Elden Ring - Video Games I love

The reason I haven't been writing as often as I should, is because every time I wanted to, I ended up playing more of Elden Ring. At the point of writing, I have clocked in 200 hours, finished the game and working my way through NG+ (new game plus). It is not often that I find a single player game exciting after putting in so many hours. There are two reasons as to why - Combat Variety and Lore.

FromSoftware's Reputation

I have never played a FromSoftware game before Elden Ring. But their reputation preceded them. I had a vague idea on what to expect thanks to osmosis of just playing video games in general.  Their games were famous or infamous, depending on who you ask, for maddeningly punishing bosses and obtuse storytelling through the environment and item descriptions. This popularity, led to the birth of a whole new subgenre - SoulsLike or Soulsborne.

The idea of being stuck on level, trying over and over again only to be dying to the same boss didn't sound appealing to me. After all, video games were my escapist medium, and I fully expect to kick back and relax. But I picked up Elden Ring because of the hype and critical reception it received.

Lets talk Diffculty in Elden Ring

When I picked up the game, I expected to be dying a lot, and I did. But the game outright tries to tell you dying is okay and in death you learn and in turn become stronger. Once, I got used to dying, I found the experience more enjoyable.

But what I didn't expect is that how hard even the trash mobs seem to hit. In fact, I died more times to trash mobs in the over world combined than to any one boss. And the late game damage spike that the trash mobs receive is brutal. The frustration is still there, but the satisfaction is equally rewarding.  

The game then tries to balance this out by giving you a variety of weapons and tools, which are equally overpowered. So the over world navigation, at least for me, was to kill quickly or be killed. This applies to the bosses as well. Aggression is encouraged but the same time, panicking means certain death.

If a spell or weapon seems to be overpowered to the point it diminishes the satisfaction of playing the game, the player can always choose not to use it. The game allows you to summon spirits during most boss fights, and this mechanic helps a lot. But if a player likes the challenge of a hard boss, they can always choose not to use them.

The mid-game to end-game difficulty spike is still, in opinion, bullshit. But it is manageable. While this is just the combat difficulty, the quest and level design add their own set of frustrations. There is no quest log, so if you are not maintaining notes of what is happening or not using an online guide, it is guaranteed you will get lost. Same with level design, if you are playing offline, it is easy to get lost in any of the dungeons or catacombs. There are secret areas, bosses which are easily missable. On paper, none of this should work.

This is where the community comes in. The game lets other players leave messages. I was saved more than once by being warned of an imp in the shadows thanks to these messages. The game also occasionally shows ghosts of other players. And if another player dies in their world, they leave a blood stain in your world. Interacting with it, you can see how they died. They console me by letting me know other people are equally bad.

And for the quests, I ended looking up what I need to do because the game doesn't outright tell you. Once I knew what to do, I was curious, as to why is this the next step. This in turn helped me understand more of the lore. Maybe this was the dev's intended outcome or maybe not, but it enhanced my appreciation for the world built by From Software.

I was immensely satisfied with the exploration. This is as open as an open world RPGs gets. You are free to go where ever you want, explore for the fun of it, or to level up. The game is huge and every inch of the map is packed with caves, catacombs, gaols, dragons, or the other. What this game does is that it doesn't burden you with exploration, as almost 80% of it is optional to the story. There are no trialing missions, or towers to climb or collectables. It cuts out on the mind-numbing staples of modern open world games, whose sole purpose is just to pad content.

Builds, builds and more builds!

The other reason I cannot stop playing Elden Ring is the variety in combat. There are 31 weapon types and around 309 different weapons. That alone is a staggering. The skills on nearly half of the weapons can be changed. Adding to that, there are 101 incantations and 70 spells. Then, there are different pieces of armor, some with bonuses and different power ups. With such wide variety offered, it is up to the player on how they want to build their character.

In my first play through, I played as a sorcerer who can hang back and blast my enemies with the power of the mind. But if you find that boring, you can pick up a Katana and bleed your enemies to death. Or you can pick up two giant hammers and crush demigods. That is not your style, how about throwing lightning or fireballs. The most fun I had in is my NG+ trying out different builds in different dungeons. In most games, the option to respec is found in the end game or NG+. But here, it is found early-mid game, and that was a brilliant move by the devs.

I couldn't get into the finer gritty details of character building in Elden Ring because it is wonderfully complex. One has to play it, to experience it for themselves.  

Conclusion

The game isn't without its flaws. Online PVP is an afterthought. There aren't a lot of unique bosses. Late game areas are way too punishing, and seem to be lacking in design compared to the early, mid-game ones. Balancing between weapon classes and spells is also a hard one for a game such as this.

Despite these flaws, the world and lore of this game is deeply interesting. The writers seemed to have intentionally left things vague, leaving the player base to theory craft, and I have been enjoying that. Add the vast variety in combat choices, and I am confident in saying this is a game I will be enjoying for years.