Demon's Souls: The Nexus Binds Me Part 2

Apr. 23, 2016

Demon’s Souls: The Nexus Binds Me Part 2

In thefirst partof this 2 part article, we took a look at all the aspects of Demon’s Souls that served to draw players in. This part of the article will build upon what was discussed there and look towards the future on how those design philosophies could be expanded for a future Souls game.

Quite possibly, yes. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, and Bloodborne have each had mechanics, weapon concepts, movesets, and level designs that worked incredibly well, but each and every one of these titles also had significant drawbacks that encumbered other aspects of the game.

Demon’s Souls spellcasting was excellent given the unintentional – but extremely beneficial – pivot cast mechanic, something that could be incorporated as an official mechanic for combat while having necessary precautions so that the system could not be abused for something like Spellswap Glitches. Or perhaps spells could have their own moveset. Their weapon types and movesets also had a good base to work off of, as did the spells of all of the other games. The World Tendency system was brilliant: the world rewarded you for dying by allowing you to struggle through a more difficult environment for loot you couldn’t normally get without doing those events.  For doing well at NOT dying while defeating other players and bosses, the world rewarded you with an entirely different event that offered unique weapons or armor. The mana system worked very well and should never have been replaced. Roll speed was great for this game and set the pace for PvP on high.

Dark Souls brought some interesting weapon/armor designs, movesets, and spells to the table that would probably work well if incorporated correctly. The lack of HP penalty for phantom players was a large step forward for the series and should have continued. The Dragon Sign allowed you to lay a dueling summon sign that ensured 1v1 fights to prevent unwanted 1v2+ trolling while the Red Sign allowed a player to host two opposing phantom players. The infinitely-up invasion system was fantastic as well, allowing players at all levels to be invaded while guaranteeing that the invader had no statistical advantage over the host. Giving Faith builds and Magic Builds their own respective buffs was great, but they would need to be brought into proportion with each other and would not be overwhelmingly powerful.

Dark Souls 2 brought in two key concepts that worked extremely well: Guardbreak Ripostes and additional moveset options for two-handed weapons (which continued on in Bloodborne to an even greater degree, although the execution was not perfect in either case). If a game is going to have shields, what better way to punish poor usage than GBR’s? Having the jump button assignable to the L3 was fantastic as well, allowing players to dodge out of a run like in Demon’s Souls while retaining the ability to jump if necessary.

Bloodborne did a lot of interesting things that worked incredibly well. Charged attacks not only added a new element of strategy to the game, but were also the vehicle for a better backstab than was previously offered. If you got a backstab in Bloodborne, you really earned it. Some of the movesets were very well-conceived too, such as the Logarius Wheel’s two-handed moveset, the Church Pick’s two-handed moveset, the Holy Moonlight Sword’s overall moveset (although the backstep attacks were not quite up to par), the Beast Cutter’s whip form moveset, and both sides of the Amygdalan Arm’s moveset. Having spells available as items was also a brilliant move and allowed players to cast spells with two-handed weapons. With said items having a stat requirement, their own scaling, and consuming mana, this could result in a better spellsword than has been achieved thus far. Removing equip burden as it pertains to movement speed and assigning a stamina regeneration penalty instead was another brilliant move. The transformation attacks in this game worked very well and were a nice addition to each weapon’s moveset.

Although it just came out and I know very little about it, there are some promising features of Dark Souls 3 that work very well. Weapon skills add a new strategic element to play, using a little bit of mana to execute a special attack for many weapons. Some weapon movesets also seem to have a few interesting quirks, such as the utility of the sweeping attacks of the Partizan, which are practical to use when surrounded or to bait your opponent in to get a perfectly-timed hit while they roll/run at you. For my own personal reasons, I have chosen not to purchase this game, however I hope that all who bought it are getting their money’s worth and enjoying it.

Vitality: Governs HP

Intelligence: Governs Mana

Endurance: Governs Stamina

Strength: Governs the bonus of Strength weapons; Weapon Req

Dexterity: Governs the bonus of Dex weapons; Weapon Req

Magic: Governs the bonus of Magic weapons and spells; Weapon and Spell Req

Faith: Governs the bonus of Faith weapons and spells; Weapon and Spell Req

Base points: 70 + Level

World Tendency system would increase the playability of each area and offer rewards when certain conditions are met, such as new weapons, spells, items, or equipment.

The upgrade system would somewhat follow along with what Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls had going, with upgrades for Strength scaling, Dex scaling, Str and Dex scaling (possibly standard upgrade path), Magic scaling, Faith scaling, Poison (weaker standard upgrade path with an added poison effect), Bleed (weaker standard upgrade path with an added bleed effect), and Fire (scales with both Magic and Faith, similar to how Quality weapons scaled in Demon’s Souls). Special weapons would have their own upgrades from +0 to +5.

Some special weapons would be attainable from World Tendency Events while others would be obtained by forging them at a certain blacksmith’s forge with the right Soul. All common weapons would be available to forge – after being obtained once on your character in any playthrough – at the cost of a common ore (ex. Hardstone/Sharpstone or Titanite) and a number of souls appropriate for the difficulty of obtaining the weapon by other means such as farming. All unique weapons attainable from World Tendency events or NPC’s would be available to forge at the cost of a more precious ore (ex. A Pure ore respective to the weapon’s type or effects). All unique weapons attainable from Boss Souls would be available to forge after obtaining the respective soul necessary. All special weapons would be upgradeable via a special ore or soul (ex. Colorless Demon’s Souls or Twinkling Titanite).

Status effects would remain almost identical to how they were executed in Demon’s Souls because they all functioned the way they were supposed to. Bleed and Rapid Poison in the other games were flawed in that you could dodge and your invincibility frames would negate the damage completely. Rather than have Cloud spells, however, it would be better to implement them as single projectiles such as arrow spells.

Weapon durability would be along the lines of how it was with Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne. Movesets would be a mix of all games, taking the best moves for each weapon class and potentially improving upon them or using entirely new moves/movesets, as appropriate. Many weapons would have large windows where situational actions are available, such as after a roll. To put it more precisely, if you were to roll, you’d have a full 1-2 seconds in which your next R1 attack would be as if you had just used a normal roll R1. These delays would provide strategic opportunities in which you could bait your opponent in for an attack. Hyperarmor would also make a return for the big weapons such as Greataxes, Great Hammers, and Great Swords to compensate for their slow swing speed and high stamina consumption.

Backstabs would be initiated via a charged attack, like they were in Bloodborne. Parries would function similarly to how they did in Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, with a small window for the parry attempt and about a two-second window in which to execute a riposte or other attack. Missed parries would be vulnerable to guardbreaking, making this skill risky to use, but still very rewarding for those willing enough to take risks and become skilled at it.

Breaking the guard of someone who is blocking or parrying would give the opportunity for a riposte or a chosen attack. Much like the transformation attacks of Bloodborne, special attacks could be used to transition between two different stances for any given weapon, such as changing from one to two hands or altering the way you hold a one-handed weapon (like a dagger flipping in your hand while stabbing or slashing or swinging your greatsword with one hand while stowing your left-hand weapon/shield and gripping your sword with two hands) in order to change the moveset. Weapons in two hands would have the ability to parry or use a special attack/spell.

Shields would have relatively low hitres – as they did in Bloodborne – so that they could block attacks in tight spots, but would not have the ability to withstand much punishment. This would stress dodging as a more important skill than trying to stand your ground with a shield up. Damage resistance for all shields would not exceed 160 in the two highest resistances (ex. 100% phys and 60% fire reduction or 80% phys and 80% magic reduction, etc.) and 200 in all three resistances (most balanced shield would probably be 70/65/65). Hitres maximum for small shields would be roughly equivalent to the 35-50 range of Demon’s Souls while players using greatshields would lose a large amount of stamina if they are rolled into while their shield is up, potentially resulting in a stagger. This would not be considered a true guardbreak, but any attack against the shield-user’s depleted stamina reserves would result in a guardbreak. Shield passive effects would be minimally useful in pvp, such as increased item discovery or more souls per kill.

Armor would be about as significant as it was in Bloodborne or Demon’s Souls, and equip burden would work to reduce stamina regen rather than movement speed in order to keep a fast pace for pvp. Equip burden would be static, with breakpoints of <50% at 0% reduction to stamina regen, 50-75% with a 10% reduction, 75-100% with a 20% reduction, and 100%+ for a 30% reduction.

Spells would function the way they did in Bloodborne, with each spell being an item that you can quick-slot and consume mana to use. Some weapons could function to cast their own unique spell(s) or moves that consume mana. Second Chance (like we had in Demon’s Souls) would be available to all characters, with no stat reqs and only moderate mana consumption. To compensate for this, it would have a very long cooldown time after the effect activated to prevent abuse in pvp (probably ~10 minutes from the moment you break your SC). Each spell would have a moveset of its own, changing the timing of its effect and its strategic effectiveness under different conditions. Using a spell while running would have a different effect than using it while backstepping or dodging, etc. Homing spells would be greatly limited in number and effectiveness. Their primary function would not be damage, but buying time, and they would not have absolute homing abilities. Rather, they would work somewhat like Homing Soulmass from Dark Souls, but with only 1-3 low-damage orbs and short range.

Healing items could work either as exhaustible consumables like it did in Demon’s Souls or like the Estus system. HP healed per use would be in the 25-50% range and would be slow enough to interrupt with a projectile like a throwing knife or punish it if the healer was close enough. To retain the heal-parry option that Bloodborne had, a non-scaling tool could be used to parry a heal attempt at the cost of a largepercentageof your maximum mana (restricts its use to once or twice before having to replenish your mana). This spell/item would deal no damage except to negate the hp that may have been replenished by the target’s healing item and put said target in a vulnerable state where a riposte could be executed. The effect of the healing negation would only be in the first 25% of the heal animation. It would not be effective against antidotes or mana-replenishing items. Regen would have a very low cieling, with only a few minor and non-stacking sources from equipment.

Summoning would be via summon signs, with the option to use password filtering for coordinated co-op or duels. Password-matching would remove all level-range summoning restrictions, allowing for unhindered co-op and pvp matchups amongst friends of different character levels. Invasions would be infinitely up, meaning you can invade anyone who is greater than or equal to your own level. The maximum level of the invader would match the highest level player in the host’s world (if the host is 100 and their phantom is 130, the invader can have a level as high as 130 to be able to invade that host’s world at that given time). Normal summoning range would be +/- (10%+10), as was used in Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls (ex. SL 100 could summon players between SL80 and SL120 without password matching). Signs would be available for friendly co-op, neutral-party (hostile to both enemies in the environment and the summoning host; this could be a fun way to play the role of Patches), dueling (1v1 only, like the Dragon sign of Dark Souls), and for normal pvp (like the red signs of the previous games).

Granted, this is just the foundation of the game I would personally create. There are obviously countless details such as level, weapon, and enemy design to consider, but the core mechanics presented here would provide an excellent environment in which competitive play could thrive while co-op is maintained as a crucial component of the game’s longevity for non-competitive players.

Thanks to all who managed to read this far. A lot of passion and many hours of deep thought went into the creation of this article. While many might disagree with the opinions presented here regarding game balance/culture/mechanics, they are merely my own opinions on the presented topics. Take it with a grain of salt. Umbasa.

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Emergence

Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.

This is very illuminating and I want to thank you, for this article and the previous one. I have never played Demon’s Souls but played DS1 briefly, DS2 for over 100 hours, and DS3 for over 600 already. I quit DS2 the moment it was rereleased, it was heartbreaking for me as well. I have found DS3 to have the worst PVP in the series and am now looking to past games for a better experience. I hope I can grab a copy of Demon’s Souls soon. I am in Japan and am unsure of the community here in Asia.

Apologies in advance for any big blocks of text. My computer took a dive last week and my phone is terrible for this.

This article was published with Pure_Souls as the author by accident. Dan, my compatriot, is still covering Dark Souls 3.

I decided against buying the game for a variety of reasons. 1) I cannot afford the price tag of $60 for the game, $25 for the season pass, and $50 for PS+. 2) Dark Souls 2 was a massive disappointment for me because there was absolutely no balance. Success in PvP was heavily dependent on your gear, not skill. There were 2 things this game did right ( listed in the article) and 100 things it did wrong. 3) This game was a cash cow that got milked dry with DLC’S and re-releases. I expect no more from 3 in that regard. 4) They are making games so fast now that they don’t even bother to address some of the critical issues that hinder the game as a whole. In DkS, it was roll speed, weapon hitboxes like Washing Pole, WotG pivot delays, OHKO Dark Bead/Pursuers, and vacuum backstabs. DkS2 was just a mess, as I’m sure everyone who ever played it is aware. Bloodborne was heartbreaking for me. Truly great game, but 90% gunfire and QS r1 in PvP

I’ll finish reading this in a moment but had to say my jaw hit the floor when you said you didn’t purchase DS3. I respect your personal decision not to buy it, but would you be willing to elaborate?