I'm selling my PS4 since the 5 basically does everything it does and I can still get good value for it, but before you go down that road I recommend you... PLAY BLOODBORNE! GOTD! PS EXCLUSIVE! IT'S BETTER THAN WHATEVER YOU'RE PLAYING! That is all. Or wait for the inevitable remaster I guess. Otherwise, I understand the challenge of working around the TV as opposed to your desktop PC (I may need to see about simultaneously hooking the PS5 up to my monitor for that reason). Anyway, speaking of remasters...
Demon's Souls (2020) - So, I completed my initial Demon's Souls remake run and am into NG+ and... it's really good! Or, perhaps I should say it's still really good, because this is definitely more in the remaster mold than reinventing the game for today. Which is a good thing because it retains that authentic From Soft feel that so many Souls-likes, and Dark Souls II, are lacking.
Graphically, it looks wonderful of course, everything looks about as good, detailed and slick as can be expected, but as I pointed out in my previous post, it's still a super up-res'd 2009 game, so it's not going to necessarily have the dynamic design or direction of a modern one. Bloodborne and DS3 obviously don't look as pretty from a technological, graphical fidelity standpoint, but their graphic design and depth represent obvious progress on From Soft's part whereas this is a very, very shiny retro design. One area I noticed where this game completely blows away its forebears though is sound. Not just the music, which is awesome, but compared to Dark Souls III on PS5 on the same headset DS3 sounded horrible by comparison; thin, tinny, and a bit grating actually. I think From Soft maybe hasn't updated their sound library since at least Dark Souls 1, if not this game (hopefully Elden Ring will be better... or I just won't play it back to back with this one).
The good thing about this being so faithful to the original is Demon's Souls isn't like some weird, lesser Dark Souls prototype you drag yourself through just to be a completionist, it's pretty much the finished template from which every game thereafter sprang from, and particularly Dark Souls III, and is still arguably the best one. Basically, Dark Souls is more an in-house, non-Sony owned, Demon's Souls rebrand than some necessary evolutionary, let alone revolutionary, revision (this game actually was the revolution, just nobody knew until Dark Souls popularized it =). In short, if one didn't know better this could just as well be Dark Souls 4, which, coupled with its relative scarcity, makes it an ideal candidate for this sort of re-release, besides being Sony controlled of course.
Because it was first, a lot of the staples of the series, like phantoms, fog walls, etc, are not only present but actually make sense as part of the lore rather than being aesthetic carryover like in its successors. The fog is essentially the physical representation of the soul-sucking demon scourge brought by The Old One, the game's big bad (which, again, if one didn't know better you might think this was a nod to Bloodborne). Phantom form is what you take when you die, rather than going undead, hollow, unkindled, or whatever. This allows you to invade other worlds because you're a phantom, and it's why you see so many other phantoms (phantoms invade, humans get invaded, makes sense, right?). Souls fans know all this stuff, but here it's actually what the game is about and fits more cohesively into the game world rather than just being separate online mechanics on top of the single player experience.
Of course, like all of the games, it has its own unique, overcomplicated features, like a weapon upgrade system with specific upgrade stones for practically every different weapon type, but most importantly it has a completely unique feature that was later dropped, but again, might as well be something new; the infamous Character/World Tendency. This is actually a cool yet esoteric and misunderstood function that changes the different worlds, enemies, and options open to your character depending on your actions. Basically, if you murder NPCs and/or die in human form, your's and that world's tendency darkens, if you kill boss demons, invading phantoms, or help others, it lightens. This is Dark Souls with a morality system, and it actually really matters because black world tendency means enemies are much stronger (but drop more souls/items), so if you don't know what you're doing you can really make the game impossible for yourself. In most RPGs, being an asshole is the path of least resistance, here you're punished more than maybe any other game. Though, as many have pointed out, it's counterintuitive that the game essentially gets harder the more you die at it (this is also hilariously on-brand), but it's more that if you want an easier time of it you need to make sure to play nice and help others in phantom form, where your deaths won't count against World Tendency even in your game. The problem is I'm not sure this is EVER explained in-game, or that I'm even completely sure myself how it works, and phantoms have half the life of a human, so you'd naturally think that would give you your best shot, keep getting killed that way and making it worse. Basically, it's cool if you're in the know, bit can be horrible if you're not.
The first time I played the game I didn't understand and mostly ignored World Tendency and it probably made certain segments, particularly later in world 1 (which you want to play most of later or last =), much harder. All this led me to go for a pure white all phantom run this time, which I ended up partially regretting because it severely limits your interaction with online players (you can't be invaded online as a phantom, so another plus if you're trying not to randomly die or deal with people). It also meant that when I wanted to walk on the dark side and lower my tendency to open up things like assassination missions, I had to start being a real asshole and you basically end up killing all your vendors and can't even change spells if you follow through (I left a caster alive until the final boss, but it's still a pain not being able to change miracles, etc). I think I would have had more fun spanking black (red) phantoms along the way with my overpowered magic warrior. It's still fun in NG+ with a more even playing field, but I know I missed out on crushing some noob invaders. =)
As for the game itself, the areas can be very challenging, some of the toughest in the series, with hazards and traps fully capable of killing you with or without enemies to help. The aforementioned World 1 contains some of my worst Souls memories this side of an Anor Londo archer. Plus, it has all the iconic locales: dragon infested medieval castle, volcanic mines/caves, otherworldly sky dungeon nobody would build, ancient seaside ruins, and everyone's favorite, the original poison swamp from hell! All these areas will remind you of various locations and events found throughout the Souls series, whether it's running past Dragon Fire go enter a castle, taking up Storm Ruler to stop a titan, or surreally dropping a giant heart that blocks your progress (as opposed to a big brain =).
If anything about it feels a bit simpler or dated it's the boss fights. They're not easy by any means, some even seem impossible if you don't know the trick to them, but there often is a trick and obviously bosses are one aspect From Software has been continually evolving out of necessity and so this set is by definition the most unrefined by virtue of being the first iteration. The traditional ones, like Flamelurker (roll away from his attacks and slash from behind! or just shoot everything with magic), were largely a cinch for me with the exception of Maneater because the setting's a pain in the ass (don't lock on), and King Allant (he's like the original duel with a human-like opponent that's harder than all the monsters), who I fought at the end with black tendency, but I actually had the most trouble with the weird, gimmicky early bosses like Armored Spider, who I think I got lucky meleeing against the first go around, and the Dragon God, who I swear I had to replay over a dozen times because I'm lazy and impatient I guess (I don't remember having any trouble with him the first time playing the game; thought it'd be perfunctory... My bad). It also has some of the most original boss encounters, including one where you just... talk (prepare to cry). Actually, there's a couple like that where the fight is purposefully anti-climatic because it's making a different point, which the series really didn't have room for once the purported difficulty took on a life of its own as a calling card or badge of honor.
Anyway, I'm about two thirds through NG+ and my desire to play is still going strong exploring anything I missed and seeing if I'm up to the NG+ challenge this time. It hasn't been bad so far, my Crescent Weapons keep up for the most part and keep me in mana, but I can tell from how hard hard some of the easier enemies and bosses hit and how hard, or repeatedly, I have to hit them that there's going to be some challenges down the line, so I'm experimenting with some crazy damage weapons and builds like fully upgraded Dragon Bone Smasher (using this more and more often) with Morian Blade off-hand and Clever Rat's Ring for crazy damage buffs. The DBS does so much damage though I probably don't need it at this NG level, but if down the road I'm getting one-shotted anyway I'll have the glass canon ready.
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