Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug • Hacker News Board

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#121

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:16 AM UTC

idle_zealot wrote: post #54

nassimsoftware wrote: post #27

I'm new to From Soft games and decided to buy Elden Ring because it's a similar game to Zelda Breath of The Wild which I really liked. I was afraid that the game would be too difficult. After playing 17hrs, the game is indeed difficult but there are many things you can do in the game to make it easier for yourself (Which I did because I'm more interested in exploring the world than mastering the gameplay). For exampl…

> This is essentially the easy mode everyone wanted but the core souls fans. This easy mode has been in every From game I’ve played. It’s the reason core fans don’t want the much-demanded difficulty settings.

I'd argue that Sekiro doesn't have an easy mode as such; while you can often explore different areas and alternative routes, when it comes down to it you need to master the combat system.

I'd argue it's possibly the least accessible From Software game. But, also the tightest in terms of combat.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#122

Post by yumiris » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:18 AM UTC

Must admit, the article and comments have completely changed my impression of the Souls series.

The "git gud" mantra has been drilled into my numbskull to the point where I would restart a boss fight even if I got hit once.

I got a wee bit too persuaded into rushing and mastering (which, of course, can't be done at the same time), because anything less meant that I ain't doing it right.

In the end, I gave up on the Souls series and classified it as not being for me, but now I'm considering returning to Bloodborne and Sekiro again.

Cheers for the new perspective everyone!

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#123

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:18 AM UTC

umvi wrote: post #57

I just beat Sekiro last month and picked up Elden Ring this month. I think Miyazaki is a genius - FromSoft smashed it out of the park with this one, and I honestly had no idea how he could outdo himself after the masterpieces that were Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro.

Definitely try Bloodborne as well, it's up there as well.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#124

Post by didibus » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:22 AM UTC

vlunkr wrote: post #72

Osmose wrote: post #34

I think Miyazaki's games are great and I enjoy them myself, but the continued (even in this article, somewhat) framing of accessibility features as ruining the artistic vision of hardship is a little disingenuous at this point. Many disabilities make games several times more difficult than they are for people without them, and a difficulty slider or increased stats help level the playing field so that the games can b…

I think the problem with a difficulty slider is that it puts lots of extra burden on the developer. Balancing difficulty is already tricky, and now you have to do it n times? And a newcomer to the series might choose "easy", which is not the intended experience for the average player. My proposal is an "a la carte" difficulty instead, where you choose what mechanics you want to mess with. You could get unlimited estu…

Yes, some games have started doing that and giving them as accessibility features, and I love it. I think it's a great way to do it. Mario Kart 8 and Celeste are two examples that come to my mind which do that.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#125

Post by imtringued » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:26 AM UTC

The immortals got bored of eternal peace in heaven so they created a world of mortality filled with endless crises so that they can experience death over and over again. Unfortunately the mortals' world has become peaceful as well and mortality has become a long distant memory. So the mortals have decided to create a world of mortality filled with endless crises so that they can experience death over and over again.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#126

Post by JohnWhigham » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:27 AM UTC

Osmose wrote: post #34

I think Miyazaki's games are great and I enjoy them myself, but the continued (even in this article, somewhat) framing of accessibility features as ruining the artistic vision of hardship is a little disingenuous at this point. Many disabilities make games several times more difficult than they are for people without them, and a difficulty slider or increased stats help level the playing field so that the games can b…

Where do people get this entitled attitude that every game should be accessible to everyone as much as possible? Nothing in the world is like that.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#127

Post by didibus » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:27 AM UTC

Osmose wrote: post #34

I think Miyazaki's games are great and I enjoy them myself, but the continued (even in this article, somewhat) framing of accessibility features as ruining the artistic vision of hardship is a little disingenuous at this point. Many disabilities make games several times more difficult than they are for people without them, and a difficulty slider or increased stats help level the playing field so that the games can b…

I agree, adding accessibility features seems pretty trivial for them, they can keep the game the same, but just add options to have say double the health, extra armor, auto-parry, etc.

This isn't just something that could help people with disability, but also younger players, more casual players, older players. But most importantly, even me, I've beat all the games, but I'd have fun replaying them in a God mode, after going through it feeling like a chump, it be fun to replay them feeling like a god. So in my opinion it would bring more opportunity for fun from people who already played them, and also allow more people to enjoy the game.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#128

Post by cameronh90 » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:43 AM UTC

calsy wrote: post #116

mirsadm wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the game but I'm not sure what you are not getting? It is a pretty mediocre looking game in terms of graphics tech at least. Horizon Forbidden West came out at the same time and it looks like it was made on another planet compared to Elden Ring.

Why not explain the 'bells and whistles' that are missing, for e.g. "It doesn't support ray-tracing", rather then in general terms that are trollish like "rendering isn't good". How does that impact the game exactly? If a game does not incorporating the latest features in DX12 or whatever the features Nvidia brings out for its cards, does that compromise the artistic integrity of the game? Does a painstakingly detail…

I feel like some people are playing a different game to me.

There's constant pop-in, flicker and shimmering, the lighting is flat, the textures are low resolution, the meshes are low geometry. Graphically it just sucks, many last generation console games beat it easily. It also has completely crashed the console multiple times.

And I'm playing on PS5 which is reportedly the best experience.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#129

Post by aixi » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:47 AM UTC

didibus wrote: post #115

Trasmatta wrote: post #7

The popular discourse seems to focus on the difficulty of From's games, but that's just one part of the entire experience. FromSoft has a holistic approach to game design that very few other studios manage to match. There's just an incredible amount of depth to their world building, and the gameplay, difficulty level, online mechanics, level design, characters, music, story, and themes all work to reinforce and compl…

The games are easier then I thought they'd be. I waited to play them for a long time, because of how hard people made them out. But you only really need a bit of patience, slow down what you do in the combat, and give bosses a few try. I find plenty of other games were a lot harder for me, like Hades, Celeste, Meat Boy or Returnal for example. I think actually the genius about Souls games is that unlike Roguelikes or…

>Having said that, I still think they should add some accessibility features that can make the game easier. What they do in Mario Kart or Celeste I think is great. Instead of making difficulties which means some of them won't get proper design and balance. Focus on a single difficulty, but add accessibility features that can make it easier. I think it's important to do that so people who have handicaps, are younger, are too old, don't have the time and patience, can still experience and enjoy some of the games. They could choose to play some section normally, and when they get stuck, instead of quitting the game, they can try and give themselves some help to get over it.

But why? The difficulty is part of the experience and adds up to the oppressive nature of the ambiance. In a sense, the difficulty is part of the artistic vision of the designers. Not every piece of media or hobby needs to be vanilla and accessible to everybody; you would not request of Dostoyevsky for a 'simpler version' of his works, so that children and those not inclined to reading could experience them.

Re: Hidetaka Miyazaki sees death as a feature, not a bug

#130

Post by aixi » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:51 AM UTC

nassimsoftware wrote: post #27

I'm new to From Soft games and decided to buy Elden Ring because it's a similar game to Zelda Breath of The Wild which I really liked. I was afraid that the game would be too difficult. After playing 17hrs, the game is indeed difficult but there are many things you can do in the game to make it easier for yourself (Which I did because I'm more interested in exploring the world than mastering the gameplay). For exampl…

>This is essentially the easy mode everyone wanted but the core souls fans.

I don't think souls fans (which I am) are against 'having an easier time with the games', I think most are just against explicit difficulty settings and stuff like god mode, because they break the motif of the games. Easy mode has always been there, since DeS, in that there are multiplayer summons who can carry you through every fight.