So Demon's Souls has been getting a lot of attention because of it's supposed "extreme" difficulty level and learning curve. Anyone who plays the game for only 1-2 hours might agree, however having beat the game I can say for a fact the game is not as hard as it's made out to be.
 
No, it doesn't hold your hand. It's not easy but it's no where near impossible. Do people not remember the difficulty of older games? Games havn't always been so easy. Demon's Souls is no harder than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry 3. It's difficult but not nearly as much as people say.
 
So the game starts off basically with you dead and leaves you with little healing items. This is the hardest part of the game, if you can get past this then trust me, the difficulty won't seem so bad.
 
People complain that you loose your souls when you die. There are a few reasons why that doesn't matter much.
 
1. You have a chance to get your body back.
 
2. Later in the game the amount of souls you'll lose is laughable. It's incredibly easy to get souls in 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 that you won't care if you lose souls anymore. Your first few tries on a level will be hard as everything is so new, but once you have everything figure out like what enemies are weak against then it'll become really easy. Yes, when you die you start the level over, but once you've memorized the level it won't take you more than 3 minutes to get all the way to the end.
 
4-1 is acessible as soon as you beat the first boss in the game, and it gives you CRAZY amounts of money.
 
You're able to summon 2 blue phantom online players to help you beat levels. You can level messages that people can recommend which will heal you. People's bloodstains show you dangers up ahead. People's ghosts show you how to deal with certain enemies or encounters. Possibly the most important are the messages that players leave. If there is a hard part coming up, chances are there will be a message that will give you great advice on how to get past it.
 
The messages really will save your life in this game. 
 
I consider myself a bad gamer. I can't beat 2D mario or sonic games. I had to cheat to beat Devil May Cry 3, and I could only beat Ninja Gaiden on the easiest difficulty. I get frustrated easily at games, I have real anger issues.
 
So why did I like Demon's Souls? It's just a great game. I know it's not for everyone, so if it's not your cup of tea that's fine. But to say it's down-right a horrible and broken game is completely false. From software doesn't make the greatest games (Chromehounds is a piece of shit) but Demon's Souls was really a hit.
 
Like I said, I suck at games. Wanna know how many times I died in all of Demon's Souls? (Not counting suicides)
 
57, I kept tallies at how many times I died.
 
Over 20 of those were on the first level. Another 10 were on the last level. 
 
As soon as you get used to the game and it's mechanics it's really not that bad. People say it's fighting system is "clunky". I don't think so. It's not a hack N Slash game like Dynasty Warriors or God of War, it takes some strategy. They have a dodge button for a reason. It's incredibly useful.
 
I'm not gonna go into the discussion about it being GOTY on gamespot or it being dismissed by Giant Bomb almost completely, people have opinions. It just irritates me when people don't give a game a chance or simply dismiss it because of things they've heard.
 
Honestly when i first heard about this game I was totally turned off. Difficult game? No, not for me. I HATE difficult games. Yet no matter how many times I died in Demon's Souls I didn't get upset or angry, plus it's really not as hard as people make it out to be.
 
So in conclusion if you havn't tried it out atleast rent it for a few days. Also, if you are really getting frustrated trust me, it gets a LOT easier after you kill the first boss. The game does sort of throw you into the lion's den at the beggining, but that's part of how you learn to deal with certain threats. At first I was really mad at the developers for that, but in the end it was worth it because I figured out how to face certain enemies and how the game was going to be from then on out. The game didn't hold my hand so I had to learn to walk on my own, but boy walking for the first time sure felt good.
 
This game has a lot of hate and an equal amount of praise on this forum, and I don't want this to turn into some flame war. I just thought I'd clear up some misconceptions about the game. People like "milkman" just like to create drama. If you don't like a game that's fine, but we don't want to hear about it in every single thread. Also if you don't like the game then why would you be in the Demon's Souls section of this forum in the first place? That's just a bit odd to me.
 
Additional info:
 
Playtime: 15 hours (Longer than most games nowadays, but certaintly not long for an RPG)
 
Level I completed the game at: 65
 
Also, a lot of people say this game gets to much attention. That's a pretty bold statement. Last time I checked this game hadn't even sold 1 million copies. When GameSpot made it GOTY half of the comments were "Never heard of it". It's a very under the radar game. The game has been out in Japan for almost a year, and in america since October and it's just now reaching the 1 million units sold mark.
 
Modern Warfare 2 on it's first day sold 4.7 million. Saying this game is over-rated or gets too much attention is just plain false. Save that for games like MW2 or Uncharted. Not saying those 2 games are bad, just that they're extremely popular.

So are you saying Its hard but still play it? Thats a lot of text for that

lol i read the first and last paragraphs...such a random topic change.

" lol i read the first and last paragraphs...such a random topic change. "

" thats a lot of text "

It doesn't take a lot of time to beat. A few hours a day for a few days. I played probably 2 hours a day for a week and finally beat it, and i felt like I was playing it very Casually.
 
Yeah, sorry I ended up ranting a bit, but I just wanted to clear everything up in one post.

Wow, it took you 15 hours to beat?  It took me around 50.  But I did a lot of stuff, so maybe that's why.
 
Anyway, I pretty much agree with everything you said...I share the same thoughts regarding Demon's Souls' difficulty.  You will die a lot, but that's actually an important part of the game.  Dying has some major benefits...what other game can claim that?

yeah, i don`t think the game is hard to the point of being unplayable, on the contrary, it`s a game that rewards thoughtful playing. And i have zero tolerance for games like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry on the hardest settings.
 
it's unforgiving with begginers though, the first hours in Castle Boletaria until you beat Phalanx are basically one long learning curve. The pacing is military, for the lack of a better word.

The first tower isn't that hard either. Just make sure your shield is up when turning corners, save turpentines, time your blocks and parries, etc.
 
Phalanx is really easy aswell, I did'nt even use turpentines and I beat him on my first try.
 
Also when I said I died 20 times in the first level,  I meant 1-2 which is right after the first level, but it's the still in the first archstone. I didn't die until I got to the tower Knight who is the boss of 1-2.

Great article. I agree that Demon's Souls isn't as crazy hard as some people make it out to be, but there was one time where I felt the game was unnecessarily frustrating. I had just finished grinding enough to use a certain weapon and I went to fight the last boss...

Yeah, happend to me to. But grinding end game is easy in 4-3 using sword of storm + ring of avarice. 
 
Almost 20k each run, and it only takes about 1 minute to kill all of the mantas.