Periodically I think I am going to give Demons' Souls another try and periodically I just drop my controller feeling intensely what a level up Dark Souls was for From's level design specifically
Boletarian palace just feels like such a long slog to me.
In Dark Souls everything just feels so much more memorable and intentional, and you encounter things to keep you going pretty often in the early going. I think from Firelink to, say, the first encounter with the bridge wyvern is only like three combat encounters.
In Demons' Souls I just feel like behind each pack of enemies is another pack of enemies and I'm never reaching anything else; my sense of how much progress I'll lose when I die just mounts and mounts. It feels thoughtless about the players' time in a way Dark Souls only is in some of its parts, and those parts are further into the game.
