Despite being one of my favorite games of all time, and somewhat unusually given its relative recency, I go long stretches of time without playing Elden Ring at all.

My review of the original game is a mostly accurate description of my thoughts on it still, though I do think I made some sloppy, grossly unqualified use of words like "simply" when talking about actually rather complicated game design problems. Though, over time I've become more capable of identifying my few issues with the game. To put it simply: Elden Ring is too big.

It's not that I have a problem with the game being open world, or being large or long in and of itself. I've been playing Demon's Souls (2020) lately, and being able to play a version of that game with decent framerate has allowed me to accept that some of my gripes with the original are, in fact, a "me problem". I find it both interesting and frustrating just how tightly wound Demon's Souls's various tensions are, and I think that an important way in which From's games have matured over the years is in their careful addition of relief, which I think has at this point reached its apex in Elden Ring's loose, double-jumpy, infinite stamina, goat riding.

I bought a copy of Elden Ring as a gift during a holiday sale this past winter, and planned to meet at their house to show it off. Knowing that this person could take any number of paths through the game, I decided to play through the game on the weekend prior. I played through in a single sitting, hitting as many points of interest as reasonable, it took about 15 hours. We met, I watched them play the game for about 45 minutes, and we spent the rest of the evening watching YouTube. I did not play the game from January until the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, aside from ensuring that I had a save file ready to enter it.

My point is that anything resembling comprehensive appreciation of Elden Ring is time consuming. While I certainly enjoy its variety and scope (I do want to be clear this is less "I don't like Elden Ring anymore", and closer to "this is why it is merely my second favorite game of all time, and not my most favorite, period"), and I'm sure many see no issue with an entertainment product which seems to allow the player to effortlessly sink so many hours into it even when trying to rush, I do find it frustrating as well.

Super Mario Odyssey is a pretty good entry in that series, even if I could nitpick aspects of the controls, even if it's sort of frustrating that a one-size-fits-all jump combo serves as both your longest and highest platforming maneuver, I like it. Even if I also like most of the games which closely precede it, Odyssey feels like a return to form, closer to what I liked most about earlier 3D platformers. But the single biggest problem that the game has is that there is simply too much of it. Even if the game controlled as well as Super Mario 64, that older game would still knock it out of the park simply because of its structure. It's not just that it's small enough as to be easily beaten in an afternoon, the progression is simple enough and the objectives are straightforward enough that a player returning to an old file is able to get their bearings again. A discontinuous playthrough of Odyssey completely disrupts the flow of the player's hunt for collectables.

Elden Ring is definitely not as bad, both because it handles its hidden elements more gracefully, and because its lock-and-key progression elements are nowhere near as complex or arbitrary as Odyssey's. Still though, coming back to an incomplete playthrough of Elden Ring is more awkward than just about any other recent From game. What was I planning for my build? Where was I going next? If I'm playing a lot of the game, or even if I break for a few days but it is the only game I'm actively playing, these aren't hard questions to answer, but that just isn't always how I want to play games. Given the game's length, avoiding these disruptions requires what I might describe as a borderline irresponsible time investment, and that's without getting into replaying the game to get different endings, see NPC quests one might have missed, et cetera.

So Shadow of the Erdtree has already made my issue worse, but it has not only made Elden Ring bigger; it has effectively bolted onto Elden Ring not only another game of roughly the same scope as Sekiro, but in being an expansion of an existing game, it also requires a time investment in the original game in advance of each subsequent run.

I have enjoyed Shadow of the Erdtree, there's a lot to like. I like how dishonest and unreliable its map is compared to the base game. I like how the bosses are more aggressive but generally not as spongy as the endgame bosses in the base game. I love all of the new environments. I don't understand how anyone could have a problem with From "reusing content" when there are moments that so clearly demonstrate they have an excellent sense of humor about it, if you entered the Hinterland and didn't burst into laughter I don't know what to tell you.

But on any level deeper than this, I don't know how long it will be until I find what more I appreciate about Shadow of the Erdtree, because even if another run through the game would slide down my gullet completely without friction, I just don't know if it's a wise use of my free time.

I've been booting this up once every few months to clear a chapter of the story mode and give one shot at arcade mode. Not until this week did I actually clear arcade mode on any difficulty and see the credits. I've heard people say the GameCube versions are better, and given how many other games have version-specific analog control sensitivity issues, I can believe them, but man, this can be needlessly frustrating. I can very, very easily see why future installments would feel the need to add more mechanics (jumping, dashing, etc.) because there really just isn't enough here to keep things interesting. The levels are very cleanly divided into braindead easy courses where the only reason not to move in a straight line towards the exit is to collect bananas for 1-ups, and over-tuned precision tightrope exercises. The only thing this has over Sonic 3's blue sphere mini-game is its tactility, put the levels that are paired with it are better suited towards an arcade experience (discontinuous, clumsy sessions, especially with friends) than at-home play. It's the kind of thing that would make sense to keep at the ready for visitors in a dorm or game room, not the kind of game that needs cutscenes.

I like monkey though. I like how there ears are like cinnamon rool 😊