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The Most Boring Game of the Year
Playing Demon’s Souls makes me a boring person.
I've been playing the game. A lot. And I love it. A lot. The other night I spent hours with it, and in those hours, all I did was farm the same sections again and again, futz around with my gear, gain a few soul levels, and kill one Vanguard demon - and I killed him by shooting about fifty arrows into his forehead while he just stood there scratching himself.
If you’d been sitting there watching me, you would have been screamingly, knuckle-suckingly bored. In fact, my wife kept walking by and asking, “Weren’t you here before? Didn’t you kill that thing before? Didn’t you kill all those things?” Yessiree I did, but they didn’t drop the large sharpstone I need for my +5 Falchion. And so I’ve gotta kill ‘em again.
Demon’s Souls is excruciatingly dull to anybody who doesn’t play Demon’s Souls. It’s slow and gruelling - difficult, sure, but not in a thrilling way. In fact, people who tell you that it’s hard just aren’t being boring enough about it; they probably keep rushing in and getting clocked, while anyone with monk-like patience could beat this thing in a year or so. Even its coolest feature – that other players can pop into your game, to give you hints or help or plain old grief you – is really only useful because it pens you in with other gamers who are just as dull as you are. We are all boring together.
But here’s the dilemma. I don’t just like to play games. I like to write about them. I do it for this column, but I also like to talk online with all the other game bloggers out there, who are daily churning their experiences into fascinating, idea-rich copy. Over the last couple years, a whole gang of game bloggers has come together into something referred to – ironically? – as the “brainysphere”. Some of the members are hot-shot published writers, some are just starting their first blog, and some of them stick to short bursts on Twitter and Tumblr. But all of us love to write about games.
And more and more, games have become fun to write about. Innovative rules, provocative content, and unique experiences draw us to blogging about games like Far Cry 2 or BioShock. The super Critical Distance keeps track of the community, and the massive “critical compendium” posts – like this one for Grand Theft Auto IV – stitch together dozens of perspectives on our most-tussled-over games.
Then you have something like Demon’s Souls. I know we’re all playing it – but almost nobody’s blogging about it. Michael Abbott of The Brainy Gamer is hooked deep, and yet he’s only written one post about the game. “I wonder if the general lack of analysis is due to the fact that the game is really just an astoundingly effective mash-up of dungeon-crawler action-RPG adventure elements (combat feels like Zelda to me, actually) with really great dungeons, and that's the whole story,” he wrote to me.
‘Course, that’s not the whole story. “The other night I was up playing the game at 2:30am trying to decide whether to cash in a demon soul or use it for an upgrade. I mean, it was like I was in charge of determining our Middle East policy. I checked the wiki, followed comment threads, etc. laboring over the decision. INSANE.”
I’m with Michael. When I want to read about the game, I go straight to the wikis. I pore over spreadsheets. I study maps that are labelled in Japanese. The walkthrough posted by Lee Beng Hai belongs in a “best games writing” list somewhere, not so much for the prose, but for the depth of his coverage and the gratitude I feel for it, like he’s the first guy in my tribe to wander into the jungle and come back with all his limbs.
Sure, I could praise the aesthetics: the game has atmosphere to spare and deftly uses it to rachet up the tension. The voice acting would chill Dickens. The walls would scare off mold. And the sound design is hollow, haunted and mostly music free, because music would make you feel safe. But that’s just garnish for the gameplay. By demanding your twitches and your tactics, by keeping you alert in even the most familiar passages, and by demanding and rewarding your total focus, it lures you into a state of serene concentration and sustains it for hours at a stretch. It’s not “flow”, because flow implies progress; it’s more like tantric sex with a slide rule. I don’t know how else to put it.
The hell with saving the world. I’ll take navel-gazing this sublime any day.
Chris Dahlen writes about games, music, pop, and tech. You can find him online at @savetherobot, or drop him a line at chris at savetherobot.com.
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Why has Demon Souls not got a UK release!!!!! This is a disgrace from Sony who have just kicked the Europe fans in the nuts - again. There is no shortage of crap that gets released on PS3 in Europe - for example Clone Wars Republic Heroes. Wtf is going on here? I want to get slaughtering dreglings not playing more crap from George Lucas like Fracture - which imo is the most boring game ever created. For example the hero is called 'Jet Brody'!?!??! wtf. Apparently Jet spent 'much of his life as an orphan'....!?... before he met Colonal Roy Lawence of the "Pacifican States" who saw Jet's true potential- wahahahah. I bet George Lucas thought of that while he was sat on the toilet having a dump. This appears to be his creative process.
In fairness to Sony, they didn't release it anywhere outside Japan - Atlus picked it up in America.
omg I was just watching a Modern Warfare 2 playthrough on YouTube. I can see why they didn't want anyone to review it. This is one of the most controversial games ever made. In the airport level you are undercover with terrorists & have to gun down crowds of civillians while they try to surrender. I cant believe Activision did it. Even the commentator on the playthrough said it was crazy - because its interactive. Its too much for me & I'm not buying this game... peace
i respect your opinion and it's probably fair,but i think it's just a game.maybe developers wanted to show the cruel face of war...
Edit:
I have watched this, have made up my opinion and i cant be bothered with the uproar it will cause so i wont be expressing it
Actually in the UK there is a price war going on & Sainsbury are selling it for £26. So I will probably get it. Also maybe that airport scene is ok? Maybe the hero character used to work for say Blackwater in Iraq...or maybe he just went a little bit mad from all that hardcore action. So you could justify it....right? I'm wondering why they didnt include the airport scene in the trailer. That would have prepared people for it and softened it a bit with the hip-hop sounds of Eminem. What is more offensive is that Activision tried to pwn the game for £50 on pre-order. Thats definately not right
there's is an update for the game.in the starting screen you have the option to pass the missions which may offend you.so if you like fps you have no reason not to play this gem!it's gameplay is intense!
If that game told me anything, then it is the impossibility of rating a game on a scale and expect every player to be represented by that scale.
As a reader of reviews, Demon's Souls shows me that beyond presentation, sound and gameplay, the fundamental thing a review should tell me, is whether I am compatible to the design choices of the game I read about.
A game could be perfect in every department and yet fail to capture me due to the way the gameplay was set up. At some point gameplay can go several ways. None of these ways needs to be bad, often all choices are good in their own way. But they are choices nonetheless and some people will always be alienated by them.
For example, not being able to build a base is not be a bad thing in an RTS, such a decision does not yield an automatic -1 on the final score. An RTS can still be a 10/10 allowing no bases to be build. But for some player that decision will be THE reason not to buy the game.
Demon's Souls appears to be a radical game. No gameplay decision was inherently bad, no resulting gamplay is really bad, but the tastes in gaming it caters to is far off the pampered mainstream of regenerating health and quick progress through an action packed cinematic adventure. All ratings aside, this game challenges the way how to write a review and how to inform the reader. No quick glance at a number will tell you if this game is any good, only reading about how it interacts with the player, how it treats you, will tell the reader if Demon's Souls is something to buy.
@zerobob & the other posters who failed to see what a great gaming experience Far Cry 2 was/is.
http://drgamelove.blogspot.com/2009/10/permanent-death-episode-9-bridges...
Brilliant article!!
I played this game and TBH didnt really enjoy it. I think it boils down to the fact that when i play a game like this i personally prefer to be part of a story being told rather than making the story myself.
An article certainly isnt going to change my mind over actual experience of playing a game.
No, very true, but it summed up why I enjoyed the game so much, far better than I could in a post on here.
Well as zerobob has started it, my nomination for most boring high profile game of the year has to be Uncharted 2. Hell, I was bored escaping from the coach hanging over the cliff at the start, it was so predictable. The funny thing is, I actually 'quite' enjoyed the first one in short bursts and played it for a few hours in total, but with all the hype for the second one I was expecting something truly amazing, like the second coming of Christ, but let's be fair it really failed to deliver and goes down as the most overrated game this gen so far in my book. If Uncharted 2 is representitive of where video games are going then we (or I) really are heading for mass marketing gaming designed by spreadsheets for the most casual of gamer, where thought, planning ahead and tactics are a thing of the past. But then I find the same movies that it is so obviously trying to mimic just as tedious and boring.
btw I'm having a lot of fun playing Borderlands which only managed to get a measly 6/10 from Edge, I'm not sure why because I ignored the review when I saw the score as I'd already been playing the game; sure it's repetitive as all open world games ultimately are, but I've already put in over 10 hours and it has that addictive nature to keep improving your arsenal and special abilities and while the AI is nothing special it fits the gameplay.
Likewise with enjoying Borderlands, however I would be playing Uncharted 2 (which I played the first hour of) but unfortunately my PS3 YLoD'd yesterday with U2 in the drive, this was 2 days after buying my 360 and I've had my PS3 since June 2007, crazy coincidence huh?
From what I played though I'm really looking forward to the rest, I found the coach scene and the flashbacks really enjoyable, and like the first game I found the experience really calming. Yeah the scene is pumped up action but everything is so smooth I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Lol maybe microsoft are making products that destroy the competition now, like that simpsons with the Furby thing
I had both of them running the night before downloading updates and games, so I imagined some sort of battle over the power cables taking place and since my tired old PS3 was combating a brand spanking 360 he'd bit the dust by the next morning when I powered him on again :-(
At least he died fighting.
my nomination for most boring high profile game of the year has to be Uncharted 2.
I'm having a lot of fun playing Borderlands
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Baaa, baaa, baaa is all I've got to say to muppets like you.
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Seriously mate, what did you expect?
Calling people sheep because they happen to enjoy an excellent game is not good form.
yeh I know, I don't really think that, I mean some of my best friends love Uncharted :D
my nomination for most boring high profile game of the year has to be Uncharted 2.
You should find a new hobby, seriously.
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Somewhat ironically Chris, I've really enjoyed reading this article, and the comments about it. It sounds to me as if writing about this game would actually is quite interesting, and I'd be more than happy to listen to you all.
I'm almost at the point of cracking here and importing this game to find out what all the fuss is about.
Hey, thanks! I would definitely import it - was just telling someone that this is the first game that would make me run into a burning building to save my PS3. It's going to take a while, but I am going to beat it. And when I do, I'm going to raise a statue of myself high-fiving the world.
its funny and ironic that i bought a PS3 to play Uncharted 2(the bundle pack!), but in the end Demons Souls gets all the play time... making it the true system seller :)
Do it, mate. If you are in the UK you can buy it brand new from importers on ebay. This game is amazing. I think everyone should play it. I bought my copy on ebay and haven't looked back. For me it beats Uncharted 2.
Nice one Chris!i´m madly in love with this game and although i don´t agree with all your views on it,i think its great that at least there´s someone talking about it,and not just about its difficulty...
Its difficulty can be annoying specially in the first few hours into the game,but once you pass trough the 2 firsts bosses the game starts to show that maybe it likes you, and that maybe you can make part of its world,for a bit longer than you thought.
the first moments with this game reminded me my first time with Ghoul´s and Ghousts. That same kind of tension,fun and mood.
i do think that this game is far from boring. i´m too tense while playing to feel bore.even when i´m repeating the same path for its tenth time.Fallout 3 is a much more boring game than this,i rarely felt the "danger" in that game,and its too damn easy.
anyway one could talk Demons Souls all day.i just wish i new someone personally to do so.
and for bringing Demons Souls to the table i thank you Chris.
stay well
Hey, thanks for reading and responding!
Bioshock & Far Cry 2 are probably my 2 favourite single player experiences this generation. Bioshock was brilliant for allowing you to setup traps for the enemy. I remember one point where I had about 3 floors on a staircase all under my protection so if any bad guy/gal moved I knew about it. Unfortunately I never finished Far Cry 2 because of that saved game bug which wiped out several hours of playtime, but what I loved about the game was the freedom, the fantastic African setting and being able to use stealth, to a point, to infiltrate bases, I had a love affair with my silenced sniper rifle :D. I loved mapping out my routes, jumping in my jeep and boats and quick travel buses to my next objective.
Still waiting for my copy of Demon's Souls to turn up from Hong Kong :(
Innovative rules, provocative content, and unique experiences draw us to blogging about games like Far Cry 2 or BioShock.
Bioshock/Far Cry 2 were pretty far from Innovative. Bioshock is just System Shock 2, but the gaming media wanked themselves off when it came out, it was an OK game, but nothing special and by special i mean, Mario 64, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Super Metroid, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy VII, etc.
Bioshock is just System Shock 2 - you say that like it's a bad thing! I disagree - Bioshock 2 offered an evolutionary improvement in terms of mechanics, story telling and immersion justifying all of its praise. EVERY game is just an interation/evolution of what came before it so why single out that one?
I agree that Deux Ex and Ico deserve to be up there (I would include Thief, for being the first game to get sneaking right and it's phenomenal voice acting and story telling), but completely disagree about the others. As much as I tried to like Shadow the controls and navigation were an absolute disaster, offsetting the potential charms of the game. Mario, Metroid, FF must be a reflection of your generation because there's hardly anything innovative about them unless you were young enough that those were the first games you started playing so thought they were fresh.
Bioshock offered an evolutionary improvement in terms of mechanics, story telling and immersion justifying all of its praise. EVERY game is just an interation/evolution of what came before it so why single out that one?
Why can't you just accept the fact that a LOT of people didn't like Bioshock! For me personally, it was an average game. The narrative was mediocre to say the least, it certainly didn't grab me by the balls like other narrative based games such as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Also the combat/action was run-of-the-mill FPS material, there was no innovation what-so-ever.
Let face it, Bioshock was a shooter, nothing else and nothing more. If the media and gamers alike, think Bioshock is the highest point of videogame narrative, then i'm afraid the videogame as a story telling medium is in more trouble than one would let on!
I think gamers need to start thinking for themselves more as opposed to taking the the opinions of journalist at face value.
I never claimed some people didn't like Bioshock. You certainly get worked up about any game not developed in Japan getting any type of recognition, don't you?
You damn Fallout 3 and Bioshock and then praise one of the many sequels/clones from Japan about invading demon hordes - yeah, that's very original. I'm glad that the industry (well, the Western industry) has moved away from the long cutscenes/dialogue trees with endless, nonsensical exposition and constant employment of Deus Ex Machina to get out of the plot dead-ends most Japanese developers amateurishly put themselves in over and over again.
There aren't many games which effectively portray philosophical concepts, such as those of Ayn Rand in this case, the way BioShock did. If you found the gameplay to be a simple shooter, you weren't playing it correctly. The variety of plasmids allowed gamers creativity in tackling the challenges they were presented with - if you were creative enough to utilize them.
"If you found the gameplay to be a simple shooter, you weren't playing it correctly. The variety of plasmids allowed gamers creativity in tackling the challenges they were presented with - if you were creative enough to utilize them"
Excellent points, and don't forget the stationary & flying turrets you could take control of. That's how I managed to more or less control several floors on one of the staircases. I'm still amazed Edge only gave it an 8.
Also glad to see someone else on an Edge forum who doesn't worship at the altar of quirky Japanese games. Western shooters FTW!!
There aren't many games which effectively portray philosophical concepts, such as those of Ayn Rand in this case, the way BioShock did. If you found the gameplay to be a simple shooter, you weren't playing it correctly
Man, you couldn't be more patronizing if you tried.
It's nothing to do with "playing the game correctly" (where did you come up with that one?). Bioshock is a shooter, simple!
There's no point in talking to you as you're clearly a Bioshock fan. It's like talking to a drunk.
Bioshock: text book marmite game.
I personally loved it first play through, i had the house to myself and played begining to end stopping only for beer and poos. This i think helped me immerse myself in the atmosphere the game creates, an atmosphere you either get or you dont.
Strip the atmos of the game away and yes it is a game made of parts that have been done better before.
Second play through, with all the twists revealed and the shock parts played through i realised this.
Conclusion, if you dont get the atmosphere of Bioshock, then you don't get Bioshock.
Conclusion, if you dont get the atmosphere of Bioshock, then you don't get Bioshock.
It's nothing to do with "dont get the atmosphere of Bioshock", it's just an average game, simple as that, personally speaking of course.
Thief...come on, it's no masterpiece.
Have you played it recently? It's awful, a masterpiece = a game that can stand the test of time, i agree with Wall_E on this one because Super Metroid, Ico, Deus Ex, Mario 64, Shadow of the Colossus, etc still put most games to shame, even today.
Mario, Metroid, FF must be a reflection of your generation because there's hardly anything innovative about them unless you were young enough that those were the first games you started playing so thought they were fresh.
Listen, don't judge someone by the games they play! I've been gaming for 20+ years and know a classic when i play one.
Your rant above just reeks of ignorance.
Wait are we discussing 'Special' or innovative here?
They are two very very different things, admitedly they often share attributes but i think we can all agree there have been some pretty special games that werent exactly innovative (banjo kazooie, Street Fighter 2 tournament and a whole host of sequals) and vice versa
Yeah I couldn't agree more with Mario 64 and Shadow of the Colossus. They were both brilliantly special.
Far Cry 2 was special in terms of its size and environment, and gave a great hint at the game it could have been, but was ultimately repetitive and frustrating.
Bioshock is a game I've never been impressed with on any level. It seemed to play just like Fallout 3 (which lets face it, doesn't have the best FPS playability) but set in corridors.....and repetitive/ boring/ samey corridors at that.
If I had to call one game dull it would be Bioshock.
I'm glad its not just me that thinks Bioshock was boring. I lost interest very quickly and now I resent buying it. It just sits there, unfinished, taunting me.
I loved bioshock near the start when you don't have much in the way of weaponry and it's all very creepy and you suddenl jump out of your skin with "ohmygodabigdaddywhatamigoingtodo"! Once you got into it a bit though, the atmosphere really dulled, as it felt more like "oh, a big daddy. Well, i'll just shoot it with my plethora of weapons".
The game allowed you to feel too powerful towards the end, and that took a lot away from the creepiness and general atmosphere (in my opinion).
Yeah, with BioShock I was thinking more about the story - I've had a lot of fun arguing about why Andrew Ryan is the only real hero in the game. I'm a little less interested in say, Ostrava. As for Far Cry 2, sure, it's a shooter, but it's sparked so much more discussion than I ever would have expected thanks to realistic African setting, the possibilities of its open world, and the way the characters are handled: no matter how sympathetic they are, they are all bad people, and the game never lets you forget it. Far Cry 2 has also been a brainysphere favorite thanks to Ben Abraham's fantastic, infamous Permadeath series, where he's playing through with permadeath rules - if he dies, he stops the campaign.
Thanks for the link Chris, I had read that someone was doing this but hadn't gotten round to looking it up, it looks fascinating. Ben also has a link to his thesis regarding (the oft overlooked topic of) video-game music which, from a quick skim, also looks well worth a read.
I just started playing the game and pretty much had the same reaction - I love Demon's Souls but my fiancé got bored even though she was reading a book while I was playing (ha!). That might sound strange but contrast it to a game like Fallout 3 where she can enjoy the music and we could talk about the quests I was on, even if she doesn't care one bit about mutant mole rats.
I think there are interesting things to write about regarding the game, but there's no hot-topic flashiness in there: no debate over moral choices that don't actually exist, no experimental control theme that falls on its face, no exhibition of sexuality that gets overblown media coverage, etc. The game is mostly just a combination of elements you've seen before that somehow come together to form an exciting and irresistible experience (for the player).
Regarding what is worth writing about, I think the perceptions over its difficulty are interesting. Because I'd heard it was so hard, I actually found the game to be easier than I expected. I think the difficulty is more a result of our atrophied gaming skills combined with an atypical need for being cautious.
Jason, I totally agree with you about the difficulty. I found it very hard at first, until I killed the first boss and earned the chance to start leveling. But ever since then, I've found it totally reasonable. Whenever you get stuck, you can try one of the other four worlds, and either make a little more progress or just farm and grind (which never feels like "grinding" because you can always find a way to screw up). And after a few hours you're so attentive to what you need to do that it never feels hard in a shmup or platformer sense - you're just sort of aware of what you can handle, and what you need to do next. Compare that with say Fallout 3. My ifrst few levels in that game, I was , whereyou're always running out of ammo, always barreling through new territory, always trying to track down a bed or supplies. I'm always making do because I want to get to the next thing. But Demon's Souls encourages you to slow down - and get it right.
Fallout 3 is an interesting game to contrast with Demon's Souls. They're both RPGs, but their approach to leveling comes across differently to me. I feel like I'm truly getting better at playing Demon's Souls as I progress, like my stats are rising with my performance. In Fallout 3 my stat increases are more of a measure of how much time I've spent playing the game and how many quests I've completed. That may sound like an indictment of Fallout 3, but it's not: if you're playing to experience an unfolding story in a more leisurely manner, Fallout 3 is your game. I'm not always in the mood to perform on the level that Demon's Souls requires.
I am however a little concerned over the looming threat of needing to grind (something I hate to do), and am wondering how necessary it is if you just want to complete the game. It's true that I have replayed the first level several times already, but that was to find new areas and practice different tactics. I don't consider that grinding because I actually enjoyed it. Hopefully I can do all my "grinding" under the guise of trying out new weapons and honing my combat skills.
I actually find it very enthralling to watch, more so than some flashier games. It depends on how invested you are in the 'risk' the protagonist and the player are in, and how captivated you are by the atmosphere.
If you aren't careful, any common goon can do a lot of damage to you, the protagonist is far from invincible. There is also something to lose when you die, as oppose to say, Halo where you restart from 5 minutes ago, or God of War where it's very unlikely you're going to die.
Watching a black phantom stalk a player, observing him from a castle wall as he runs through the court yard, and tailing him for 10 minutes until, the player engaged with armored enemies, is struck down with a knife in the back. That is enthralling, that is entertainment.
>>It’s not “flow”, because flow implies progress
I think this is where our opinions differ. You write of captivation and excitement as "progress in a plot", I see it as "empathy to the protagonist".
Now, since you are the Player, of course you have empathy, but your observers don't for whatever reason. I guess this is really just a matter of what kind of friends you have watching you play. So it's a "Journey vs Destination" sort of thing. This empathy makes you care about what's around that dark corner, the clash of weapon against shield, and the satisfaction of gettin' that loot. This is facilitated by....
>>Sure, I could praise the aesthetics: the game has atmosphere to spare and deftly uses it to rachet up the tension. The voice acting would chill Dickens. The walls would scare off mold. And the sound design is hollow, haunted and mostly music free, because music would make you feel safe. But that’s just garnish for the gameplay.
This line bothers me "sure I could praise the aesthetics... but that's just garnish"
Why? Why not just say "I like how this game looks! It draws me in" and end it there? This snarkiness brings nothing to the article. You are damning the excellent atmosphere and empathy generated by this well crafted game as unimportant 'garnish'.
The saucier is the highest station of cook y'know?
It's funny you mention empathy with the protagonist, because at this point, I just feel like the protagonist is my tool to chipping away at this experience - there's a lot of drama moment-by-moment, but heck, my character's been dead for most of the game and she just keeps coming back. I agree with you that it's totally enthralling, but only because I'm the one with the controller.
You're making me regret calling the aesthetics "garnish." They're excellent, they set a perfect tone for the game, and they really feed the tension. But they're not what I come back for - as opposed to most RPGs or action/adventures, where discovering new terrain is my biggest driver. My 50th run through 3-1 was not as scary as my first five.
But yeah, I don't disagree with your comment - I think you and I could talk for hours about this game. But nobody else would want to listen.