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:

Wulf2k's demonstration of the prototype maps:

VaatiVidya's video that explores the Baku:

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

[thestralner]

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

[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!"

[inciaradible]

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.

[painfuldiscourse]

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

[nackskott]

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.

[scantyer]

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

[pious]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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.

[shadowsnake]

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

[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.

[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

[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

[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!