Hollow Knight
Aug. 15th, 2019 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI'd like to use Dreamwidth to start writing about video games again.
But I've forgotten how to write, and sometimes I hate video games. Wish me luck?
Okay, so. I'm a big fan of the aesthetic of Hollow Knight, and I got the collector's edition from Fangamer when the game came out on Switch. I absolutely loved the first hour or two of gameplay. The world is gorgeous, the gameplay is a lot of fun, and the writing is lovely.
When I got to the first boss, however, I died. And then I died again, and then I died again. And then I died again. It's not that this boss is particularly difficult; it's just that it has a ton of health while you have almost none. The fight is therefore an endurance test in which you can't make any mistakes. This is particularly troubling because, once the boss starts breaking out new attacks and movement patterns, you've already been in the fight for a relatively long time and have probably already lost some health.
When I took to the internet to figure out what was going on, I found a lot of posts saying that Hollow Knight is a brutally punishing game, and that sometimes people can take hours to make it through a boss fight.
I then tried to search for "Hollow Knight easy mode," and that was a mistake. Oh my, the "real gamer" discourse these children engage in.
I remember really loving Super Metroid as a kid. It was much too difficult for me and my small brain and tiny hands, so I used a Game Genie as something like a set of training wheels until I got good enough to play it on my own. I ended up spending more than a hundred hours playing the game instead of just one or two, and this hurt no one. I had a game, and I played it, and it was fun. I liked exploring the world and discovering its secrets while listening to the soundtrack; and, if this isn't "how the developers intended the game to be played," it didn't matter, because my parents paid money for the game and I owned it.
This is more or less the same thing I'm interested in when it comes to Hollow Knight - exploring the world and discovering its secrets while listening to the soundtrack. Because of one boss fight at the beginning of the game, however, there's no way I can do this. I now own a very pretty $70 game that I could only play for a little more than two hours, and it's frustrating.
I wonder, would it really hurt the developers to include an easy mode?
But I've forgotten how to write, and sometimes I hate video games. Wish me luck?
Okay, so. I'm a big fan of the aesthetic of Hollow Knight, and I got the collector's edition from Fangamer when the game came out on Switch. I absolutely loved the first hour or two of gameplay. The world is gorgeous, the gameplay is a lot of fun, and the writing is lovely.
When I got to the first boss, however, I died. And then I died again, and then I died again. And then I died again. It's not that this boss is particularly difficult; it's just that it has a ton of health while you have almost none. The fight is therefore an endurance test in which you can't make any mistakes. This is particularly troubling because, once the boss starts breaking out new attacks and movement patterns, you've already been in the fight for a relatively long time and have probably already lost some health.
When I took to the internet to figure out what was going on, I found a lot of posts saying that Hollow Knight is a brutally punishing game, and that sometimes people can take hours to make it through a boss fight.
I then tried to search for "Hollow Knight easy mode," and that was a mistake. Oh my, the "real gamer" discourse these children engage in.
I remember really loving Super Metroid as a kid. It was much too difficult for me and my small brain and tiny hands, so I used a Game Genie as something like a set of training wheels until I got good enough to play it on my own. I ended up spending more than a hundred hours playing the game instead of just one or two, and this hurt no one. I had a game, and I played it, and it was fun. I liked exploring the world and discovering its secrets while listening to the soundtrack; and, if this isn't "how the developers intended the game to be played," it didn't matter, because my parents paid money for the game and I owned it.
This is more or less the same thing I'm interested in when it comes to Hollow Knight - exploring the world and discovering its secrets while listening to the soundtrack. Because of one boss fight at the beginning of the game, however, there's no way I can do this. I now own a very pretty $70 game that I could only play for a little more than two hours, and it's frustrating.
I wonder, would it really hurt the developers to include an easy mode?
no subject
Date: 2019-08-15 07:31 pm (UTC)This... this is such complex topic with some ugly discourse. Not just for Hollow Knight in particular, but for games and difficulty in general.
And I just went off on a tangent forever, so apologies for the rant, but hopefully it'll be a fun/good read?I have not played Hollow Knight, despite owning the definitive edition on... something I own. I forget if it's PS4 or Steam. Anyhow, the point is that I've owned it for a year and still haven't played it, so I can't really speak in regards to Hollow Knight, but oh man can I talk about games like that in general.
When I was younger, I had an NES and a Genesis for old school consoles. I will always remember spending hours upon hours playing Mega Man games. I never owned them; I begged my mom to rent them from the local video place and I would read the instruction manuals on the card ride home
AND MAN DO I FEEL OLD RIGHT NOW.I think I can count on one hand the times I beat those games. And then there were games like Sonic and Ecco the Dolphin, where I brought them over to friends' houses so we could collaborate and figure out how to beat these pesky levels once and for all. I can't tell you how many times I straight up murdered Mega Man or Sonic or Ecco due to my carelessness as a kid. And I didn't even blink back then and kept playing and playing and playing until I beat the damn sucker.These days? I yawn at the wrong time during a boss fight and the bastard oneshots me on the first try and I'm all like, "...welp, guess I better go grind ten levels or like, drop the difficulty down to I'm An Adult And Too Tired For This Shit mode."
Hell, I got the most recent Mega Man game for Switch and I've beaten... one? Maybe two stages so far? I HAVE TEN HOURS IN THIS DAMN GAME HOW DID I DO THIS AS A KID????
Then I remember I more or less grew up in a poor family in a rich neighborhood and said consoles were only there because instead of being a parent, my dad just bought my sister and I things, which... yeah, I'll take the damn games if it meant not dealing with his pathetic ass A N Y H O W the point is I didn't own a lot of games. I had like... maybe three for NES and a dozen for Genesis. I just rented everything. And I cherished what I did have and ended up playing the same games over and over, even the difficult ones. I only got "better" because I dumped so much time into them and didn't have any of the newer, cooler games. Yeesh, I remember going over to a friend's place when I was little and realizing he had OVER SEVENTY GENESIS GAMES LIKE OWNED THEM AND NOT RENTED WHAAAAAAAT.
I feel like so many games today are made by people our age and thus they remember these difficult old school games and perhaps want to replicate that for... some... reason. On the other hand, I feel like Dark Souls was such a massive success that everyone and their grandma is wanting to make The Next Dark Souls and they all think "we need to make our shit super hard, guys, I'm tellin ya."
But that's where I feel a lot of "hard" games fall flat. Yes, Dark Souls isn't easy, but there are certainly sections that depending on what weapon or progression you've done in the game, things can be stupid hard or stupid easy. My boyfriend played the remastered edition back in February and he like, two shot a boss due to being able to chuck fireballs instead of using a sword. And that was only three hours into the game. And regardless of that, dying is more than a mechanic; it's ingrained in the story. There's lore behind you coming back to life every time you die. The same thing is established in Bloodborne, also by the same guys, and I personally found it so much more compelling in Bloodborne. You keep dying and coming back to this same place at the same point of time and there are hints of you possibly being stuck in a time loop nightmare and you cannot wake up. And I really love that about both the games and imo the story wouldn't be as strong if you died like, maybe once or twice, if that.
One of my favorite "chill" games is Darkest Dungeon, which is probably on no one else's chill game list. It's another "lol git gud" kinda game where your party is going to die at some point and there's permadeath and so forth. But oh my god, do I love it. Between Steam and Switch, I have over 120 hours in this damn game and it's oddly relaxing. I play it on easy and it's still relentless. It's hard to explain... there's something really relaxing about it. Like I'm miserable, these characters are miserable, and we can all be stressed the fuck out and angry together while facing old gods and their cultists. Also the mechanics are amazing if you love turned-based combat.
And that's one of those games where I tell EVERYONE yes, play it on easy. Yes, have the wikipage open on your phone to look up shit you should stock up on before dungeon diving and so forth. I have no shame. I don't care. I just want to enjoy the damn game and that is my way of doing it. I get no enjoyment these days out of dying for four hours straight to a boss fight. My boyfriend does. Cool. I'll watch him do that while scrolling through Tumblr. More power to him. And what's easy for him isn't easy for me and vice versa. Like holy shit, did I want to rip the controller out of his hand and solve the BotW puzzles when he was playing on his own and doing shrines I hadn't encountered yet, because that is so much easier for me than boss fight after boss fight. I love platformers, but I hate to hardcore ones like Super Meat Boy and Celeste. I know so many people who love them and are good at them; I'm just not. And I think that's ok to not be good at something, though for some of them - like Celeste, which I the difficult platforming is actually integral to the story from what friends have told me - making it "easier" seems to defeat the point of the story.
And there's one thing I really love about video games - being able to meld mechanics and story so fluidly. When done right, it's an amazing experience and hooks you in. Even if it's hard, even if you want to throw the controller across the room, even if you never want to touch it again and take a nap forever. So few games can actually pull that off, like Dark Souls.
THAT. FUCKING. SAID.
I still think all games should have difficulty settings from an accessibility standpoint. Do you tell people using wheelchairs to suck it up and "git gud" with walking up stairs when they find no way to get in because there's no ramp? Do you tell blind folk to "git gud" with reading novels when there's no audiobook or braille version? Do you tell someone who had a stressful/hard/mediocre/whatever day to grow the fuck up when they choose to treat themselves to something or want to take it easy for their sanity? Why the fuck are games any different? It's not to say games can't be challenging, but one person's version of challenging is different from another's. We have our strengths and weaknesses. Yes, games can be niche, but why the hell use that as a gate keeping mechanism and laugh at people who want to enjoy the thing you made when you can easily add an option to make shit less aneurysm-inducing?
Like yes. I fucking know, Karen, that my goddamn gluten-free cake isn't ThE sAmE as your Original Real Deal Cake. I just want to experience fucking cake that doesn't kill me. Stop this holier than thou fuckery so I can enjoy something I otherwise can't.
thanks for coming to my TED talkno subject
Date: 2019-08-18 06:16 pm (UTC)I've made my husband play several games for me because they're not the right genre for me and I'm bad at the genres they are, but I wanted to see the story, so he got roped into it. (I play JRPGs for him because he gets bored and distracted by the grind but likes the story.)
Honestly, it is hugely an accessibility thing and also, I'm old and tired and don't have two hundred hours to grind, y'all.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-15 08:48 pm (UTC)I hate this trend of punishing indies. I'm tired of cool games that should be so fun for me except, uh oh, I can't get past level 3! OH WELL. I really want to like Shovel Knight but I CANT PLAY IT and that is so aggravating. I'm really getting tired of buying games I can't finish, and not for lack of trying!