One way or another, we’ve all found our way to this truly magnificent genre of video games. We’ve all had our humble beginnings and first trial runs of games the genre has to offer. But how did we get here? Who introduced us to the genre? That’s what I want to know from you!
My very first introduction to the genre was via PewDiePie (yuck) from like 2013 or so when he first played it on his channel. Didn’t know the next thing about the genre or the game at all but wanted to give it a try since it looked fun and I was an impressionable teen. I remember bearing Taurus Demon and then getting stuck on Undead Burg, so I didn’t really play a lot.
The other person that influenced me in giving the genre a try was probably my former breakdance teacher who’s a huge fan of Bloodborne. I had a digital copy off PS+ and got some encouragement from him to give the game a try. It didn’t click with until a couple years later, or rather I was too scared to progress because I knew of an upcoming jumpscare that I didn’t want to experience (that doesn’t exist btw), but yea, those were my two first instances of being introduced to the genre.
Were you introduced to the genre by someone in particular? How did you get to give it a try?
Started with Demons souls; I saw the cover art, was like ‘huh’, and decided to buy it; the cover looked generic and yet something about it made me want to buy it.
I played it and had a genuinely fun time, but as much as I enjoyed it I never got the ‘OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER I NEED MOOOOORE!’ feeling that apparently tons of other players got. I enjoyed it a lot, don’t get me wrong, but the hype that exists today I never felt myself about the genre. Also Demons souls felt the easiest of all the titles I played.
I also remember feeling the game felt kind of generic but still provided a fun experience; I had no idea the studio that made it was so big (I mean they made armored core, and I LOVED armored core). I remember when I entered those hallways in the tower and seeing those mindflayers (cause obviously they’re mindflayers), I thought to myself ‘are these guys gonna get sued for this?’
Also some of the bosses in that game? I don’t think they ever recreated that sense ever again, and instead focused on just straight up boss fights with no gimmicks.
Take the blind monk for example; he literally can’t see you and has to find you via sound. Also you had the flying manta ray boss fight that they coincidentally left a sword that fires air blasts in the same general vicinity. You also had the boss fight where you would be going down a flight of stairs trying to avoid getting struck while doing so. You also had the tower knight boss fight where you had to go up the walls and take care of the ranged enemies first, or the lance boss that you fight in a tight corridor that best suits HIM. You also had the boss fight where you could be summoned into another person’s world to take the role of the boss there.
I recall when I was summoned into another player’s game as the boss; it took us forever while fighting because clearly we both had giant stores of healing herbs, so I basically whittled him down to him nearly needing to heal up; he had low-ish health and NEARLY needed to start worrying about dying…I put my arms down and just let him come at me…yeah…come on, get closer, you see my guard down, you know you can do it, you know you want to, just make a strike, just try and hit me, go on, do it…and he lunges at me and I PARRY and RIPOSTE! Now THAT was a thrill!
Although I hated the gem geckos; they only appear once and if you don’t kill them you don’t get to see them again until the next playthrough? When I first started playing I didn’t even know what those things were. Lousy idea honestly.
I never did like the open world aspect; I liked the Demons souls hub area, and I liked that every area had its own theme.
Demon’s Souls really is quite special with its gimmick bosses. I’m not sure where I stand on them, really. I like that it’s something different compared to your average soulslike, but some of them feel like absolute pushover once you know what to do. Similarly to a Zelda boss, it works the first time you do the fight but repeats don’t really offer too much new. What do you think?
The hub is awesome for sure, though. I only played the remake, so I don’t know how “good” it looked on the PS3, but in terms of visuals it’s amazing. Plus the hub theme. Hooly
Not OP, but I have very strong opinions on this, so Imma chime in. I’m very much on the “older Souls is better than newer Souls” side of the argument, and I think Demon’s Souls has the best bosses in the entire series, hands down.
Bosses used to be unique, and used to provide interesting challenges to the player, from their arenas to their movesets to their “gimmicks”. Every boss in DeS is different, strikingly so, and they all add to their settings and make use of mechanics in interesting ways.
Nowadays, all boss arenas are just enormous empty spaces, with nothing to impede the player, and all bosses are just rhythm games with slightly different rhythms. It’s just boring.
Demon’s Souls bosses are interesting and innovative. People think that “most of the DeS bosses are gimmick bosses, with only a few real bosses”, but what they don’t understand is that every boss in DeS is a gimmick boss, and that’s what makes them interesting. False King Allant’s gimmick is that you have to learn his moveset and master the combat system, as opposed to mastering stealth in the Old Hero’s fight, or solving the puzzle of how best for your build to damage the boss in the Adjudicator fight.
Demon’s Souls bosses were like their levels - experiences to be explored, to be conquered through your ingenuity and use of the tools the game provides, not just “are you good enough at DDR and min-maxing your build?” This follows the general (unfortunate, in my opinion) trend of Souls games coming to be more focused on combat instead of overcoming, because while they sound identical they’re actually two very different things. Level design too has completely fallen by the wayside as combat has become the sole focus of the games’ challenges for the player.
Everyone loves Artorias (and I do too), but he was the beginning of the end for the old, slow, deliberate adventure style of Fromsoft game that I fell in love with the series for in the first place, and while I love the newer games too, there’s very little out there like Dark Souls 1, and there’s nothing out there like Demon’s Souls.