Call for Responses: Blasphemous!
Added 2020-01-13 03:34:11 +0000 UTCWe're recording our Appendix about Blasphemous for Bonfireside Chat a little later this week, and we'd love to hear your responses to this ghoulishly gorgeous game. Please respond to this post with your thoughts by the end of the day on Wednesday, January 15.
As a reminder, we're looking for responses that are brief and specific. So, don't feel the need to write a novel about the game front to back, but rather offer a focused thought we can add to during the episode.
Thanks so much for supporting us and listening!
K
Comments
Blasphemous was a delightfully feverish two-day affair, one whose lurid aesthetics and maximal sensibilities drew me effortlessly forward unto its wild climax—the Battle at Big Pope. I think what struck me most about the theming and art direction was that, as a videogamesman of long tenure, I had become very familiar with the cliché of the Evil not-Catholic Organization—that heady trope, serially used to... *an* effect in enough JRPGs to form their very own Mountain of Ash. What sets Blasphemous apart for me, I think, might have to do with the fact that these developers, based in Seville, are drawing on their own local history and (I presume) their personal experiences with the subject matter. This, to my sensibilities, lends a certain weight to the proceedings that elevates them beyond "churches is wrong, and priesting is akin to murder." But then you fight Clifford the Big Red Pope at the end, so maybe I'm full of shit?
Randy J Walker
2020-01-16 04:43:36 +0000 UTCI think this was something that was really close to being an all time classic for me, but was undone by it's own stubbornness. Early on in the game, I was scouring over every single room of the map, any new subquest I found was an absolute thrill. But as the game went on and the map expanded, it became SUCH a slog. No, Blasphemous, spending 15 minutes to get across the map and back for a tiny health upgrade is not what's fun about you. Also those spike pits, fuck the spike pits.
Jensen Yancey
2020-01-15 16:04:00 +0000 UTCI liked Blasphemous enough to finish it (despite the absolutely bullshit final boss), but it's not something I'll be returning to any time soon. It's too restrictive for me to really love--it shares Sekiro's rigid progression curve without that game's speed and joy of movement, and I spent too much of my time with it enduring challenges rather than appreciating them. There's a lot to admire about the visuals and and score, and when the design clicks, it's pretty great; there were fights (especially the parry heavy ones) that were as satisfying as any I've played in a Soulslike. But the unfailing consistency of design, from the aesthetics to the play, and the opaque story ("Everything is bad, 'cause religion"), meant it never really transcended initial impressions. A great Soulslike needs to subvert expectations at some point, to allow for sudden spikes in player empowerment and narrative swerves. Blasphemous felt like it decided on a gear in the first five minutes and never really left it, for better and worse.
Zack Handlen
2020-01-15 14:58:22 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed blasphemous. The aesthetic and tone just clicked for me. Something I’m surprised you guys haven’t mentioned is how much the penitent one resembles the looking glass knight from ds2. Get rid of the tall hat and they are very similar. Something Gary said about the boss fights seeming very difficult at first and then suddenly you just beat them with barely any damage really spoke to my experience. This was also my experience with sekiro, but with a great deal more pain and about 100 more attempts before the flow of the boss fight really set in. The exception of this was the final boss. I found his fire attack very difficult to avoid and when I finally defeated him it was mostly luck as that time he just hadn’t done that attack as often as usual. Additionally the platforming frustrated me at times. The quest to get the final mea culpa shrine was agonizing due to the presence of the insta-death spikes. Beyond those two quibbles I thought the game was great, one of the few games I could get really immersed in on the switch. Side question: kole, when can we expect more radio free Mid-World?
Jonathan shields
2020-01-14 23:45:56 +0000 UTCAs a lapsed Catholic, Blasphemous's aesthetic is 100% my shit. The art around my childhood church was both beautiful and terrifying, so I'm in love with how gorgeous and creepy the game's visuals are. I want every game to have boss designs as incredible as "lounging-skeleton-bishop-held-aloft-by-hairy-arms" and "blind-Christ-child-carried-in-the-arms-of-wicker-mother." From the visuals, the gorgeous soundtrack, and the evocative-as-hell area names (Where Olive Trees Wither? You gotta be kiddin me), Blasphemous will stick with me for a while. Not sure if I actually like the game, though! I think it's a solid enough foundation, but the amount of friction eventually wore me down. The instant-death pits are an obvious sore spot, to the point where it made me step back and consider their efficacy as a game design element. Unless you're making a capital-P platformer, I'm not sure there's ever really a place for them? For what it's worth, instant death pits are also my biggest complaint with Dark Souls 1, so I guess they're carrying forward that Souls tradition. Con...grats?
Eric Nagurney
2020-01-14 21:24:43 +0000 UTCYou guys have largely echoed my own thoughts regarding Blasphemous: Good bosses, fine to frustrating platforming, clumsy world design, and phenomenal visuals and tone. So instead I’d like to take a moment to talk to you about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is a joke, I absolutely do not, and neither does The Game Kitchen. If we were to live within the realm of Fromsoft comparisons, the game is less “Catholic Dark Souls” and more “Andalusian Sekiro”. Cvstodia is about Inquisition Era Spain on a conceptual level that is similar to how Ashina is about Sengoku Era Japan. My favorite discovery in digging into the inspirations behind Blasphemous was seeing how deftly The Game Kitchen utilized Spanish iconography mixed with Catholic iconography for environmental storytelling. The floating old guy wears the hat of a bishop and wields a spear that looks like the ornamental spear used in bullfighting. The name of the Phalaris Bull enemy is inspired by the Roman torture device of the same name, but takes on new meaning as they also wield bandilleras pulled from their back. Melquiades, the Exhumed Archbishop being carried in his coffin, bears a striking resemblance to the tomb of the famous matador, Joselito El Gallo. Without saying anything explicitly, the game takes these real-world icons to paint a pretty clear picture of the relationship between the church of Cvstodia and its congregation as one akin to a bullfighter and a bull. This further ties into the painting of Jocinero and the moonlight children who bring you back to life, but is probably too long to explain here. Suffice it to say, I was very impressed with how intentional and thoughtful the visual language of Blasphemous is, and I think the simple aesthetic of the game only helps to reinforce the connections to Spanish culture and history in a way that a more realistic style would not capture as successfully. One last thing: If you also dug the art direction of this game or are interested in more information about the inspirations I mentioned, the Blasphemous Digital Artbook is very much worth the $5 I paid for it.
thelorehunter
2020-01-14 18:20:39 +0000 UTCBlasphemous feels like the mostly solid foundation of a game, but without actually fleshing any of its elements out (besides the fantastic presentation, of course). It's a Metroidvania with little worth exploring for. It's a platformer that's rarely interesting and usually frustrating. It's a combat-driven action game with only a single combo string and prescriptive defensive maneuvers. It's a soulslite with lore that says so little with so much, instead of vice versa. I could go on. I can see this developer's potential, and for this reason, I intend to play the upcoming DLC. I'd be elated to see them learn their lessons and make something truly kickass in the future.
Juliet St. Moon
2020-01-14 08:39:13 +0000 UTCUnfortunately, Blasphemous is the triumph of an aesthetic over gameplay for me. I really wanted to like this game, but there's just something off about the controls that I never quite got the hang of. Gary mentioned this a little during part one and I thought it would grow on me, but it just never did. I'll give this one a rest and probably pick it back up again in a few months to see if I can give it the ol' college try one more time.
Mark Mahler
2020-01-13 22:06:12 +0000 UTCYour discussion about game economies clarified my biggest and most consistent gripes about Blasphemous. I found myself running around Custodia with empty bile vessels and rosary ropes because I was too far from an NPC that changed them into useful items. I don’t understand why I couldn’t upgrade my character just by getting the item or upgrading at a Prie Deiu instead of a dedicated station. A lot of the rosary ropes are hidden behind obtuse side quests, meaning players who need lots of trinkets to help with the final boss need to break out the wiki. Finally, I don’t understand why I can’t just have all of my relics active like most Metroidvanias. I ended the game with tons of cash and nothing to buy. The economy wasn’t game-breaking or terrible, but it was unnecessarily annoying in a game full of interesting ideas. Still glad you covered it for the show!
Ian Derk
2020-01-13 19:28:22 +0000 UTCBlasphemous is a strange game for me. I think I like it a lot, but it's not an unqualified win like the Last Door Season 1. Similar to my trajectory with Dark Souls and Hollow Knight, I bounced off the game at first, then came back and got up past the Ornstein and Smough fight. I think I'm bouncing off it again for a bit, due to some very frustrating instant-death platforming, but there is so much to like that I would be shocked if I didn't come back to it. The thing that I'm a bit cool on is the Metroidvania elements. It doesn't feel like it meaningfully expands your verbs, which is "Metroidvania's Trick" that I love. Simply offering me ways to bypass poison mist or generating platforms out of thin air can't compare to the simple joy of something like getting a double-jump or something more creative like Ori's slingshot ability. I'm also not crazy about the skill tree, and I feel like those abilities never really change how I play. To me, this is a game that begs for a Scholar of the First Sin style revamp that keeps the game as it is and just very slightly tweaks it for flow and gamefeel. I like it a LOT. But it doesn't demand to be played like how Hollow Knight eventually got it's hooks into me. Thrilled you covered it for the show, I love this studio and want them to continue to do great work.
Adam Bucceri
2020-01-13 19:12:38 +0000 UTCI thoroughly enjoyed my time in Custodia, despite the game's sometimes frustrating platforming and obtuse signalling. Perhaps it's because I have no shame in quickly resorting to a faq. I think it's because although the game bills itself as a "Metroidvania" it's actually something slightly different. Usually a Metroidvania features a more labyrinthine map, greater freedom of movement, and more item gating. While Blasphemous has all of these things, they are far less emphasized than in say, Hollow Knight, Bloodstained, Guacamelee, or any other modern Metroidvanias. It feels like the "vania" here isn't Symphony of the Night, but rather, Simon's Quest. This has more deliberate movement and combat, minimal item gating, a less intricate map, and the obtuseness that game is known for. That doesn't make up for the ways the game is frustrating, but it did give me something I didn't realize I was personally hungry for. Thanks as always for the exceptional coverage, and hopefully the upcoming DLC will make for an improved trip through the blasted landscape of the Grievous Miracle.
Doug Lief
2020-01-13 18:19:42 +0000 UTCWhile I *loved* the aesthetics, I felt the platforming just wasn't up to par. Could be because I played on Switch and the handheld controls aren't the greatest. Regardless, after a lot of frustration falling to my death one too many times, I decided it just wasn't worth it.
Chris Johnson
2020-01-13 15:31:27 +0000 UTCI've spent the last few days playing Blasphemous, and I don't think there's another game in my recent memory that has moved from "this fucking rules" to "this is fucking garbage" as much as this game. The aesthetic is absolutely amazing! The platforming fucking sucks! I'm spending a lot of time going back and searching for secrets and finding new stuff, so I'm obviously into the movement and combat, but man there is some JANK. There are so many blind jumps where you can't see what's under you. There are so many spots with enemies and a climbable wall where jumping up and attacking glues you to the wall INSTEAD OF ATTACKING THE ENEMY, and it's infuriating. I will give it props for just including a LORE button for items, though. As of right now, I'm pretty sure I'm at the end of the game and don't have any idea where to go to actually end it. I rode a chariot made of dead horses to a nunnery, got a mask, and then gave it to an elevator. Is it metal? Absolutely! Is it bad at signposting your next goal? Absolutely!
Jeremy
2020-01-13 14:14:38 +0000 UTCIn the first episode you mentioned the platforming isn't punishing or bad. I haven't played since I beat it after launch, but from the patch notes I see that they've improved the platforming. I remember having a quite a few frustrating moments where I jumped just a little too late or early and would fall in the spike pit. I really liked the game but for the one quest in Where Olive Trees Wither that I didn't know was going to fail if you didn't start it right away, as I would have 100%'d the game otherwise. So now my save game is stuck at just shy of 100% completion and I don't feel like doing all the other collectibles again.
Demicol
2020-01-13 12:27:25 +0000 UTCA lot of the complaints or comments I see people making about Blasphemous I understand. How overly verbose and confusing the language is, unclear motives and how maximal the art style is. But for me it was perfect. I thought it found a balance between giving the player a rough understanding and feel of the world of Cvstodia while still being secretive and obtuse. The puzzles and story really gave me a nostalgia of old snes/nes games where very little was spoon fed to the player and the world felt deeper and more complex because of it. It think part of why Blasphemous pulled this off is because the world is so engaging to explore. I can't think of many other games that had me excited to enter a new area and see the artwork of each individual enemy. While I think the route to getting the true ending was pretty well hidden I think it was something a player could stumble upon had they equipped the immaculate bead and noticed it changing or accidentally destroying a statue (I did neither). It feel less indiscernible than a lot of the npc quests in Dark Souls. In this day and age I've no problem playing through a game once and then opening up a wiki. My only major gripe was the hit and miss platforming that at times felt unfair but it's easy to forgive with the rest of the game being of such a high standard.
Jonathan Boyce
2020-01-13 09:06:09 +0000 UTCI came close to quitting Blasphemous a few times in the beginning due to difficulty with the wall-jumping and mistakenly going to the upper area with a ton of instant-death spikes, but I'm glad I stayed with it. The art and style are phenomenal and the physical act of playing was itself pleasurable since I am a huge fan of the extremely generous parry windows. I'm not someone who is ever able to parry reliably (so you can imagine what fun Sekiro was...) but the devs go out of their way to make sure that players can pull it off. The story was inscrutable to me, but I gotta be honest - I'm one of THOSE GUYS who never understood a single Souls story past Demon's without a wiki, so the narrative of Blasphemous being a big question mark didn't bother me much. Overall, a superb effort and I'm jazzed to see what they do next.
Brad Gallaway
2020-01-13 08:00:53 +0000 UTCI was so close to loving this game; the mechanics are satisfying and the art is gorgeous, but I have to agree with Gary's remark that there are "a lot of words." There's a thin line between enigmatic and inscrutable, and this game is mostly the latter for me. I usually love scouring item descriptions for lore, but there's so much vague nonsense in Blasphemous that I just started skipping everything after a few hours. Cutting out the Kickstarter backer relics would definitely help separate the signal from the noise. It feels like there are as many items as an average Souls game, but they're crammed into a game 1/4th the length.
AxSx
2020-01-13 04:17:27 +0000 UTCYou mentioned during one of your episodes that this game must be frustrating for completionists. I am that frustrated completionist, and woe betide you if you have 37 of 38 Children of Moonlight and haven't been making note of which ones you collected. They're not indicated on the map, and even when using a guide the frustrating lack of fast travel options means it takes over an hour just to check all the possible locations. Additionally, you are able to get 100% file completion if you muck up Gemino's quest, but there will be an unexplorable room nearby him, the open-sided map square misleading you about where to go for progression and silently taunting you.
Eric Van Fleet
2020-01-13 04:12:06 +0000 UTCOK look. Nobody forgets the first time a crying, eyeless baby (being carried by a wicker mummy) picks you up and tears your arms off while a centipede snake made of corpses watches on. Seriously. It's up there with seeing your first boob. Also, did you guys notice how when you first approach Ten Piedad - he looks just like Laurence from the Bloodborne DLC? The way he's lying in that statues arms. Sorry if a million other people have already pointed this out. I also realize it's more likely a reference to some other religious image, but I wouldn't know. I'm more of a 'Gamer Boi' than a 'Jesus Bro'. So may they turn a blind eye to my ignorance as I approach the pearly gates.
Badger Catcher
2020-01-13 03:44:48 +0000 UTC
