FromSoft revealed more about Elden Ring at the Taipei Game Show. More gameplay footage and an interview with Yashiro Kitao, a producer with FromSoft. He talked about quite a bit, including that the game should take 30 hours for the main storyline. That bit made me laugh out loud because that’s ridiculous. I feel like he was just throwing a number out to appease the fans (this was a question asked by a fan) and giving a number that was as minimal as possible. It’s meaningless, really, in a open world game because very few people just inhaled the main storyline without doing the side quests. That’s the whole point of the open world! To explore and wander, not carrying about the main story.
One interesting thing in the interview was that Yashiro Kitao kept emphasizing that FromSoft didn’t want players to stress out so they added things to ease that stress. It’s interesting because they’ve never shown any interest in adjusting difficulty before. Sexiro was the last game they released and that was hard as nails. I felt railroaded into playing a certain way, which I did not appreciate. One of the things I love about Dark Souls games is that I can make my character any way I want her. Granted, I’m always a strengthcaster these days, but I could be a dex build or a pure faith build if I want. In Sexiro, I could only be, well, Sekiro. It was a pure action game with no leveling up. That’s not exactly true. You could level up, but not in any one category. You had to get four prayer beads from beating mini-bosses and then you level up your…I want to say strength nope. It adds 10% to Vitality and Posture. It’s the memories from beating proper bosses that adds to your strength. Or something like that.
I used to say that if Bloodborne was on PC, I would play it more. That’s true. I love the gothic aesthetic, moody, brooding, and dripping with atmosphere. But, I did not enjoy the combat as much as in the Dark Souls series because I have terrible reactions and you can’t use a shield in BB. Again, one of the things I love about the Dark Souls games is that I can customize myself however I want. It’s highly versatile as opposed to BB and Sekiro. Sekiro is extremely restrictive whereas BB is somewhere in the middle. It’s not as proscriptive as Sekiro, but it’s certainly not as wide-open as Dark Souls.
In the community, there is a subset of hardcore fans who insist that using magic is cheating or not playing the game the right way. Then again, every way of playing is cheating or shameful to someone or the other as stated by Andy Farrant from Oxbox. Ian is making his way through the second half of Dark Souls for the first time (after beating O&S in half the time it took me my first time) and he beat Havel on one stream. I told him it was a great ring, but it was also considered cheating to use it to wear all of Havel’s stuff. He was puzzled until I gave him a quick rundown of everything that is considered cheating by some members of the community, including using a shield, Pyromancy, magicks in general, being a Havel monster, etc. Basically anything other than doing a onebro run is SHAME.
I never cared because I’m used to being a weirdo. I don’t do/like anything that is ‘normal’ (except pop music, weirdly). I know my strengths, and more importantly, I know my weaknesses. I know what I like and what I don’t, and I’m not easily swayed from it. Because of childhood trauma, my reactions are shitty. I have to actively work to respond to things, which is why straight-up melee isn’t my jam at all. Sekiro is my least-favorite of the FromSoft games because it’s purely melee combat. Ok, yes, there are the prosthetic tools ,but you only get one katana for the whole game and no magicks. You can’t even choose your melee weapon! Dex is my least-favorite style of play in these games, no matter how hard I try to play well as a dex character.
I was able to get around my lack of skills in the other games by cobbling together a style that worked for me. Starting with Pyromancy because fire is my jam. Then adding a big, fuck-off sword/axe/hammer. Very light armor so I can stay mobile paired with a big shield. And always a big hat. I love me a big hat. A few other magicks in my back pocket to boot. I love that you can customize so much and play the Souls games pretty much any way you want to. I do think I could get more into Bloodborne, but it’s on the PS4. I hate playing on the console because my TV sucks. Also, I just like my PC. So, yeah. Get BB on the PC and I’ll play it again.
The other day, I had the revelation that part of the reason I prefer ranged is as an accommodation for my limitations. I know that my reflexes are shoddy and that I need to work around that. I prided myself on beating all the games despite not mastering the main combat ability of each game. Except Sekiro. Again, that game demands to be played on its terms, which made it not enjoyable for me at all. It’s the only FromSoft game that I think really suffered from a lack of accessibility options. All the other games, you can get around the difficulty in different ways. You can greatly over-level your character. You can become a Havel monster. You can use magicks (become ranged). you can use a shield. Well, not the last two in Bloodborne, which, as I said, is more limited than the Dark Souls games.
I’ve known for some time that I’m terrible at the games. I’ve gotten better over time and through brute force and sheer repetition. However, I’m still mediocre when it comes to people who play these games on a regular basis. I’m fine with this because I still enjoy them, even if it’s not in the proper way–whatever that really means.
I’m curious about Elden Ring because as I mentioned earlier, Yashiro Kitao said several times in the interview that the team wanted to make sure the players were not stressed as they played. Which is funny to me because they are known for how grueling their games are. I mean, the first time I bought Dark Souls, it was the Prepare to Die edition. It gloried in pushing the players to their limits and I doubt that Elden Ring will ease up THAT much. At least I hope not. While I don’t play the games FOR the difficulty, I don’t want to breeze through them, either.
I know this is the biggest game that FromSoft has done, both literally the biggest and in terms of anticipation for said game. I know they want to make it accessible to people who have never played a FromSoft game before or found them too hard. I just hope they don’t change things up too much and alienate those of us who have loved their games for so long. I don’t think they will and I’m heartened by the previews I’ve seen, but I’ll be holding my breath until the game drops in a month.