#the fromsoft experience™

[fluffypichu876]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

not my sunbro...

damn you miyazaki...

[trans-neptunian-objects]

Since a Fromsoft game is coming out and people are doing the ritualistic Difficultly Discourse™, here’s my 2 cents as an artist, game maker, and art enjoyer. Games are art, and it is in fact a good thing that large groups of people don’t or can’t enjoy any given piece of art. There are pieces of art I love dearly that lots of people just will never enjoy, because they’re physically unable to, mentally not engaged by it, have different artistic priorities, or some combination of the above. One of my favorite films has a sequence of flashing lights and a lot of my favorite games require twitch reactions. It sucks that I can’t share those experiences with everyone, but I’m still glad those pieces of art exist because I and other people can. People conflate difficulty with disability accomodations, and while there's definitely overlap, there's a fundamental difference between the two artistically.

Accommodations are absolutely a good thing, and I’m glad they’re becoming more normalized. Colourblind modes, audio subtitles, and controller remapping are all things I want to include in my games if I’m able to, but the former 2 are always going to be imperfect translations of the underlying art. Audiobooks add the narrators bias to the writing, subtitles can’t capture vocal inflections, a black and white version of a game with colour can’t capture the use of different hues. These accomodations do create an artistically compromised experience, but they're non-destructive to the underlying art, they don't change it fundamentally. If you have the resources I think you should absolutely add those accommodations.

Unlike those accomodations though, a change to difficulty is going to fundamentally alter the underlying art. If [STRAW FROMSOFT GAME] did have an easy mode, it would be a different game. Lots of able-bodied people would have played on easy, and they would have had a different experience that wouldn’t have mentally engaged them the way the designers wanted. Working through the difficulty and engaging with the games on their terms is what makes them satisfying and interesting experiences. It’s a valid choice to not to make the compromise of an easy mode if you think it’s going to undermine your artistic intent. Some of what make games unique as art form is that they can engage your problem solving and execution faculties and respond to them. If you’re demanding that a game be made easier, you’re asking for a different piece of art, and the designers probably aren't interested in making that. It does suck that some people won't be able to enjoy a rigidly difficult game, but art is always better when it's not compromising itself to appeal to as many people as possible.

It’s also worth noting that a large reason people demand easy modes, or for the removal of abrasive game mechanics (weapon fallibility for example), is because we increasingly live in a media culture where larger projects with bigger budgets are deliberately made to be as artistically unchallenging as possible. As an artist I think this sucks ass, and you should try expanding your boundaries because that’s where the most interesting experiences are, but if you really don’t want to be challenged by art, then at least accept that lots of people do. Games do not have to be "fun", you can experience satisfaction or artistic fulfillment through a whole spectrum of emotions.

[synchronmurmurs]

Thoughts on bloodborne npcs, who's your favourite? Who do you hate? Ect ect.

MAGS BLESS!!!! I AM ALWAYS SO DOWN TO TALK ABOUT BLOODBORNE ����💖💖

My fave is Ludwig!! I’m a HUUUUUGE sucker for the fallen from grace character, the gallant knight who succumbs to darkness, the one who just tried so hard and got so far, but in the end, it doesn’t even matter, and my pal Luddy is this in spades!!! The bossfight itself is also really special and memorable for me. I unfortunately didn’t get to experience the absolute jawdropping moment when Dark Souls players went into the Artorias of the Abyss DLC for the first time only to realise they HAD TO FIGHT ARTORIAS HIMSELF (long story, but the main takeaway is that FromSoft didn’t mentioned this AT ALL in promo material. In fact, the DLC was announced like... a month before it was released IIRC? So it took almost everybody by complete surprise). Ludwig was something of a spiritual successor to Artorias, in that while we knew we would be fighting Luddy as a boss, FromSoft kept the entire second phase of the fight a secret, even from playable demos at various gaming conventions leading up to release.

So that first time I got Luddy down to 50% HP and triggered the second phase?

I started screaming.

It was just... such an incredible moment. I’m gonna sound like a pretentious Gamer™, but bear with me for a second: there’s a very particular rush that SoulsBorne offers, and not many other games have managed to make me lose my shit the way this series has. Just *CHEFS KISS X 100000000*

ANYWAY lasdhf Valtr is probably my second fave NPC, just because he decided on taking no more shit from beasts and just ate a whole one by himself. Most metal mf in the game, if you ask me. His voice is also 😤👌🔥 Simon is also fun. Weird how all the NPCs I like are from the DLC lmao

Most hated NPC though? I’m not actually sure. Everybody adds at least a little atmosphere to the game, and I think they’re all equally important in that aspect. 🤔 Buuuuuut if I had to pick someone, then it’s the Bigoted Old Man/Skeptical Man that lives opposite Arianna. I never bother saving him anymore. 😤