Will Play for Souls

You know those games that with enough skill, time, and determination you can get through them without dying even once? Well, Demon's Souls is not that kind of game. If you don't want to read a long review, then I can leave you with this: You will die; you will die often, and you still won't be able to stop playing it.

For those of you still interested enough to listen to the rest, please continue reading. It's a long one, though, so I'll wait while you use the bathroom and get a snack.

Ready? Good. First, a small description of the plot (which I still don't really understand at this point). This is paraphrased from the Wikipedia article for the game. King Allant XII used the power of souls to guarantee the prosperity of his kingdom: Boletaria. However, King Allant had unleashed the Old One (I am in awe of their creativity), an ancient beast who had been slumbering beneath the Nexus. The Old One brought with it a fog that covered Boletaria, and infested it with demons who are after your soul. Many heroes have tried to free Boletaria from its curse, but none so far have succeeded.

Now to the good stuff. Automatic plus for the game: customizable character creation. The character's basic stats are chosen by class; you can choose from: Knight, Priest, Thief, Magician, Temple Knight, Soldier, Wanderer, Barbarian, Royalty, and Hunter. Different classes have different starting equipment; some will start with a spell or a bow, while some (i.e. the Barbarian) will start with no armor.In addition to basics such as age, gender, etc., you can make your character look anyway you want in a character creator that uses sliding scales to change pretty much every detail of your character's face. One odd thing in the character creation is a sliding scale for their gender where you can make them more masculine or feminine separate from their actual gender...well...I guess if that's what works for you...anyway...

You start off in a basic tutorial where you go around finding out how to attack, use your shield, and use items. However, you end this tutorial by dying at the hands of a giant demon that kills you in one hit (two if you're lucky). Now, it's obviously not game over when you die, because this is the first of many deaths, but a few things happen. You are sent to a place called the Nexus, a place for souls where you can also buy items, or deposit items that you've picked up for later use. It is here that you find that you have lost your physical body. Regaining your body only requires you to obtain a Demon's Soul, but your HP has been halved while in spirit form. The Demon's Soul can only be acquired from a boss-level demon, but you have to battle your way through lesser demons first. The souls you collect from them are used as currency throughout the game. You can then use one of the Archstones to be teleported to a place within Boletaria.

One of the most important things to remember is that you cannot pause while you're in the middle of a level. The only completely safe place in the game is the Nexus, but the game also auto-saves pretty much constantly. So before you start playing make sure you have a good amount of time, or someone to hand the controller off to. The aforementioned soul-craving demons like hiding around corners, behind things, and in dark rooms. They're armed with swords, bows, firebombs, and spears; some are wearing full armor, while others are wicked fast. No matter how quickly you can kill them, they can kill you just as fast. Even in the beginning stage you will die several times, and at least one path is blocked by a foe we have yet to beat. Every time you die, you lose all the souls you've earned, but if you can make it back to where you died you can pick those souls back up.

In addition to using souls to buy items, repair weapons, or upgrade weapons you also use them to upgrade your character, which replaces a traditional level system. You choose one of your basic stats to upgrade, which then upgrades things like your physical/magic defense, HP, spell memory, etc. You have to know what your character needs to really make the most of this system.

Really, the only bad thing I can about this game is that sometimes playing the same level for the eleventh time gets a little frustrating, but for some reason you just keep playing.

On to a point break down:

• Battle System 10/10 - It's easy to switch between weapons, magic, and items, which is good when you're in the middle of fighting a demon that wants, and is completely able, to make you into a shishkebab.
• AI  9/10 - While you will encounter some enemies that are pretty dumb, many enemies are going to put up a good fight.
• Graphics  9/10 - The graphics are good; the characters and world are highly detailed. This game has a pretty stunning look.
• Storyline 8/10 - It's hard to get a real feel for the storyline when it takes you fifteen tries to get through the first level, but from what I've seen it looks good; it's better than most games' at least
• Difficulty 10/10 - This game is hard, sometimes bordering on impossible. Why is this a good thing? Most games try to coddle you by giving you lots of items, and easy enemies. This game all but tells you that you suck, and I think that's what makes you want to keep playing it.

So, final score: 46/50. I know I've said it before, but this game is hard. You're going to die, maybe at the hands of a basic, firebomb wielding demon; maybe at the hands of a boss that will kill you by looking at you. However, the bottom line is you're going to keep playing it. You're going to play it and beat it just to prove that you can.

And I think a picture to wrap up this very long review: this is what you're going to look like after playing for about half an hour (though hopefully not so...baby-like, but you never know)