Blood Splatter
There’s a lot of blood in Sekiro. For the most part it’s inside of people. But there are times it will shoot out of them as a high-pressure jet stream and leaves a nice red stain where it lands. It’s an homage to old pulpy Samurai films that Sekiro takes some of its inspiration from. This video from Polygon does an excellent job of explaining this. (I should start watching Chambara.)
One night, while fighting Genichiro for what felt like the 200th time – still an absolute banger of a boss fight – I noticed the blood on the floor. And on the doors. Sometimes there is blood on the ceiling – Sakura Dance is responsible for that. I’ve noticed the blood before, but this was the first time that I realised I could track the progress of the fight by the blood on the ground. Like a Sengoku-era police procedural. It’s a fun way of looking back at the fight just happened, and how and when parts of it transpired.
The fight in question. The fight started in the middle of the arena. That’s where Genichiro tried to rush down Sekiro. Genichiro was then pushed into a corner – hence the blood splatter on the door. The third phase started and Genichiro got pinned down just off the centre of the arena, and that is where he fell. You can see the push and pull of a fight, the give and take solely from the blood stains on the floor. That’s pretty cool.
RPG Lite
Recently, the Bloodborne to PC rumour reared up – last year or last week, sometime – it comes up a lot. It amounted to nothing. Again. Maybe one day the PC dream will happen. Regarding a possible Bloodborne port, DangitJM made a video about how a simple port for Bloodborne would not be enough. It’s a long video but it’s worth a watch.
Of all the video, the bit that interested me the most was the discussion regarding Bloodborne’s RPG systems and would the game benefit from those not being in the game, ala Sekiro. It’s an interesting idea, and it made me remember an old idea had about From Software games and weapons and builds – what if it was more like Monster Hunter?
Some people did get cranky about this – if you rip out the RPG mechanics the variety would go with it is what was said. Which in Sekiro’s case is true – but you can do away with stats and still have different builds.
Using weapons in From Software games – Sekiro aside – is governed by stats. Weapons have statistical requirements that have to be met. As an example, the Cross Naginata in Elden Ring requires 16 Strength and 20 Dexterity to use. If those stats aren’t met, the weapon cannot be used effectively. If you were to stumble upon this weapon and not have those stats, to use it there would have be a re-spec.
At least there is the option of that – Dark Souls and Bloodborne don’t have re-spec options – if you found a new weapon and the build was finished, make a new character or grind for new stats in a NG plus play through. Bloodborne was particularly rough for this – Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring at least let you use the weapon to see how it feels. You can’t even hold weapons you don’t have the stats for in Bloodborne. It’s a little annoying. You could hold them in Dark Souls but you could not use them – they would bounce off enemies. Also a little annoying.
In Monster Hunter, while you need parts to make weapons you are free to switch between weapon types freely. There’s always a basic model which takes no effort to make. If your character is a Switch Axe user, and they suddenly want to run with Longsword they can. They can pick up a Longsword and use it – combos and everything. It probably won’t be the strongest model – all the parts would have been diverted to Switch Axes – but there’s no need to re-spec or start a new play through. Might need to shift around a few charms though.
As to how it would work in a Souls context – (at least in my head) – there would still be stats, only three of them – health, stamina and a magic meter. All of the weapons would simply upgrade as per usual with titanite (or game equivalent) – except weapons would be interchangeable. All the damage and damage type would come from the weapons themselves – certain weapons would do strength damage, magic damage – you get the idea. I guess staffs, staves and incantation tools could be equipped with spells – like different ammo for a bow gun.
Aside from the how it would work, the why is a little more complicated. I did this was a half-baked idea. As far as I know (bearing in mind I’ve only played World), people don’t make multiple characters in Monster Hunter. You make one character and switch weapons as and when. In part because monsters are hunted as and when. You can hunt the same monster over and over again. Whereas in Souls titles, a boss stays dead – so switching weapons doesn’t have the same effect.
That being said… I would like to see a Souls like where weapon switching wasn’t so tied to stats. As a one off at least. Just want to see how it would play out.
Video Games And Things I Write About Them 