E3 is upon us, and the new game from From Software, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, was sure to make headlines. We only have the trailer to go by, but so far, the game looks very un-promising, that is if it's anything like the trailer:
Fortunately, you can never tell how good a game or movie is based on trailers. But if we pretend that the trailer's going to be like the game, this will be the first post-Demon Souls From software game that I'll skip.
At first, I was very excited because the initial artwork of the statues was rather striking, but after the rather beautiful sculptures, we see From Software (Hype!) and then Activision, which broke my heart into a million pieces.
Activision tends to be rated as either the first or second worst video game company in the world, competing against the much-maligned EA for this dubious honor. Unfortunately, with that negative attribution, it may have colored my outlook.
Indeed, the first piece of the trailer with the lovely statues was compelling, but the reality is, you can hire any student from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) who can come up with something as, or even more bedazzling than what was presented.
Aside from the hokey, psuedo-macho narration, the following bits of the trailer showed combat, but it wasn't rousing or compelling because the action sequences were pulled out of thin air.
Unlike Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima, which also takes place in feudal Japan, the Sekiro trailer didn't establish a world and absolutely no emotional resonance. We are made to feel something (?) as we're to rescue one of the characters who is your master but my thought is, why should we care about him, I'd rather take a nap?
I didn't really feel the emotional pull to rescue the master, like you do in Tsushima. The enemy in Tsushima is truly frightening as he recounts your life in detail, that you're a samurai who has won countless unwinnable battles, since he has studied and stalked you, which really freaked me out.
So, while you're doing the run-of-the mill preparations for battle, actions as pedestrian as sharpening your sword, he went beyond the boundaries of normalcy into socio-pathy. Not only has he has studied your every move, he studied the culture of your people to gain psychological edge to be even more successful in killing or enslaving them, making determinations as to which villages to destroy and which to conquer, to glorify himself.
So when he asks of you, "Do you surrender?", my immediate thought is "Hell No", my blood boiling to exact revenge and protect our people:
Sekiro had cringe-worthy cliched lines, whereas the cliche in Ghost of Tsushima works in the context of the emotionality of the trailer. The difference between them is that you feel fear from the socio-pathic enemy, and anger towards the injustice in Tsushima, but not so much in Sekiro, except "the master looks weird", apologies for being looks-ist.
At any rate, after the goal of saving your master has been established, the Sekiro trailer goes into battle after battle of various enemies, which out of context, does not have that rousing feeling you get when you fight against truly evil and cruel enemies in a victorious rally.
All this could just mean that Activision (since they're footing the bill) really needs to hire better writers because the trailer for Sekiro is quite bad.
The next red flag is that From Software is also working on two other IPs, so that means the company will be stretched thin, in a quantity over quality way.
Mathematically, we have two red flags already. One, the stomach churning presence of Activision, and two From Software being stretched way too thin. Negating these rather glaring red flags, is the positive green flag of Miyazaki being the principal director.
Hopefully, it will turn out that Miyazaki will be allowed as much time, full creative and financial reign to create a masterpiece. But if Activision micro-manages, not even the great Miyazaki can pull a decent game out of this black hole of a company.
The good news for my backlog is that my hype for this game is so low that I'll have the willpower to avoid it and stick to my one game a year goal. So, the only game I'll get next year is Kingdom Hearts 3, and watching the trailer, Sora is exactly as how he always is, Bae, rather than changing his personality to the tired, old and stale brooding teenager cliche that I was afraid of:
What do you think of the Sekiro trailer? Do you think that Miyazaki can overcome the soul crushing odds of a bad publisher in Activision and being stretched too thin, and create another masterpiece?
The How of Happiness Review
Fortunately, you can never tell how good a game or movie is based on trailers. But if we pretend that the trailer's going to be like the game, this will be the first post-Demon Souls From software game that I'll skip.
At first, I was very excited because the initial artwork of the statues was rather striking, but after the rather beautiful sculptures, we see From Software (Hype!) and then Activision, which broke my heart into a million pieces.
Activision tends to be rated as either the first or second worst video game company in the world, competing against the much-maligned EA for this dubious honor. Unfortunately, with that negative attribution, it may have colored my outlook.
Indeed, the first piece of the trailer with the lovely statues was compelling, but the reality is, you can hire any student from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) who can come up with something as, or even more bedazzling than what was presented.
Aside from the hokey, psuedo-macho narration, the following bits of the trailer showed combat, but it wasn't rousing or compelling because the action sequences were pulled out of thin air.
Unlike Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima, which also takes place in feudal Japan, the Sekiro trailer didn't establish a world and absolutely no emotional resonance. We are made to feel something (?) as we're to rescue one of the characters who is your master but my thought is, why should we care about him, I'd rather take a nap?
I didn't really feel the emotional pull to rescue the master, like you do in Tsushima. The enemy in Tsushima is truly frightening as he recounts your life in detail, that you're a samurai who has won countless unwinnable battles, since he has studied and stalked you, which really freaked me out.
So, while you're doing the run-of-the mill preparations for battle, actions as pedestrian as sharpening your sword, he went beyond the boundaries of normalcy into socio-pathy. Not only has he has studied your every move, he studied the culture of your people to gain psychological edge to be even more successful in killing or enslaving them, making determinations as to which villages to destroy and which to conquer, to glorify himself.
So when he asks of you, "Do you surrender?", my immediate thought is "Hell No", my blood boiling to exact revenge and protect our people:
Sekiro had cringe-worthy cliched lines, whereas the cliche in Ghost of Tsushima works in the context of the emotionality of the trailer. The difference between them is that you feel fear from the socio-pathic enemy, and anger towards the injustice in Tsushima, but not so much in Sekiro, except "the master looks weird", apologies for being looks-ist.
At any rate, after the goal of saving your master has been established, the Sekiro trailer goes into battle after battle of various enemies, which out of context, does not have that rousing feeling you get when you fight against truly evil and cruel enemies in a victorious rally.
All this could just mean that Activision (since they're footing the bill) really needs to hire better writers because the trailer for Sekiro is quite bad.
The next red flag is that From Software is also working on two other IPs, so that means the company will be stretched thin, in a quantity over quality way.
Mathematically, we have two red flags already. One, the stomach churning presence of Activision, and two From Software being stretched way too thin. Negating these rather glaring red flags, is the positive green flag of Miyazaki being the principal director.
Hopefully, it will turn out that Miyazaki will be allowed as much time, full creative and financial reign to create a masterpiece. But if Activision micro-manages, not even the great Miyazaki can pull a decent game out of this black hole of a company.
The good news for my backlog is that my hype for this game is so low that I'll have the willpower to avoid it and stick to my one game a year goal. So, the only game I'll get next year is Kingdom Hearts 3, and watching the trailer, Sora is exactly as how he always is, Bae, rather than changing his personality to the tired, old and stale brooding teenager cliche that I was afraid of:
What do you think of the Sekiro trailer? Do you think that Miyazaki can overcome the soul crushing odds of a bad publisher in Activision and being stretched too thin, and create another masterpiece?
The How of Happiness Review
I think you're jumping the gun with the Activision worries. Sure it's not something we should ignore entirely, but don't forget Activision are only a western publisher, not the developers themselves. Just because Activision localise the game for us doesn't mean they automatically get a say in how it's made, it depends on their contract and lets be real here, From Software, creators of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, some of the biggest, most beloved, cult-following franchises could've gotten a deal with any publisher. They had their pick of the litter, and chose the one that offered them the most benefits.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Publishers aren't some overhanging gods, simply gobbling up development teams and publishers, it's a two way deal, and if From Software didn't want to work with them, then all they had to do was decline any offer, the power is still very much in the developers hands, just like how Ninja Theory are working for Microsoft now.
Those are really good points Cheesus! Though, this is a double-edged sword b/c From software might have chosen Activision b/c not only did they give them the best benefits (which would make sense), but From software might follow the Activision playbook as they themselves want to make more money.
DeleteBB didn't sell that many copies, not nearly as much as HZD, MHW and GoW, so perhaps From software is looking to maximize their own profits. Greed often corrupts!