JCR Hot Take: Cool to be Hard

                                                               

                                                  (What a rush. Credit: Gamespot.com)

My heart is pounding. After nearly 30 deaths to Gerhman, The First Hunter, the penultimate final boss of Bloodborne, I’m on the precipice of victory. Dodging right and left as his very fast and damaging scythe comes towards me, I know that this is my chance. He comes forward with a roll, one in which will leave him open for a parry and visceral attack. I shoot, he falls to a knee, after which I run up to him and finish him off with my axe. The moment is exhilarating, it’s 12:30 a.m., I have class in 8 hours, and I am completely satisfied. I then find out I triggered the secret boss, the Moon Presence, and get walloped in my first time trying to beat it. That’s no matter at this point though, because after hopelessly losing time after time, I finally vanquished Gehrman, and despite the losses and frustration, the fight was a highlight I won’t forget.

Back in the glory days of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, games were hard. Brutally hard. The term “Nintendo Hard” began to gain traction in the industry, as games for the era were frustrating, unforgiving, and required precise inputs. With that came the complexities of learning the systems of different games, making players sharper with their control and recognition of enemy patterns. With every crushing defeat a player came that much closer to victory, and once that victory was achieved a sense of euphoria came over the player, making the effort seem that much more worthwhile.

                             

(If you played Silver Surfer on the NES... Credit: areyoubadenough.blogspot.com)

In the early ‘90’s things began to change. While the Super Nintendo had its fair share of difficult properties it did not rival its predecessor. However, it was around the mid to late ‘90s where the difficulty of old faded away. With the advent of new technology, specifically around the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn era, games began to shy away from extreme difficulty to not lose players. Lengthy tutorials became a mainstay, and continues/save points were extremely prevalent to prevent losing progress. This trend continued through the sixth and into the seventh generation of consoles. A particularly hard game was an anomaly.

                                                   

(It’s called Prepare to Die Edition for a reason. Credit: Steam)

Then, something changed, and harder games began popping up again. Starting with Demon’s Souls in 2009 and hitting it big with Dark Souls in 2011, developer From Software has been bringing ultra-hard games to the masses. The premise of the games is simple, while lore is rich within the universes. The game boils down to creating a character to battle the way through western fantasy environments and villains, including some truly punishing bosses. From Software is longtime developer in the industry, but these games have just become their recent phenomenon, and include Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3, and Bloodborne. The company has come out and said the third installment is the final in the series, having it go out on a high note before things get stale in the universe.

The From Software games are a display of minimalism, at least at first glance. The games have very short tutorials that end in a tough boss fight, showing that it’s better to learn the game’s tropes through failure as opposed to being told all the essentials without experimentation. The environments are large and intertwining, which proves to be a joy for discovery. The trick of these difficult games is that when you perish, you lose all your experience points, and have one chance to recover them in the spot where you died, which can be particularly daunting if you’re a far distance from your point of death. The beauty of the game is that it is a trial in risk and reward, one that can be customized for the player liking. Do you enjoy using a short sword for rapid attacks? Great, but be warned you will not have distance in attacks for ranged foes. Prefer magic? OK, but when an enemy gets in close then long casting times will likely lead to your demise. Either way, the game does an incredible job educating the player on how to be successful while not simply rewarding progress made.

                             

(The Abyss Watchers, an excellent boss from Dark Souls 3. Credit: From Software)

In my opinion, the true appeal of the game lies in the boss fights. Boss fights are meant to test the player’s skills, to see if what he or she has learned is enough to handle a huge monstrosity or worthy opponent. The thing is, in these games there are only few new techniques to learn after the early stages, so instead, the boss battles rely on learning the opponent’s move set, pinpointing the exact times to either parry, block, or dodge an attack, and then punish the fiend. The rub is that each boss is supremely different, some might require aggressive play while others have a more patient approach. Each boss has its own individual orchestrated theme as well, and while the other environments have very little music, adding this touch only furthers the intensity of the experience. It is difficult to articulate the rush of these fights, but after gaming for more than 25 years, I can safely say that some of these boss fights are the best I’ve ever encountered, and will last long with me after I finish completing the games.

                                    

(A wolf holding a giant sword? Only in Dark Souls. Credit: Dorkly.com)

Numerous gamers tend to agree with these opinions, as the community for the From Software games is quite passionate and involved. There are copious boss rankings and lore dissections (two of my favorite YouTube personalities are theDeModcracy and VaatyVidya)[1]. Even more impressive is that games like these that may not seem approachable due to the difficulty have found a very welcoming audience. The Dark Souls series has surpassed 13 million units, and Dark Souls 3 had the best launch week of any From Software game and the best launch of Bandai Namco, a publisher with a storied history (Namco created Pac Man)[2][3]. As a result, similarly styled “Souls” games have been popping up, one of which is Nioh, a samurai styled take on the intensely difficult but rewarding adventure, filled with devilish bosses and demon like enemies. It will be interesting to see how the developer moves forward after Dark Souls, something we’re likely to find out next week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short.

                                                              

(Don’t love Dark Souls 2 but Looking Glass Knight battle is awesome. Credit: wikia.com)

Now I want to make sure I make note that just because a game is hard does not make it fun. While I love Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2 was a letdown in comparison. I’ll freely admit that I haven’t fully played the previous two entries yet, but they will be my next big adventures, regardless of upcoming releases. What I did not care about 2 was that it was challenging in more of a frustrating way. Yes there are a handful of ultra-difficult encounters in the games I care for, but in 2 it just seems relentless. Contrarily, some of the bosses are absolute pushovers that I could defeat in my first try, which really should not happen on a first play through. There just seems to be a lack of balance and I found myself wondering what to do next instead of inherently craving it like the other games. It seems to be the black sheep in the community as well, as certain fans consider it beloved while a fair share of others do not care for it whatsoever. The point is that being difficult for the sake of being difficult does not make these games great. What makes them great is that they are difficult but act as a teaching experience, each individual area and battle is a puzzle, one that can be overcome with dedication and practice.

                                   

(As difficult as it is gross, Bloodborne knows its boss fights. Credit: beatthatboss.blogspot.com)

In the end, what does From Software’s accomplishments teach us about the industry? For one, in what is a seemingly developed market, innovation still has a way to upend what consumers consider entertainment. I myself recall when Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls came out and chose not to pursue either because of reviews stating that the increased difficulty would lead to numerous amounts of deaths. I pondered why anyone would event want to play that type of game. I actually only tried Bloodborne because I had still only recently received my PS4 and saw it on sale with its Downloadable Content at a ridiculously low price. Without question though, these games have been the most gripping gaming experiences I’ve had in quite some time. Even after playing through the new Zelda, which was by all accounts an unforgettable experience and a landmark moment for gaming, I could not stop thinking about my experience with Bloodborne. Turns out even an old seasoned gamer like myself can learn a few new tricks.

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[1] Check out their high quality stuff here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcUKdcAXfVCo5YlgBMkfjA https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya

[2] http://www.shacknews.com/article/94599/dark-souls-3-sales-reach-3-million-units-dark-souls-series-shipments-reach-13-million-units

[3] http://nerdist.com/dark-souls-3-is-breaking-all-sorts-of-sales-records/