Post by zandyne on Dec 27, 2009 7:21:09 GMT -5
Ever since the Old One has been reawakened from its slumber, a thick, colorless fog has fallen upon the world. Those who become trapped in it have never returned. Save for one warrior who managed to escape and now spreads the word of the land shrouded in all-consuming fog. There is talk of demons and whispers of a terrible hell that the Old One will eventually engulf the world with. You are one of many such warriors who seeks to save the kingdom or may possibly be seduced by the forbidden gifts that hide within.
Storyline: 8/10
The story of DS is cut into two different portions, those who are casual players will find the story to be passable, but not earth-shattering. The main plot is that the Old One has been woken from its slumber by a greedy king, and only by lulling it to sleep will the world be saved. You are simply one of many who are trapped by the Nexus, a massive structure that currently keeps the Old One from spreading...for now, but it also binds the souls of whatever dies within its "reach," which happens to be wherever the colorless fog touches. So even if you die, your soul may never leave.
The other portion of the story of DS is found by doing optional quests, some of which can only be accessed by actions which open routes for some and closing off the routes of others. Many details of the very history of the world and its locales are revealed by finding unique items/treasure. Many of which cannot be found unless you are willing to explore the world.
Graphics: 8/10
There is a good character customization character feature, aesthetically the character models are on par with or slightly above Oblivion's, however this is negligible in that your character will be in full armor most of the time and a fair distance away from the camera. This fact may deter those who adore customization and derive satisfaction from a nicely crafted model of their player character, but at the same time, every piece of armor can be seen and compensates for the lack of viewable model customization.
The environments of the worlds are vast and are oddly beautiful to look at in a medieval post-apocalypse sense. The smaller, common demons that run around are memorable and there are very few palette-swaps. The archdemons however, are all a treat to look at in all their monstrous glory with the exception of one, but even then it still has its own flair of epic.
For the handful of other human characters that are met, they are all fully voiced as well as memorable despite how rarely you may see them. In addition, for the few cutscenes featuring your character, they are rendered in full-time.
Sound: 7/10
DS is a fairly ambient game in terms of its music scores. While most likely not a collection of music that one would rip the music of, they fit the events that they are used in quite nicely. While not in the Nexus or trapped within the area with an important NPC or Boss, there is no music.
All sound effects are very solid and the voices of your fellow rare humans are nice-sounding.
Control & Interface: 9/10
Character control is expansive, and despite the rather conservative number of buttons used for combat, allows for a variety of actions to be performed depending on a combination of, weapon-action, the weapon equipped and how the weapon is being wielded, as well the character's reaction time or whatever passive skills they have been endowed with. There is a total of one "main" menu and two sub-menus.
The main menu can be summoned at anytime, however is that it is opened in real-time, so be wary of when you open it! Within it you can assign quick-keys to your battle sub-menu and set equipment, items and game options. The battle sub-menu is composed of four slots that can be cycled through by using the D-Pad. The left and right slots control your left and right hand weapons/shield respectively. The top slot controls your access to magic/miracles you have learned and memorized, the bottom-most slot controls your consumable items which range from herbs to bombs. The second sub-menu are "emotions" that are there for expressions for online play.
DS also happens to support online play which allows for friendly co-op, dueling and player-hunting. In addition, you can view hints left by other players or see how their last moments before they died via their blood stains. Co-op has the incentive of bonus EXP/souls as well as a restoration of the player's optimal stats should they succeed. Another way to get bonus EXP/souls as well as restore their optimal stats is to go player-hunting, however if they lose they lose half of the "loose" EXP/souls they have on hand. Killing player-hunters allows the slayer to gain the invader's "loose" EXP/souls.
A gripe of DS is that the camera, if you are not mindful of it, can lead your to an early grave.
Another is of its intended difficulty. It is not a game that can be hack and slashed through, and unless you spend your EXP/souls they are "loose" EXP which you can lose if you die, however, you are allowed to reclaim your lost souls if you can find your own bloodstain without dying. Should you have fallen off a high place and died due to distance, it will place your blood stain in a reachable place, however the difficulty of reaching it is up for grabs.
Simply leaving an area will respawn all demons save for the main ones which leave behind check-points for you to wrap to and from the Nexus at. So when one conquers an archdemon, there is a great amount of accomplishment in doing so.
The very areas you visit can also be affected by an element called the "world tendency" which fluctuates and may make the relative area more difficult or easier. Interactions with certain characters can also only be triggered depending on your character tendency which happens to be based on your character's actions.
There are a wealth of other gameplay-related details to go into, however they are completely optional for one's playthrough. Those who enjoy detailed, complex systems and a wealth of options to explore will consider DS a near-perfect if not perfect execution in this realm.
Replay: 10/10
Those who are causal players will most likely quit this game after the second boss due to its unforgiving difficulty or the challenges of trial and error DS offers. To those who make it through and touched on any of the amazing optional realms of gameplay DS thrives on, they will be finding themselves playing through this game several times over, especially completionists.
The game is built on subsequent playthroughs that the demons will be completely scaled up (stat and rewardwise) so that things can remain challenging.
Overall: 9/10
The "scoring" I used was a bit different because DS demands you to put forth the extra effort to uncover anything, and only those who look will be rewarded. The reward for finding these tidbits of information is that you learned them, not any in-game benefit (unless that piece of equipment happens to serve you well). Yet I am glad that DS doesn't hold the player's hand, so the appeal lies in that it is a brutal game and gives the players enough credit to connect the dots.
To those who are curious what an WRPG-style "JRPG" plays like or a medieval game that doesn't pull any punches on its difficulty, I would suggest playing Demon's Souls.
Storyline: 8/10
The story of DS is cut into two different portions, those who are casual players will find the story to be passable, but not earth-shattering. The main plot is that the Old One has been woken from its slumber by a greedy king, and only by lulling it to sleep will the world be saved. You are simply one of many who are trapped by the Nexus, a massive structure that currently keeps the Old One from spreading...for now, but it also binds the souls of whatever dies within its "reach," which happens to be wherever the colorless fog touches. So even if you die, your soul may never leave.
The other portion of the story of DS is found by doing optional quests, some of which can only be accessed by actions which open routes for some and closing off the routes of others. Many details of the very history of the world and its locales are revealed by finding unique items/treasure. Many of which cannot be found unless you are willing to explore the world.
Graphics: 8/10
There is a good character customization character feature, aesthetically the character models are on par with or slightly above Oblivion's, however this is negligible in that your character will be in full armor most of the time and a fair distance away from the camera. This fact may deter those who adore customization and derive satisfaction from a nicely crafted model of their player character, but at the same time, every piece of armor can be seen and compensates for the lack of viewable model customization.
The environments of the worlds are vast and are oddly beautiful to look at in a medieval post-apocalypse sense. The smaller, common demons that run around are memorable and there are very few palette-swaps. The archdemons however, are all a treat to look at in all their monstrous glory with the exception of one, but even then it still has its own flair of epic.
For the handful of other human characters that are met, they are all fully voiced as well as memorable despite how rarely you may see them. In addition, for the few cutscenes featuring your character, they are rendered in full-time.
Sound: 7/10
DS is a fairly ambient game in terms of its music scores. While most likely not a collection of music that one would rip the music of, they fit the events that they are used in quite nicely. While not in the Nexus or trapped within the area with an important NPC or Boss, there is no music.
All sound effects are very solid and the voices of your fellow rare humans are nice-sounding.
Control & Interface: 9/10
Character control is expansive, and despite the rather conservative number of buttons used for combat, allows for a variety of actions to be performed depending on a combination of, weapon-action, the weapon equipped and how the weapon is being wielded, as well the character's reaction time or whatever passive skills they have been endowed with. There is a total of one "main" menu and two sub-menus.
The main menu can be summoned at anytime, however is that it is opened in real-time, so be wary of when you open it! Within it you can assign quick-keys to your battle sub-menu and set equipment, items and game options. The battle sub-menu is composed of four slots that can be cycled through by using the D-Pad. The left and right slots control your left and right hand weapons/shield respectively. The top slot controls your access to magic/miracles you have learned and memorized, the bottom-most slot controls your consumable items which range from herbs to bombs. The second sub-menu are "emotions" that are there for expressions for online play.
DS also happens to support online play which allows for friendly co-op, dueling and player-hunting. In addition, you can view hints left by other players or see how their last moments before they died via their blood stains. Co-op has the incentive of bonus EXP/souls as well as a restoration of the player's optimal stats should they succeed. Another way to get bonus EXP/souls as well as restore their optimal stats is to go player-hunting, however if they lose they lose half of the "loose" EXP/souls they have on hand. Killing player-hunters allows the slayer to gain the invader's "loose" EXP/souls.
A gripe of DS is that the camera, if you are not mindful of it, can lead your to an early grave.
Another is of its intended difficulty. It is not a game that can be hack and slashed through, and unless you spend your EXP/souls they are "loose" EXP which you can lose if you die, however, you are allowed to reclaim your lost souls if you can find your own bloodstain without dying. Should you have fallen off a high place and died due to distance, it will place your blood stain in a reachable place, however the difficulty of reaching it is up for grabs.
Simply leaving an area will respawn all demons save for the main ones which leave behind check-points for you to wrap to and from the Nexus at. So when one conquers an archdemon, there is a great amount of accomplishment in doing so.
The very areas you visit can also be affected by an element called the "world tendency" which fluctuates and may make the relative area more difficult or easier. Interactions with certain characters can also only be triggered depending on your character tendency which happens to be based on your character's actions.
There are a wealth of other gameplay-related details to go into, however they are completely optional for one's playthrough. Those who enjoy detailed, complex systems and a wealth of options to explore will consider DS a near-perfect if not perfect execution in this realm.
Replay: 10/10
Those who are causal players will most likely quit this game after the second boss due to its unforgiving difficulty or the challenges of trial and error DS offers. To those who make it through and touched on any of the amazing optional realms of gameplay DS thrives on, they will be finding themselves playing through this game several times over, especially completionists.
The game is built on subsequent playthroughs that the demons will be completely scaled up (stat and rewardwise) so that things can remain challenging.
Overall: 9/10
The "scoring" I used was a bit different because DS demands you to put forth the extra effort to uncover anything, and only those who look will be rewarded. The reward for finding these tidbits of information is that you learned them, not any in-game benefit (unless that piece of equipment happens to serve you well). Yet I am glad that DS doesn't hold the player's hand, so the appeal lies in that it is a brutal game and gives the players enough credit to connect the dots.
To those who are curious what an WRPG-style "JRPG" plays like or a medieval game that doesn't pull any punches on its difficulty, I would suggest playing Demon's Souls.
