Aug 222012
 

Drown in despair with these dire dirges from the demoralizing Souls series

So much sadness awaits

0:00:00 – Demon’s Souls theme

0:07:45 – Tower Knight

0:10:52 – Adjudicator

0:13:33 – Maiden Astraea

0:25:40 – Fool’s Idol

0:27:56 – One Who Craves Souls

0:37:11 – Firelink Shrine

0:39:28 – Taurus Demon

0:42:06 – Pinwheel

0:47:25 – Great Grey Wold Sif

0:50:45 – Ornstein and Smough

0:53:32 – Gravelord Nito

1:01:51 – Gwynevere, Princess of Sunlight

1:04:36 – Gywn, Lord of Cinder

  21 Responses to “VGMpire Episode 28 – Darkest Demon Souls”

  1. o.O

    Wow! This is a very, very pleasant surprise!

    I absolutely adore both Demon and Dark souls, but I thought it was maybe TOO recent of a series for this show. Glad to be proven wrong! ^^

    Also, I really approve of the track-list, I do believe you got the best songs in the series there, Maiden Astraea, Great Grey Wolf Sif, and Gwyn, Lord pf Cinder are all in my cellphone’s playlist right now XD

  2. Sweet! As a man without a current-gen console (boo hoo me, moving on) I’ve observed the Demon Souls phenomena from a distance, fascinated by both the Japanese-Europe design and masocore gameplay. However, I’ve barely touched the soundtrack, mainly because game soundtracks are so tied in with locations or enemies that out of context it’s hard to make that emotional connection. However, I greatly appreciate an introduction, and VGMpire doesn’t disappoint.

    Also, on a tangent, Brett recently tweeted that the URL is soon up for renewal, which I assume implies a year-long subscription. For those not in the know, a year has 52 weeks. There have been 28 VGMpire episodes. Hmmm…

    I’ve been planning on sending you an e-mail regarding an episode, Brett, but organization is hard. Hopefully I’ll come through soon, and you like the musical choices. It’s definitely a worthy series, but I’m not sure how to organize it – by game series, by developer, by composer, etc. Anyway, I’m looking forward to future user contributions. You still haven’t done a “User Choice Episode” – I’d love to hear a random playlist of obscure tracks, assuming everyone doesn’t just say “Air Man” stage and leave it at that.

  3. I was just thinking about how I can’t hear this music without the fear of death

  4. A souls episode?

    Brett I love you, the music in these games really are criminally underrated.

  5. Wonderful episode.

    Quick FYI though, the band that created the song for the commercial. Well you kinda swapped the band and song title. The band is called The Silent Comedy, while the song is entitled Bartholomew.

    It’s an excellent song, so I do appreciate you guys mentioning it.

    Additionally, I heard a NES style remix of that title recently. I may be able to track it down if anyone is interested.

  6. I can’t believe you guys actually decided to do this series! Really helped me appreciate this game more than I already do!

  7. Neato

  8. Great episode! I adore Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, which I guess makes me a masochistic gamer, but dammit if they weren’t some of the best games to come out of this console generation.

    I too got a kick out of the Demon’s Souls references in 3D Dot Game Heroes. I particularly found the “Sticky White Stuff” mention hilarious. Oh and Brett, you should grab a copy of Demon’s Souls. In some ways I think it had better pacing than Dark Souls. It at least had a better last half. The servers are still going, too.

    Now onto the music – I dig the moodiness of it all. Better yet – I applaud games like these that are often devoid of music in the levels, but start playing something during pivotal moments like boss battles. It makes the music stand out a lot more. The original Clock Tower for Super Famicom handled the whole silence interlaced with music thing very well.

    I liked your inclusion of “Maiden Astraea” and “Firelink Shrine.” The latter and “Maiden in Black” (the Nexus music in the original) made for some of the greatest “relief” music in a game ever (next to RE4’s save room music). Would’ve liked to see “Phalanx” from Demon’s Souls (the percussion in that one reminds me so much of Illusion of Gaia). “Ornstein and Smough” is an epic track, but all I can think of is my frustration with those bosses. They were such a pain (even with 2 people helping me!). What kind of names are those anyway? They sound more like a law firm than a couple of intimidating, frustrating bosses.

    Also, it blows my mind that Motoi Sakuraba (composer for Golden Sun, Star Ocean, several Tales games, etc.) did the Dark Souls soundtrack. Every other work by him is just flat-out prog rock, so it’s fascinating when you hear something you wouldn’t expect him to compose.

    Oh, and just a tiny correction: Demon’s Souls had 2 endings as well. I think they were actually a little less anticlimactic than Dark Souls’ endings, which still doesn’t mean much given how short they were.

  9. Haha, somehow I knew this would eventually be an episode; the music is just too good. I listen to the Ornstein\Smough and Gywn themes constantly.

  10. Oh, seeing this in my sub box got me so excited! People who haven’t gotten into these games have no idea how great and deep they truly are. By the way, little correction, the song Henry said that was used in the Dark Souls commercial is actually “Bartholomew” by the Silent Comedy, not the other way around. For anybody who hasn’t played the Souls games, they are probably the best new series this gen that I would recommend, but only to the hardcore. (Stuff like Mass Effect is great, but Souls feels really *new*)

  11. Oh wow… I didn’t even know there was a new episode… Sorry, I usually just check Lasertime, which is really lazy of me.

  12. This will be the second time I’m going to buy a game because of a VGMpire episode. I loved the music and conversation on the Advance Wars episode so much that I picked up Dual Strike and had the best time with it. I think I’m gonna have to do the same here with Dark Souls. Thanks to Grimm for putting this episode together. Thanks to Hank (yet again) for the great conversation. And of course, thanks to Brelston for the whole VGMpire idea.

  13. Man, this music really, really reminds me of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Maybe it’s finally time for me to embrace the pain and suffering and play Dark Souls.

  14. Despite it beating the shit out of me, I really loved Great Grey Wolf Sif (and theme.) So glad it was included!

    Maybe moreso in Demon’s Souls, I felt a need to complete the game to “absolve” the world from all the evil therein. I’d get frustrated and quit for a bit, but I seriously couldn’t just leave the game in the state that it was in. I had to see this despairing, terrible thing through to the end.

    Never felt anything like that, in any media.

    • I very much felt the same way. I got super frustrated at one point but just had to come back, it’s a very strange sensation with no real comparison.

  15. I missed the boat on Dark/Demon Souls for whatever reason. This ep makes me wanna go back and give them a go. At least the last one. 🙂

    • You should also give Demon Souls a try as well. Dark Souls is the better game, no doubt, but there is still things that are incredibly cool and unique to the first one. Specially a certain stage called the Tower of Latria…

  16. OMG how have I missed this episode?!

    Glad to see these getting some proper acknowledgment by fellow OST nerds.

    While I absolutely LOVE Motoi Sakuraba, in this case I feel Demon’s Souls OST is better since it has far better identity of its own.

    Thanks Mr. Elston for another quality choice!

  17. […] Worth a listen, especially if you dig 30 Seconds to Mars-ish bands. You can also listen to our Dark Souls episode […]

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