanese press, who gave it mediocre reviews. However, positive word of mouth led to a Western release, which led the game to be looked upon more positively. The tipping point came with the success of its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', which benefited this title not long after. Due to its eventual success and continued good reputation, a remake by Bluepoint Games was made as a Platform/Playstation5 launch title. Notably, despite being 12 years out of date and changing nothing from the original aside from graphics and a few quality-of-life fixes, the remake has a 92/100 on Metacritic, which is higher than the original's.
113	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The Remake is ''gorgeous'' and was billed as a graphical showcase for next-gen for a reason; everything from the game's lighting, textures, models, weather and FX are wonderfully rendered at a degree that's rarely been seen. Even more impressive, considering the game's default mode runs at a locked 60 fps.

Context YMMV / DemonsSouls