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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 24th, 2023

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  • But hey, I don’t actually eat hot sauce.

    Then it was probably a poor analogy to use.

    Best I can say is you mentioned people being ‘conditioned’ to eat hot sauce or not. The experience of extreme hot sauces is largely about how each person react to the same sauce. Each experience is different because the conditioning is different for everyone, which is the whole point.

    Fromsoft games are the same way. They don’t have any calibration for conditioning because it’s all about how well (or if) you can condition yourself to able to experience it.


  • I’m just going to have to restate the exact same analogy and hope you get it this time.

    I am just trying to engage with the context of your points. I used Hot Ones to build on it and offer a counterpoint: the games are about how you tackle the spicy mountain, which by design is the same as everyone else’s spicy mountain.

    Giving me access to mild hot sauce does not reduce your access to the extra spicy stuff. Letting me reduce the Guardian Ape’s health by half in my save file does not reduce the Guardian Ape’s health in yours.

    All true and fine.

    It just ensures that we both have an equivalent experience to each other.

    Fundamentally we have not. An ‘extra mild’ The Bomb Beyond Insanity, that is an actual palatable smoke flavor, is just not the equivalent experience as suffering through the real deal.

    But, for the record, it’s 100% appropriate to clown on people who suffer those million scoville hot sauces on their food like it is an enjoyable culinary experience. Don’t play the game if you don’t have fun, and no one should suffer the fools who think you should.


  • So with the Hot Ones analogy. The show is about interviewing guest tackling the challenge of hot sauces.

    People tap out, and that’s a part of the show. There’s challenges within the show as well: (no milk, etc.)

    If guests just ate the first wing 10 times, or it was just Sean Evans eating the wings and asking questions it’d just be a different show. (And there are shows where the guests just eat nornsl chicken wings, which is fine. They just sren’t Hot Ones.)

    If Sean Evans weren’t eating the wings, however, the premise of the show is still there. Him joining in just helps the guest keep trying.

    You can quit, you can not even play at all. If you’re not having fun you shouldn’t feel forced either way. Tap out, drink the milk, eat the ice cream.

    At a certain point there’s going to be a “Challenge Mode: The Game” that is not conducive to an Easy Mode.


  • Well, “soulslike” is a pretty garbage category, honestly. I have played a lot of games that call themselvea soulslikes, and I pretty much only trust Miyazaki with that genre.

    Miyazaki’s quote is wrong for what the gaming industry labels ‘soulslikes’, but not necessarily the games he has designed and created. Because a lot of soulslikes don’t do what Miyazaki tries to do.

    And I get what you mean about the game being easier as relative. But there’s also the fact that people do challenge runs in all kinds of games. It’s that drive to be challenged and do something harder, so it is not easier, is at the root of what draws people.