So I replayed this game with Cemu to see if my opinions would change. For starters, as I progressed through the game I realised that I had completed at least Chapter 11 in my first playthrough and had all memory of the story wiped from my brain. I only recognised some random set-pieces here and there (especially the more annoying ones like Chapter 9).

I also used some cheats to play with x2 XP and money to reduce what I thought was an unnecessary grind. I also doubled my damage because Xenoblade tends to make encounters way too long (for the record, the best way to play XC2 is to increase your damage and the enemies damage so that fights are riskier but shorter).

I discovered a few things in this second playthrough. The combat is fun and I think I adore all Xenoblade combat systems equally. Basic Missions are irrelevant (until they are necessary to unlock the other missions... why???) and Affinity Missions are where most of the fun is. HOWEVER, the annoyances with selecting party members and having to swap and drop people every mission (except for Elma and Lin annoyingly) made it hard to skate through all of the affinity missions easily. It was also really annoying to see high-level missions that I obviously can't do yet, and then I forget to do them at a reasonable time.

I don't think playing with double XP was massively necessary in the end, except for the fact that I didn't want to waste too much time replaying a game. If you just hunker down and complete the Normal Missions (not basic, very annoying) and Affinity Missions then the progression isn't so bad. Furthermore, the existence of skell ruins level progression anyway since you can take on enemies a few levels higher and be rewarded with XP and class points.

P.S. The dissonance between skell and ground gear can be irritating, especially when story missions kick you out of your mech.

Elden Ring is good because it is a From Software Souls game. It is also almost exactly as good as the From games that I have played, Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne, which I gave similar ratings.

It is no secret that the Dark Souls franchise has absolutely demolished discourse around difficulty in video games. The problem is, I have never found dark souls games particularly difficult within the context of the restraints and options that the games provide. The combat is certainly punishing, and making mistakes can leave you dead even against considerably lower level enemies, but the feats that are being asked of you, the dodging, blocking, poking isn't in of it self difficult or much to ask.

The second aspect that works to dismantle the perceived difficulty is how the death and souls... sorry runes system works in general, especially with Elden Ring finding itself providing more and more bonfi- sites of graces and other checkpoints. A player will often find themselves corpse-dragging their lost souls across the map, and as long as they don't make too many mistakes, they can get to the next safe haven with their accumulated bounty, letting them level up a few times. The ability to over level throws all sense of difficulty out of the window - especially in the context of The Lands Between where the first boss is begging you to piss off, level up, find better weapons and upgrades, and come back later.

I didn't grind (certainly not as much as I did in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3) and yet found myself crushing bosses simply because there is so many ways to improve your character instead of merely brute forcing an encounter. Spirit Ashes are also ridiculous, obviously, with the Mimic Tear being my bestie and the only time I struggled was when a boss I would encounter was resistant to my damage type (which happened once... near the very end of the game).

All of this isn't to say that I hated the game (as my rating hopefully shows) or that I am way better than anyone else who struggled on more bosses or conversely did indeed beat the game at a much lower level than I did - I actually massively enjoyed one-shotting almost every single mob after the halfway point, I just think that Dark Souls difficulty (or at least the 3 From Software games I have beat), and therefore their appeal, is overstated. Playing Elden Ring (and especially this entry) isn't some masochist act, is indeed a power fantasy as much as any action game, letting me fell giant monstrosity with my ghostly brethren.

From Soft's games do have one... I would say fatal flaw, but they seem to Estus Flask their way through the problem... in their construction and presentation which is especially present in Elden Ring - character progression is almost invisible from the mid game onwards. Once you have obtained your favourite weapons and spells, the only character improvement exists in making numbers go up on stat sheets. For me, this happened very early on, for others you may end up picking up a new weapon in one of the game's later regions or quests and this feeling may be neglible.

Elden Ring quickly devolves into an action-adventure game. The open world could not possible give me any meaningful rewards when I had everything I needed except runes and smithing stones. The legacy dungeons are clearly where the game shines it brightest, and past Limgrave, I felt no excitement or interest exploring the new regions. Actually that isn't exactly true. The open world isn't bad in Elden Ring, but it isn't any better than the Legacy Dungeons nor the tight level designs of the past From Software titles, which makes me wonder... why bother?

Elden Ring is great because it is a From Software Souls game. And From Software Souls games will always be great.