The challenge that these games offers is not the same kind of hard-for-the-sake-of-hard frustration that some games fall victim to. And as one final point, let me also say this: Anyone who has not tried Demon's Souls or Dark Souls should not let the now-legendary difficulty of the series discourage them. Instead, From Software stayed true to its original form, even deciding to increase the challenge for Dark Souls. I also think that it's astounding that developer From Software could make lightning strike twice - it would have been far too easy for some developers to misinterpret Demon's Souls overwhelming success in North America and try too hard to tweak the subsequent formula to cater to American tastes. In fact, I can honestly say that Dark Souls could steal some serious thunder from Skyrim by offering a more fresh yet hardcore approach to the genre. In short, Dark Souls improves on every aspect of its predecessor, and with the new open-world structure, Dark Souls can easily stand up to the industry's western-developed heavy hitters (like Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls). Combat is also enjoyable and very deep, and enemy mobs are more varied than in Demon's Souls. Instead of the Nexus hub zone, players can rest at bonfires, where they can also upgrade weapons and armor, among other things. The linking of various zones works kind of like classic Metroid or Castlevania maps, where shortcuts to previous areas can be unlocked, making exploration valuable and rewarding to the overall mission. It's also at least three times the size of all of Demon's Souls' areas combined, and the zones are still diverse and well-conceived. Unlike Demon's Souls, which had the Nexus serve as a hub between several more fragmented worlds, Dark Souls has interconnected areas that form one gigantic, seemless world. But the biggest change here is the open-world structure. The graphics are more detailed and crisp than ever. The artistic style, starting classes, soundtrack, and multiplayer options are all quite similar as well, but again, they have been tweaked to be a bit superior to that of Demon's Souls. ![]() Its controls are identical to Demon's Souls, yet they are even more precise than before. ![]() I find it interesting that Demon's Souls was far better received in North America than in its native Japan (790,000 copies in NA to Japan's 300,000, many of which were sold after the game's subsequest success overseas), as the game reflects more western RPG conventions and D&D-esque styling than the increasingly common anime-styled games that get labeled as "JRPGs." Dark Souls is a spiritual successor in the purest sense of the over-used phrase. As dark, challenging, and repressive as the game was, Demon's Souls still managed to feel like a breath of fresh air in the staling game market, throwing back to classic mechanics that were left in the 80s and early 90s with 8-bit, 16-bit, and arcade games. ![]() As dark, challenging, and Back in 2009, I spent 120+ hours of my life on Demon's Souls, and since then, I have not found its equal. Back in 2009, I spent 120+ hours of my life on Demon's Souls, and since then, I have not found its equal.
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