Demon’s Souls
I think this is the first time Demon’s Souls has been mentioned on Riddlethos.com. During the latter portion of 2009, I heard the name a few times, but never paid much attention to it. Literally all I knew is that it was yet another Atlus-published JRPG. While I have a great deal of love for the Persona series, it takes more than an Atlus namedrop (or the namedrop of any publisher) to get me interested in a JRPG.
It literally wasn’t until Demon’s Souls started garnering GOTY nominations – and in some cases even GOTY awards – that I took a serious look at the game. And now, admittedly, I’m sorry I missed out. Really sorry, actually. Looking back over 2009, I realize that I’ve almost entirely forsaken what once was my genre of choice, the JRPG. The last one I played and finished was Persona 4, and that was early 2009.
It’s hardly any fault of mine, though. This console generation has not been a good one for JRPGs. I’ve played two that I can truly say were great, and those would be Lost Odyssey and Valkyria Chronicles. (Persona 4 is a PS2 game, so it doesn’t count.)
But I’m always more than willing to renew my faith in the genre. I’ll be giving Demon’s Souls a shot soon enough, I’m sure.
Runner Up: Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
Tags: Demon's Souls, Riddles' Picks 2009, The One that Got Away
I should be recieving this any day now.
I couldn’t agree with you more…this game completely slipped off my radar with the releases of uncharted 2, the new CofD, Batman and all the other phenomenal games that came out in 2009. This might be my first purchase of 2010, I have been trying to hold out for the Deluxe Edition but with it’s $200 – plus price tag it wont be happening.
@Abe80: Wow, that’s approaching Activision-stupid-plastic-addon levels of pricing. What kinds of swag do you get for that kind of money?
I’ve gotta say, as much as I love JRPGs, Demon Souls is just one that never piqued my interest for whatever reason. I think at this point I’ve heard enough about it, but for whatever reason it never really appealed to me. I think it might have been the difficulty level that drove me away. I love a good challenge as much as anybody, but I’ve never really been a fan of the “death as a learning experience” strategy.
What’s impressed me about Demon’s Souls is that people who hate challenging games still love it, and I’ve only heard positive sentiments about it. Considering how fickle and whiny gamers can be, to hear only good things about a game like this is rare.
I can’t play it — no PS3 — but it will be one of the first games I buy when/if I get one. Riddles it totally right about current-gen consoles having no decent JRPGs on them. Even the two everyone seems to love — Demon’s Souls and Valkyrie Chronicles — aren’t traditional, turn based “Fight, Magic, Item, Run” JRPGs.
Is that a subtle hint to get me to try it, Glenn? Because I’m in the same boat as Darth: I was turned off the game from the start because of the apparent difficulty.
Macstorm finished it and loved it. My brother, who also hates difficult games, played it for a couple of weeks and was enjoying it, but he gets tired of games quickly and I don’t think he finished it. Still, he didn’t stop playing because of the difficulty and he said only positive things about the game.
It is an action-RPG, though, and I don’t recall you being a fan of that type of game. It’s more like Diablo 2 than a normal JRPG.
I hate excessively difficult games, yet had no problem persevering with those sadistic Hades pillars in GoW, so if done right it shouldn’t be a problem. I just like to get a little further each time, rather than completely obliterated.
Ooo! Mac and I usually agreed quite a bit. Maybe I’ll try it.
And I like action-RPGs! In fact, save for a relapse the past week or so, I’ve been like Riddles and never really playing my previous genre of choice recently.
Demon’s Souls is not even close to a JRPG. It’s closer to a roguelike. Just sayin’.
You are doing yourself a disservice if you do not play this game as soon as you can. If atmosphere was ever A Thing in Games, this is it.
Also, the online portion and the death mechanics are really clever and forward thinking. It is actually a better idea to be dead at certain points, so, instead of just being a failstate, death turns into a mechanic.
The fact that you can die at any time makes this game nightmarish and compelling and frothfrothfrothfroth go play this NOW I’M MAKING YOU
Dude, we have an atmosphere rating on our review scores. And I remember you pimping this out before. …I’ll look into it…
Demon’s Souls came today, and the art book and OST round it out into a beautiful package!
I love how Atlus does that. One of the best parts of buying an Atlus game new, in my opinion.