If there is one thing about the Souls-loving community that drives me insane it's how utterly pathetically self absorbed and repugnant they are at all times. If it weren't for the games themselves suddenly growing so apocalyptically great that normies got drawn into the flurry, the genre would have literally no chance of taking of naturally just for how many gatekeepers litter this genre type and are encouraged to fester. At first it was the meme- "Get Gud"- an all that, as people acclimatised to the genre of game they were playing. A genre that held no hands, spared no quarter and rewarded the triumphant with the inexplicably intrinsic. But somewhere along the way the irony withered and what was left in it's place is a breed of folk who quite simply do not understand what the genre was ever about to begin with, lording themselves up as arbiters of it's virtue. And it depresses me.
The biggest weapon in the arsenal of any Souls-Like, the utmost goal at the end of the blood-strewn rainbow, is satisfaction. Satisfaction at having beaten a tough challenge and proven yourself capable at the other end of it all. It's the reason we play these games. It's not explicitly the challenge of completing a difficult task- that is merely the vehicle through which satisfaction is accrued. There is no guideline on the games about the way they should be played- which is kind of the beauty of them. Dark Souls through to Elden Ring provide an entire world with which to learn and tools to covet in your war to the credits. I'd wager that most players out there don't even realise that a lot of the consumables they pick up could actually trivialise a lot of their really challenging fights if they were to put them to proper use. The games give you the tools, you only need to use them.
Back throughout the Souls series there was an elitist attitude around the use of Summons- even though there are questlines that literally demand you pull certain NPCs into certain fights in order to progress them; apparently you aren't playing properly if you bring a buddy. It all stems from this belief that Dark Souls bosses were never designed to deal with more than 1 enemy at a time and the bosses become hopelessly confused to the point of trivialisation with a partner. Which is... strange. After all the praise that Dark Souls gets from a design standpoint, for people to believe that summons are were they totally forgot any sense of balancing. In truth, no- bosses always have sweep attacks, tend to keep themselves abreast of how many enemies they're facing and never 'glitch out to the point of trivialisation' as some would insist- as that would make them defective NPCs.
Now of course having a summon makes the battle easier- but so does wearing armour. So does wielding a weapon. So does learning the enemies attack pattern. As long as your sticking within the confines of the game and playing within the expected play parameters- what makes this the arbitrary point of 'breaking the experience'. That same snobbiness carried over to magic- which, due to what I can only assume to be an embarrassed reaction to someone not knowing about damage types vulnerability, was labelled a 'cheap tactic' by the community. Nevermind Sorceries demand a serious levelling commitment before they become actually useful. Nevermind none can be freely aimed so you need to be close enough to get a bop on the head to use them. Nevermind the vulnerable casting window that leaves you open to use them. They're unbalanced- someone said. Presumably someone who never realised you can coat your weapon in special effects that can double damage to the right enemies- or is that 'cheating' too?
There's this sense of superiority to playing ineffectively that totally boggles the mind to experience. Don't get me wrong- those that want to challenge themselves can reap all the plaudits they want- but I'm not going to accept being called a 'trash casual' because I slapped down 'Bayle the Dread' with a greatsword literally designed for slaying "Colossal dragons". That would be like criticising someone for solving a puzzle instead of bashing their head against the mechanism until it gave up- it's genuinely baffling. Yet for some reason that belief is allowed to permeate and really only exists within the Souls community of games- it is baffling.
If you were having trouble tackling a major optional boss in an RPG and went online looking for advice- you'll get advice that guides you towards gear you want to try, builds you may need to switch up your party to utilise, maybe even actual strategy advice! It was those sorts of threads that guided me through Neriscyrlas in Pillars of Eternity 2- and plenty of other big baddies besides him. Ask the same for literally any fight in any Souls game and I will tell you the advice right now- for every one of them. "You just need to learn the fight.". "It's actually really easy. "I beat it first try." "When you figure out the attack patterns it's literally the easiest fight." Genuinely, after wading through self-aggrandizing auto-fellatio the most constructive advice you'll ever find from the community is: 'Once you beat the fight it's easy'. Which at that point- you might as well have not bothered type the message to begin with, eh?
You know there is something fundamentality wrong with a community of gamers when you got more coherent and tangible information by scrolling through Fextralife! That badly formatted former Twitch bot-farm of a website actually stocks genuinely useful strategy guides that helped me pull of stunts like poisoning Darkeater Midir to death on NG+3. And why is that? Because these people worship the idea of playing through these games in the least innovative, most bare basic, manner possible. How many of these people know the supremely cool spells out there in the game? Or the really cool special consumable effects? Or the great Spirit Ash team-ups possible out there? At least the PVP community seems to have slide right past all that infantile regression and simply meta chase all day. At least that is somewhat respectable!
To those that really question the legitimacy of Souls players who are resourceful enough to actually use the game's tools to overcome their enemies, really address yourself and ask what it is that makes your own, less elaborate and more blunt, approach appealing in your eyes. Is it that you completed the fight in your way? On your terms? Then why exactly are you trying to force you way onto other people who are achieving exactly that, going for those very same plaudits? At the end of the day, there is no easy button on Souls Games. I get it- I didn't use Summons throughout 'Lies of P', I know sometimes you want recognition. But not at the expense of trying to place yourself as superior over other players- that is just pathetic.
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