Topic: Demon Souls Remastered. Is it, isn't it?

This is the first time I’ve bought a console at launch since the GameCube, so I’m pretty excited. I think getting used to the UI will take a little while, and I can’t see any way of uploading saves to the cloud by pressing the options button on a game icon like you could on the PS4. I forgot to factory reset my PS4 last night and didn’t realise it would take six hours to do the job! That’ll probably go to charity once lockdown has ended, so I’m hoping I have the original box stored somewhere. Rather than wait for the reset I decided to put the PS5 on it’s box on the floor temporarily. The PS5 has barely made a single sound, other than a brief but unpleasant grinding whirr when the fan kicked in after I placed a disc in. It’s also been quite cool to the touch. The resetting PS4 has warmed my room to such a degree I haven’t needed to put the heater on today.

Anyhoo, I played some Astro’s Playroom while Spider-Man Remastered downloaded and am maybe halfway through. It’s extremely cute with lots of little touches and references to PlayStation games and history. The game rewards your curiosity and I had an array of trophies pop up simply for experimenting with various things dotted around the levels. The haptic rumble is extremely impressive and I was most surprised by feeling individual raindrops pitter patter on the umbrella. It’s a shame Nintendo abandoned the somewhat less impressive HD rumble in the Switch’s joycons, but if developers put effort into the PS5’s haptics it could be something truly special.

@JohnnyShoulder It looks amazing, and I can’t say I’m not tempted, but the difficulty might be a bit much for me. How hard is Dark Souls?

@mookysam This is my first ever console at launch, the closest I've come is PS2 and PS4 4 - 6 months after day 1.

As for Demon Souls, it is hard to reccomend if you have never played a game in the series before. I hated Dark Souls when I first played it and it took me months for it to fully click. Demon Souls might be better becasue of the 60fps is doesn't feel as janky. I'm finding the starting area relatively easy, but this is my fifth (6th if you count Sekiro) game in the series. Your best bet if you have any reservations is try to borrow or rent it before buying it. Hope that helps!

@JohnnyShoulder Brill, thanks. I think I’ll rent it rather than risk £70. It sounds like a tough genre to get into, but once it clicks is great. Also just realised I accidentally posted the bulk of my comment in the wrong thread. 🤣

@mookysam Ha ha with the current state of the PS5 section I don't think anyone else noticed!

@JohnnyShoulder I was up at the crack of dawn to listen out for the delivery and by the evening was running on fumes, so I'm mostly impressed I wrote something semi-cohenrent at all! Just noticed that Bloodborne is in the PS Plus Collection thing, so that would probably be a good way to see how I get on with the genre.

@mookysam Bloodborne’s like the Souls games on crack, it’s faster with less margin for error. That being said, the bosses have easier movesets to accommodate for that. It’s a good one to see if you enjoy the core ideas but Souls is so much slower paced that Demon’s Souls will feel almost like a different game in your approach to enemy encounters.

@mookysam @nessisonett Yeah Bloodborne would be good test to see if you like the gameplay. I played that after I gave up on Dark Souls on 2
360 and fared a lot better. I still don't know how I manged to get to the end of the game, as I didn't really know what i was doing and kinda just bundled my way through it!

Went I went back to Dark Souls Remastered, I initially struggled with how sluggish it felt compared to Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3. I'm not feeling that with Demon Souls and it feels a lot smoother to play then Dark Souls Remastered.

@mookysam Don’t listen to what @nessisonett says about Bloodborne because he is a heathen.

Personally, I think it’s the best of the From games I’ve played (DS1, DS3, BB) as I much preferred the quicker combat style and the ability to regain health by immediately attacking back pushes that aggressive play.

If you’ve got the PS+ Collection I’d definitely say to give it a go but the first half hour or so is one of the most frustrating sections as you slowly get used to the mechanics and the first “bonfire” is a bit of a slog so you can’t upgrade your character to try and help you either.

Good luck if you do go for it as it’s a fantastic game.

@Thrillho I’m not really hating on Bloodborne at all. It’s not even my least favourite Souls game. I agree about the opening hours though, the first lantern is in an annoying place and it takes a wee bit of time to get that shortcut to actually feel like you’re making progress.

@nessisonett I say it in jest because it’s this universally praised game that you talk about like;

Nothing wrong with having that opinion. It’s just that it’s wrong 😉

@Thrillho I don't think anything @nessisonett said about Bloodborne was that bad? On this occasion.

But yeah the first few hours can be frustrating, especially as you can level up until you face the cleric beast. Which is similar to how Demon Souls works.

@JohnnyShoulder Have you now played enough of the game to feel free to discuss how the difficulty of Demon's Souls compares to Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls III & Bloodborne? If so, what are your thoughts? Care to share?

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I still say it is too early yet as I've only beaten the first real boss, gotten to the next boss and explored a bit in another world. You can definitely feel the difficulty increase the deeper you go into each world. Like I said before, it feels more like Dark Souls as it veers towards relying on having a shield, just not as sluggish. It also has a more lovecraftian vibe about it too.

I've gone for a Knight class and will probs do a dex build. I'll have to look to see what weapons that favours though and if that agrees with which ones i prefer using.

@JohnnyShoulder Unless, like me, you accidentally skip the Cleric Beast entirely and don’t resize it’s there until you are doing some co-op. Thankfully you can level up after meeting any boss.

@Jaz007 Yeah, as soon as you gain some insight really. I missed the Cleric Beast too so ended up facing Father Gascoigne before I could level up iirc.

I’m not finding Demon Souls obscenely difficult, first real boss is a piece of cake, the tower knight took 3 goes and the iron spider took 3. Although I spent a while exploring both areas and levelling up my weapons before taking them both on. I expect there is tons of BS to come, though. Good job it looks so pretty.

I’m playing as a Knight, trying to put points into strength, dex, endurance, faith and vitality fairly equally at the moment. Using a cool scimitar, spear and bow!

@kyleforrester87 How would you reckon the difficulty compares to Dark Souls 1? I hear a lot of it is in getting to the boss, rather than trying to defeat the actual boss, in which case I don't really want it because boss battles are what I look forward to about these games.

Edit: I know that bosses such as Gravelord Nito and the Four Kings are a pain to get to in Dark Souls 1, and there are numerous other examples, I just get the impression that due to the lack of archstones it's gonna be the areas that are trying, rather than the bosses.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic in only on the fourth real boss at the mo and they’ve all taken less than 5 minutes to get to so far.

I have to say Flamelurker is really kicking my ass! Had him down to <10% health a few times.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic There are usually shortcuts you unlock as you progress through the area, so by the time you face the boss it does not take long to get back to it. A Souls veteran like you should have no problems.