Just to provide some personal insight for anyone curious about the feel of Demon’s Souls compared to Dark Souls, it was easier than Dark Souls when I first played it on PS3 (years later).
A couple levels are a bit labyrinthine (the early part of Latria, the deeper parts of the mines) but the game was surprisingly a lot more linear and shorter than I’d expected.
Dodging was slightly more difficult than in Dark Souls, but having been used to it after all these years and getting a sense of what boss movements to read, I never really struggled with most of the bosses. I think they didn’t really design fights with the idea that people would be dodging as much as blocking, so anyone who is used to dodge rolling and knows how to stay below the fat rolling threshold will have an easier time. Many people online have talked about Flamelurker being one of the hardest bosses in the game, but I was able to get him down in one attempt just by knowing how to dodge roll. Flamelurker is probably the most Dark Soulsy boss in the game, so it felt natural.
I think the only esoteric aspect of the game that was never really explained well is world tendency and character tendency. Similar in some regards to Dark Souls, the smart way to play is to be in soul form the majority of the time (equivalent to being Hollow in Dark Souls). Partly because the items needed to become human are in short supply, so you can’t always rely on them. But also particularly because dying as a human in Demon’s Souls darkens the world tendency, and the only way to make it lighter is to kill bosses and certain unique enemies (which are in short supply). And certain things are only available when the world is fully light or fully dark, so you really have to be deliberate about how you affect the world tendency if you want to unlock everything. A world that is fully dark is significantly more difficult, so trying to get an edge by going human over and over every time you die will actually end up making things worse.
Oh and run backs are all brutal, by design. Bosses themselves are significantly easier, but there will never be an archstone (bonfire) anywhere between the previous boss you killed and the next boss.
Just to provide some personal insight for anyone curious about the feel of Demon’s Souls compared to Dark Souls, it was easier than Dark Souls when I first played it on PS3 (years later).
A couple levels are a bit labyrinthine (the early part of Latria, the deeper parts of the mines) but the game was surprisingly a lot more linear and shorter than I’d expected.
Dodging was slightly more difficult than in Dark Souls, but having been used to it after all these years and getting a sense of what boss movements to read, I never really struggled with most of the bosses. I think they didn’t really design fights with the idea that people would be dodging as much as blocking, so anyone who is used to dodge rolling and knows how to stay below the fat rolling threshold will have an easier time. Many people online have talked about Flamelurker being one of the hardest bosses in the game, but I was able to get him down in one attempt just by knowing how to dodge roll. Flamelurker is probably the most Dark Soulsy boss in the game, so it felt natural.
I think the only esoteric aspect of the game that was never really explained well is world tendency and character tendency. Similar in some regards to Dark Souls, the smart way to play is to be in soul form the majority of the time (equivalent to being Hollow in Dark Souls). Partly because the items needed to become human are in short supply, so you can’t always rely on them. But also particularly because dying as a human in Demon’s Souls darkens the world tendency, and the only way to make it lighter is to kill bosses and certain unique enemies (which are in short supply). And certain things are only available when the world is fully light or fully dark, so you really have to be deliberate about how you affect the world tendency if you want to unlock everything. A world that is fully dark is significantly more difficult, so trying to get an edge by going human over and over every time you die will actually end up making things worse.
Oh and run backs are all brutal, by design. Bosses themselves are significantly easier, but there will never be an archstone (bonfire) anywhere between the previous boss you killed and the next boss.