if you play it backwards the devil appears?

. . .having utterly rinsed Dark Souls on the 360 and with a solid 2 weeks off work coming up ive decided the only way to spend it. . . buy a copy of Demons Souls and a PS3.

Having never played it before or read much about it im intrigued as to how its gonna play out, taking into account that games are supposed to improve with each iteration and i'll be going in reverse. .

. . so looking back, what differences are likely to be the most interesting or challenging when coming at it from the wrong way, as it were?

Healing is...different. you can farm for the healing item. There is STILL a dupe glitch that can make the game crazy easy. But all in all the games are as similar as they are different. You will have a ITEM burden as well, so no carrying 999 of each type of arrow. The world is more reactive. If you play offline, you deaths and victories actually affect your world. Which is amazing. If your online it still works, but is more collective of the online community. Look up 'world and character tendancys' its great. When you've played it report back. I'm always interested to see peoples opinions on demons when they have played dark first.

Too bad the online aspect of DS is gone.

Odinbear wrote:Too bad the online aspect of DS is gone.

Dono what you mean by this man. If you get a good partner to play with you can co op your way through..... very.... jollily?

Odinbear wrote:Too bad the online aspect of DS is gone.

I was playing it last night and the servers are still up dude.

I did the same things as the OP, played Dark then Demons and I found Demons to be a pretty different experience. I thought the bosses were a bit easier than in Dark but some of the mobs are ridiculous. Which can be annoying since shortcuts are less frequent than in dark and since there are no bonfires if you die to the boss you have to run the entire stage again.

I'd say Dark Souls is an improvement but Demons Souls is still an awesome game that any Dark Souls fan will enjoy

Its not fair to say dark is better due to the bonfires, demons was intentionally cruel like that. The bonfires are great, but they are edging towards the typical games. Helping the players along is nice but not the souls style. I can argue either way, which is better. But i favor souls mostly due to the invasion/summon system working MUCH better. Covenants are an amazing development for co-op, but darks online connection or whatever is lacking compared to demons. Its much easier to play with a friend. Lay sign down in designated area. Summon. Done. No waiting. No failed summons. Its much better for co-op.

If you're planning on playing with a EU release, then I can confirm that the server/s are still very much alive and kicking, but be warned having recently returned back to DeS I am finding it a heck of lot easier than DkS. It's still the best Souls game though.

passivefamiliar wrote:Its not fair to say dark is better due to the bonfires, demons was intentionally cruel like that. The bonfires are great, but they are edging towards the typical games. Helping the players along is nice but not the souls style. I can argue either way, which is better. But i favor souls mostly due to the invasion/summon system working MUCH better. Covenants are an amazing development for co-op, but darks online connection or whatever is lacking compared to demons. Its much easier to play with a friend. Lay sign down in designated area. Summon. Done. No waiting. No failed summons. Its much better for co-op.

I don't think the bonfires are so close together that it makes it easier. There are shortcuts in Demon's and an unlimited supply of healing, plus more bonfires means more enemy respawns if you so choose.

Regarding summoning, that's due to dedicated servers which have their own issues such as cost (3x as much for 3 platforms), online is gone once they are off, and region locking. I'm torn as to which is better because I played almost all of Demon's hollow and by myself and while I don't like all the failed summons, I do like the fact that online will never be off as long as people still play.

@PassiveFamiliar I think Dark provides just as much challenge as Demons but without as much tedious backtracking through areas. I think the developers made a massive improvement with the bonfires and shortcuts to bosses. I feel like in Dark once you've beaten the mobs you've proved that you can beat the mobs, so when you get spanked by the stage boss you can dive right back in to the boss fight which is exactly what I want to do. I don't want to spend twenty minutes fighting my way through the mobs every time I die against the boss, it's not challenging, it's just tedious. Imagine if you had to walk the cathedral rafters and take down the Anor Londo archers every time you died against Orns and Smough, would it be more challenging or just bloody annoying?

Maybe a hybrid system? So that when you rest at a bonfire, you don't get your flasks back, and enemies don't respawn? So if you used up 18 of your 20 flasks making it to the boss, you can try again with the same distance, but with the same consumables?

@OFB, I hear what you're saying, but in Demon's the run to the Bosses were never that long to begin with, and more often than not they were useful in helping to replenish souls for healing items, etc. In all the time that I've played Demon's I can safely say that I've never once thought 'oh crap I've just been spanked by the Boss now I've got to trudge all the way through that whole soddin level again', simply because this was the game, and in time I learned to live with and love it, to the point where it being missing from Dark came as a major disappointment to me.

I love Demon's with a passion, and I love Dark with a passion (all be it a slightly lesser one), I recognise that both are not perfect, but each has it's merits, and one things for sure what we've got in both titles stands head and shoulders above everything else on the market, and for this I am immensely grateful.

i loved it. getting used to no poise as a knight was tricky, but faith gets a lot more love! yay!

US servers are down, right? How do I get the eu version?

Odinbear wrote:US servers are down, right? How do I get the eu version?

no the servers are still up for all versions!
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/05/25/demon-39-s-souls-servers-staying-online.aspx

That really warms my heart knowing this. It will be a very sad day when the Demon's servers do shut down, as it will effectively herald the end of one of the best video games ever made. Until then, I will keep on returning to Boletaria from time to time, as it really does feel like a home away from home at times.

Its an EU version that i'll be playing so im well happy there are still plenty of people playing for me to hook up with or invade.

Probably looking forward to getting into the lore more than anything, trying to recognise where everything originated from. Also really curious about the 'world and character tendency', gonna be going in totally blind of course so its gonna be a whole new experience.

Who'd a thought being a virgin would be so much fun!! haha

There's nothing you need to look up to finish the game blind, especially if you have played dark souls first. The tendency system is mostly for sidequests, so you can just ignore it on the first playthrough.
But, the weapon upgrade system is very confusing, with around 15 different upgrade paths. So a wiki is more or less mandatory for advanced upgrades, although it's not needed for the first playthrough either.

You should be fine as long as you avoid killing helpful npcs, and don't consume demon's souls.

eminusx here's a tip for you (if you want it)-

Spoiler:

Above everything else enjoy your time in Boletaria, and maybe our paths will cross.

ublug wrote:But, the weapon upgrade system is very confusing, with around 15 different upgrade paths. So a wiki is more or less mandatory for advanced upgrades, although it's not needed for the first playthrough either.

I agree. Some builds are more difficult than others to complete because of a brutal drop system which is tied to WT. If you play in black WT, the drops are better (game is harder), but keeping the system black requires you play offline (it resets to neutral each time you start the game again).

Dex builds are PvP powerhouses. Both the Sticky bow and the curved weapons are beasts. But the stones required to complete them are elusive.

For pure combat survivability and easy of completing, I'd go with the Faith/Strength build. Just by having the minimum faith, one of the NPC's in the nexus will give you a Pure Faintstone. Having the faith based weapon equipped give you health regen (and not the lame kind that the Sanctus gives), and it stacks with both a regen ring and shield. Get enough strength to use a greataxe, and master the rolling AOE attack. It's very similar to what you get with the Grant, but the game's equip load mechanics make it much easier to do in a fast roll.

Dual wielding is also more effective (which adds to the Dex build power). You can cross swords and strike simultaneously for a huge damage bonus.

I love the classical approach to dungeon crawling, in comparison to the open world/bonfire system of Dark Souls. I still miss the Poise system, though

The Wandering Knight wrote:

Odinbear wrote:US servers are down, right? How do I get the eu version?

no the servers are still up for all versions!
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/05/25/demon-39-s-souls-servers-staying-online.aspx

Well, that's messed up. Swore I quit playin when I heard they were goin down.
I tried DS FIRST, found it very hard, so I put it down. Bought DkS though and found its easier.
Later I started DS again, was as far as the Tower knight, alone. Neat battle. I summoned once, got invaded a couple times. Loved the "fit & feel" of that game, much more sinister.

Hmmm, am going to start playing again, just cause I love the online aspect of both games.
Awesome news.

Odinbear wrote:

The Wandering Knight wrote:

Odinbear wrote:US servers are down, right? How do I get the eu version?

no the servers are still up for all versions!
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/05/25/demon-39-s-souls-servers-staying-online.aspx

Well, that's messed up. Swore I quit playin when I heard they were goin down.
I tried DS FIRST, found it very hard, so I put it down. Bought DkS though and found its easier.
Later I started DS again, was as far as the Tower knight, alone. Neat battle. I summoned once, got invaded a couple times. Loved the "fit & feel" of that game, much more sinister.

Hmmm, am going to start playing again, just cause I love the online aspect of both games.
Awesome news.

it is!