Given recent games have taken more than 60 hours of my life to beat (and weren't great) I didn't expect Demon Souls to crush my will to play so quickly. It's not that the game seems bad or broken. It's not that there isn't a kernel of something compelling within it. It's that it is not made for someone like me.
I died in the tutorial. I think that is part of the design, but I don't know.
I died five times after the central hub of the nexus trying to cross a bridge and climb some stairs. I started at the far end of that bridge every time. My club made a wet slash sound like a blade across flesh. My character seemed lithe enough, despite the unbreakable animations and weird timings.
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| Totally Died Here |
I am used to the instant response in combat of hitting a button or a combo and having the character actually complete that task rather than wind up to it.
Structured like an rpg-brawler but functioning like a slow as molasses fighting game, Demon Souls requires the player learn the timings of their own characters movements, and match those timings to the enemies repeated attack sequences. The stakes are enormous and there is no pause button.
THERE IS NO PAUSE BUTTON.
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| Died Here Too |
Despite the neat aspect of online messages from other players scrawled on the environment and ghosts of other players running through the world either live or as bloodstains, Demon Souls requires a different commitment of time than I can give it.
It demands a player that is not interrupted by the needs and wants of family, pets, or significant other. It demands complete and utter focus and maddening paitience as you repeat the same task over and over.
Like life it has no pause button, but my life has no time for Demon Souls.
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