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Demon's Souls Remake is an artistic disaster

Lions Gate

Member


Amazing video dissecting the abomination that is Demon's Souls Remake, a total butchering of one of the best and most influential games of all time. One day Bluepoint and Sony are going to pay for their crimes.


Lies No GIF
 

Gojiira

Member
Nope. It has a few objectively bad omissions such as the ambient soundscape in Latria which was extremely creepy in the original, and a few subjectively bad changes like the Officials. BUT, most everything else is vastly improved, the overall fidelity is insane with details and props everywhere. Shrine of Storms is amazing in the remake for instance. Bosses like the Vanguard look infinitely better too.
Its a great remake, great visuals and performance, great modernisation.
 

MMaRsu

Member
Changing the OST was also a huge NO NO. What a monumental fuckup
Keep seeing this shite, but the game looked amazing to me and played really well, so I disagree.
Then you obviously did not watch the video, nor did you understand that this is about the art, not about technical graphics. And I would venture to guess you did not play the original?

You do understand that when you change art, you can change the entire feeling of something right?

Or would you say Oldboy OG and Oldboy American remake are the same???

The entire atmosphere is different. Sounds are missing, music is different. And all for the worse.
 
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I asked an AI chatbot to give me an analogy for this dumb argument.......lol

Okay, so, like, this dude, right? He had this girlfriend, Brenda. Brenda was…Brenda. She had this quirky, authentic charm, you know? Like, her hair was always a little frizzy, she wore those sensible shoes, and her laugh sounded like a strangled goose. But, hey, she knew him. She knew his weird obsession with collecting bottle caps, she tolerated his questionable taste in 80s power ballads, and she made a mean meatloaf, even if it looked like something you'd unearth from a paleontological dig.

Then, BAM! He trades up for Natasha. Natasha is like, supermodel gorgeous. Hair flows like liquid silk, legs for days, laughs like wind chimes. She wears designer everything and smells like a field of imported lavender. But, oh my god, the complaints.

"Natasha," he sighs dramatically, "just isn't Brenda. Brenda's frizz was endearing. Natasha's perfect blowout? Intimidating. Brenda's sensible shoes? Comforting. Natasha's stilettos? Impractical! Brenda's meatloaf, while visually disturbing, was familiar. Natasha's gourmet quinoa salad with pomegranate and free-range goose? Pretentious! And don't even get him started on the laugh. Brenda's strangled goose cackle was real. Natasha's wind chimes? Manufactured joy!"

He’s just so torn. Natasha is objectively better in every conceivable way, but Brenda, with her frizzy hair and questionable culinary skills, was his Brenda. It's like, dude, if you miss the meatloaf that much, go back to Brenda! Nobody's stopping you. Just…maybe warn her about the bottle cap collection first.
 
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Ashler

Member
The original Demon's Souls was my first FROM experience and made me fall in love with the game type.
The Bluepoint remastered was a fresh take on the original game, and, was a much appreciated bump up from what was possible in the PS3 gen.

Both games gave amazing artistic direction and an amazing OST, even though they are quite different.

Is it that hard to be content with both?
 

MMaRsu

Member
The original Demon's Souls was my first FROM experience and made me fall in love with the game type.
The Bluepoint remastered was a fresh take on the original game, and, was a much appreciated bump up from what was possible in the PS3 gen.

Both games gave amazing artistic direction and an amazing OST, even though they are quite different.

Is it that hard to be content with both?

Did you bother watching the video?

Or nah

My bet is nah
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
I understand the differences, and I could see them as well during my first playthrough of the Remake. But, I felt it was overdramatic to say the Remake was "passionless" or "soulless", it's okay that you preferred the original's art, but I think that's a bit ridiculous to say personally.

I still think Remake is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. Especially with the right display. The immersion felt as pure as the original, if not more so in some cases, IMO.
 
I won't say it's ugly but the remake annoyed me with the modern faces for NPCs. Looks really silly IMO.

I also don't understand why some place the game on such a high pedestal when it comes to visuals. It looks good, didn't really wow me at any time though.

All the same, I really enjoyed my time with it and was proud of myself that I beat it.
 

j0hnnix

Member
i thought it was a fantastic video on creators own opinions, nothing wrong with that. DSR was a great game, one i still enjoy coming back to , but damn i hate ng+.
 
Remakes are usually going to illicit a reaction like this from your own personal subjective take on things even with whatever jank that comes from it. I love King's Field 1 and 2 and know damn well part of that comes from the gameplay jank along with those sweet, messy PS1 graphics. Overhaul all that and the game just has a different feel. It's all good. But my fucking lord the hyperbolic takes like "artistic disaster" and "soulless"?

tenor.gif
 

Risible

Member
Yeah, the pads on Flamelurker's feet being different really ruined it for me, too. <clutches pearls>

This video frames a bunch of different artistic choices as having ruined Demon's Souls. As someone who played it on PS3 and PS5 I think it's fine to say you don't like the remake, but saying the remake is a bad game or doesn't do justice to the original might be the most retarded take ever.
 

BbMajor7th

Member
The video uses very charged and hyperbolic language throughout (makes sense, Demon's Souls is his favourite game of all time), but the points of comparison he makes are reasonable. The obvious use of out-of-the-box Hollywood epic aesthetic is hard to ignore. The massive choirs and thundering timpani in every music track, the re-colouring of every scene to use the same teal/orange complimentary pallette, the genericizing of designs that have a very FromSoft uncanniness to them (the gargoyles in Upper Latria are probably the stand-outs in this regard).

Some of his points do feel like an overreach, I'll admit, but - much as I enjoyed my time with the remake - there's no doubt the American art team struggled to commit to the weird, goofy and often uncool art direction of the original. I suspect their own cultural lens bent things toward a western Ren-Fair vibe. Architecture goes gothic and ornate, sound effects become bombastic and symphonic, sartorial and character design lean towards western high-fantasy, and the American philosophy of 'more is more' replaces FromSoft's deliberately understated approach.
 
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XXL

Member
It has it's ups and downs, ultimately it's fine and a great way to play the game without digging out your PS3 and playing at 720p.
Not to mention the loading times in the Remake are God Tier and are a much bigger deal than any of the smaller issues people may have with the Remake.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
From fanboys need to get a life.

It was a remake, it was different, an interpretation of the game.

I played it November of 2021 and was very impressed. Haven't replayed it though so I don't know.
DS remake shows what these consoles can do when you aren't adding tons of unnecessary ray tracing and other effects that make it necessary to run the game at 800p and apply shitty FSR2 to upscale.
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Don't we get this thread once every 6 months?
Not even. It's every other month at this point. Demon's Souls remake is a very good game, and a very good remake. People just want something to complain about.
 
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Zacfoldor

Member
Honestly the best game on PS5 and the best looking game of all time on PS5 Pro.

I've tried almost every PS5 Pro game and none of them hold a candle to how this one looks....

Also one of my favorite games.

I wouldn't change a thing. The art whining is not for me. I'm a man.
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
Not the truth again! oh no!

Imagine caring about quality, having good taste and basic standards for how a video game classic should be handled properly
with respect what gamers enjoyed by preserving the original devs creative vision.

or you can just let bluepoint take a dump on your console and tell you its cake

The best PS5 exclusive is a shitty port of a great PS3 game that certain folks make excuses for because the bar for
modern gaming is just that damn low. Defend/support mediocrity and that soulless corporation will reward you with more of it.

lowered-expectations.gif
 
I can sympathize with the core of the argument: does adding greater detail to the ambiguous elements of a creative work remove something of substance from the matrix of possible interpretations? The answer is yes, for where clarity exists, logical interpretation is more limited.

I offer one of my favorite articles I’ve ever read as an exhibit (before Gamergate destroyed the trust of the audience and its influencers):

 
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