Demon's Souls director talks difficulty, sequel possibility
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Nov 6th 2009 at 11:30PM } 
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
bumblo @ Nov 6th 2009 11:32PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfslY_AvhLw
Sly @ Nov 7th 2009 12:43AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV35p47c6sk&NR=1
i like the second time more. haha.
MC Double Def DP @ Nov 7th 2009 5:10PM
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!
Lars @ Nov 9th 2009 6:04PM
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.
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 6th 2009 11:34PM
No one beat this game yet, right?
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 6th 2009 11:34PM
Plenty of people have beaten this game.
I'm on my NG+ as we speak.
Lekko @ Nov 6th 2009 11:49PM
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.
ShadowflareXIII @ Nov 7th 2009 12:22AM
I have, the first week actually, ...mainly in my mad quest to get *EVERYTHING*!
That Burning Sensation @ Nov 7th 2009 12:24AM
Nobody with something better to anyway.
Filthy Assistant @ Nov 7th 2009 1:06AM
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.
Monica Dickey @ Nov 7th 2009 3:12AM
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.
phinnvr6 @ Nov 7th 2009 4:24AM
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.
ryan @ Nov 7th 2009 7:50AM
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.
Residentevil72501 (PSN: rankore) @ Nov 7th 2009 12:10PM
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.
RagingStormX @ Nov 9th 2009 6:18PM
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.
fundando @ Nov 9th 2009 8:57PM
Yeah I'm on my new game plus too . This game is awesome.
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Nov 6th 2009 11:35PM
Is this game broken hard ( cheap enemies, bad controls) or just hard hard?
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 6th 2009 11:38PM
Ikaruga hard.
kentuckyfried @ Nov 6th 2009 11:40PM
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.
bumblo @ Nov 6th 2009 11:42PM
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...
dgknight500 @ Nov 6th 2009 11:44PM
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.)
bumblo @ Nov 6th 2009 11:45PM
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.
Filthy Assistant @ Nov 7th 2009 1:08AM
Demon's Souls is fair. You just have to not be a total idiot while playing it and you'll do fine.
mahouneko @ Nov 7th 2009 5:24AM
@Winterfang:
There are no cheap enemies. If you die, 99% of the time is clearly your fault because you didn't pay attention and bit off more than you could chew. The remaining 1% is usually because you died to someone else in PvP.
Pro-tip:
Don't lock-on and roll when near cliffs or anything that you can fall off from a great height.
mahouneko @ Nov 7th 2009 5:34AM
@kentuckyfried:
People have been thinking that the 6th World might have been cut from the game. It's that World with the broken/crumbled Archstone on the map.
Other than that, the US version basically got all the fixes that prevents people from cheating the game (such as using Plague to kill bosses or hitting the PS button to force-quit the game to prevent a death or even the glitched soul-farming by killing yourself and touching the bloodstain).
The glitched soul-farming had a very specific process involved and the devs were informed of the glitch and patched it. Other than that, it's a very well-coded game that doesn't have any game-breaking bugs (aside from stupidly dying to the Dragon King AFTER you've killed the Dragon King).
ryan @ Nov 7th 2009 7:55AM
Forget farming the reapers in 4-2, if you have Black World tendency, go for the manta rays in 4-3/4-4 with Avarice and Storm Ruler equipped. Each drops 2k+, you'll get 200k in no time, suicide/repeat of course. This made the game much more easier than it needed to be, but it did help out with successive play alot.
nriveraexpress @ Nov 7th 2009 6:49PM
lol you ppl make me laugh its cheap, its not you fault when things jump out our fly by and murder you in one hit, and i dont even wanna know how hard it is without playing online where you cant see hints and blood stains. Ppl really need to get off this games dick cause it dares to be hard in a time where games seem to be getting easier, its commendable yes and i know ppl get exited for ps3 exclusives but lets face it...its cheap
WREturns [Planeteer I Power of The Final Countdown] @ Nov 6th 2009 11:37PM
This or Dragon Age?
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 6th 2009 11:39PM
This.
kentuckyfried @ Nov 6th 2009 11:46PM
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.
Dreaded Fear @ Nov 6th 2009 11:56PM
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.
TriviumSuffocationTheBlackDahliaMurderLambOfGod @ Nov 7th 2009 12:18AM
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.
WREturns [Planeteer I Power of The Final Countdown] @ Nov 7th 2009 12:29AM
Now I'm more confused than ever.
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 7th 2009 12:30AM
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.
Sly @ Nov 7th 2009 12:46AM
@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.
kentuckyfried @ Nov 7th 2009 1:10AM
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.
GuardianLegend @ Nov 7th 2009 1:20AM
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 :)
phinnvr6 @ Nov 7th 2009 4:28AM
Definitely this. But eventually, both.
russell @ Nov 8th 2009 8:35AM
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.
bumblo @ Nov 6th 2009 11:48PM
what previous version? ohhh you slipped a link to your website there, you sly dog! you!
Fragmonky @ Nov 6th 2009 11:50PM
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.
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 6th 2009 11:55PM
when your playing demon souls: 8 people can keep a secret if 7 are dead.
xtremeholymuffin @ Nov 7th 2009 2:32AM
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.
mahouneko @ Nov 7th 2009 4:02PM
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.
Lekko @ Nov 6th 2009 11:50PM
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..."
kentuckyfried @ Nov 7th 2009 12:00AM
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.
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 6th 2009 11:50PM
And pushing something of questionable legality, too!
CH3BURASHKA @ Nov 7th 2009 12:00AM
In what other situation can someone sanely say, "I did it! I made it to my bloodstain!"
Bubbameister33 (Confused by Fanboyism) @ Nov 7th 2009 10:05AM
A teenage girl.
Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 7th 2009 11:24AM
Baby Shaker?