Alright. It’s a bit disingenuous to keep calling this a quick look since I’m on post four, but I’m going to stubbornly sticking to that because I can. It’s also amusing because I have played an hour or so of the game (maybe two), which is not very much playing time in comparison to how much I’ve written about it. The reason why, though, is because it’s more about the developer and my feelings about them rather than this game itself. Here’s post three in which I outlaid some of my frustrations with this dev. I’ll be continuing down that path and maybe get back to this game in particular.
The combat is just too much for me. Not only are their hordes rushing me at all times, but there are several different systems that you have to interact with at any given time. In addition, my reflexes are shit, and there are three deflects in this game. Different deflects, I mean. LB for the basic deflect. B for the soul deflect (I think?) and RT for another kind of deflect that blocks the next hit. Or something? I’m not sure at all. Oh, and the buttons do different things in different situations so the RT thing is only with…a certain kind of weapon? A certain job? I don’t remember. Way too much shit thrown at me.
That’s my gripe with their games in general. There is just way too much of everything. In Wo Long, I liked the system of being able to up your level (basically) in each area by finding certain, ah, things. Look, I don’t remember what they are, ok??? That made enemies easier by raising your level. For the area, not your overall level. That was cool, but finding the flags/statutes/I think they’re flags became tedious because they were put in weird places. I mean, most of them were on the natural path, but there were a few each area that you really need to search for. And I really needed them for the bosses, I’ll tell you what. The bosses were a fucking pain. Which is common in their games.
For me, they were harder in an artificial way than From bosses. I mean, there are times when From buys their own shit and makes a boss harder than it needs to be, but nothing like the bosses in Team Ninja games. I know it’s me. I know it’s because I can’t fully absorb their systems. I have tried since the first Nioh and have never gotten there. I did the best with Wo Long, which is easier than the Niohs, but I got so frustrated with the shitty level design.
There. I said it. The level design is so inferior to From’s, and, yes, they’re the gold standard. The level design is why I play the games, and if other games don’t have that, then I’m not interested. I don’t play the games for the difficulty, and I know I sound like I’m being smarmy when I say that, but it’s true. Once I released myself from thinking that I had to prove myself in the games, I had a much better time with them.
The bottom line is that games should be fun and/or absorbing and/or thought-provoking. What is fun for one person is not necessarily what is fun for someone else. I keep thinking about when Aoife and Ian from Eurogamer were co-oping Elden Ring. Ian was saynig cheerfully how he would summon in his own playthrough. Aoife said he should try bosses solo a few times just to get to know them better. She added that it was more satisfying to kill them solo (with a spirit summon, just no human summons or NPC summons), and Ian said he found it plenty satisfying to kill bosses with other humans. Aoife sounded defeated when she said something about everyone plays differently, but I was firmly on Ian’s side.
Play the way you want to play! He was having a blaast with it because he didn’t get too stuck on a boss. It’s better to keep playing and have fun than to quit the game completely because you can’t play it the way you’re ‘supposed’ to play it. In fact, a lot of people gave up on Dark Souls because they bought into the idea that there was only one way to play it.
In this game, I am just not having fun. For whatever reason, the click/it factor with Team Ninja games just isn’t there for me. I remember in one of the RKG livestreams, I caused a minor kerfuffle because I preferred Junkyard Souls, ah…why do I always forget the name of that game?! The Surge! That’s it. Developer Deck13. I preferred The Surge to Nioh. I got so many heated comments about how Nioh was CLEARLY the better game, and it wasn’t even close! that’s when I casually said that I liked The Surge better, not that it was a better game. I will admit I took an inordinate amount of glee in the indignation I caused. I hadn’t done it on purpose, but I did enjoy it.
I never feel like I have a grip on things when I play Team Ninja games. There are so many things to remember and unlike From games, I feel as if I’m missing something if I don’t come to grips with all the systems. People like to complain about all the esoteric systems in From games, and it’s true. There are many, and they are, indeed, esoteric. But for whatever reason, they don’t seem overwhelming. Maybe it’s because I’ve played all the way through six of them and I’ve become accustomed to the systems (and I know which ones I can ignore), but they don’t seem as complicated as these systems.
I have not played Killing Chaos (this game) in two days, and when I think about going back to it, I sigh heavily. It feels like a chore rather than something I want to do. I think it’s a good game (for what it is), but it’s just not for me.