somebody got really upset at my previous review, so let me be a bit more thorough this time.
the main issue with elden ring is that it presents itself as "open world dark souls" (i know it's not in the same series as souls, but you know what i mean), and then completely fucking fails at being both of these things.
for a game that everyone claims is the most derivative, unique game ever, it sure does nosedive directly into every single fault that open world games have. a massive, diluted map filled with copy/paste bosses and dungeons (but this time you have to fight two minibosses instead of one!), completely worthless crafting items that nobody will use outside of extremely niche circumstances, and rewards for finishing quests/optional areas that i'm unable to benefit from because it doesn't fit in with whatever build i'm using. pushing my way through stone imps for 20 minutes and being rewarded with some spell i can't use and 1/3rd as many runes as i need to level up isn't really going to incentivize me to explore more. sure, i'm not expecting every hidden item/secret to cater to my playstyle, it just feels disappointing.
as for the dark souls part (by which i mean how it handles boss/enemy behaviors and damage), everything is tuned way the fuck up to the point of absurdity. in my opinion, this is in response to other design choices that negate some of the previous difficulties of souls games, if that makes sense. ie, DS1 lacked warping for most of the game, meaning if you were stuck against certain required bosses it was a big decision to either push forward or spend time backtracking to grind/use facilities (note - i did steal this from another review but it's definitely a valid point). 2 and 3 allowed you to warp freely between bonfires, so that aspect of difficulty was gone - 3 offset this by having bosses with more complex attack patterns, and 2 did it with the worst fucking boss runbacks known to man.
since you can warp freely in elden ring and most bosses can be reached with few runbacks (from what i remember at least), they decided to crank the fuck out of both damage and boss attack patterns for the sake of difficulty. now you have moves that can easily kill you in one hit with no warning, massive combos that leave you no room to retaliate, and attacks that are delayed an obscene amount cause gotcha :). i understand that all of these were present in previous fromsoft games, but never to this extent. it's such a lazy way to do difficulty - i don't give a fuck if you call me bad, compared to every other soulsborne game it's just nowhere near as fun or satisfying to interact with, even if it looks flashier. elden ring is like that annoying kid in 2nd grade who kept making up bullshit rules in whatever playground game they were playing to benefit themselves.
look, there's things that are good about this game. i honestly wish i could love it - whenever that dumb ass voice in my head tells me to give it another try, it's the worldbuilding, music, and aesthetic that brings me back. but then i remember that everything past leyndell exists and it immediately goes back into the backlog.
the main issue with elden ring is that it presents itself as "open world dark souls" (i know it's not in the same series as souls, but you know what i mean), and then completely fucking fails at being both of these things.
for a game that everyone claims is the most derivative, unique game ever, it sure does nosedive directly into every single fault that open world games have. a massive, diluted map filled with copy/paste bosses and dungeons (but this time you have to fight two minibosses instead of one!), completely worthless crafting items that nobody will use outside of extremely niche circumstances, and rewards for finishing quests/optional areas that i'm unable to benefit from because it doesn't fit in with whatever build i'm using. pushing my way through stone imps for 20 minutes and being rewarded with some spell i can't use and 1/3rd as many runes as i need to level up isn't really going to incentivize me to explore more. sure, i'm not expecting every hidden item/secret to cater to my playstyle, it just feels disappointing.
as for the dark souls part (by which i mean how it handles boss/enemy behaviors and damage), everything is tuned way the fuck up to the point of absurdity. in my opinion, this is in response to other design choices that negate some of the previous difficulties of souls games, if that makes sense. ie, DS1 lacked warping for most of the game, meaning if you were stuck against certain required bosses it was a big decision to either push forward or spend time backtracking to grind/use facilities (note - i did steal this from another review but it's definitely a valid point). 2 and 3 allowed you to warp freely between bonfires, so that aspect of difficulty was gone - 3 offset this by having bosses with more complex attack patterns, and 2 did it with the worst fucking boss runbacks known to man.
since you can warp freely in elden ring and most bosses can be reached with few runbacks (from what i remember at least), they decided to crank the fuck out of both damage and boss attack patterns for the sake of difficulty. now you have moves that can easily kill you in one hit with no warning, massive combos that leave you no room to retaliate, and attacks that are delayed an obscene amount cause gotcha :). i understand that all of these were present in previous fromsoft games, but never to this extent. it's such a lazy way to do difficulty - i don't give a fuck if you call me bad, compared to every other soulsborne game it's just nowhere near as fun or satisfying to interact with, even if it looks flashier. elden ring is like that annoying kid in 2nd grade who kept making up bullshit rules in whatever playground game they were playing to benefit themselves.
look, there's things that are good about this game. i honestly wish i could love it - whenever that dumb ass voice in my head tells me to give it another try, it's the worldbuilding, music, and aesthetic that brings me back. but then i remember that everything past leyndell exists and it immediately goes back into the backlog.
shitpooper
8 months ago