In the last two posts, I have been nattering on and on about Elden Ring and Dark Souls III. I could go on for days–and will–because they are both amazing games. I have been playing both of them in the last week, and I have been enjoying them equally. I will say that it’s not easy to jump back and forth because of the differences, but it only takes a minute or so to adjust, as opposed to when I play a From game and a non-From game at the same time.
I went up against two difficult bosses in Dark Souls III. The Nameless King, widely considered the hardest boss in the vanilla game (optional, thankfully), and Sister Friede, the final boss of the first DLC. She was the first time there was a three-phase boss, and I did not do her solo on my first playthrough. I just could not get her, and by the time I was done with the DLC, I was tired.
This was Wednesday or Thursday night that I decided to fight these two bosses. Around seven at night or so. I’m giving the time because it wasn’t the weekend, so I wsan’t expecting any summons. I was so surprised when there were more than one for each boss. I was grateful to get them because it made both boss fights easy as pie. I stood back and did my magicks while my summons got up in the faces of the respective bosses.
I’m going to be doing the second DLC today, probably (Friday), and we’ll see if I can still get summons. At this point, I don’t want to fight certain bosses solo. I don’t have the patience for it and my skills are not as good as they were before my medical crisis. In other words, I would have skipped the bosses if I couldn’t get summons.
This is one point to Elden Ring. they have NPC summons for many of the bosses. And, of course, there are still people playing the game, more than are playing Dark Souls III. Plus, you have your spirit summon, which means you never have to truly solo a boss.
In terms of design, I acually have to give thenod to Dark Souls III. I know this is heresy because of the open world design of Elden Ring, but that is not my favorite aspect of the game. I mean, I loved riding around on Torrent and finding secrets and such. There were so many cool things to find. But, at the same time, it did suffer a bit from the ‘too much to see’ syndrome. One of the best things about Miyazaki is his level design. Both the first and third game feel like they are crafted experiences just for me. They’re not, obviously, but that’s how it felt.
The legacy dungeons in Elden Ring have that feeling to them, but it’s a bit dissipated by the fact that there is so much expanse around them. They are not connected to each other, either, which makes them feel more disjointed. Let me be clear. Each one is exquisite in and of itself, but there really isn’t much connecting them. To be fair, they weren’t all connected in Dark Souls III, either. But they were more so than in Elden Ring.
I understand that they could not make everything connected in Elden Ring. That would have been folly. I think they did something unique with the interweaving of the open world and the legacy dungeons. I also understand why they did it the way they did. I appreciate that each area is so different and thematically colored. Green? Limgrave. Blue? Liurnia of the Lakes. The art design in this game is incredible. So is the art design in Dark Souls III. I think I would give the slight edge to Elden Ring just because of the mass scope of it.
Let’s talk about the variety. This goes to Elden Ring, hands down. I have always loved about the Souls series that you can play them in so many different ways. I always end up playing Dark Souls III in the exact same way. I start as a Pyro, get the Chaos Bed Vestiges, Hidden Body, and Tears of Denial as my magicks, and the Lorian’s Greatsword when I can. I wear the Sage’s Big Hat because it’s big and ridiculous. And I wear the Fallen set if I can until I get the Black Witch Set in the second DLC. Then, it’s that plus the Sage’s Big Hat for the rest of the game.
I use the Onyx Blade, too, because it’s just really cool. I trade off between the two weapons for the rest of the game. Of course, the Onyx Blade is found in the first DLC, so it’s not something you can use for much of the game. This is my comfort game. It’s the first game I played once I was out of the hospital. I had tears in my eyes as I ran around outside the Firelink Shrine. It was like coming home, and I was relieved that I could use the controller with little problem.
My reflexes aren’t as good as they were before (and they were not good to start with), but I can still play my From games. Dark Souls III comforted me and reassured me that I hadn’t lost it all, and I just spent ten minutes running around outside Flink Shrine, killing scrubs. I should try another weapon, I guess, or new magicks. But that’s not why I play this game. I play it to do the same thing every time. It has my favorite NPC is the games–Yuria of Londor. That is the ending I always choose (to be the Dark Lord), and I am happy to be her liege.
Then, there’s Patches. Ah, Patches. There is a split in the community as to whether you should let him live or kill him on sight. He has been in all the games in some form or another, I am on #TeamLetPatchesLiveHisBestLife, and I really appreciate that he is the one consistent person in a topsy-turvy world. Patches will always trick you and kick you down a pit. Then, he will beg formercy and become a merchant. That is who Patches is. That is who Patches always will be. He was in an Armored Core before, so I fully expect him to be in the new one.
In Elden Ring, his questline is more complex. And there is pathos, plus unrequited love. And (*SPOILERS*) he actually dies in this one, even if you don’t kill him. It made me teary-eyed to watch him die. Then, they patched it in to bring him back to life, put him in the first cave where you found him, and he gives you his classic Patches Squat emote. Which, fine. I’m appreciative, but I would have preferred if he had stayed dead. Not beacuse I want him dead, but because it actually made me feel something.
I get why they brought him back, but I wished they hadn’t. I do wonder if he’s going to be in the DLC. That could be a reason they brought him back. He was in the second DLC for Dark Souls III, which was interesting.But that happened whether you killed him or not so I’m not sure that’s why they brought him back.
I actually think that people might have complained when he died. Otherwise, why patch (heh) him coming back to life? They clearly meant for him to have a trajectory to his storyline, and they were willing to bypass it by bringing him back to life.
In general, I have to give the NPC edge to Elden Ring. There are a few interesting NPCs in Dark Souls III, but the wealth of NPC questlines in Elden Ring is unparalleled. I have said repeatedly that I would have paid $30 for Ranni’s questline alone. Not that you could acutally do it removed from the game itself, but it just kept going. i was amazed at how it unfurled. The first time, it took maybe ten hours to do. I got it down by a lot the next time around, but it was still incredible.
Apparently, I have more to say. I’ll be back again tomorrow.