I gave Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a bit of a try when it first released, only to be driven to such depths of anger as to find myself ranting to a whole crowd of fellow players about how “bullcrap” it was. This discussion ultimately led to claims of all From Software games being “tough, but fair” despite cheap tactics to the contrary, and whenever character-action games were brought up, they were regularly referred to as “button mashers”. This sort of comparison would consistently drive my eye to twitch, and I ultimately sold the game off to someone and ejected myself from the conversation for the sake of everyone’s temperament and mood.
Now that I’ve successfully played through Bloodborne multiple times, I can better understand the appeal of the From Software games as well as what elements they offer that other games do not – one of them being the ability to avoid a lot of combat, as opposed to character-action titles that frequently lock you in a room with your foes. Or rather, they’re locked in there with you.
If there is any character-action title that epitomizes how silly it is to call these games “button-mashers”, it is Ninja Gaiden ...Sigma. I mean, any iteration of the original Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, really, but Sigma is what came in the Master Collection released this month, and so Sigma is the version I am specifically discussing. It is a game that demands the player study the habits of the enemies, allows you to receive a rocket to the face just by turning a corner, and is not afraid to take away half of your health bar, even when that health bar itself is half the length of the screen.
If we return to that “tough, but fair” assessment of the From Software games, I would still disagree that the sentiment is wholly true. Any game that causes enemies to swivel and spin, magnetized to the player position, rather than force them into the same commitment as the player is intentionally designed to be unfair. Nevertheless, I understand the sentiment behind the claim, though the words chosen are certainly poor. Nevertheless, no one of sane mind or objective consideration would try to claim that Ninja Gaiden Sigma is fair. It is quite frequently unfair by design and by accident… or at least, I think by accident.
In my childhood, as soon as Thanksgiving were over – and sometimes before it had even arrived – I would begin counting down the days until Christmas. I was unable to contain my excitement, each day at school feeling like slow torture as the seconds seemed to take minutes to tick away. I would frequently sneak into my parent’s bedroom, seeking out the poorly hidden shopping bags full of presents to catch a glimpse of what I might be receiving that year.
Such excitement and anticipation is increasingly rare in my adult life, save for one single, annual event: E3. If I’m lucky, the interactive electronics expo occurs in tandem with my birthday, allowing me to perceive the celebration of marketing and consumerism as a gift packaged especially for myself. More often than not, I care less for birthday cake, dinners, or presents as all of my eager attention is drawn towards the industry’s biggest event of the year.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was the biggest gaming event of the year. There’s a lot of pundits and Reddit regulars and social media commentators that are blaming the past two years of lackluster announcements on Covid, but I think there was a general sense of deterioration well before the pandemic. Speaking anecdotally, I recall taking a week off of work in 2017 to sit in front of my television uninterrupted, absorbing any and all gaming streams I could. It was that year that I noticed a pattern developing with each E3: I’d feel disappointed and let down until Nintendo took the figurative center stage, concluding the major press conferences with a Direct and three days of live gameplay demonstrations.
At first I attributed this disappointment in all other companies to be the result of exhaustion and disconnection from the AAA gaming machine. While I think there is a modicum of truth to this, I also believe I was unable to discern the growing transformation of E3. It was no longer the gaming event of the year; it was now the first of many. Publishers stopped revealing their hand on stage long ago, saving many of their cards for later events like Paris Games Week, SXSW (South by Southwest), San Diego Comic-Con, Gamescom, and Tokyo Games Show. A reveal trailer may be shown at E3, but the development studio and publisher would likely be drip feeding more information throughout select expositions as the summer progressed. A carefully managed and distributed hype supply.
If E3 is anything, I think it is a habit. A habit of what, however? For whom is it a habit? Of that I am not sure.
I wasn’t really planning to do any sort of write-up regarding the specific conferences themselves, instead saving those thoughts for the podcast or a surprise Twitch stream with Joey and Zack around 8pm ET on Monday, June 21st. I do have a general E3 essay incoming, but it’s more a series of questions and considerations regarding the exposition’s purpose and why it feels so underwhelming compared to years past. There are no real answers to be found, but it’s a thought exercise I yearned to spill out onto the world anyway.
This morning I discovered that Shamus has pointed people over this way for potential discussion on Capcom and Nintendo’s events, capturing me completely unaware. Grateful, though! It just wasn’t something I was planning on.
While it is likely too late to capitalize on the spotlight shown my way, I figured I might as well go ahead and provide what has been advertised. With my own little spin, of course. There’s plenty to discuss regarding Capcom and Square Enix’s reveals, and much speculation to be had regarding Nintendo. Forgive any typos, grammatical errors, strange phrases or weak wordings, as this will be a “one draft” item. I’ve not done one draft in a long time, but what can be done under such short notice?
Comments