Time to talk about the dark side of FromSoft, and I’m not talking about Dark Souls. Let me be clear that I love the games and FromSoft (mostly, that’s another post for another day). I basically play a From game every day and a cozy game (that changes). But they don’t really care that much about accessibility in several of their games, which is hard as a From fan who has several issues that teeter on disability and at the very least drastically affect how well I can(not) play the games. It’s the reason why Sekiro is my least favorite game by From and the one I will least recommend accross the board.
I have no problem with other people thinking it’s the best From game or gushing about it. What I do have a problem is when people express incredulity that someone doesn’t think IT’S THE BEST THING EVER!!! I mean, I feel like that in general when people get way too defensive about what they like. Nothing is for everyone, no matter how objectively good it is. I can’t stop thinking about a content creator who once said in all sincerity that he could not imagine not liking something that was good (talking about games). If it was good, then he would like it! Therefore, if he did not like it, it must not be good!
He was a hot mess in many ways, but that’s what stuck with me the most. How self-centered do you have to be to think you are the sole arbiter of what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’? And that anything you like is good whereas anything you don’t like is bad? It’s not surprising that he is a cishet white male, either. That’s pretty much a given that many of them think they are the default standard.
I know there are a lot of things that I like that aren’t great art. I also know there are many things considered great art that leave me cold. I’ve often said that one positive about being a weirdo is that I can recognize that my tastes aren’t for everyone. Therefore, even things I love with all my heart, I don’t consider it a blow to my ego if someone else doesn’t love it or even hates it. I don’t need to hear them sneer about it and be derisive about it (as my last ex did), but I’m not going to wilt if they don’t like it. I’ve had friends apologize to me for not liking a FromSoft game and I’m quick to reassure them that it’s perfectly fine. They aren’t for everyone and there are many reasons why someone may not like them.
From fans have started doing revisionist history that the games aren’t that hard because you can grind endlessly and over-level yourself. This is bullshit. I mean, technically, yes, you can do that. But it’s not fun to grind that much. I was watching Game Informer play Dark Souls III (passing the pad on death) and they had the then-EIC Andy McNamara on for an episode. They were doing a boss fight, and he said that if he died more than three times to a boss, he went away and endlessly grinded (ground?) until he could destroy the boss. This was while they were fighting the Twin Princes–who gave me so much trouble in my first playthrough. I had to summon humans for them after not even coming close to beating them on maybe thirty to forty tries.
That’s several hours of mindless grinding. I’ve done it for an hour or so before, but not for several hours. So, yes, you can do that and make the game easier, but it’s not fun.
I’ve talked to other people with hidden disabilities and one thing t hat comes up over and over again is how frustrating it is to try to explain having a disability to someone who doesn’t have them. It’s the same with being a minority. It’s hard to show the absence of something–which is what a lot of being a minority is. For example. Me being followed around in a store. If a white person doesn’t have to deal with it, then of course they aren’t going to know it happens to people of color.
I really would like to be able to build a town where cishet white able-bodied white men are the minority. Throw Christian into that. And they get to fully feel what it’s like to be the minority. Not even in a ‘let all the minorities pick on them’ kind of way, but just in not being in the majority. That’s really the only way to get them to see, feel, and experience what it’s like to be in the minority. I know it’s not goinvg to happen (and, frankly, I’m not sure it’s ethical), but that really is the only way.
Similarly, a game that simulates different disabilihties would be the only way to get people to truly get what it’s like. It’s really disheartening for peo.ple to just shrug their shoulders and ignore what I’m saying when it comes to games and disability. Yesterday, I was seeing which incantations I didn’t have in Elden Ring with my first character. There were three of them, and the first two were easy enough to get. Well, once I found the place I had to be to get them. That’s one of the issues I have with the game–it’s not at all intuitive how to get from Point A to Point B sometimes. That’s always my problem with 3D games–I just cannot see the map in my head. Even with the actual map, I can’t tell what to do when I run into a wall or a barrier. It is so frustrating.
The third incantation was the worst, though. There is an area in the game that is hated by everyone because it’s a terrible platforming section. I mean, it’s just awful. Even people who don’t have an issue with the rest of the platforming in the game hate this area. It’s optional, but you have to do it for one of the endings. If you do all that, then you can jump down to the bottom floor from the top floor without dying. Also, people have figured out a way for people who don’t have issues with their twitch reflexes to do the platforming relatively easily. It involves a weapon, and I’ve tried to do it. I can do it maybe half the time. Which, better than none, but still annoying AF.
At least this time, I didn’t die with each jump, but it was still fury-inducing. A half hour in, I was stony face and silent as I did it over and over again. It was five or six jumps, but so fucking fiddly, I over-jumped or under-jumped so many times in a row. Plus, if there are not messages telling me where to jump down from the beams, I could not line it up properly. I always over-shot it to the right. I fell to the bottom at least thirty times if not more. I finally got the incantation, but I was fuming by that time.
I had to stop playing Stray for the same reason. I could not do the QTEs. In a game that wasn’t about gameplay! And, look, I am not a game dev, obviously, but there is such a simple answer to all this–fuck QTEs. And platforming in non-platforming games. But more realistically, after the person fails, say five times, let them just press the button (in the QTEs) and a snap-to for nonsense platforming.
I have more to say, but I’m done for now. Be back tomorrow.