Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: exploration

Me and From games, part three

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In the last post, I was talking about why I think I’m nearing the end of my relationship with From games (it’s them, not me. But it’s me. But it’s also them). I don’t play the games because they are difficult, and I have the feeling that the Elden Ring DLC is going to be above my station.

Once, when I was watching Ian stream Elden Ring, his brother, Z, was in the chat. We were talking about how great the game is, and he (Z) said that he wished there was an exploration mode in Sekiro because he had friends he would love to see the game, but they would never be able/want to play it because of how hard it is.

I laughed. Not at him, but because From will never ever do something like that. I love their games, but they don’t care about traditional accessibility. I  will say that with Elden Ring, they have done things to make it accessible, but not in the obvious ways. I actually thought they tried to be more accessible for Sekiro, and my completely un-thought-out opinion of why was because they were working with Activision–and the latter demanded that they do things in the more traditional way.

To that extent, there was a sort of aim-assist, big red kanji that tells you when the enemy is doing an unblockable attack, and an actual map! I include the last as a joke because it was clearly forced upon FromSoft. It’s buried in the options menu, three layers deep. Plus the map is a blurry image of the overworld and nothing else. It’s not useful in the least, and it’s obvious that From made it as minimal as possible.

This is one reason I don’t care for Bloodborne and Sekiro. There is very little accessibility in any of the games, but you have so much more flexibility in the Souls trilogy and in Elden Ring. Quite frankly, I’m astonished that I finished Sekiro. It’s because I’m stubborn, but there is no way I could do it now. The last time I tried the game, I went back to Father (Owl) in the Hirata Estate. He is my nemesis, and I went at him for hours. I got to his second phase maybe three times, but had nothing at that point. I gave up and never went back.

This game has no give. I have heard so many times, “Once you click with the game, it’s easy!” I’ve also heard, “It’s like a rhythm game (or a fighting game)!” I’m also shit at both of those, by the way. I have rhythm in real life, but I don’t have game rhythm. I can feel music in my body, but I can’t intellectually parse when I need to deflect, for example.


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FromSoft games and me, part four

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In the last post, I was talking more about Dark Souls than about whether I was the target audience or not for the FromSoft games. So let’s get back to that debate because it intrigues me on many different levels.

I love the games, but am terrible at them. I prefer the Souls games/Elden Ring to BB and Sekiro because there is much more flexibilty in the former than in the latter. I tihnk the problem is that the one Discord I’m involved in sprung up around RKG–who started as Prepare To Try at IGNUK. They started it as a lark, really, wanting to see if a noob (Rory) could beat Dark Souls before the third game came out. That was the premise, and they were open that they were just doing it for fun. It wasn’t meant to be a thing, but it became a thing. It became hugely popular, and they were able to do a second series–on the third game.

After a few more years and series, they left IGN and started their own company, RKG (Rory Krupa Gav), because they felt they couldn’t give Prepare To Try the attention they (and the community) deserved. They rebranded that series to Retry, and they reserve it for the hard games they make Rory play. Their first series for Retry was Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin), which is widely considered the least-best FromSoft game by many of the fans. There are some who think it’s the best of the trilogy, but they are few and far between. One person in the RKG Discord said that Elden Ring was the sequel to Dark Souls II, and I can kind of see it. I think, though, it’s more like an amalgamation of the best bits of the trilogy. Well, actually, all the games, but you would not be remiss to call it an open world Dark Souls IV. Soame people get upset with that and call it derogatory, but not at all! Dark Souls III is my favorite game in the world before Elden Ring came out. Why the hell would I not want more of it, new and improved?

Side note: When people were clamoring for a Dark Souls IV, one journalist said, “What Souls fan would not want another Souls game? Me. It was meant to be a trilogy, which was clear by the third game. I feel like if they had done a fourth Souls game, it would have been a money grab. Or just because fans pushed them to do it. Here’s the thing about Miyazaki: he does what he wants, and he doesn’t seem to want to do the same thing over and over again. Yes, there were three Dark Souls, but he did not direct the second one. And the third one is the way he wanted to do the first one if he had had the time. You can’t blame him for wanting a do-over when he was so pressed for time doing the first game.


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FromSoft games and me, part three

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In the last post, I was talking about my love/hate relationship with FromSoft games, heavy on the love and light on the hate. I think I would say it’s not even hate–it’s more frustration. Krupa from RKG has said several times taht he does not play the game for the difficluties; in fact, he’s quite forthright about not enjoying banging his head repeatedly against the wall with a hard boss. He’s also said immediately and openly that Rory has become better at the games than he is.

I feel the same. I have said that I’m not good at these games. I don’t play them for the difficulty; I play them for the exploration. That was the same thing that Krupa has said. He loves the worlds and delving into the lore. He does not care as much about the difficulty or the armors/weapons. In fact, when people ask him about builds, he would say that he didn’t know much about that. He likes a big sword paired with a shield and presumably whatever armor he can wear comfortably.

I am definitely more into armors than he is. I don’t min-max, but I do try to wear armor that is best for each situation. I have some go-tos–and there are a few that I love just because they look so cool. In Dark Souls III, for example, this is the progression of weapons/armor. I start as a Pyro as usual. I wear that outfit until I get Lucatiel’s armor or the Fallen Knight armor, depending on which stats I feel like leveling up first.

I always skimp on whatever stat governs equip load, especially since in this game, it has a separate stat of its own. Which is bullshit, by the way. In this game, I have to level up Attunement, Intelligence, and Faith as a caster. Even as a Pyro. The pyros in this game have requirements, unlike the previous game. But in return, you have as many casts as your blue bar/Ashen Estus Flasks will allow.

Side note: In the first game, pyros were stats-less, but you were limited on casts. Same in the second game, but you could get more casts from different wearables. In the third game, as I said, it’s as many casts as you can manage with your blue bar. Before Elden Ring, I did a 10/5 split with the Estus Flasks in DS III. In Elden Ring, however, I did a 7/7 split because you could get more flasks from defeating a whole group of enemies. Which, by the way, is a great QOL tweak that doesn’t get enough praise.


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