I played Demon's Souls well after playing Dark souls several times over and the thing that stood out to me the most was how Dark Souls maintains its immersion better with the lack of cutscenes. Demon's Souls was a great game but you could tell that Fromsoftware was actively trying to improve their games from the beginning.
I've known of this game for ages but never tried it due to the unforgiving difficulty. I just feel I'd be more frustrated than challenged and I try to play games to relax. Spoiler warning, for any one else who isn't going to play it, (or already has), I recommend "The Affairs of Passing Gods" by Solemn Sunday. They cover the entire storyline and lore for the game including full voice acting for characters that have dialogue, and helped me enjoy what this game had to offer without the headache of trying to experience it on my own.
Bla bla bla yeah yeah yeah the mechanics of the game ladidaa... ...impossibly repellent idiot story line anyone? It is, like, worse than a poop grenade thrown towards me.
Playing the demo of the remake has me coming back to this. "Figuring out the meaning of this symbol is one of my favorite puzzles of all time" -- there is something near the very beginning of the remake that in my opinion seriously undermines this. Was pretty disappointed to come across that.
I played Rain World and just recently, Ghost Trick because of these "Recommending" videos. Both were fantastic experiences I would have otherwise missed. Thanks a lot for this video series Mr. Matosis
I just now realized that the dooming "thud" at the start of each day is the same sound as what's used for large doors that shut behind link. So really it's not a copy of the "Law and Order" sound effect warning you of time passing, it's actually the door closing on your current day before a new one begins.
This game was awesome and has flaws. Mediocre video ngl. Just comes off as spiteful that new gow is so much more well liked. The greek games are overrated. In God of War 1, 2, and 3 you'll die from falling down a pit thanks to mediocre design instead of dying during a battle.
Glen I'm starting to wonder if you're actually Matthew in disguise trying to boost the algorithm, seems like the most believable reason anyone would keep commenting with so many alts
i am a bit disappointed since I put this video of until I had beat Demon's Souls (the new one and the Original) I don't know, people say this video is ''prophetic'' (especially since they did reuse the concept of ashen estus), but to me it seems a bit narrowminded in the view what the games should be. Ignoring that maybe they want to be approached differently. It doesn't see all these games as seperate entities but as one large series. Just like there were games before Dark Souls there were also games before Demon's Souls.The same way he seems to not like blood vials, some people seem to praise. It especially is funny too that Demon's Souls also works similarly with it's healing system. I also find it a bit confusing if he is critiqueing the combat system or not. He seems to have that weird notion that any sort of action game is only good if it's complex, when he says that if he wanted action he would play something else, completly ignoring the possibilty of someone enjoying these games, as action games, because of their simplicity. It seems very much like a view of, if this one thing is different in a way I don't like so I should ignore everything else in what ways the developers are innovative. Because they certainly have. And if you disagree and you don't like the new bosses of newer games that's fine, but as pointed in the video itself it's not what these games are solely grounded on. Each of these games have pretty unique worlds and interesting NPCs plus different stories and philosophies they want to tell Also in the same vein as said here that it would repetitive to always use snow scapes or gwyns them, I would very much argue that the gimmicky nature of Demon's Souls' bosses is indeed quite repetetive. And also DS3 has boss gimmicks, like Abyss Watchers, like Yorhm which of course is a reference to Storm King, like the Wyvern etc. It's just that the gimmicks are interspliced in to the action. I certainly appreciate those gimmicky bosses more than some fans and complains certainly come from the internet's obsession with boss rankings, but I also think that it makes sense that they aren't 90% of the games bosses. Demon's Souls is a great game by it's own merits just like any of Fromsofts other games, but it seems a bit skewed towards the view that Fromsoft already ''Fell Of'' in a sense. When realistically you will find a fan of any of their games just like just like you will find one hating any of them, specifically because of how they are creative in different ways. This includes Armored Core 6 (and theoritically the 15 AC titles before) and Sekiro which weren't out when this released I might come back to this later but there is a bit about this video that can be critiqued that people purposefully seem to ignore for the sake of nostalgia. That said I do think it's a good video.
This video is “prophetic” because it predicted the direction future installments of the series would take. As for the rest of your comment, as you wrote yourself, you beat Demon's Souls not that long ago, so you are not part of that small niche group of gamers who are “responsible”, so to speak, for the success of the series. The thing that was responsible for Demon's Souls' success in the West was the game's downright bizarre design, which brought it a huge fan base. The criticism from Demon's Souls fans (such as myself) stems from the fact that, over time, all of the uniqueness of the design has slowly begun to fade away in subsequent games in the series, to the point where even the difficulty level that was once “difficult but fair” is more or less a thing of the past. Essentially, this critical approach is no different from the opinions of fans of older Assassin's Creed games, many of whom are unhappy with the way Assassin's Creed has changed in recent years. Are they too narrow-minded and a bit skewed towards the view that Ubisoft already ''Fell Of'' in a sense, or does this only apply to Demon's Souls fans who share Matthewmatosis' view? Edit: Just to be clear about what I define as “games in a series.” Personally, I don't count Sekiro and Bloodborne as part of the series started by Demon's Souls, due to the fact that in both of these games the combat system was designed according to a different design philosophy.
@@hellomadet This is pretty different from AC. Simply in the fact that it's selling itself as a series. It would only really make sense if for example Dark Souls 3 was Sekiro. But Sekiro is Sekiro, so it's really not the same kind of change. Especially since Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are still actually different things. A spiritual successor is still not an actual sequel. And the comparison with AC would actually make more sense with Fromsofts own AC. Just because ideas are more focused nowadays does not mean they lack creativity. Demon's Souls very much is a big assortment of ideas thrown together, which has it's good points but also low points. The video very much claims in a way to know what the developers actually want to create and being forced by some mysterious exectuives to operate the way they do now, when actually from what we know nowadays it's seems very much that swamps are just made because the director likes swamps and he sees Elden Ring as the type of game he always wanted to make. In fact from what we know they are very good at pushing through the idea of letting them do their own thing, if you look at interviews about activision. Also sorry but as someone who has played all of the titles multiple times the claim that they aren't challenging but fair anymore is just bs. My play style hasn't changed all that much and I came through every game just fine, with no extra help. All of these games have moments that can be seen as bs, that includes Demon's Souls. To claim this is more of a case in newer titles is just not true at all and makes me question if you even played all of these games.
@@Romapolitan I can clearly see why you don't understand Matthewmatosis' point of view, and I can see that any attempt to explain his perspective to you is a waste of time. By the way, the game released under the name “Demon's Souls” was a project that was in development hell, and Fromsoft assumed in advance that it would be a flop, so Miyazaki was given a free hand as the game's director. Therefore, the game is a great conglomeration of many quite creative ideas. While creating Demon's Souls Miyazaki and his team were not constrained by sales projections, unlike when creating Elden Ring. If you think Bandai Namco didn't insist on creating a game that would appeal to the largest possible audience, you probably aren't aware of the principles by which our modern world operates. The fairness of the “Souls” games was founded on the fact that our opponents were constrained by the same rules as we were (or rather, that's the impression they gave) if a player can't cancel an attack once its animation has begun, the opponents couldn't do it either. Imput reading and cancelling animation at any time to punish the player the way it is in Elden Ring doesn't quite fit this form of “fairness”, but what do I know after all I haven't played any game classified as “Souls” by Fromsoft fans. 🤷♂ Edit: I have a better slogan for Elden Ring: "Difficult but devoid of complexity."
@@hellomadet I'm very well aware of Demon's Souls development hell. Did I ever state I was not? You again don't seem to be aware of how independently they work and just exclaim they don't. When we do know from Sekiro how they very much keep their independence. Elden Ring as an example is also really weird to use since the only hype 2 years before release came from earlier fans. Neither From nor Bandai expected Elden Ring to be a gigantic hit. The popularity came by surprise, a few months before release. You do realise that Fromsoft made games before Demon's Souls under different publishers? Where did the publisher influence go there? If the publishers did so much meddling why does AC6 even exist? But sure I'm just the fool who can't see the truth because I didn't play Demon's Souls as the very first game. All the other titles don't have their own merits.
@@Romapolitan No one is saying anything about “the truth”, I'm just trying to show my and Matthewmatosis' point of view. All sarcasm about Elden Ring aside, I realize that a lot of people like this game, and I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong. But it's most of the newer Souls fans, especially Elden Ring fans, who seem unable to understand that some of the more ancient fans of these games (I remember King's Field II on PSX) enjoy them for different reasons than you do. It wasn't the heavily advertised “high” difficulty level that drew me to Demon's Souls, it was the clunky, slow combat, unclear PVP mechanics and variety of boss fights that made the DS one of my favorite games. These are all things that most fans of “honorable duels” in PvP and memorizing patterns of pressing “B” in boss fights have been complaining about. You can like repetitive to the point of tedium boss fights of Elden Ring, but I personally have a lot more fun “fighting” Maiden Astraea than, say, Malenia Blade of Miquella. There are many difficult action games focused on fast-paced combat, for people like you, but there are not many games like Demon's Souls for someone like me to enjoy.
I’ve been looking through the comments before watching the video because I just played through this game for the first time recently (and the last time) and I was wondering why it had a good reputation. I enjoyed Bioshock 1 much more and I played that just last year. Of course they both suck compared to Dark Souls but that is just stating the obvious.
God of mediocrity the OG games are so much better and more complex mechanically. The walking sections kill any replay value, walking sections in action games are so dumb and kills any motivation to master the combat I don’t understand why they stripped so much of the mechanical depth away. I don’t understand the removal of the jump button. new Kratos is grounded sacrificing gameplay for immersion! modern games are becoming movie simulators.
I literally beat god of war 3 without having to block. It's that easy. In 2018 I had to use the shield. Dodgeroll. Amd time my attacks. The greek god of wars just feel like easier devil may cries.
"The Walking sections kill any replay value" Having to slowly push a block in god of war 1 killed its replay value "modern gaming has become movies" have you ever heard of metal gear solid?
@@CrappellaCapLook man I've only played the first GoW game of the OG trilogy (and I haven't even finished it) so I don't have that really affecting my opinion of Norse God. Norse God was a fine game, I liked the story and kratos as a character was fantastic. In terms of the gameplay though, I thought the combat, while it was good, was also kind of forgettable and bland as far as a "hack and slash" type game goes. The enemy and boss design was also laughably bad for so much of the game. After beating it, there's only a small handful of monsters/combat encounters that I can even remember cause they were so forgettable. The fight with Baldur at the beginning is the best fight you get by far until near the end of the game cause nothing else reaches, or even approaches, that level. There's a lot of love from God of War 4, but after I got done I was left wondering where the 10/10 game of the year experience was in it, cause I just didn't find it.
@@JerryMcB3rry To be honest, I've never understood what about Kratos in Norse GoW is supposed to make him "fantastic" as a character. And that is even without the context of perceiving him as a continuation of the same character from the Greek games, which turns him from a character on the decent or meh side into a completely insufferable one, due to how my ability to emotionally connect with the Norse games' story hinges on me being able to sympathize with him and put up with him pretending to have any moral highground against anyone else, after he treated Moral Event Horizon like a jump rope in the Greek games.
@uryenatienza4093 is a pathetic, racist, and self hating fillipino. I’ve been reading his constant replies defending people saying the “N word”, and so I think it's only fair to use the word "Gugus" or "Gook" on him right? Knowing filipinos however, he wouldn’t mind me or other white folks calling him a monkey anyway. You see, I don’t care much for this politically correct stuff or black folks but at least the blacks have a spine. @uryenatienza4093 You’re not white, and you’ll never be. You’re filipino.
I beat Elden Ring again recently and man this video hits home. The game isn't about skill, combat, or mechanics, it is a game about finding the most op things to trivialize an otherwise horribly balanced game Miyazaki always said the difficulty was never the focus or point of the series, but that is not the case for Elden Ring. I would say the biggest flaw is the design philosophy of the game is at odds with itself. One could say the game is way too hard or unfair in many cases, egregious delayed wind ups on attacks to bait rolls, difficulty spikes that are not in line with natural game progression, absurd amount of gank enemies, Malenia as a boss. One could also say the game is the easiest it has ever been because of spirit summons, absurd builds that kill bosses in less then 45 seconds, easier access to co op summons. They tried to have the best of both worlds and it left the most unbalanced feeling I have had in these games since DS2. The more I play Elden Ring the less I like it. As an open world game it is second to none but its reused assets and bosses are so embarrassing there are only 9 unique one time boss encounters in the game of over 200 bosses I hope the DLC is better but I have a feeling it will be egregiously hard because difficulty is the name of the game now
Same, I love Elden Ring and am looking forward to the DLC but I do think the entire game is balanced around Fromsoft being aware of its reputation and them knowing that people will just look up things via the internet anyway.
DS2 was a fun game and I am surprised by how much was memorable, but it feels like someone just made a fan mod using ds1 assets. Theres just this strange jank to the way it was designed. Theres too many enemies copy and pasted, the locations are bizarre, and many areas are clearly meant to piss you off rather than be fun. Examples I can think of: The gutter obviously. Lets just put 500 poison statues everywhere, spawn invasions all around you and require you to slowly break them all to keep a full healthbar before the boss. The runback for blue smelter demon is a joke. They fill it with enemies then spawn wizards who slow your movement and place them in a place you cant reach to force you to kill all of the enemies. Or sir allone runback being a complete joke with there being 35 knights running after you with fire cannons everywhere. And lastly, the darklurker runback is a joke. Making you spend a finite resource just to teleport back, requiring you to kill all the OP npcs before you are even allowed into the boss arena, all of this is literally just designed to frustrate and anger the player. The darklurker runback was so bad that I just save scummed just to be able to practice the boss fight. All of these examples just frustrate the player so much you can only call it bad design.
There are kind of a lot of cutscenes in the beginning of demon souls. I’m playing it for the first time at the moment on ps3. I literally only just beat phalanx boss so I can’t speak for the rest of the game. But so far there’s been like 3 more cut scenes than you’d see in the same time playing dark souls 1. The monumental cutscene and the cutscene showing you where he is being the most obvious examples. In dark souls you had the starter cutscene, then leaving the asylum, and the next one wasn’t until gargoyles and pulling the lever, which I feel like takes longer than phalanx boss which also has a cutscene. Not that this is an especially egregious amount of cutscenes for a video game
4:48:22 The two empty chests must have contained Dark Bead and Dark Fog. The Sorcerers use all three of these spells, and are guarding them across the entire DLC. Dark Bead is guarded by a ton of mad citizens and a sorcerer, and Dark Fog is above that fireplace guarded by a sorcerer as well. My theory is that the corpses we find them on are people who tried to steal the spells for themselves and were killed by the mad sorcerers, hence why the remaining chest is guarded by three enemies. I bet that once the Abyss came, these spells were thought up and seen as very damaging and evil to the remaining citizens who weren't corrupted, and perhaps they stole them to weaken the Abyss or to gain more power, who knows. I just found this interesting because I rarely ever come up with any sort of theories in these games and this one jumped out at me while playing just now
Watching this after TotK is quite interesting. I really feel like all the praises Matt laid for Majora's at the end of this video (38:10) could be used as criticism for TotK. Instead of doing something different and standing out from BotW, TotK just does the same thing, but with more content. Not only it made BotW feel like a lesser game, but it also made TotK feel like threading familiar grounds (literally in some cases). It was a detriment to both games. I hope Matt releases a TotK video eventually, I'd love to hear his takes.
Riven gave me a feeling of such incredible peace of mind that I would seriously recommend it to anyone suffering from stress. Those incredible environments, like the creaking school door opening out onto the lake with the gently rippling water. Thanks to Riven, I quit my high stress career as a lawyer in London and now design VR content of nature. I have never played, and probably will never again play, a game so beautifully constructed as Riven.
1:01:56 if you listen to the Fool's Idol boss fight music it's not "doubling," it's using increasingly short notes (include triplets) to simulate the feeling of speeding up without actually increasing the tempo. But this is why I like Matt, because his point about the music mimicking the behavior of the boss is correct, regardless of whether he knows his music terminology.
everything that becomes popular turns to shit. normies are the locusts of the entertainment world. they come in 100 thousands, mindlessly eat up anything and everything they can, then leave a dead world behind them once everything is unedible slop. gatekeep the things you hold dear
I think the power of Song of Storms stands outside of time, like some essential aspect of the universe. It is an emergent property that appears between Link and the other dude. The plants are just plants, and they only emerge if you plant a seed, as you would expect.
I played this for the first time on a WiiU I picked up a few years ago. I love this game❤ Sooooo beautiful! I loved sailing around and just breathing it all in. It's the only reason I don't want to get rid of my Wii U.
