Demon's Souls

I got this for Christmas and have put around 35 hours into it so far. You play a person out to slay the demons of the world and collect their souls. Your physical body is only the start, and it doesn't last long. By the end of the intro section you die. That's when you take spirit form and are trapped in the Nexus, where you have access to five different demon realms. You can kill a major demon to earn your body back, as your spirit form has reduced hit points.

The game is pretty brutal, and I die a lot. The Dragon God, imprisoned as he was, still killed me more than a dozen times. Even basic enemies can be a pain if you let yourself get in a hurry, but taking a reasonable amount of care gets you where you want to go.

When it comes to items and particular creatures you are not given second chances. Strike a merchant and they won't forgive you.
This game autosaves each and every time you pick up an item, which occasionally works to your advantage. I ran out onto this bridge ahead of a red dragon and managed to grab an item before he killed me. Still had it when I came back.

I've gotten my level into the 40's and find myself creeping around corners with my shield up. Learning the levels helps a lot, but once the game is done you can start up again and everything becomes harder, less forgiving. (I've got this many hours into it and am not near done yet.)

The game looks really good, and I love the setting. It has an excellent mood and is a lot of fun. If your head isn't in it the game can be very frustrating, but accepting death helps ease that.

For added depth each of the demon worlds can shift between light and dark tendency, and certain enemies and events can only appear when the world is light or dark enough. Dying in your physical body in a world swings it towards dark, and enemies become more powerful. Destroying powerful demons drives it towards light.

Oh, and other players can invade your world, to help or hurt you. You can leave hints on the ground that show up in other's games, which may or may not steer the player the right way, but if your hint is "recommended" by others you gain benefits. They can attack you in phantom form, or work with you to destroy a major demon. Very interesting feature.

If you've got a PS3, I recommend Demon's Souls.

The internet sucks here, so I play off-line. It keeps other players from invading my game, but it also prevents my getting hints and seeing their phantoms go through the motions.

Learning how to fight in this game makes all the difference, and you learn each time you die, but there are still enemies I avoid if at all possible, and snipe/run/snipe if I can't avoid them. They'd slay the crap out of me.

If you die you lose all the souls currently in your possession, but if you can get back to that place without dying again your bloodstain will be there, and touching it gets your souls back.

Right now I can manage red eyed skeletons from a distance, but there are mind flayers that can stun and insta-kill me in close combat.

I'm trying to use guides as little as possible. More frustrating, but also more fun.

Edited by reifidom - 30 December 2009 at 12:15pm

This sounds kind of interesting. I do not have ps3 though 

looks hard

STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME!

I want it!

I would tell you about the awesome difficulty of the 4-2 boss, Old Hero, but I cannot reach him. I've been trying for more than an hour and a half. The Reapers and their minions make me weep.