VGFacts

So I am a HUGE fan of Dark Souls as well as Demons' Souls, and I would love to make a contribution to the site based on it. However, I am not sure if this is the kind of thing that would be appropriate for a Trivia post. It's incredibly long and it has no real source due to it just being observation by a diehard fan (although some portions will require proper sources, which I will note if I can't find the source proper tonight). I'm willing to clean this up later on, tonight I'm just really compiling the notes before I forget and getting whatever critique I can. Anything I'm really questioning about whether or not to mention it I'll highlight in another color and make a note why I feel like its questionable and see what others think:

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As a spiritual to Demons' Souls, Dark Souls features a large number of characters, monsters, locations and equipment that pay homage to its equally difficult predecessor:

-Both games feature a character called the Crestfallen Warrior shortly after their introductory stages. In Demons' Souls, the warrior is a spirit who eventually fades away completely, while in Dark Souls the warrior starts out human, but eventually succumbs to his anguish and becomes a Hollow.

-Dark Souls' Solaire of Astora somewhat parallels Demons' Souls' Ostrava of Boletaria. Both are speculated to be the sons of the games' antagonist kings (the latter actually outright telling the player he is the son of Allant), and both have the potential to have their storylines end rather tragically.

-Knight Lautrec of Carim heavily resembles Yurt, the Silent Chief from Demons' Souls, both in fighting style and character. Both fight using Shotels and daggers for parrying, both are cryptic and curt with the player, both are completely armored with their faces covered, and both murder other NPCs in the game's progression.

-Bighat Logan and Sage Freke both have apprentices who zealously overpraise their masters' accomplishments.

-Siegmeyer of Catarina's jovial personality and his need to take naps immediately after certain battles resembles Biorr of the Twin Fangs.

-Oswald of Carim bears resemblance to Mephistopheles from Demons' Souls. Both wear masks and both fight using rapiers and parrying daggers.

-Both games have timid crow characters who trade items with the player.

-Patches the Hyena appears in both games, up to dirty tricks both times around.

-(Requires source, will add later) Though not an officially appearing homage, the character Shiva of the East has unused dialogue for a supposed quest string that would make him comparable to the character Satsuki from Demons' Souls. If the event HAD been used, both characters would send the player for a particular life-draining katana and proceed to attempt killing them over it.

-The introductory stages of both games feature an obese demon wielding a large weapon as the first boss of the game. However, unlike Demons' Souls Vanguard, the Asylum Demon of Dark Souls must be defeated in order to progress further into the game.

-The Belfry Gargoyles mimics the concept of the Maneaters. Both are a pair of gargoyle twins, the second of which emerging shortly after the first to surprise the player. Both sets have deadly attacks with their tails, and both sets can have their tails severed.

-The Iron Golem seems to pay homage to the Tower Knight from Demons' Souls. Aside from the two being giant armored knights, they have few other similarities.

-Pinwheel pays homage to the Fool's Idol. Both are magic-wielding enemies with the ability to make copies of themselves that can all attack the player.

-Both games feature red, fire-breathing dragons guarding long castle bridges.

-The Ceaseless Discharge bears a resemblance to a gigantic Flamelurker from Demons' Souls.

-The Bed of Chaos, like the Dragon God of Demons' Souls, cannot actually be damaged directly at first. Both bosses require the player to activate two event points on opposing sides of the boss that then make the boss beatable. Perhaps by coincidence, both are bosses of areas heavily associated with fire.

-The location Blighttown is incredibly similar to the Land of Defilement. Both contain poisonous swamps and grotesque enemies, the landscape littered with toppling wood structures and precarious catwalks.
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The main issue I have with these is the fact that a lot of them are almost like taking two Mario games and posting the fact that Goombas appeared in both games as trivia. However, I don't know whether some would be worthwhile considering Dark Souls is not a direct sequel, per se. In addition if any of these were accepted, I might have to gather up visual references, which I currently do not have prepared.

Doing a few multiple posts to divide up the post numbers for the purposes of trivia submissions. First off a bit of general From Software trivia.

"Ever since the first King's Field game, From Software has included a
weapon called the Moonlight Sword in many of their game titles. The
structure of both its exact name and appearance varies from title to
title, but it has appeared in many of their titles, ranging from King's
Field, Armored Core, Demon's and Dark Souls, and 3D Dot Game Heroes.
They even named an RPG making program for PC based on King's Field
called "Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool".Ever since the first King's Field game, From Software has included a
weapon called the Moonlight Sword in many of their game titles. The
structure of both its exact name and appearance varies from title to
title, but it has appeared in many of their titles, ranging from King's
Field, Armored Core, Demon's and Dark Souls, and 3D Dot Game Heroes.
They even named an RPG making program for PC based on King's Field
called "Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool"."

The Evidence:

Image Only:

King's Field
Sword of Moonlight Title Screen
Demon's Souls
Dark Souls
Armored Core V

Video:
King's Field
Sword of Moonlight demonstration
Demon's Souls
Armored Core V
3D Game Dot Heroes

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Despite the name, the Four Kings fight can produce more or in rare cases less than Four Kings. This is due to the nature that the boss fight itself is one health bar shared between however many kings required to empty it, with a new king spawning every minute there is less than four. Because of this spawning, if a player kills three kings and fails to kill the fourth fast enough, three more kings can eventually spawn with full health on the individual monsters, but no additional health added to the total health bar. The health also seems to increase when Phantoms are summoned to assist the player.

On the flip side, under the right conditions there can be as little as ONE king spawned that still results in victory for the player. Kings cannot INDIVIDUALLY be damaged when performing their Lifedrain grab, but attacking a king in the middle of the animation does damage to the total Kings lifebar. They are still able to be damaged during their death animation as well, and with enough players and the proper buffs, this makes killing less than four of the Kings possible.

Four Kings Explanation:
http://darksouls.wikidot.com/the-four-kings

A fight demonstrating kings returning after being defeated.
A fight demonstrating only ONE king dying.

Many of the enemies and bosses are callbacks to ones from Demon's Souls. Some references are subtle gameplay elements, others are visual recreations of previous enemies, and others are nearly full copies. The list is tremendously long, but for the sake of brevity here are a few examples of each:

The Fool's Idol inspired Pinwheel: Both bosses are magic-wielding enemies who create copies of themselves, and while the copies die easily they are equally capable of damaging the player. In addition, both bosses have multiple arms.

The Tower Knight inspired the Iron Golem and the Sentinels: In terms of gameplay elements, the Iron Golem is very much like the Tower Knight, as a fully-armored giant whose weakness lies in his heels, where the player can cause him to fall onto his back. The sentinels, however, mimic the Tower Knight in their tall shield and long spear fighting styles, borrowing several animations as well.

The Red Dragon inspired the Hellkite Dragon miniboss: Both red dragons guard bridges in gothic castle locations, flying over the bridge and breathing fire across it, effectively incinerating surprised players.

The Dragon God inspired the Bed of Chaos: Both boss fights pit the player against a monster of tremendous size who cannot seem to be damaged conventionally. Small puzzles allow the player to enable new phases in the fight while being forced to dodge their attacks. In the end, when all the puzzle parts are activated, the player eventually reaches the nearly helpless boss to inflict a final blow. However, in both cases, its still possible to be killed even when the boss is seemingly helpless if one isn't careful.

The Maneaters inspired the Belfry Gargoyles: Both boss battles begin with a single gargoyle who can perform devastating attacks thanks to their tails (which can be severed). After a set amount of time or after the first is damaged enough, a second one flies into the battlefield, making the battle increasingly difficult.

The Old Hero compared to Seath: While fundamentally different in almost every way, both bosses are blind. While Seath is far more aggressive and capable when compared to the Old Hero's blindness, it IS possible to at least partially distract Seath with the spell Aural Decoy when the player's footsteps are hushed with a spell or item.

The Fat Ministers compared to the Channelers: Again, though visually different, they serve similar purposes. Both enemies capture NPCs throughout the game, both are sadistic torturers, and both have appearances that can surprise players and seriously hinder progress with their strong magical attacks.

Excecutioner Miralda compared to Man-eater Mildred: Both characters are sack-wearing women with gruesome backstories, and both can appear as Black Phantoms. However, Mildred's weapon of choice and her ability to run freely in a swamp more closely resembles a nameless Black Phantom hidden in the Valley of Defilement.

(Will edit with more later and include the sources of these)