It’s been nearly eight months since Elden Ring was released. At its peak, it reached nearly a million concurrent users on Steam. Those are heights that are not seen by non-MM….O? games. Currently, there are roughly 25,000 concurrent users on Steam, which seems pretty damn good to me.
In comparison, the latest Platinum Game, Babylon’s Falls (their ill-fated attempt to do a live-service game once reached an all-time low of 0 concurrent players on Steam. They will shut down for good on the last day of February next year. When the shutdown was announced, they were getting 2 or 3 concurrent players 2 or 3. Not 2 or 3 thousand–they didn’t even get that much on release. They had 700 concurrent players when they released the game on Steam on the last day of February this year.
I recently looked up where Elden Ring sat on the concurrent players list. They are 39th, which is not bad for a game that is a live-service game. Yes, it’s open world. Yes, you can play it endlessly. But there is a finite amount of content in the game. There are not daily or even weekly added questlines that you can do.
I remember when I got waaaaay into Monster World. Near the end-game, I would check in every day, do the daily quests so I could get my rewards. It was a dopamine hit that was a steady drip over the days. When I finally stopped playing the game and went back to do the Geralt quest, it felt really strange. I did not like being back in, and I did just the minimum needed to get the weapon and armor, then fell off the game again.
FromSoft games are different to me. I can’t exactly explain why. Yes, there is exploration and discovery. There’s nothing quite like finding a new area in Elden Ring or stumbling across an NPC you’d never seen before. Knowing that you had a quest to do for that NPC, but not quite what that quest was produced a delightful frisson up and down the spine.
*SPOILER*
One of my favorite questlines in Elden Ring is Millicent’s. Getting to her is elaborate, as they often are. You meet Gowry in a shack, and he tells you about this woman up in a church. You try to get to her, but cannot. You’re supposed to take a needle to her, which you get by killing the boss of the area. That was such a difficult fight for me because I was severely under-leveled for area. I was under-leveled for most of the game in part because I skimped on Vigor and Endurance.
Anyway, once you get to Millicent and give her the needle, she sets off on her quest. You run into her all over the map, and I do mean all over. She requests the Valkyrie’s Prothesis that is in this self-contained area of the game. Once you give it to her, she moves elsewhere. You can also summon her for certain bosses if you progress her questline (which I did not know until much later).
The end to her questline is truly epic. There is one major decision you can make in two different ways, and I have yet to do the second because her questline is so involved. I may do it this time around–or I may not.
There are a few things I have not done out of principle. Yes, this is still under spoiler territory because I want to discuss it, but it’s DEFINITELY something you do not want to know before going into the situation if you want a fresh experience. It’s exceedingly difficult to get to it naturally, though, and I fucked it up twice. It doesn’t matter because I would not do it even if I could, but here it is.
Wait. That is not what this post is about. I’ll get to that in a different post. Spoiler over for now.
*UNSPOILED*
I’ve played the game three times. One fairly complete playthrough. One mostly complete playthrough with deliberate omissions. One very rushed-through playthrough to get the plat. I’m working on my fourth playthrough. NG with a dex-based character. But I started as the Prisoner because I want a range-based ability, and it’s not easy to find a staff if you don’t start with one.
I have never played a dex character because that’s just not my style. Even now, I’m straying from a pure dex character. I have not put enough into endurance to be a true dex character. And I’m currently pumping points into int because there are spells I need to use, man.
The idea of not using any magicks at all is anathema to me. Also, I tend to have stats needed for certain items and work towards those. for example, the Bloody Fang (sword). My next weapon will be the Moonveil–oh, that’s why I need the int. It takes…I want to say 26 int.
What do I think about Elden Ring over all? I’m sure I will go more into it at the end of the year *wink*, but I can tell you right now that FromSoft did what they set out to do. They made an open world game that has Souls-like dungeons, and they made it friendlier to newbies. Friendlier is relative, by the way. It’s the most accessible of the From games, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s still a hard game, especially if you want to play it ‘pure’. But, if you have a friend who can guide you through the rough spots, it’s definitely friendlier than the Souls games, Bloodborne, and most certainly Sekiro.
On that account, FromSoft has hit it out of the park. If you’ve been interested in Souls games, but intimidated by how hard they are supposed to be, this is the game for you. One caveat: You aren’t the type to get overwhelmed by having too many choices. That was one of my fears going into the game, and it did occur to a certain extent. One thing I love about the Souls game is how crafted they are. It’s not linear, exactly, but it’s certainly not an open world. There is a progression you are supposed to take, and even if you wandered off the given path, it was always in sight.
In Elden Ring, you can go in so many directions. There are ways to go to an area that is ten times harder than you are ready for. You can get trapped in a cave in which you are helpless, and you have to just run until you reach the outside again. I went to this cave after Ian told me about it because I had not stumbled upon the chest that takes you there. I was much further than I normally would be when I checked out the cave and nearly could not get out again. Fuck that cave and the bug people. I’m leaving that there.
I have settled on Elden Ring–oh, by the way. People had datamined the files of the latest patch. There are two new areas and ray tracing technology. People on the RKG Discord are speculating that it’s the DLC, which I am so ready for. There was no legit DLC for Sekiro (and I have my ideas why not), which was a letdown. I wanted to learn more about Lady Tomoe, which I am pretty sure would have been the DLC.
I want to learn more about Ranni. I want to know all about her. And Blaidd. So a prequel would be great. Ray tracing. Holy shit. I have an epic idea that would be amazing! But I’m not going to say what it is because it would contain a MASSIVE spoiler.
I was going t ogive my final ranking for Elden Ring (in my FromSoft list), but I’ve decided to save that for the end of the year. I have much to say about it, and I’ve run out of time.