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Comment by honkycat | Hacker News Reader

Games have literacy in a way books have literacy.

I would not recommend a casual reader pick up "A Brief History of 7 Killings" but it is still a great book.

Fromsoft games have an author, Miyazaki, and that author has the right to decide how their work is presented and engaged with.

Honestly I agree that there should be an "accessibility mode" but I understand why it is not in there. Musicians don't include a "kids bop" copy of their albums

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Yet we also translate books, even when recognizing that translations will always interfere with an original vision.

Miyazaki has the right to set whatever difficulty he wants. My complaint is less with FromSoft. I've resigned myself to the fact that they'll never release a game with difficulty that is accessible to everybody. My complaint is more with the community, who sees any discussion of "hey the monster design and lore and scenery look cool but I can't get past the Asylum Demon" as some sort of threat and responds with vitriol. The discussion here has been largely positive but even here I've got somebody who decided to just respond "git gud." You can imagine how it goes on reddit or twitter.

As someone who has declined in gaming skills as I lose free time I’ve adopted just using mods on PC versions. It removes the online aspect of the game but allows you the chance to explore the world. I’ll be in the retirement home paying someone $20 to update the mod engine for Elden Ring 3.

you really really dont need a mod for ER, nor do you need online mod. the game is super accessible and if you thorougly explore the world, also quite easy

give it a shot

you can thank me later :-)

I think the fear is that one day the FromSoft suits will demand they start making their games easier so they can sell more. A fear that's pretty reasonable: they've already made one or two Elden Ring bosses easier with patches.

I'm not aware of anybody who wants the game to be made easier with no option to maintain its difficulty. People are generally asking for optional difficulty settings.

Having the settings exposed in the options menu changes the game, and the experience of the game, and the discussion around the game. I don't want the temptation of changing to a lower difficulty.

A fear that has no basis whatsoever.

Elden Ring sold 3 times as many copies as expected so far. The smartest thing Bandai Namco can do is let Miyazaki do his thing.

It's funny you picked the Asylum Demon as an example. At the first encounter with it you don't even have your class-specific weapon. Anyone who would try to fight it for more than a few attempts with the starting weapon (broken sword that does almost no damage) is just not treating it like an RPG.

Lowering the difficulty is not going to fix that. If the devs cater the game to players who can't be bothered to explore or read their own characters stats, it will ruin a lot of aspects that most fans enjoy. After seeing so many franchises release boring, easy, focus-grouped games (where the difficulty is just HP and damage multipliers) time and time again, can you really blame fans for saying "No, don't change it, we like the game how it is"? Almost all of the From Souls games are highly regarded classics, and sticking to their guns on design philosophy is a big part of that.

PS run through the grate door, pick up your weapons and plunge attack Asylum Demon, or pick Black Firebombs as your starting gift (only takes 4-5 to kill him)

There is toxicity around literally every topic on every corner of the internet. Why does it bother you only specifically with FromSoft games.

Because you disagree. Which is fine I respect your opinion. However, I would argue "community toxicity" is a bad cloud to yell at and can be used to justify any statement.

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