A lot of people that hate punishment for death - myself included - have learned to love this game just the same. I typically hate difficult-for-the-sake-of-difficulty games. Ninja Gaiden really pushed my patience at times, and a number of other games have as well. I got shit to do with my life, you know? I don't want to replay the same crap time and time again. I'm looking for entertainment out of video games, not frustration.

That said, Demon's Souls really, really makes it work. For one, it's always, always consistent and fair, which is absolutely crucial. Second, you really don't have your save "essentially erased," or even close to it. You get to keep any items you've gotten, which is huge. You also have a chance to get your souls back, which negates the punishment for death almost entirely. In addition, as you go through stages, you'll unlock shortcuts, which will minimize the amount of level you have to go through to get your souls back. Once you've gone through the level once or twice, you can usually get back to your blood stain within five minutes, sometimes as little as one.

All that said, the penalty for death is absolutely crucial, because without it, the game falls apart. It's not hard for the sake of hard, it's hard because that's what the game revolves around in terms of mechanics. Without that difficulty, you wouldn't be inclined to read messages to get warnings from other players. You wouldn't hit blood stains to see how other people died. You wouldn't summon in other people to help you. You wouldn't creep around the levels cautiously, shield up and ready for anything. Death and the related penalty is necessary to keep the game tense and demanding. It's actually what makes it fun, believe it or not. They give you the tools to make sure it doesn't happen, and if you use them, it generally won't. They really do make it work.


I've beaten the game once through with a melee character and started in on the second run (so much harder, even though you know how the game works and how the levels and enemies behave). I just recently started a second character who's almost pure magic, and I've torn through about half of it in a mere fraction of my main character's time. Going to try and 100% it with her, or as close as I can.

The game is simply too fun. Game of the Year / Generation, in my opinion. Nothing has captivated me like it has this go-round.