Demon's Souls: So hard you're dead on the cover art!

[mudah.swf]

Thought Japanese RPGs were easy mash-X fests where almost everything can be brute forced with level grinding? Fed up of magical girls and cute mascots? Want something grittier, harder and more like a WRPG? Then Demon's Souls may be the game for you! Gameplay is like a mash-up of Monster Hunter, King's Field and something like Oblivion. In a rare move for JRPGs, you have to pay attention to the size of the area you're swinging your sword about it. If the area is too narrow, your sword will just bounce uselessly off of walls rather than dicing up the various horrors you encounter. Developed by From Software, makers of the Armoured Core series.

Enemies? There's lots, of all different shapes and sizes. From zombies to gigantic armoured tarantulas (showing the Monster Hunter influence) and mindflayers, there's all kinds of things to chop up. Killing an enemy will let you steal its soul, and souls are used not only as currency but as points to upgrade your stats with too.

What's the plot?
The game is set in the cursed kingdom of Voletaria, where a deadly fog has arisen and is summoning demons left right and centre. As an adventurer of your own making, you stride into the fog to find the source and stop it before it gets too late. A class system gives you flexibility in how you play, with mixed jobs also possible.

Any multiplayer?
Yep there is indeed online multiplayer, which comes in three flavours, Co-Op, Competitive and Educational. In co-op, players can invite each other to their worlds to take on boss demons together. A certain item used in game will let other players know that you want to play. In Competitive, players can use a certain item in-game to force their way into other player's games just to ruin the other player's day. The defending player must either escape the attacking player or kill them to boot them from their game. In Educational, upon death, you can write a message to other players warning them about what's to come. Your ghost can even re-enact your last moments for passing adventurers.

What about the areas?
There are various huge levels to run through, accessed through a central hub. Nodes throughout the hub let you get to the levels, and of course you can do everything else you'd expect to be able to do in a hub area, such as shopping, managing your inventory and talking to NPCs.

Awesome! How do I get my hands on this?
The game is currently only on PS3. Out in Japan now, the Asian version comes out on the 24th. I mention the Asian version because apparently it's entirely in English, voices and all, so English-speaking importers can play without fear of the language barrier. It's expensive though.

Official site.
Live stream of gameplay.
Gameplay video from a Japanese LPer. Watch him beat a boss fight that should be unwinnable only to be sucker-punched by Satan.
Some screenshots from IGN here.
Some more footage with a more competent player.

[Regulus Tera]

That music in the background of the website gives me the jeebies.

[phil_]

Really? I'm more amused by the jazzy-instead-of-epic trumpet flares than creeped out.

Also, did the guy in the second link get a developer copy or something, given that the game hasn't been released? Also also, lots of Japanese text in those videos. Lots of not-English Japanese text. Can't really call a game "entirely in English" when the menus are covered in kanji.

[mudah.swf]

The game is out actually, in Japan. Hit Japan at around the 5th, and the current videos are all of the Japanese version of the game. Only the Asian version, released in China at the 24th should be in English.

http://ps3.qj.net/Demon-s-Souls-gett.../49/aid/127503

As for review scores, it's done well in Japanese magazines, and is reportedly selling pretty well.

Famitsu: 9 / 7 / 7 / 6
Dengeki: 95 / 85 / 85 / 85

And here's some more quotes from Famitsu:
"Paint Yamamoto, who gave Demon's a 9 and wrote, 'This is a game you learn how to play by losing -- you'll face sudden death frequently. But! Keep playing... and you'll realize how deep it really is. If you're looking to experience rich RPG elements, by all means play Demon's Souls!!'."

"casual gamer Maria Kichiji felt differently about the game's challenge, giving it a 6: 'It's super-difficult... 'Souls' are needed for everything from shopping to power ups, and the entire game is unforgiving. Even worse, there are almost no hints. Demon's Souls is far too stoic... it's not a game for everybody.'"

[Aerozord]

The currency reminds me of Exalted actually. Where your currency (jade) is also used as componets in technology with other uses. Which I like, I always felt money should be based on materials that are desired for utalitarian reasons rather then because they are really shiny. Plus in theory a financial strategy will lead to power as affectively as an aggressive one

But isn't the PS3 regioncy encoded?

[mudah.swf]

The PS3 is region free for games. Blu-Ray movies are region encoded.

[Wigmund]

Originally Posted by Regulus Tera

That music in the background of the website gives me the jeebies.

I love it, sounds like stuff from NES-era Castlevania clones.

[mudah.swf]

From what I gather this is how death works in this game:

Basically, dying isn't a game over. However, when you do die, you not only lose whatever Souls you have, but your health is also reduced by 50%. You respawn as a Phantom, and you can recover your physical body. But that doesn't restore your health. Instead, to fully resurrect yourself, you have to do one of these things:

-Kill a boss enemy.
-Use the Black Eye stone to force your way into another player's game and kill them.
-Help someone else kill a boss enemy in co-op using the Blue Eye stone to invite someone, or signify that you're ready to play.

Once doing one of these you'll fully resurrect and gain all your health back. You can see it demonstrated in this video. it's a little over half an hour long though.

[Aerozord]

let me see if I understand this, you, as a phantom, can go into another players game and kill them to basically feed off of their life force to restore yourself.

Sounds awesome

but I see this as turning people off. It means that people will assume another player is an enemy, but more then that with half health your target will be noobs and the last thing new players want to worry about is some random high level PC breaking into their game and killing them

[mudah.swf]

You can't really mistake other players for friends, since normally you can't interact with the other players. When a player breaks in, you'll be alerted as soon as it happens, and the attacking player will be a "Black Phantom", and they also get a fancy boss-style introduction, so it would be hard to mistake them for anything else. Anyone you're playing co-op with is a "Blue Phantom".