science friction

bwadshoemaker:

#1 Teemo NA

jeffgerstmann:

Though there are certainly things about it that aren’t particularly well-explained, that game seems very straightforward. You fight through areas to get rewarded with a shortcut that prevents you from having to fight through said area a second time and eventually fight a boss or two. This seems to happen in every single area so far. The currency system creates a risk/reward setup where you find yourself torn between running back to level, knowing that it respawns everything and may make you fight a lot of stuff all over again (especially if you haven’t found that shortcut yet) or fighting on, knowing that you may potentially die and lose all that currency in the process.

Personally, I’d appreciate a system that allowed you to “bank” echoes back in the Hunter’s Dream, so that anything you cash in there is technically “safe” from any future deaths. It’d let you chip your way up from one level to the next without having to get a full level’s worth of echoes in one run. But I get why they don’t do that.

I think they could be better about explaining the way some systems work, but I suppose there’s a Fez-like community situation that rises up from their lack of explanations, and that’s not all bad.

Mostly, it’s just frustrating that there are people who try to paint it as extra difficult and then lash out at people who don’t like its particular brand of action as “casuals” or “not real gamers” or whatever the fuck else, like enjoying this developer’s work puts you into some kind of secret coolguy club. Sometimes it feels like there are fans out there trying to paint these games as modern masocore or something. Bloodborne ain’t that.