➤ BECOME A VIP MEMBER (and see early videos): www.patreon.com/mattmcmuscles ➤ SUBSCRIBE TO THE FLOPHOUSE: ruclips.net/user/mattmcmuscles ➤ TWITTER: twitter.com/MattMcMuscles ➤ MERCH: store.screenwavemedia.com/collections/matt-mcmuscles Check out VaatiVidya here - ruclips.net/user/VaatiVidya Edited By: twitter.com/GamingXperience Intro By: twitter.com/2Snacks and twitter.com/LittleVMills
@@WhaleManMan Bethesda has been bad since like 2010. The streamlining of the RPG for casual audiences has been a large part their fault. I want another Morrowind GODDAMNIT.
So basically, the entire Souls like genre exists because a nerdy Japanese man hijacked the development of a cash grab knockoff and then got *stupid lucky* a bunch of times, like, _a lot_ of times. Sounds about right.
@@TheTrueRandomGamer it's fine, it's alright, i'm gonna casually make it into a million dollar franchise by the end anyways, I mean i'm pretty sure the world is filled with masochists right?, they're gonna love me after i whip this out.
People should remember how the PS3/X360 era were littered with games designed to be as easy as possible. It was certainly a risk for Sony to publish a game that went against the norm at the time.
@@spiidey1 Yeah, the Ps 3 era was a time where the focus was on simple easy to access games that are very cinematic. This gen was a return to a more gameplay focused times in my opinion.
Demon's Souls is a prime example of a dark horse/underdog video game story. Literally no one expected it to sell, and now 11 years later, it has spawned its own subgenre and multi million dollar remake.
@@urdnal hah! man i love dark souls, there's actually so little I remember from other games, but this series is nothing if not memorable, probably more so than most other games i've played throughout my life combined. It's quirkiness is way beyond something people love just to seem cool and everything about it is this weird and painful fun. It's not complete, perfect or even a game that's always fun, but damn is it an experience, and for what it accomplishes, it just seems even better than perfect when you remember back to it, not getting your ass beat probably helps with that too. and after watching the video i feel like that's somehow exactly what i'd expected of the creation of darksouls,and i wouldn't want it any other way.
its refreshing to see a black sheep rise to crushing success despite all the odds. please do more of these videos, i know stupid and hilarious failure is your forte matt, but this video was fantastic and uplifting. i want to see more
He should do a video about the first Nier. It's a really unique story about a game that initially totally bombed but managed to get a far more successful sequel.
15:36 I was working at GameStop when this game released in the US. We got 4 copies. 2 for our pre-order customers, and 2 others. They had all been picked up or sold within two hours of opening, and I never thought anything of it... Until a few days passed. Over the next few weeks, I would get 5 or 6 phone calls a day, asking if we had "Demon Soul" in stock. The game had spread by word-of-mouth and online videos, and the publisher had OBVIOUSLY not printed enough discs to meet demand. We would continue to get little trickles of the game, perhaps 2 or 3 per week, over the next month. It wasn't until nearly a month later that we started getting enough copies to meet the demand. It was my first instance of seeing a game that so drastically underestimated how well it would sell.
The release was pretty interesting to say the least. I had to call a dozen video game stores before finding one that had it in stock at all. Some of the people I asked about it hadn't even heard of the game and others were unsure if it's going to be released in Europe, even though it was release day. Finally getting my copy felt like I was let in some exclusive club or something, I was half surprised I didn't need to know the secret handshake at the store. Reminded me of the 90s and finally finding an obscure music CD that nobody ever had in stock. Nobody in my social circle played it either, in fact it wasn't until Dark Souls was released that I actually heard people talk about DeS outside of the internet. It's a shame so many people completely missed the release, but at least the series really blew up with Dark Souls. Even if it gave birth to the stupid elitist mentality that was largely absent in the DeS community.
@@silkyfi6652 seriously what kinds of idiots mess up the community of such a special game, I was too young and barred from going online in the ds days but luckily the community i personally interacted with in the ds3 era was one of the coolest and definitely the nicest and most helpful community that i've ever had the pleasure interacting with, at least when it came to people who played the game well and actively took part in the community. I'm sorry to hear that you had to deal with such a frustrating experience on your end though. I have seen glimpses of elitists here and there though, it's kinda funny how polarized the communities of these difficult games can become though, it's either pricks or just some super nice and thoughtful people.
I remember picking up Demon's Souls from Gamestop and the cashier was basically like, "You sure you want this? It's pretty haaarrrd." Yes bitch. Still my favorite game in the series
@@RottenMuLoT Worked @ Gamestop in the early to mid 2000's. At that time, just about every EA Sports game was massively over-ordered for the number that actually sold.
I got my copy used from gamestop for like 30€ (it was the black phantom ce as well). I vaguely heard of the game but didn't know if I remembered the title correctly. Boy that was one of the best buys I ever did in my life since its such a great game.
They made Shuei Yoshida (the guy who prevented demon souls to be relased overseas) announce the PS5 remake of Demon Souls. Revenge of Hidetaka Miyazaki is subtle but cruel.
@@addictedtoRS Typical for 3rd-party exclusives, Sony funded the development, marketing, and publishing. While exclusivity does limit the potential sales, having Sony fund everything nearly eliminated all risk for FromSoft.
Dragon Age Inquisition was like that and many of the developers can be quoted as they wish it flopped because they knew it would set a precedent if that development cycle ended with success
It makes me wonder though, how many great games or series of games could have existed if one random game had succeded or didn't end up in development hell, or simply had a little bit more luck? It's crazy to think that the entire soulsborne series only exist because of a shitload of luck.
“...originally gonna have a perma-death system.” By the Sun’s grossly incandescent light, you’re telling me the only people who played it the right way were the speed runners?!
what a wild ride 2009: miyazaki, the nearly-cancelled game you took control over and tried to express your own interests in and lied to sony over is doing awful and yoshida himself said it was crap and not getting released internationally 2015: hi miyazaki this is sony, please make a game for us oh god please here's the money
Wasnt it sony who messed up dark souls 2 by wanting fromsoft to crank out another dark souls to capitalize on the success and were super pushy during its development?
@@aaronbozack830 What actually happened is Namco made a contract with From Software for 3 Dark Souls. But, From Software were too busy making the new engine for Bloodborne and the Dark Souls sequel that Namco bring up the idea of they itself do the Dark Souls 2 with a Team B when the Team A was busy with the real Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne. That is why when you play Dark Souls 3 the events from the second game are rarely mentioned.
It's funny hearing him saying things like, "No game had controls like this" when now, SO many games control like that. Think of all the games that follow the Souls series lock-on, light, heavy, and roll concepts. Even the new God of War had it.
Weirdly enough God of War did already have light attacks, heavy attacks, rolls and many other maneuvers present in Souls-games and Bloodborne. So there was more taking already invented things and mixing them together in a new wau and some invention to support it.
@Steven Murphy really? That's a shame, my experience with the game was great, excluding the rpg systems, there are some crazy combos you can perform, if you have enough experience you become a time stopping, particle effect inducing God of War!
Soulsborne, I think, took the controls from Zelda Ocarina of Time... because in this Zelda you can lock target the enemies, dodge by rolling to the side, defend by holding a shield while holding a button and attack with a sword in another button. But Demons Souls perfected it by SIMPLY adding a stamina bar to this formula, the simple implementation of a stamina bar made this kind of gameplay jumps from a generic kind of gameplay to a adventure game to a kind of gameplay with a curve of learning compared to the one of a fighting game. Also adding RPG elements, personalization of the character, backstab and parry as the last thing someone can learn of a combat (and parrying is also the last and more difficult thing to learn on a fighting game).
@@snailthelostcow63 Monster Hunter is great too. But Demon's Souls kicked this type of difficult game off right. 6 of the 7 games they have released over the past 13 years can be debated as some of the best games ever. And the only one many wouldn't say so, Dark Souls 2, is just pretty good. I think Dark Souls 2 should get an Re2 style remake or a Demon's Souls remake that keeps in line with it's original vision and game, but gets rid if all of the annoying bullshit. That way we can say all seven games are right next to each other. Because I have heard enough of the discourse around Dark Souls 2 and the issues it has. Maybe have Bluepoint do it. Or do an Ontogi remake. But they might be doing a new Armored Core, which is fantastic.
Shuhei Yoshida: Demon's Souls is utter crap and will never become successful. "Demon's Souls becomes successful in Europe and America" Hidetaka Miyazaki: 👉 HAAAH HA HA HAA HA
“I could try whatever I wanted and even if it failed no one would care because the project was already considered a failure.” This explains so much. When a game has high expectations places on it, it’s hard to try anything new. When you have the freedom to potentially mess up you can create something new…and possibly start a new genre.
I remember when I first heard of Demon's Souls. I went over my friends house for his birthday (not a party, just a little private visit), and he showed me this "super hard game thats really good." He and I both sat down on his little couch, ate pizza, and we both tried our hand at fighting the Maneaters. By the end of the night, we just barely killed those bastards. I wonder how he's doing right now.
I don't know if it's because I'm on mobile, or maybe it's because it's been almost three years since I heard that wonderful intro song, but I didn't catch that at all. Thank you for pointing it out so that I may get a chance to relive such a powerful song.
The balls on Miyazaki. WHAT A CHAD! This is one of those IRL "Up and Comer" stories. He literally took the reins of the project and strategically did his own thing while still protecting his professional career in the industry. That's some next level play!
it's a pretty wonderful story of both a brilliant guy and a passionate nerd totally owning the world by going full throttle on the stuff they love, this is the guy who made dark souls alright.
@@unculturedswine5583 Yeah it's great. Stories like this are too few and far between in any industry. Kudos to Miyazaki for having such gigantic balls which led FromSoft to create an entire genre.
I thought I couldn't love this guy more, but what an absolute unit of a chad! He literally delivers one masterpiece after another and he wouldn't do this right now without the immense balls and the beautiful mastermind he combines in himself... What. An. Absolute. Legend.
I've always thought that Demon's Souls is to Dark Souls what Wolfenstein 3D is to Doom, and I would've never expected it to have such a disaster behind it (and almost being canceled).
As in invented and what followed perfected it. What follows are various clones until genre creator comes along which makes it completely distinct. In FPS Wolfenstein 3D invented it, Doom codified it and Half-Life made it a distinct genre with traits of its own.
I should have scrolled down the comments a bit more. I just responded to someone wishing they could relive the experience of playing Demon Souls for the first time and it being the birth of a genre with a comparison to playing Wolfenstein 3D back in '92 or '93. I left out the part about Doom cementing the genre, but I was thinking it.
Really enjoyed that. Big fan of Miyazaki spoofing the lads from Sony and just flat out avoiding telling the marketing people about the difficulty and death mechanic in the game. The clandestine approach worked, and we got the start of my favourite series of games.
A Wha Hauppun that went to rags to riches, and now i'm surprised it took off, because on the surface, it looks like a generic dark fantasy game, but once you get into it, it gots some meat on its bones!
@@mohandasjung or what the original game was supposed to be. I mean what was Sony thinking of making a cash grab to capitalize on Elder Scolls success. The only good thing Sony did was allowing Miyazaki do his thing for the entire Soulsborne genre to flourish.
@Ali Hadi Babar Demons souls was an attempt to capitalize in the Elder Scrolls hype in Japan. It's amazing how souls games have flourish while Bethesda games went downhill.
Me playing Demon's Souls: Man this game is hard Me beating Demon's Souls: Everything else on the PS3 is officially trash level shovel ware for babies. All jokes aside PS3 had 2 very unique "Oblivion clones" that surpassed their originals. The Souls series and Dragon's Dogma. Souls is a genre now and Dragon's Dogma get's completely ignored. Capcom needs to stop ignoring it's actual unique IPs.
Shu: "this is a horrible game" *Demon's Souls makes a lot of money* Shu: "So as I was saying I always thought there was something special about Demon's Souls and I'll always think of it as something truly great and..."
@@themangastand8475 he wasn't admitting he was wrong though, he just changed his mind acting like his last statement never happened since Demon's Souls made a lot of money
I finished the original on the PS3, and it was in a pretty horrible technical state. Framerate was terrible and very inconsistent, physics would often glitch out leaving you with a cartwheel, or a piece of wood, stuck in your belly for an hour, for instance. AI was glitchy and suicidal, mantas would shoot (and kill) you through the walls from the other side of the map, since their shots had apparently no collision programmed in. Lock-on was straight up broken and you were better off playing the game without it, UI was clunky af and required a lot of constant micro-management every few steps of the way. The game was cryptic and obtuse af, too - I don't know how world tendencies exactly work to this day, for instance. The difficulty wasn't that much of an issue, since you could just grind for an hour or two in 4-2 and raise your strength and health to the point that the game wasn't even that challenging. Did I mention you could cheese bosses through mist barriers with a bow, and since you saw their health bar through the mist, everyone could figure it out by themselves on their 1st playthrough (like I did) ? The game succeeded thanks to its dark atmosphere, innovative multiplayer, and its rewarding nature - without this, the game would be just another janky ARPG (the fact that there were next to no other action RPGs at the time on the PS3 probably didn't hurt). I still did like the game ultimately, but I can't blame Shuhei for not seeing the potential of DS.
I just love that this guy had to hide the difficulty from the higher ups because he knew their reaction would be "No! Make it easy!" and had zero desire to compromise.
What do you think of the remaster trailer? The first thing I thought was "maaaaan this looks way too inviting and pretty" xD Im super super curious how the final game will turn out though, weve obviously only seen a sliver as of yet.
@@ApenBaard Yeah, i agree. It's the lighting changes in the new trailer. Everything looks too bright and 'cleaner'. Also the music's changed slightly. I watched a side by side of the original opening compared to the new trailer and the original just looks fucking miserable and incredibly forboding and stark. The remake is far brighter and looks more like any other dark fantasy world. More akin to Dark Souls 3 than Demon's Souls.
I would say Bloodborne is the one that doesn't want you there. I mean Yharnamites are literally calling you a beast and are blaming you for everything.
@@Noobie2k7 I disagree. I think they added a wider variety of lighting fitting different places. If you look at shot where gargoyles come in tower of Latria it looks very grim. If you see shot with King of storms you can see that weather is much stormier. The only instance where lighting is clearly brighter is in a Tower Knight scene. I think the lighting is going to be much more dynamic than in original. Now only complaint I have is that some enemy designs are now looking a little bit generic.
It's so rare that a relatively small title like Demons Souls can spawn an entire subgenre of games that are still being created today. I wish I could erase my memory of this game and travel back to it's launch date just to experience it completely blind with others.
I feel a bit the same way about Wolfenstein 3D. It's hard these days to appreciate what it was like to play that game when it first came out. There were games that used a first-person 3D perspective, but nothing that moved at it's pace or had controls anywhere near as responsive. It was the foundation on which the whole FPS genre was built. It's also a case of developers doing their own thing on their bosses' dime, albeit for much smaller stakes.
I have my own story regarding Demon's Souls. I distinctly remember watching my older brother play the game in its heyday and watching him struggle a lot against the giant dragon boss or getting to play as the monk. It wasn't until the spring of 2013 (God, I feel a bit old saying it...) following my hijacking of my brother's PS3, I decided to play Demon's Souls as one of my first games for the system. Despite the many, many frustrations I had encountered, I was able to beat the game in correlation with some helpful community members along the way. It was a strange, yet fun time with a dark fantasy title like Demon's Souls.
So, Demon's Souls was lightning in a bottle. Outside of these very specific, lucky circumstances, it probably would have been killed or molded into something generic.
@@peenywallie You are jumping to conclusion. Tech and graphics are provided by Bluepoint Games who remade Shadow of the Colossus with same janky animation from PS2. However, game design, art and sound wise it's done by a team at Japan Studio. Puppeteer's creator is creative director on this project with having Japanese staff. He was interviewed on the PS blog. Lead 3D graphic designer on original Demon's Souls, Nozomi Shiba, is involved. As is original character designer. Your American-made garbage doesn't make sense after a trailer without gameplay.
Kind of ironic that this was a hit in the US while Japan dismissed it almost solely for being “too hard,” considering their historic audacity of easing up on difficulty levels when porting games for western audiences.
Theres an interesting situation when you put Armored Core and Souls in contrast. I'm a fan of both series, and I can safely say Armored Core suffers from the complete opposite issue Demon Souls had. The AC games used to do very very well in its home turf Japan than it did in the rest of the world. The game's reception in the west is like a mirror to Demon Souls, with the more casual gamers dismissing the game or simply saying it is "bad" without actually spending the necessary time to learn how the game actually works. The truth is, the AC games are very good, in-depth mech combat games, probably the only one of its kind still left standing, but like other From games, it is very unfriendly to casuals and newcomers, and most of them are soul crushingly hard, especially Miyazakis first one, Last Raven, which is infamous for being the hardest of them all. I just miss Armored Core and giant robots in general, man.
I imagine this is why FromSoft is supposedly making a new Armored Core game now: they're leveraging their Soulsborne rep to introduce it to a wider audience.
It's kind of heartwarming to learn how this game that had the odds stacked against it managed to not only see release,but have a legacy that's stood the test of time despite its initial lack of sales. These kinds of stories make for the best episodes of Wha Happun.
I like how all the negative shit in production and near release was "I played it for ___ [time] and was still [location early in game]" like... it's a telltale sign of the "game is too hard guess it's shit" mindset that was and is still far to common
It all depends on the frame of mind going into it. The souls games play just like the hard as balls games from the 80’s, so by 2008-9, no one was mentally prepared for that. But once it found its audience, and they learned how to sell it to newcomers, it was finally able to blow up.
When you look back at demons souls, the janky glitchy mess that it is, it truly is baffling that this of all games helped define a generation. Probably did help that it felt like devs were making games easier for the wider market so having a game that wants to kill you was refreshing. Also if not for this then we never would have gotten bloodborne, my favorite of the soul games.
" Probably did help that it felt like devs were making games easier for the wider market so having a game that wants to kill you was refreshing." There were so many good memes and comics about it. www.deviantart.com/wozz13/art/Demon-s-Souls-169310207 i.imgur.com/4hFar.png i.imgur.com/Z4Oif.jpg i.imgur.com/JS1XK.jpg
"janky glitchy mess"?? I don't think we played the same Demon's Souls. I always felt Dark Souls got more bugs and issues. Demon's Souls felt very solid from the very first moments I played it.
Thank god for this success! I started with Elden Ring and have already worked my way backwards through Souls 3 and Bloodbourne this year because of my love for the gameplay. I finally understand the obsession for this genre and wish I hadn’t missed out for so many years.
I take miyazaki as a huge role inspiration- This is a guy who switched careers late, took insane risks, and was clear sighted and creative enough to make something GOOD out of that instead of shite.
The best way I would describe this genre is, as my brother put it "No frills". No QTEs, no excessive combos, no limit breaks, no real over-the-top animations. It's a game that succeeds in simplicity, stripping all the conventional fluff to basic movement and combat. Because of this, you look at any obstacle in front of you plainly, making you think practically in your approach. It's not slapping you across the face with a A-F rating at the end, or expecting you to play in a certain way. It truly is Anything Goes. Taking out ten enemies in a Dynasty Warriors game is a couple of presses of a button. In Demon's Souls, even though it is possible to hit multiple enemies at once, each kill is calculated and you will feel every downed opponent. And if you do that unscathed, it is all the sweeter.
On this show, it's nice to hear a story with a good ending every once in a while. Against all odds, FromSoftware has succeed, I'd drink some SunnyD to that.
I always thought the souls series was something of a modern take on metroidvania, that’s why I initially came for it, it tickled a familiar itch that SOTN gave me, and then some when I found out I liked min/maxing. Interesting to know it was all one big gamble.
Miyazaki being a fan if ICO makes SO much sense. The movement of the DS characters, despite being more combat focused, always gave me a Fumito Ueda vibe.
Ahhh I remember my friends at college talking about HOW HARD THIS GAME WAS and how awful and mean it felt to die at each turn of corner, I didn't have a PS3 at the time so I could only observe and feel sad for them, a month later I bought one for my b-day and my friends just gave me the game as a present and hoped I'd suffer as much as them, but to their surprise I embraced that masochistic streak and beat the game in a week and told them it was painful, but awesome.
I think it's understated how much impact Gamespot's awarding of GOTY to Demon's Souls over other titles such as Uncharted 2, Arkham Asylum, and Dragon Age Origin contributed to the game's popularity.
6:09 "Until it very nearly got cancelled" There is an alternate reality where FromSoft didn't make a single SoulsBorne game (including Sekiro and the upcoming Elden Ring). This possibility... It gives me conniptions.
@@vksasdgaming9472 but it didn't have the same drive, creativity and commitment that fromsoft and Miyazaki had. Miyazaki for his love of dark fantasy games and fromsoft's past experience in their experimental games that created the soulsborne games we know of today. No other company had a history quite like fromaoft and I am happy they went on to become successful.
Even though I know how this story turns out my heart still catches in my chest every time Demon's Souls is about to be cancelled or modified beyond recognition in this video.
One of the craziest developments I ever heard about was probably Majoras Mask. Hyper crunch plus trying to follow up Ocarina of time, Its insane that Majoras Mask turned out the way it did.
Imagine if development on that Oblivion clone had just gone smoothly, or if the higher ups had found out about the difficulty. Miyazaki probably would have never gotten a chance to show his true brilliance, and FROM probably would have released another OK, but barley known game and continued to be a small company. I feel like Demon's Souls is the Doom/Wolfenstein 3D of the modern age. It was a dividing line. Before Souls and After Souls. Not only did it create an entire genre, it changed the whole video game industry. Plus, without the genre it created, how many other fantastic games would have never existed? And now, with Elden Ring being out and their greatest masterpiece yet, it's near impossible to imagine a world without Souls. I can say, without hyperbole, that for various reasons, the entire SoulsBorne series changed my life and me as a person. Sounds dramatic, but true. And all of it came from something that was doomed to failure and was almost killed multiple times. One of the most incredible stories in the entire industries history.
I didn't know demon's souls had a early struggle in japan. I too was amazed by the game when some youtubers imported the game early and showed some gameplay. It got me to preorder the NA release.
It's funny to me this whole series of games started as an Elder Scrolls clone. As much as I love TES, Soulsborne is a much better series in my opinion.
I am also surprised finding out the ebtire soulsborne genre was born out of the original game wanting to be an elder scrolls clone. Like holy cow, this entire project was one hexk of a development that led Miyazaki to success with him becoming president and From Software becoming one of the best well known and successful game developers.
If you think about it, both King’s Field and Elder Scrolls were Ultima Underworld clones. Even Souls games are similat to Ultima Underworld in some sense.
This got me choked up a little bit. It's so nice to see a game developer triumph over all the odds stacked against them to create not only a beloved game, but one of the most enduring franchises in modern gaming history. It's so beautiful. 😄
I clicked on this thinking "oh here comes Matt about to flavor blast us with his patented brand of nonsensical humor. Instead i was greeted by Vaati telling me im about to feel things about the nonsensical humor. Prepare to Cry, Laughing Edition.
I think that “Work hard every day and believe in what you are working on” is a good moral (ignore the “lie to you boss” part, that doesn’t count, it’s more so a “don’t make what you don’t want to” moral)
@@S-Fan2006 If an investor gave you several million dollars to make 'x', you tell him you're making 'x' while making 'y' because you 'don't make what you don't want to'. Unless it turns out being a mega success because you are a misunderstood genius, you are in serious shit. The moral thing is to either tell the investor you're making 'y' causing the investor stop funding the project because they wanted 'x', or just make 'x'. This video isn't about an average man working hard to achieve his goals, its about a misunderstood genius who needed to use trickery to make a product the world didn't know they wanted.
@@S-Fan2006 I was also being very cynical with my 'don't forget to lie to your bosses' comment. almost everyone has 'the perfect game idea' in their head. most people aren't geniuses. Especially people who THINK they are geniuses. The John Romero Dai Katana story is the story about someone who thought they were a genius sparing no expense chasing after his dream video game...
I had no idea the development of this game was so precarious. Great vid! It's funny. My first experience with DS was exactly like Yoshida's. Gave it a go, and ended up saying "fuuuuuck you game" and let it sit for several months. Went back to it at some point and it just clicked. Ended up being a huge favorite. Maybe because I was such a fan of the King's Field games. And SO many people that never played it will finally get to try it on PS5 !
Same, but my experience was more with Dark Souls 2, got to the giant and kept dying and I said "this is just so dumb, there is hard for the sake of hard and hard and fair, this aint fair" I didn't play the game for a while and then gave it another go and actually ended up being one of my favorite franchise ever.
The absolute balls on Miyazaki to steal the project for his own purposes, hang up the phone on Sony after telling them to go fuck themselves, ignoring his bosses, and dropping this thing that literally could not be further from Oblivion, and it fuckin worked. Mad lad
love stories like these, everyone can be against you but as long as you have the passion and stick to your dreams, your sheer dedication can bring you out of darkness and into the light
@@itzmrinyy7484 dont worry there will be a hard as hell game that people will play religiously again, it always happen there is always a game like that every couple of years.
@@moonlit6569 I feel Among Us has similarities with Demon's Souls development story, with small underdog team and a game that doesn't get any recognition during launch only to bounce back into popularity later.
I was at the panel at Anime Expo when Demon Souls was announced for US release they call it the "Don't Import Edition". At the time a lot of people were importing the game. There was also a raffle that someone got a painted canvas art of the cover.
Bro! Demon Souls was what I started on! After your first enemy you're like "Oh. This hits different." But holy Helheim! To believe that game almost didn't happen is not only believable but understandable. It definitely felt like an accomplishment to beat those types of games
Thank you so much on doing one on this game! This is the game that legitimately restored my humanity on video game industry as it was turning bleak on what games a game at the time.
Its the year 2022, Miyazaki continues making souls games and they sell so much theyre starting to beat Pokemon. Thank fucking god Demon Souls happened.
The story of Demon Souls' near- cancelation gives me a sobering thought: how many legendary series/genres have we missed out on because a certain game was canceled or reworked before it could come out? If we could peer into alternate universes, I wonder what we might find?
That tactical use of *Sign* from the Berserk PS2 game's soundtrack at 15:21 is next-level. Props and respect to your editor because barely anyone other than huge Berserk fans have played that game outside of Japan.
The game that chaged the game couldn´t have a less strugling story than that. Also, i would like to give props to the hidden people behind the concept art looks of this dark fantasy setting. No kawaii elements, no goofyness, no cliches... its all about suffering and disgrace. DS games can not have the best graphics and technologies, but no other frenchise is so deadly when art concept is the subject. Sorry for my broken english.
Did that girl at the minute 10:24 really erased her saved data in some live streaming? She emits a really funny sound that I keep thinking it was kind of a joke 😁
➤ BECOME A VIP MEMBER (and see early videos): www.patreon.com/mattmcmuscles
➤ SUBSCRIBE TO THE FLOPHOUSE: ruclips.net/user/mattmcmuscles
➤ TWITTER: twitter.com/MattMcMuscles
➤ MERCH: store.screenwavemedia.com/collections/matt-mcmuscles
Check out VaatiVidya here - ruclips.net/user/VaatiVidya
Edited By: twitter.com/GamingXperience
Intro By: twitter.com/2Snacks and twitter.com/LittleVMills
The New Intro is really nice😎✌
your great at honoring people who work with you .great credit job
oi where's that Metroid video I can't find it
do mars war logs lol its a messed up game
Which version of that Castlevania theme was that? I remember a version of it on Circle of the Moon
Still haven't been paid
That's what happens when you listen to patches
Vaati: I guess I’m leaving then.
Is still here
Oof
Turns out Matt was a Cleric this whole time
did a double take when the video started thinking I clicked another one in my suggested :)
"A janky Japanese Elder Scrolls"
So... just like the American Elder Scrolls.
It just works
No, no, no, no, no...... There's a fuck ton less bugs.
Imagine Bethesda making a janky American Demon/Dark Souls game.
And somehow, less janky than Elder Scrolls
@@WhaleManMan Bethesda has been bad since like 2010. The streamlining of the RPG for casual audiences has been a large part their fault. I want another Morrowind GODDAMNIT.
So basically, the entire Souls like genre exists because a nerdy Japanese man hijacked the development of a cash grab knockoff and then got *stupid lucky* a bunch of times, like, _a lot_ of times. Sounds about right.
Well thier is such a thing called failing upwards. I'm not saying this series is a failure.
He got them parries right
@@ressljs "I understand that Sony has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid ass decision, I have elected to ignore it."
@@TheTrueRandomGamer it's fine, it's alright, i'm gonna casually make it into a million dollar franchise by the end anyways,
I mean i'm pretty sure the world is filled with masochists right?,
they're gonna love me after i whip this out.
When you put it that way it almost sounds as an anime plot...
I'd honestly watch it though...
Sony went from: Damn this game is horrible it's a mistake.
To: man this game needs a remake for the ps5...such a great game.
I really don't mind I'll finally get to play demons' souls
It's also a very important PS5 launch title too, which should show Miyazaki that he won this battle and came out looking like a fucking genius.
People should remember how the PS3/X360 era were littered with games designed to be as easy as possible. It was certainly a risk for Sony to publish a game that went against the norm at the time.
@@spiidey1 Yeah, the Ps 3 era was a time where the focus was on simple easy to access games that are very cinematic. This gen was a return to a more gameplay focused times in my opinion.
@@The_Fat_Turtle Of course he won, he got that apology check when he was hired to direct Bloodborne lol.
Really like the idea of this series covering not just the flops/disappointments, but also the unlikely success stories.
phew, I was worried for a sec when i saw this game on WHU HAPPUN?
The unlikely success stories are probably some of my favourite videos on this channel.
Here's to more success stories in these trying times.
I love underdog stories.
Demon's Souls is a prime example of a dark horse/underdog video game story. Literally no one expected it to sell, and now 11 years later, it has spawned its own subgenre and multi million dollar remake.
I guess Miyazaki would say: If you think playing Demon's Souls is hard, try MAKING Demon''s Souls!
@@urdnal hah! man i love dark souls,
there's actually so little I remember from other games, but this series is nothing if not memorable, probably more so than most other games i've played throughout my life combined.
It's quirkiness is way beyond something people love just to seem cool and everything about it is this weird and painful fun.
It's not complete, perfect or even a game that's always fun, but damn is it an experience, and for what it accomplishes, it just seems even better than perfect when you remember back to it, not getting your ass beat probably helps with that too.
and after watching the video i feel like that's somehow exactly what i'd expected of the creation of darksouls,and i wouldn't want it any other way.
"The true Demon's Souls starts here" on the From Soft studio doors
@@rud5101 in his darkest moments, miyazaki looked to the internet for advice, and there he saw the holy saying
"git gud"
and he did
Miyazaki: “our players should have permadeath, just like we the developers only get one shot at making this game!”
And then there'll be Demon"'s Soul.
its refreshing to see a black sheep rise to crushing success despite all the odds. please do more of these videos, i know stupid and hilarious failure is your forte matt, but this video was fantastic and uplifting. i want to see more
I will!
Agreed! I found this video (and Doom 2016) to be fascinating. A real underdog story.
@@MattMcMuscles Perhaps do a video on Psychonaughts? It had a very rough development cycle after all.
He should do a video about the first Nier. It's a really unique story about a game that initially totally bombed but managed to get a far more successful sequel.
@@nullmoon3058 I'd like to see a What Happun on Yoko Taro himself. He seems to be a very... divisive director.
15:36
I was working at GameStop when this game released in the US. We got 4 copies. 2 for our pre-order customers, and 2 others. They had all been picked up or sold within two hours of opening, and I never thought anything of it...
Until a few days passed. Over the next few weeks, I would get 5 or 6 phone calls a day, asking if we had "Demon Soul" in stock. The game had spread by word-of-mouth and online videos, and the publisher had OBVIOUSLY not printed enough discs to meet demand. We would continue to get little trickles of the game, perhaps 2 or 3 per week, over the next month.
It wasn't until nearly a month later that we started getting enough copies to meet the demand. It was my first instance of seeing a game that so drastically underestimated how well it would sell.
The release was pretty interesting to say the least. I had to call a dozen video game stores before finding one that had it in stock at all. Some of the people I asked about it hadn't even heard of the game and others were unsure if it's going to be released in Europe, even though it was release day. Finally getting my copy felt like I was let in some exclusive club or something, I was half surprised I didn't need to know the secret handshake at the store. Reminded me of the 90s and finally finding an obscure music CD that nobody ever had in stock. Nobody in my social circle played it either, in fact it wasn't until Dark Souls was released that I actually heard people talk about DeS outside of the internet. It's a shame so many people completely missed the release, but at least the series really blew up with Dark Souls. Even if it gave birth to the stupid elitist mentality that was largely absent in the DeS community.
@@silkyfi6652 seriously what kinds of idiots mess up the community of such a special game, I was too young and barred from going online in the ds days but luckily the community i personally interacted with in the ds3 era was one of the coolest and definitely the nicest and most helpful community that i've ever had the pleasure interacting with,
at least when it came to people who played the game well and actively took part in the community. I'm sorry to hear that you had to deal with such a frustrating experience on your end though.
I have seen glimpses of elitists here and there though, it's kinda funny how polarized the communities of these difficult games can become though, it's either pricks or just some super nice and thoughtful people.
I remember picking up Demon's Souls from Gamestop and the cashier was basically like, "You sure you want this? It's pretty haaarrrd." Yes bitch. Still my favorite game in the series
@@RottenMuLoT Worked @ Gamestop in the early to mid 2000's. At that time, just about every EA Sports game was massively over-ordered for the number that actually sold.
I got my copy used from gamestop for like 30€ (it was the black phantom ce as well). I vaguely heard of the game but didn't know if I remembered the title correctly. Boy that was one of the best buys I ever did in my life since its such a great game.
They made Shuei Yoshida (the guy who prevented demon souls to be relased overseas) announce the PS5 remake of Demon Souls.
Revenge of Hidetaka Miyazaki is subtle but cruel.
"_Success is the best revenge"
_Someone
What irony lol. XD
The way Yoshida announced it as "a game very near and dear to me" has a whole lot of meaning now.
He probably does genuinely love the game now, he fully came around on the concept. He's actually a total Bloodborne fanboy now.
Seems like it was, I regret what I said about the game. But now there’s a chance to apologize and do the game justice.
"This sucks. Find someone else to publish it overseas."
"No wait, come back!"
Fellow Matthewmatosis fan, cheers!
I can imagine Yoshida like:
-"I'm a genius!"
-"OH NO!"
@@Lihkhan Sony's failure became Bandai's success
Guess which company Miyazaki chose to be the publisher of Elden Ring
Shame they stuck with Sony after Sony screwed them. Bloodborne should not have been a PS exclusive, no clue why it is tbh.
@@addictedtoRS Typical for 3rd-party exclusives, Sony funded the development, marketing, and publishing. While exclusivity does limit the potential sales, having Sony fund everything nearly eliminated all risk for FromSoft.
The rarer Wha Happun where something turns out good after a troublesome development. Always nice to see it.
Same with LA Noire.....but man that development was extremely bad 🤣
It's always funny to see when some Japanese guy just decide to go to gaming
Dragon Age Inquisition was like that and many of the developers can be quoted as they wish it flopped because they knew it would set a precedent if that development cycle ended with success
It feels good when a game that's trying something new actually succeeds and comes out great.
It makes me wonder though, how many great games or series of games could have existed if one random game had succeded or didn't end up in development hell, or simply had a little bit more luck?
It's crazy to think that the entire soulsborne series only exist because of a shitload of luck.
dude i didn't pay vaati for his voice work either, he's not going to trust anyone soon
Well, at least that makes it two for two, right?
The maus is in the house.!
We need more waifus, Indei.
lul
Top 10 RE7 waifus when
“...originally gonna have a perma-death system.” By the Sun’s grossly incandescent light, you’re telling me the only people who played it the right way were the speed runners?!
How Gloriously Incandescent indeed.
Can't forget the no-hit run streamers/aliens
we were playing on Easy mode this whole time
Oh yeah! Also: Sieglinde of Catarina went through Lordran without even being an undead so I guess that also counts as a no death run.
If you think the Souls series was hard enough, imagine what Demon's Souls would have been like if they kept that mechanic in.
I can imagine Miyazaki grinning like the Grinch when Sony asked him to make Bloodborne.
Miyazaki's humanity grew three sizes that day.
I imagine he struggled to keep the shit-eating grin off his face during that Bloodborne meeting.
It’s funny because he refused at first.
@@ominousmist960 To be honest I would be like that as well if Sony screwed me over and didn't have faith in publishing my game.
Please someone draw that
what a wild ride
2009: miyazaki, the nearly-cancelled game you took control over and tried to express your own interests in and lied to sony over is doing awful and yoshida himself said it was crap and not getting released internationally
2015: hi miyazaki this is sony, please make a game for us oh god please here's the money
*2022 after elden ring sold 12 million copies* : miyazaki please come back, we're sorry
What a gigachad. Truly a god among men.
@@nuvreau1902 Namdai Bamco can only laugh at them
and now in 2022: Were making armored core again. we didn't forget you fans!
You thought it was published by Bandai Namco, but it was me, Namcai Bando!
Just like those games Shadow Field and King’s Tower
Bamco!
*shocked Pikachu face *
I really like Namcai Bando's fighting, Kentek Tour tagnament.
Nope, it was me, DIO!
Basically Miyazaki to Sony:
"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me".
Immortalised as like #69
@hi there uses"twat"
Does your mother know you're on the internet? Gtfo and go to bed.
Jack Richardson you know if you check England twat is a favourite word of theirs
Not really, since Sony owns Demon Souls and the ones making the remake arent FromSoft, but BluePoint.
Funny enough. That sentence summarizes the SoulsBorne genre so bloody well.
"One of his first ideas was to stop listening to Sony"
The first of many great decisions
How can one man be so based?
@@knightornstein5902 True balls of steels.
Wasnt it sony who messed up dark souls 2 by wanting fromsoft to crank out another dark souls to capitalize on the success and were super pushy during its development?
@@aaronbozack830 Bandai Namco, not Sony
@@aaronbozack830 What actually happened is Namco made a contract with From Software for 3 Dark Souls. But, From Software were too busy making the new engine for Bloodborne and the Dark Souls sequel that Namco bring up the idea of they itself do the Dark Souls 2 with a Team B when the Team A was busy with the real Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne. That is why when you play Dark Souls 3 the events from the second game are rarely mentioned.
It's funny hearing him saying things like, "No game had controls like this" when now, SO many games control like that. Think of all the games that follow the Souls series lock-on, light, heavy, and roll concepts. Even the new God of War had it.
Weirdly enough God of War did already have light attacks, heavy attacks, rolls and many other maneuvers present in Souls-games and Bloodborne. So there was more taking already invented things and mixing them together in a new wau and some invention to support it.
@Steven Murphy really? That's a shame, my experience with the game was great, excluding the rpg systems, there are some crazy combos you can perform, if you have enough experience you become a time stopping, particle effect inducing God of War!
Soulsborne, I think, took the controls from Zelda Ocarina of Time... because in this Zelda you can lock target the enemies, dodge by rolling to the side, defend by holding a shield while holding a button and attack with a sword in another button.
But Demons Souls perfected it by SIMPLY adding a stamina bar to this formula, the simple implementation of a stamina bar made this kind of gameplay jumps from a generic kind of gameplay to a adventure game to a kind of gameplay with a curve of learning compared to the one of a fighting game.
Also adding RPG elements, personalization of the character, backstab and parry as the last thing someone can learn of a combat (and parrying is also the last and more difficult thing to learn on a fighting game).
Err... so now people just forgetting Monster Hunter then?
@@snailthelostcow63 Monster Hunter is great too. But Demon's Souls kicked this type of difficult game off right. 6 of the 7 games they have released over the past 13 years can be debated as some of the best games ever. And the only one many wouldn't say so, Dark Souls 2, is just pretty good.
I think Dark Souls 2 should get an Re2 style remake or a Demon's Souls remake that keeps in line with it's original vision and game, but gets rid if all of the annoying bullshit. That way we can say all seven games are right next to each other. Because I have heard enough of the discourse around Dark Souls 2 and the issues it has. Maybe have Bluepoint do it. Or do an Ontogi remake. But they might be doing a new Armored Core, which is fantastic.
Shuhei Yoshida: Demon's Souls is utter crap and will never become successful.
"Demon's Souls becomes successful in Europe and America"
Hidetaka Miyazaki: 👉 HAAAH HA HA HAA HA
When I heard Vaati’s voice I literally had to double check if I clicked on the right video. Even tho I just watched the WH intro.
Same 😄
I legit screamed his name, this is the collab I didn’t know I desperately needed
It also caught me off guard hahaha great intro
Same here
SAME LMAO
So the Souls Series had to go through their own souls like difficulty trying to even exist.
Fitting!
This is why the moral of souls games is SHEER FUCKING WILL POWER WILL SEE THE TASK DONE
At 144 likes this comment is under-appreciated.
@@bluekeys7661 ty
“I could try whatever I wanted and even if it failed no one would care because the project was already considered a failure.” This explains so much. When a game has high expectations places on it, it’s hard to try anything new. When you have the freedom to potentially mess up you can create something new…and possibly start a new genre.
That is a brilliant way of looking at it.
This could be one major reason why Demon's Souls became a success whole hugely anticipated title like Duke Nukem Forever failed...
Similar thing happened to God Hand. As the studio was planned to be shut down, Shinji Mikami just went LEEEROOOOYYY JENNNKINNSSS when creating it lmao
I remember when I first heard of Demon's Souls. I went over my friends house for his birthday (not a party, just a little private visit), and he showed me this "super hard game thats really good." He and I both sat down on his little couch, ate pizza, and we both tried our hand at fighting the Maneaters. By the end of the night, we just barely killed those bastards. I wonder how he's doing right now.
Y u dont text him
@@sorlakvader155 nah
Bro hit him up and go play it again on ps5!
@@EddiXP ps5 demake sucks tho
"Some people couldn't even get through the character select screen."
Well that's the dumbest thing I've heard
It's the sliders man... I don't know how to beat my own face :'(
@@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective apperently game journalist was just as bad back then as they are now
I think the point isn't that it was too difficult, they just didn't like the look of the character they were creating.
@@IdentityChristok, but to not even give the rest of the game play a chance? That's dumb
Now I’m just imagining an edit that shows “You Died” overlayed on the character creation screen.
Funny how Shu went from “this is bad” to “a game dear to my heart” Also glad you used Susumu Hirasawa’s “Sign” from the PS2 Berserk game
I don't know if it's because I'm on mobile, or maybe it's because it's been almost three years since I heard that wonderful intro song, but I didn't catch that at all.
Thank you for pointing it out so that I may get a chance to relive such a powerful song.
holy shit. even Miyazaki actually went through the Souls experience developing Demons Souls. I have much more admiration for his craft now.
Thats what I thought, I respect Miyazaki even more now
The balls on Miyazaki. WHAT A CHAD! This is one of those IRL "Up and Comer" stories. He literally took the reins of the project and strategically did his own thing while still protecting his professional career in the industry.
That's some next level play!
it's a pretty wonderful story of both a brilliant guy and a passionate nerd totally owning the world by going full throttle on the stuff they love,
this is the guy who made dark souls alright.
What a power move!
@@unculturedswine5583 Yeah it's great. Stories like this are too few and far between in any industry. Kudos to Miyazaki for having such gigantic balls which led FromSoft to create an entire genre.
I thought I couldn't love this guy more, but what an absolute unit of a chad! He literally delivers one masterpiece after another and he wouldn't do this right now without the immense balls and the beautiful mastermind he combines in himself... What. An. Absolute. Legend.
@@Never_Ending_Dulf that's why he's called a legendary Big M
I've always thought that Demon's Souls is to Dark Souls what Wolfenstein 3D is to Doom, and I would've never expected it to have such a disaster behind it (and almost being canceled).
As in invented and what followed perfected it. What follows are various clones until genre creator comes along which makes it completely distinct. In FPS Wolfenstein 3D invented it, Doom codified it and Half-Life made it a distinct genre with traits of its own.
I should have scrolled down the comments a bit more. I just responded to someone wishing they could relive the experience of playing Demon Souls for the first time and it being the birth of a genre with a comparison to playing Wolfenstein 3D back in '92 or '93. I left out the part about Doom cementing the genre, but I was thinking it.
So basically, Miyazaki is the original chosen undead
Really enjoyed that. Big fan of Miyazaki spoofing the lads from Sony and just flat out avoiding telling the marketing people about the difficulty and death mechanic in the game. The clandestine approach worked, and we got the start of my favourite series of games.
A Wha Hauppun that went to rags to riches, and now i'm surprised it took off, because on the surface, it looks like a generic dark fantasy game, but once you get into it, it gots some meat on its bones!
The game is good because it contains a soul, contrary to the cash grabs the industry have become.
@@mohandasjung or what the original game was supposed to be. I mean what was Sony thinking of making a cash grab to capitalize on Elder Scolls success. The only good thing Sony did was allowing Miyazaki do his thing for the entire Soulsborne genre to flourish.
@Ali Hadi Babar Demons souls was an attempt to capitalize in the Elder Scrolls hype in Japan. It's amazing how souls games have flourish while Bethesda games went downhill.
Yeah it does!
As Dee Reynolds would put it, “it’s got a real ass on it!”
Me playing Demon's Souls: Man this game is hard
Me beating Demon's Souls: Everything else on the PS3 is officially trash level shovel ware for babies.
All jokes aside PS3 had 2 very unique "Oblivion clones" that surpassed their originals. The Souls series and Dragon's Dogma. Souls is a genre now and Dragon's Dogma get's completely ignored. Capcom needs to stop ignoring it's actual unique IPs.
Dragon's Dogma is way better than it gets credit for
Every game is good in its own way
The dark souls series has ruined me. I crave the balanced and fair challenge the game presents and it is tough to find this elsewhere.
Souls fans are insufferable lol
@@user-wb8iu1hl6i yeah but we arent as bad a kingdom hearts simps or final fantasy losers
Shu: "this is a horrible game"
*Demon's Souls makes a lot of money*
Shu: "So as I was saying I always thought there was something special about Demon's Souls and I'll always think of it as something truly great and..."
Thats how the usual PR talk goes yes
@@themangastand8475 he wasn't admitting he was wrong though, he just changed his mind acting like his last statement never happened since Demon's Souls made a lot of money
I finished the original on the PS3, and it was in a pretty horrible technical state. Framerate was terrible and very inconsistent, physics would often glitch out leaving you with a cartwheel, or a piece of wood, stuck in your belly for an hour, for instance. AI was glitchy and suicidal, mantas would shoot (and kill) you through the walls from the other side of the map, since their shots had apparently no collision programmed in. Lock-on was straight up broken and you were better off playing the game without it, UI was clunky af and required a lot of constant micro-management every few steps of the way. The game was cryptic and obtuse af, too - I don't know how world tendencies exactly work to this day, for instance.
The difficulty wasn't that much of an issue, since you could just grind for an hour or two in 4-2 and raise your strength and health to the point that the game wasn't even that challenging. Did I mention you could cheese bosses through mist barriers with a bow, and since you saw their health bar through the mist, everyone could figure it out by themselves on their 1st playthrough (like I did) ?
The game succeeded thanks to its dark atmosphere, innovative multiplayer, and its rewarding nature - without this, the game would be just another janky ARPG (the fact that there were next to no other action RPGs at the time on the PS3 probably didn't hurt). I still did like the game ultimately, but I can't blame Shuhei for not seeing the potential of DS.
I just love that this guy had to hide the difficulty from the higher ups because he knew their reaction would be "No! Make it easy!" and had zero desire to compromise.
And i'm so happy there was at least one higher up who could support him. As Miyazaki himself said, "Light looks more beatiful in darkness".
Demon's Souls was so good. The whole game just felt like it didn't want you there. So much atmosphere.
This sentence could be used for any Soulsborn game, tbh
What do you think of the remaster trailer? The first thing I thought was "maaaaan this looks way too inviting and pretty" xD Im super super curious how the final game will turn out though, weve obviously only seen a sliver as of yet.
@@ApenBaard Yeah, i agree. It's the lighting changes in the new trailer. Everything looks too bright and 'cleaner'. Also the music's changed slightly. I watched a side by side of the original opening compared to the new trailer and the original just looks fucking miserable and incredibly forboding and stark. The remake is far brighter and looks more like any other dark fantasy world. More akin to Dark Souls 3 than Demon's Souls.
I would say Bloodborne is the one that doesn't want you there. I mean Yharnamites are literally calling you a beast and are blaming you for everything.
@@Noobie2k7 I disagree. I think they added a wider variety of lighting fitting different places. If you look at shot where gargoyles come in tower of Latria it looks very grim. If you see shot with King of storms you can see that weather is much stormier. The only instance where lighting is clearly brighter is in a Tower Knight scene. I think the lighting is going to be much more dynamic than in original. Now only complaint I have is that some enemy designs are now looking a little bit generic.
It's so rare that a relatively small title like Demons Souls can spawn an entire subgenre of games that are still being created today. I wish I could erase my memory of this game and travel back to it's launch date just to experience it completely blind with others.
I feel a bit the same way about Wolfenstein 3D. It's hard these days to appreciate what it was like to play that game when it first came out. There were games that used a first-person 3D perspective, but nothing that moved at it's pace or had controls anywhere near as responsive. It was the foundation on which the whole FPS genre was built. It's also a case of developers doing their own thing on their bosses' dime, albeit for much smaller stakes.
When you said “... Namci Bando ...” it took me like 20 seconds for my brain to recognize what was wrong in that sentence
Namkai Bando
I have my own story regarding Demon's Souls. I distinctly remember watching my older brother play the game in its heyday and watching him struggle a lot against the giant dragon boss or getting to play as the monk. It wasn't until the spring of 2013 (God, I feel a bit old saying it...) following my hijacking of my brother's PS3, I decided to play Demon's Souls as one of my first games for the system. Despite the many, many frustrations I had encountered, I was able to beat the game in correlation with some helpful community members along the way. It was a strange, yet fun time with a dark fantasy title like Demon's Souls.
**sees a long ladder**
"It is like a dream, therefore be wary of boss"
Snake eaterrrrr
Tree frog
i can only imagine the huge amount of smug radiating from myazaki when sony cralwed back to him for bloodborne
So, Demon's Souls was lightning in a bottle. Outside of these very specific, lucky circumstances, it probably would have been killed or molded into something generic.
And now it will be molded into commitee-approved, American-made generic garbage billed as the "definitive edition" available only on Playstation 5!
@@peenywallie So I take it you aren't a fan of the Remake?
@@peenywallie You are jumping to conclusion.
Tech and graphics are provided by Bluepoint Games who remade Shadow of the Colossus with same janky animation from PS2.
However, game design, art and sound wise it's done by a team at Japan Studio. Puppeteer's creator is creative director on this project with having Japanese staff. He was interviewed on the PS blog. Lead 3D graphic designer on original Demon's Souls, Nozomi Shiba, is involved. As is original character designer.
Your American-made garbage doesn't make sense after a trailer without gameplay.
Honestly, Demon's Souls still wasn't that big until Dark Souls landed.
@@islandboy9381 Very true! But it was an important first stepping zone, got an audience accustomed to its unusual conventions.
"...Much like the zero [mech games] that exist today."
RIP Titanfall- you deserved much better.
Doesn't Mechwarrior still exist though?
Titan Fall 2 was so good it still enrages me when I look at its failure
I have so much fun in tf2 haha only in my dreams can i wish respawn may announce 3 in the next decade
@@97Fenrir welp titanfall 3 is being worked on soooooo
GUESS WHAT FELLAS, WE GOT ARMORED CORE 6
Kind of ironic that this was a hit in the US while Japan dismissed it almost solely for being “too hard,” considering their historic audacity of easing up on difficulty levels when porting games for western audiences.
Fun fact: in the Japanese release of Battletoads, the turbo tunnel was actually slower. Kinda weird how it was actually easier in Japan for once
Theres an interesting situation when you put Armored Core and Souls in contrast. I'm a fan of both series, and I can safely say Armored Core suffers from the complete opposite issue Demon Souls had. The AC games used to do very very well in its home turf Japan than it did in the rest of the world. The game's reception in the west is like a mirror to Demon Souls, with the more casual gamers dismissing the game or simply saying it is "bad" without actually spending the necessary time to learn how the game actually works.
The truth is, the AC games are very good, in-depth mech combat games, probably the only one of its kind still left standing, but like other From games, it is very unfriendly to casuals and newcomers, and most of them are soul crushingly hard, especially Miyazakis first one, Last Raven, which is infamous for being the hardest of them all.
I just miss Armored Core and giant robots in general, man.
In my opinion it has to do with what aesthetic certain countries feel more comfortable/distinct with. For the West its fantasy and Japan its mecha.
I imagine this is why FromSoft is supposedly making a new Armored Core game now: they're leveraging their Soulsborne rep to introduce it to a wider audience.
Well BOY do I have news for you!
It's kind of heartwarming to learn how this game that had the odds stacked against it managed to not only see release,but have a legacy that's stood the test of time despite its initial lack of sales.
These kinds of stories make for the best episodes of Wha Happun.
I like how all the negative shit in production and near release was "I played it for ___ [time] and was still [location early in game]"
like... it's a telltale sign of the "game is too hard guess it's shit" mindset that was and is still far to common
It all depends on the frame of mind going into it. The souls games play just like the hard as balls games from the 80’s, so by 2008-9, no one was mentally prepared for that. But once it found its audience, and they learned how to sell it to newcomers, it was finally able to blow up.
When you look back at demons souls, the janky glitchy mess that it is, it truly is baffling that this of all games helped define a generation. Probably did help that it felt like devs were making games easier for the wider market so having a game that wants to kill you was refreshing.
Also if not for this then we never would have gotten bloodborne, my favorite of the soul games.
" Probably did help that it felt like devs were making games easier for the wider market so having a game that wants to kill you was refreshing."
There were so many good memes and comics about it.
www.deviantart.com/wozz13/art/Demon-s-Souls-169310207
i.imgur.com/4hFar.png
i.imgur.com/Z4Oif.jpg
i.imgur.com/JS1XK.jpg
Eh, honestly Bloodborne is the worst of the Souls games to me. It's the farthest away from what made me fall in love with DeS.
"janky glitchy mess"?? I don't think we played the same Demon's Souls. I always felt Dark Souls got more bugs and issues. Demon's Souls felt very solid from the very first moments I played it.
@John Smith What do you mean "no"? I was exposing my opinion, it's not a yes or no question.
@John Smith What incorrect? It's my personal feelings on the game mate, it's not a yes or no question.
Thank god for this success! I started with Elden Ring and have already worked my way backwards through Souls 3 and Bloodbourne this year because of my love for the gameplay. I finally understand the obsession for this genre and wish I hadn’t missed out for so many years.
I take miyazaki as a huge role inspiration- This is a guy who switched careers late, took insane risks, and was clear sighted and creative enough to make something GOOD out of that instead of shite.
The best way I would describe this genre is, as my brother put it "No frills". No QTEs, no excessive combos, no limit breaks, no real over-the-top animations. It's a game that succeeds in simplicity, stripping all the conventional fluff to basic movement and combat. Because of this, you look at any obstacle in front of you plainly, making you think practically in your approach. It's not slapping you across the face with a A-F rating at the end, or expecting you to play in a certain way. It truly is Anything Goes.
Taking out ten enemies in a Dynasty Warriors game is a couple of presses of a button. In Demon's Souls, even though it is possible to hit multiple enemies at once, each kill is calculated and you will feel every downed opponent. And if you do that unscathed, it is all the sweeter.
On this show, it's nice to hear a story with a good ending every once in a while. Against all odds, FromSoftware has succeed, I'd drink some SunnyD to that.
I always thought the souls series was something of a modern take on metroidvania, that’s why I initially came for it, it tickled a familiar itch that SOTN gave me, and then some when I found out I liked min/maxing. Interesting to know it was all one big gamble.
No joke though, Armored Core: Last Raven was pretty freaking incredible.
I'd freaking love a remaster collection of the PS2 AC games.
Miyazaki being a fan if ICO makes SO much sense. The movement of the DS characters, despite being more combat focused, always gave me a Fumito Ueda vibe.
This was my introduction to the souls series, raged hard as a kid. Can't wait for the remake
I'm loving the new intro... nice to use it on what turned out to a positive history in the future
Ahhh I remember my friends at college talking about HOW HARD THIS GAME WAS and how awful and mean it felt to die at each turn of corner, I didn't have a PS3 at the time so I could only observe and feel sad for them, a month later I bought one for my b-day and my friends just gave me the game as a present and hoped I'd suffer as much as them, but to their surprise I embraced that masochistic streak and beat the game in a week and told them it was painful, but awesome.
I think it's understated how much impact Gamespot's awarding of GOTY to Demon's Souls over other titles such as Uncharted 2, Arkham Asylum, and Dragon Age Origin contributed to the game's popularity.
6:09 "Until it very nearly got cancelled"
There is an alternate reality where FromSoft didn't make a single SoulsBorne game (including Sekiro and the upcoming Elden Ring).
This possibility... It gives me conniptions.
In that reality, there is a high chance that Demon’s Souls would never exist and FromSoft likely went bankrupt or went into liquidation.
Thankfully, that is NOT the reality that we are in.
@@S-Fan2006 scary shit, my dude.
Someone else would have invented it. There already were prototypes and pieces were there.
@@vksasdgaming9472 but it didn't have the same drive, creativity and commitment that fromsoft and Miyazaki had. Miyazaki for his love of dark fantasy games and fromsoft's past experience in their experimental games that created the soulsborne games we know of today. No other company had a history quite like fromaoft and I am happy they went on to become successful.
Even though I know how this story turns out my heart still catches in my chest every time Demon's Souls is about to be cancelled or modified beyond recognition in this video.
One of the craziest developments I ever heard about was probably Majoras Mask.
Hyper crunch plus trying to follow up Ocarina of time, Its insane that Majoras Mask turned out the way it did.
Demon's Souls is like Rocky Balboa. No one thought it had a chance in hell of even putting up a fight, but it went on to be hugely successful.
Imagine if development on that Oblivion clone had just gone smoothly, or if the higher ups had found out about the difficulty. Miyazaki probably would have never gotten a chance to show his true brilliance, and FROM probably would have released another OK, but barley known game and continued to be a small company. I feel like Demon's Souls is the Doom/Wolfenstein 3D of the modern age. It was a dividing line. Before Souls and After Souls. Not only did it create an entire genre, it changed the whole video game industry. Plus, without the genre it created, how many other fantastic games would have never existed? And now, with Elden Ring being out and their greatest masterpiece yet, it's near impossible to imagine a world without Souls. I can say, without hyperbole, that for various reasons, the entire SoulsBorne series changed my life and me as a person. Sounds dramatic, but true. And all of it came from something that was doomed to failure and was almost killed multiple times. One of the most incredible stories in the entire industries history.
I didn't know demon's souls had a early struggle in japan. I too was amazed by the game when some youtubers imported the game early and showed some gameplay. It got me to preorder the NA release.
A video about the disasterous process behind one of my favorite games released on my birthday? This is a wonderful gift! Love your work, Matt!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Happy Birthday, Dude! ^^
This episode is the Dark Souls of What Happened.
Miyazaki play dark souls in real life
And he use a luck build
It's funny to me this whole series of games started as an Elder Scrolls clone. As much as I love TES, Soulsborne is a much better series in my opinion.
I am also surprised finding out the ebtire soulsborne genre was born out of the original game wanting to be an elder scrolls clone. Like holy cow, this entire project was one hexk of a development that led Miyazaki to success with him becoming president and From Software becoming one of the best well known and successful game developers.
If you think about it, both King’s Field and Elder Scrolls were Ultima Underworld clones. Even Souls games are similat to Ultima Underworld in some sense.
This got me choked up a little bit. It's so nice to see a game developer triumph over all the odds stacked against them to create not only a beloved game, but one of the most enduring franchises in modern gaming history. It's so beautiful. 😄
That's so sweet. :)
I clicked on this thinking "oh here comes Matt about to flavor blast us with his patented brand of nonsensical humor. Instead i was greeted by Vaati telling me im about to feel things about the nonsensical humor. Prepare to Cry, Laughing Edition.
You need to eventually give Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance the "Wha Happun" treatment.
@Zack Smith Yeah, but the story behind its development is definitely worth discussing
Just do a wha happun metal Gear series
Ih happuned
Hey you. You out there. This could be your dream too. Work hard every day and if you really do believe in what you’re making, push onward.
Don't forget to lie to your bosses!
I think that “Work hard every day and believe in what you are working on” is a good moral (ignore the “lie to you boss” part, that doesn’t count, it’s more so a “don’t make what you don’t want to” moral)
@@S-Fan2006 If an investor gave you several million dollars to make 'x', you tell him you're making 'x' while making 'y' because you 'don't make what you don't want to'. Unless it turns out being a mega success because you are a misunderstood genius, you are in serious shit. The moral thing is to either tell the investor you're making 'y' causing the investor stop funding the project because they wanted 'x', or just make 'x'.
This video isn't about an average man working hard to achieve his goals, its about a misunderstood genius who needed to use trickery to make a product the world didn't know they wanted.
John Smith, Indeed it is.
@@S-Fan2006 I was also being very cynical with my 'don't forget to lie to your bosses' comment. almost everyone has 'the perfect game idea' in their head. most people aren't geniuses. Especially people who THINK they are geniuses. The John Romero Dai Katana story is the story about someone who thought they were a genius sparing no expense chasing after his dream video game...
I had no idea the development of this game was so precarious. Great vid!
It's funny. My first experience with DS was exactly like Yoshida's. Gave it a go, and ended up saying "fuuuuuck you game" and let it sit for several months. Went back to it at some point and it just clicked. Ended up being a huge favorite. Maybe because I was such a fan of the King's Field games.
And SO many people that never played it will finally get to try it on PS5 !
Same, but my experience was more with Dark Souls 2, got to the giant and kept dying and I said "this is just so dumb, there is hard for the sake of hard and hard and fair, this aint fair" I didn't play the game for a while and then gave it another go and actually ended up being one of my favorite franchise ever.
The absolute balls on Miyazaki to steal the project for his own purposes, hang up the phone on Sony after telling them to go fuck themselves, ignoring his bosses, and dropping this thing that literally could not be further from Oblivion, and it fuckin worked. Mad lad
love stories like these, everyone can be against you but as long as you have the passion and stick to your dreams, your sheer dedication can bring you out of darkness and into the light
This is literally my favorite game franchise of all time. I can't imagine a world where it ended after Demon's Souls.
Sony: there is no way anybody is enough of a loser to play this awful game.
Americans: hold my beer
Sadly it seems like very few games get elevated like this anymore, these days all streamers play is fornite, first person shooters, and Minecraft
@@itzmrinyy7484 dont worry there will be a hard as hell game that people will play religiously again, it always happen there is always a game like that every couple of years.
Thank you Gaijin loser-tachi to make this niche game more popular than ever
@@itzmrinyy7484 this is so true. don't forget among us :/
@@moonlit6569 I feel Among Us has similarities with Demon's Souls development story, with small underdog team and a game that doesn't get any recognition during launch only to bounce back into popularity later.
I was at the panel at Anime Expo when Demon Souls was announced for US release they call it the "Don't Import Edition". At the time a lot of people were importing the game. There was also a raffle that someone got a painted canvas art of the cover.
Bro! Demon Souls was what I started on! After your first enemy you're like "Oh. This hits different."
But holy Helheim! To believe that game almost didn't happen is not only believable but understandable. It definitely felt like an accomplishment to beat those types of games
Thank you so much on doing one on this game! This is the game that legitimately restored my humanity on video game industry as it was turning bleak on what games a game at the time.
Demon’s Souls, the wondrous mistake that is making a grand return. Can’t wait to see it covered.
me too
Imagine the day Sony came crawling back to Miyazaki. Must have been like Christmas x10 for ole Hidataka
This has been one of the best What happened episodes, thax Matt
Okay, it took more than ten years, but with Elden Ring, I'm pretty sure that From Soft now has an Elder Scrolls killer.
I come from the future, bethesda killed elder scrolls themselves
your video quality, script writing, and editing is just top tier. thanks for being my 3rd monitor content these last few weeks
Its the year 2022, Miyazaki continues making souls games and they sell so much theyre starting to beat Pokemon.
Thank fucking god Demon Souls happened.
I want to see more feel-good, underdog stories in this series. Such a good watch.
Great to see another episode with a happy ending. Wonder what other games had a similar journey
The story of Demon Souls' near- cancelation gives me a sobering thought: how many legendary series/genres have we missed out on because a certain game was canceled or reworked before it could come out? If we could peer into alternate universes, I wonder what we might find?
Miyazaki: Look at me, look at me, I am the president now.
This story is so inspiring, love to hear it told.
Ah, yes, I love me some Berserk references
Anyone else think they’d clicked on the wrong video for a minute when they heard Vaati’s voice?
Yes.
I thought I was going crazy for a second.
That tactical use of *Sign* from the Berserk PS2 game's soundtrack at 15:21 is next-level. Props and respect to your editor because barely anyone other than huge Berserk fans have played that game outside of Japan.
Love that you got VaatiVidya for this. Few seconds in and I instantly recognize his voice.
The game that chaged the game couldn´t have a less strugling story than that. Also, i would like to give props to the hidden people behind the concept art looks of this dark fantasy setting. No kawaii elements, no goofyness, no cliches... its all about suffering and disgrace. DS games can not have the best graphics and technologies, but no other frenchise is so deadly when art concept is the subject.
Sorry for my broken english.
Did that girl at the minute 10:24 really erased her saved data in some live streaming? She emits a really funny sound that I keep thinking it was kind of a joke 😁
I still have my import copy.
Vaatividya presenting the intro makes this amazing. Pay him Matt!