Dark Souls II

Yakuza 3

Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Dead Space 3

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Sacred 3

To some, these are just random game names. To others, there’s a pattern to be recognised here.

In all great game series’ there seems to be one Black Sheep. One game that does things differently, breaks the trend, removes a mechanic or otherwise just receives the most hate from fans of the series as a whole.

Because the people most likely to feel strongly about the series are fans of the series, we end up with “civil war” in which we get the classic phrase “True Fan” thrown around with reckless abandon.

Why does one small difference exorcise an entire game from its series?

A Little Difference, a Big Change

The first thing to identify is that yes, many of these games do something to make themselves different from their series siblings:

Dark Souls II had an entirely different game director, Dead Space 3 cut out some horror and added in microtransactions and Mass Effect Andromeda felt like androids performing a play taking place in the ME universe.

All these Black Sheep are singled out for a reason, but one small change can lead to a landslide of negativity once the discourse is established.

Choose Between What is Right, and What is Easy

As soon as the idea that Yakuza 3 is “Blockuza 3” is surfaced (and in such an elegantly-worded way), we end up polarised. Polarisation is the main theme of Discourse, Of Course at this point, and it’s no different here.

When a term like Blockuza 3 exists (which is a reference to how much blocking there is in-game, making it impossible to do anything but wait or spam grabs), it’s hard to talk in other terms. It’s much easier, and to some degree funnier, to just cry Blockuza and move on.

The same is true for the terms “Morrowboomers” and “Skybabies” in the Elder Scrolls series, although that’s a case where there’s enough people on both sides that it isn’t a Black Sheep situation, more like a pack of wolves vs a whole herd.

As soon as these terms take root, they not only become expressions of one person’s specific dissatisfaction with a game, but become entire movements in themselves, drawing more people in to the discourse on the side of the witticism.

Very few people will actually go and play Yakuza 3 through to confirm, because once polarisation happens the debate isn’t really about the game anymore, it’s just social clout up for grabs online.

When Is It Deserved?

Even when a game is identified as a Black Sheep due to actually-existing reasons, does it warrant so much hate?

It’s a hard one, since the integrity and authenticity of a game series should be something artists seek to preserve (looking at you, Veilguard). If a game wants to be so different as Sacred 3 is to Sacred 2, at that point just don’t call it Sacred at all.

However, the line can’t just be drawn at any difference.

If you show someone Dark Souls II, they’ll recognise it as a souls game. It has all the trappings, even all the specifics, of a souls game. It simply looks and feels a little off because it had a different designer.

But that is a singular point about a singular difference. It is not justification to say the utmost cringe of takes:

“Dark Souls II is a good game…it’s just a bad souls game”

(Honestly, the most tiresome of all the discourse over DSII is people who still spout that nonsense)

The same can be said for Yakuza 3. It is a valid entry which is hugely important to the story of Sunflower and Kiryu’s ability to form brotherhood bonds. The game just suffers from dated combat which focused on abilities you don’t start the game with, making the early game a bit of a slog.

But that criticism is a criticism. It’s a singular point about a singular mechanic. It is not the same as saying “Blockuza 3” and creating a narrative of the entire game being ruined by this one factor.

The terms are, as the hipsters of yore would say, needlessly reductive.

Valid Criticisms Blown to Invalid Proportions

This is how we get from a small difference in a game in a series, to it being singled-out and widely disregarded by fans. One catchy term about one commonly-hated mechanic and it’s over.

Drawing the line can be hard, for example Sacred 3 absolutely deserves the hate for its huge detachment from the series before it while Final Fantasy XVI is an incredible rendition of FF in an action setting

But, what is certain is that forging a discourse narrative around buzzwords like “Blockuza” or “just a bad souls game” mires any chance of an actual discussion which does the games credit, as well as discourages new players from actually taking part in forming their own opinions.