Demon's Souls Compare-Through - Part 1: Journey to the Nexus

Here's the first episode of the Demon's Souls Compare-Through! This comparison takes a close look at the original PS3 game and compares it to the PS5 remake. There's also a bunch of out of bounds exploration and cut/ prototype content explored.
Links/ Additional Credits:
/ illusorywall
Wulf2k's demonstration of the prototype maps:
• Demon's Souls - Hacked...
VaatiVidya's video that explores the Baku:
• 10 Hidden Secrets in D...
Scan of vaulting mechanic from the game manual taken by @Wallso of twitter. And thanks to StrawberrySimp for sending a scan in as well!
00:00 - Introduction
01:29 - Guided through the fissure & opening section of tutorial
05:41 - Heading towards the first building
08:14 - Dregling comparison and offline ghost
10:55 - Exiting 1st building & becoming a Boletarian outpost
13:36 - The closed-off upper path & distant bridge/ aqueduct
15:19 - Prototype attempts at teaching vaulting to the player
16:51 - Courtyard before second area & new archstone nodes
19:30 - Surprising cohesion of tutorial areas & prototype map
22:25 - Lost balcony & distant view, more prototype map
29:53 - Last observations of first area & ambient audio
31:05 - Entering the second area, the Forlorn Outpost
33:59 - A surprising, lost environmental hazard
35:55 - Rat stew, cut cannibalism, and crocodile stew
37:21 - Continuing towards the Vanguard Demon & fog gates
40:40 - Vanguard Demon comparison and OST mashup
44:32 - The Unknown Egress & Fluted Helmet comparison
46:16 - Continuing on and Dragon God closeup
47:46 - Statues & out of bounds content behind Dragon God
49:17 - Early game design & prototyping concepts, True Death
54:42 - Closing words

[@inakilukac]

16:41 IS THAT AN ON SCREEN TUTORIAL THAT PAUSES THE GAME? So they only started to actually do that in Sekiro, and then also did it in Elden Ring and Armored Core VI. But they had the functionality for it ever since Demon's souls? thats crazy

[@thestralner6335]

fun fact: in the dragon punch cinematic, if you wear a helmet, sparks fly up as you slide. without a helmet, your face explodes.

[@illusorywall]

Yup! I was quiet about it at the very end, but I did a helmet-less side by side to show the added blood! It's pretty brutal.

[@davidepastore5600]

@@illusorywall About that cutscene, was that teeth which flew away, or just rubble? Either way, pretty brutal indeed.

[@logion567]

@@davidepastore5600 fram by frame ("," and "." when paused) it's rubble.

[@death_valley_paige]

oh wow, totally never noticed that!

[@bearmouse9424]

Fun fact: the dragon gods name is Sara

[@mellow_mallow]

I'm a big fan of the way this sometimes sounds like you're reviewing a redesigned house. "The skeletons look basically the same. Overall, the space feels opened up!"

[@painfuldiscourse5231]

"Romanesque" architecture is actually medieval but based on Roman architecture.

[@scantyer]

based and romanpiled

[@aquanecromancer5776]

I really miss it!

[@icaruswindrune7116]

The original is more of an Early Norman Gothic Style though, not really Romanesque. while the Romanesque is definitely possibly - Early Norman Gothic is more appropriate due to how militaristic it was (mainly squat stone castles with very little decoration. Romanesque is also squat, but it was also a bit more decorated on the outside since it is based off of the Roman temple style). As for the Remake - it is by far the best example of Middle to High French Gothic due to the spires and the focus on verticality. There is also the stain glass usage and the usage of flying buttresses that further supports this. I will say that I am a bit surprised that they did not adopt the Late Norman Style instead though, since that would have been an evolution of the original style while also keeping similar characteristics to everything present - we also would get things looking a bit like West Minister and stuff.

[@painfuldiscourse5231]

@@icaruswindrune7116 Yes it might be more Norman based, but it depends on the country of origin really. The point is they changed battlements and more of a milltary style architecture for the ornate/decorative and highly unsuitable one. And one that is highly overused because it looks cool. It's not a big deal in Latria for example, but more so in the main area of Boletaria. Obviously it's a matter of personal preferences 😊

[@icaruswindrune7116]

@@painfuldiscourse5231 Oh, I am by no means defending it. I was only going on about architectural styles and how the OG Boletaria may have been Early Norman Gothic instead of Romanesque.

[@nackskott12]

The architecture of this area in the original is really... nice. It's definitely simplistic by comparison but as you said, it feels ancient and looks distinct from anywhere else in these games despite essentially just being another medieval castle.

[@humblegamer7876]

boletarian stuff Is all based on Norman England and is fairly up to snuff realism wise. that was all around like 1000. maybe 300 years before what most people consider classically medieval if there's a gate you better believe the mechanism to actually move is nearby etc. it gives the world tremendous believability.

[@TheNickofTime]

39:47 Indeed, she does appear to be holding a child, but quite frankly I'm more interested in what appears to be the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in her other hand.

[@docjey3288]

That is just a globus cruciger, an old symbol of royal power.

[@ryanvandoren1519]

"ONE..TWO..FIVE!"

[@scantyer]

This is essentially a demons souls dissected - out of bounds and I'm so fucking happy for it

[@MintyLime703]

I would've watched this so much sooner had the title reflected that. I thought it was gonna be just another side by side like everyone else has already done to death with every game like this.

[@lostindeadspace6098]

100%

[@liyifenn]

@@MintyLime703 Something something book by it's cover

[@inciaradible7144]

As far as the interconnectivity goes, my guess would be that it was originally designed to be one world, but then they realised it wouldn't be feasible considering their time and/or budget, so they made it level-based through the archstones. I also think your Dragon's Lair theory has some merit to it because at the same time, FromSoft was developing Ninja Blade, which is basically a river of quick-time events.

[@1r0zz]

Ninja Blade is an Character action game tho? uses qte because God of War popularized them (in the last one QTE are also the deepest combat mechanic, lol) and every game needed to have them... and for the inter-connectivity, probably they didn't yet perfected the way they stream locations in Dark Souls 1. If I remember correctly the engine was the one used for Armored Core 4, that uses big, but single loaded locations, while Froms Dungeon crawlers uses Streamed location chunks...they did that in Dark Souls onwards

[@lordanonimmo7699]

Demon's Souls was never supposed to be interconnected,Miyazaki just had this idea at the end of development and wanted his next fantasy game to be this way.

[@inciaradible7144]

@beef business yeah, DeS Remake really feels faithful to a fault.

[@1r0zz]

@beef business Well, the remake developer showed their utter incompetence at developing a game that had a pretty specific and defined art style and system from 2 generation prior, I heavily doubt they would have been capable of rework the structure to allow for anything more complex... After all they weren't capable to smooth the kinks of sotc... They are just a "HD release" guys after all...

[@theendboss4849]

@@1r0zz bluepoint did an amazing job and they are very talented. Stop talking nonsense dude lol

[@joesaiditstrue]

DeS on RPCS3, upscaled to 4k and beyond with the frame rate unlock looks damn good, even today. You can really see the high quality detail in the armor sets that you just couldn't see at 720p on ps3

[@diegonei]

I cannot thank the RPCS3 devs enough, I have finished two playthroughs of DeS. PC master race jokes aside, I would probably never have experienced it if not for the emulator.

[@Odinsday]

I love the original style of Demon's Souls a lot and I'm happy to see it brought to 4k and 60fps. My only gripe is that the sound effects are so stocky and goofy compared to the remake. Probably my favorite part of the remake is the sound design. I don't think a single souls game has made shooting crossbows and bows this satisfying, or even just walking around and hearing the sound of your armor clank repeatedly and your sword hitting random surfaces. It all sounds so good. Granted, there is a sort of cheap charm to the original that can't be matched.

[@dp27thelight9]

@@Odinsday depends on what part of sound design and opinion you have. I think the voice work and music of the remake is complete trash compared to the original.

[@jazzmaster909]

@@dp27thelight9 i can see that argument with the music, but absolutely NOT the voice work.

[@kotzer71]

@@jazzmaster909 the voice work is'ent bad but i like the og alot more

[@Eiroth]

Wow, I had no idea you could manipulate the offline ghosts like that! It feels almost like bullying, diverting him from his true calling of running up that stairway for eternity.

[@davidepastore5600]

It's fascinating how it makes a lot of sense in hindsight that it's actually a "special" NPC. It was probably far easier to make it this way than create a visual effect. If I remember correctly, you can even parry ghosts in the original DeS, which reinforces the idea they're in-game entities rather than pure SFX.

[@Eiroth]

@@davidepastore5600 That makes me wonder: could ghosts perhaps parry you? It would be insanely unlikely if you weren't forcing it.

[@davidepastore5600]

@@Eiroth I think that was possible, yeah. It'd be nice if illusorywall did a video on this!

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

I like to imagine that he sees you as the ghost during his own adventure, and he's like "Huh? A ghost?"

[@pious83]

I think that is the main difference in the tutorial area. Bluepoint wanted to make the distinction that the level was near or adjacent to Boletaria Castle. Whereas in the original, the ambiguous architectural design meant it could have been anywhere. Perhaps the opposite side of Dragon God in Stonefang. Which is possible, as we never really see anything more of that area beyond the mines themselves.

[@zent8324]

i believe it was probably supposed to be somewhere close to the border of boletaria, since thats how most npcs end up in the nexus.

[@DemonLordSparda]

There are no Boletarian Soldiers, Dreglings, or Knights near Stonefang. Stonefang also sits atop an area with Lava, which doesn't look similar to the tutorial at all. Furthermore, since you enter the fissure it makes sense for the tutorial to be near Boletaria, since you breach the fog and then the monumental guides you.

[@pious83]

@@DemonLordSparda You misunderstand. The area being discussed is the opposite side of Dragon God's crater. Which could bear distinct architecture. As already mentioned, the only area of Stonefang we actively get to see and explore is the mines. Not where the inhabitants actually live.

[@DemonLordSparda]

@@pious83 Oh gosh, my bad. Yes I would buy the Dragon God zone behind directly behind where we face it. Also Stonefang is supposed to be close to Boletaria so warping there after Vanguard is a nice detail. Sorry for misunderstanding!

[@zent8324]

@@DemonLordSparda i thought the tutorial dragon god was supposed to be a different one, specifically the one from the intro cinematic? in the end credits (the ones with all the boss renders), the image for dragon god has 2 of em in it

[@aznashwan]

When you mentioned the vid being 55mins before release I presumed you’d just go through most of the game’s areas in one go. Having almost an hour of going into this much detail just on the tutorial area alone is honestly amazing and you’re totally spoiling us, thank you so much!

[@Chimera-man-man]

On Yoshida San’s reaction, I feel like given the time the game was made in that that is actually a really typical reaction. Given the climate of games that were open world or didn’t expect much from the player an immediate reaction if you couldn’t get through something is “Ugh this is awful” if it doesn’t immediately bend to your will. I had a similar reaction when I first picked up the game but I was poor at the time and I couldn’t return it so I was basically forced to go through it. Which I’m extremely glad I did.

[@Deadgye]

I can't even remember how I came to own the game, but I loved it so much I got my friend to play it. After a handful of deaths on the first real level he decided he didn't like it and quit.

[@red_menace1829]

​@@Deadgye lmao what a loser

[@someguyshere6968]

" I crashed my car & died you?" "Fisted by a dragon god"

[@FaxanaduJohn]

It’s a cliche at this point to see this in the comments, although I genuinely get excited when I see a new video from this dude. Seriously top notch content.

[@BackseatYT]

The content is superb, the content is plenty. This truly is an illusory wall video.

[@EdgePwner]

An hour of episode just on the tutorial level. Man I can't wait for the archstones!

[@themattbat999]

Even though i have never played Demon's Souls, seeing this side-by-side makes me appreciate how much work Blue Point put into the remake.

[@thefebo8987]

They only used generic Unreal-Engine Assets

[@mrROAR104]

maybe if they had put more work in it'd be a good remake as a whole

[@DemonLordSparda]

@@thefebo8987 Citation fucking needed.

[@jazzmaster909]

@@mrROAR104 Thank god we actually got a Good Remake.

[@mrROAR104]

@@jazzmaster909 it wasn't though. The visuals have more fidelity, most other things are a downgrade. Demon's souls on pc with an emulator is *far* superior to this hack job.

[@JustAndre92]

You know your reptile nerd pickiness has reached the point of irredeemability when the intended reaction of delighted surprise at the reveal of the dead crocodile is overshadowed within the span of one second when he calls it an alligator. For real, though, the detail on that model is just the coolest thing. Even looking at it sidelong so you can't see the pointed shape of the snout, it's still instantly recognizable as a crocodile rather than an alligator for people who know what to look out for on the real animals because - for this piece of background fluff for a third-person fantasy game from _two generations ago_ - they went to the trouble of getting the bendy shape a real crocodile's jawline has right. I love you, FromSoftware.

[@illusorywall]

damnit, lol! I did a quick google search on how to tell the difference and apparantly it was a complete fail 😅

[@Bunny-zg4hd]

God I'm so jealous of all the cut Demon's Souls content still being in the game as someone who is part of a group trying to discover stuff about Shadow of the Colossus' cut content but they removed almost everything cut from the files 😅 we have a massive $1000 bounty for an early build of SOTC too in hopes anyone has a build with some cut content

[@soapdish124]

Oh wow, you guys are still going on that? I used to follow Nomad's blog ages ago but fell out of it. Nice to hear people are still working on it all!

[@Bunny-zg4hd]

@@soapdish124 Yup, still going strong. Huge project is being worked on to recreate the unused colossi in Unity called Beyond the Forbidden Lands, then I'm part of a group running a KZbin channel compiling all the huge findings over the last year or so and compiling all evidence we have for the unused colossi's existence at certain areas

[@soapdish124]

@@Bunny-zg4hd Ok that's seriously cool. Please tell me you're making the Dam. That is the best thing i've seen from the cut content

[@Bunny-zg4hd]

@@soapdish124 Yeah, one of the guy who's part of our KZbin channel is also the lead 3D modeller for Beyond the Forbidden Lands. I think he's working on the areas around the Dam atm

[@elias.t]

@@Bunny-zg4hd We will watch your career with great interest.

[@illusorywall]

Thanks everyone so much for watching! If you'd like to hear me discuss Souls stuff more-casually, I'll be with The Lore Hunter in his upcoming Elden Ring "Trailer Day 624" episode, releasing on Monday. We talk primarily about general expectations of the game and how From's mechanics iterate. And we also want a From Software Castlevania game! kzbin.info

[@kippkiwii5010]

Nice video

[@Leotheleprachaun]

You CAN get out of bounds VERY easily. That's how they figured out you can't get to The Penetrator's armour from above.

[@illusorywall]

​@@Leotheleprachaun It's pretty limited in its application, but I'd be looking forward to see if more out-of-bounds exploits can be found as a result. What you're talking about involves pushing through objects as you re-load an area, where the collision doesn't load for a moment. This doesn't work anywhere in the tutorial, because your position doesn't get saved and there aren't any objects near-enough to a spawn point. Even for other locations, how often is it that objects prevent you from getting somewhere? To my knowledge it doesn't let you phase through just any wall. And on top of all of that, there's no way to disable gravity (that I've heard of at least).

[@crestfallenwarrior5719]

No i don't want a Castlevania Game from Fromsoftware. Castlevania is a great series of games and is near and dear to my heart. A Castlevania Game was always something to enjoy, you don't have to git gud. I don't want a Dark Souls Clone Castlevania. And i don't know why so many people want Fromsoftware to do a Castlevania Game.

[@paris-1911]

@@crestfallenwarrior5719 Because the old Castlevania games were much like Souls games. If you only played the Metroidvania styled Castlevania games, then you’re not gonna understand what that means... but classic Castlevania bares a striking resemblance in core gameplay to the Souls games. Slow, weighty attack animations, imperfect movement, exploration, tight level design, and tough as nails difficulty. You should play the classics, it makes more sense if you’ve experienced those games. I can tell you now, the old school Castlevania games were definitely ones you had to _git gud_ at.

[@beegyoshi6523]

You better be able to wrestle alligators in Elden Ring

[@TannyWanny]

Elden Ring DLC taking place in Florida has been confirmed.

[@shadowsnake94]

I cannot wait to spend more hours chilling in the world of Boletaria, with relaxing narration, while also learning new things about my favorite game

[@heyguysinternet]

Yes, describing the original's architectural appearance as generally romanesque or Roman-derived would be accurate. There is an emphasis on broad surfaces, wide round arches, and big bold forms. I do think that the remake's obscuring or outright reorientation of this quality is a negative, in part because it muddies the visual relationship Demon's Souls had to the King's Field series, especially the fourth game, and rather attempts to associate it more with Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne. I'm going to sidestep the critical comparison between the versions' soundtracks and just say that, to whoever is looking for more music like Shunsuke Kida's original score (perhaps to listen to while playing the remake), you could do no better than Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. There is a particularly good performance of it conducted by James Levine here on KZbin. Kida's score is highly unusual even among orchestral or chamber music, and for a long while I struggled to find anything which resembled it. Anyway, thanks for this video!

[@paris-1911]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@FreekinEkin2]

To be fair, the reason that DeS and older FromSoft games have a similar look is probably to do with how much they reused assets, rather than their ideal design for the game. The armoured spider and Vanguard are both copy-pasted models from their other games. That said, the Roman architecture was much cooler. The new look is a bit 'boo spooky castle.' It looks a little like the architecture from a Sims Halloween DLC. I'm being harsh, ofc.

[@NatetheNerdy]

@@FreekinEkin2 You are a little harsh, but it isn't entirely undeserved. I've never played DeS, but the original structures look like ancient temples you'd discover in some forest or forgotten island. The new structures look like they belong in Bloodborne.

[@DemonLordSparda]

I find the architecture in Demon's Souls wildly inconsistent. The flat roof design evokes Roman styles, but Boletaria castle in every other aspect is a Dark Ages castle. It always clashed and I never liked it. Not every building and tower needed to look like a flat lookout tower. Even the main Boletarian Keep in the OG looked boring and simple.

[@elarbolfeliz]

@@DemonLordSparda Most European "Dark Ages" architecture evokes roman styles by design. Saying this is an inconsistency makes no sense. There are plenty of Romanesque structures featuring flat roofs galore, for example.

[@RobinBaggett]

I came to Demon Souls after playing through Dark Souls and Sekiro. It has a charm to it that I can't explain. It felt like getting that magical first experience I had with Dark Souls I. This video just shows that the people who worked on these games put a lot of care into it. Great video as always!

[@scantyer]

I love the atmosphere of DS1 and DeS as well. I just think it's the mostly down to earth bosses and enemies, the "bad" graphics and lightning making both games very dream-like. Lastly i love how both games are slower paced. They don't throw too many enemies at you like in DS2 nor they aren't super fucking fast like BB and DS3.

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

I hope when saying that you mean the original devs, because Bluepoint were so lazy they couldn't even cross reference the original models and had to be told by fans that the Flamelurker only has one eye, because they were too busy aping Diablo/Warcraft aesthetics.

[@noamias4897]

@@As_Expected_of_Pieckthey took some creative liberties that I disagree with but you can’t argue that they didn’t put in the effort

[@jaydenmickelson]

@@As_Expected_of_Pieckit’s not that deep

[@twistedgwazi5727]

@@As_Expected_of_Pieck yeah sure man, bluepoint was so lazy that they added a photo mode that allowed you to see every nook and cranny of the environment and they made sure that it always looked good all for a minor feature most people wouldnt use more than a handful of times. another sign of their horrible laziness was was how they gave the rain in the storm king its own physics such that the storm king blocks it out based on the way the wind blows the rain around along with having the storm ruler's attacks push the rain out of the way all for a minor visual effect. just so lazy.

[@darklorddisco]

The distant ruins at 14:57 appear to be of an aqueduct rather than a traditional bridge, which is consistent with your earlier comment about Roman-inspired architecture!

[@insanelyheinousbeefer]

As someone who only played DeS once (and can't play the remake), I really appreciate the almost insane attention to detail here, since it's not as clear in my memory as other Souls games

[@faber7507]

honestly the most surprising thing about this video is how is how much better the base (emulated) demons soul looks than both the remastered dark souls 1 and dark souls 2

[@aoikemono6414]

Demon souls always looked superior to dark souls. That was one of my prime complaints ten years ago when I first played dark souls 1. It felt more primitive, and the high contrast ember look didn't help

[@Atrahasis7]

One thing I dont like is how they changed some of the weapons and shields aesthetically. In the OG many weapons were based on European historical ones but in a fantasy setting, and in the remake they clearly jazzed up some items WAY too much.

[@taekatanahu635]

Same here. I like how From Software actually visits to museums and real historical places to draw inspiration from, as it leads to better fantasy just as much as learning about physics and rocket engineering helps you to create better sci-fi. It is said that "you can only reason with what you know" and I think the same can be applied to creative work as well. However they jazzed up everything about Demon's Souls remake. The architectural style is later period as well.

[@emmanuel5897]

@@taekatanahu635 One of these cases that i absolutely don't understand is how fancy they made the prison in Latria look. Its a dirty and grimey prison, why are the bars of the cells so decorative?

[@radioactiveowl95]

Watching this having not played Demon's Souls at all, it's really interesting to compare the styles and area design of each version, cause they seem to have very different tones. The remake is very Dark Souls-ish, but the original, through a combination of deliberate choices and janky graphics/lighting seems... alienating, even hostile. It's genuinely uncanny and feels like the environment itself is telling you, "You do not belong here."

[@Qarth56]

Low fidelity does have a certain quality all of it's own in these sorts of games which is usually lost in a remake. I loved playing the remake but it's undeniable that it's tonally completely different from the original. The slightly surreal and almost dreamlike nature of the levels is replaced with something which feels far more like a beautiful yet clinical tech demo a lot of the time.

[@YourDevastator]

Agreed

[@Keln02]

This really makes you appreciate how much work went into the details of both the OG and the remake. Thank you Illusory!

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

Bluepoint were so lazy they couldn't even cross reference the original models and had to be told by fan that the Flamelurker only has one eye, because they were too busy aping Diablo/Warcraft aesthetics. They deserve no praise for replacing the art that is Demon's Souls with an INSANE 2022 4K UNREAL TEXTUREPACK NINTENDO HIRE THIS MAN style graphics mod.

[@arcadema]

@@As_Expected_of_Pieck a twelve year old made this comment

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

@@arcadema only a 12 year old that wasn't even alive when the original Demon's Souls released would prefer the SHITmake's gaudy Warcraft inspired graphics over From's rustic 11th century architecture and ethereal fantasy.

[@ntz752]

@@arcadema Bluepoint sucks at preserving the original feel and intended art direction of games,they butchered shadow of the colossus and same goes for DS's,they prioritize graphics over anything else.

[@ryanvandoren1519]

"Not everything is badly because the vibe changes a little." Very well said dude.

[@kronickmasturbater5226]

The fact that the Snowy Archstone of the Half-Giants contained Yetis with mouths on their stomachs really cements it for me. Fire Giant and the Mountaintops of the Giants in Elden Ring feels like From finally realizing the cut archstone from all the way back in Demon's Souls.

[@Lofirainbows]

I disagree mountaintop of the giants is the complete opposite of what demons souls locations were

[@noamias4897]

Since painted world was the first designed for DS1 I think the best interpretation would be something similar to that with the aesthetic, enemies and core ideas of mountaintops

[@thestralner6335]

the statue at 47:53 reminds me of the "digger king" we see on the 2nd archstone. it would give the dragon god at least some connection to this area, which i think is pretty neat

[@thestralner6335]

also the original archetecture looks almost aztec to me, which really really reminds me of old king doran's armor. as the original founder of boletaria, maybe the area has some remnants of his time? doran's set makes him look like he's from a completely different era and culture of boletaria, so perhaps

[@jacobwilson862]

@@thestralner6335 I have to disagree on the aztec part. The old kings armor is bronze, so to me that speaks to the bronze age. Also, that statue looks Babylonian which also ties into a bronze age aesthetic

[@thestralner6335]

@@jacobwilson862 yeah i didnt base it off anything, so youre probably right lol

[@wnihaunter3943]

idk why i watch this stuff, even though i havent played demons, but i do, and u better keep making more Mr.Wall

[@empty5013]

I think a really amazing technique bluepoint uses that I actually found jarring upon returning to dark souls 3, is a complete mastery of lighting. All of fromsofts games have a (very nitpicky) problem where they just, don't justify a lot of light sources. Most of the time this isn't too noticeable, ambient light in an area that should be dark isn't a big deal, even when you're nitpicking like I am. But they also put a lot of *point* lights around the place with no sensible reason for them to be there. I don't disagree with fromsoft for doing this, usually those lights are positioned to help you find a doorway or a pathway, or highlight a lever or something you might miss, but they do stick out to me as a little ugly due to lack of explanation. Bluepoint on the other hand do an amazing job of justifying nearly every light source. Much like fromsoft the lighting is still used to illustrate areas and objects of interest, but it's always justified in some way. Maybe a torch is placed there, or more often a small gap in the level geometry allows a beam of sunlight to come through. Even pathways that would ordinarilty just have a random light source will have props and windows and broken masonry allowing the level to be lit realistically, while maintaining the functionality of the lighting for gameplay purposes. I think it's amazing the attention to detail and like I said when I went back to dark souls 3 I was shocked to see just how... bad dark souls is at this specific thing in comparison. That's not a strike against fromsoft, they have a huge list of stuff to do thats more important than justifying every light source. But I think it's a really admirable thing on bluepoints end that shows they aren't just replacing animations and textures, but are in fact taking painstaking efforts to add as much detail and polish to the game as possible, without harming the source material.

[@professionalnoob5474]

For me, the original give me a strange impression, like that whatever happened in the world, happened very recently, so that's why most building are intact... Meanwhile in the remake thanks to the fact that said building are mostly broken now it kinds of give a feeling of decaying, like it actually happened some time before you came

[@serfillustrated4018]

Demons Souls has alot of art direction and assets that stem from Kings Field.

[@burzum2649]

Well spotted

[@malcomalexander9437]

It was originally supposed to be an open world King's Field game(that was in first person POV). Needless to say that isn't what it ended up being. Matt McMuscles has a video where he talks about the development issues the game had.

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

Demon's Souls remake has a lot of art direction and assets that stem from stock images and Diablo concept art because all Bluepoint can do is amateurishly copy and think making things 4K HYPERREALISTIC UNREAL ENGINE NINTENDO HIRE THIS MAN constitutes a "faithful" remake.

[@DigitalVirusX2]

Oh how I wish a Dark Souls game got a remaster like this.

[@MrNasexD]

haha nope. A part of the fanbase would be absolutely furious how BluePoint ruined their beloved Dark Souls, because it doesn't look exactly like the og

[@ad_-yk9bz]

@@MrNasexD I mean, with the Demon's Souls remake I feel like that's only a very small portion of the community at a whole, so I doubt that would cause too many problems.

[@Celatra]

@@MrNasexD bluepoint could remake dark souls 2

[@kratosgow342]

@@MrNasexD I mean a lot of people also don't like how lazy DSR is especially the PC crowd

[@larry3828]

@@Celatra i love ds2 the way it is but i do find myself craving a version of it with detailed scenery on par with this or ds3

[@timothytbh486]

22:50 is unbelievably cool! Thanks for showing us that, it's a beautiful vista. I can't believe the devs made such a cool asset and left it in a prototype. I've loved this game for years and seeing this landscape makes me feel rewarded for being a fan. I feel like i just found Ash Lake for the first time.

[@Echo-Head]

This is a great dive into what makes Demon's Souls such a standout title. Can't wait for part 2! Keep up the good work.

[@TZerot0]

Great video as always. You never fail to inspire that sense of awe and wonder that initially got me into the souls games so many years ago.

[@justkosmo6806]

The balcony vista reveal hit me with that sense of grandeur/awe that my first playthroughs of these games always gives me. This video is really awesome! Thanks so much for doing this; it always feels like Demon's Souls gets the short end of the stick when it comes to coverage from people who are fans of FromSoft's work. Edit: One little thing I noticed is that the statue you show us at 39:48 is holding a globus cruciger, which is a Christian symbol that first got popular in the Middle Ages, mainly in Western Europe (some of you might recognize it as a piece of the Crown Jewels). The inclusion of the cruciger within a statue of a woman and a child draws obvious parallels to real-world Christian art, but I don't understand the inclusion of "God" in Demon's Souls well enough to make any grounded conclusions. Once again, fantastic video! I would never have spotted these sorts of things myself.

[@arbiter-]

52:53 I love this statement from Yoshida, I'm sure many players felt the same way with their first Souls game, I certainly did. The first one I played was Demon's Souls, I must have bought it when I got my PS3 from Gamestop because they had a sick promo for a brand new PS3 slim (first slim model) for $100 with your choice of two free used games priced at $19.99 or less. I played so little of the game I didn't even remember owning it or selling it until years later after beating Dark Souls 3 and it's DLC. I managed to snag a copy with the original case from ebay, loaded it up on my PS3 and to my surprise there was a save file already present with the default character and only a few minutes of playtime. I loaded it up and was at the nexus in soul form with zero souls. I'm almost certain I died to the Vanguard Demon and said "this game is shit" and traded it in without a second thought. If only I knew then how much I would come to love these games, I would have given it a proper chance and experienced every subsequent Souls game at launch with everybody else going in for the first time. Fromsoft really struck diamond with this series, you just had to be the one to cut it and make it look pretty. There's not one single franchise I can think of that does the same thing. (Sorry for the awful analogy lol)

[@icaruswindrune7116]

The point on the architectural style of the original being Romanesque while the remake being more Gothic would be correct in a sense, but not fully. The Original, in my point of view, is more similar to the Early Norman Gothic Style of architecture, which is considered a transitionary period between Romanesque and Middle to Late Norman Gothic - so it had many of the traits of Romanesque Architecture while also having Norman Gothic traits as well. ENGS focused on the horizontality of a building while also having it lightly ornamented. They were squat and were fortresses first and foremost. They were simply made for defense and displays of power and not much else. The Tower of London (the original tower) is an example of this style. Later Norman Gothic Style buildings would start to focus on being more heavily ornamented as well and still focused on the horizontal somewhat: Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England is an example of this (West Minister is another example, but its exterior was changed by one of the English Royals after a fire had consumed it). I also looked at the original Demon's Souls and saw almost no buttresses (which would make the walls thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top - and the taller the building the thicker the buttresses), so without many buttresses - it is not Romanesque (Romanesque Style uses buttressing extensively). As for the Remake, it follows a Late or High French Gothic Style. The stain glass, flying buttresses, the focus on verticality, trying to make the buildings appear brighter through the usage of glass while also having dark interiors simply due to the size of the buildings (Notre Dame de Amiens and Notre Dame de Paris are examples of French Gothic buildings so large that they simply cannot have the windows brighten them up as much as the architectural style intended for), and the HEAVY ornamentation on the buildings (Late and High French Gothic used HEAVY levels of ornamentation compared to early - Chartres Cathedral's Spires exemplify this [the larger cone is early gothic and the smaller one is late/high]), and finally - how the game portrays Boletaria overall (the game portrays Boletaria as being at its height prior to the scourge of demons and Late/High French Gothic is considered the pinnacle of architecture for many kingdoms - hence why there were revival efforts in places like England when the built structures like Big Ben). If there is more information I find, it will be added below here in edits.

[@As_Expected_of_Pieck]

the remake isn't "inspired" by any actual architectural style because Bluepoint are a studio of artless hacks who think they know better than GODS like From Software and Team Ico. Their reference material for concept art is literally stock photos, Diablo concept art, and screencaps from Marvel movies. Looking for any intended depth is futile because any motifs they included are likely just because the stock image they used included them, and they artlessly recreated in NINTENDO HIRE THIS MAN style detail.

[@NateBrownQR]

This is ridiculously cool and I'm excited to see more.

[@Eiroth]

I adore that 8-bit version of the Maiden Astrea theme at the end!

[@nicolaslanzoni9385]

Just something for you, the "walkable space" can be refered as the topology of the map/building (can be represented as a graph or diagram), like which room lead to which room, how the rooms are actually spaced is called the geometry . This terms are used in stuff like Google maps to not only render buildings in accurate 3d (geometry) , but to actually convey navigation information (topology) so you can use something like gps to go to a specific room in a large building . So you can say the remake radically changed the geometry of Demon Souls, while keeping the topology mostly unchanged.

[@arbiter-]

Future episodes? Yes please. Thank you for everything you've done for the Souls community, seriously.

[@TankorSmash]

Great episode. I really appreciate all the side by side shots and weapon inserts that lined up perfectly, must have taken ages.

[@nachovennedictus6492]

Halfway through this video, I gotta say that your content is fascinating. I really can't wait to see the rest of this series!

[@Sblaara]

I love how chill and interesting these videos are, keep up the good work!

[@azc0na]

This is probably the best comparison video between the two games, your insight is super interesting and well thought out. Can't wait for the rest!

[@xVibra]

I think the peak of detail in the remake comes from the Storm Demon boss fight. The Storm Demon passing over you blocks the rain, and the air burst from the Stormruler makes the rain droplets disperse from all directions away from you. The rain is coming from an angle, because of the wind so the rain that's blocked by the Storm Demon is affected by this. The amount of work it must've taken to really flesh out all the systems only for them to be minor visuals at best must've meant this was in production for quite some time. Especially when they went through the burden of replicating 90% of the game, often to a fault. Also, look, I don't care if you're soul starved, but that ass was fat. I'd eat that on a full stomach.

[@itssilentinthestudio]

The dual soundtrack sounds bloody amazing. Fantastic video

[@the.musiciangamer]

This is what I love about your channel and From Software's games, the attention to detail. Thank you for making these videos.

[@limarest761]

I just love how thorough your video examinations are. It's always a good time to stare at some old ps3 era assets and theorize what was on developers minds when they first envisioned the game

[@sundermayr]

I love that your videos are so in depth. Must be pretty work heavy. Respect!

[@ItsLloydM8]

This is a fantastic breakdown and comparative analysis. Can't wait for the next episode to drop.

[@Fussfackel]

Almost 1 hour of quality content - thank's for your work!

[@adamblue2980]

You blew my mind with the connected layout of the tutorial. I'm so excited for this series!

[@HamzaAli-lk5ul]

Just found ur channel six hours ago and I was bingeing the shit out of it ..... And thanks for the new upload

[@raoulhdeez.9581]

Man, this vid was awesome. Hoping for part 2 to release!

[@Audumb1021]

25:30 Dark Souls 3 Firelink Shrine

[@AssailantLF]

This is such a great video. Thanks for putting in the work and making such interesting observations and comparisons that are so well presented. I love your analysis/dissection of these games, lol.

[@5ROWN]

already my favorite demons souls series! please keep making them!

[@noahbennett2254]

amazing, so much more insight than i was expecting. looking forward for the rest

[@halahanthefan1599]

incredible as always. I love the speculations on the lore and game development, it's fascinating!

[@RobWSS1]

amazing video! Can't wait for the next dark souls 2 cut content video, or that world design video you mentioned in the gutter video!

[@madelynn7585]

Ooo I’m so excited! Thank you for making this, this will be very fun

[@AlchemistofFlame]

You put so much effort and devotion into this amazing video. Thank you so much!

[@opossumoutlaw7534]

I hope this gets more traction. Really appreciate all the work you put into this video

[@pelicandynasty5863]

Just dropping a comment to say all of your videos are truly legendary stuff, we are lucky to have someone taking this level of deep dive into our favorite pieces of art

[@igornaimoli7321]

The worst change is 100% the fat officials... They look generic and especially their laugh is no way nightmarish like in og. But overall this remake is awesome and I consider Bluepoint to be incredibly talented

[@jmarvins]

Hot take but the original fat officials look like absolute shit and i have no idea why anyone likes that design besides nostalgia

[@insanelyheinousbeefer]

@@jmarvins What exactly do you find lacking in the og design? Genuinely curious. In my mind, it fits rather well with From's general design philosophy of a certain regal elegance twinged with a sense of corrupted hostility (without overshadowing that elegance). Maybe a little goofier than most enemy designs but I feel that was kind of the point, sort of reminds me of the Evangelists from DS3.

[@jmarvins]

@@insanelyheinousbeefer They just seem to me to look a bit more plastic-y and artificial than almost everything else in the original DeS. It wasn't something that actually disturbed me in any way or took me out of the experience too badly in the original, but they were certainly some of my least favorite of the designs in the original game due to their uncanny-valley lack of texture and extreme monotone skin color. I felt similarly about the Vanguard Demon and the original big yellow Adjudicator. On that front I feel like all three designs in the remake are serious improvements, making them look like actual organic creatures and not oddly animated shiny dolls. The original game was fine even with those since the level of graphical detail available was low enough that one suspends disbelief with shiny, plastic-y designs (as we all used to with nearly every 3d game of previous decades). With the new level of fantastic graphical detail, the remake couldn't've preserved the weird shiny blue skin on the officials or the yellow of the Adjudicator and so on without it standing out really awfully, so in my mind it was a great (and NECESSARY) improvement to the character designs.

[@igornaimoli7321]

@@jmarvins new officials look like they have big pimples on the face, and their moves and body make them look gross and goofy while the og look cruel Edit: also, the adjudicator looks just grotesque and too human. I don't know why they decided to give him human-like skin

[@Pan_Z]

I can't think of anything Bluepoint did in the remake that was a big improvement over the original game, outside technical stuff. Everything that makes the Demon's Souls remake awesome was in the original game. Bluepoint was pretty tone-deaf. The remake music is worse, the art design is worse, the attention to detail is worse. If you want an example of the latter: in the original game when in Soul form you didn't make noise. Your character didn't exert a moan when hit, didn't clank when running in armour, and didn't have an audible rolling sound. And why would they? They're not a physical being, but a soul. The remake didn't carry over that detail, among many others.

[@mr.immersion3453]

Honestly have been looking for a video exactly like this. Subbed, keep up the amazing work!

[@xenoboy1213]

I was just thinking earlier a series like this would be awesome, can't wait for more

[@scantyer]

Boy they really love their wine barrels in the remake

[@forgot7en]

You'd want to get drunk too if you lived in a dying world populated by demons.

[@DemonLordSparda]

Back in the day wine and mead was safer to drink than regular water. Potable water was uncommon, and the process of making wine or mead sterilized the water.

[@Decadraven15]

I really needed this video right now, thank you so much

[@Titaniusart]

Very cool. The amount of detail they put on the Remaster is astonishing even in places you can't really go to. Thanks for sharing

[@TheHatai]

I'm really happy to see so many Demon's Souls videos recently; it's the game that has probably the most unique and interesting design choices and details in the series.

[@JacobWHill]

You absolute madman. This is exactly the obsessively detailed analysis I crave.

[@goblingod]

Amazing video. I can't think of anything else that I could say, it's honestly perfect. The balcony view is extremely reminiscent of Berserk, and the castle Griffith longs for.

[@ashwinbhat4267]

Your videos bring me so much joy! ❤

[@rikkis4104]

I need more of these videos. I know the wait will be worth it though!

[@michaelmannix1604]

Damn, that was crazy informative! I don't consider myself a purist, but there certainly is a nostalgic charm to the original that I wish they'd tapped into a little more. However, the remake's out of bounds details are very cool, and add a level of immersion despite their distance. A lot of care and effort went into it. Some other things that bugged me a bit (though only as far as what you covered here) were potential lore-related details in both the enemies and architecture. Firstly is Vanguard, whose almost hewn rock texture in the original was consistent with a pattern of associating demons with inorganic matter; in the remake, they seem to have overlooked these details in pursuit of gore and gratuity, particularly with Vanguard and Adjudicator. Secondly, one odd detail concerning Dragon God is the architecture associated with it. Originally, its lair bore reliefs much like those found in the Nexus, and the ballistae ammo were suspiciously similar to the golden instruments piercing the Old One's back. This all seemed to imply that the Dragon God was revered with equal fervor as the Old One, perhaps even as a denunciation. Some of those architectural motifs were still present in the original's first encounter with Dragon God, but Bluepoint inadvertently erased this subtext in both locations. In the end, the flamboyant architecture throughout its lair looks nice, if not painfully cliché in a high fantasy sort of way. The music was... whatever. I turned it down at some point so I could only hear the melodies, lol.

[@raisklose6785]

This is the type of content I'm all about. Amazing work.

[@egoborder3203]

wow that soundtrack comparison was really cool! Please do the rest too!

[@Avrysatos]

I have played neither version but I am still watching this because you make good videos. I'm a quarter of the way in and impressed by their additions.

[@Codebryo]

The amount of details they added is really amazing and shows a lot of love for the product.

[@sasukeuzumaki3608]

Great video, really enjoyed this comparison. There's a certain charm the original has that makes it mysterious and kind of scary

[@jbetancourt11]

Beautiful work. I didn't know I wanted this comparison, but now that it's here, I am in awe at your efforts and your presentation. This type of content is probably often underrated, but I feel it's of vital importance to the community. We may otherwise never have gotten insight into so many behind the scenes details.

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

This... did not feel like 50 minutes! Great video dude!

[@emlan3494]

Great presentation and great commentary, thank you for amazing work as always.

[@arbiter-]

How did I miss this one? This is great, nice work!

[@LavosYT]

Incredibly thorough content, thanks for the video

[@mikeauditore881]

I can't wait for episode 2, this was super fun and interesting to watch! 😄

[@SylverGaming]

I love these comparisons. Would love to see more!

[@illusorywall]

Happy to hear that! I'm actually almost finished with Part 2. It should be up tomorrow or by Sunday, hopefully!

[@voidofthegodhand4549]

I had gotten demon souls for my PS3 on release. I played the game over and over beating it 5 or more times.. unfortunately I've yet to play this remake as I don't have a PS5 as they are too expensive right now. This game being such a huge part of my childhood I was surprised to learned a lot of things I never knew about the game from this video! I very much look forward to your future videos of each area, keep up the great work man you're awesome!

[@cooltacos123]

You are very underrated! All of your videos are so good and you deserve more views and subscribers!

[@christopherescobar10]

Great video! Very informative! OG Demon's Souls looks surprisingly good in 4K!