I have more to say about The Duskbloods and the state of FromSoft in general. Here is my post about my misgivings from yesterday. This will be the last post…for now. Someone in the Discord I’m in said that it seems that the game won’t be an exclusive forever. People guess that it’s six months–I think it will probably be more than that. At least a year, if not forever. That person also said they weren’t sure they’d play it, even if it wasn’t a Nintendo exclusive.
I kiiiiiinda feel the same. I mean, if it comes to the PC, yes, I would buy it. And I would try it, of course, but I have a hunch that if it’s what it says on the tin, it will not be my thing. I’m trying to convince myself that’s ok (and, again, FromSoft, of course, can do wahtever they want. They don’t need any approval from me), but I can’t help but feel disappointed and letdown. And I think it’s ok for me to say that out loud. I don’t need to keep it to myself.
It’s interesting. Even people who are hyped for this have noted the mixed feelings in the community. In the post, I have included below a video by Fighting Cowboy, a FromSoft content creator (he does more, but that’s mostly what I watch from him) who articulates many of these mixed feelings.
Here are some of the concerns. One, there is a core group of FromSoft enthusiasts who don’t play on consoles. I know that most people do play on consoles, but we exist. In fact, when Demon’s Souls became a surprise hit and Dark Souls came out, the latter was not released on PC. After much agitation from the PC crowd, FromSoft finally released a PC port. That suuuuuuuuucked. You have to have the dsfix in order to make the PC port run at all.
The resistance against PC ports got a little less with each game, but even with Elden Ring, the PC port has been a hot mess. I did not have much trouble with Elden Ring (and still do not execpt for an occasional crash), but I’m not someone who cares much about graphics. I mean, I want it to look pretty, be smooth, and no visible tearing, but that’s about it. Pop-ins don’t bother me and fuck ray tracing.
In Fighting Cowboy’s intial reaction to The Duskbloods trailer, he said that he had not been planning on getting a Switch 2 because he barely touches his Switch, but with a new From game that is heavily implied to be the spiritual successor to Bloodborne, he will have to get it. He’s very matter-of-fact about it, but he does mention he’s a little disappointed that the game is a Switch 2 exclusive. He winced and added, “It is what it is.” Which is what people say when they don’t want to say something is a sack of shit. That’s my interpretation, by the way, not anything he said.
He mentiones in the video above that he had some hesitations about the game. A big one was Miyazaki saying that the PvE could be avoided by people who did not want to do it. Fighting Cowboy basically laughed at this statement. He said that if he’s told that getting rid of other players is going to give him rewards or better position, he’s going to pick off the other players–especially those he considers the weakest.
I’m listening to the first video I linked, and he mentioned that another of his concerns is that one of the best things about a From game is the exploration. He said that wasn’t prevalent in Nightreign (he played the beta), and while he was very diplomatic, he implied that he’s worried the exploration will be lacking.
Back to the PvE. I’m with him in that if you reward people for PvP, well, they are going to kill other players. They just are.
The other concern he brings up (and I’ve heard elsewhere) is that FromSoft is not known for their good connectivity, nor is Nintendo. Putting the two of them together might be a recipe for disaster.
Side note: People have been begging FromSoft to fix their multiplayer since the first gme. This plus Nightreign seem to be their way of dipping their toes into multiplayer. I don’t give a shit about multiplarer. I enjoy summoning people in the other games, but I don’t consider it my first choice of the way to play a FromSoft game.
I keep thinking of the word ‘deflated’. I was watching the Switch 2 Direct just for funsies. I wasn’t going to get one, and I had no reason to think I would be tempted to buy it at all. It was the same with the PS4 and Bloodborne. And thank you, VaatiVidya for mentioning that FromSoft should have gotten shit for that being an exclusive as well.
FromSoft is the one company that I would buy a game from without question. And I have. I’ve bought every game they’ve made that I can at launch–or even pre-ordered. Which is something I never do. Ever.
I have never felt like I was a key fan or one that FromSoft cared about. Even though I have played every game since Dark Souls. I did try Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, but I simply could not play it. This is so like me, though. I ‘fall’ for people/things that cannot/will not/do not care/love me back.
I would like to point out that that another reason I am not keen on buying a Switch 2 is because handhelds are not for me. They hurt my hands, and I can’t use the controls for the life of me. Granted, I have only tried the 3DS, but it was so awful to control. Everything about it just felt wrong. I’m sure handhelds are much better now than when the 3DS was released, and I have not tried one of the newer ones because I am not about to spend that kind of money on something I probably will never or rarely use. Ian has one (Switch), and he hasn’t touched it in ages. He does use his Steamdeck, but rarely.
I’m just deflated. This made my heart hurt. That’s all.