Dark Souls - Demon's Souls Spiritual Successor

“There Is No Safe Zone In Dark Souls,” Says Producer Hidetaka Miyazaki. “You might laugh because you die so much”.

This is going to be awesome.

I would be very surprised if nowhere was safe, to be honest. Encounters in Demon’s Souls were always bounded and discrete, even if they were dangerous. Even with no hub area, I’d take a bet you could nip off to make a cup of tea at almost any point whilst playing this (assuming you weren’t connected to PSN and weren’t in combat) and not come back looking at a corpse. Which is a good thing, of course. It makes the sudden shocks all the sweeter.

Very excited for this.

There really need to be safe zones or at least a pause function for offline play.

My relationship was close to breaking during Demon’s Souls because I would need to fine safe spots in order to help with dinner/chores.

I loved everything about Demon’s Souls except playing it. I got too frustrated, but I don’t blame the game for that. I’m happy to have supported it and From has definitely earned my future interest. I’ll be getting word of mouth first, though, to determine if it’s the type of game I want.

Demon’s Souls is probably the first game I’ve ever purchased, hardly played, and still been really happy with my purchase.

As Hunty said unless you’re in body form and online (running the risk of being invaded) as long as you’re not immediately in combat you’re pretty much always safe as long as you don’t move and trigger an enemy. It’s really not hard finding a safe spot in most worlds. World 4 with those damn stingray things flying overhead could be tricky sometimes.

Doesn’t Demon’s Souls save whenever you quit and brings you right where you left off?

Yes, it does.

I heard about this, but I was never man enough to test it out. I always returned to the nexus before quitting.

Yeah, I know, and saving does save you pretty much to the spot, but when it comes to helping with laundry or whatever, it’s easier to pause it than have to load up a save when you come back to it.

All I want is peace and quiet when I try to play!

It appears that a lot of people weren’t aware of the save-anywhere feature of the quit to main menu. For all of it’s strengths, Demons Souls had some issues with communicating features to the player. Discovering gameplay systems= fun, discovering menu system functionality = not fun.

It also doesn’t help that the game design doesn’t really encourage short save anywhere sessions, so its natural for people to assume that it wouldn’t support that kind of feature.

Not really hard to test out. Go to a world you completed, 1-1 maybe, go a little ways in, quit and load and see what it does.

It definitely does, I’ve done it many times.

What the shit?! REALLY?

I’ve basically had very little progress in Demons Souls and had shelved it because of short game sessions, but I had no idea it did that…I figured a game that makes you replay everything anytime you die would never auto save you exactly where you were so I never quit out of a level that way.

Maybe I’ll actually see the rest of the damn game now some day. That would have been nice to know.

Yep, everything stays exactly as it was. You’re standing in the same spot and any enemies you’ve killed are still dead when you come back.

That’s not 100% true, but close enough. Possible spoilers to follow.

For example, in 4-1 when I’ve reloaded the pressure plates for the arrow traps would be reset and I’d have to be careful around them again. I’ve also noticed in 2-2 the glowing floating firebomb mine things will reset, too.

That is fantastic, I am now excited to play again.

Thanks for bringing that up everyone. I might actually finish it before Dark Souls comes out now!

Oh gawd this game sounds so much more devious.

Preview details:

After the initial tutorial, you’ll find yourself in the middle of some old ruins, overrun with foliage and dilapidated stone structures. This is where you’ll apparently be able to travel to different areas of the game, but in the demo we ventured up some steps off to the side to try to sneak past a slumbering dragon that’s perched on a stone overpass. Undead warriors greeted the knight as he made his way up the steps, and Kajii pointed out that you’ll need to be much more aware of your surroundings this time around, because you’ll find that enemies will come after you from all directions.

Arrows and Molotov cocktails are just some of the things being tossed your way as you try to fend off enemies right in front of you. The dragon, which remained sound asleep, will wake up if you make too much noise, and if you want to snag the treasure right next to it, you’re going to have to be very quiet about it.

The final area that we visited also happens to be the developer’s favorite, and we can see why. It’s nicknamed “Trap Road,” and the entire dungeon is packed with booby traps and other fun ways to die. Deadly arrows will shoot out of nowhere, and the path is narrow, and the only way to get past is to weave through a row of swinging pendulum blades. Spells will once again be available to you, including one that coats you in solid iron to protect you from damage. You can’t roll with this spell, however, but you’ll be well protected against attacks. Another feature we saw is your ability to turn into a vase and tuck yourself among other vases to hide from other players. Like before, all the online integrated features will be included, so players can once again play together or against one another.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/rpg/projectdark/news.html?sid=6297337&mode=previews

People not understanding the menu system is part of a larger “problem” that Demon’s Souls is a game that absolutely demands that you read the manual, not just for basic menu mechanisms but also for some very important game play hints that do not appear anywhere in-game.

While I generally liked the lack of hand-holding in Demons’ Souls, I do feel that any hints / “spoilers” that are important enough to include in the manual should also be accessible somewhere in-game. (I wonder: Do Japanese game players generally still read manuals?)

I got my copy used when I bought my system at a local game shop, so not sure if I even have a manual. Though they are usually good about having them with their games. I agree though that something that important should be in the actual game somewhere.

Those levels described above sound neat!

Psh, pansy. The bosses are the easiest part of the game and there’s only a handful of bosses I died on.

Also, I haven’t been this excited about a game since Deus Ex 2 was announced.