I’m branching out from talking about soulslikes to talking about pop culture in general. Why? Well, because I can, but also because it’s pretty much the same mentality. What do I mean? I mean I don’t like most pop culture in general. I have specific pockets of things I like, but in general, they are not in synch with the world around me. Except musically. I like some pop, mostly pop that is considered bubblegummy. I take great pleasure in having lousy taste. I don’t give a shit. I like what I like, and if someone wants to be sneery about it, so be it.
This especially applies to movies and television. People react negatively when I say I don’t care for either as a general rule. There is just no way to put that without sounding either snobbish or like a huge weirdo. I am definitely not the former, as in I’m not saying I don’t watch TV because it’s beneath me. There are people who say that, and it’s very cringeworthy.
Here’s the thing. I have liked a few TV shows, but I either lost interest after a few seasons when the show went off the rails or it got canceled before I could really get into it. I really prefer British seasons in that they are shorter and there are less of them. I don’t think they tend to have shows that are ten+ years long, which is a good thing in general.
The problem is that you want the characters to grow as the series continues, but you can’t change them too much or they risk turning fans off. You can see it in shows that go a long time–they lose the heart of what made them good–and popular. They are the victims of their own success, in other words.
It’s like the Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumped a shark. In fact, that’s why ‘jumping the shark’ now means doing something wild in desperation to revive a flagging series. I understand why it happens, but it would be kinder just to let the series go. (Money. Money is why it happens.)
How does this relate to video games? I’m getting there.
Dark Souls was one of the first hardcore games I played. Even though I hated it, it stuck with me. By the time I played (and finished) the third game, I was hooked. I was a firm fan of FromSoft, and I was willing to go wherever they took me. I have played all the games possible on the PC and Bloodborne, and every single one of them is a 9+ game*.
Here is where I think I made a wrong connection. I thought I liked soulslikes when in reality, I liked FromSoft games. This may seem like a distinction without a difference, but it really is not. See, soulslikes are not made by FromSoft.** What I actually like are FromSoft games.*** They are S tier, and everything else is a distinct second.
In the last post but one, I listed several of the soulslikes that I’ve tried and a few that I’ve finished. I have tried each of them with an open mind (well, most of them. Some, I was sure I would not like), only to be disappointed by each one to a certain degree. It’s funny that I finished Lies of P (Round8 Studio/NEOWIZ) when it was one I enjoyed the least. At some point, my stubbornness kicked in and I felt I had to do it.
On the other end, I really like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive)–except for the combat. I finally reached the end of the first act, and the story really hit a crescendo. It packed a punch, and the acting was phenomenal. I welled up as I watched the cutscene, and I knew that everything had changed.
It was really emotional, and I felt the game had earned it. But, also, the story was…ah…I don’t want to be mean about it, but the story is not that engaging. If it weren’t for the fantastic acting, I would not care about the story at all. Acutally, I don’t care about the story. I feel it’s too portentious and pretentious for how slim it is. I tihnk it’s supposed to be grandiose and epic, but it really isn’t.
I hasten to add that I would be fine with it not being epic and grandiose because the acting is that good.
But, my god, I hate the combat. I keep going back to that, but it’s true. I have gotten better at it, but I’m still sucky. James Stephanie Sterling did a video on how she loved the game, but could not play it. I really resonated with that. Later, she made a video about how she ‘git gud’ (included above), and how it was not a confirmation that the gatekeepers were right. She pointed out that with a lot of practice on easy, she was able to get a better handle on the combat and bump it back up to normal. And she’s loving the game, including the combat, now. She also said that she was lucky that it was her job to play games so she could dedicate the time it took to ‘git gud’.
I have gotten better at the dodging and parrying, but I’m never going to be good. I’m in the first area in the second act, and my heart sinks every time I have to fight. Which is often. I don’t enjoy the combat at all, especially when it’s a puzzle boss who’s just a DPS fight. I ran into one of those (the walls would crush me after four turns, I think it was, and the boss shielded itself to a mad degree as one of its ‘attacks’). I could not get the break (which means you can do way more damage and an extra turn, I think), and I kept dying with about a quarter of the boss’s health left.
I died more to this boss than any other so far. All because I could not min/max well enough. I respecced Maelle to do all fire (to which this boss was weak) and made sure the other two characters had fire as well. I loaded down as many damage-based skills as I could and got rid of all the healing ones (which I usually load my characters down with).
Confession: I still have not learned how to use Maelle properly–or any of the characters, really. But especially her. This is why I don’t play JRPGs. It’s too much planning for me.
But this is not a post about that game, though it could easily turn into that. This went off the rails. I’ll get back to it tomorrow.
*Execpt Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon. I tried to play it, but I could not. I’m sure it was a 9+ as well, but I can’t say from exeperience.
**Some people include From games in the terms soulslike, but I do not. Nor do most people. For the sake of this post, I’m not including any From games in the term ‘soulslike’.
***It’s been some time since I’ve done this many footnotes in a post. I love me some footnotes. Most FromSoft games. But even the ones I can’t play/didn’t like as much are a cut above the rest.