In yesterday’s post, I talkeda bout ableism and FromSoft games. They have never cared about accessibility, and I used to defend it. This was a decade ago. I still had issues with aspects of their games, but I just put it down to me and that it was my problem because I could not see a way to get around it when the whole premise of their games is to have insanely difficult bosses. Oh, sure. They don’t say that’s the point of the games, and hardcore fans are now retconning the fanfic to be that the games eran’t that hard.
They are. They may or may not be ‘that hard’ for From fans, but for someone just picking one up for the first time? Yes, they are ‘that hard’. As with anything, you forget how hard it was when you played your first From game for the first time. I have not. I was terrible at it, and I hated it by the end. I vowed never to touch it again–or any other game by the same company. Obviously, that turned out to be a lie, but it was how I felt in my heart at the time.
And, honestly, I feel a bit of the same every time I finish one of their games for the first time. A big part of that is my own fault. I tend to get obsessive when I like something so I gorge on it. And, then I’m slightly sick of it by the end, but I can’t stop myself from continuing. Part of it is that From has bought their own hype slightly. They have made the end of their later games (and the DLCs) doubly hard. It’s my least-favorite fan service, honestly. I don’t play the game for the difficulty. I would say I play the games despite the difficulty, actually.
At the end of yesterday’s post, I was talking about how you can use Vyke’s Spear to do the platforming puzzle to get to the Three Fingers. Yes, that all makes sense if you play the game. Here’s a link to the Reddit thread in which it was shown and discussed. In it, Todd_The_Sailor showed off this one neat trick. It makes sense because the Three Fingers about the madness and frenzy, same as Vyke’s Spear. If you watch the video, you’ll see how easily Todd_The_Sailor makes it look. And I’m sure for most people, it is that easy. Not for me. I didn’t always angle my character correctly or took a step or two before using the Ash of War (which is how you do the trick). You can’t jump and do the AoW at the same time, which was what I was trying to do.
I think all platforming is trash in FromSoft games, but this one was notorious enough that other people complained about it, too. It’s not just me is what I’m trying to say.
There’s a debate in the community about what is going too far. This is going too far. All the platforming is going too far, to me. I accept dying to bosses because my reflexes are shit and I can’t parry. I accept dying by falling because I can’t gauge a jump. I do NOT accept dying beacuse the fucking platforming is so fucking fiddly that being a micromillimeter too far to the left or the right will kill you. I died more trying to get that one incantation than I did to any boss, including the hardest boss in the game, with my strength character. That’s not good game development, and it’s so fucking needless. Nobody likes that section–nobody.
And, as I quickly mentioned at the end of the last post, there is a relatively easy solution (other than not having it in the game, which is the best solution)–if a person fails five times, let them automatically make the rest of the jumps. If that’s too much for the fragile hardcore From fans, then at least make it so that all the jumps up to that point are automatic. It should not take me half a fucking hour to do five or six consecutive jumps.
I’m talking about this because I’m tired of people glossing over the fact that the games are not friendly for people with disabilities–especially Sekiro and Bloodborne. MOST especially Sekiro. I did finish the game, but it was not a fun or joyful experience for me. I never clicked with the combat because I could not do it. Again, no amount of practice would mave made my basic abilities any better. I can’t magically have reflexes that are 2 seconds faster or a brain that can intuit when I need to press the LB button to deflect.
Similarly, there was a guy in one of the producer streams who was urging me to do PvP in Dark Souls III. He would not take, “I can’t parry” as a valid reason not to do it. He said I could learn to PvP just like I learned to PvE. Well, no. PvE puts me in control of many of the situations. It also means I can find ways to get around my deficiences–at least in the Souls games and Elden Ring. To a certain extent. PvP, especially with people who were experts in it, put me at a distinct disadvantage. He refused to even try to understand that it wasn’t a ‘won’t do’ but a ‘can’t do’ situtaion for me.
That is one of the most frustrating things with having disabilities–that so many people are so dismissive of them. I know I’m not saying anything groundbreaking. This is the lament of people with disabilities the world over. Either being treated like someone who is broken and can’t do anything on their own, or having the disabilities dismissed/diminished.
Not everyone can play From games, and I say this as a From fan. But I know that they are approaching the top of my abilities. Sekiro pushed at them, and it’s now above what I can do. I have tried. I put in hours against my nemesis, Owl (Father) and could not even get to the second phase, even with the cheese. I got out of the fight the first time barely intact. I did not enjoy the fight. At all. And I thought it was actual bullshit.
If I were to try to get the plat for this game, I would have to beat him again. And I can’t do it. I also don’t know if I could beat the final boss again. Plus the two new bosses in the ‘bad’ ending path. I can’t do it. Again, it’s not a ‘won’t; it’s a ‘can’t’. Which Westerners do not like to hear. At all. Above, I have included a video by James Stephanie Sterling that she did about the game. I watched it at the time, and I found myself nodding along with each point.
They talk about how they don’t parry. I don’t, either. And I tried. I tried so hard. In the first Souls game, I parked my ass at the Anor Londo bonfire and practiced parrying the Sliver Knights for hours. And I was able to parry them (at least the ones with the sword) maybe 75% of the time. I tried very hard to deflect in this game beacuse you really have to do it for the game to be any fun. I just could not do it.
Stephanie mentions that you have to have fun ‘gitting gud’, which she did not at all while playing Sekiro. I have to agree. I did not enjoy it at all. And I could not enjoy exploring because I knew that there were brutal enemies around the corner. She also mentioned that adding difficulty onto a game that isn’t her playstyle makes it even less likely she’ll play it. At the end, she said that it made her sad, and that’s how I feel about the game, too. Oh, she starts out by saying she doesn’t like the game. I agree. And that it’s a very good game. Also agree.
But, as she says, it’s a game that wants you to play it in a very particular way, and that’s not how she plays–or how I play. I felt very restrained by the game, and now, I cannot play it at all.