Beat the game. Level 102 and 48 hours of gameplay. There is a good ending and a bad ending to the game. I got the good one.
According to my stats at the end, I died 127 times -which is a lot less then I thought. The game is hard, but its doable. Always challenging, but very enjoyable. A gamer's game. Once you get better items and spells later it gets a lot easier. And the boss battles are set up so that even if you die there is always a route you can open up to directly go back to the boss in several minutes and try again.
From the Japanese online leader boards, the times died usually range between 50-200 times to complete the game . Most people seem to beat the game in 40-50 hours and around level 80 (some people have beat this game is 15 hours), leveling up is relatively easy later in the game, so if a boss is difficult, it's usually better to find another boss, change your approach or just level up before challenging again. This way, difficulty levels can be reduced significantly if you're not that skilled.
Even after the first play-through there is a LOT I missed. Especially all those hidden bosses and events. I'm going to start playing SO4 and then return to Demon's Soul soon after (this is a hard gaming month, also thinking about getting Yakuza 3 but wasn't too impressed by the graphics in the demo). But this is one of the few games I want to continue playing after the main storyline.
Overall, great game, I can understand why its already gotten such a cult following in Japan. Hope they sell enough of this game to make a sequel, because this game has the potential to become a hit ARPG series in Japan like Monster Hunter.
