The Demon's Souls Remake: Art Critique / Comparison
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- An in-depth look and comparison of the art of the original Demon's Souls by From Software versus what we've seen so far of the Bluepoint Games' remake.
Credits:
Footage captured from RPCS3 in 4K
rpcs3.net
Demon's Souls Remake Comparison PS5 vs PS3 by TerakJK
• Demon's Souls Remake C...
Demon's Souls 4K: Fool's Idol Boss Fight #7 by Boss Fight Database
• Demon's Souls 4K: Fool...
Demon's Souls 4K: Storm King Boss Fight #15 by Boss Fight Database
• Demon's Souls 4K: Stor...
DARK SOULS REMASTERD Anor Londo Reveal by Sir Cairzalot
• DARK SOULS REMASTERED ...
Playing GEARS OF WAR 1 on XBOX 360 in 2020 by TheRazoredEdge
• Playing GEARS OF WAR 1...
Let's Play - Final Fantasy XIII - Part 25 by Littica Marek
• Let's Play - Final Fan...
Uncharted 1 - Part 2 - First Temple (Lets Play / Walkthrough / Playthrough Gameplay) by TmarTn2
• Video
Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 - PS3 Lets Play by bdcool213
• Ratchet & Clank Future...
Shadow of the Colossus - PSX 2017: Comparison Trailer | PS4
• Shadow of the Colossus...
Another Century's Episode: R - ART-1 by Shingin
• Another Century's Epis...
Enchanted Arms [PS3] 100% Walkthrough Part 1 Where It Begins by OuterOrange
• Enchanted Arms [PS3] 1...
The Guardian interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki
www.theguardian.com/technolog...
Flipyap for SOTC Wander comparison gifs
Color Theory Example
kuler.adobe.com
Additional music: Fief - Medieval Skies from "IV"
fief.bandcamp.com/album/iv - เกม
![ภาพนี้ก็ฮาเหมือนกันนะเนี้ย #2 SS8 [ พากย์นรก MEME.EXE ] | easy boy](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RMhUgxxD49Q/mqdefault.jpg)
that flamelurker redesign looked like a enemy from ratchet and clank
Aesthetics, color, and lighting don't get nearly the respect they deserve. Thank you for clearly and thoroughly summing up all the issues I've had with Bluepoint's approach to the Demon's Souls remake. Their Boletaria just feels like a hollow retreading of Ithryll with traces of Frozen Eleum Loyce, essentially being absolutely nothing like the original place. The thick fog in the sky that blocked the light and made everything grim and bleak is now gone, and Bluepoint even failed to realize that green is the foundational color of the soul's energy.
The green light is present every time an enemy dies and the player receives souls, the green light marks a bloodstain, the green light appears when casting Second Chance (and when Second Chance activates), it appears when a player dies, it's the main color of Soul Form, the text for a player retrieving their body is green, it's the color indicating a player's own bloodstain they need to recover, and so on. The color green is essential to marking the Boletarian Palace and the Tower of Latria stories, as it indicates just how much soul energy is being ripped out of those lands and how powerful the presence of the demons is.
Bluepoint fails to realize why the colors matter, they fail to realize why the lighting was integral to the game's overall look and identity, and Bluepoint doesn't even realize that the time periods which inspired the architecture are significant. In many ways, this is a tech demo made by people who completely failed to understand what the original was about and why it was liked. I felt similarly about their Shadow of the Colossus remake, where the Forbidden Land, a place noted in the story to be mostly dead and threatening, was filled with lush plants and beauty. In the original game, anything genuinely lush and beautiful was few and far between, which made the garden atop the Shrine of Worship all the more important.
Thanks again for highlighting all the troubling aspects of these previews so far. Bluepoint has powerful technology, but they so thoroughly lack understanding and vision that their work often just reminds me of the slapdash "Nintendo, hire this man," videos that are devoid of substance and dot TH-cam's digital landscape.
What they did with demons souls remake is overall good IMO. Yeah, maybe they should've stuck more tightly to the art style of the original game, but their rendition isnt bad. I feel like you dont understand what a 'remake' is supposed to be.
Also, Bluepoint's shadow of the colossus remake was excellent and mostly better than the original. Tf you smoking.
@@loubloom1941 A "remake" of this kind is generally meant to be helping preserve a work by giving it higher visual and audio fidelity in regard to textures, recording technology, etc. Instead, this remake is obstructing the means of preserving the original work, and even now TH-cam will send you PS5 results when you specifically search for the PS3 version.
As for Bluepoint's work with Shadow of the Colossus, as I noted in my first post, they forgot that the Forbidden Land is supposed to be essentially dead. The original game treated the few lush, tranquil areas like secrets to be found, culminating in the Secret Garden atop the Shrine of Worship. Bluepoint missed this theme and instead made far too many areas, and notably areas that could be walked to, look gorgeous and peaceful. The Forbidden Land is a devastated place and effectively haunted by Dormin, but they made it look too nice. Also, the sound design for the Colossi was changed for no reason, losing the sympathetic elements where they sounded like actual animals or close to humans.
@@loubloom1941 you might be the one who doesn't understand, a good remake of something is meant to preserve the original vision and the intended emotional connection the viewer/player feels while bluepoint remakes don't care about either of those things. instead bluepoint callously thinks "we don't like this, we know better" by supplanting other people's work with a wholly different artistic identity that alters the way you're supposed to feel about it.
if it was a good remake it would look & sound like the original but in higher quality and with more QoL, and if they didn't pour all their resources into changing designs and setpieces that didn't need to be changed, we might even have had a version of demon's souls where the northern lands archstone is accessible
Finally someone who gets it! People attack me for disliking the art style of the remake...
It's tragic dude
People are just the worst. Whenever I see discussions about this topic, the "Remake is Superior"-side's main argument is nostalgia. No explanation, no argument of what they think is better, just "Ugh, remake looks so much better, there's nothing different, they only upgraded, you're just nostalgic about your ugly ass game."
@@Phantom17685 "mughehuuhehew graphix, mehemehemegh nostalgia goggles, grrrrr, rose tinted glasses memurhgmemeh"
They are incapable of forming a real argument. Cuz It's always the ones who _never_ experienced the original who bring up nostalgia as a negative.
I'am on your Side.
The Haters are not True Demon's Souls from the Beginning..
Blinded by Graphics.
Poor People..
Open your Eyes and play the Original .The True Experience where Souls Game startet.
WITH SOUL NOT SOULLESS.
Greetings from Tom/ Germany
'4k, realistic graphic, cinematic experience, photo mode, pre-order bonuses ' these are what BP think we want for a remake
Lol it’s a remake of course they are going to update the graphics and utilize the 4K resolution on ps5. I’m pretty sure people would be more mad if it looked the exact same as ps3. Does not excuse the design changes and all that digital crap like in the pre order and “deluxe” edition though.
Blue point did the exact same thing in Shadow of the Colossus, make the graphics look good at the expense of the aesthetic and have digital content locked behind a deluxe edition.
No, aesthetic overall looks better in SOTC remake. It's a REMAKE, it's supposed to be remade.
Also, the deluxe edition was likely the idea of the publisher Sony interactive, not bluepoint themselves. But yeah, that's usually how deluxe editions work.
@loubloom1941 How is the aesthetic "REMADE" of the art direction is changed and made different.
If they added detail while sticking to the art direction like say in the resident evil remakes, but they didn't do that. Bluepoint changed designs, soundtrack cues, and color grading. Rather than remaking it.
@@ilovecody7514 That's not what they did at all. SOTC literally kept the same vibe they just improved the graphics. Seems to me like you don't understand what art direction means just because they didn't keep bland colors because they can do better doesn't mean art direction is changed. Stupid as shit.
Zero color to giving it a little bit of color "BUT MY ART DESIGN!!!" lmao you people have the lowest IQ in the world.
Same for Demon's Souls. These guys keep the same style for pretty much the entire keep, dulled the colors overall to probably what they would have liked to do but because they improved the graphics, lighting and color instead of keeping the game almost fully grey it means the art direction in gone? Just dumb logic.
Look at FromSoft their latest games or Dark Souls 3 which keeps that same greyish tone but improved colors overall because they could do better.
If FromSoft made a Demon's Souls remake I don't think y'all are aware that they would make it look more like an improved Dark Souls 3 with probably different boss designs than what BluePoint went with as BluePoint doesn't know what the goal was with some of these bosses. Demon's Souls made certain bosses clearly not in the way they would have wanted if they could push the graphics properly. Which is shown by all their newer games boss designs where no bosses are just 1 color with no detail at all.
@@loubloom1941 it doesn't tho.
@@loubloom1941
Another brainless fucking zombie not understanding that ART is more important than resolution and polygon count.
The remake tends to be more epic than strange, mysterious and unsettling which is a major downside from the original vision
Didn't the remake's creature designer said the original designs were not to his liking? It really shows how little respect they had...
Tbh…we have to blame FromSoft for this because there’s no way they wouldn’t know that a lot of stuff was gonna change and look different to what they made. I believe they were fine with BP modernizing almost everything just so that it can appeal to gamers that never played the original game.
@@kavid8120 sony owns demons souls not fromsoft. Fromsoft couldn't say anything if they wanted too
@@kavid8120 fromsoft doesn't own demon's souls
I could not agree more, i have posted the exact screen shot of the cyber demon to many of my friends. Further i feel its necessary to point out, when discussing the redesign of the skeletons in the shrine of storms. They now appear to be a withered thin creature in bone armour, instead of an assemblage of various bones inhabited and given locomotion by the spirits of the shadowmen. The bones that make up the warriors have been changed aswell. Before they appeared to be composed primarily of human and cow bones aswell as large vertebrae (this is to be expected since this was a place of worship and sacrifice, cattle have an association sacrifice and the shadow men in particular had an entire cult and mythology around being judged to determine if they were a worthy sacrifice for the storm king) The redesign appears to show the jaw of a shark afixed to the collar bone area, in the original a very visually striking cow skull makes up this area giving the impression that there is a gaping set of jaws just below the skeletons mouth and it slowly rasps open and closed as their idle animation plays, and there appeared to be many other changes to the bones. I honestly felt guilty when the trailer released. Everyone was so excited and seemed so happy. But i sat in stunned silence as i saw things that concerned me. I had not seen the close ups on the fluted set, the gargoyles face, and flamelurkers face until this video a few min ago and i once again feel the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach about this project. : (
Hey, thank you for your thoughtful comment. I hadn't considered the aspect of the assemblege of bones before, that's really interesting!
I definitely went through a similar feeling as you with the live reveal, I was in voice chat in Discord with a friend and I very quickly went from hyped to "hmm..."
As far as seeing the other stuff for the first time, sorry... Yeah, I definitely hope those designs can get a second pass before release. Some of the decisions are hard to discern between the more optimistic: well-meaning but misguided designers, or the more cynical possibility: that the more hardcore visual elements are getting sanded down for mass appeal on what Sony wants to be a pillar of their PS5 launch lineup. On the other other hand, they spent plenty of money advertising Bloodborne and more recently TLOU2 and those games are even more visually brutal then Demon's Souls... IDK. I am definitely cautiously interested in seeing what they release next in terms of reveals.
I just noticed after looking closely at the original Flamelurker that it has a monocle on its right eye like the king of the burrowers underground did, indicating that the king could've been turned into the Flamelurker.
Exactly!
King of the burrowers underground? Where is that? What world/stage?
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 stonefang
@@thehopefulyetdoubtful3656
But there isn’t actually a “king of the burrowers” in Stonefang or elsewhere in DeS for the player to come across. All there is is an archstone that is in ode to a “king of the burrowers,” however, the man in that carving isn’t wearing a monocle, so I don’t see where you’re coming from.
As a side note: I’m referring to the original PS3 game. I never played Bluepoint’s trash remake and never will, so if they changed the archstone carving to have a monocle on the man, or if they threw in a “king of the burrowers” for our hero to fight against, then I wouldn’t know.
And this is random, but somewhat related... I saw in a web search that Bluepoint added an unnecessary armor set called the “burrowers set.” It’s so cringe! Part of it is an apron with a literal target painted on it, and this painted target just so happens to be hovering over where the lady or man’s private parts are. 🤪 Friggin’ Bluepoint, man.
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 I like BluePoint tbh, but we're all entitled to our own opinions
Also, one thing’s for definite. The original had a bleak and dreary vision in mind. It’s very Miuraesque and quite Berserk you could say.
Right on the money with the plant overgrowth mention. Bluepoint cared more about showing off their sweet graphics then respecting the original game.
This is so good and detailed, as an artist I agree 100%
Thanks man, appreciate it! Feel free to share it around if you'd like.
Nice to see a video that actually goes into detail with general problems of the remake compared to all the smug posturing over 'getting' the original game vs people who think it's just nostalgia.
"You actually have legitimate criticisms against the reddit-tier art changes to the remake? You're just a hater, bro!"
@@NihilisticIdealist wtf is reddit tier art
@@NihilisticIdealist its been a year and i still have no idea what reddit tier means
@@catchfron4862 California.
@@iamcaim True 😳
Bluepoint doesn't understand demon's souls. For some godforsaken reason they looked at the ps3 game and concluded it's an epic fantasy, rather than a creepy, borderline horror dark fantasy it actually is. You can see this in the new soundtrack that tries to convince you so hard it's epic it feels like it's actually compensating very hard for the fact that it was made by people very bad at composing music. The "new and improved" artstyle is also a betrayal, as it turns the dead, dreary and mystical land of boletaria into a generic high fantasy world that borrows so much from the gothic infrastructure of yharnam and lothric it's borderline plagiarism. It blows my mind that a game so old can hold up so well artistically and that a company that makes remasters can be so bad at interpreting the source material.
Seeing the game at release now, it's sad to see that everything that you called out came to be true. The new is devoid of the unique artistic direction, leaning more on the westernized generic fantasy world. You can even notice this in the changes made to armor sets and equipment in general, while the original was more utilitarian and realistic, the new looks like exaggerated and overdetailed fantasy stuff.
Agreed. Thank you for the comment.
I'm fully disagree, not only does the world feel more alive but for more impressive than it ever did before. Add to the filter thats gives it it's old color tone back it's one of the best remakes ever done. It's all subjective so meh, but you would miss out on something wonderful and hey you can always play the og if you think it's that bad.
@@TakaChan569 It's not really about technical quality, of course a PS5 game will have a superior level in these aspects, but it's more about a misunderstanding of From Software's intention from Bluepoint's part.
If this was a entirely new game, practically everything (except the atrocious HUD and font aesthetics) would be great, but it's a remake of a game made by people who clearly don't understand the original and have a different vision in terms of aesthetic.
If the game was judged purely based on itself it looks incredible, sure, but it's aesthetics reduces the original intention instead of enhancing it, and coming from a remake it misses the point entirely.
@@L_Rod wow way to crap over the hard work and passion they have shown to this game, it may not fit what you want but everything i have seen shows they understood just fine. As you said art is subjective, so this who thing is kinda a moot discussion really, but looking at it with it's classic filter gives you some of what you want.
Bot sure why people dislike the hud, i mean i really want to know about this one.
@@TakaChan569 the entire UI of the remake, while better for usability and bringing good QOL changes, clashes with the overall aesthetics of the game (yes, both with the original game and the remake).
The HUD is especially atrocious, it takes the modern, tired minimalistic approach we see trending everywhere. It lacks any personality and does not fit at all, same with the "You Died" sans setif font. It very clearly is a design decision based on trends and not a deliberate sense of aesthetic.
The HUD's items arrangement on the other hand is very good, it makes way better use of the space and the durability bars are a nice and easy to read addition, that I like, but not the minimalistic borders.
This video perfectly encapsulates my feelings on the remake's art style
... people really thought you could not make a video game with vibrant colors on ps3 ?
I had seen and still continue to see people seriously making the suggestion that the colors in Demon's Souls on PS3 were only that way due to "hardware limitations".
@@HydefHyde There's a difference between what's possible and engine/money/talent constraints. Yes, some games on the PS3 had vibrant colours, but if you recall that was the generation of brown. Desaturated colours take less ram and that space was especially constrained that gen. I don't know much about Fromsofts engine, but they aren't known for being a cutting edge triple A developer. They are known for great story and design, so they made what they had work. I am looking forward to Elden Ring, because now they are a big developer and have the resources to bring their vision to life.
@@Eriskegalis can ve proven false because of how the colors change depending on the area throughout the original. And how this muted color gradient is present in all of their games after Demon Souls. Even in Elden Ring as well in spite of its use of brighter colors. Still maintaining theme of a world that is hostile and filled with horrors.
Plus there are tons of games on the PS3 that are just as complex or even more so than Demon Souls that either have more saturated colors or less to portray mood.
Demon Souls is inspired by Berserk which is a GRIM DARK fantasy. Why on earth would the not use more muted colors to portray that dreariness? If Demon Souls looked more like WOW or Oblivion it would be a HORRIBLE design decision.
Part of it could be limitations, but to think the game overall wouldn't have kept its bleak aesthetic is absolutely brain-dead.
I've been worried about DS remake aesthetically since I heard Bluepoint were doing it because of the SotC remake, and your analysis of DS's original aesthetic, as well as how it matters is fascinating. Great video, very informative.
Thanks for the comment !
Thank you for this video, I was really disappointed with the current streams of the remake, Bluepoint completely failed in my book, not just the color palette but even the design.
When original Demon's Souls was released in Japan, it didn't get much attention at first. But our small FromSoftware fan community loved the game and slowly popularity grew. After that FromSoftware gets more attention from the world with Dark Souls. But now, this remake, I feel uncomfortable, and I see original fans are disappointed.
It is because we are upset that FromSoft wasn’t stricter with BluePoint Games with regards to the remake. What we in the West loved about Demon’s Souls and FromSoft in general, is the unique Japanese dark fantasy interpretation of Western medieval elements. Similar to Berserk.
Speaking of which, there’s a growing number of Berserk fans in the West; they tend to overlap with the FromSoft community over here, and we prefer FromSoft’s art direction to the generic garbage that BluePoint Games produced.
Art direction will always be superior to graphics.
@@thewanderingstruggler8601 I doubt fromsoft had much of a say to be honest. It would likely be Sony since they needed the remake to be a console selling game, so it needed crowd pleasing graphics.
@@NocturneJester Precisely. You don’t have to sacrifice well-planned and thought out art direction for graphic fidelity. At the time of DeS original release in 2009, it was cutting edge yet bore FromSoft’s standard.
Aesthetics. The reason we love FromSoft games so much, is because of the unique aesthetics and mixture of different influences that produce a wholly complete artstyle that is simultaneously both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
Their ability to capture the grotesque, pained, twisted, bleak, and truly eerie is why I’d argue FromSoft are the only game studio that could accurately make a Berserk game come to fruition.
Why do I say this? Atmosphere. Every FromSoft game drips with atmosphere. I absolutely love the amount of detail that they painstakingly put into all of their works, and I’d argue DeS (2009) still holds up better than the remake. I’d go as far to argue, all they needed to do was boost the textures to 4K and give it the 60FPS treatment, since the original looked so timeless and had a unique aesthetic to it.
Now that it has been released I am really hoping for a HD remaster of the original.
You can play at higher resolution using emultion will give yoh a better experience than on PS3. I know it's not quite what you wanted but it's something.
RPCS3 has had some huge improvements recently, it really is the best way to play Demon's Souls, and probably will always be even if the remake comes to PC like rumors are saying. Fuck Bluepoint and their remake.
@@JF-vz1juman I agree 100%. I legit just finished the game a few days ago and I would prefer the original tone instead boosted with better graphics. It looks so unique compared to the Remake that looks like your ordinary modern medieval game smh
Flamelurker by Bluepoint looks like something out of World of Warcraft. Pretty bad compared to the original From Software 2009 version
I came from reddit and i have to say your content is really great, continue doing this work!
Thank you! I definitely plan to.
Judging by the concept art included in the game, it seems like it was Sony’s fault. The director originally was designing it to be 1 for 1 but Sony was like “make it more Bloodborney! That sold better than Demon’s! And add more Western aesthetic for American appeal!”
A real shame. This game had potential.
Garl Vinland, are u still posting? I remember seeing you in old Demon's Souls videos.
I wish more people would mention the voice acting, the new direction makes most NPCs sound bored or uninterested, on top of that they changed several lines of dialogue for no good reason.
The game is finally out now and you should feel vindicated. I can only hope you make an in-depth video covering the full extent of Bluepoint's baffling and careless redesigns that are completely at odds with the original game's art direction, tone, and themes.
Thank you for the comment. Maybe eventually, but I don't plan on getting a PS5 anytime soon. If I get one down the road, for other exclusives, I might do it. Thanks again.
@@HydefHyde That's the best part: you don't even have to play the game to criticize these things. The gameplay is identical to the PS3 version. The only alterations are a handful of quality-of-life improvements. I completely understand why you don't want to pay $500 to play a crappy remake, but Bluepoint needs to be held accountable now that they've sucked the soul out of not one but two beloved PlayStation classics. Think of it like a sequel to this video, just to talk about the changes made to the art direction and soundtrack, because they fucked that one up too.
@@FriendlyDarkwraith Yes, the soundtrack is a real shame. It's too bad because I like some of the arrangements on their own, but I don't think they fit the vibe of Demon's Souls. Just in case you haven't seen it, I did make a follow-up video more recently that covered the gameplay reveal trailers: th-cam.com/video/PnHY4nsjXDM/w-d-xo.html
@@HydefHyde Thanks, I will.
bluepoint killed almost every npc's except for yurt in my opinion 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (the only npc I didn't see are ostrava, old king doran and biorr, I don't have the ps5 yet).
Coming after i played bit of demon souls at friends house, ngl this was interesting and eye opener on how much the original did and what was lost in process
i already loved the original and like many fans i feel sad that the original will get overshadowed by the remake since unlike movies, video game companies don't about preserving the original and would rather resell you a new version to justify full price or in this case extra above full price, looks like emulation might be our future
BP completely ruined the OG atmosphere, artistic, charisma, characteristic
and the music.
Full game came out and all of the concerns came to fruition and then some.
Good god what a soulless game. The absolutely lifeless UI honestly says everything you need to know
Nah its not so bad, but i like the atmosphere from the original, wish we could get the original texture mod or something.
I felt exactly the same way. It was fucking cheesy and it made me want to stop playing. The music was bad, the sound effects were generic and omg the colorization and lighting was like a Pixar film. All of the stupid facial expressions completely broke the immersion for me.
@@cbsaulren It is the "Ocarina of Time in Unreal Engine 4" of video games, only instead of being a harmless little thing someone with no sense of art direction threw together in a weekend its a $70 video game
@@cbsaulren That’s why I’m glad I’m emulating the original and having a blast playing DeS (2009) on my laptop. Who needs a PS5 when you can play the original? lmao
@@thewanderingstruggler8601 Who needs a PS5 that has no games?
th-cam.com/video/j3gDw8tWLyk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=SwagItUp%5BARCHIVED%5D
this is a problem with LOTS of games, it’s sad
The remake looks like a generic fantasy, Miyazaki’s vision reigns supreme
Jesus Christ, I never noticed the orange and teal trend and now i fucking seeing it EVERYWHERE!!!! And it’s insane how you nailed it on the head with some of the issues with the art direction before the game even came out, are you a clairvoyant????
Haha, yeah it's a bit insidious. I recently watched Ford V Ferrari and even that was ridiculously color graded. Everyone was orange. It's definitely a trend this era of media will be remembered by. I think we will probably look back in another 10 years and think of 2012-2022ish as the Orange and Teal decade.
Also, thank you. I wish I was clairvoyant, but it's just a high attention to detail and an awareness of certrain trends within commerical media.
@@HydefHyde
The only caveat i have about this video is admitting that some of those shitheads on 4chan might have been right about a few things :p
Thank the gods that they fixed Flame lurker and the Fluted helm if only a bit. I don’t like some of the redesigns but it’s just something where gonna have to live with.
BUT what they did to the fat official is un FUCKING forgivable
Great video, you did such a good job of showcasing Demon's Souls atmosphere, which is the reason it's my favorite game of all time. I got the feeling in the original that every single design decision, even graphics wise had a reasoning behind it, whereas I got the feeling in the remake that they just took every room and place and thought, how can we make this look cooler and a showcase for the graphical fidelity of the PS5, which goes against what I love so much about the original. I can definitely see myself coming back to this video, great job and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts in the other videos.
Great video and analysis! You really deliver the arguments in a mature way and with evidence and no part of it feels like contrarian attitude towards the current popularity of remakes and remasters. I think this side of the community that prefers art style over polished graphics is too often ignored and with it a lot of artistry. I've never even touched this franchise but seeing the comparison of those two dragons highlights the difference between fantasy and horror in such a stark way. You've used the word demonic and I think it describes it rather well. Teeth, husks, scales, dark mouth - every element is more uncanny compared to the new design.
Thank you! I agree with your thoughts. By the way, your videos are great as well - very impressive production values and analysis.
@@HydefHyde Thanks!
it's a nice surprise to see you here. Although not surprising that you already understood the importance of artstyle (and aesthetics) even in a game like DeS.
Demons souls remake has convinced me that remakes should just be avoided. It’s too hard to recreate the artistic message of original games
Has been done masterfully in the Resident Evil 1 remake on the GameCube all those years ago. Masterclass in which all other remakes should have copied for inspiration.
I don't see a problem with remakes as long as we have access to the original games on newer platforms. The real problem is when a remake is used as an excuse to not port the old games.
Yakuza Kiwami is an incredibly faithful remake of the original. The ca.era shots and animations are the same. The script is closer to the original japanese.
They did add new cutscenes to provide more context as to why and how Nishiki became a villain. They also added the combat system from Yakuza 0.
You do better work than all journos in the industry combined.
Thank you, that's a huge compliment.
I love this video. This coupled with Reddit posts made me feel that Bluepoint forcefully “Americanized” a Japanese game with a Japanese artstyle.
Demon’s Souls is a blend of a lot of aesthetics. Dragon’s Quest, The Legend of Zelda, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Saint Seiya, H.P Lovecraft, Escher, I’d argue some Shin Megami Tensei, and OFC Berserk by and large.
The remake feels truly soulless and I’d much rather emulate the game in 4K 60FPS on a PC then play the remake that is devoid of soul on the PS5.
Thanks for the comment!
Tokusatsu too, Ultraman was influential in the design of some iconic Dungeons and Dragons monsters back in the day. The aesthetic in the remake has a comicbook look.
I have never been an admirer of Medieval aesthetic; Never played any Souls games, and nor do I have a rich understanding of lighting, textures and other visual design in games.
But THIS was FASCINATING. I could not stop watching, and you deliver it all so fluidly and unabashedly. I have a new respect for DS' art design choices, in lieu of DESPISING the 7th gen mantra of Brown & Bloom, and shallow gameplay. It DOES look gorgeous, and I may to have to finally consider trying it.
Thank you very much for your kind words!
When Bluepoint simply does HD remasters, their work is fine, because only their technical prowess is being drawn. There is little doubt of their technical prowess but, of their artistic prowess, I have nothing but doubt.
Excellent analysis!
It was a game that didnt really need a remake. Demon Souls is a game where graphically , less is more.
It needed gameplay improvements and cut content additions, not an aesthetic overhaul. The Remake is the complete opposite of what people wanted from it.
Please do the whole game! Your comparisons are really good and give the original game the respect it deserves
OG Demon's Souls is such an aesthetic piece. It stood out so much in comparison to anything else on the market at the time. Even now it feels rather unique among other Souls games.
I thought i was alone with my opinions. Thanks
It’s one thing to refresh and update designs for new hardware but bluepoint really took a ton of artistic liberties when remaking this game, which ultimately took away from some of the storytelling and original purpose. And don’t even get me started on what they did to the soundtrack
Incredibly well done and researched video man, excellent content. Super underrated
A very thoughtful and well made video. I'm reserving judgement until the game is released or we at least see more in-game footage, however you raise some valid points and I do hope the artistic merit and vision of DeS is not lost in this remake.
Thank you!
A lot of things seem more accompanying and loud, and less isolating and quiet.
In soul form, your player character produces nearly no natural sound. Instead, they're quite not unlike an apparition. This made it even more disassociative; you're removed more from the surroundings. When you return to physical form, then the player makes noise.
If the "Slayer of Demons" is in the Nexus, the Shrine/prison that contains the old one, and you step over the magical nexual binding (symbols scrawled on the floor) you're character only makes sound in human-form, like the sound is the Old One's resonance. And comparatively, in soul-form, you're character produces no sound there. Like it knows that soon, you'll returning to the Old One via death eventually anyway, that's kinda just my interpretation.
Or the Nexus's inhabitants producing no sound (possible technical limitations, they just may not have wanted to animate correlating animations) ironically creating more atmosphere, the only sound is the "Nexus" music track; its spaced-out notes perfectly reflect the surrounding visuals.
Bolatrias, crying flames howling winds. And the call of ravens, the soldiers/knights slash dreglings inhuman unsettling stillness, the fat officials' uncomfortable laughter.
In Stonefang Mine, there's this empty echoing of the tools throughout the tunnel system, plus rhe sounds of the elevator above.
In Lateria Tower, there's the sound of insects, locusts flying around. These likely coming from not just the dead, but also the prisoners unable to die at all, any injuries that their torture sustains slowly rot (they're likely infected, hence insects). The rattling of distant chains, the occasional pained cries of the tormented, their souls channelled. The silence of night Also, the tonal changes of the ringing of the prison-wards bells. These induced genuine fear, it is just slow ringing; hard to pinpoint, across, above, around corners, below...behind, then suddenly it gets faster. This is even more effective, due to the original more natural lower lighting; making vision limited, only seeing surroundings in the most immediate vicinity (ironically more 3d audio, ps5 3D audio is incredible though omg)
The most painful one overall of the SFX. I'm not even getting into it, just listen to the original main menu/intro comparatively to the remakes, that silence, the minimalist logos, the intro cutscene breaking it and, those spacial synths; the logo gradually fading in, pressing play on this screen starting menu music.
I really hope they change the fluted armor and flamelurker to what they looked like originally.
They changed a bit
@@kenneth27205 nowhere near enough.
Dude PLLLEEEAAAASE react to the gameplay video that was just released. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. Because it has only proved all your points even more.
Thanks for the comment! I just might do that if I can do so in a way that doesn't just repeat this video.
@@HydefHyde Yea true. Also you give me matthewmatosis and whitelight vibes with your level of in-depth analysis and critique so I had to sub after watching this. Well done!
@@ISetYourFaceOnFire Well thank you very much! I am definitely a fan of Matthewmatosis and his approach. Haven't heard of Whitelight, I'll have to check them out too. Thanks again for the comments and the sub!
@@HydefHyde 🙏
@@ISetYourFaceOnFire th-cam.com/video/HmxGVTQQ3-c/w-d-xo.html
So sad that we'll never hñget to see Miyazaki himself remaking this marvel now that he has more budget, experience and support, we are stuck with bluepoint's WoW redesigns and generic Hollywood music.
I wish the game was called a remaster instead of a remake, and they spent more time on it and improved some gameplay quirks and maybe added some more content. I believe if they would have done that and made it a completely new take on demon souls it would have been less jarring when the art style changed.
Bluepoint better stay the fuck away from Bloodborne
Nuh-uh. I for one am excited for them to change Yharnam to have hideous overgrowth, make the Blood-starved Beast not have its skin flared, make Lady Maria look malignant (with puss ‘n shit,) make the Cleric Beast look like a Biblical Demon etc.
Bloodborne is my favorite game ever, and I would genuinely rather get nothing at all instead of a remake, especially a remake by Bluepoint. All it needs is a PC port.
A PC port or a sequel
soulless demake.
I gotta get a ps3 for these gorgious fucking graphics
Honestly, even I think the aesthetics/limitations of the PS3 made is so Demon's Souls has a better atmosphere, it's hard to pinpoint how, but it's like Darkcloud on PS2 that just so happen to "look perfect"; the world here looks muddy, gross, gloomy, which helps reflect that the Demons have stolen all life from these areas, so again the PS3 worked in the game's favor in these regards, graphical power doesn't always translate to a striking style.
@Neon_Henchman I was 8 years old when my mom got me a ps3 and she chose demons souls as the game that came with it. Best introduction to HD gaming possible
@Neon_Henchman Old game's technical limitations now feel genuinely like lost artforms (ones that were unique to the medium), take King's Field IV Ancient City: Those undefined graphics, where your imagination feels in half the picture. The reliance on music, setting the tone completely creating atmosphere. The old other-worldly pre-rendered CGI cutscenes, it invokes so much; I'm just playing Final Fantasy XII/Silent Hill 2, they're the same; I agree that technical limitations (or any limitations) can define style/tone.
I’ve never played either versions of demons souls but I prefer the original atmosphere and art style. It has that hopeless bleak look and feel that feel authentic to real life in its look. I don’t get that from the remakes more cinematic conventional western fantasy look. They did too much in a game that didn’t call for it.
I prefer the atmosphere and the colors of the original and I haven't even played it.
Thank you very much for this video. It’s very sad that Bluepoint sacrifices atmosphere and unconventional design of original games for technical fluff.
Thank you very much for watching!
This video draws attention to many interesting differences between each. It definitely felt different to play, but it was still enjoyable.
Where I saw the starkest contrast was the soundtrack. I really felt like the epic version of Maiden Astrea's boss fight missed the mark. The original had a melancholy feeling, like a misunderstanding, or a hopeful wrongdoing, rather than an epic fight.
Excellent commentary
Thanks man!
Absolutely amazing video. Thank you for this very detailed comparison.
You're very welcome, thanks for the comment!
Excellent video, I wasn't a big fan of the art style in the remake but I don't really know how to criticise art, so this video was very helpful to me!!
Also would love to hear more of your thoughts on the new Doom game's art styles.
Thanks Rasty! Glad you found it helpful.
As far as the new Doom games, I've only played Doom 2016 and not Eternal, so I wouldn't be able to analyze it too deeply but I feel a similar sense of homogenization occuring - edgy to the extent a product targeting a large, mainstream audience will allow. OG Doom has this feeling of the original guys of ID Software going balls to the wall in terms of their influences (80s Thrash metal and deliberate shock value via a reaction to Reagan era satanic-panic), whereas the newer ones have a polished, sanitized and focus tested feel going on. Aside from that, I did enjoy 2016 but, presentation aside, I wish the level structure has been less arena heavy and paced more evenly between combat and exploration.
Edit: I would definitely recommend the book Masters of Doom by David Kushner. It's a biography of iD Software from the very beginning to I think around Quake 2. It's a really engaging book I almost feels like a biography of a metal band, appropriately enough. Lots of insight and cool / funny stories.
@@HydefHyde thanks I might check the book out at some point!
Fantastic analysis, great job explaining your thoughts with clear cut evidence.
Thank you!
We'll never really know how much Sony influenced this
Thanks for making this
You're welcome, thanks for the comment. A follow up video is coming tomorrow, as well.
I cannot believe Blue Point is shitting out a worse remake than the SotC one. My guess (and I'm pretty confident on this) is that since Sony is the one that owns the license, they just hook up Blue Point and From has no say on it, since I VERY much doubt that they would had agreed after seeing what they did to SotC.
I concur. I was hoping FromSoft would’ve remade it, but it seems they were quite satisfied with their original work and I can’t say I blame them.
Further, it’s reminiscent of the shit changes done to Capcom’s original art from DMC in the DMC HD Collection.
Spot on video, I haven't played Demon Soul's, but recently got a used PS3, seems I'll get the original game, that or I'll see how my PC does emulate the game.
Thank you. Yeah, try both methods! You need a decent CPU with a good amount of threads to emulate it, but I'm able to do a consistent 4k30 with an i5 6600k and a 1650 Super. I can do at 60 at 1080 but it looks so good at 4k it's hard to resist. Still looks great from PS3 though!
Try emulation first. I can run 40-60 fps @ 1080p with a 10 year old CPU (i7-2600k), which is already better than the PS3 version. On top of that, online works on PC.
What’s the music at 9:45? I recognize it but I just can’t remember where it’s from.
Character creation screen from PS3 Demon's Souls
Now that the game is out and we can see all of it, this video is even more true than anyone realized. Bluepoint quite obviously had no passion or care for the source material. The graphical fidelity and the gameplay are both 10/10, the QoL changes are all good, and they didn't unnecessarily change things for no reason(other than all the characters that were made black, but that's another discussion entirely). The art direction and sound design, however, are absolutely fucking atrocious. They didn't even get close to capturing the atmosphere of the original. It's just generic grimdark western fantasy now. Don't even get me started on the sound design. The music isn't bad in and of itself, but it completely misses the mark for this game. The sound effects for magic spells sound like Disney Star Wars lasers. It's just a big blemish on an otherwise wonderfully done remake.
Why are characters being made black even a point of discussion for you? Seems really weird of a thing to even bring up...
@@Sharingthepain43 Wait which characters are black now?
This video is well put together. As an artist myself, I agree with all of your points.
I shared it with some artists friends, it made for nice discussions.
Thank you!
Came here to be defensive about the remake, left mostly agreeing with you👍 I especially agree that they've been over-using the gothic theme in recent souls games.
Thank you, and I appreciate your open-mindedness. Thanks for the comment :)
I can't believe you have to clarify that millions of colours were available to developers on the PS3 😂
Looks like a Souls clone rather than a Demons' Souls remaster.
Wowwww!!
I just finished Demons Souls Remake and I cannot lie to myself…I 100% prefer the tone of the original DS tbh. It looks way scarier and especially unique to FromSofts art style. I think I like it so much because it reminds me so much of the art works of Beksinski. Looking at his art would make you wonder if FromSoft was inspired by the tone in his work.
The problem that I now see with the Remake is that BluePoint just wanted the game to look so realistic to what modern medieval games should look like in the 2020s instead of keeping the style/tone FromSoft specifically chose for the game and just graphically give it a facelift. I legit cannot believe I prefer the look of a game from 2009 over the one from the 2020s. This is actually blowing my mind right now 😂😂😂
This is why you don't let westerners touch a game full of Japanese SOUL, especially not a Miyazaki game. Conversely, I wouldn't trust Japan to remake a Western game like Deus Ex either. Different countries do things differently, why not keep it that way?
People were crying for a remake/remaster all this time so this is just the result. Problem is the regular dudes who got the game are completely fine with this and Bluepoint will simply get away with it due to the reception they got just like they did with SOTC.
Bland, soulless ‘remake’. No respect to fromsoftware’s original vision. Why’s there so many changes to NPCs, The Maiden and Patches look the same, (though the Maiden’s hair is too scruffy looking) but why’s the Crestfallen Warrior black now?
The FlameLurker, Fat Official, Fluted Armor and False King Allant look shit. And they ruined my beloved StockPiler Thomas :( (they gave his hair a highlight wtf?)
Stockpile Thomas in this version is just... Ugh...
Thank you thank you thank you for expressing in specific terms what a lot of us intuitively felt about this game. My first impressions when playing the remake was "this looks fake and cheesy." I have been very vocal about how the remake ruined important aspects about the original and that Bluepoint didn't capture the atmosphere of the game whatsoever.
With Sony acquiring Bluepoint I now fear they'll be given a blank check to ruin future souls games, especially a remastered Bloodborne which is rumored to be in the works. Bloodborne's art is immensely dear to me, and if it gets ruined in a similar fashion to DeS, I'll be terribly upset.
You're very welcome. I have similar reservations about such a thing happening to Bloodborne, hopefully it's just a better running port with zero art tinkering.
I’m nervous about Bloodborne getting a remaster as well. Especially considering that we didn’t a Demon’s Souls: Remastered ala Dark Souls: Remastered (which quite honestly I would’ve preferred) but no, instead we got BluePoint which decided to forcefully Americanize the brilliant soulful Japanese artistry of the original, the unique foreboding atmosphere, dripping with dreariness and dread.
I’m enjoying Bloodborne currently, I just wish they made a 1080p 60FPS patch for the PS4 Pro.
Sounds crazy but in many ways the lighting on some of the enemies is what gave them an otherworldly feeling almost lovecraft. The shiny eyes of Vanguard and its slippery looking body to the golden balloon look of the adjudicator. The glow from the knights as if they’re possessed by some kind of alien spirit. So many moments in the game that were just weird and it created these tense unexplainable moments. The remake took all that away and interpreted the game way too literally. They missed what made the game feel so atmospheric in the first place.
Wow fantastic video. The work and research that went into this is evident. I liked how you weren't mean spirited in your criticisms of the art direction of the remake, but fair and objective. For the record I totally agree with everything you said, I feel as though bluepoint went all in on "shiny and new" instead of taking notice of all the nuances in the artstyle of the original.
Thanks for the kind comment, glad you enjoyed it!
Great breakdown, you got yourself a new subscriber! I found a lot of the same issues with Halo CE remake. Instead of landing on an alien structure in the middle of the night, being hunted by aliens, we land on Halo in the middle of afternoon where everything ORANGE and TEAL. It completely ruins the second mission. Also, interiors of Halo, which are supposed to be a million years old dark cyclopean rooms with ominous atmosphere are now lit up like the inside of a gaming PC. It looks awful.
Thanks for the sub and I agree on Halo CE. Coincidentally I was revisiting that with a friend yesterday in the MCC and sharing in your thoughts. Fortunately, that game lets you toggle between the original graphics and the new ones, at least.
14:26 what other colour would you prefer the fire to glow, I understand your other points but what was this lmao
Not neon orange... It's not so much the color of the fire itself as it is the total color palette of the whole scene. Like most of the remake, it's really aggressively color graded with simplistic contrasting tones, primarily teal and orange as I mentioned early in the video. The Nexus is even worse. There are so many games and movies in the last decade that have gone totally overboard with that color grading dichotomy. It's so ubiquitous in the world of graphic design that it's become bland as a result, and in any case, it's not faithful to the originals look. Here's a short video on the topic with some examples, there are many more out there of course: th-cam.com/video/14kE2jxIVFQ/w-d-xo.html
@@HydefHyde I understand but why is this an issue? The game looks fantastic, I believe there is more design choices that are improved on in the remake rather than design choices that were overlooked and ruined, I love the style of the original demon's souls however there are many points were rather than the colour palette adding to the mood of the world instead I felt it was boring and underwhelming in certain places, yes the remake may have gone a bit over the top I still believe that it was a major improvement, however the fog was definitely overlooked in the remake
excellent video, keep it buddy
Great video man
Thank you!
100% agree
Hydef Hyde e Brasil concordando que o redesign artistico de demon's souls foi um rio de merda completo
The fact that the director of this travesty talked about the mess they did as "improving" the game is insulting. His ego is bigger than the PS5 Ram memory
unfortunately all your worries werent fixed and people are praising bluepoint for it like the second coming of christ
Casuals who just got into from games praising it
I liked both iteration, but it is sad that many details are lost
It's sad that you were right... Even the music misses the point.
Love the video. Lots of appropriate critiques, but one thing I would like to chime in on. While I’m not a developer, I am friends with someone who worked at SIE during the PS3/PS4 days for both Sony Santa Monica, and Bend Studio shortly after. According to him the PS3 architecture really held back games big time memory wise, and that’s why environments tend to be very bare in a lot of games. It’s amazing what devs like Naughty Dog were able to do with TLOU and Uncharted without any major compromise, but Demon’s Souls in particular cut a lot of corners with its environment design simply because of how dark it was in certain sections. They were able to reduce load time and framerate issues by reducing color in scenes like Tower of Latria, and Valley of Defilement/Swamp of Sorrow. Same goes with the clouds, and banners hanging from the castle walls in Boletaria. I know it may sound silly because it’s such a small detail, but FS fit a lot of details already in such a small space, and that takes up a lot of memory. Can only take up so much before it completely compromises the entire games performance, unfortunately. Wanna point out one change I didn’t like at all in the remake. In Tower of Latria instead of yellow cloth/flags hung from the poles everywhere they were changed to red. Seemingly because of what the color signifies, so I’m guessing Bluepoint didn’t make the connection with yellow and the Old Monk’s corruption taking over and how it affected the world around him🤦🏻♂️ it’s a small detail, and honestly I don’t REALLY care, but for the FS fans that are passionate about the lore it’s those details that can really get their panties in a bunch lol
Great video and analysis, as a person that never played DS on ps3 and is onsly familiar with the remake, this is really impactfull to see and hear.
Now I want to experience this game in it's original form.
Whoa, this is actually very detailed in presentation. Thank you for this, I learned a lot from it as a non art person. May, I ask are you interested in working on a Demon’s Souls parody skit?
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the offer but I must decline - I've got my hands full with my own projects at the moment.
@@HydefHyde that’s fine! If you post your projects I’ll happy take a look at them in support in anyway I can.
I feel the same.
The Original is unic and stay forever in my heart ❤
The Remake, in my opinion, destroys the Atmosphere, the World Building and in many, many ways the Soundtrack.
Tower Knight is so special.
Why they change this???
Better Graphics is not all 😢
I restart my PS3 and Play now the Black Phantom Edition.
In a little less framerate but more Atmosphere .
Greetings to all Demons Souls Fans in the World from Germany.
I think there is some level of value in remakes giving slight changes here and there so we can see how others perceive these beautiful works of art. The gothic inspired reiteration does mean that there is some lost messaging but i feel that it gives it another reason to try it out, if a company is gonna make stylistic changes id rather them be purposeful to a narritive or aesthetic than to be one off and irreverent.
Basically in my mind there are now 2 seperate but same demon's souls that can both be visuslly analyzed through multiple viewpoints and im thankful for it. Although i can see how long time fans can be dissatisfied
Strange that you included Mount & Blade Bannerlord with the teal and orange games when that game goes all in on vibrant natural color and lighting.
I do regret adding that - despite that promotional artwork being an example of the teal / orange color dichotomy, it's not fair to that game itself because, as you said, the in game experience doesn't reflect that. Thanks for the comment.
Liked and subed 👍
Thanks man!
Basically DSR art design direction get westernized, ugh, yuck.
I think that kind of purposely misses the point of the video. He’s not saying western dark souls design is bad, but that it is bad for demons souls when the game was not made with that in mind.
the art design is already western lol, that's not the problem with it
100% agree with everything stated in this video. I loved the unique aesthetics and vibes the ps3 version gave off but the remake looks so… generic. They remade everything to look boring and uninspired and they didn’t even bother to make the lost snow area.
And the fact that they changed the fluted armor set absolutely broke my heart 😢
I thought this video was written very eloquently and critiqued the demon’s souls remake in a fair and genuine way. I ended up playing the original demon’s souls on the ps3 rather than the remake because of this essay, and was happy with my choice
Hello, I shared your video and saved it to my favorites playlist. It's a great video and I agree with everything. Could you please do a video about the sound design too? Such as the new(and worse) music, ambient sound and some sounds your character makes. Anyways, awesome video.
Also I'm totally sure Matthewmatosis would pretty much echo all of these points.
Yeah he did on Twitter and he's right the remake seems like a completely different vision which while not terrible feels a lot more generic and safe
Absolutely he has.
Really good video i subscribe
Thanks Kenneth!