Caltrops - Demon's Souls





	[quote name="Rafiki"]This game is scratching a major itch I had for a game that wasn't about delivering some kind of interactive experience (I like those games too), but instead is a carefully crafted rule system with meticulously designed encounters constantly challenging you to figure out the way to survive that never amounts to "sprint headfirst into a pack of enemies and mash the attack button and maybe use the afterthought dodge button that you don't need because you have a huge health buffer." And the level design! I'm barely into the game, but I already love it. It's not just "what would be a wicked sweet backdrop to fight in," but is a critical component of the gameplay! It's constantly trying to trick me into fighting someplace stupid, and judging by all the bloodstains it works. I love that the enemies are bound by the same rules as me! If I swing a sword and am too close to a wall or obstacle, it'll clip my swing. The same thing happens to the enemies, whereas in other games all to often an enemy can swing right through a wall and still hit me. Enemies can fall off edges, whereas at least sometimes in some games you can push them right into an edge and they have a magical forcefield that prevents them from falling. Enemies can injure other enemies! I was fighting an armor-clad knight and a crossbowman accidentally shot and killed him. Awesome! We have the same rules, instead of there being a different set for me and the enemies. We're on an even playing field, so I just have to be better in combat. I love that, even on the first level, the game didn't devolve into discovering the one survival strategy and using it the entire rest of the game and will punish me for thinking like that. Very quickly I learned to keep my shield up 100% of the time, and then I encountered a knight with a big fucking polearm and he drilled it right through my shield and took off my entire healthbar except for a tiny sliver. Lesson learned: shields don't work, never do that again. I love that when I'm dying I'm not screaming at the television and leveling charges of first-degree bullshit. Instead, I'm always thinking, "damn, I shouldn't have done that." That's the fun way to lose! Instantly understanding what went wrong, why it's your fault, and knowing that you can win if you don't do it again. It reminded me of the Doublefine Kickstarter update I watched over the weekend where Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert talked about what made a good puzzle, and they talked about how the best ones to get stuck on were always the ones that, even if you looked up the solution, you thought, "aw, man, I should have gotten that." That's the best way to lose or be stuck on anything in any game. And even though the game starts you back at the beginning of the level when you die and resets all the enemies, it's still satisfying and fun to run back through because it's always easier and you can fucking decimate encounters that seemed really difficult the first time. It's like that interview with Miyamoto where he said he liked starting players over at the beginning of a level (or at some checkpoint) so that they can play through the parts they're already familiar with so it's easy and satisfying and you feel like you're better at the game. Fuck yes, this game is great so far.[/quote]