Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: brand loyalty

Parting is such sweet sorrow (part three)

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I have more to say about FromSoft. I just did the worst boss in FromSoft history (Bed of Chaos), and it reminded me why it’s considered the worst boss in FromSoft history–yes, all of the games combined. The thing is, I can see the cool idea behind the boss, but Miyazaki was pushed to finish the game–and this was the area that really suffered. He has apologized for it, and he redid the area in Dark Souls III to his satisfaction.

Anyway, I did it early, and I had very little health. Plus, with my terrible spatial aptitude, it was frustrating beyond belief. So was the Centipede Demon. Anything that I can’t see for several seconds is going to be a problem to me.

Back to the Bed of Chaos. It really represents the best and worst of FromSoft thinking. It’s a puzzle boss in which there are two glowing orbs on either side of a living tree (the Bed of Chaos). You have to hit both orbs and then the floor in front of the bed crumbles away. You have to jump on a thin branch and run up to kill the actual boss.

I know this sounds easy, but, trust me, it isn’t. Why? Because the tree sweeps its branches at you and makes bits of the floor disappear. The sweeps takes off nearly a full health bar for me, and it’s hard to spot the holes in the ground while sprinting for the orbs. or the hole in the ground you need to jump in.

I have never had as much difficulty with this boss as I did this time–and it was always me getting swept into holes. It happened the same way something like three times in a row–and the runback was more aggravating each time. One of the best things From did in Elden Ring was get rid of the boss runs. I can tell you that there’s little as frustrating as taking five minutes to actually get to a boss and then dying within ten seconds.

I have included a video below of a guy trying to do the boss with a bunch of weird self-imposed limits. (People like to do all kinds of weird runs.) I want to point out that he has roughly three times the health that I do, which made it easier. Not easy, mind, but easier. Even still, he was having a tough time with this boss (in terms of getting hit, not in getting killed).


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Time to say goodbye…maybe (part two)

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In yesterday’s post, I was talking about FromSoft. When Demon’s Souls came out in 2009, it was a last-ditch effort by FromSoft to get something out of a game they deemed to be a failure. They put one of their devs in charge, a cog in the wheel named Hidetaka Miyazaki, and they allowed him to do anything he wanted with it. Because, and I cannot emphasize this enough, he was expected to fail. Or rather, the game was. The company had no faith in it and just wanted it off their hands.

It didn’t sell exceedingly well, but it got a very enthusiastic cult following–and a request (demand) for it to be ported to the PC. It never got that port, but the game did well enough for Miyazaki to be allowed to make another game. It was a sequel called Dark Souls, and that was the beginning of the slow, but steady rise for the little company that could, FromSoft.

Once again, the requests (demands) for a port to the PC was loud. And there was one, but it was terrible. TERRIBLE. Fortunately, a modder came up with the dsfix which made it bearable on the PC. By the time I decided to play the game, it ran decently. I did not have the Blighttown two FPS issue, and I was able to play the game without many technical difficulties. Did I suck at it? Of course I did. Did I hate it by the end of the playthrough? I certainly did! Did I vow I would never play it again? Yup.

Ha! I have to laugh at my previous self because I was so far off track as to what would happen on my FromSoft journey. I did put it away for a bit, but then the sequel came out. And despite myself, I was intrigued.

I cannot overstate how much of a love-hate relationship I had with the original Dark Souls game. I was very proud that I finished it, but it made me feel so tired. So very tired. This is how I feel when I finish every game, by the way. It’s partly my fault because when a new From game comes out, it’s all I want to do. I become obsessed and play hours at a time, and they are not short games.  Plus, the fact that I will take at least twice as long as normal players to play a From game, well, that can veer on grueling.

I waited until the Scholar of the First Sin edition of the second game before playing it. And, yes, Miyazaki was not behind this one. Yes, it’s considered the unloved child in the FromSoft family of games, and yes, it’s both hated and loved (by different people), and there are even some people who consider it the best Souls game. I am not one of them (that would be the third game), but I did end up liking the game very much–as long as I didn’t hold it to rigid Dark Souls standards.

Side note: I have said this so many times that the sequel had no way to win. If it had been just the same as the first game, people would have complained that it wasn’t innovative. In the ways it actually deviated from the original, people hated it. Hated it. I’m not going to say that all the innovations were great, but I’m also not going to say they were terrible, either. In fact, I would say that the things I liked least about the game was when they doubled down on making things HARD BECAUSE THAT’S HOW THE FIRST GAME WAS.


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Why my loyalty to FromSoft is wavering, part two

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I’m thinking about my brand loyalty to FromSoft and how it’s wavering. I ended the last post by saying about how it’s not me–it’s them. What do I mean by this? I mean they are spreading their wings, which is their absolute right, but it’s not what I’m interested in.

It’s interesting. Many people think that Nightreign was a cash grab. Even people who who like the game think it’s a calculated move to bring in th money. It’s an asset flip with no real new content except for the Nightlords and the nightfarers. And as it stands right now, there really isn’t any replayability once you beat all the bosses. Unless you want to play as the other nightfarers, of course.

I have to admit that I’m a bit bored with the runs themselves. Yes, making it to the third boss has added events and different enemies/bosses to the world. By the way, one map is not enough. Yes, the events change the map somewhat, but it’s still Lim…veld? I think that’s it? Based on Limgrave from the base game.

And because of the breakneck speed, you have to know what you’re doing before you’re even dropped int o the world.

Anyway. The prevalent feeling is that it’s fun with your friends for a few runs, but it’s probably not going to have a lasting impact on the genre.

Some people even think it’s the worst game From has made. It’s been interesting because usually, the people who love From games REALLY love From games. This time, it’s been decidedly mixed. Which makes sense because many people like the games because of the slow and deliberate pace, the exploration, and the unfolding lore. Nightreign has none of that. I mean, there is some lore, but so far, it’s not as compelling (to me), while retaining the frustrating obtuseness of how to uncover it.

I think I mentioned yesterday that if it had been made by someone else, I would not even have looked twice at it. It’s only because FromSoft made it that I bought it. Even then, I hesitated. I knew it was not going to be for me, and I was right.

Not only is it that I don’t have friends who play it so I have to rely on randos (which is very dicy), but I am not enjoying the game as I play it. If I’m going to be brutally honest, it’s missing something for me. Not even the hectic speed of it or the multiplayer aspect. There’s just something missing that makes a From game special.

I don’t think it’s a pure cash grab. Miyazaki said that one of his team members expressed an interest in doing an idea like this, and Miyazaki told him to go for it. I’m not saying money wasn’t a part of it (because let’s face it, money is a part of everything), but I do think Miyazki is interested in exploring games that aren’t in his wheelhouse. No one remembers Déraciné, a game they made for the PS4 in VR. That was, ah, very different, shall we say. I didn’t play it because I didn’t have a PS4, and I can’t do VR.


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FromSoft and brand loyalty

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I’m not writing about Nightreign (FromSoft) today. At least not directly. Well, I’ll probably end up going in that direction, but this is about brand loyalty in general. Here’s the post from yesterday just because it’s tangentially related.

I wanted to talk about brand loyalty because it’s been on my mind. Why? Well, it lingers in the back of my mind now and again, and with the Stwitch 2 releasing yesterday, I had to marvel at how bonkers people went.

Full disclosure: I don’t have a Switch. I had no intention of buying a Switch 2. Then, it was revealed that FromSoft had an exclusive release that was going to be on Switch 2 (The Duskbloods), and I was so disappointed when I heard about it. Then I found out that it was yet another multiplayer game, and I was even sadder. Why? Because I hate multiplayer games. Which is one of the reason I am not having a good time with Nightreign.

I have been feeling since Dark Souls III: The Ringed City (second DLC) that FromSoft games were getting further and further away from me. I mean, the first game was a miserable experience the first time through, and I have always been painfully aware that I’m on borrowed time with the games.

I started feeling it while playing The Ringed City, and it’s only increased with each gome (save base game Elden Ring). Sekiro was a miserable experience for me, and I don’t think I could even finish it now after my medical crisis. This is not me being a downer or hating on myself; this is me being pragmatic.

Side note: I am really tired of From fans now doubling down on ‘the games are not hard’. I don’t know where this retconning is coming from, but it’s bullshit. No, they are not the hardest games in the world, but they are not NOT hard, either. At least for 90% of gamers. And it’s irritating to hear hardcore From fans pooh-pooh that.

Side note to the side note: This is just another kind of gatekeeping. Years ago, it was people taking pride in the fact they finished Dark Souls. You weren’t a real gamer if you didn’t! That was unpleasant, too, even more so, but that doesn’t mean the current ‘the games are SO easy LOL’ is any better.


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Customer service is trash these days

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On my way to the grocery store, I was listening to NPR/MPR per usual. They were playing a podcast called On Point hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, and the episode was entitled: Is customer service bad on purpose? It’s about whether or not customer service was worse these days than, say, a decade ago. My immediate impulsive answer was, “Fuck yeah!”

I had noticed in the last several years, the ability to get a human being on the phone for customer service was nigh near impossible. There are tips and tricks to get around this, but companies were finding ways to get around those tips and tricks. It’s frustrating as hell, especially when it’s a company or service that does not have a competitor. For example, the government. I had to talk to someone in the local government about my healthcare plan, and I had to wait on the phone for three hours to actually talk to a human being. That is unconscionable. And this was before the pandemic! I’m sure it’s only gotten worse since then, but as Meghna said with such passion, I go to great lengths so I don’t have to talk to someone on the phone.

This all came to a head recently when I ordered a print from RKG. They are a British company, so they carefully chose an American shipping company for us Americans that seemed like a good company on paper. The company promised express shipping and the cost was half of the actual print. I don’t mind paying for good service, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it.

The tracking told me that it reached Cincinnati, OH in the morning of the day it was supposed to reach me. Damn. I looked it up again, expecting the drive to be roughly 6 hours, but it’s 11. I’m sure I did it the day it was supposed to arrive here, too.

It did not reach my house that night. Fine. It was supposed to and I paid for it to reach my house that night, but fine. I would wait for the next morning and–still in Cincinnati. What? I mean, what? I went online to the delivery company’s website and plugged in my tracking number. Yup. Stuck in Cincinnati. Hm. That could be a rom-com.

It didn’t arrive on Friday. Or Saturday. I dug a bit deeper on the website to see if I could actually talk with someone. I could in chat on the website! They asked for my tracking number, which I gave them. “Your package is in Cincinnati. Would you like to track another package?”


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