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Is Bloodborne An Indicator That PS4 Is The “Hardcore” Console?

In many ways, PlayStation fans often consider themselves more "hardcore" than Xbox fans.

Whether it's true or not is irrelevant; the bottom line is that Xbox followers are often viewed as "casual" or just mainstream, while those heavy into PlayStation are typically considered avid gamers; the "core" gaming group, so-to-speak.

Perhaps evidence of this can be found in the exclusive titles in each brand's library over the years. For instance, while Sony has clearly taken more risks and enjoyed rewards for those risks, Microsoft has been more content to stick to the status quo (the "if it ain't broke" approach). Heavy Rain is one of the better examples of a game that fared exceedingly well with the PlayStation crowd and to this day, I wonder if it would've sold well had it been exclusive to Xbox.

Alan Wake didn't sell well at all and again, I've considered the possibility that PlayStation aficionados would've responded better to such a game. I'm almost certain they would've. And while the previous Dark Souls titles were multiplatform, Demon's Souls was a PS3 exclusive, and now Bloodborne is exclusive to PS4. Obviously, we've got a Japanese developer so it's not exactly shocking. But do you believe a game like Bloodborne would sell just as well with the Xbox crowd? Honestly, I don't.

I'm not saying everyone who owns an Xbox One is a casual gamer. That wouldn't be true at all. But such questions are worth asking, don't you think?

Related Game(s): Bloodborne

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MRSUCCESS
MRSUCCESS
9 years ago

Honestly speaking there are older gamers on the playstation side and a lot of those gamers came from previous generations that appreciate a hardcore game like Bloodborne. I am not saying new/younger gamers cannot appreciate it or that only hardcore gamers can appreciate Bloodborne.

Don't twist my words.


Last edited by MRSUCCESS on 3/10/2015 10:39:19 PM

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

Wow, way to bash on the younger generation. There are plenty of young people that enjoy a "hardcore" type of game. Way out of line on your part, grow up.

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

Glad to see at least one person got the joke.

Corvo
Corvo
9 years ago

Dude, Alan Wake was awesome. Good thing I had a PC, cause its one of the most interesting games of last gen. Was it GOTY worthy? Not really. It had tons of flaws but at the end of the day, it shoulda been on the Playstation where new and unique games arent hated.

So yes, we remain the non casuals. GGNORESKRUBLOL420

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

PC+Playstation has been the best of both worlds for me for a majority of my life. I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Shauneepeak
Shauneepeak
9 years ago

Maybe throw in a Wii U once it gets super cheap for Bayonetta and Xenoblade.

shadowscorpio
shadowscorpio
9 years ago

I think the Wii U might have to join my console family. Any thing Monolith Soft puts out is pure gold.

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

Playstation has always been the "hardcore" console in my eyes. Sony allows for the most freedom and creativity. Just look at what MS has done to some great developers once they've bought them. Sony embraces unique ideas (Quantic Dream's projects).

You have a great point about Alan Wake. It was a game I would have gladly bought had it been on the PS3. Thankfully (like a lot of Xbox exclusives) it was released on PC and I quickly bought it and really enjoyed it.

shadowscorpio
shadowscorpio
9 years ago

Right. Anyone seen Mistwalker lately?

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
9 years ago

No, it's just the pretentious selling point for 'FROM SOFTWARE' Which really doesn't appeal to me at all. My experience of Demon Souls was one of the most dull and flawed experiences I had on the PS3.

Shauneepeak
Shauneepeak
9 years ago

Well that's just too bad I consider Demon's Souls one of the greatest and most atmospheric experiences I have had the pleasure of playing, sure it was a little buggy here and there but nothing to lessen the overall game in my opinion.

xenris
xenris
9 years ago

How is getting smashed into the ground by a Demon 15 minutes into the games tutorial dull :P?

Honestly it isn't everyones cup of tea but you can't objectively call it flawed. It has a set of rules and you have to learn them and master them.

Everything in the game is completely fair and I would argue more well designed than most games because the director of the game hand crafts every little detail and enemy placement of the game to make sure every challenge is beatable at any level and gear loadout. This is a hard feat.

Oxvial
Oxvial
9 years ago

Probably you couldn't even beat a easy boss like Tower Knight and blame the game.

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

I bought Demon's Souls a week after its release thanks to Ben's review and after a couple days of dying I sat on it for a year. It was always in the back of my mind and I eventually came back to it. I don't see how you can view the game or its developer as pretentious. The game isn't that difficult once you condition yourself. Sadly I've found that most games over the last two (three) generations has left me rather soft in the gaming department.

I don't know how old you are Vivi_Gamer but for me personally, plenty of nes/snes/genesis titles had the same level of difficulty if not harder.


Last edited by LimitedVertigo on 3/11/2015 12:31:13 PM

xenris
xenris
9 years ago

@LV

Super Ghouls and Ghosts, Battletoads, Contra 3 on the SNES were super hard to beat.

On the NES I remember some Ninja Turtles game kicking my butt too.

Really though the Souls games aren't that hard, you just have to learn them.

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
9 years ago

Demon Souls is flawed. The character Creation at the beginning was so vague in its description of classes – I was not willing to read all online about it so I just chose one. I got a chump with a lance. Everytime I lunged forward for attack I left myself open which made the combat mechanics of that class flawed. This is why I hate the series marketing campaign focusing on difficulty as you get people becoming very arrogant at the first sign of criticism of the game.

Shauneepeak
Shauneepeak
9 years ago

From had next to 0 marketing for Demon's Souls and it didn't become popular until a couple years later.

Also if you didn't like the lance switch to a different weapon. All starter builds are a simple base you don't have to stick with the same class of weapon for the whole game all that matters are your stats. No weapon is tied to a single class.

Lances were hard hitting and had range but yes if TIMED wrong you were left open. You obviously used it wrong and were not suited for that type of weapon so you should have simply switched and tried a different melee weapon or tried out magic.


Last edited by Shauneepeak on 3/11/2015 2:11:53 PM

xenris
xenris
9 years ago

@Vivi Gamer

First the classes don't matter it is just your starting stats and gear.

Second you picked one of the two classes most people start with and you are complaining about the Halberd which is one of the best 2 handed weapons early on in the game and the fact that you get a good shield and heavy armour, did you take any time reading the manual or paying attention to the tutorial?

You didn't unequip some of your armour so you could roll faster and you didn't think to always keep your shield up even though in the tutorial it is one of the hints. Did you try 2 handing your halberd?

It isn't fans being arrogant it is when the people criticizing the game aren't taking time to learn something that is different. The Temple knight is one of the strongest starting classes, and is THE best starting class if you are going a faith/melee build.

I mean you can say you don't like the combat but it is NOT flawed, it is risk versus reward and penalizes you for trying to button mash.

Your description of your lance lunge leaving you open shows me exactly how impatient with the game you were. You should be open when you attack, its a fact of combat in real life, the second you attack in combat you are open for retaliation. If you were actually using the heavy attack as your only attack then you didn't take time to learn the games mechanics.

For most enemies you just have to wait for them to attack first then bang you hit them, or parry them, or circle around and backstab them.

The game has flaws elsewhere but the combat is not one of them, the lock on and camera are probably the biggest flaw in the game.


Last edited by xenris on 3/11/2015 2:23:19 PM

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

Vivi_Gamer,

You come across extremely biased. It's one thing to not "get" a game and perhaps not enjoy it. But to say that a game is flawed while admitting you didn't invest much time or effort into understanding the mechanics of the game shows that you're being completely unfair in your assessment.

Hopefully you read what Shauneepeak and xenris wrote.

Banky A
Banky A
9 years ago

We know you don't handle dexterously difficult games but ya won't get a thumbs down from me.

Skilful games aren't flawed because they're too hard for someone. Improve or move on.

I encourage you not to bother with future fighting games like SF5.

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
9 years ago

I don't view it as the hardcore console as much as it happens to offer greater variety.

Bonampak
Bonampak
9 years ago

"Variety"

There it is.

Every single console that managed to made it big has had a good chunk of the hardcore AND casual crowd under its wing.

That's what made every PS console so successful. That it branched out of the typical niche user base and got new people into gaming. But without leaving out its core base, like the Wii did.

The fact is, consoles that lost the casual crowd from their user base, are presently struggling. The X1 and the Wii U cannot thrive with their HC base alone. They need casuals to help make them mainstream and widely acceptable to the masses.

This is especially true when most core gamers emigrated to the PS4. Leaving too few to support the X1 and Wii U.

The PS4 is king because it has MOST of the hc and casual crowd supporting it.

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
9 years ago

I couldn't have said it better!

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
9 years ago

I am hardcore!!!! You know, just in general. C'mon, hit me.

Beamboom
Beamboom
9 years ago

Oh yeah, you're hard to the core.

Beamboom
Beamboom
9 years ago

Is Heavy Rain really a good example in this context? Did Sony have any influence on style or content in that game – it's a 3rd party exclusive?

Why was Heavy Rain even a PS exclusive to begin with, by the way? Did Sony pay for the exclusivity?

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

MS didn't like certain aspects of the storyline (child kidnapping). Heavy Rain is a great example of Sony allowing for more freedom in development than MS.

shaytoon
shaytoon
9 years ago

they wanted to show off the ps3's power for realistic graphics.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
9 years ago

Xbox couldn't run it.

jimmyhandsome
jimmyhandsome
9 years ago

Dark Souls 1 and 2 sold better on Xbox, so no?

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
9 years ago

No they didn't. Both games sold more than twice as much on the PS3 than the 360.

Are you trolling? Stupid? Or both?

Axe99
Axe99
9 years ago

I don't think there's a lot of value in defining 'core', 'hardcore' and so on. For example, for many markets, the mainstream is their core, but of course I'm talking from a marketing perspective, not the more ego-laden context that hardcore is being used in here. I'd also argue that unless hardcore was specifically defined as 'playing a wide variety of games', that the answer would be no, but I think it's best to move away from the term in any event. Respect all gamers, whatever their habits.

DemonNero's on the money in that it's not about hardcore or not, but that the Playstation has (imo always had) better variety of games, so whatever your taste in gaming, it's well served.

Random musing: What's more hardcore – someone who doesn't need to work or study, and with no family, that plays a whole bunch of different games a lot but is under no pressure not to, or someone with a bunch of other pressures that still makes the effort to enjoy their hobby for a few hours each week, even if it's challenging. If hardcore is equated with effort, then the second option would be a contender.

Rachet_JC_FTW
Rachet_JC_FTW
9 years ago

honestly speaking no i don't think bloodbourne would do as well on the xbox plan and simple call me what you want and say what u want but alot of the younger not all i know a few who aren't like that but the wast majority does do game like blood bourne where as guys in there 20's+ who can appriciate these kind of games

thats just my persective with what i know, feel free to broaden my view of what i call the facts infront of me

happy gaming

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