Finished Demon's Souls for the first time last week. It's very clunky compared to the later games (especially Dark Souls III and Bloodborne) but it was really interesting to see where the series started. Some of the areas are fantastic too, but I was pretty underwhelmed but the boss fights.
I'm considering going for the platinum but I'm not sure I can be bothered with the farming.
@benofbrown
If you weren't aware, those roots go back even further—all the way to 1994. The King's Field series is considered the spiritual predecessor to the Souls series.
@benofbrown
I only ever played 1 and a bit of 2 (2 and 3 respectively in Japan), and clunky doesn't even begin to cover it.
But there's definitely a continuity of vision. KF1 is one of the few games I played to completion more than once. When I found Dark Souls, I had no idea it was from the same developer, but it brought back all those King's Field feels.
@A_Noyd I am aware of King's Field, though from what I've seen of them they're even more clunky than Demon's Souls. Also they predate Miyazaki at From Software, I'm not sure I want to play a non-Miyazaki FromSoft game, especially not after my experience with Dark Souls II.