Archief - [PS3] Demon's Souls

Moloch zei:

hm, te frustrerend voor mij dus blijkbaar

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Wollan zei:

I didn't know a lot about this game before January of this year. I had heard the name in passing but I hadn't seen it nor did I know what genre it was set in.

Today the number of people playing MMO-rpg's probably outnumber the amount of people enjoying singleplayer rpg's. I enjoy both categories but the market today is very much black and white in this regard, there aren't many games that lay somewhere in between. I think Demon's Souls demonstrate the potential here greatly, actually I would say it hits a home run. A relatively hardcore rpg on the PS3 by From Software. Upon bootup, you are connected to the online server (you can only play totally offline if you force it). Let me lay it out for you.

Noteworthy features:

• Multiverse gaming. As you are exploring, you will notice phantoms in your proximity from time to time. These are other human players in their alternate dimension. These are figments that only last for a few seconds before they disappear into the air again.

• The game divides between soul form and being alive. If you die in this game, all enemies respawn in the level and you are brought back to the start and you are now in soul form which means you can only have 50-75% of max health. This may sound harsh but it's actually a very well balanced system that makes adventuring interesting. There's three ways to resurrect to full potential again: Co-op quest completions, PVP victories and the use of rare (and expensive) items.

• In soul form you gain the option to invade another players dimension. You can only invade living players. When you arrive, they will receive a huge message that says 'Black Phantom 'username' has entered'. You are now both in PVP mode. Receiving that message as a living player is ultra-frightening since the above mentioned penalty for dying applies. What's also cool is that the black phantom player can walk among all the monsters and enemy creatures throughout the level as you're on their side. If you manage to kill the living player you regain your soul and resurrect to full strength.

• Co-op is also an option in this game. If you're in soul form you may place a marker on the ground that you're available. Living players will then in their dimension see these and they may call upon these blue phantom players to aid them. If you manage to kill a boss, the blue phantom player resurrects and returns to their dimension. What's cool about co-op markers on the ground is that they're always relative since they are location based. You will often find co-op markers in areas leading up to a boss for example.

• Location based Messages. This is another really interesting feature in this game. You may at all times choose to post a message on the ground, anywhere. These messages will show up in other players dimensions. 'Watch out, enemy surprise attack ahead', 'look up for clue', 'secret road ahead'..etc. Messages can be rated, also beware of false ones... It's like you painted a forum over the game. The thing is, you can only combine keywords so while they are very useful (it's a hard game), they don't describe the situation to the nth degree, you're still on your own. Like co-op marks, the messages are location based so they're always relevant. It's a really elegant system.

• Death replays. Whenever someone dies, they will leave a pool of blood (or soul aura) a few steps before it happened. If you click on this you may see how this player met his/her demise. You will see a transparent figment of that player for example walking along an edge and then fall off. You may also reveal enemy surprise attacks by looking at these sequences.

• World events. The game is divided into five different worlds with different themes (torture prison to coastal island to plague caverns..etc). Your black phantom activity (PVP), Co-op questing and general adventuring determine if the different worlds are aligned to white aura or black. Different events might come from this. There are certain wandering a.i characters in the game and determining on the world aura you may join them in raids or maybe face them in combat (they are super hard).

There's so much more to talk about in regards to this game. 10 classes to choose from. Item system is 95% forging vs 5% looting. Integrated leaderboards in the game in the form of player statues. The almost complete lack of music and focus on ambient sounds. The combat is really well done and fighting is very satisfying. The atmosphere is top notch and the game is really eerie for a rpg, there are full-on horror sections actually. The art is very consistent and realistic. The game is totally open ended and takes 50-100 hours to finish (you can skip two thirds of the content if you wish) but you can continue each time with a newgame+ option (it becomes harder and harder, you keep equipment and character). The voice acting is surprisingly good.

Demon's Souls is the best 'western' rpg I've played in years and it was developed in Japan.
Hopefully some western publisher will bring it over but right now you can import the Asian version (not Japanese) which offers a 100% English option.
Demon's Souls not only demonstrates how you can make a rpg in the grey area between mmo and singleplayer, it's a total home run on this concept. Can't recommend it enough.

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Chronic zei:

Hoe vet game ook is, je zal momenten van intense frustratie kennen.

Je moet eerst 1.1 uitspelen voordat je kan beginnen lvlen.

Na 1.1 kan je kiezen waarnaartoe. Er zijn 5 chapters, elk met 4 subchapters en een boss.
Stel je voor dat je 5.1 doet, je geraakt aan portal voor boss met 6000 souls(genoeg om te lvlen of gear te kope).
Ofwel ga je door naar boss met kans op whipe en verlies souls, ofwel backtrack je en cash je je souls in.

Stel je probeert Boss, sterft, alles spawned terug en je dient volledige subchapter opnieuw te doen. Je komt terug aan zelfde Boss en je raapt je oude souls.
12000 souls in de pocket, je whiped helaas terug. Bij het terugvechten naar de boss sterf je echter door een misstap. 12000 souls kwijt 4 ever...

Geen plezierreisje als je je dus snel opjaagt

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Elvenking zei:

Ma wa een pokkemoeilijk spel is me dit. Ik geraak gewoonweg niet uit de eerste missie... Hoe the fuck dood je die draak??? Ik geraak daar zelfs ni in de buurt, iedere keer die flame breath ... Da death penalty systeem is gewoon te belachelijk imo.

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soulgamer zei:

Nopez sorry, ik wacht nog steeds geduldig op mijn copy. status: "waiting for suppliers"

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Elvenking zei:

Wil je een spel dat niet uitgespeeld is in 10u, dat veel diepgang bied en hou je van RPG's: zeker kopen.

Als je jouw controller naar je tv smijt en een scheldtirade begint na bvb 5 deaths in een level, laat het spel maar liggen dan.

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