Demon's Souls director talks difficulty, sequel possibility

by Richard Mitchell on Nov 6th 2009 11:30PM

Perhaps you've heard, but Demon's Souls is a hard game. Like really hard. Like bone-crushingly, soul-scathingly hard. Speaking to Game Informer, Demon's Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki explains why. According to Miyazaki, the difficulty was designed around giving players "a sense of accomplishment," specifically in regard to the soul collecting mechanic. For those who haven't played the game, souls act as currency and you lose all of them upon death. They can be regained, but only if you make it back to your bloodstain without dying twice more. Trust us, it's not as easy as it sounds.

According to Miyazaki, "If the Souls could be recovered anytime, there would be no suspense or sense of accomplishment." He added that he wants players to feel like, "I did it! I made it to my bloodstain!" Of course, Miyazaki fails to mention the sense of utter, despairing failure one feels when they don't make it back to their bloodstain (a frequent occurrence).

Regarding the possibility of a sequel, Miyazaki said he couldn't give a direct answer, but noted that the team learned a great deal on Demon's Souls and there were several things that didn't make it into the game. Given the opportunity, Miyazaki said he would "welcome the chance to create an even better game in the same style." Gluttons for punishment that we are, we'll take it.

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Tags: atlus, demons-souls, from-software

Reader Comments (99)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfslY_AvhLw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV35p47c6sk&NR=1

i like the second time more. haha.

Yup, I stood just far away from the Blue Dragon so his fire couldn't reach me. Then I shot arrows at him for 30 minutes.

The game really isn't that hard, but it is involving. Reading online some different strategies really helps cutback on dieing. And don't carry so many souls at once, spend them!

Exactly. It's really not that hard. It's challenging, yes. But there are plenty of other games that really hurt to die in. Diablo 2 for example, punishes you more for dying. Some games take away your XP. Trails HD is way more difficult. I could go on...

What I mean by "challenging" is that it's not that difficult if you play smart. If you run into masses of mobs just wildly swinging your sword, you are an idiot and will die.

No one beat this game yet, right?

It's not THAT hard to beat it, but actually getting and doing everything in the game is insane.

It's one of those games where you have to play it like 5+ times just to do everything and get everything in it. Platinum trophies only given to the truly obsessive.

Nobody with something better to anyway.

Yeah it only took a few days to beat, it's collecting all the stuff that's absolutely insane. The game itself isn't really all that hard, despite what some seem to think.

I rented this and it was cool. It's okay once you learn what you're doing... but I'm not into games with so much trial and error. I like something I can jump into and enjoy, not feel like I'm conducting an experiment in what will get me killed or not in a virtual environment.

Uh what? Tons of people have beat it. I'm really close to the end, its an amazing game. The best Action-RPG i've ever played I think. I don't have enough fire resist to figure out a way around this blue dragon (I do wanna kill it though) near the end and its pissing me off. He killed me like 10x.

You don't need fire resist at all. You just gotta know when to run past his fire breath.

First time wait till he starts breathing towards the middle (not at the middle) then run through (if you killed the fat guys). Second time wait till the fire is passing either left or right and just run through up the stairs to the safe middle section where you can snipe or use magic. Without the clever rat's ring you'll be here a while so bring plenty of arrows or magic replenishment.

Yeah I beat it 1.5 time in the first 4 days it was on the market. I put over 60+ hours on in in 4 days.

I am on my 3rd play through (one more play through to learn all spells, miricles and obtain all special weapons)...the only thing I find to bea challenge is getting a pure bladestone. That shit has nothing to do with luck.... I was farming the phantom black skeleton in 4-3 (~ 4-2) for a whole day and didn't get it, only thing I got was about 9 million souls, but no pure bladestone.

Yeah I'm on my new game plus too . This game is awesome.

This or Dragon Age?

This.

They're both good, but Demon's Souls trumps Dragon Age in the originality department.

Think of Shadow of the Colossus, but several times harder. I think the best analogy is this:

In Shadow, you had to ride your horse and maneuver your way to each creature, and then climb each creature and hit its weak point. If you screwed up badly, you'd have to re-climb the creature (either b/c you fell off or I think in rare instances, you were killed if you fell from too high a height). But the re-start point is always at the bottom of the creature's foot.

In this game, if you think about it, it's a similar structure, except that when you die, the game puts you all the waaaaay the hell back where you start off and you'd have to ride the damn horse all the way to the creature. But thankfully, it's not nearly as tedious in DS (though for some people, have to try and reach the boss again is unbearable).

I'm told by veterans of this title that once you know the game, there are shortcuts so you don't need to spend too much time getting to each boss.

When you pay or $60 for this game, you get everything that the developer had created. When you pay $60, you are greeted with day one overpriced DLC.

Demon's Souls is a great game and it's a good challenge. I haven't been raped this hard in a game since like... well, ever. And I play a lot of difficult games. Granted, games haven't been quite as challenging this generation, but Demon's Souls changes that. Demon's Souls is addicting and rewarding.

With that said, though, Dragon Age is an all around better game. Where Demon's Souls stumbles (ie: the story, characters, world), Dragon Age delivers. Dragon Age feels like a living and breathing world with a lot of culture and personality. Also, crank Dragon Age up to 'hard' or 'nightmare' and you'll have a game that kicks your ass. The strategic battles cannot just be played like a normal hack n' slash here. You will need to use pause and play, chug potions constantly, and all that good stuff. The gameplay here is more in the vein of NWN and Baldur's Gate. A real return to form for Bioware.

Both are worth owning, no doubt, but in the end I'd have to say Dragon Age is a better buy, as it's the complete package. Dragon Age also lasts about 10-15 hours longer than Demon's Souls on average.

Now I'm more confused than ever.

As a BioWare fanboy, I have to recommend Dragon Age. It's enthralling-good characters, story, etc.

Despite the complaints about the DLC, you don't actually have to buy it. And it's only six dollars anyway.

@Fear

codes for the DLC are included with new copies of the game. you only have to pay for it if you bought the game used.

Dragon Age is going to be selling for $40 on Black Friday (it's weird seeing something that just came out getting discounted so heavily, esp. considering it's very good).

Demon's Souls isn't going to take a discount anytime in the immediate month, so you might want to get that first.

They're both good titles to enjoy, you can't go wrong either way.

I haven't played Dragon Age yet, but I would say that Demon's Souls is for the Diablo 2 kind of gamer. It's a pure "power gamer" type of game. There is no story to speak of. No talking. You just play for the sake of becoming powerful. Killing stuff. Farming ore to power up your stuff.

For me, Diablo 2 was fun until I tried all the classes and their skills. After that, the game become almost worthless to me. I'm approaching that point with Demon's Souls. I just need to play the Dexterity weapons and then I think I'm through with this game.

I do hope that RPGs start to mimic DS's melee combat system though. It's quite good :)

Definitely this. But eventually, both.

Above comment is a lie. There is a huge story, but it's not just handed to you through the game. You have to seek people out, unlock them from cages, kill their captures, and then you speak with them and they tell you parts of the story. They give names, and accounts, they tell about how people are related and associated. The more people you talk to the more you realize there is an intricate story at play with all the characters and even the bosses. You can also read about every single item, as it has its own story and will also fill in some of the blanks about the big picture.

Also, playing the story, such as getting black character tendency and speaking with Mephistopholes, can unlock side story lines, you can even alter the ending of the game. NPC black phantoms appear in worlds in which you've reached black world tendency, and you also earn more souls per kill by being in black character tendency. This is one of the most intricate, challenging and unique aspects of this game: character and world tendency.

Ikaruga hard.

It's hard in the sense that if you screw up, it can be unforgiving. You can't lose your patience and do something rash.

There's at least one segment in the beginning of the game that's a bit of trial and error too. I'm hoping to get past that part soon (a couple of people have already mentioned a permanent solution that should make this part of the game less tedious).

I can't comment outside of that yet but plenty of people have fallen in love with the title. I'm not quite there yet but I do love the game purely on its aesthetics alone at this point.

I wonder what was cut from this title...?

In any case, an outstanding job by From software. I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

No it's definitely not cheap. It has a relatively steep learning curve, but it only takes a few levels/bosses to learn from your mistakes and that's when you start adapting automatically. Once you do adapt and get the hang of it, it becomes quite enjoyable and not to mention there's this whole PVP aspect of the game too...

It's not really hard. It just doesn't hold your hand. 99% of the time you die because it was your mistake (like trying to get that elusive treasure at the end of the cliff only to get squished by a dragon, skewered by a wall of arrows, or fall to your doom.)

It's really not a big deal losing souls either, once you get to your second playthrough and get the ring of avarice, you can farm the reaper in 4-2 for about 14k=16k souls per kill. This only takes about a minute or two if you have a good bow.

what previous version? ohhh you slipped a link to your website there, you sly dog! you!

The main thing you have to do is spend your demon souls as soon as you finish a level, or even when you open a shortcut door in the middle of a level... trust me.

when your playing demon souls: 8 people can keep a secret if 7 are dead.

I second this advice.

The moment you get cocky and decide that you can push all the way through the level and take on the boss because you're on such a roll is the time that your dead body is going to be stuck behind legions of troops, resulting in you losing tens of thousands of souls and breaking your controller on the wall.

Depends on how self-reflective the person is. When I do something wrong, I usually ask myself "what did I do wrong and how can I avoid repeating the same mistake?" Going through that process makes me re-evaluate my strategies and facepalm myself much more frequently.

With Ninja Gaiden Sigma series though, I find myself really tempted to throw the controller because of how cheap some of the enemies were, compounded with camera issues and the occasional bad level design.

I know I have lost a few good huge hauls of souls completely and just decided "okay.. and that's all for tonight" and turn the game off and just quit.

That's usually at about 4am after quite a few times saying, "just one more..."

hahah...I KNOW that feeling already. =D

I didn't die on the first boss, but I sure as hell stayed up to 4 a.m. thinking, "I'll call it a night at 2 a.m." But once 2 a.m. rolled around, I was too excited to put it down.

The director drives a good point...without having to struggle, there wouldn't be a sense of relief of having overcome the obstacle.

And pushing something of questionable legality, too!

In what other situation can someone sanely say, "I did it! I made it to my bloodstain!"

A teenage girl.

Baby Shaker?

Two of the best comments I have ever read.

FYI, the interview has alot of strategy spoilers...skip it if you haven't played and want to.

There's one I really didn't want to see. Oh well. =(

Thanks for this great game.

I can't make up my mind about this game. I'm not sure whether to get it or not. I'm the guy that got to the final stage in the DS remake of FF III and laughed at my DS, turned it off, and never went back.

Please, someone make a difficult decision for me.

...this game is perfect for you.

having got the game last week and beaten 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-1, 4-1 (so not very much)

I already consider this game to be the best thing since Shadow of Colossus. God damn this game is awesome. I love how I saved a certain dood and then he goes crazy in your Nexus and starts killing people. The game has no sympathy for you at all. You screw up, it auto saves, you can go f*ck yourself.

oh and to think I almost gave up on the game during 1-1 and 1-2 because I thought it was too hard at first. It got easier to an extent as you go on but substantially more awesome.

I know who you are talking about and yes he is an asshole. You should kill him.

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Demon's Souls director talks difficulty, sequel possibility

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