Dark Souls E3 Trailer

New amazing trailer for Dark Souls which is now my most anticipated game of the year after the release of Portal 2, Witcher 2 and the delay of The Last Guardian. Then again we'll see in a few days what E3 has to offer to get me excited. In the meanwhile my excitement for Dark Souls assures me of a bright gaming fall/winter. Thoughts on the trailer are that I like that they seem to be focusing on delivering a more fleshed out dark and melancholy story this time around compared to Demon's Souls, but the main thing that excites me is the atmosphere and the eerie dark fantasy world that the game radiates. I simply love the real-looking functional armors and weapons combined with monsters that look like they've been pulled out of the manga Berserk (read it if you have the Gutts) and the resulting gritty bleak world that this seems to create.

Demon's Souls - Review

Starting this review off I would like to mention that I'm someone who has never been a fan of Action-RPGs, repetition, and extremely difficult games. So when I finally bought Demon's Souls I thought it would only hold my interest for a short while before I'd give up and move on to my other gaming comfort zones. However I was wrong because the hype and the word of mouth for this game has been so wrong and misleading. Yes, it is an Action-RPG but it is unlike any other Action-RPG I have ever played, yes, it is trial and error but it is also a game that abides by it's own set of rules and rarely ever breaks them, and yes, it can be a challenging and difficult game but that is only before you learn how to play it or if you play it wrong without adapting your strategies to the different situations. It has been called a niche game but that to has been misleading because it is a game for anyone willing to put in the necessary hours to learn its deep gameplay.

I was wrong because the game is simply amazing and manages to transcend the nuisances I usually hate and it got a grip on me that I have not felt from a game since Baldur's Gate 2. The atmosphere that embodies the game world is incredible, this is a dark and bleak world that oppresses you until you basically get a panic attack. The Kingdom of Boletaria is minimalistic and shrouded in mystery and you will only ever get hints at the larger picture going on in the setting, but it is so well crafted that you will literally feel it more than anything else. It is also a game that does not compromise on it's difficulty and while the game can be unforgiving, in the end its challenge is there for a reason and a huge part of what makes the game so great is the sense of progress and reward that comes from actually becoming good at playing it. Not in recent memory has a game created such a sense of loss and accomplishment, and I can't remember the last game that has engrossed me in it's world and setting to this extent.

Demon's Souls - Impressions

The reason for my absence these past few weeks from this blog has been very simple, I've just had too many great games to play to bother writing anything of relevance. I had great plans of writing some thoughts on the season finale of Mad Men, an Uncharted 2 review as well as reviewing the Pixar movie Up but all of that went down the drain when I got my paws on Dragon Age for the PC; a foolish obsession that cost me about two weeks of my life not to mention that I think it killed a large part of my old PC. I'll try to write more about Dragon Age soonish but knowing how I treat new Bioware games I'll only do that once I've run through it multiple times with different characters.

Well, if that wasn't bad enough I ended up jumping from Dragon Age straight into Demon's Souls and now I'm obsessing over that instead. Since I have no qualms about admitting my loser-level I'll just say it outright that it's gotten so bad that I dreamt about Demon's Souls last night. It's the toughest game I've put my skill against in memory and I think I suck extra hard at it since my progression feels like it's going slower than what it normally should considering the hours put in. However this is probably the most unique, creative and immersive game that I've played this whole year and is my personal surprise hit of the year as well as being one of my personal Game of the Year contenders.

The game has punished me over and over yet I keep on re-trying despite knowing that I'll probably get brutalized all over again. This is one of the most immersive games I have ever played, you really feel the hatred for these abominations that are refereed to as demons and the atmosphere is sometimes so oppressive and tense that I have to take a break from the game to calm my nerves. There is not much narrative at all this far in the game but the few pieces of story that have emerged have been excellent with amazing concept art being shown while a narrator speaks. Still, this game thrives on its rich gameplay mechanics and I think that is the reason it's such a success because as soon as you die you don't get to feel the frustration too long before you're off once again to try to kill some demons and collect their souls.

I started the game and I died alot and it's only now after killing two major demons that I'm starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of this. I stopped reading the strategy guide and just focused on playing like I how I would like to play the game. In short, I got my hands on a two-handed Claymore sword and am going full-retard with what my pal Gatts has taught me about killing demon scum. This philosophy can be summed into; you need BIG swords to kill BIG demons. In many ways this game is the closes I've ever played to a Berserk game because of the general bleakness and darkness found in both. Not only is this dark fantasy game one of the best of this year but I think in years ahead it will be considered one of the hidden gems of this generation.

Demon's Souls - Sleeper hit of the Year?

I'm starting to doubt my eye when it comes to judging if a game is going to turn out well or not. Two times now this year I've been convinced something was going to flop hard and both times I've been owned. First I thought inFamous was going to get butchered by the reviewers because it looked so generic and crappy only to see it get scores ranging from AA (8/10) to AAA (9/10) among the critics, so I bought it and had to be reminded that some games are just addictive to play despite looking crappy. Now the ownage returns in form of Demon's Souls a game when I first saw it I felt would be lucky if it got an A (7/10) at all. Then of course the people who got to play the imported Asian version started to speak up for it, but I still felt it could go AA (8/10) highest because it just looked like a generic dungeon crawler after all.

The final bomb that hit me you can watch above, my favorite reviewer - whom I tend to agree with the most - Kevin from GameSpot reviewed Demon's Souls yesterday and gave it a whooping AAA (9/10) status thus making this my biggest surprise hit of the year and a game I clearly must get my hands on. This game is supposedly brutally difficult so I'm still on the fence if I'm man enough to take it on. However I am feeling tempted by the challenge since apparently the difficulty is never cheap and it seems to be extremely rewarding to actually conquer it due to the deep combat mechanics. In retrospect; this game went from one I was never going to play to one I now feel obliged to at least give a decent chance. I guess it's time to buy a truly hardcore game soon and stop hiding behind my casual mask but woe is my wallet this holiday season. Let's just hope that I don't destroy another controller when I get my paws on this game.

Demon's Souls is looking good...

I must admit that I may have been hasty when I wrote off the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls as another crap title last year when I first heard about it. Then again a year ago I really wasn't impressed with what I saw, the whole game seemed like some generic Diablo meets Oblivion escapade. Fast forwarding to present time and seeing the E3 trailer as well as watching G4TV's preview I must admit that I am feeling hyped and there is the all familiar itch "I wanna play it!".



The whole premise still seems pretty much the same, it does seem like Diablo meets Oblivion and you pretty much seem to just go through the dungeons smiting any evil you find and kicking the asses of the bosses (or more like getting your ass handed to you since I hear the game is brutal difficulty wise). Of course there are some RPG elements where you decide how your character develops skills wise but I wouldn't expect Planescape:Torment level dialogue and story.

Now here is where I get hyped, the game has an interesting multiplayer side to it, apparently as soon as you log into PSN the game world is online and you can see other players and their ghosts/bloodstains will help you out so that you don't make the same mistakes as them. Later on other players will be able to breach into your world and you into theirs and have fights over each others souls. Finally the icing on the cake is a three player CO-OP where you can take on the dungeons with your pals.



These online features sound truly refreshing and interesting, I've always ignored dungeon-crawler games but this one sounds like it might be a blast with some online friends. I can only imagine how kick ass it would be to team-up on one of the game's epic-sized bosses together with your friends or to put it another way; I have too much rage to play a difficult game on my own so playing with a party is my only hope.

And yes, this game does still seem a tiny bit underpolished with how the camera seems a bit too far from the character and the character movements look a bit floaty but none the less I'll be getting this game as soon as I have another brave knight (or two) that are willing to take on the challenge of saving the kingdom. Demon's Souls can be imported from Asia subbed or you can wait until this fall when it is getting released in the US. In the meanwhile I would suggest anyone interested checks out the videos I linked below.


Demon's Souls E3 2009 Trailer
Demon's Souls Hands On Preview - G4tv.com