04-07-2013, 09:18 AM
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)
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)