It's entirely ragebait — so many important factors in the lore come from the nature of the enemies, the place that they're in... the items themselves provide context and is a part of the whole. There are mysteries in the Souls series that simply don't have answers — and they never will. If that is a problem for you, I would recommend maybe reading better books.
Lord of the Rings, for example, has the Entwives — you will never know what happened to them, why they're gone (though the assumption is Sauron), you are only left with enough facts to understand the Ents cannot reproduce. Following the theme of magic 'dying' in the world. Tom Bombadil is another good example here, you won't ever actually 'know' what Bombadil is.
As far as the gameplay is concerned, yes the gameplay loop can be broken down to simply 'dodge at the right time, swing at the right time'. That is completely ignoring pyromancy magic and faith, shields (blocking and parrying, so so so many players fail to recognize how easy it is to find and use a shield with 100% DR while maintaining light roll), things like bows and crossbows (I don't touch them but they're there), and all the useable items.
Thing that tells you exactly what you want to hear causes delusions?
Whaaat?
I completely understand why articles like this need to exist. Information about what 'AI' actually is needs to be spread. That being said, I also can't remove myself from the impression that this is just incredibly obvious. Like one of those studies about whether a dog actually loves their owner by going to lengths such as an MRI of their brain while looking at their owner.
Like, thank you mystery researcher on the internet — but you could have saved the helium by just sticking to Occam's Razor.
I think that the amount of love that went into Clair Obscur eclipses any use of AI. If you're under the impression that background textures they replaced must mean they used AI everywhere else — you must not have played the game.
I think, technically speaking due to Rayleigh Scattering and the nature of our sun, the sky wouldn't be blue if it weren't for the composition of our atmosphere — if I'm remembering correctly. So the sky could potentially be a different color with a different atmosphere, or at least we would perceive it that way (we are also sensitive to the color blue, so it is easier to see).
Idk, this has led to many more questions than I anticipated. I guess if you're very strict about the light not being a part of the atmosphere due to scattering then it is not blue. Other factors like clouds, fog, smog, obviously play a part.
So Clair Obscur, the game that absolutely won game of the year, lost due to a technicality.
The generative AI use everyone is pearl clutching about would be textures. As in things that have been procedurally generated (you don't actually care what they look like, they are just there to smooth out wrinkles) for years.
As someone who hates AI, this is just fucking stupid. Like, you are a virtue signaling luddite if you believe that this usage of AI tarnishes the rest of the fucking game.
And the 'ideal' beach body is apparently something that can only be attained by steroid abuse. Arnie in his prime, pumping gear, should not be what anyone thinks is an 'ideal beach body'. This is what I mean about steroid abuse normalization.
Do you believe that it's transphobic for a cishet male to not want to date a trans woman?
If the answer is yes, then the answer to your question is yes. If not, you've also got your answer.