Before my medical crisis, I was very much into FromSoft games, in part for the difficulty and pride in beating the games. When I heard Elden Ring was coming out, I had this elaborate plan about how I would have two different characters. One would be for my solo run and the other would be for co-op. Then, I had my medical crisis and all that went out the window. The only thing I wanted was another Miyazaki world to explore. Lovely, bleak, tense, gruesome, and achingly heartbreaking at the same time.
I got all that and more with the game. It’s incredible; it really is. However (and you knew there was going to be a ‘however/but’ after that statement), I have been havinng a problem with the difficulty since Sekiro in 2019. Actually, since the DLc of Dark Souls III a few years earlier, but Sekiro really underscored that the games were going in a direction I wasn’t comfortable with.
I was relieved when they went back to Souls combat in Elden Ring, but the brutality in the last quarter of the game really drained the enjoyment for me. I’ve talked many times about how From has bought its own hype and makes the end of their games way too hard. Yeah, I said it. They are too hard at the end.
Well, let me rephrase that. They are too hard for me because that’s not why I play the games. Not back then and doubly so now. And I am tired of feeling like I suck at the games. Whether I do or not. (I do, but maybe not sa much as I think I do.)
Side note: The new thing in soulslikes is making the parry/deflect king–like in Sekiro. I. Fucking. Hate. This. I can’t parry. I have never been able to parry. I don’t mean ‘won’t’; I mean can’t. I spent hours trying to parry the Silver Knights in Anor Londo. I got to the point where I could parry the sword guys 75% of the time. The spear guys? Maybe 15% of the time. 20% if I was feeling lucky.
In the Souls game and Elden Ring, I do not parry. At all. Ever. Elden Ring has added the guard counter which is the best. If you do it as an enemy attacks you, then you can do a riposte. This changed my life. Seriously. It’s something that anyone can do beacuse you just have to hold up your shield. Yes, you have to break the enemy’s pose to get the counter, but it’s fairly easy to do. It’s not nearly as precise as the parry/deflect, and it has made combat so much easier. Which, I’m sure is something the people who only play the game for the difficulty complain about. Believe me. They complain until they are blue in the face. I still remember one very popular Youtuber who paid his bills by demolishing the From games in creative ways making a video about how in the years to come, Elden Ring will be considered the worst of the From games. Why? Because the bosses are ifne-tuned to be fought with spirit summons. That means it’s really hard to fight them truly solo.
Which, if anyone knows anything about the From games, is the thing that really hardcore From fans have rallied around. You aren’t really a From fan (or a good player) if you don’t solo the bosses, naked, without a shield, unleveled, bloody, but notbowed. You cannot use a greatsword, any kind of decent armor, or over-level any one stat. Oh, and you can’t use the best magicks, either.No Comet Azur for you! Or any of the moon spells. Though, weirdly, those don’t seem to get used as much. Probably because Comet Azur just melts things, especially with all the buffs.
Here’s the thing. Fuck those people. Honestly. Elden Ring is a great game. In addition, yes, it’s not the same as the previous game–which is the way life goes! People change. People move on. From is allowed to do that as well.
This is something that has been annoying me since I became a From fan. The first Dark Souls was considered a cult classic at first. It was this weird, esoteric, grueling game that was beyond explanation. It has a steep learning curve at the begininning, and then it eases up later. But if you want to see everything, you pretty much have to use a guide.
Sure, you can find it on your own–but you’re not going to find all of them. You just won’t. That’s one reason it’s reat playing them with the community–they will find things you hadn’t. One thing Vaati said once (for the second DLC of Dark Souls III) has stuck with me since. There’s a secret in the game that you will not figure out on your own. Well, most people won’t. Some people obviously did. He mentioned that he wished he had a Vaati because he spent ten hours trying to figure out the puzzle. He finally did, but reading betwene the lines, it did not seem like he enjoyed the process. He was pretty proud of himself by the end, though.
The community gushing over the games is such an important and integral part of the experience. I truly don’t think the games would have hit the heights it did if it weren’t for the fact that the community became a part of thegames. The gathering together and solving the problems collectively. Talking about your experiences and marveling over the differences. Commiserating over certain bosses. I was late to the game in that case because I played the first two games way after they were released (and Bloodborne). Plus, I’m not really a community person. I have checked forums now and again, but that was it. In fact, the Elden Ring DLC is going to be the first time that I’m going to play with a community, full stop. The RKG Discord, I mean.
A traidition has been started (maybe by me? Not sure it’s by me, but I certainly have been keeping it going) that when someone asks other slugs (what we call ourselves) to help them with a boss in Elden Ring, I pull out the popcorn (GIF) and ‘watch’ the show. I’ve even had people notify me when they were going to go for a big boss.
It’s really cool, and it feels like we’re really in it together. Krupa’s latest Lore MasterClass (for the producers and posh slugs), he did a lecture on the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC trailer, and we threw out our theories in the chat. It was really cool, especially as I had a personal tragedy to deal with when the trailer dropped and the day after (and still grieving, to be honest), so I appreciated being able to talk about it with a group of people who were equally enthused about it.
I’m done. More later.