I’ll probably not be playing any soulslikes this weekend - don’t have anything to play right now. However, we’re at a friend’s birthday today, and they’re getting a physical copy of Bloodborne for PS4 from us. :)
Speaking of physical media: Sony have lost their minds. Sure, the move away from physical media has been ongoing for the past years, and it was very likely that Sony would not have offered a PS7 with a disk drive. However, to hear that they’ll be outright stopping production of disks by early 2028 is such a gut punch. Sony already have a monopoly on console gaming pretty much, next to Nintendo maybe, so they can do whatever the fuck they want with their store. Physical games always left you the possibility of opting for a cheaper used or on-sale copy, though.
I have more or less abandoned console gaming around a year ago when I built my first PC ever, and I’m quite content with it. However, this is just another nail in the coffin for me to just not bother consoles or Sony specifically moving forward.
Like, all the soulslikes I’ve played on PS5 are on disk. DS 1-3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Lies of P etc etc. To think that moving forward people won’t have that “luxury” (it hurts me so much to even call this a luxury) of playing a game whatever way they want is just so infuriating.
What’s your stance on this? What’s your split of digital to physical games? What about your soulslikes?
I really thought this was going to be more of a creeping death situation for discs on the Playstation. Disc player for the PS6 only as an addon, none at all for the PS7; winding down production near the end of the PS6’s lifetime and shutting it down in the first half of the PS7’s lifetime. I didn’t expect such a “bold” proclamation. But they have a near monopoly in the console market (Nintendo is still relevant but serves a somewhat different market; Xbox makes themself more irrelevant day by day). The consumers can’t really protest… Do you want to buy a new console? Well, these are the conditions: only digital games, online gaming access costs money, and … I don’t know some other rent-seeking scheme…
I “own” most of my Souls games on Playstation digitally. I bought them that way because it was convenient; I had the console, which cost me a marvelous 0€ (or years of family IT service), and 20€ Bloodborne GOTY seemed like fun. The sad thing is that from the very beginning I never really expected to own them like my many books. I knew that it could be revoked at any moment, close my Playstation account for some spurious reasons, deactivate my games via the internet because of some licensing or some other reason to spite me. What was I going to do in that case? Litigate with what time? With what money? And on the grounds of what laws? But still, it was convenient in the moment.
We need consumer protection in the media landscape, especially in video gaming. I really hope that we will get some, but I’m pessimistic… Stop Killing Games was stopped by the EU Commission due to such blatant lies by lobbyists. And quite frankly, Stop Killing Games is such a milquetoast, basic thing in terms of consumer protections. We actually need much more than that.
My mind paints such a grim potential future for video gaming… You know Nintendo is gonna follow Sony in the digital only sooner or later, just like they did with paying for shitty online service. Also, you know Gabe Newell is not gonna live forever, and one day you are gonna read the headline: “Steam IPO expected to hit…”. In a decade or two… maybe you will only be able to rent games, always online; you have to pay a yearly few and – okay enough about that grim future; it’s making me sad.
I do still have hope, mostly because of piracy ☠︎. Someone will always share the newest media; sharing is caring. It’s almost as if sharing (media) is an intrinsic human quality… As stupid as game encryption gets, someone will always crack it. Denuvo got cracked via Hypervisor, which is not elegant, but it works. “Proper” cracks of all sorts of games still continue; voices38 makes proper Denuvo cracks, no Hypervisor required. Also, GOG games get shared all around easily, and they don’t seem to be going bankrupt. I had some sort of further point here; ah well, media, and especially games, will always be available even if the industry goes in a darker direction.
(Thanks for reading my rambling…)
I’m still addicted to Elden Ring. I started yet another RL1 run. This time with another restriction: I’m keeping every base stat (Vigor, Strength, Endurance, etc.) at 10, with no boosting of these base stats. It’s sometimes known as “True Level 1” or “RL1 on stat boosting”. This severely limits the weapon selection. Makes you super squishy and nerfs your damage output even more.
The weapon selection for those interested:
Axe
Messmer Soldier’s Axe
Jawbone Axe
Iron Cleaver
Battle Axe
Highland Axe
Celebrant’s Cleaver
Hand Axe
Claw
Venomous Fang
Curved Sword
Serpent-God’s Curved Sword
Dagger
Cinquedea
Dagger
Fist
Star Fist
Iron Ball
Katar
Spiked Caestus
Caestus
Unarmed
Great Spear
Serpent-Hunter
Hammer
Ringed Finger
Hammer
Curved Club
Morning Star
Mace
Spiked Club
Club
Warpick
Hand-to-Hand
Dryleaf Arts
Dane’s Footwork
Spear
Short Spear
Straight Sword
Broadsword
Lordsworn’s Straight Sword
Longsword
Short Sword
Weathered Straight Sword
Thrusting Sword
Noble’s Estoc
Torch
Steel-Wire Torch
Beast-Repellent Torch
Torch
Lamenting Visage
Light Bow
Shortbow
Harp Bow
Crossbow
Heavy Crossbow
Light Crossbow
Soldier’s Crossbow
Glintstone Staff
Demi-Human Queen’s Staff
Glintstone Staff
Sacred Seal
Frenzied Flame Seal
Dragon Communion Seal
Clawmark Seal
Finger Seal
It’s going well for now… I sped through the linear path to Farum Azula. Morgott was far too easy, seriously - Fromsoft he has too low HP, and Fire Giant was way harder, since I needed to fight him hitless to have enough damage output using the Red-Feathered Branchsword (it’s like the Red Tearstone Ring). For now I’m having fun, and I think Any% is going to be manageable, but DLC and Malenia are going to be rough…