I went a long time where I was exclusively gaming on PC. And now I bought a PS3 and am wondering if someone could help me. Should I pick up Demons Souls for cheap, or skip it and jump into Dark Souls? If someone could explain the differences (though they seem pretty similar) that would be awesome!

@Mitch0712:

I can't speak to Demon Souls but I'm playing Dark Souls right now and am having a blast.

If you can buy both. They're both awesome. Dark souls seems a bit easier to me, I guess. So that one?

Not sure where you live, but in my country, Demon's souls is rare, and dark souls is almost at half price from launch, so if you can afford it.

Buy both, if not, I can recommend buying Demon's Souls first, before they shut down the servers.

I've never played Demon's Souls, but Dark Souls is supposed to be a spiritual successor to it, so you won't miss any story if you care about that sort of thing. I would say go with Dark Souls because I would say it's automatically more accessible with Bonfires acting as checkpoints and Estus Flasks, which replenish at the bonfires.

They explain the mechanics a little better in Dark Souls and it's in my opinion just an easier and a more accessible game overall. So I'd say go with Dark.

Dark Souls has the refinement, but Demons Souls is a lot more guided. There are a lot of moments in Dark Souls when you have NO CLUE what to do next. Demons souls has set worlds almost like 1-1, 1-2, 1-3. Plus the wiki and walkthroughs for Demons Souls are already fully developed. If you can master Demons Souls, going into Dark Souls ain't nothin.

they dont have a continuing story so either one will work ,, If you want to see what started the style then go to demon's.. multiplayer is going to be very small but thats fine if you just want to experience the game as its original..

@Mitch0712: I would highly recommend playing Demon's Souls first. The massive improvements found in Dark Souls will be appreciated much more this way. Also, I would say playing Dark Souls and then moving to Demon's Souls would be difficult.

Demon's Souls. The Nexus just makes me feel so safe!

I don't know if this has been debunked yet, but Dark Souls might be coming soon to the PC (may not have the frame rate issues), so maybe get Demon's Souls on you PS3; wait out the rumor a bit. May be an E3 thing.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/rumor-dark-souls-pc-announcement-imminent/

I would recommend playing Demon Souls first. The objectives are more clear cut and the chances of making soul draining mistakes are “more limited” which will make you less likely to throw your controller through the tv and swearing off the Souls games forever.

You can start with either. Dark Souls is a more complete game in all matters. More weapons, customization and areas. Demon's Souls is an amazing piece of work, and its harder than Dark Souls. But its online life is close to an end, so I would say "Go with Dark Souls". It's a great game. IF the announcement is a PC port, I will buy it anyway. And if its DLC, I will buy it anyway. Dark Souls is one of the best games of the generation, top 5 indeed.

@Mitch0712: They're both fantastic. man. I found Demon's Souls to be easier and more guided, not to say that it's easy by any stretch. Definitely get both, but if you can only afford one maybe get Demon's Souls before the online shuts down (that's pretty damn important to the game) and get Dark Souls maybe later when there's a price drop (or if it comes to PC, that would be WAAAAAY better obviously).

@Mitch0712 said:

I went a long time where I was exclusively gaming on PC. And now I bought a PS3 and am wondering if someone could help me. Should I pick up Demons Souls for cheap, or skip it and jump into Dark Souls? If someone could explain the differences (though they seem pretty similar) that would be awesome!

I'd recommend giving Demon's Souls a try first. The games are similar, and it really is hard to compare them in terms of difficulty and length because it all depends on the player. Dark is totally a more refined-experience, it eases you in a little better, and explains its systems a little clearer, but you'd be missing out if you skipped over Demon's, it's a fantastic game. Plus there can't be that many people still playing Demon's, so you won't be getting invaded all the time.

As for the differences, it's mainly just mechanical stuff. The games aren't directly related, and have separate stories. The combat and general movement and gameplay rules are similar in both, I wouldn't say one game does anything better than the other in terms of gameplay. The online systems are similar in both games. Both are hard as hell. Demon's has a nice hub world and lets you warp from world to world, Dark is more of an 'open-world' game. Demon's can be more punishing, since when you die in that game, you lose half of your health bar, which doesn't happen in Dark, but I'll still say Demon's is the easier game. It's also, in my experience, a much shorter game.

For more info that would really be useful, I'd strongly recommend checking out the Dark and Demon's Souls wikia pages, they're genuinely full of super useful info, particularly for beginner's, and have great, active communities that are always willing to answer any questions.

I'll grab up Demon's Souls then, when are their servers shutting down for online features?

@Mitch0712 said:

I'll grab up Demon's Souls then, when are their servers shutting down for online features?

It's rumored too shut down sometime towards the end of the year.

I personally liked Dark Souls better. Not sure why. And I am guessing it'll have a bigger online community than Demon Souls.

I would buy both (they aren't that expensive) and play Dark Souls, then Demon's Souls. I find Dark a bit easier and forgiving, and there is likely more support out there, because it's more recent, with more players. Demon's Souls is still great, but I think you'd appreciate it more after Dark Souls. You're more likely to stick with Dark Souls, in my opinion, and it's important to get over the hump in these games, and get to a point where it just "clicks," and you fall in love with them.

I would say Dark Soul's, its easier for people to appreciate the game for what it is with some of the lil changes they done to make it more convenient while still being a bitch, then if you liked Dark i would move onto Demon if you really end up getting into it.

think i said this in another similar thread recently ... but, anyway, i've only played dark souls but for me the way the world all links together and feels like a single, solid location is something i adore about it. it's so cleverly designed, not to mention beautiful, and the views of certain areas you can get from another are amazing. i don't think i'd have got so invested in the game if it was broken up into stages / worlds as with demon's souls

I played Dark Souls first, and loved the hell out of it. I bought Demon's Souls but it hasn't pulled me in like Dark did.

Dark Souls is balanced to be a little easier, but still comes off as a better challenge because you can't hoard healing items like Demon's Souls.  For that alone, I'd say Dark Souls is better at turning you into a more knowledgeable player and as a result you will end up liking the game more.
 
If your PC is pretty good though - grab Demon's on PS3 for now, see if you like it, and wait for the Dark Souls port that everyone says is coming.

Dark Souls is slightly easier than Demons Souls so try that one. Be prepared to die no matter what game you pick.

I played Dark Souls having never touched Demon's Souls and I had a blast. They're both supposed to be great, though, so you might as well play both!

i would play demon souls before they shut down the online servers forever.