Many people (including myself) praise Demon's Souls for its old-school sensibilities. I enjoyed your article, but being frustrated about being kicked back to the title screen after beating the game? To an NES gamer, you are lucky if they don't slap you with a 'game over' and a high score table.

I am being a bit crass, I really do like your article. Speaking as a fellow 'heroin addict', however, I have to disagree. I adore Demon's Souls. Handle your high, maan!

I have to agree with Alex. Interesting perspective, but it's primarily based on your claim that Demon's Souls' level design is "inherently unfair," and you never substantiate that. Myself and many others I know who play and enjoy the game have the exact opposite opinion. Demon's Souls' level design is brilliant: Each stage is an intricantly woven puzzle labyrinth and thematically cohesive. There are no corridor levels and no gimmicky "monster pit" rooms or monster closets. I just can't understand your observations, especially so because you never explain why you feel that way.

And going back to the beginning directly after the end for another playthrough? Awesome. Why do I need extraneous menu screens when I just want to jump right back in? You can also save-and-quit at any time (even in the Nexus!), so there's no need to feel compelled to immediately dive back into 1-1 after the end.

Did we play the same game? I can't tell.

While I agree with Alex and Rob (I swear I'll beat you to a Demon's Soul post one these days, Rob, haha!), I appreciate what you're saying. I was definitely in shock when the game simply started over. And I can even see where playing the New Game+ could become "Pain without any gain", which is why I never played it.

I did however, play through again with new characters, new classes, new builds, trying to experience the game in a different way. In this way, playing it is still tons of fun, if only because it creates new challenges (that Tower Knight is a completely different boss depending on whether your's a ranged or melee fighter). But much as I want it to, replaying it never gives me that same feeling of dread and fear as the first playthrough. And that's part of the reason why I forced myself to lend my copy, so I wouldn't keep searching for an experience I may never have again...until Dark Souls comes out.

I have a couple of examples that comes to mind when it comes to "inherently unfair" level design.  The second level in Shrine of Storms tested my frustration to no end.  The encounter with Death was easy, but the narrow cliffside afterwards drove me mad.  The reason is derange as hell.  The cliff wall is on your right.  My weapon is on my right hand.  You can't attack without hitting the cliff wall, and you're better off not attacking given the recoil it causes when you hit the wall.  So not only do we have an enemy that attacks simply by moving forward, you're also accosted from afar by the flying manta rays which you just can't hit unless you have a bow.  Magic and crossbows can't do it.  Believe me I've tried.
If you survive that, the next section involving those shades that shoot beams of light also drove me up the wall.  Here's the thing.  The beam of light shoots out of it's one eye on its head.  They're kind of tall, so in theory when it fires, you can run towards it thereby letting it fire overhead.  All that goes out the window if it's on a lower elevation, which it is.  Did I also mention that it's on a narrow staircase with the wall being on your right?  Oh, and also, you have to do this twice.
Let's move on to the Valley of Defilement.  The entire first level is really almost nothing but cliff sides.  I was never sure just what part of the ground is actually grounds I can walk on.  I've died far too many times simply executing an attack where I take one step forward only to see me plummet to my doom.  If it isn't than it's a cramped room with nary a room for your camera which is constantly bumping or going into various things making it almost impossible for me to see what I need to see.  I'm pretty certain it was made that way.
The second level fares no better.  I don't mean the poisonous swamp either.  As annoying as that was, the area past the 2nd fog gate aggravated me to no end.  When you lock on to enemies, the camera tends to go just a little bit above you to show you the enemy.  This entire section is comprised of nothing but really low ceilings, so everytime I lock onto an enemy, all I see is the ceiling and not my enemy who's first attack in its combo breaks my block making its next successive two attacks connect.  Even without a lock on, the clutter in the area makes it damned near impossible for me to figure out where to put the camera to see my enemies.
Finally, we have the Tower of Latria.  Those octopus head guys are not difficult to take down really.  Their ranged attacks have a very linear quality to them and can easily be sidestepped, which makes them the perfect enemy for the first level of Tower of Latria.  This area consist of almost nothing but narrow walkways.  If one of them sees you from afar on these walkways, you don't stand a chance.  Shields, especially this early in the game, normally only blocks about 30% of magic damage, and the Soul Ray spell they shoot out deals a buttload of damage.  If you do get close enough, their stunning spell will basically kill you.  The stunning spell is not impossible to avoid.  You just need the room to roll dodge, which you never have on those walkways.
So all this is bad, but this is only the insult.  The injury comes in the form of starting over on the entire level everytime you die.  Once you know the trick to beating everything I mentioned up above, all this is brain numbingly easy, but in order to attain that, you have to die, get back to that same place without dying, and then die again.  What I mean by that is the rate of which you learn something new is outrageously disproportional to the number of times you died.  Take that shade example from up above.  In order to reach that area, you have to get past Death, which was pretty easy, and the cliffside where it's basically impossible for you to attack.  That's a big if especially if you didn't learn the right lesson the first time through.
This enough substantiation for you Rob?
As for restarting right after the credits roll, this is a purely personal opinion.  You're right in how brilliant it is in keeping us engaged by taking away anything that might hinder it.  The trouble comes when you feel that the experience is addictive but not fun.  Taking you straight to the beginning of the game with that Soul counter at 200,000 is basically the same thing as a newly recovering drug addict being given free product from his/her dealer.  For this personal reason alone, it was an insidious feature.

Those situations have easy counters.

Regarding Shrine of Storms: Use the thief ring (flying mantas cannot see you anymore) and equip a weapon in your left hand. Or you can use spells instead of melee. It's difficult, but not inherently "unfair" since the tools to overcome this situation exist.

Regarding Stonefang Tunnel: I agree that the camera is a bit fitzy, but that's not necessarily a level-design issue. Only in the last room directly before the Armor Spider did I really experience environment blockage, though.

Regarding Tower of Latria: Use anti-magic field. They can't hurt you at all -- no matter where you are. They have no physical attack.

Sounds to me that you brute forced your way through Demon's Souls. That's just not necessary given the range of weapons, armors, spells, and miracles at your disposal.

How'd you learn all this? Rob?

I agree with Rob. There are several solutions to all these.

And I don't think you have to die to learn. If you're careful, you can actually make it even through your first playthrough with very few deaths.

Heh. I know where you're going with that question.... Yeah, death and failure certainly play a role in how Demon's Souls communicates information to the player, but it's by no means the only -- or even primary -- way.

The user-placed, in-game messages, on the other hand, were much more informative. Players went out of their way to clue you in on hints, tactics, and hidden items throughout the entire game. This is how I learned that Flamelurker is weak to magic, the location of the crystal-gecko pit in 2-2, and to increase my poison resistence before entering 5-2, for example.

Joining another player's game as a blue phantom also offers insight into other players' character builds and favored equipment -- not to mention a nice preview of a level you're having trouble with. Even invading as a black phantom would allow you to sneak around enemies (who no longer attack you) to get the lay of the land.

Additionally, the sparse dialogue of the game's characters offers plenty of cryptic suggestions if you're paying attention.

Did you take advantage of Demon's Souls' online features? They're a significant -- and important -- component of the gameplay.

I'm going to lay this to rest because I seriously do not want to reopen old wounds here.  I'm in no mood to get all fiery or to say things I'll regret later, both of which has happened because of this game by the way.
I think you are missing the point about this, Rob.  You say that my perspective was wrong because its basis was wrong, namely my "arguement" that the game was "inherently unfair".  Here's the part that you got wrong.  I wasn't trying to make a perspective.  Demon's Souls made me angry.  Unless you're actually a projection of my psyche, you don't have the right to tell me that I didn't feel angry throughout my experience with Demon's Souls.

Had I been advocating that Demon's Souls was a bad game because it was unfair, I would continue this little exchange.  In fact, I would've welcomed it.  But that's not what I'm conveying here.  I'm simply relaying an experience I had.  Writing this article was amazingly therapeutic for me, and all I want is to lay it to rest and hope to God that I never get hooked on something that I don't enjoy again.
We can argue about how I could've played this game differently so that I would have enjoyed it more, but you're too late.  I didn't do it that that way, and the end result is what you see written up there.  Hell talking about all the ways I could've played this game just pisses me off more anyways.
I should stop before I break my keyboard.