TalonsofIceandFire
Since: Feb, 2013
11/06/2017 00:00:00
Speaking as someone who has played Demon\'s Souls before Dark Souls was even announced, I agree with on this. Given how much I\'ve played Dark Souls and other From Software games, I can see that Demon\'s Souls hasn\'t aged that well. It is definitely more punishing experience that is for sure, for reasons you\'ve stated in this review. Yet despite it\'s flaws (many which were fixed in Dark Souls), I would recommend it to fans of Dark Souls if only to see where the series originated from (I haven\'t played any of the King\'s Field games) and if they want an arguably more challenging experience.
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If you are already a fan and you are dying for more, and you haven't played Demon's Souls before, go ahead it will definitely scratch your itch. However, if you are new to the series, start elsewhere, this may have been where the series began, but Dark Souls made a great many needed refinements to the game.
The most obvious is checkpoints, Dark Souls' check points could stand to be closer together at times (especially near bosses) but Demon's souls has none, if you died against a boss, you are catapulted back to the beginning of the level. While you can make the level easier to traverse you still have to move through it and fight several enemies (you usually can't bypass the toughest), and you definitely have to fight the boss again if you want your souls back.
The bosses are generally great, with an interesting 'experimental' quality to them. In that your first fight will usually stomp the crap out of you, and you test the bosses weakness in a scientific way, and then win once you both know what to do and can execute it. The second part is what makes the lack of checkpoint a big issue. Once you have figured out what you need to do, the fight is way less engaging, and retrying becomes a chore. Especially when you lose not because of an error but because of a lag or something. Its also worth noting that this doesn't actually make the game more difficult just more punishing of failure, faster iteration time on attempts would be super.
Fans of Dark Souls and Demon's Souls like to say that the games are 'tough but fair'. Its bullshit in both games, but its more blatant in Demon's Souls. There are environmental hazards that only affect you, enemies that recover from stagger faster etc. Its actually a pretty small issue, all things considered, but its way more noticeable issue here than Dark Souls.
Healing is also better in Dark Souls than here. Having a limit on the amount of Etsus that automatically refills, avoids both trivializing some fights due to a lots of herbs, and making the game unwinable when you have none.
But the real reason you should play Dark Souls instead is stability. There are times where you may lose content for the play-through in Demon's Souls that you have no control over. NP Cs can bug out and disappear forever after you rescue them. Demon's Souls is a fine game, but Dark Souls really improved.