There’s a particular criticism I’ve been seeing pop up around whatever the newest soulslike or Fromsoft title of the season is, that’s been slowly grinding my gears.
There’s a particular kind of hand-wringing around every conceivable playstyle a game could possibly offer needing to be equally viable as a means to beat PvE, that I think sounds good when you’re gamer-brained, but doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Like, I was just now watching a challenge run video of Lies of P that complained about late game bosses whose fury attacks (flashing red attacks which can only be parried) had little counter-play EXCEPT the game’s sekiro style parry mechanic. They cited the idea that, “it seems like a bad design decision if a player simply doesn’t LIKE parrying”. My brother in Christ, the game doesn’t have parry as some kind of -optional- tool, by late game they’re designing bosses that are INTENDED to challenge your skill in all the core mechanics. Ignoring parries isn’t a playstyle choice, it’s playing the game poorly, full stop
And I’ve seen similar sentiments in other games. “Why are some builds in armored core less effective than others?”, “why isn’t Elden ring fun with my longsword and no magic, no consumable, no spirit ashes, no ash of war playstyle?”. These games want you to put thought into your builds! They want you to utilize and engage with most, if not all, of the game’s mechanics! Individual player expression is DELIGHTFUL but at some point you DO have to accept that you’re playing the game the developers made for you and that means you’re gonna have to play by those rules if you want the fun experience!
Games, if any genre, are going to have an ideal playstyle, or an INTENDED playstyle. Ways of playing the developers think is the most fun, they want to push you towards. And alternatively methods they think would lead to a less fun experience they want you to avoid. This is true both in titles with very little customization, and in titles with endless build variety. It’s not a developer oversight or flaw on their part if a game isn’t fun when played in a counter-intuitive manner
