i was just going to do an ironic review that had a hint of truth to it but i figured i wanted somewhere to actually type out my thoughts with what i like and dislike about the game

i don't think anyone would disagree that the art direction is really strong. armor and weapon designs are plentiful, and there's something for everyone and every playstyle. i also like how the later end fights reward a bunch more runes so in general the average level is higher than what it would be in other games, so you get to mess around with quite a bit of build variety, and can respec if you don't like what you played the last couple of hours as.

not to mention pretty much everywhere you pan your camera has had a level of detail in the frame that you couldn't really get from any open world peers.there are so many parts of the world that could serve as a great wallpaper

closing my positive thoughts i'll say that this is still a game with fromsoft dna through every nook and cranny, and i'm glad they didn't compromise their design to make the game more broadly appealing or accessible. the world is definitely strange, and that's what i want/expect.

as for the negatives..

to me, one of the biggest problems is that almost every enemy in the game has these egregiously long delayed attacks. while they aren't really hard to deal with, it just never really feels good to dodge or counter and instead just seems like a cheap way to add "challenge" as opposed to actually designing interesting and meaningful encounters. it could be that this is supposed to be balanced by doing your jumping strong attacks, however spamming those didn't feel great to me either.

on top of that, the game is needlessly long, and the longer you explore the optional stuff the more of the seams start to show, as you'll find copy and pasted enemies everywhere throughout the dungeons and caves, as regular encounters and boss fights. obviously not every boss has to be a unique never before seen interaction but did we REALLY need to fight the godskins 8 times??

i was also hoping for some sort of narrative change with this entry. ER just feels like dark souls 4, and while story wise didn't do anything i would say is bad or poorly written, it's just the same tired story telling devices that from has used since 2009 which makes it hard for me to care. here is your first cutscene, here's our roster of people with a sentence at most to explain who they are, and here are a bunch of regular words that are now proper nouns. good luck piecing everything together for yourself!

map design feels half baked in some areas too. say theres a church on a cliff. instead of offering multiple ways to get to your destination, you instead have to generally go allllll the way around the mountain and find the slope that'll give you access. its not a huge deal in all honesty, but it makes me just think i'd prefer a more concisely designed closed off world like the previous from titles.

maybe part of that would have been alleviated if torrent actually interacted somewhat with the world (i.e. not stopping on a dime when you run into enemies.) i dont think it's an unrealistic expectation to be barreling down full speed with your horse and be able to mow down at least the regular 'hollow' soldiers you find wandering the lands between.

oh yeah and maybe this is nostalgia but i miss the sound design from the older games. yes i'm wearing a full set of armor, so i'm expecting it to sound like i'm a janitor walking around with 10,000 keys rustling around on a keyring with every step i take.

i've played these games since 2009. so maybe im just getting bored of the typical gameplay loop these have, but it feels like the things i liked the most just aren't here anymore,