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11.09.2009

Curse you Demon's Souls!


This game is infuriatingly difficult, and good. The first thing this game does is make you change the brightness settings. That being said, it's a dark game. Not just in your brightness settings, but also the world itself. It has so much atmosphere, from the first level that you play, to the last Arch Demon's you encounter.

Levels: There are 5 area's total, each separated into 4 sections, commonly referred to as 1-1 etc, which end with a boss fight. After defeating the boss of starting area 1-1, you may go to any of the other first sections of the other levels, which are in turn all equally infuriatingly difficult. Furthermore each world, has a "World Tendency" either towards light, or dark, which in turn affect the mobs you face throughout the level (by making them more difficult if it's dark tendency), and by opening up doors, or dropping NPC's into the level that will have certain effects to your game if encountered (won't spoil it!). This light, or Dark Tendency can be effected by things you do, I'll go more into that later.

Weapons: This game has so many weapon types, there are Daggers, Scimitars, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Polearms, Bows, Crossbows, Wands (for Magic), Talismans (for miracles). Each weapon have requirements for use; say if you want to equip a Katana and it says Strength 22 if you have strength 11, well you can't equip it with one hand, but if you push Triangle it'll put away whatever you are holding in your left hand, giving you 22 strength, now you got the power! But you did just put your shield away, so that's the trade off. Each weapon can be upgraded quite a bit, and in some cases they can be upgraded to some pretty amazing weapons by using the boss Demon's Souls (So don't use those Demon's Souls until you know exactly what your doing with them!).

Magic & Miracles: So there is a magician, and a priest in the Nexus area, which is basically your hub, your home, and the only place that is... uh safe. This place is where you upgrade your armor, your weapons (mostly), and equip spells to use. These guys will teach you magic, and miracles to use and equip in exchange for the proper amount of souls. Anyone can learn these, and use them in the levels, which makes for quite a versatile game, as you can make an assassin that can also enchant his Dagger with a spell for more damage, or heal himself if badly injured.

Did I say this game is difficult? Well if I didn't I will, this game is hard! and the thing is, no matter how far you get, the next area is bound you kill you many times. Furthermore, there is this "Flesh" and "Soul" mode your character lives (or dies) by. By that I mean, during your first level you will notice that your health is capped at half (unless your wearing a specific ring that'll move it up to 3/4 health), and your appearance is a bit ghostly, you my friend are in what I call "Soul Mode" only after you defeat the boss in 1-1 a large notice will come up and say "YOU HAVE REVIVED!" your health uncaps, your ghostly appearance changes to a more rubbery fleshy appearance, that is what I call "Flesh Mode".

Soul & Flesh Mode: Lucky you, you've revived, and now have a few more things opened up to you! But be careful! One death, and it's back to "Soul Mode" for you. While in flesh mode, if you are online you will begin to notice the white marks on the floor, these marks are set by other players who are in that same level, and are willing to join your world to help you in your struggle to keep your flesh! Watch out though! As this is a double edged sword, you also become open to attack by other players whom are in "Soul Mode" and are looking to kill you and take your flesh, that's right, if another player invades your world and kills you, they are now revived, and you are a sad sad soul, no longer able to summon people to help you. In turn you can now do the same thing as them, and attack other players for their flesh, This is where the game takes large twist.

PVP VS PVNPC: This game, it seems can be played in two completely different styles, you can just play the game to play the game, beat the bosses all that. Or you may just be one of those people who like to slap ice cream cones out of little kid's hands and yell "YOU REMEMBER ME FOREVER!" If you are that type you'll probably be fashioning your character in a way that works best against other players, while the player who just wants to beat the game, is building his/her character to fight the NPC's well. These two builds are not the same thing, and you'll notice quickly.

All in all I recommend this game for people who enjoy beating themselves over the head with a sock full of quarters as a form of entertainment, or people who like to spend hours upon hours, upgrading your weapons, abilities, and challenging yourself (which actually happen to be the same type of person :D).

Good luck suckers!

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