That’s how I also felt about Doom 2016 versus Eternal. I didn’t play either until just a few months ago (picked the first up on sale for like the price of a latte). I instantly fell in love with 2016, it was just amazing—such a lean (but robust) economy of design, such elegant and interlocking systems, such confidence…

Yeah, it’s interesting how things cycle around. Some games benefit from RPG style XP leveling, while others benefit from having challenges and feats unlock more focused skills and abilities. I think exploring the latter is very interesting for soulslikes—for the former, I feel like a lot of games don’t need it (like…

Oh, 1,000%. Sorry, again, about the wording, and you’re totally right—I can see how some of the stuff I said might have suggested that I think there’s a correct way to play these games. There’s not—beating it is beating it, and it sucks that they can be so unfriendly to people who might otherwise get a lot out of the…

I’m sorry we’re not on the same page. That’s probably my fault, I’m long-winded—I don’t think we actually disagree though.

It’s SO good! And the God mode thing helped a lot of people get into it, who otherwise wouldn’t have (my husband was one of ‘em—and now, he’s beaten it on a fresh, no GM file and plays with all the Heat levels turned on! Meanwhile, he tried Bloodborne and just did not get to engage with it, despite beating Cleric…

I get what you’re saying but that’s not really what I’m driving at.

I know several people who are varying degrees of “gamer” (from pretty much not at all on up) who got to enjoy and appreciate all the amazing things Hades has to offer, *and have the same overall experience and trajectory with it as I did,* who look at Bloodborne with disdain.

That’s especially wild to me—this game sold, what, 12 million copies in a week? More than any other in their catalog has *yet* to sell, something like that?

It’s the predicted GOTY and it’s open world and every (gushing, 100/10 masterpiece greatest of all time) review talks about this one being more accessible than…

I’ve been saying for a minute that this is already something Sekiro began to answer, and then Hades beat them to it. I didn’t like Sekiro as much as Bloodborne (just not quite my vibe compared to BB, which is my favorite not only of their library but of all time) but both games made some smart, elegant refinements…

I stopped playing a couple weeks ago—just wasn’t enjoying myself anymore, too much of the game felt like a step backward to make up for the things I did like—but I’m heartened to see somebody with clout and a voice speak out against that toxic “git gud” mentality. Maybe it’ll get through to some people.

I was thinking this as I read this article too (I haven’t played the game yet). It extends not just from a lot of RPG written material but to the table’s behavior, too—in my experience, anyway.

I’m sorry for being unclear, but I feel like we’re focusing on something I’m not really driving at. I’m not talking about removing any of that, or even changing it on the player’s end—I want to preserve a sense of progression, this exact one, so that you can become overpowered if you like.

Sure, and me too. But like I said to the other poster, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

I don’t think that overleveling to stomp everything is the experience of most players *in these games specifically.* You mention yourself that you can still be one-shot, and I think it should be acknowledged that *most* of your damage output comes from weapon upgrades (most of your defense is what comes from leveling).

The number of people (defensively?) saying “I just don’t understand why so many dum-dums missed it” is an interesting dichotomy against... the number of people missing it.

(not that anybody asked for my opinion)

Ope, yeah. Good catch. I don’t know my Charlies Brown very well.

Having worked in videogame resale (Hollywood Video/Game Crazy many moons ago, when I was a kid and brick and mortar game stores were still a growing market!), I’ve absolutely seen my share of utterly fucked up consoles coming through. We’re talking wet cardboard boxes filled with mildew; consoles so dusty they leave…

I wonder how long it’ll be before the starry-eyed 100/10 best game ever discourse settles like silt and we can see the water clearly enough to more objectively talk about the various flaws and pitfalls of this game, because these games always have unfinished elements that make for some pretty fascinating analysis when…

Also, how about the time he went to Hitler’s mansion and documented it dreamily on instagram talking about how visiting “the fuhrer’s” home was a bucket list item.

Only a literal, whole-ass, actual Nazi would endearingly call Hitler “the fuhrer.”