I’m getting pretty sick of people saying you can’t criticize The Duskbloods if you’re a “real” fan of FromSoft. First of all, don’t tell me what I can and can’t criticize. Anything is fair game. Nothing is sacred and nothing is perfect.
I’m not mad about the fact that the game is multiplayer. Well, I am, but that’s because I don’t play multiplayer games and the fact that they are also doing Nightreign–which is also an MMO. I will play that, but I have a hunch that I’m not going to love it. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post (or maybe the post before), people have said that there’s an emphasis on quick responses. This is not within my wheelhouse.
I’m listening to Krupa and Gav talk about it in their weekly podcast, and I find myself saying repeatedly, “It’s a Nintendo exclusive” as to why “some people” (me) are not happy about it. If it was not a Nintendo exclusive, I would have zero qualms about it*. They didn’t even mention that at all or the fact that the The Switch 2 is pretty fucking pricy. The American price right now is $450, but will probably go up. The game will be at least $70 if not more, and the online you have to get is, surprisingly (in a good way), $20 a year for an individual.
I have included a video by TopicArlo below in which he muses about his conflicted feelings about The Duskbloods. They mirror my own thoughts, and I appreciate I am not the only one with mixed feelings. He’s late to the FromSoft games, but he has become very enamored with them. He’s always been a Nintendo fan, by the way, so he was going to buy this console/handheld, regardless. He describes how he went from elated to bewildered to ‘huh, what?’ and everything in between. He’s very much not a competitive player (or an online player), so he felt very deflated when he found out this was PvPvE. He was displomatic about it, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice.
Everyone is harping on how very Bloodborne-y this trailer looks, but it’s not Bloodborne. I feel like I’m the crazy one because I have never though there would be a seqouel to Bloodborne (at least not one done by FromSoft). One of my weirdest points of pride is that when everyone was so sure there would be a BB2 trailer at E3 and/or GeoffCon (2018 I think?), and I was as sure as I could ever be that there would not be–nor would there ever be a sequel to that game.
There was a From Soft trailer that year, and people convinced themselves it was BB2. It was not. It was Sekiro. And people were deflated (while also being elated that a new From game was announced).
Back to The Duskbloods. It’s not BB2 or in the universe. It can’t be because BB is owned by Sony. They have been mum about why they have not done anything with BB and/or why there’s no sequel. The 10th anniversary for BB passed without nary a word from Sony. People are so hungry for more BB, and this announcement certainly stoked that fire.
In the interview with Miyazaki I mentioned in yesterday,s post, he said that he was not good at PvP, and so this game was made with people like him in mind. In other words, you don’t have to be a PvP savant in order to enjoy the game. Pardon me if I’m skeptical.
Side note: There are people in the Discord who insist that anyone can be good at PvP and that it just takes practice. This is so fucking frustrating because it’s not true. And it’s ableist. They like to say, “You learned how to master the PvE elements”, which, no, I have not. In the Dark Souls games and Elden Ring, I have learned ways to get around my issues because there are so many different tools/builds in the games. In BB and Sekiro, however, I was miserable because the tools/builds available were not ones that I was able to optimize. I did finish both games, but I did not enjoy them. I doubt I could finish Sekiro now after my medical crisis, and while i would definitely play BB more if it were on PC, I highly doubt I would play it as much as the Souls games or Elden Ring.
Krupa pointed out that this game and Nighreign were not in place of the next big single-player FromSoft game, that in fact, they were what made it easier for Miyazaki to make his next big single player action adventure game. Miyazaki himself took pains to say in the interview that FromSoft was not leaving their trademark solo action adventure games behind.
I have said that if this pays the bills so they can make their next masterpiece without worrying about money, then so be it. All of that is said with a heaviness in my heart. If this game ever comes to the PC, I would buy it and try it out. Since it’s on the Switch 2, though, that’s not going to happen. I held out on the PS4 for several years until I could buy it for $150. And I got the complete BB edition (with the DLC) for $35, I believe it was. That surprised me because games don’t go on sale very often in the PlayStation store–at least not as often as they do on Steam.
I will admit that I feel deflated. Very deflated. I like indie games and From games. When the latter are gated off, it just hurts my heart. I’ll write more about it tomorrow.
*Well, that’s not true. MMOs are so not my style. I have issues with that, but I would not begrudge FromSoft making all the games they want. I mean, I could not play Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, but was happy for the people who loved it. Of which there were many in the Discord I’m in. I get that it’s a major coup for Nintendo, but it was really deflating for me. I was not planning on getting a Switch 2. I am still not planning on getting a Switch 2. That’s my biggest issue with the game.