Dark Souls and Demon Souls
We have another Demon Souls Gameplay trailer and it looks amazing.
The fame FromSoftware enjoys is primarily attributed to the work they did on Dark Souls. But before Dark Souls, the company made Demon’s Souls. The two games share so many elements that it would not be an exaggeration to call Dark Souls the spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls. Dark Souls is renowned for its incredible difficulty, which is why casual gamers avoid it.
If you want to witness raw and unfiltered gamer rage, watch an uninitiated gamer play Dark Souls. But some people cannot appreciate a video game unless it torments them with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Did I play Dark Souls? Yes. But I got as far as the spider boss in Blighttown, then my laptop threw a fit.
I formatted the machine and got it up and running again but my interest in the game had waned. That game had a lot of charm, but Bloodborne is far superior. It is set in Yharnam. Your character, a mysterious hunter, has been unleashed on the streets of the gothic city. Hunters are revered warriors that hunt the beasts that plague Yharnam.
A blood disease has ravaged the city. The very people you are expected to protect have mutated, and will attack you on sight. You must plow through the lot to identify and destroy the source of the nightmare. Bloodborne has an engaging story, but the combat is the biggest draw. The weapons are awesome; I could not get enough of the Kirkhammer; a long, slender, silver sword with quick thrusts and swipes.
But then, you stab the blade into the thick square block on your back and it becomes a massive hammer that rams, batters and smashes with satisfying ease. Dark Souls is easier because you have a shield. If you share my cautious attitude, you can just hide behind the thick piece of metal, only emerging long enough to poke your enemy in the eye with a ranged weapon before ducking back. You won’t find any shields in Bloodborne.
The game wants you to attack, to throw yourself right into the fray, which is why you have to make do with a firearm. The Hunter has unbelievable reflexes. If you know your stuff, you can weave through anything the game throws at you, rolling this way, leaping that way, even as you cut here and stab there.
Don’t expect the gun to save you. Fire the weapon in the fraction of a moment before your opponent strikes you, and the bullet will stagger them, leaving them vulnerable to a vicious attack. Shoot too early and you won’t even slow them down. You can’t get greedy. Your character has a stamina meter that the Hunter drains every time he attacks or evades.
If that meter runs dry mid-combo, the hunter will just stop and watch, helpless as his enemy rips him apart. This is why caution matters. Strike when you see an opening, then wait. A split-second roll is all it takes to put you behind him; unless you have the Hunter Axe, in which case you can just charge an attack, timing it to collide with the creature mid-pounce.
You will die a hundred different times. If you can fight the urge to put your foot through your screen, victory will eventually come and that tidal wave of rage will bloom into overwhelming jubilation.
