cursed-40k-thoughts

As someone who has played a lot of Armored Core games, and been fond of the franchise for a long time, man… Armored Core fans really are crawling out of the woodwork to loudly proclaim themselves the shittiest brand of FromSoft fan, huh?

The amount of vitriol, elitism and sheer whinging I’ve seen in the run up to AC6′s release is fucking staggering. I have not seen a group of people more aggressively dedicated to trying to torpedo new interest in an IP than them in quite some time. They’re being fucking children.

The main thing that seems to be setting them off is people asking how it compares to the Soulsborne games, right? Or people comparing elements of it to the Soulsborne games. Guess what? People use points of comparison and familiarity as a means of understanding new things, and seeing which parts of a new thing they can connect with. That’s how people work, you children. I understand that you’re exceptionally bitter and want to feel special or distinguished from the “mainstream gamers” and the “fake new fans” or whatever, but you need to grow up and recognise that the Soulsborne games are the games that the western world are most familiar with in relation to FromSoft. Fuck, AC6 is only getting so much widespread interest because it’s coming from FromSoft, off the back off their most successful game launch of all time.

The fact people who like FromSoft, or know of FromSoft, are trying to find points of common ground and draw comparisons is a good thing. You get that, right? People are looking at a game that they largely have no immediate context for and are trying to find it because it’s interesting to them. And those comparisons are good, no matter what the game is. Being able to break down elements of something via comparative points in order to find a way for new people to connect with it is VERY GOOD ACTUALLY.

If someone wants to know about a thing I like, and why I like it, and why they might like it, you know how I explain it to them? You know how it’s normal to explain it to them? You take things that they understand/like/are familiar with and use those things to guide them along. This is good. This is information bridging. This is, it has to be said, common fucking sense.

What you don’t do, you fountains of sparkling uniqueness, you super special little guys, is go “It’s NOT like ANYTHING you’ve EVER played and FUCK you for making ANY comparisons it’s WHOLLY unique and you’ll ONLY understand by playing OLD games. Also it’s SUPER HARD. Get FUCKED.”

Because a), that’s not really true, and b), that’s fucking dippy and exactly how you drive away people. You do understand that if you assist in alienating people away from the series, and the game (which is part of an extremely niche genre in the west) doesn’t sell well enough, it’s entirely possible that Bamco will just not want to publish another one. Do you understand that?

Also, all the people whining about the modernisation/refinement of UI and various gameplay elements, and how the game will be too easy now. Just… shut up. Please shut the fuck up. This happens every time FromSoft does any kind of sequel to anything. It never turns out to be the case. When was the last time someone went “Ah, FromSoft, the guys who make the easy games.” Jesus Christ.

danieljeoneternalnovice

Makes me wonder if there have been similar occurrences during the pre-release season of Armored Core 4.

clownkiwi

woke athenian rhapsody: the whole game is a homage to undertale and earthbound by combining both its tone & gameplay features to make a unique game in of its own

based athenian rhapsody: it features an everhood reference (even if unintentionally)

danieljeoneternalnovice

I’ll be keeping an eye on it.

lycophyll

the gender neutral form of stalagmite/stalactite is speleothem

danieljeoneternalnovice

Didn’t know that, for sure.

mctoran

In Defense of The Backrooms Wiki(s)

Let me begin with a personal background: I have been involved in the Backrooms community since April 2021. Not only that, but I have also produced content for the three main Backrooms wikis, and thus have a perspective of all sides. I have arguably witnessed its lowest lows and its highest highs, so I am more than qualified to speak on this matter.

I have been bothered by a certain behavior of many in the Backrooms community. There is a widespread, albeit outdated misconception around the Backroons Wikis. Its generally along the lines of the wikis “ruining” The Backrooms, or being “low quality”, or being an “SCP clone”, or being filled with “immature users”. The primary proprietors of this notion tend to be purists of the original copypasta, or cultish fans of the Kane Pixels interpretation. While I may not be able to convince such people otherwise, I at least hope to open the minds of those who are willing to listen.

First off, the wikis did not “ruin” The Backrooms. In fact, I would go as far as to say Kane’s interpretation did. There were no such complaints about this until after the beginning of 2022, which was after Kane released his first found footage video. This was what caused The Backrooms to blow up in popularity, which was what attracted all the children and all the childish content. When people talk about The Backrooms being ruined, it is this childish content that they are primarily referring to. Cringy fan animations did not exist before Kane, but you know what did? The wikis. Fandom, Wikidot and Liminal Archives had been around long before Kane Pixels ever created his videos, with the most recently created wiki being over 1 year older than Kane’s work. They were what initially boosted the popularity of the Backrooms concept, and without them, there would have never been a Backrooms community to begin with. The community may not have been perfect, but it was certainly in a better state before Kane thrust The Backrooms into the mainstream. The true fault for ruining The Backrooms lies in the content creators who exploit its concept and the attention of children. All that the wikis wish to do is write stories within the setting of The Backrooms for fun, and as artistic expression.

I will not pretend all the work is Shakespearean by any means, but it was certainly worse before. People’s outdated perception of the wikis is likely based on their experience with reading the Backrooms Fandom wiki before 2022 — after which was when it improved massively. Since then, actual moderation was employed, the standards have been raised much higher, popular pages with poor execution have been rewritten (cringe shit like the old partygoer lore no longer exists), and many articles have been purged, reducing the total amount below 1000, which is even lower than the page count on wikidot. Speaking of which, most probably don’t even know that exists. Before Fandom improved, a new wiki was made on wikidot, which had higher standards and actual moderation, as well as a voting system on articles. The writing there is much better. Some may think there is “beef” between the three wikis, but this has not been the case for over a year. The Wikidot home page even has a shoutout to the Fandom Wiki, and there are people like myself who are active members in all three wikis. There is no “true canon” either. Remember that The Backrooms as a concept is public domain. Every interpretation is equally valid.

And by no means are any of the wikis an “SCP ripoff”. Any similarity between the two is superficial at best (horror, wiki, lore). A concept like The Backrooms is not ruined by having lore, especially not if it is competently written. It can only benefit. While Kane’s interpretation has a story, it simply lacks that depth which the wikis have.

It is disheartening for me to see people devaluing these wikis, when there are people like myself who spend genuine time, effort and passion to write content on them, with rich storytelling and deep lore. I assure you this does indeed exist, if only you are willing to truly look for it. In any case, I still encourage you to read the wikis again, just for a more accurate perception. And don’t look at the oldest pages. Instead, look at things like the wikidot’s enigmatic entity list, or tales, Etc.

danieljeoneternalnovice

I will forever hold super almond water in my heart.