I've really been missing Demon's Souls in my life, and much like a diet soda, this only made me crave the real thing more. There were aspects of this Demon's Souls adjacent experience that I really enjoyed, namely the lighting and some of the enemy designs. I felt like I was able to see this game's levels in a new way and deepen my appreciation for its sheer beauty. However, the vast majority of the changes were a massive downgrade from the original and also a disservice to the preservation and re-evaluation of this critical title, this absolute pillar of the action RPG genre.
I won't make the same list of complaints that other Demon's Souls diehards have talked about for years (except the sound design and voice acting, god why?), but I will say that I feel like this project had some good intent and I am somewhat pleased to be able to play it with a modern console's conveniences. I should probably buy a working PS3 soon.
Umbasa.
I won't make the same list of complaints that other Demon's Souls diehards have talked about for years (except the sound design and voice acting, god why?), but I will say that I feel like this project had some good intent and I am somewhat pleased to be able to play it with a modern console's conveniences. I should probably buy a working PS3 soon.
Umbasa.
3 Comments
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@thomasthomast - Hi thanks for reading! I didn't get a chance to fully explore the game and honestly I don't really intend to, but the voice changes in general just felt wrong to me. I don't know what I was expecting given that it was a full ground up remake but hearing new voices was so disheartening. The same goes for the music and sound effects. I really hated the sounds of weaponry and attacks, especially the backstabs. They still sounded brutal in the original but in the remake it was like over the top mortal kombat style spinal columns crunching with a really nasty saturated blood squelch (+ the obnoxious visual flairs that were not in the spirit of the original).
I didn't get to hear what every NPC had to say, but for example, I really hated Stockpile Thomas' voice. It just didn't sound as subdued, broken, and honestly...human. I'm sure there are comparisons somewhere online that will illicit the differences more clearly. I am definitely someone who carries a ton of nostalgia for the original so maybe I was always destined to hate a new version lol. I think it's easy to view this remake really cynically and I am trying not to do that because I do feel like a lot of hard work went into it, but for me it was just such a big miss.
I didn't get to hear what every NPC had to say, but for example, I really hated Stockpile Thomas' voice. It just didn't sound as subdued, broken, and honestly...human. I'm sure there are comparisons somewhere online that will illicit the differences more clearly. I am definitely someone who carries a ton of nostalgia for the original so maybe I was always destined to hate a new version lol. I think it's easy to view this remake really cynically and I am trying not to do that because I do feel like a lot of hard work went into it, but for me it was just such a big miss.
@Juggdral
I definitely see your point, I guess I never much payed that much attention to the actual voice acting in video games, more the actual stuff being said since video games often have such bad voice acting lol. I totally agree in terms of the backstab animation and stuff, the soundtrack definitely has this sort of “epic” feel to it, like it’s trying to mimic stuff from dark souls 3, but just completely ignoring the spirit of the original’s low budget charm I guess. I feel like most things look pretty but almost to a point of sanitization, I guess you could say?? More of a removal of rough edges and such, for a more “clean” look, akin to most modern games. I feel like if it were more different than the original I would totally love it, but like you said, having the option between the two makes the choice really obvious to me, the original is so special that I wish it was just ported lol.
I definitely see your point, I guess I never much payed that much attention to the actual voice acting in video games, more the actual stuff being said since video games often have such bad voice acting lol. I totally agree in terms of the backstab animation and stuff, the soundtrack definitely has this sort of “epic” feel to it, like it’s trying to mimic stuff from dark souls 3, but just completely ignoring the spirit of the original’s low budget charm I guess. I feel like most things look pretty but almost to a point of sanitization, I guess you could say?? More of a removal of rough edges and such, for a more “clean” look, akin to most modern games. I feel like if it were more different than the original I would totally love it, but like you said, having the option between the two makes the choice really obvious to me, the original is so special that I wish it was just ported lol.
thomasthomast
5 months ago