I need to stop calling things Mentospectives. According to the spellchecker, it isn't even a real word. I'm as shocked as you are.
From Software! We've all had fun with the "software from From Software" jokes, but what's the deal with these guys? Seriously, why did you make Demon's Souls so difficult dudes. Serious. It hurts. Turns out they're responsible for a lot of pretty important franchises: Tenchu - that thing with ninjas, Otogi - that thing with Demon Ninjas and Armored Core - that thing with robots, which may or may not also be demons or ninjas.
I've also got a lot of memories of very specific From Software titles, which I had no idea were all from the same company despite their shared penchant for slightly budget-y graphics and steep learning curves. Let's go back in time, shall we? *Wayne's World-esque doolooloo-doolooloo*
Year: 2001
Game: EverGrace
You get to control one of two characters, each with their separate story line: Darius, the swordsman on the cover, or "Sharlene", a homemaker. Man, tough choice. Though maybe Sharlene's story is the one that didn't suck. Maybe it was some funky JRPG Cooking Mama. As Darius, though, you're basically walking around picking fights with wandering monsters and getting instantly killed by half of them, or instantly killed by falling off the side of the planet, or instantly killed because I went the wrong way and have no idea what's going on. Hours of fun. I was lucky enough to also have Activision's Orphen in case this one sucked. That one sucked too. Then I discovered a huge number of PS1 JRPGs and I was pretty much sated in that department until FFX came out more than a year later, and all the fine PS2 JRPGs that followed.
So that was my introduction to From Software. Restrictive difficulty and sheer confusion. I wouldn't say it was a misleading first impression.
Year: 2003
Game: Eternal Ring
As well as these Western trappings, there's very much an Eastern aspect or two also: The main quest has you find a bunch of elemental gods that have been "corrupted" by whatever grand evil took over the island and destroyed the civilization that once lived there, and the antagonists are all possessed NPCs you're ostensibly there to track down - though the initial "go to this island to spy on researchers" plot is soon forgotten when the shit hits the fan. The game moves along by focusing on its large collection of rings, each allowing certain magic spells to be cast or passive effects to enhance your combat or exploration abilities. Some are necessary for further progress in true Metroidvania style, while others are well-hidden and requires some keen observation skills because rings are pretty damn small, y'all.
While not a good game by any practical metric, it wasn't completely terrible and I enjoyed it for what it was. And this is the not-exactly-promising philosophy that I've more or less applied to every From Software game I've played since.
Year: 2005
Game: King's Field: The Ancient City (King's Field IV)
KF4 is big on the exploration and combat, and moves a lot slower than Eternal Ring. It was also far less JRPGish, and even more reminiscent of the Eye of the Beholder/Dungeon Master type spooky atmospheric dungeon crawls of a generation where people needed to draw maps for everything. In case you thought the cartography in Etrian Odyssey was some kind of elaborate joke that old game designer people were pulling on you, the "born in the 90s" people that seem to inundate this website. Get off my vector graphics lawn.
As far as my relationship with From Software was going, I still had no idea these games were all from the same company or that that very same company was constantly putting me through the wringer with janky JRPG-posing-as-CRPG action. I think the name "From Software" confuses people. I just looked at the box and thought "well, where else would all these graphics and shit come from? Doy."
Year: 2007
Game: Lost Kingdoms
Lost Kingdoms is the tale of a princess trying to reclaim her kingdom with magical cards. Like its " deck of many things" contemporary Baten Kaitos, the gameplay was entirely focused on the collection and application of cards with stuff on them. You throw a card like Gambit and shit happens. Lost Kingdoms, though, is no Baten Kaitos. For one thing, it doesn't have a dude who hits things with paddles. But another, more important difference, was that this game kind of blew.
It still had its charms though, with a real-time strategy monster-summoning approach to battles. You could send wave after wave of attackers at hostiles, though not another wave after that. Two waves was about it. Maybe three after you'd leveled up a bit. If you run out, you get kicked back to the world map and forced to restart. IIRC, it's not something I have many memories of, fond or otherwise. I never beat it but I did get a considerable way in before giving up because I had better shit to play, including those listed above. And that isn't nothing; that's something. That is something, you guys.
Year: 2009
Game: Enchanted Arms
Enchanted Arms is a rare beast: Like everything else on this list, it's clearly been smacked several times by the Janky Fairy's wand. It's ugly, the animation's terrible, the voicework even more so and the game takes forever to start earnestly (though not quite as long as FFXIII does, to put it in perspective). All the while during this elongated tutorial section you had to deal with an asshole and an uncomfortably flamboyant gay best friend. In the "holy shit, there are still people out there who think gay people act like this?" sense of the word "uncomfortable". It's when the first big cutscene goes down, things go crazy-go-nuts and you're left to your own devices that the game starts to improve. You get full control over the monster-summoning aspect, and you can start employing the types of strategy this game got really good with: You're given a grid (enemies on one side, allies on the other - think Mega Man Battle Network or Radiant Historia) and most encounters can be easily defeated by deploying the correct monsters that are able to attack in specific patterns - if there's enemies standing in a three point triangle, you'll have dudes with powers that can hit all three and end the battle quickly. You still need to think about what to do and who to bring out, but these basic battles move so quickly that it's not a huge time-sink if you're besieged by random encounters or grinding for whatever. When it comes to bosses, the battle is constantly shifting - you need to be alert for changes and adapt as necessary. It was a lot more enjoyable than the crappy first impression indicated, though that's hardly a good defense for a game (according to FFXIII detractors at least).
This blurb ended up being a little longer than the rest, but that's only because it was the only legitimately gratifying From Software game I had yet played. Until now.
Year: 2011
Game: Demon's Souls
Demon's Souls, like the King's Field and Eternal Ring entries further up the list, all but much throws you into the deep end with very little plot: Some ancient demon called "The Old One" has escaped his extra-dimensional prison and is causing a ruckus planetside. Mostly everyone is dead, or a soul (which is apparently " mostly dead") or is corrupted by the demons under the Old One's control. That's it. You get more backstory by visiting the five main locations in the game and thoroughly exploring them, and from talking to NPCs hanging out in the sanctuary of the Nexus, which is where you'll end up to recuperate from the horror, the horror. That's about it. You slay all the demons, through a mixture of masochism, luck and sheer stubbornness, and defeat the darkness. Then do it all again, only now every enemy is even tougher and kills you far quicker. Honestly, though, there's been plenty said about this game already from everyone's favorite video game associated Italian (oh wait, I forgot Mario), everyone's favorite pirate radio announcer (oh wait, I forgot "Howling Mad" Murphy) and the many Giant Bomb users still discovering the game, myself among them.
Okay, we're back in the present day. Besides my clothes being on fire and Nazi Germany having taken over (odd, since we only went 10 years back), it's been a relatively painless trip through the annals of From Software history. Maybe I'll do this with another game company, and probably with fewer stops. Because this was a lot of words. But there's pictures now too! So I'm definitely learning. Now to work on that mascot idea...
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