Demon’s Souls is the EASIEST Souls Game

hey thanks for watching today's episode today's episode is brought to you by expressvpn for those of you guys who don't know expressvpn is a great service to protect your privacy as you're browsing the internet also the way that i use it for mostly though isn't just for security but rather for streaming services obviously they're going on in the world right now uh i don't have access to all the things i want on the several dozens of streaming services available to me but regionally speaking there are some shows that you get access to in other parts of the world like japan or europe and if you use expressvpn you can change your regional location to match that other things you're interested in so for instance if you want to watch let's say rick and morty on netflix you can't right now in the united states but using expressvpn you can change your location to the uk so that's you can enjoy that content hassle free pretty tight right personally i just did this recently for my patreon when we watched uh super mario brothers uh the movie because it was unavailable in almost every major streaming service except for netflix of japan so i changed her region to japan and thus i could watch the super mario brothers movie so if you want to find out how you can get your first three months for free head over to expressvpn.com complete or click the link in the box down below the very very top link right there again that's expressvpn.com complete thank you for supporting the show and thank you to expressvpn as well enjoy difficult punishing unforgiving the notorious get good style mechanics of the soulsborne genre changed the landscape of gaming in 2011 when dark souls became a smash hit but it did not start there demon souls was the real cult classic the playstation 3 progenitor that was released years prior and now that the playstation 5 is finally here what was once a niche favorite is now a flagship launch title a whole new generation can experience demon souls with blue point games's extremely beautiful and faithful recreation now i played demon souls when it first came out nearly 11 years ago and i found it frustrating but this time around i was shocked and pleasantly surprised to realize that the playstation 5 remake of demon souls is actually the easiest souls game of the bunch not only that but this version feels much more user friendly than the original so let's keep our humanity sharpen our swords and try to figure out what's behind that door they added when i complete demon souls hey everyone and welcome back to another brand new episode of the completionist where we don't just beat the games we complete them i'm gonna jump right into it you guys this year has been ripe with controversy and i want to address the most important controversy ever it's demon souls okay demon souls demon souls it's a it's a possessive word that if you look at it should sound like demons souls but it's not it's demon souls got it great let's begin here comes a new challenger danger [Music] happy a couple of years ago during what just might have been the final e3 in los angeles i was sitting next to heated docking miyazaki himself during a microsoft event we watched a teacher trailer for eldon ring and the crowd went insane at the prospect of the next miyazaki helmed dark fantasy adventure the success of the from software formula over the last decade is undeniable most recently with the fast and brutal combat of sekito shadows die twice but 11 years ago miyazaki and the soul genre itself were not widely known demon souls painstakingly carved out a name for itself and changed the face of third person action role playing games and now an entire console generation later demon souls is finally back and better than ever these days from software is the standard bearer for making hard games that are also extremely appealing the dark souls series has sold over 27 million copies the series became a smash hit because it forced players to focus on different things than were popular at the time dark souls 1 was an exploration and combat focused rpg where spatial awareness was just as important as stats getting good at a souls game isn't about having amazing reflexes instead a soul game forces players to engage with their environment in an unprecedented way an entire genre was built around this philosophy but it's actually demon souls that started it all demon souls never reached the dizzying heights of sales that dark souls did it was a playstation exclusive that seemed to come out of nowhere it was a third person action rpg with particular attention paid to boss battles item management and online encounters i knew about it because it was one of the few games i owned on my playstation 3 when i was in college back then i couldn't afford to barely eat so when i bought a game it meant a lot to me that i gave it my time and like most people who play demon souls blindly i did not have fun i was lost i was getting my ass beat all the time and it took me meeting a complete random stranger online who kept invading me to actually learn how to play the game there's literally a guy out there who i spent hours with talking on playstation 3 chat who didn't know who i was and i didn't know who he was but games was our common language and that's how we communicated through him invading me so much i learned how to play demon souls the proper way and he gave me tips and tricks to improve and get better two strangers interacting that led to a friendship it's kind of rad for a lot of people this blue point remake will however be their first exposure to demon souls and it might not be what they're expecting even a decade after the original game released demon soul stands out with its unique world and gameplay design masters of dark souls bloodborne and sekito might think they know what's in store but demon souls has a much different design philosophy than the games it inspired the game playing demon souls laid the groundwork for what was to come players explore intricately detailed worlds finding equipment and items shortcuts and most importantly souls from defeated enemies and bosses players can use those souls to level up their stats which let them use different weapons and abilities but dying is very easy and souls are easily lost players must learn to play footsies with enemies to avoid getting destroyed in what my fellow beard bro brett calls stringent ass combat he's not wrong demon souls may not have invented it but it certainly helped popularize the concept the world of bulletaria is unforgiving and brutal an evil fog has spread across the land and once incorruptible forces of good have fallen to darkness demons rule my character has traveled from afar to put things right but has become bound to the nexus after an untimely death only by using arch stones to travel between locations and defeating the archdemons who have taken over bultaria can i escape the nexus and save the world from darkness and madness knowing what's in store and developing a build is only the start of the completion journey you already know i build a big beefy boy who wields a six foot tall me cleaver as a weapon but i still had to learn the ins and outs of every level and boss to even scratch the surface not to mention i would have to learn and master what was different in this remake than the original game and maybe the biggest challenge of all would be unlearning everything that has changed about what the series has grown into the playstation 5 version of demon souls has fewer trophies than the playstation 3 game and the trophies are significantly easier to earn in fact despite its legendary difficulty this version of demon souls is much easier to complete overall don't get me wrong it's still the souls game but the reality of demon souls is much less fearsome than its reputation now at this point i've completed every souls born game for the completionist dark souls 1 2 and 3 bloodborne and most recently secured shadows died twice in a collaboration with the golden voiced god himself vati vidya now i know my way around the souls game and maybe it was because of all the subconscious training but i didn't find demon souls to be nearly as difficult as i was expecting it to be i'd go so far as to say that this version of demon souls is the easiest souls game to date to complete it might sound counterintuitive after all these games are legendary for their supposed difficulty but honestly after playing through several playthroughs of the exhaustively specific combat of sekito or the excruciating new game plus of bloodborne the old hunters completing demon souls almost felt like a relief because of how the combat is designed you see later souls games maintained and iterated upon the idea that any basic enemy can kill you and demon souls definitely still has that but demon souls is also very much the very first souls game its gameplay is extremely defensive and after playing later games in the series where offense and speed became more of the focus i felt like anything this game threw at me was pretty slow in comparison one thing i couldn't help but think about was the flavor text on a shield i found in bloodborne which came out over half a decade later shields are nice but not if they engender passivity in demon souls it's not uncommon for players to spend the majority of the game crouched behind a shield for first-time players this defensive mindset can take them surprisingly far illustrating just how much a shift in the designer's comment philosophy can it seriously affect how hard a game can be something else that diminishes this game's supposed difficulty is how familiar many players already are with the soulsborne formula a lot of demon soul's fabled difficulty is the little tricks and surprises it throws to the player but for the people who've played every other souls inspired game aka me i've seen most of the tricks the boss with the backup boss that shows up part way through yeah done that zombie hiding around the corner with the pickaxe saw it coming a mile away poison swamp please now these are still difficult to overcome in the moment but i need to prepare for them since from software and i have a history together at this point the game's bosses aren't nearly as bad as their descendants thanks to how much startup all the bosses seem to have in later games most bosses possess a mix of quick attacks that are hard to read and slow heavy ones that deserve to kill you if you stand around and get hit by them here in demon souls every boss seems like they're carrying around two tons of extra weight just about all their attacks can easily be reacted to and avoided let's take the tower knight for example the second real boss this two-story monstrosity is incredibly powerful and incredibly strong and even has the help of archers raining down arrows but the night's attacks are so slow they're effectively harmless yes he was able to bop me in just a couple of hits but i was able to run between his legs and take them out no problem after just a few attempts it might be because these bosses are actually slower or it may be because i'm used to this style of game by now but in any case these bosses were no sweat and pairing is even less useful this time around is it incredibly awesome and satisfying to pull off a parry of course it is yet enemies put themselves into so many recovery frames when they attack into your shield that they almost parry themselves adding to the fact that those stunned enemies take even more damage and it's almost like i don't need to parry at all these guys are doing my job for me i'll be real there are some mechanics in this game that just feel a little broken or again maybe this is just gameplay experience rising to the top here but my big boy this gigando sword-wielding man could essentially whomp anything he came across in one hit now obviously this wasn't the case at the very beginning of the game but after finding this signature weapon and learning its windup and range and all that combat encounters going forward felt a little trivial but even without the benefit of a decade of experiencing learning to love hate and master souls games demon souls very structure helps it to subtly feel like an easier game than it probably is this game is far less interconnected than its predecessors sure you can still warp from area to area but each environment is far more independent than the other souls games utilizing a more hub and spoke design than a twisting snaking series of areas that curl in and through each other now this ends up making the game feel more manageable specifically when you end up stuck or fed up with a particular path let's say you don't know how to progress further in world 2 well you can always just go back and check out world four knowing that you've got several safety nets to rescue you from a gameplay path that you don't feel like growing down ends up making demon souls feel far more accommodating than later games you know what i kind of love it i loved that i could just bounce between areas until i found a cool weapon or item that made another area easier it almost feels like miyazaki took a page out of the mega man book letting players figure out which world they wanted to master before moving on to the next this kind of structure is my jam and it's become one of my favorite parts of the demon souls remake i don't think i appreciated it enough when i first played the original but now that i've seen so many different iterations on the genre i can say that the way the world of demon souls is structured makes the game easier and honestly more inviting now i know i'm sort of the exception to the rule here so when i say that i found demon souls easy i don't mean to come off as elitist this remake is an extremely faithful recreation of the original game and of course that means that for first timers it's going to feel like getting kicked in your face over and over and over again i'm here to tell you once you get used to it there isn't anything that feels better than a souls game face kicking if you can handle demon souls you are well on your way to understanding why this special kind of pain is so wonderful to bear but demon souls is more than just the easiest souls game blue point games remake is almost the most user friendly version of the game that has ever existed if you're like me a player who kind of gave up on demon souls when it first came out but then got yourself a ps5 11 years later and are finally giving this game a legit chance you've picked the perfect time to dive into the deep end remakes can be tricky to get right when recreating a classic game with modern technology in an entirely new generation of players developers can run the risk of making changes that take away from what made the original so great but demon souls manages to capture what made the original so memorable and also shows off modern features that make this game more enjoyable it is not only the definitive demon souls experience but it's also the most user-friendly one right out the gate the online community is more active now than it probably will ever be for this game if you play online you'll see messages are everywhere the original demon souls had one of the most forward-thinking online messaging systems of any game and that became a defining characteristic of dark souls some messages are trolly some are genuinely helpful and it's a thrill to see so many phantoms running around the world this active online community makes this game easier to complete now rather than later of course the active online presence also impacts one particular boss fight the old monk fight is still one of the most awesome things about demon souls and since the online community is surging that means this boss is one of the most unique and challenging things to play see in this fight online players can get matched up with another human to battle so this boss is actually a real human person instead of an ai this was one of the most mind-blowing aspects of the original game and it's still intact here there is always the risk that a player will get matched against someone who is insanely good that's part of the fun this is how this particular boss fight was intended to be played against another living human now future souls games use the same idea but this is the first time and hey there's no shame in turning your network capabilities off if you just want to play against an ai opponent since the servers for the original demon souls were taken down in 2018 this modern remake is the only way to get the online related trophies again if you're trying to find random allies help you defeat a boss or trying to invade another player's game now is the perfect time who knows what the state of the game will be a few months or years from now players gunning for completion have their best shot at doing so right now because demon souls is super popular but even though demon souls is more in the public consciousness than it's ever been it still retains a sense of mystery this remake manages to capture all of the weird charm in the original but also makes some of those quirks a little more palatable so for example demon souls does something that no other souls game does the player character has to deal not just with the weight of the equipment but with the weight of every item they pick up in the original this was an incredibly annoying thing to deal with every weapon ring and straight helmet added to my inventory ran the risk of completely over encumbering my character and that's still the case here but with a more important caveat now players can send any item to the storage guy who hangs out in the nexus at any time this is what i like to call a tiny huge change one that makes for a way better experience in the game as a whole there's also the fact that the shards i picked up to upgrade my weapons didn't need to be my inventory to use them this meant that i could always send shards to the storage instead of keeping them on my character's pockets or what have you again one of those tiny huge changes that makes a big difference over dozens of hours of play one of the most significant new features of the remake is the fact that it's on a whole new system this version of demon souls has one immediately noticeable major advantage over the ps3 original load times they're basically made trivial in the remake one of the most discouraging things about any souls game is the long run up to a boss by after getting killed but this remake makes jumping back into the fight feel like way less of an ordeal purists might grumble that the old way is part of the identity of demon souls than having to endure a long wait to attempt a boss fight again helps raise the stakes but i disagree here instead of waiting around through long loading screens i was able to get right back into the action dying is a feature in every souls game but these fast load times honestly help to make bulletaria more immersive for me and i think they'll do the same for new players who want to understand the world of souls it's hard to describe how much of a positive impact this has one of the reasons i was turned off of demon souls in the first place was that it felt like the software itself was pretty much turned against me i remember running into glitches and bugs pretty frequently in the original demon souls and i didn't even get to complete it but this remake uses the full potential of current generation hardware to soften the blow of even the most heartbreaking losses the more powerful console also allows for something i didn't realize i was missing graphical clarity there's just so much more detail in this remake that basic interactions are much more enjoyable take the very first boss in the bulletarian palace the monster phalanx in the original demon souls it's difficult to even imagine what this boss is supposed to be it just looks like a weird dark blob in the remake it actually has definition more importantly i had a sense of what i was attacking which made the boss fight easier the graphical upgrades here actually resulted in a smoother and better gameplay experience because i knew what the hell i was looking at these kinds of changes made completion so much more enjoyable i honestly felt a sense of relief the more i played because this remake feels incredibly smooth all around the changes blue point made feel additive rather than subtractive the aesthetic choices and general hardware improvements drew me in they also helped highlight several of the changes made in regards to trophies and made collecting them a fun challenge instead of a frustrating one almost every souls game ties trophies and achievements to defeating bosses in this remake a handful of bosses are tied to more than one trophy one for defeating the boss and one for defeating the boss and satisfying a special condition at the same time these accomplishments could have been extremely frustrating instead they were a welcome challenge as i tried to meet specific conditions instead of just simply relying on tried and true tactics take the fool's idol the not full trophy popped when i defeated the boss without attacking any of the clones that spawned in the area as well this actually helped increase not just the challenge but the satisfaction of defeating the bosses because i was completing this game as efficiently as i could i tried to shoot for the moon in as few playthroughs as possible that meant that every boss i battled i aimed to satisfy the bonus condition in that fight as well if it had one but since everything feels incredibly optimized in this remake i loved the challenge and felt encouraged to chase every new thing blue point laid out in fact everything was so user friendly that i was surprised that the new big thing blue point added seemed like it would be a big hassle i love that this demon souls remake is essentially a high def version of the original but blue point also added something completely unique players who had mastered the original noticed something pretty quickly when they started to play the remake a new locked door in a location where there wasn't one before this door can only be opened with a special key and that key can only be found by gathering dozens of a new item ceramic coins these coins are a call back to the other high profile playstation exclusive remaster that point worked on shadow of the colossus in shadow of the colossus the 79 added coins also unlocked the door in that game which led to a secret sword in demon souls they lead to something just as cool so these coins are actually very difficult to find they only appear in fractured mode which is unlocked after offering thousands of souls to a particular statue in the nexus even after doing that world tendency is also a factor ceramic coins only appear when world tendency is fully white or fully black which meant if i wanted to earn those coins efficiently i had to play the remake in an extremely specific way but even with these restrictive conditions at least three make did a decent job of letting me know what world tendency even was unlike the original game by making this mysterious factor a little easier to comprehend completion of demon souls is that much more within reach but gerard what the heck is world tendency i hear gamers everywhere asking this it's a somewhat complicated mechanic that only exists in demon souls and no future souls game simple explanation is that it's kind of a morality system that changes the state of each area in the game depending on my actions ranging from pure white to pure black in general performing heroic actions like defeating an invading player or killing a demon shifts the tendency towards white but villainous actions like killing npcs for no reason or dying while in body form shifts the tendency to black when the tendency is pure white some previously closed doors will open when it's pure black there are hostile red phantoms everywhere and enemies are stronger and give more souls when defeated so it's kind of a risk reward thing going on here weirdly enough though defeating some hostile npcs will always shift the tenancy to black even though i was simply defending myself come on this guy was clearly coming right for me as interesting as it is to see how this series has evolved demon souls has always had its own distinct identity it was always known as being vague and frustrating compared to dark souls this remake smooths a lot of the rough edges it is a great way to bring the past to the present the user friendly touches that blue point lace throughout help make it even more memorable completion feels more attainable than ever even though it doesn't quite feel justified enough for the rewards [Music] offered completing a souls game is always a tremendous accomplishment demon souls is no exception despite being the most accessible souls game in my eyes completing demon souls required me to play through the game multiple times in extremely specific ways and though i loved what i earned part of me wishes that i had the time to simply explore this lonely world in a less efficient way mastering demon souls is easier than in other souls games defeating every boss and earning their souls gave me the options to purchase all the spells and miracles i needed unlocking those trophies associated with that feat even though i wasn't playing a magic or faith-based build it felt good to get those trophies out of the way in fact every trophy in demon souls remake feels amazing to earn but the game's biggest new secret is that door learning how to unlock it and then actually accomplishing what's needed to do so takes a lot of time and what's actually behind that door is pretty freaking awesome a set of penetrator armor now look i love unlocking secret gear usually because it's something truly amazing and game breaking a real testament to the people who've gone out of their way to find every little tiny thing but in demon souls this armor is special because it isn't that special it looks awesome don't get me wrong but it doesn't make the player invincible or give them super powers or anything at all it's not even particularly that good in pvp it's just cool armor and earning and using it shows that the player has had the patience to play through this game enough at least two times to find every necessary amount of ceramic coins it is undoubtedly very cool but to me i couldn't help feeling mildly disappointed maybe because i was too bought into the hype of what was behind the door but the fact that it's even armor and not like some kind of new weapon is too bad a new weapon would have changed the way the game is played even if it isn't ultra powerful but new armor doesn't push me to action it's nice but not if it engenders passivity when i completed demon souls there were 44 bosses collected over three playthroughs my favorite being old king alant who is easily the most fun to fight against 26 ceramic coins gathered i love that bluepoint has made this their signature thing and i can't wait to see what they put coins in next metal gear solid remake next possibly 37 trophies earned even if you've platinum this game on the ps3 it's worth doing so again because so many of the trophies are completely different 52 hours of total play time which was way less than i anticipated and one bare-handed perry that is the most metal thing i've ever seen look at this guy guy was just going for a high five and got completely dominated demon souls has always been like the weird grandpa of the soul series right yeah it's the one that started it all but it was always difficult to actually get into because it was on an older platform it was glitchy and enhanced body online support but now grandpa's got a new coat of paint and this metaphor has really gotten away from me look if you've got a ps5 somehow go play this game even if you play demon souls on ps3 it's absolutely worth it to play it again with insane new graphics and load times that are so fast the game deserves all the princess getting and the chance to play through something so iconic we're about to hopefully get a new from soft game in the near future is extremely special but complete demon souls is tough to recommend it takes a lot of time and effort to manipulate world tendency much less than multiple playthroughs required to earn enough ceramic coins to peek behind the newly added secret door look if you're a die hard souls fan go for it otherwise i give this game my completionist rating of finish it finish it [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The Completionist

Views: 910,971

Keywords: dark souls, demon souls, dark souls remastered, demon souls remastered, monster hunter, dark souls 1, dark souls review, dark souls gameplay, playstation, playstation 5, ps5, demon souls ps5, demon's souls, demon's souls review, demon dark souls, ps5 demon souls, review, gameplay, completionist, digital foundry, game review, soulsborne, bloodborne, demon's souls rebuild, bloodborne review, bloodborne ps5, bloodborne gameplay, dark souls 2, dark souls 3, Bluepoint Games

Id: b0-hdCU1KK0

Length: 27min 59sec (1679 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 19 2020