The Demon's Souls Remake Is Inferior To The Original 

Some of you wont know how I feel until Bluepoint remakes Bloodborne and changes the things you like. 😔😔

I don’t think people will understand the problem until Bluepoint remakes Bloodborne and gives Ebrietas horrible acne, adds six rows of nipples to Mergo’s Wet Nurse, makes Lady Maria look evil when she is one of the kindest people in the lore, replaces Gehrman’s theme with an epic orchestra, makes the music box play through all of Yharnam instead of near the little girl’s house, and so on and so forth.

"second of all, no I can't let people enjoy things, because that would prevent me from enjoying the thing I like the most, which is critical analysis and being a hater." Caught me off guard with that one, I burst out laughing.

I love how you explain that in the souls games the inherent look of things and design is there because they cared to make a cohesive world and context.

It blows my mind when people say they want a bluepoint bloodborne remake... please god no just give me a pc port.

One part of the environmental storytelling and lore I like to point out is also in Latria. In the original, the level has these yellow flags, or straps of cloth, spread throughout the level. This obviously, OBVIOUSLY references the Old Monk's takeover and corruption of the area, which the player only realizes later when they meet the boss and see his famously yellow robes, the source of his power. Now Blue Point saw these bits of foreshadowing, figured yellow wasn't scary enough or something, and made all the flags red. RED How do you even miss the point this bad?

During the segment about deliberate changes that missed the point, I wish you had included a segment about the Flamelurker. It was apparent before release Bluepoint didn't 'get' Demons Souls vibe. I say this as in one of the 1st trailers they showed off their design for Flamelurker and it was a generic westernized demon. It looked like it was designed for Diablo, not Demon Souls. Due to minor backlash from that trailer, they did update Flamelurkers' design to be truer to his intended design. But it left a lot of questions about what they had done with any content that wasn't included in trailers and didn't take feedback on. Which left us with what we have now.

Now I'm imagining dark souls where they play Ornstein and Smough's theme music as background music for the entirety of Anor Londo and redesign Smough so that he's fleshy and sad.

Bro, imagine if Bluepoint remade Dark Souls and made Smough into an actual grotesque fatass instead! 😂

The thing about the Tower Knight's OG song is that it's a rally chant. It's symbolic of a kingdom putting all of their hope and faith into a giant knight in order to protect the kingdom against intruders that may mean harm to its inhabitants. Changing his theme into a generic orchestral piece is plain stupid.

“They didn’t like the anime warrior guy” is a perfect line to why they changed the art style.

As someone who never played the original but loved the remake, this was very compelling. What were they thinking with the sound design of Latria??? I love blue point but wow. They really dropped the ball in many areas and I understand og fans frustrations now.

Bro, they turned the Flamelurker into a fucking Diablo monster and then call us whiny? xD

the luck of bluepoint is that demons souls was an extremely niche game, if they make these changes in dark souls for example, they would suffer a wave of hate, souls is not about the graphics but the best set of atmosphere and design that counts their stories, and that's why they are such special games

I did not play the original. The lullaby argument is what drove this home for me. I cannot imagine how I'd feel of they remade bloodborne and added the music box throughout central Yarnham. It would absolutely ruin the greatest atmosphere I have ever experienced in a video game. Bloodborne was my first fromsoft game and the crippling fear of wandering the streets of yharnum was the most immersive atmosphere of all. Hearing the music box only from outside the gate and finding a way to get to the window was exhilarating. It would dramatically change if the music played throughout, and even worse if they made it soothing and less creepy.

Another instance of this happening in games is Majora's Mask. Where the 3ds remake got rid of the demon face licking the triforce in stone tower temple. Which indicates some evil things go on there. Now it's just generic blocks in the remake. Completely ruins the anti gods vibe in stone tower temple.

A central problem with the art design, which I think most people struggle to articulate, is how much more positive space there is in the remake over the original. This is a bit complicated to explain in text. Basically, the human eye and brain are extremely sensitive to contrast. Between colours, in different hues, saturations and shades (especially shades). Between shapes, in 2D & 3D. Between shapes in different positions, rotations and scales. Between the size, shape and composition of different groups of elements. And any combination of the above. Because humans are pattern-seeking animals. We naturally pick up on patterns, and breaks in patterns. Contrast is a break in a visual pattern, so it attracts our attention. Dark against light. Red against blue. A circle among squares. An individual apart from a crowd. We tune out patterns, because they don't demand a lot of attention. If we've seen one bit of it, we don't need to see the rest. We can just extrapolate from what we've already seen. While breaks in patterns get our attention, because we have to determine what we're seeing, and what it might mean. Even if the exception is meaningless, our instinct is to check anyway. That's what positive and negative space are. Negative space is any element of an image that is either a repeating pattern, or a random pattern. Such areas of an image don't attract our attention, because they are predictable. You can even make highly-contrasting visual elements read as negative space, by arranging them in clearly repeating or random patterns. On the other hand, positive space is the elements of an image that are irregular. Such areas of an image attract our attention, because they are unpredictable. They are questions that demand answers. And therein lies the great difference between the original and the remake of Demons Souls. Look at the opening of original Boletarian Palace. The high stone walls, towers and turrets are covered in repeating elements. There's the crenellations and machicolations atop every wall; the quoins running up every outside corner; the arrow-slits in the walls; and the whole thing is covered in a repeating stone brick texture. All the contrasting details of the building are organized so that they read as negative space, whilst still being recognizably a castle. Compare that to remake Boletarian Palace. Putting aside the architecture being a completely different shape in places, it's all covered in irregular details. There's the arched stone decorations; the coloured draping banners; the random and overwrought wooden hoarding around the gatehouse towers and elsewhere; and the damage to the crenellations and the fire in some of the hoarding. All of these things are vastly more eye-catching than the original castle, because they are all pieces of positive space that were not present in the original game. These kinds of changes are everywhere in the remake. Areas that were previously negative space have been filled with detail, making them positive space. Which changes how those environments feel, because now they're more visually-stimulating than they were previously. But it's visual stimulation for no other purpose than the stimulation itself. It's more detail for the sake of having more detail, not in service of replicating the original game's experience. And making previously-negative space into positive space is not an inherent improvement. Because filling an image with positive space makes it feel like the whole image is yelling "LOOK AT ME". And in a videogame, the imagery is yelling for attention constantly. It is exhausting. Negative space gives the viewer a visual rest, and allows the remaining positive space to stand out more through contrast. Good art needs a mixture of positive and negative space. The original Demons Souls understood this. The remake does not.

On top of the Adjudicator redesign, it also impacts the concept of its whole mechanic. You cant harm it outside of the wound on its stomach because its made of gold armor, in the remake, unless you are aware of how it was originally, its entirely possible to not have any idea why you cant harm it, and you might not even realize that its the wound that lets your attacks land, it might appear that attacks land at random

i’m kinda surprised you didn’t go into detail about the “bloodbourne-ization” of the soundtrack, completely killing unique boss atmospheres

gamers said the same thing when Bluepoint did Shadow of the Colossus, but of course it was largely drowned out by a sycophantic games press who is more interested in flashy screenshots.

I knew Bluepoint didn't understand Demon's Souls when i heard they changed--not just updated but outright rewrote--the music. The dude said their job was to make the game not like it actually was but like people remember it. Well, i dunno about him but that's not how i remember Demon's Souls.

I have to also mention that the change to maiden astrea's theme in the remake completely changes the tone of the fight. In the original it was supposed to make you really think about what it is you were doing and the consequences of your actions. These are real, sentient people you are slaying (sometimes). In the remake it feels like a grand fight with garl vinland with a melancholic tone. It doesn't have the same impact since garl was never supposed to be a real threat to you, although he hit hard and strong, he was designed to be able to be killed easily, you were supposed to be unstoppable, and astrea showed you what that means.

I think the biggest atrocity is how they somehow managed to make Tower of Latria not scary

The original Demon's Souls avoided trends and didn't care about sales. The remake does the complete opposite.

First off, I enjoy both the original and remake, and I only play the remake now for accessibility reasons. However, I agree that the "overgrown" aesthetic is misplaced in Boletaria. When the remake first debuted, my biggest concern was the presence of so much foliage. It makes sense when you are exploring a decaying land in Dark Souls, but DeS is about a kingdom that was recently conquered by demons. The absence of overgrowth in the original emphasizes that the wounds inflicted by the calamity that overtook Boletaria are fresh. For instance, Stockpile Thomas is anguishing over recently abandoning his family, and is devastated to learn of their fate. The addition of overgrowth, which is an overused aesthetic trope, makes the world feel generic.

You convinced me at the fat official example. That's actually pretty outrategous.

I honestly cannot believe that Bluepoint saw the Maiden Astraea fight and made the conscious decision that "you know what? This fight needs a really *heroic* sounding boss theme!" Like, what the fuck? The original Maiden Astraea theme was sad and melancholy for a reason. How do you possibly miss that? More than changing Tower Knight's theme to not have the laughing any more, I think Maiden Astraea's theme is the most egregious example of changing the soundtrack for the worse.

one thing I noticed is that many of the bosses in the remake give me doom or Diablo vibes with their design

I believe the elegant thing is how everything looks like the things put themselves together instead of being just a pile of stuff. Like in dark souls, the serpent men honestly look like they actually put their equipment together to work well with them. Overall just a lot of things look like they were put together well

The most obvious area where the remake contrasts the original is the soundtrack, understated songs are replaced by bombastic melodies. Changes like that affect the tone and give the game a different feel. Having played neither of the two games though I did listen to both osts, I find the original's to be better by its theme, best seen by the difference in maiden astraea's theme from the two games.

It's like remastering a WW1 documentary but all characters wear WW2 uniforms, somehow.

two notes: Ostrava was isolated from his homeland and father for most of his youth. I think a better point about the oppressive brutalism of the castle-city with the lack of nature being something that was intentional and to do with the degradation within the fog. At the same time a lot of the older textures implied the sort of disrepair and growth; mainly the floor tiles The Vanguard Demon was a reused asset from a previous game. It's definitely a conscious choice to reuse him but it's worth keeping in the back of your mind when considering what From wanted to portray always wished with all the creative liberty they decided to flex that they would've added the cut archstone instead of making it a 1:1 copy of the levels and gameplay but with some cool coins and the penetrator armour

This is why learning your favorite game will be remade by Bluepoint should send a shiver of dread down your spine. Shadow of the Colossus is my favorite game of all time. I played the ps4 bluepoint remake and it was ruined. I've known for some time Bluepoint on a conceptual level is a problem. This studio's leadership might not have the concept everything existing in a game was a choice based on engine, time, restrictions, hardware etc. If anything is going to be changed, this includes graphical fidelity, genuine care must be given to the original intent. This is why I'm not excited for a bluepoint bloodborne remake--the studio just misses the point on everything. Not sure if Sony or bluepoint but it needs to stop in regards to any remake.

when you did find grotesqueness in the original, like in valley of defilement, it had a big impact. In the remake everything is grotesque

I do think some of the artistic changes might have been done at Sony's behest. The remake feels like a showcase or a tech demo. The kind you'd use at launch to shift consoles.

I feel the same about Shadow of the Colossus remake

What they did to Mephistopheles is a crime, just to show how they managed to make the characters open their mouths when speaking, they removed the mask that covered her face and that made her so intimidating and they changed her voice to a more feminine one.

there’s a noclip documentary on the remake (great channel btw) and it’s clear from how the higher ups at bluepoint talk about it that the whole thing was a huge vanity project. just like with SoTC they remade a classic, highly visually distinct game, not because they felt like they could do the original vision justice, but because they wanted to show off their technical prowess and impress everyone with raw graphical power. both remakes are just *gaudy*

The concept behind the remake was: “Guess this Miyazaki guy didn’t have enough money to hire a full orchestra! Let’s correct this”

Im surprised, but it seems remake delevopers didn't have access to og demon souls design documents. No artbook, nothing. Which is so odd.

the redisign of the officials is the weirdest thing to me honestly, who at blue point saw the old one and went "lets not only make his whole fit just his body and make him look like he midway through puberty but lets also make him capable of frowning" like the static grin is THE most iconic thing about that enemy and the removed it.

The music was everything to me. Scores for film are made to help set a mood and compliment the visuals and story. When they changed the score for DeS so drastically, it changed the experience of the game for anyone playing it for the first time.

Here's one. In the original, the Sage Clothing and the Saint Clothing were basically the same model, the difference being the color. This implied that Sage Freke used to be a member of the Church and possibly a Saint himself at one point, before becoming disillusioned. While SOME of these design elements are still visible in the Remake, it is much less obvious and the similarities might be accidental. It removes some nuance.

always felt this way. I talked about this non stop when DS remake was out and I had played a ton of the OG. A few streamers I follow think the OG has better atmosphere / game feel as well. Something of how everything came toghether created a sum that was greater then its parts. Once they added things to the remake it took away some of the magic.

One of the things that irritates me the most is how the Kris Blade is no longer like, y'know, an actual kris? It's such a small thing but it really exemplifies how bluepoint's changes are all arbitrary and backed by nothing besides "i think we should change this... because we should!".

They also did quite a job on Maneaters. When you enter the arena in original, the first thing you see is a pair of glowing green eyes coming at you from darkess, as this extremely creepy and ominous music kicks in. In remake, you'll see the monster right away and the music is changed to a generic orchestra piece. Not to mention that Maneater's design was changed from a statue embedded with a tortured soul to a hairy gorilla with wings

one of the worst things they changed is the meaning of the ost, maiden astraea's one sounds like its garl's one instead of hers(its epic/heroic) while the original gave you a sense of dread and made you think if what you were doing was the right or wrong thing

Bro I totally agree with everything you said especially about the Vanguard demon. When they announced they were remaking Demon's Souls the first thing cam in my mind is how they would redesign Vanguard's skull with those yellow eyes and a well textured black helmet that covers his head making his yellow eyes stand out and deliver the feeling that you're actually standing against a demon not just an ugly fat monster. One thing I noticed in the remake is that they made world four raining all the time. I mean people in that world had something like a myth that it's believed that those flying creatures who through you with spears are responsible for weather change especially when it comes to rain. So when they added rain to that world they confirmed that those people's myth was real not just a myth. If they made it rain after killing storm king that would strengthen the original story confirming that those flying monsters including storm king don't have a real effect on weather or rain. They literally made a huge difference in the remake hoping people wouldn't notice it. I mean just imagine the Island's edge area covered in fog with modern graphics that would be insane. But no they had to become masters who know better than those stupid fools who played the original Demon's souls and enjoyed the lore in detail. I hope when a remake of Bloodborne comes out that Miyazaki himself overseas those arrogant devs and directors who think they know better than the original creator.

What is the most disturbing about this remake is that when they show trailer for this game we saw a completly different design for the flamelurker and people complain so they went back and change it why didn’t they understand that it would be the same for all of the boss ?

Ok but for real what the fuck did they do to the adjudicator? I thought the implication was that it was supposed to a noble figure. One that judges the souls of fallen warriors and is worshipped at the shrine of storms. There's even a shield depicting the adjudicator being prayed to. (The remake also fucked this up by drawing the art on the shield in perspective and thus losing the look of medieval tapestry that made the original design interesting). If you look at the og adjudicators model it's got intricate patterns over its body and is almost shaped like an antique urn. it's still grotesque, but subtly regal and that's what makes it cool and memorable. They took an ambiguously elegant and revered creature and turned it into some fuckoff ugly monster so they could show off their 4k nipple jiggle physics.

The point about the existence of the remake reducing access to the original is so true and infuriating to me. I'm just imagining this being the basis for future remasters of Demon's Souls to future systems, instead of the true original, and that's just sad. Biggest reason I've kept my PS3: so that it's not forgotten.

Perfect video, I saw one like this with the same intent from Sentinebula (a brazilian youtuber) long ago (like 2-3 years ago), and all the points match. But of course, most people put the video as a "bait", and he didnt get more than 30k views, but it's good to see that people are getting more attention to this criticism right now

I’m terrified they’ll do this to Bloodborne. Changing the atmosphere or music would be a crime.

That comment at 9:30 mark is an exaggeration. It's not about thinking that you are better than Miyazaki, it's about not spending extra time and resources to create an one time only asset. Sometimes devs have to prioritize one thing over another because of the budget or deadlines.

Your argument makes a lot of sense. I would add that the real problem with the remake being artistically inferior to the original is that new players will NEVER experience the old one, most likely. So thanks for letting people know they are missing out.

Elden Ring drew me into FromSoft games and I've been going back to play their old games (recently been playing a bunch of Armored Core games, love it). I grabbed a copy of Demon's Souls on PS3 thinking "Well, I'm not gonna buy a PS5 for this, but at least I can play the old version." Little did I know I bought the better version of the game.

The original game felt dark, stark and almost depressing the world felt picked from a horror novel. The remake was to bright, too full of life. The original really felt like a dying region removed from the rest of the world as if evil had won and the only ones alive are now stuck in this world without hope. It made you feel hopeless like you’re fighting for something already lost with hope being “what could be,” not what is.

As someone who hasn't beaten a single souls game, at first I was like "wow this is a souls fan being a souls fan" but once you got to the fat nobles I was like wtf that's an awful design change and now I want to play the original on my ps3 Great video you clearly love this series deeply and it's honestly inspiring

I’m very bummed out to hear this analysis, the original was one of my favorite game experiences and the sense of accomplishment for beating it the first time was right up there with anything I’ve done outside of video games.

It’s almost like one game was made by people who got creative because they thought it was a lost cause, and the other was made by people who were smug and complacent because they knew a graphically impressive launch title was going to sell. It’s almost exactly like that.

I enjoyed the remake, but only because i didn’t have any clue whet the original was like. But now im wishing bluepoint kept many of the original elements. There were a lot of good points here, like the vibe of Latria being gone and the fat official being gross instead of decadent

Boletaria Palace houses The Lord’s Path and The King’s Tower, which seats the king. It’s the capital of the kingdom, and a symbol of the nation’s power. The kingdom is 12 generations old, and to expect it to stay in the state of a fortification is stupid. It’s been established through the Fat Officials that wealth is analogous to power; and we know Old King Allant is driven by his lust for power. Interestingly the architecture gets more opulent the closer one gets to the throne. The statute in the Boletaria Royal Family Mausoleum was made to look like the king in the Archstone of the Small King-Old King Doran. The statue in the original looks similar to the Old Hero with “anime hair” that didn’t end up making it into the final game. FromSoftware probably had plans for the Old Hero, and should’ve fixed the statue when those plans were changed. Some strains of ivy can grow in excess of nine feet annually. Miyazaki went on to make Bloodborne then Dark Souls III, two games full of grotesque designs that lacked “elegance”. Design philosophies and opinions change. They clearly have for Miyazaki. The Former Noble’s Wife is attempting to soothe the souls of the other prisoners, so they don’t go above seeking “redemption”. It’s prophetic: for there is “One final hope, with endless power. Slayer of demons. Clearer of the deep fog.” Return to Slumber is definitely more effective than singing two words over and over again. And it wouldn’t do much good if barely anyone could hear her. You chose expressions that the Fool’s Idol makes when she’s chucking Soul Ray at you. She’s going to look pissed when someone’s trying to kill her. No need to keep up appearances at that point. In the end Demon’s Souls for the PS3 is a cult classic, and I can’t convince a cult. Your closing statement tells me you’re a butthurt, pedantic asshole.

I never played the original Demon's Souls, but I have played everything after Dark Souls and I absolutely love the atmosphere of From games. I could not point out why the remake fell off, wrong, the whole time I was playing, I did not have the frame of comparison (or any nostalgia for that matter) but I was aware the whole time it didn't feel like a from game at all. It's good to see concrete examples of why that was. Also, a reminder that this remake was made also in part because of how increasingly hard it is to access the original, since there is no consistent way to play it without an actual PS3, so... Yeah, this runs the risk of erasing and replacing the original Demon's Souls

I will never not feel heartbroken over the fluted armor set being redesigned. For me, it’s the best and most iconic set in the entirety of Miyazaki’s portfolio. I could not contain my excitement when Bluepoint announced this remake. I couldnt wait to use their photo mode on the fluted set. Then one day, for no reason, they just arbitrarily redesigned it. Not one fan had ever complained that Demon’s Souls was held back by its art design. If anything, Demon’s Souls was held back by a restrictive camera system that often made it tough to get a clear view of its brilliant art design. Thank you for your video, I totally agree.

Finally someone said it. I realized Bluepoint didn't "get" Demons Souls when they added facial animations and changed the music, seriously, why does every score in the game need to have a choir to make it more "Epic ™️ "

I know it’s a silly thing to say, but I wish there was a way to like with halo, you could switch if you wanted the old look, or new look of the game. And when it comes to online you have to pick which version and go online on that one

yo anyone know what the ost at 9:00 is called? Its been stuck in my head for a long while but I dont know what its called

The Demon's Souls remake being *the* main PS5 launch title probably played a huge factor. From a development standpoint, they probably wanted this game to be a visual spectacle. That's an understandable goal in theory, but they chose one of the most visually subtle and restrained games on the market to use as a base. Many games like Demon's Souls or SMT: Nocturne are great because their intentional lack of decadence is part of the atmosphere. It's actually kinda nuts that Bluepoint keeps doing remakes for games with very uncommon and avant-garde art styles (DS and Shadow of the Colossus). Bluepoint are obviously experts at optimizing games for the hardware and more gaudy visual styles, and other games like Bloodborne would have been a better fit for their skillset (not saying they should have had a Bloodborne remaster as a PS5 launch title, just that it's more compatible with Bluepoint).

100%. It's like if a conservator who was tasked with restoring a painting just decided they'd like to paint a new painting over it. Being careful to follow the outline of its "core", of course.

So I personally never played the original. At first I wasn't sure what to expect from this video and maybe expected a "Rose tinted glasses" deal. But luckily I was wrong and understood to an certain extent how you and other players feel as I went through something similar. Like I said I personally never played the original Demon's Souls but I've experienced something like this with Halo. I'm not going to explain it all as there are tons of videos explaining how the team messed this one up, but we're fortunate enough to have a button we can press to go back to the original graphics and fortunate enough for the core gameplay to remain the same without a Dev changing something because THEY didnt like it. The Fat Officials change really got to me, it's truly disappointing for something to lose all meaning entirely or change thanks to a lack of care from a developer who misunderstands the importance of the original design and story/lore of the source material.

The old statue gives me major Nameless King vibes from DS3, the Dark Souls most akin Demon's Souls, and them changing that is heartbreaking

The remake is visually amazing but my god, it completely murders the feel of the original. The atmosphere and visuals of the original are so unique and captivating

I love your takes. I think it lost the atmosphere it was too focused on being “next gen” it lost all the aspects that made the game dingy / dark and mysterious. I hated the look of it. I still can’t get over how badly they ruined the fat officials I just feel blue point doesn’t get it.. just don’t get the atmosphere at all. Edit : you even touched on the fat officials bro you are my spirit animal

Please let me know if Bluepoint fucked up Shadow of the Colossus this bad, I still need to finish that one.

Can't believe you didn't talk about the storm king shitification. It looks so much less unique now!

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls always had this magical feeling to them, which no other game ever recreated for me. I've seen a lot of videos that let me to remember this other-worldly feeling, but your vodeo is one of the very best! I will check out the rest of your channel in a bit, but i would really love to see in-depth analyses on the most mundane aspects of these masterpieces☺️ Thank you! For keeping its memory alive and vivid

That's generally a big problem that lots of great stories get bastardized being filtered through a mainstream lense. And it was to be expected that Bluepoint would do this to some degree because they wanted the game to appeal to the mainstream to make more money. It also happened to Lovecrafts stories, where the mainstream believes it's about tentacles and monsters while it's true quality is something more profound and nameless that isn't captured by superficial monster design. Or take movie adaptations like Harry Potter: In the novels, Voldemort was eerily cold and stern and that's what made him scary. But in the movies (except 1 and 2) they made him more flamboyant and Joker-like, which is a major mischaracterization in my opinion. The mainstream/ big companies tend to simplify and distort the uniqueness of stories to fit them in a cliche, already-known category, because they want to play it safe and not take the risk that the audience possibly wouldn't like something more special.

The remake may have been a boost in graphical fidelity but it left behind a lot of "identity" in the process. It feels a lot more like a generic Souls clone unlike the original game that had this odd, fast but clunky almost alien design to it that wasn't like anything that was out at the time.

A lot of these changes are things that I didn't really notice until they were displayed here. Now that they've been pointed out, I agree with all of them. I'd would like to add a complaint of my own that I did immediately notice regarding The Valley of Defilement. In the original, I HATED this area. I didn't just hate it, I dreaded going there and it always took me a very long time to get through it compared to other places. The reason I hated it was the sounds the enemies made. This cross between a weird moan and laugh, you know the sound if you hear it. This sound made my skin crawl, in fact I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it. It would paralyze me and I wouldn't want to continue going forward. This sound in particular, or anything remotely like it, was completely absent from the remake. Without this the entire area to me felt so much less threatening. Just to be sure I plugged in one of my PS3's and loaded up the area. Sure enough that old sound still gets to me to this day, so I know it isn't that I've changed. I know I said I dreaded this area, but even so I was profoundly disappointed that the remake did not instill this same feeling.

Yea you're right. As someone who never got to play either game, I would be upset if BluePoint did a Bloodborne remake and took massive liberties with the architecture or enemy design and the story that it tells.

The Fat Offical changes read as a very 'American' for lack of a better term to me. Strip out the horror of class-opperession and disgust for the clean, put-on cheery faces of bureaucracy and replace it with body horror.

From the moment I saw the first cutscene trailer and gameplay trailer, I knew this remake would botch the original's vision. Unfortunately, pointing out the massive changes in art and music direction, while also pointing out that bluepoint didn't change any of the admittedly crappy AI, didn't change most things belonging to the gameplay, and didn't change any of the levels outside of adding a few useless shortcuts, will get you a ton of flak from people who didn't care enough about the original to begin with. I'm surprised you didn't showcase the trailers and compared the two. It would have immediately set off a bunch of alarm bells for anybody unfamiliar with the original. The remake, in plain terms, botches the music and art design, for no discernable purpose other than "bright colors good. Orchestra good. Because bright colors and orchestral music means big budget!" In the original trailer, we get this opressive, bombastic music, with a loud and distinct base, eery brass, a booming drum, a male choir singing "choppily", with no real orchestral fluff or high pitched chanting involved. The music focuses heavily on these things, rather than filling the song up with all sorts of instruments to create a wall of sound (something that fromsoft would, to my annoyance, introduce later on in the series, after bloodborne. Which incidentally also had one of the most unique and brilliant OST's.) The music in this trailer is unique, disturbing, offputting and IMMEDIATELY recognizable as a director's unique touch and interpretation of the themes of the game. In the remake, the music for the trailer is simply generic orchestral chanting. Like something Elden ring or Dark souls 3 would overflow the games with (yes, shots have been fired. The music in these games is inferior to demons souls and bloodborne. I will die on that hill. With exception of maybe a few tracks.) As for artstyle, in the original trailer, we see lots of greys, dull greens, dull browns, pale, corpish colors, revealing this dark, brooding world, decaying, dying, with a general sense of hopelessness all around. The artstyle for the remake's trailer hyperfixated on bright colors, turned the giant creepy ass dragon from the original trailer into a generic roaring dragon clutching generic castle towers against a generic background in what seems to be empty space. Blues and reds and yellows pop out, as if I was playing dark souls 3 instead. The design of the enemies (not just the fat official), the weapons, and even the animations, also betray a different vision for the game's aesthetic. In the original, there are no bright blue and red colors. Souls do not look like generic wind animation, they are strangely pixellated, almost not belonging to the world we play in. The color is this dull bright blue-green color, something otherworldly. In the remake, garish red has replaced the penetrator's bright blue sword, that used to indicate soul magic. I have no idea why they turned it into bright, generic red. Is it because of "blood"? The souls now look like generic wind animation. There is nothing setting it apart from the rest of the world it inhabits. These changes go downright to the things such as the health, mana and stamina bar, the item icons and the loading icons being decidedly brighter, more garish in color, almost as if somebody put a jpeg of something on screen. It clashes with the rest of the world we inhabit. None of this was a problem in the original. Because the original had a distinct vision in terms of artstyle and aesthetic. I think it's plainly obvious what happened: bluepoint had to justify the existence of their remake. They weren't willing to change the gameplay (that's a good thing, though in my opinion,they should have at least improved the AI for the Maneaters boss fight. That fight is a nightmare, and not for reasons of art direction or style. They are a nightmare because the coding is bad.) They weren't willing to actually improve the gameplay, so they had to change everything else. Otherwise you're just paying for updated graphics. Unfortunately, that also means the original's vision is dilluted and distorted. The worst part about this is that new players are UNWILLING to give the original a shot, because the remake exists and it has "better graphics". This thought-process infuriates me, but I understand it from the point of view of somebody who is ignorant of just how little the gameplay changes are and just how massive the art-changes are. There literally is no reason (if you have a ps3), not to try out the original and buy it for much cheaper than you would for the inferior remake. Unfortunately, people without a ps3 are likely not going to be buying an old console just for that. This is the problem with faithless remakes. As technology advances, access to old games and old media in general, dies out. We lose access to these things, and so what replaces these things becomes the norm. We start to think that the replacements are the "superior" version of these games, because "new is better", right? RIGHT? Except reality often contradicts that latter statement, and not just for demons souls. *cough* Final fantasy 7 remake is trash *cough*

My least favorite part of the remake is that Latria seems to no longer be in a cave. In the original, it seemed to be all in this insanely large cave, with massive supporting beams high in the sky box. But in the remake, while the lightning is cool, level 4 exists (and I thought that was done excellently), now it just looks like bloodborne. I'm terrified of a dark souls remake, because while I just really want cloth physics and other quality of life like 360 rolling while targeting, I fear for what would be changed.

The section about the fat officials is where you got me. Changing them from fat and creepy to fat and disgusting made you just feel sorry for them, not hate them. I only ever saw the remake version and I thought this was going to be a "back in my day" kinda thing but I actually feel you. Imagine Mergo's Wet Nurse had a weird great one face instead of the void. Would just take a lot away from her design. I will however still play the remake and I will most likely still enjoy it (or hate it for other reasons at least)

Here I thought this video was going to be filled with hipster takes. But you know, I actually find myself agreeing with you on the art direction influencing the story of the areas. Well done.

"Who told them they could fundamentally change other people's work?" Well. Who bought the game? who encouraged them? who bought the now many remakes which changed or policed content? Would they have done this and kept on doing this if it wasn't profitable, and who made it profitable? I think those are better questions.

Great video but do you think Vallarfax is the guy from the intro?

Great video and agree. However, I think this video needs a part 2. There’s a lot more examples you could talk about, mainly the score. I’d love to see like another hour long analysis of the environments and themes. Don’t be afraid to do longer videos

as somebody who had a very distinct memory of the fat official, it's really tragic seeing what they did to his iconic design in the remake

The first quote from the director of the remake really shows how he doesn't consider the story as a factor. He is focused on the mechanics and enemy AI. That tells me he doesn't view games as art, so it makes sense for them to cannibalize the story and art design, because it apparently didn't cross their minds that those things serve as anything more than a cool backdrop. I don't think even a remake needs to be faithful as long as it understands the original game's theme and builds on it. But this is just disrespectful and pathetic. Also I disagree with the graphics, I don't think they look better. Prettier yes, but not better.

I think the most clear showcase of BluePoint's arrogance is the Flamelurker design. When they presented their first design, they had stripped him from anything that made him unique, and the fanbase spoke. They did listen and added his eyepatch and chin slits, but said in the process "when you look at a low-poly, lowly detailed model, your brain has to make up stuff to fill in the gaps. But if you go and actually look... it really isn't there." SURE. FLAMELURKER ABSOLUTELY DID NOT HAVE THE EYEPATCH AND CHIN SLITS. IT WAS SOMETHING THAT FANS MADE UP. BLUEPOINT KNOWS BETTER 👏👏👏👏

Agree 100% on everything said here. The reality is this BP misunderstood the entire 'point' of what the game is about. The game is about Human Greed and the Cruelty we inflict on one another, it is NOT an 'Epic' Demon Slaying game. The Epic Music with the fight of True King Allant is one of my greatest issues with it. In the original that moment made me feel genuinely sick, with the sound track to match it.

I always thought I was losing my mind whenever I told someone I didn't like the artistic changes around the time the Remake came out. Glad to know I'm not alone

I watched this video before I ever played Demon's Souls (although I'd already bought a PS3 and the OG to do so). I finished it yesterday. Even before playing the game I found your arguments compelling, having played it I agree with everything said but I actually have some more criticisms of the remake. The brightness in many areas is far too high, most notably Latria but other areas use darkness to great effect and this impacts not just the look and feel but also the gameplay. You can't quite see certain things unless they're either very close or if you look directly at them. The greatsword wielding red eye knight in 1.4 is a great example of this, as are the gargoyles in 3.2. Speaking of 3.2 the sound design of the "heart" beating is changed drastically, in the original it's very loud and oppresive and doesn't beat at all like a human heart. It has a totally different rhythm. The remake makes the sound much quieter and it beats like a human heart and so doesn't sound anywhere near as alien and strange. The music, people have spoken about the music changes before but the ones that stick out to me as being changed for the worse are Maiden Astaea, this one the remake does at least retain the sounds of the original track but just adds stuff on top that makes it less clear and distinct and makes it a more "grand" piece, it changes the tone entirely even if it has elements of the original. Old King Allant, entirely different tone this time with none of the original. Storm King's music in the original almost sounds like a funeral procession, he's a grand beast that has fallen to the ravages of time and is well past his peak. This is present in the music and the visual design of the fight, the remake makes it nothing but a spectacle on both a visual and audio front. In isolation it's cool and I can understand why people like it but it's completely different to the original in tone. Old Hero in the original has a tragic feel with a drum backing that's very distinct and interesting. The remake version is yet more generic "epic" music that missed the point. They also changed Old Hero's cutscene, in the original he pulses with dim light, the camera shifts to focus on his weapon and he grabs it very quickly and jumps down. In the remake he goes to immeditely glowing (looking much more "physical" underneath rather than like a spirit, like in the original) and screams into the camera and you see him in full view grabbing his weapon. He doesn't scream untill during the fight in the original which has much more impact that in thr remake. They also changed Flamelurker's cutscene showing him in full view when bursting through rather than showing it from the side, it's a minor change but it is worse. Also Flamelurker's arena is far too bright, in the original he is the main source of light in the arena which is much more apparent once you've beaten him but in the remake the whole place is lit up with bright orange light from more lava being presence which again ruins the tone. I still haven't seen much of the remake but everything I have seen so far is worse besides pure graphical fidelity. I'm going to take a further look to see what else is changed, possibly at the cost of my sanity.

What's especially ridiculous about the Latria situation is that Dark Souls 2 has music playing throughout an entire level as well, but actually did it RIGHT. The Shrine Maidens sing a song to soothe the dead, and one of them stops when you approach her. As soon as you leave, some mudlurkers, which previously were moving about, begin to sit still and sparkle as she continues her song. Then you continue onwards, still hearing the song. You enter another shack and find nothing there but some bones with item - yet you can *still hear the song.* It doesn't stop at all. As you journey through the final stretch, right before the boss gate, you encounter a Shrine Maiden who looks devastated and hollowed, and isn't singing at all. You interact with her and she vanishes, and the song continues to play. It's only after you pass through the boss gate that you encounter the Demon of Song - a monstrous frog-like creature which has a taste for human flesh, and appeased by the Amana preistesses until their lineage ended. It's singing the song to *lure you to it,* because that's how it hunts.

The hilarious thing about that first quote from Gavin is that the gameplay / enemy ai is what I would want to have updated the most and them leave the art style and character designs alone. The fact that is plays pretty much the same with worse art is justt sad.

I think this only reflects the game industry in general. When I was learning game design 10 years ago... I was trying to get a job in level design, my task was to build 2 maps, a florest and a canyon, so i made a little plot to each of them and a canyon became an connected with a poison swamp where there was an infection and almost everything was dead and the florest was an really beautiful organized florest because of the people that lived there, so they dint like it, they said that a florest needed to be almost random like nature and a canyon just need to have rocks and cliffs... Those are the things I'm seeing in Demons souls Remake, a bunch of people that learned something from someone but never think about it themselves. Of course that new statue would make more sense in some real aesthetics, but never in the demons souls culture and lore...

On their own, some of those statements aren't necessarily wrong. "Make the game feel like how you remember it" is true of Sonic Mania, for instance, which runs at 60FPS and has much more detailed sprites than the classic games, plus widescreen and arguably better level design. The problem is that if you miss the mark by not understanding the original and how to "upgrade" it, then it comes off as pretentious.

This makes me think of how 343 did Halo CE's art direction dirty in the Anniversary graphics. Not just the designs, but the lighting and the cutscenes- and that's not even geting into hitbox problems. Like making the once mysterious and lonesome foggy Forerunner ruins suddenly super bright with neon blue everywhere, or nerfing all the blood splatters which ruined the buildup of the reveal of the Flood, as well as scrub away references to Marathon to distance Halo from its original creators, Bungie, in service of reshaping Halo into something associated exclusively with the Xbox brand- well, moreso than before at least, given that in that case Halo basically *made* Xbox while Demon's Souls was comparatively niche. With this in mind, I can't help but feel that Bluepoint did this in an effort to distance Demon's Souls from Miyazaki so newcomers would associate that game with the Playstation brand specifically. Possibly at Sony's request, tho that last bit could be my tinfoil hat being a bit too tight.

What they did with the fat official is UNFORGIVABLE