Well said. Ableism is always excused in gaming circles, usually by people who can't even wrap their head around the concept of being disabled.

@Joetherapper Exactly, its sad.

This is why you separate the game from the fanbase

@NOWITSREYNTIME17 it can be very hard to to sometimes

not to mention they are the worlds most fucking annoying creatures on the planet, beating out cicadas

↑

(what reyn said)

@imshitting420 ik but a spite rating kinda lame

@NOWITSREYNTIME17 Its hard to ignore a fanbase shouting at disabled people for not playing the game as hard as possible, even if that wasnt the case, when you want to state an opinion outloud about a problematic aspect of the fanbase, you will get more eyes on that message/review by giving it the lowest score possible. As said i really do like elden ring, but the experience was just ruined because of the elitist souls fans being the worst. There are countless of proof online of souls like fans making fun of disabled people for playing the game the easy way. And it just makes me sad, especially because im told to "git gud" by some even after saying my prominent hand is diabled so i have to use my bad hand, which clearly makes it harder for me because i can barely use my bad hand and i can barely get the fingers on my prominent hand to work.

i get your point but this isn't really the place to discuss that + it's not even related to your opinion about the game: it's about the community

@Kepler22b - Well said brother, absolutely well said - video games should be enjoyed by everyone.

@NOWITSREYNTIME17 - It's not like his .5 rating is gonna nudge the needle of Elden Ring's aggregate score haha. Game is way too popular for that.

Ik but I still stand by what I said lol. Guess others are different

Adding an easy mode would ruin the game completely and it's not ableist to say that, some games won't cater to you and crying for an easy mode is just stupid. If the game is too difficult then don't play it. I've stopped playing multiple games because they're too difficult but I don't go crying online asking for them to change the game. There is 0 reason to review something out of spite because you had one bad experience with some ass online.

Never said its ableist to not add an easy mode, however i did say that the majority souls elitists (NOT casual fans) are very ableist and have made fun of a bunch of disabled people online for not being able to play the games.

@Vengeance this wasn't a difficulty complaint though. This was a "I'm literally disabled and the only way for me to play this game gets me attacked by elitists" complaint.

i dont understand why its "lame" for a normal person to "spite review" a game on a website where (as far as I know) no one professional cares about backloggd (at the moment anyways). I really don't think big developers are looking at this the way they might look at steam reviews, or a negative review might affect the game from showing up on algorithms so a spite review could be wayyyy more negative. They aren't looking at this website like meta critic to deign whether studios get a bonus or not (and this website doesnt affect meta critic). This is a website for individual users to talk about games with other users. And also like, "oh no, they spite rated the 13/185,197 most popular game 😱", like come on now.

Also, the opposite way, would it be "lame" to give Elden Ring a higher score because you enjoy talking with people in the community outside the game? Like "this game helped me find a place to talk to people, yay 😀".

Dont listen to them brother, Fromsoft really does need to add in better options for their games. Its not like Dark Souls anymore where theres always a way to work around a rough boss/area (through magic or glitches, whatever) cause every single clever way to deal with a boss has been patched and they clearly designed Elden Ring anyways to be the HARDEST of HARD GAMES. For HARD GAMERS! Your methods of playing are not that vast anymore, they need disability options.

and dont take what those people say too seriously anyways, i once went to gamefaqs to look up how to find some weird cave and the only response was get good. I literally dont think they can say anything else.

Personally, I don't think it's helpful to conflate accessibility and difficulty. Difficult games can still be accessible. I think people get them confused because most games lack accessibility options, and in these cases lowering the difficulty can sometimes be a workaround.

If the game was fully playable with one hand, then you wouldn't need difficulty options, right?

I would just be careful throwing around the word "ableist" when you seem to be implying that disabled people can't play hard games (I know you're not, but that's what it reads like). I would also avoid using that word while also using ableist language yourself like "mentally unwell basement dweller." People can be jerks without having a mental illness.

All that said your issues with the game are totally valid and every game and console should have more accessibility options.

@snigglegros spite rating only cuz of the toxic fanbase, like I said other people are different but I only rate games based on the games themselves not the fans

sad the fans ruined your playthrough otherwise kepler

@burnoh I would argue that Backloggd is the place to discuss these topics actually. I want to see everyone's perspective on different games.

this Sanctity Of Ratings stuff is so goofy. not every review has to be a consumer guide, and you definitely don't gotta be a weird cop about how people express real grievances with a fanbase that's known far and wide to suck. if someone's relationship with the game is impacted by their interactions with the community that's as worth mentioning as whatever else anyone's doing in the esteemed elden ring reviewer pantheon

some of these comments are straight gimme-a-break tier

(that said I agree with josh that it's probably not helpful to use mental illness as a cudgel)

cop?

as a quite mentally unwell person (thankfully residing in a room not underground), i am sorry you've had this experience and i hope you find yourself willing to give the game another try and meet it on its admittedly demanding terms (which do include utilizing summons; fuck the tryhards). i'm sure you can do it. solidarity.

Glad you liked the game, I'm sorry you had to go through this. Hope you can find the right community that treats you like you deserve, with love and kindness.

since this made top review again, I just wanted to say I hope what I said didn't come across as mean. I didn't agree with the whole rating thing but I do agree your experience should be heard because that truly does suck for the fans to do that. Glad you did enjoy the game itself in the end again tho

CowboyJosh said it the best, games don't need an "easy" mode, just more accessibility options. The difficulty is core to the genre. I still think giving a low rating to a (single-player) game you genuinely did enjoy because of the playerbase is a bit absurd though lmao. It gives off the same energy as someone who poorly rates a game they liked on Steam just because they think it's rated too high overall.