Demon's Souls Servers Are Dying, Can't Find Their Bloodstain

If you wanted to experience the unique blend of horror, deception and brutality that is Demon's Souls' Multiplayer one last time before the servers were taken down, then those plans need to materialize before May 31st as Atlus are finally pulling the plug on the servers for the game.  It's been a long time coming, unfortunately and in all reality the game was on borrowed time already since the second extension last year.  Of course, this doesn't present a large problem for people looking to explore every facet of Demon's Souls in a single-player aspect; the game is fully functional as an offline title, given that the Online portion only added intrigue coupled with hints (helpful or non) as well as an extra layer of danger (the fear of being invaded), which is pretty reassuring to me.  While playing Demon's Souls obviously wasn't in my forecast between now and June (goddamnit, June), I suspect it might have just found a way to worm in as I would like to experience the multiplayer first-hand at least once.  See all the bloodstains and notes, witness the ghosts of the fallen and maybe even understand the several layers to invasion.

I've talked a big game with Demon's Souls, even going so far as to decide my character prior to opening it, and now that there's a timeline attached to the game, in a sense, I really do feel a sense of wanting to hit it.  Which is a bit bothersome as I still have Yakuza:  Dead Souls to beat (again, like Yakuza 4, I doubt I'll bother going for the Platinum, though it does seem much more attainable), as well as the weather possibly not cooperating with long-term PS3-play.  Still, I don't need to play it a lot, just enough to really experience it and, hopefully, enough to really talk about it as I would like to talk about this game that's kind of been on my radar for a year or better without being something I've jumped into.  Is it possible that I'm slightly intimidated by the game?  Most certainly; I think I am.  But I'm going to trust in the words of everyone else and go in thinking that the game is not 'bullshit hard' as some would call it.  'Punishing', 'really difficult', 'something to master' perhaps, which are all varying degrees of acceptable are what I've been lead to expect.

I really gotta hand it to Atlus on this one, though, since they really have been and continue to be really on-the-ball with this whole thing.  It's a little obvious that Demon's Souls was a bigger hit than they, or anyone for that matter, expected when they signed on to localize it, but they've handled the whole thing with ease. respect and class.  While I imagine the extensions for the servers were purely for fan support, as they were likely within periods where the game was still 'proving its worth' in regards to the servers as it were, two and a half years is still quite a while to have that level of commitment and I'm sure lesser companies would've axed the servers long before now regardless.  Not only that, but they've had events, fan polls, and all levels of interaction for the game and continue to do so with regards to the "Tendencies" of the world.  Even the finality of the servers going down is being handled with a lot of attention and care for the players, which is something everyone has come to expect.

In writing this (and discussing the online with someone during writing this, I really should stop doing that), I do think I've built up quite a bit of thirst for the online mode as I understand it.  It just seems so....unique, or at least it's something that I don't believe I've experienced personally.  Indeed, I haven't even experienced Demon's Souls personally, despite watching and reading about it quite intensely, especially now with the going offline.  Writing about it now feels a bit moot; I imagine some people reading this would just be saying "Just go friggin' play it already" at this point and, well, I might just do that.  As I said, I do want to finish Yakuza:  Dead Souls since it's probably around 1-2 hours left of gameplay max, and then following that I am....technically free on PS3 games that I 'have' to play.  I could go back to the grind of Dynasty Warriors 7:  Xtreme Legends to work towards that Platinum, or I could go back to Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, finish up the friendships and the last online battles, or I could return to Just Cause 2, which I might not ever finish.  Or I could play any number of the other games that I own but have not started.  I don't think that there is anything 'pressing' between now and June (goddamnit, June), is my point, so I am 'free', so to speak.

Whenever I get to it, I'm sure that I'll be coming here with my results, of course.  That is what I do, after all, and I enjoy continuing to do so.  Talking about Demon's Souls will likely be particularly amusing for others since, well, I will probably be double-bad at it to start, at least to people who have played the game.  (I imagine the people who read this blog -have- played it already, at least.)  My intent is to fumble through the game as intended and while I've sought help before now, I really don't remember any of it, nor will I be looking for anymore from now.  I guess we'll just see how Mikhail Metzinger's journey unfolds during the course of my playing.

The Problem with Procrastination

I don't just mean regarding me posting this post fairly late in the day, either.  While true that apparently all news has temporarily died out with the release of Arkham City (Well, anything of real interest, at least), meaning that my pool of topics I can post about is drastically reduced, I theoretically should have something to post about now.  Namely, my experience with Demon's Souls.  ....Unfortunately, as the above image of Ding Feng from Dynasty Warriors 7 might indicate, I've yet to start Demon's Souls in lieu of taking up the mantle of Ancient Chinese warriors Murder Engines, simply because damnit, I will get all the trophies in DW7 on day.

The issue here is that Dynasty Warriors 7's trophy list includes such trophies as "Reach 1,000,000 Fame in Conquest mode" and "Recruit every officer as a Sworn Ally" and other such things that take a lot of time.  Remember, this is a Japanese game, and Japanese games mean that if you want this arbitrary reward, you have to work to the bone for it, which, well....is not -dis-agreeable, I'll say.  I don't like just being handed a Gold Trophy for beating the second to last story chapter in a game, but I also don't appreciate doing something for 15+ hours for -one- Bronze trophy, either.  (Not saying either of the mentioned trophies are Bronze, as I don't know off-hand, just saying.)  I'm only at 700,000 Fame, and my method of gaining it is....a bit lacking, I suspect, so it's not going to be a short task.

Still, it's not a task that's hard or anything, merely time-consuming and when you're playing a game you enjoy, it's honestly not a waste.  And enjoying DW7 is exactly what I'm doing, thanks to Ding Feng's nearly-all-grapple moveset (that also includes a lot of punching~) and his amazing second musou attack.  Still, I think there's a difficulty here in me drawing a line where A) I acknowledge that gaining 300,000 fame in Conquest is something I'll have to do -later- and B) I put off starting Demon's Souls because I think something in me doesn't want to be absolutely crushed by the game.  I need to play more of my games, honestly, so that I can make room in my progress for other games, but I also don't want to power through them and lose out on any and all enjoyment I could get.

What I've been dancing around here about is that it's a really delicate balance, unfortunately.  Not only do I want to play more of the games I -own-, but I want to play more games that came out this year so that I have at least 10 games of this year to speak on come January 2012.  I still need to pick up a copy of Dead Space 2 and ball-up to play it, but I'm really wondering/worried about whether or not I'll still be able to get Dead Space:  Extraction if I buy a Limited Edition copy somewhere for ~$30.  (I still only see Limited Edition copies)  While it's not a deal-breaker, I have Move, Extraction is something I'm interested in, and I'd like to be able to get it as it claims I'm able to for buying a Limited Edition copy of the game.  Depending on how my monetary situation goes, I might be able to swing a couple of other games that are on the cheap now, but the problem is finding the time to play them all.

Oh well.  I'll get to it eventually.  Here's hoping for cold weather to keep my PS3 cool for long enough periods of time that I may enjoy gaming like it was supposed to be enjoyed.  Now that I know when the Vita comes out, I feel like there's a calm before I start gaming up a storm because that's exactly what I'm going to do.  My Vita is going to feel violated by the end of the week because of how much I'm going to put it through; not only with the actual Vita games, but PSP/PSOne games, checking out the internet browser (mainly seeing if Youtube works on it; it's been long enough and if it's the PS3 browser it honestly should) and other such things.  If I didn't enjoy Christmas so much, I'd be really impatient right now.

I Got Nothin'.

There is literally nothing going on today that I can write about.  I've not really been doing anything different lately.  I've been playing Yakuza 4 still, intent on finishing my Extra Hard play-through since that'll likely get me closer to a platinum trophy than I'll ever realistically get for it thanks to the Mini-Game specific ones (though I did get a turkey in bowling which is a fucking miracle) and I've kind of stalled on the Hostess Maker challenge which I pretty effectively described in that post and haven't learned more of enough to make another one.  I've actually gotten one hostess up to number 1, which meant I got to look for another of the three, but that's....hardly exciting enough.

I also haven't started my FFT challenge, purposefully because I haven't started looking at the zodiac system for the game, so I can't really write about that.  I'm still looking forward to it, and am eager to start it, it's just that...well, I want to be ready this time.  I was ready when I took on Star Ocean 2, which obviously helped since I finally conquered it.  So here's hoping that little bit matters as much as it should!  I am looking forward to being able to type about what's happened in the game, as FFT has provided me some wonderful stories in the past, so I look for more of the same.

And the only thing left would be my decision to play Demon's Souls after I finish Yakuza 4 as much as I'm going to, but I can't really type about that since I'm more or less going into the game completely blind.  Which, I'm assured is either the best way to do it or the worst.  Either way, I imagine it's going to be a punishing experience regardless so I'm not really going in with the wrong idea or anything.  I figure with Dark Souls coming out, and likely being on the Christmas List as was Demon's Souls last year, it would do me well to finally enter the world that so wants me dead.  Seeing as the servers will still be open for a year or so now, well, it seems to be a sign, honestly.  As if they're just -waiting- for me.

Waiting.

So yeah.  Sorry about the lack of content tonight folks, but I'm sure you can see my predicament here.  It's a sad day when I can't even think of enough songs for a Music! post, but eh, at least this one was from the heart or...something.  Right?