I’ve got a long week behind me, so I’m really looking forward to some gaming. I’ve recently picked up TUNIC, which I will likely be continuing - having lots of fun with it. The mix between a Zelda-like with some Dark Souls sprinkled in makes for a really interesting combination. The lore being told through the instruction manual makes for a really interesting approach to storytelling, seeing it all unravel in real-time and all the mental puzzle pieces falling into place.
Speaking of lore, should FromSoft make their lore more approachable? It’s been memed on to death that FS’s lore is notoriously hard to parse if you don’t have a PhD in Soulsology or are super attentive to every minute detail the game presents to you.
To me, it sometimes feels a little too cryptic. Don’t get me wrong - I love FS games for their environmental storytelling and the mystery surrounding most happenings. But sometimes I just prefer to have it laid out before me and not be that difficult to understand. I feel like having a Wiki or a YouTube video open to even understand the basics of the story can feel a little silly sometimes. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy all the different interpretations to the lore that leaves us with.
Take the story of Bloodborne, for example. There are so many video essays discussing all the numerous theories surrounding the game (Visceral Femininity by Honey Bat is fucking amazing) that recontextualise the story in such an enriching way that any game with more direct storytelling just can’t ever achieve.
However, a mix of direct and indirect storytelling is still awesome too. Sekiro is one of the few FromSoft games that, more or less, tells you exactly what is happening and why - it’s easy to follow along. Nevertheless, since it’s rooted in Japanese folklore and culture, a lot of bits are unspoken and left to the player to make sense of, so video essayists and lore enjoyers have something to chew on to.
What’s your take on this? Do you ever get frustrated with the “read a random item description” approach to lore?
I think we’ve seen what happens when you make the lore of a Soulslike game more accessible in Lies of P, and that has convinced me that you do lose pretty much all of the “magic”.
I don’t think it needs to be made more accessible because you don’t need to understand the world in order to enjoy the game. In fact, I think the games are made to instill a sense of “wonder”, exploring a strange but familiar land. While it can also be fun to dissect the worldbuilding, at a fundamental level I believe the games were made to be not understood.
To me Lies of P still had lots of mystery to dig into in addition to more direct storytelling and explained character relations just because most of the lore and characters are based on the original Pinocchio novel that’s not specifically mentioned or explained. But that’s just me