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[repentantsky2]

Why a Bloodborne Remake/Remaster is a good idea, but makes most PlayStation first Party remakes complaints, invalid.

Sorry for the long title there, but let’s be honest, people having been asking for a remake or remaster of Bloodborne, since they knew for sure that the next gen, now current gen PS5, was called the PS5. With the recent release of The Last of Us Part 1, not even a month ago as of me writing this, and the rumors of a Horizon Zero Dawn remake and multiplayer co-op game, the demand for a Bloodborne remake or remaster has yet again been in high demand on places like twitter. It’s almost to the point where if you’re on gaming twitter, unless you stick to more niche title like The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero, or any other currently popular AA or indie title, you’re going to see talk about Bloodborne. 

I have no problem with the idea of remaking or remastering Bloodborne at all, but it does bring up a point worth mentioning, and that’s that people complaining about The Last of Us getting a remake was a bad idea because it’s on PS4 or because it’s only 9 years old, is complete bull. While I agree that Bloodborne deserves the remake more than Horizon Zero Dawn does, that doesn’t change the fact that the two biggest arguments against TLoU Part 1, and what will inevitably be the two biggest arguments against an HZD Remake, are completely loads of crap. While people like myself already knew this, after all people have been asking for at least that Bloodborne remaster for over 3 years now, despite it being a 2015 game, I think it should become obvious to anyone who hasn’t been paying as much attention, that these supposed solid talking points, are just people who would rather a game they prefer get the treatment that games they don’t are now getting.

Again, don’t misunderstand, while I don’t think HZD needs a remake or remaster, hell on PC the game looks almost as good as the PS5 version of Horizon Forbidden West, I wasn’t as upset about The Last of Us Part 1. But my problem is, I don’t like it when people lie to try and make a point, and it’s clear as day those two major complaints, were along the lines, “rules for thee, but not for me” and you had better believe that if the tables were turned, Bloodborne fans would be acting the same way as they’ve called Last of Us fans out for acting. If someone who would rather Bloodborne was getting this treatment just straight up told me, that’s what they want, and they don’t care about other games getting the same treatment as much, if at all, I could respect that, whether I agreed or not, but the lying to try and not seem that way, honestly comes off as very toxic, if not entitled or just plain “I’m better than you because my game tastes are better, says me and this army of twitter who can’t stop tweeting the same thing.” 

Now, all that aside, a lot of people seem to misunderstand that the barrier for doing anything for the game, is different than other PlayStation exclusives. I’ve seen several people claim that Bloodborne is a 1st party game, and it is not. These days, FromSoftware, the company that developed it, is owned by a lot of different people. Well, technically 3 or 4. While I’m not 100% certain Bandai Namco has anything to do with them anymore, I do know that Tencent, Kadokawa, Kadokawa Games and Sony all have a piece of the pie. While Kadokawa would likely only be one entity to deal with while making a game, Tencent and Sony are different beasts. Obviously, Sony is going to want more games exclusive to the PS5, while Kadokawa and Tencent likely want the biggest audience. Assuming that’s true, the work needed to get the game remade as an exclusive, is a large hurdle to overcome. Sony can’t just snap their fingers, find a developer to make the game, and bam it’s done. Something has to give between at least enough of those who have ownership in FromSoftware, for a game to be made exclusive to the PS5, or even be on PC and PS5. Would I like that to happen, sure, but does it take more work from Sony to get it done, thus decreasing incentive to do it? Yeah. 

So, next time you’re talking about Remasters or Remakes for games that are in Sony’s library, please do everyone a favor, be kind, don’t lie, inform yourself of what it actually takes to get what you want, and don’t insult people who want something different. Let’s just enjoy video games yeah?  

[repentantsky2]

I’m Gonna say something controversial about The Last of Us

And no, if you’re wanting to debate the point of the remake, or it’s temporary problem of cost, this isn’t the place to do it, that’s not what I’m here for. What I’m here to talk about is the obvious and big problem the franchise should address if there is a Part 3, and that’s just how pointless it is to keep acting like Joel was ever wrong for saving Ellie, or that Ellie is somehow so special that we should agree that her dying would have been a good idea. 

Normally, you wouldn’t apply real life ideas into a form of media, but since The Last of Us takes place in our real world with the only fantastical element being a real life fungal virus that can now infect humans, I think we can do that somewhat. And you don’t have to apply much to realize how pointless it is to keep these two plot points going. 

The fact of the matter is, Ellie, likely has a form of infection that makes her immune to other versions of the cordyceps infection, which is a real thing. Ellie is immune because, based on her blood work you can find in Part 2, she’s basically got a suppressed immune system for things like colds, or the flu, but is completely immune to other infections from cordyceps. 

The type of fungus she’s probably infected with is called Tolypocladium Inflatum, which does attack all other forms of cordyceps fungi, thereby keeping her from getting infected by them. Again, her bloodwork in The Last of Us Part 2 is basically consistent with beings infected with that type of infection. Though they are too low, especially her red and white blood cell count, because the game is trying to express how different she is, the fact remains that scientifically, there’s an explanation, and the Inflatum variation matches it perfectly. 

That aside, there’s also the fact that what they were going to do to make a vaccine was completely pointless. They were going to kill her, when in fact the best thing to do would have been to extract her blood for plasma whenever it was needed to produce more vaccine, because the cordyceps being produced in her, could travel through the bloodstream, and achieve the goal they intended, while killing her would not. 

More than anything else though, creating a vaccine is pretty pointless. Vaccine’s don’t prevent from people getting sick, they just decrease the odds that someone will get infected, unless heard immunity is reached, or that if they catch the virus for which the vaccine was made, that they’ll be less sick because the body will better know how to fight it. However, as we’ve learned with COVID, and as those who have been getting flu shots over the years know, a virus mutates, thereby making a previous vaccine less effective, meaning Ellie would likely at best only give people a better fighting chance to take on the bite of a runner. If you breathe into too many spores from a bloater, or get attacked by a clicker, that immunity likely wouldn’t transfer. 

All of this is to say, that Joel was absolutely right in saving Ellie in the first game, and honestly, I think it would be incredibly interesting if the plot ever addressed that. Imagine Ellie, trying to either find Dina or some place where she’s no longer alone, and she either stumbles along a research facility that explains how pointless a vaccine would be, and that a cure is needed instead, or if she met a character that knew that a vaccine wouldn’t do any good. The reaction from Ellie, realizing she spent a year with Joel trying to save the world, or that everything she went through during the time she knew him really wasn’t what she thought it was, would not only possibly be traumatic, and interesting, but also a way for her to feel some relief, to finally cope somewhat with her survivors guilt, the thing that ate at her most in Part 2′s ending. 

That plot point alone I feel would be enough to justify a sequel, to see how they could write Ellie’s reaction, to see how fans would react, and to give Ellie a chance to change perspective, and allow her to move on from the emotional state she was left in when last we saw her. I don’t know, just a bit of real life logic, and a suggestion for where the plot could go if they acknowledged it. Got anything to add, let me know. 

[repentantsky2]

The New Gameplay of The Last of Us Part 1

A few things of note here. One, the Last of us Part 1 gameplay is clearly a few builds out of date, and could easily be from when Naughty Dog first got the game almost 10 months ago. Two, I think of people are forgetting that The Last of Us isn't a pretty world by and large so it's visually not the best intentionally, to show the world in a dilapidated state. Three, it's obvious they had a lot of work to do, because that one enemy catching on fire about 15 seconds late is a glitch from the original game that I have experienced twice in the past.

My overall thoughts from this and other footage we've seen of The Last of Us Part 1, is that it's not a good day one buy unless you're such a fan that you don't care about it's flaws, which is fine, you're allowed to that do despite everyone intentionally trying to harm the project. I don't honestly think it's that serious. It does feel like a project made for the intent of getting it out there for fans of the upcoming show, and that's about it, so be smart about when you want to get it, and I hope my analysis is accurate, and it's not a mess on release. However if I’m wrong and the game is a mess that requires lots of patch work after release, I won’t be too shocked either. 

Do I hope it’s fine on release and not indictive of Naughty Dog having to pick up the scraps of a project they weren’t given enough time to fix before forcing the game out on PS5 because Jim Ryan said so? Yes, because I think most people are throwing too much hate at it that isn’t justified, but you never know with Jim Ryan, so we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, I don’t suppose this will much help with people who actually think they are going to make the game fail by complaining about it on twitter and other platforms, and I can’t also help but feel like if this does fail, it’d be the beginning of the end for Jim Ryan, which I’m all for.

[repentantsky2]

In regards to recent video game Review Bombings (Based on my best guesses)

Well, here we are again, review bombing of games for “reasons” however those reasons aren’t so simple, and while most people will either break it down to be a black and white affair, and many others will simply not care, it is worth noting that in this case, there are reasons for at least two games getting the bombs dropped on their review scores. 

The two games that are getting hit the most if you aren’t aware, are Digimon Survive, a visual novel/tactical RPG that in it’s marketing, failed to mention that visual novel aspect much, if at all, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Now, as was mentioned, the reason behind Digimon Survive being review bombed, is likely due to it not being clear that the game was a visual novel first, and tactical RPG second. It should have been made obvious from the moment it was possible to do so, that Digimon Survive is not a Cyber Sleuth type of game, nor is it in many regards, like Fire Emblem. Both of those were probably at least somewhat part of the expectations for the game, but with little gameplay shown outside of talking to Digimon themselves, and combat in the games, the marketing clearly failed. Marketing in a huge deal in game, despite how many people loudly proclaim their undying love for a new game off of it’s first announcement, and nothing else to be said, Bandai Namco did inform people properly. That is reason to be frustrated, as I would be do had I not known. I did, because I looked at the steam listing and it said as much before release, but not everyone is going to do that. Informing people what they are getting into before they make a purchase, is imperative to earn and keep their trust, that simply didn’t happen here, and I understand being upset about that. 

When it comes to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, there’s also reasons to be upset. Some more logical than others, there’s a review up as of my writing this, that basically praises Pyra, and seem to hate XC3 simple because she’s not a prominent member of the new entry in the series, if indeed she shows up at all. That one is clearly nonsense, but nonsense is also something fans have clearly dealt with leading up to the release of the game as well. Trying to purchase the collector’s edition, was at least as bad as trying to buy an Xbox One or PS5 was when the consoles first released in 2020, and it shouldn’t be like that. Nintendo’s site would crash, the item would appear in someone’s cart but leave for no reason while the item was still in stock, and of course, like all limited editions, bots that we’ve been begging be regulated to some extent for years, nabbed some of the copies, leaving scalpers to try and sell the game for hundreds of dollars to rise up it’s value before release. This issue happened on more than one occasion, and in more than one country, and Nintendo did nothing, as usual. These major corporations have proven time and again that they don’t care about their consumers, they care about their money, and one thing is certain, almost no one who would fight that hard to get the collector’s edition and failed, would be dissuaded from buying the regular game, so little to no money lost on Nintendo’s part, they’re good.     

This is sort of event is not uncommon, and Nintendo is by no means the only ones who it. GameStop has been known to allow people to preorder a game, only to cancel close to release with no reason given, Amazon has done it, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us even got me like that once, and whatever stores people may have tried to order games from in the past in their part of the world, have also done this. What this all boils down to in the long run is this. Anti-consumerism is a alive and well all forms of media. Every major company that provides a service of this nature has done it’s consumers wrong. It’s a standard that we need to be willing to be more actively against, however this post isn’t solely about that, I could write about that though should anyone want to hear it. 

Now comes the review bombing, a sort of way to get back at developers who wrong people, and it’s something that 99.999999999999% of the time, I fully am against. The only example I can truly think of where I understood it and thought it was earned, was Cyberpunk 2077 because boy was that game just based on lies. As for Digimon and XC3 though, that’s not really helping. If you want you’re favorite series to continue, review bombing damaged those chances, because sadly even though there are many of us who don’t really care about reviews unless the bombings happen, the investors and by extension publishers, do care, a lot. Bonuses, sequels, entire series have been ended by fan perception of what is ultimately, not the fault of the game’s themselves, and dismisses the amount of work that goes into developing said games, and it’s not really fair to attack the developers, as opposed to those who sold you lies because the board told them to. I don’t not support review bombing, and I do hope in the future, people will seriously learn that attacking a game with your words has little to no effect. Also, whatever you do, no matter how mad you are, don’t attack the developers online over this or threaten them. That makes you a garbage person. Be better. 

[repentantsky2]

Ranking Marvel Phase 4

Excluding ranking No Way Home as I feel like I’d need to get into spoilers to do that, and What if because it’s hard to know what if any implications it has for the MCU overall, I am going to rank everything from the MCU’s current phase and give takes on why they are where they are. I’ll be doing shows, then I’ll be doing movies and the ranks will be from best to worst. My name is RepentantSky, and let’s get into it. 

1. Hawkeye. 

I really enjoyed this show. While the one plot point of getting home in time for Christmas was a little dumb and very predictable in how it ended, the twists in the shows, and the pacing at which characters were developed, introduced, or how they returned to the MCU proper, in ways I won’t talk about because again, spoilers, was really fantastic. The introduction of Kate Bishop was handled wonderfully, and the show itself didn’t try to force jokes where they didn’t belong, and hey what do you know, they actually had a positive look on larpers, further proving that it’s okay to be a nerd about something, nice! The acting and direction were phenomenal, and it was just overall an enjoyable show to watch, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the antagonists we see in the show, because I feel like they needed more time to be developed so we truly cared about what happened to them.

2. Falcon and The Winter Solider. 

A lot of the good things about Hawkeye, must have come from the ideas of this show. While I think it overall actually has less weaknesses than Hawkeye, I won’t lie to you and say that my ranking doesn’t at least in part have something to do with the characters involved, which will become more apparent in the next entry. That said, Falcon’s arc to becoming the new Captain America, was amazing. I like how it focused more on why he did it, rather than just instantly saying that Cap is out, so here’s his replacement, have fun. It also hit on some really serious issues that matter a lot in today’s world, and did it right, with the right actors, at the right time. The villain’s were also very compelling, and the return characters were very well handled in their new roles. 

3. Loki.

Look, I’m gonna be honest, this is where the MCU started losing me. Loki is a great character, Tom Hiddleston is an amazing actor, but he’s not main character material, or at least, Loki isn’t. It kinda shows that Disney didn’t learn anything from making Mater the main character in Cars as that franchise kept moving along. Loki’s change of character also comes out of nowhere, and ultimately, everything that happened did little overall accept let people know that certain characters exist and to remind us that branching timelines will be a thing moving forward. The show does have some positives though, such as female Loki being absolutely incredible in every scene, and references in the latter part of the series were great fun, and unlike every other show in this phase, it was actually pretty funny. I do think it has some flaws worth mentioning, but overall, it was enjoyable, but not fantastic. 

4. Wandavision. 

Yeah, I’m not even sorry, I do not like this show. I know there’s this overarching theme, and everything happens for a reason, and it’s all really well planned out, I’ve read every positive take on twitter that’s out there, but I just can’t bring myself to care. The plots of each decade are too drawn out and take up too much time in the show, forcing it to rush through the parts of it that really matter, thus giving the entire thing pacing issues. It might be have been better if I hadn’t binged it, but I binged the rest of them without any real problems, so the fact that this show suffers so much when you do, when Disney had to know that people would when it was finished, just tells me that it wasn’t handled right. The ending is absolutely fantastic, and possibly brings in the most foresight of what could happen in this phase, and moving forward, what else there might be to look forward to, but to get to that point, I had to sit through too much of plots that I didn’t care about, to get the one I did. It was a nice experiment, but in my personal opinion, it didn’t pan out as well as it was intended to. 

Now, I’m gonna talk about movies, also from best to worst, but I’m also gonna have some controversial opinions to boot, so get ready for that. Here we go! 

1. Shang-Chi. 

I love movies that take time to look into the cultures their characters come from, without making a big deal about it, because there’s no reason to. Shang-Chi I feel handles that very well. The only real problem I have with this movie, is that they put Trevor back into the plot, and he survived. That’s a reference I don’t think anyone needed, and he spends too much time in the film for being little else but a reference, and some comedy relief. The visuals, up until the end were fantastic, the comedy outside of Trevor was handled wonderfully, the characters are very likeable, and I can’t wait to see more of them, and the implications for future events were engaging. There’s nothing really wrong with this movie, which is great, because if I didn’t like it, it probably wouldn’t have inspired me to catch up with the rest of Phase 4 in the first place. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it. 

2. Black Widow. 

Yeah, I had to think about this one a lot. Since I’m only ranking three movies here, it made it even more difficult, especially since unlike most other people, I don’t think any of these movies are actually bad, there’s just parts of them that aren’t the best. The bad parts in Black Widow mostly come down to it trying to be like a James Bond movie, or a Mission Impossible, but not having the ability to do so, because of the way Marvel movies just always are. The introduction of new characters though, and the implementation of Black Widow I thought were handled really well, showing that Marvel and Disney really do know how to make movies and shows for characters without powers, really enticing. Obviously there won’t be anymore of these films, and for good reason, but if that’s how things have to end for Black Widow, minus ruining Task Master, which I think some people are taking way to hard, it was a good film. 

3. The Eternals. 

I don’t, actually have serious any issues with this film. The only reason it’s ranked third out of three, is because it does kind of drag here or there. However, the twists of the villain's being anything but you would think they are is really well done, and the Eternals themselves are well written, plus those mid and end credit scenes are implying some of the most interesting parts of Marvel lore that haven’t yet been introduced. But I really do enjoy the characters, the story they tell, the battles they have, and of course, the importance of life and death, and what it means for each of the characters, who all act differently towards it, despite them having similar ideals. Of course to, it is worth mentioning that we have a disabled and a gay hero confirmed, and they didn’t make a huge deal about either, and any time someone tried to, they were admonished pretty heavily for it, but I still like this film. It’s the weakest overall, but only just, and it’s still better than Iron Man’s sequels. 

And that’s my list. Do you agree? Do you think I’m crazy for ranking them the way I did? Let me know in the comments below, and have a wonderful day.