Building comparison
head to head
Demon's SoulsvsFinal Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV asks more than Demon's Souls, and the gap is optimization.
Demon's Souls
Execution · Practiced Mastery
The original Souls game: scripted boss patterns you solve with builds, routes and disciplined execution.
Final Fantasy XIV
Optimization · Pure Optimization
An MMORPG where scripted raids reward rotation execution and route memorization.
Demon's Souls leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Final Fantasy XIV leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Demon's SoulsFinal Fantasy XIV
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 6
Demon's Souls leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Demon's Souls
Stamina-timed dodges and parries punish sloppy hands.
Final Fantasy XIV
Tight raid rotations and mechanic dodges
Reads1 vs 1
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Demon's Souls
Invasions exist but bosses are scripted patterns.
Final Fantasy XIV
Bosses follow fixed scripted timelines
Variance2 vs 1
Demon's Souls leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Demon's Souls
World tendency and upgrade drops add mild noise.
Final Fantasy XIV
Very little RNG in core content
Optimization7 vs 9
Final Fantasy XIV leans clearly harder on optimization.
Demon's Souls
Builds, routes and learned movesets are fully solvable.
Final Fantasy XIV
Rotations and raid solves are theorycraft puzzles
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.