Dark Souls versus Demon's Souls

[Mistah Straightedge]

I plan on taking advantage of gamestop's ridiculous "return a used game in seven days for all your money back" policy to test out Dark Souls. However, there doesn't seem to be a gamestop in my area that has any copies of Dark Souls that are used.

SO I was thinking I could pick up a used Demon's Souls instead. I've heard that they are both very similar games.

My question is: would playing a bit of Demon's Souls be a fairly accurate way to see if I would enjoy Dark Souls? or are they different enough that I really to play Dark Souls?

or, more specifically, if I enjoy Demon's Souls, will I enjoy Dark Souls?



Thanks

 

[hazabaza1]

From what I've seen they play very similarly.
As for whether you'll enjoy it, do you like difficult hack and slashy action with (what seems to be) fairly realistic combat? (Excluding magic and stats, etc)
If so, you probably will.

 

[Vault101]

has deamons souls been completley shut down now?

 

[hazabaza1]

has deamons souls been completley shut down now?

Pretty sure Atlus said they're leaving the servers open for another few months. Though from what I've seen, there's hardly anyone on any more.

Of course, this is all from recent youtube videos I've watched, I don't actually know for certain.

 

[Slvrwolfen]

I've not given Demon's Souls a try, but from what I hear Dark Souls is the superior of the two in that it's not as punishing and a bit more refined. Many say that if you had to pick from the two, take Dark Souls.

 

[Blue_vision]

I'm pretty dead set on getting Dark Souls as well, but I'm just wondering how big a part of the game the multiplayer component is. Not just that I could care less for online multiplayer in gaming, but if the community ends up dying down, will it render the game crippled? Or will it just take out a small feature of the game and leave the rest to be enjoyed forever and ever?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I'm pretty dead set on getting Dark Souls as well, but I'm just wondering how big a part of the game the multiplayer component is. Not just that I could care less for online multiplayer in gaming, but if the community ends up dying down, will it render the game crippled? Or will it just take out a small feature of the game and leave the rest to be enjoyed forever and ever?

I've played offline for the entire game (about to beat it), I haven't noticed anything off or missing. It plays just fine as a single player RPG.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I never quite finished Demon's Souls (Got to the final boss on pretty much all of the areas, and quit for some reason), and I'm in the middle of playing through Dark Souls right now, and I have to say, I think Dark Souls improved on most of the aspects of Demon's Souls.

They're very similar games though, they play pretty much exactly the same way combat wise. Demon's Souls is different levels split up by a hub, Dark Souls is more like Metroid/Castlevania in that there are different paths to take and you can return to areas on a higher level and beat enemies that were blocking your way before, but it isn't completely open like Oblivion or something.

I'd say you should buy Demon's Souls (It's pretty cheap nowadays, it's a Greatest Hits, right?) and if you like it, get Dark Souls.

I'm pretty dead set on getting Dark Souls as well, but I'm just wondering how big a part of the game the multiplayer component is. Not just that I could care less for online multiplayer in gaming, but if the community ends up dying down, will it render the game crippled? Or will it just take out a small feature of the game and leave the rest to be enjoyed forever and ever?

While it's an interesting mechanic, it isn't necessary to enjoy the game at all. Dark Souls allows you to summon certain NPC's for boss fights, so unlike Demon's Souls where you had to summon players to help, you can use the NPC's instead in Dark Souls. (Though you still can summon other players if you wish.)

There are some advantages to playing offline as well, like not being randomly ganked by a Black Phantom in the middle of a dungeon. (Rare occurrence, but still irritating as hell.)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Demon's Souls is a better start, anyway. It's easier due to MP regen available from the start.

If you like one, you'll probably like the other, so go with Demon's Souls for now.

 

[SageRuffin]

I've a quick question: I've heard various things about the game's difficulty. Is this game "God Hand"-hard (where you gotta learn the controls and enemy patterns, then it's pretty fun), or is this "I Wanna Be the Guy"-hard (where unless you're clairvoyant or out-and-out psychic, you're fucked)?

 

[Eldermage]

Demons Souls: one stat governs how much stuff you can carry
Dark Souls: no such stat

Demons: You can't sell surplus equipment
Dark: You eventually unlock an NPC to 'sell' off stuff

Demons: Magic bar (MP), which you can use items to recover.
Dark: Spells have a limited amount of uses, so far, you can't recover uses until you rest at a bonfire; no MP bar at all.

Demons: Dying and being in Soul form grants a little bit of extra stealth at the cost of halving your HP. Also, depending on a game mechanic called tendency, you do a little bit more damage or not.
Dark: Dying and being in Hollow Form doesn't affect you other than looking like a husk. Some NPCs will prefer to talk to you in Human form, and to upgrade the bonfires, you need to be Human.

Demons Souls: uses the tendency mechanic to increase/decrease rare drop quality, enemy spawns, your character potency in battle, areas unlocked.
Dark Souls: uses the Covenant mechanic, a la NPC 'guilds' that will provide you with spells, items, etc. You can freely join/quit them, but quitting them will make the covenant npc hostile to you.

MP in both games is mostly for PVP to gain 'humanity' or Co-op to tackle extremely tough areas/bosses. No chat possible between 'party members'.
MP in both games is a small feature imho.

Overall, I felt that Dark has your character being a tad sluggish compared with Demons' in respect to combat. Nothing crippling, just a slight delay or slower animation, but you can still get accustomed to this in less than 5-10 minutes. Both games have steep learning curves but are extremely rewarding once you beat each areas' challenges

 

[Eldermage]

I've a quick question: I've heard various things about the game's difficulty. Is this game "God Hand"-hard (where you gotta learn the controls and enemy patterns, then it's pretty fun), or is this "I Wanna Be the Guy"-hard (where unless you're clairvoyant or out-and-out psychic, you're fucked)?

God Hand hard, definitely. It just takes patience and learning the locations of traps/enemies, or otherwise, yes, you are toeing the IWBTG hard bit.

Now that I think about it, it's a point between these two, until the moment you learn the locations of everything, it becomes down to God Hand.

 

[Eldermage]

There are some advantages to playing offline as well, like not being randomly ganked by a Black Phantom in the middle of a dungeon. (Rare occurrence, but still irritating as hell.)

Happened to me 3 times. After that, I've been extremely aggressive in defending my areas (doesn't hurt my Blue phantom partner has helped me gank them back).

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I've a quick question: I've heard various things about the game's difficulty. Is this game "God Hand"-hard (where you gotta learn the controls and enemy patterns, then it's pretty fun), or is this "I Wanna Be the Guy"-hard (where unless you're clairvoyant or out-and-out psychic, you're fucked)?

The former. Death is a learning experience and it can always be avoided. The game doesn't kill you just to kill you.

 

[JambalayaBob]

I've a quick question: I've heard various things about the game's difficulty. Is this game "God Hand"-hard (where you gotta learn the controls and enemy patterns, then it's pretty fun), or is this "I Wanna Be the Guy"-hard (where unless you're clairvoyant or out-and-out psychic, you're fucked)?

It's God Hand hard. IWBTG hard is known as artificial difficulty.

 

[VincentR]

Multiplayer isn't required to play it; but I really do enjoy it more with the internet connection active. Even if I don't actually play with other people, I seem to subconsciously (and consciously, to an extent) enjoy the game a lot more when I am constantly running past player messages/hints, and the blood-stains of players, as well as seeing "ghosts" of other players doing things all around me.

On-topic: I'm not sure it really matters which you play first. Demon's Souls DID look a SLIGHT bit better graphics-wise, but I'm pretty sure that's because of two things. One: the game was quite a bit smaller, over-all. And two: the levels were sectioned off - by which I mean, they were separated by loading screens. Whereas Dark Souls seems to be all one huge, preloaded game.

In addition, Demon's Souls was SLIGHTLY harder, at least in comparison to my playthrough of Dark Souls so far. Mainly because dying there cut your health in half (or down to 3/4, depending..) and also turned your world tendency black - making the enemies even stronger than they were before you died. So you get triple screwed; you lose your souls, half the health, and stronger enemies.

Oh, and as I read this thread while I'm typing: as others have said. It's God Hand hard (though I haven't actually played that one.. heard it's fun though) and not fake difficulty, like IWBTG. There are very few times in either Demons or Dark, where you will blame a death on the game instead of your own over-eagerness, impatience, or lack of understanding in regards to a boss, or a trap, or something of that nature. That said, however, I have run into one part so far in Dark Souls that infuriated me. Sure, it was still my fault, but it was just a lame death all-around.
*Semi-Spoiler, but not really*
At one point in the game, you are in a swamp, when you come across what looks essentially like a water-wheel from a mill or something, but is also an elevator. And at the top, you clamber off it and onto the next level, to continue on your way. Unfortunately, there IS a gap, so you have to roll/jump - and my timing was less than spectacular. So I fell to my death. It just felt like the one cheap death in a game full of deaths normally caused by my own stupidity.

Also, on Eldermage's comment about a load carrying stat: he is correct that there is no limit to what you can carry in your "back-pack" or whatever extra-dimensional space carries the loot. But there is still a stat regarding how much you can wear.

Anyway: tl;dr - either one is a fine jumping off point. Demon's Souls is slightly harder in some ways.