It’s been rumored that 2009′s award winning sleeper hit, Demon’s Souls will be getting a sequel. These rumors are still unconfirmed by both Sony and FROM SOFTWARE but if there is a sequel in development here are a list of things I’d love to see implemented in the next game.
1. Adjustable Difficulty: The biggest complaint by many about the first game was it’s unforgiving difficulty. Unlike other games this gen, Demon’s Souls won’t hold your hand and give you an easy ride. Instead the game forces players to adjust and learn from their mistakes if they want to survive. Some players ( including me ) weren’t bothered by this level of challenge but it’s been rumored that Sony and FROM SOFTWARE are at disagreement on the difficulty level for the next game. It may be best if FROM SOFTWARE compromises a little by allowing players to choose their difficulty level in Demon’s Souls 2.
2.More Cut scenes: I’m not talking about the lengthy cut scenes found in titles like Final Fantasy or MGS. I mean more scenes that help tell the story in Demon’s Soul. Like for instance, in the first game when Ostrava ventures to see his father, the False King, and demands answers from him. I would like to have seen a cut scene upon entering stage 1-4 of Boletarian Palace that shows a little bit of the conversation between the two that led Ostrava to commit suicide.
3. More voices for your creator character: This is but one of the few gripes I have with the first game.
4. More music or support of custom soundtracks: Again this is just another small gripe I have with the first game. The only time Demon’s Souls featured any type of music was either during the boss fights or in the Nexus. I can take it or leave it but if the sequel turns out to be nearly music-less like the first I’d rather have the next game support the use of custom soundtracks.
5. Bigger Enviroments: Demon’s Souls only offers one area where the path to the boss isn’t so obvious. That level being the dreaded Valley of Defilement under 5-2. At the end of the game you’re teased with a huge sunlit beach but unfortunatly there’s nothing more to do there besides make your way to the final boss. I have fate that the next game will be bigger thanks to comments made by the game’s producer, Takeshi Kajii:
Honestly speaking from a production standpoint, ‘Demon’s Souls’ is a title that has a lot more room to expand on.
In the same interview Takeshi left the door open for a sequel if the game received support from North American gamers. I think over 250k copies sold since release in the US alone is more than enough incentive for a sequel to the low budget rpg.
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I think that, considering the great likelihood of a new sequel being produced, and the fact that the game is now being released in Europe, the most likely scenario for such a sequel would be one of great amounts of funding, better voicework, and more items.
Making the game easier wouldn’t really be a wise choice, even with a slider, because the game is built on multiplayer potential, and unless there is a magical way to scale the difficulty of a multiplayer game to be playable for beginners on easy and challenging for experts on hard mode all in one instance, the game would quickly become so unbalanced that any degree of satisfaction in winning the game would be gone.
I think Demon’s Souls was as much a work of interactive minimalist art as anything else, to be honest. It was like a car with an enormous engine, hardly any give in the suspension, and no anti-lock brakes, automatic transmission, or traction control. If you made a mistake, yes you’d probably die terribly, but if you succeeded, it meant you really did know what you were doing, and were worthy of the power you now experienced. Additionally, the music was excellent, and the tease of each song only appearing once in the game with the exception of things like the Nexus, it made repeat playthroughs even more desirable.
Good point.
I think your forgetting the biggest thing that should have been in the first game in some shape or form – the ability to join your friends online both cooperatively and competitively without having to be in the same place, at the same time, on the same server with similar soul levels.
keep the difficulty loved that a game actually was hard for once……but add voice chat to the party members cause communication isn’t there unless you have friends who own xbox and you just go to the party chat there….that’s what we did
should also add a vendor that you can sell things to in return for a few souls….cause collecting all the stuff that isn’t rare or powerful was pointless
That would be a nice addition. The way it’s set up in DS never really bugged me though.
People are still whining about the difficulty? God forbid one game is tough this generation. Leave the difficulty the way it is. That is what makes Demon’s Souls, Demon’s Souls. If you don’t want to play a tough game, then play Ratchet & Clank.
The difficulty is fine the way it is, but an little bit more ingame explanation would be nice. And not being able to apuse the game is just ridiculous. I appreciate that when playing online you can’t just pause it but how about when you’re playing offline? It doesn’t make sense to me. And like someone else suggested, being able to play with your friends online easily would be something. For me, the lack of music wasn’t an issue, it added to the atmosphere I thought. I agree on the cutscenes somewhat though, as long as they don’t go overboard with it, with this should come a better story.
I play Demons souls, and I love it. The only problem I saw was the issue with joining friends for online play. I could be hit or miss. If they fixed that, perhaps with a meeting zone in the nexus (version 2 ) for joining friends and PVP, explained by some little story telling about a thin veil between worlds or whatever, it would improve the gameplay a lot for people who want to play together.
If the difficulty goes down, I would be less interested in the game. While the game is very well designed, its the dificulty that kept me playing. Its a change of pace. A lot of games today are getting far too easy, some of them even on the hardest modes. Its nice to have a game that kicks your ass, and does so with huge monsters
If they make the game any easier, I’m not buying it. Only reason I bought this game was for the simple fact that it was hard as hell. To make it easier would ruin the unique multiplayer experience, someone could go beat the game on an easier level and get items that would be other wise harder to get much easier then someone who is trying to play it on a more difficult level.
I think that a few more cut scenes wouldn’t hurt. And the main issue with the voices I think was the fact that it was a port-over from Japanese to English – which could be something easily addressed.
And I don’t think a ‘bigger environment’ is necessary in the way you are thinking. Perhaps make more side paths, but don’t make some huge open world in which you can just run around. The idea of being able to enter 4-1 and go farm something, or 2-2 to farm something made the game linear, but it still felt like a large world.
Seriously, spoiler alert! fucking hell. Use a tag or something to cover that shit up in future.
Completely disagree with the list. Many game out there offer what you ask. Play them and leave Demon’s souls as is!
Difficulty? Change? Scale it?
No, that’s what made Demon’s Souls… “Demon’s Souls.” The difficulty should get more balanced but thats it.
They should improve on their online system that’s already implemented and maybe make it a tad easier/better in that sense.
The music thing? Well that’s just completely retarded. You need to hear your enemies breath and hear everything in Demon’s Souls so you DON’T DIE. Plus it would completely wreck the atmosphere that game has.. if you NEED to listen to music get an iphone or something…
This game has a silent protagonist, you shouldn’t have a voice. Are you gonna ask that Link, Gordan Freeman and other games with silent protagonist all of the sudden get voices?
More cut scenes would be another bad idea, the game is suppose to have very little plot, but tonnes of lore. It’s the kind of game where you learn the story from the gameplay not the cutscenes. It’s similar to portal and other games that like that in that aspect.
Where I do agree with you though is that the game needs more, and bigger environments but it doesn’t need to be like Dragon Age or Oblivion, it shouldn’t branch too far from what made it great.
More dynamic status effects and magic to add depth to the game play. E.g, slow, haste, ice (freezing enemies in place), lightning (chain effects, dazing enemies, some enemies even have stuff like that, why not the players?), wind (for lifting people up and juggling them a little).
More weapons and items.
Improved Graphics.
Some more open areas, but not everything has to be wide open.
Don’t change anything about the difficulty AT ALLL!!!!!! that’s like the most important element of the game. The one thing I would change though, a real PAUSE BUTTON FOR CHRIST SAKE!!!!
I’d just improve physics.
Everything else is perfect. I disagree with the writer of the article because if they added what he suggested, that would be just another game like every other. And no, don’t even give us a real pause button. If that bothers anyone, there are plenty of games with proper pause. Just leave Demon Souls the way it is. It’s the only game I really enjoyed this gen, you go play your epic Uncharteds and God Of Wars, let some games stay different.
And IN NO WAY they should add music. The lack of music is really what adds to the atmosphere. just like in Shadow of the Colossus.
Who is sdr0079 anyway? Did you study at art, game design, film or some other academy?
I don’t think all that is needed to have an opinion about a video game.
the author’s suggestion would work well to sell more copies. and the game isnt hard. it just isnt hack and slash. go play god of war
Custom Sound Tracks yes Check points or Save points yes this is why I didn’t like the first 1=(