Do RPG Gamers enjoy Dying? Demon's Souls PS3 will make your wish come true. A review and look at its challenging game play, character creation and features.
The Story
In a far away land, demons have been stealing the human souls. As a result, many lives have been taken. Others have tried to stop the demons unsuccessfully and become trapped in another dimensional existence known as the Nexus.
Your character hopes to save these infested lands and stop the demons from taking souls from the living. Like the other unfortunate heroes who have tried to eliminate this evil threat, you too are now trapped in the Nexus with your soul taken away. You will need to gain your soul back by defeating boss enemies so you have use of your physical body. Unfortunately, once you do and die again you will need to regain your soul once more.
Game Play
Demon’s Souls is a PS3 RPG game that will test your patience and challenge you in unexpected ways. Unlike many console RPG games, there is no “save game” feature. The only way to move forward in the game is by completion of a section, (which is accessed by travelling through giant rune stones in the Nexus). This means you will need to be careful and aware of your surroundings. A single fall down an edge or certain attacks by enemies can mean certain death. The health of your character is also important. Although you can pick up items off of corpses during your adventuring to replenish it, they are limited and must be treated as a precious commodity.
During combat situations, your character must be aware of how much stamina is being used during attack moves. While other video game RPG games allow a more mindless and unlimited hacking and slashing, your strategy will need to change frequently. Once stamina is depleted, any attack moves will do no damage and make it difficult to deflect actions from your enemy opponents. An important strategy in this game is finding your enemy’s weaknesses and using it against them. After each successful battle, souls are gathered from your fallen opponents. This is the only form of “currency” in the game. You can then use it to upgrade your character’s statistics as well as purchase and repair items while in the Nexus.
Death of your character will occur often in Demon’s Souls. When it happens, any souls you have gathered during your adventuring will be lost. You will then have to repeat the game section, which will mean battling the same enemies and obstacles as before. While you are alive, you can freely travel back to the Nexus through a portal exit. However, if you did not complete the section, everything you fought before leaving the area will re-spawn again once you travel back.
Character Creation
Character creation in Demon’s Souls gives you a variety of options. You can decide gender, class, appearance and their name. For your class, the game allows you to choose the Soldier, Knight, Hunter, Priest, Magician, Wanderer, Barbarian, Thief, Temple Knight or Royalty. Each has their own set of statistics (vitality, strength, luck, dexterity etc,) that cannot be altered during the creation of your character. You can also alter the look of your character’s face, skin tone, hair and age.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics in Demon’s Souls are sharp with a lot of detail. However, your character’s face does appear a bit plain during the game action. Game music soundtrack is rich and engaging, with appealing sound effects and voice dialog that fits in well.
Final Thoughts
Gamers who are debating whether or not to play Demon’s Souls should take a chance with this challenging RPG title. However, it is not for those who like mindless hack and slash games. Demon’s Souls has a lot of potential for re-playability. Hardcore gamers who have a lot of patience and enjoy detail and strategy will get a lot out of it, spending many addictive hours figuring out how to get through each section of the game.
References
- Screenshots created by Sheila Robinson.
