I have one last post in me talking about the ten games that define me. Or, more to the point, the one game that is my favorite game of all time AND that is important to who I am now. Here was my post from yesterday, which was also about Elden Ring (FromSoft) and what it means to me. I also want to expand more on why it’s so important to me and how I fear that it’s the last FromSoft game I will play.
Let’s tackle the last part first. Ever since the DLCs of Dark Souls III, I have noticed that the content has been getting incrementally harder. That’s only to be expected given the nature of the games and how they became known for being hard. That’s not why I play the games, though, so it made me uneasy to see the constant upping of the difficulty. When I played Sekiro: Shadows Died Twice, I realized I had hit the upper limit of my ability. Granted, that’s a different kind of game and you can’t summon human beings, but still. It made me realize that my time playing From games was short, and I should just enjoy the ones I can play until I can’t.
Speaking of can’t. Sigh.
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon came out in late August of 2023. I knew from the trailer that it wasn’t going to be for me, but it was FromSoft so I had to buy it and try it. I started it up with little hope in my heart. It wasn’t my kind of game at all, and it looked antithetical to anything I enjoyed in a game. And yet.
There’s always giong to be a part of me that thinks I’ll warm up to any From game if I just give it enough time. I tried; I really did. I made it to the tutorial boss, and I just could not do it. Parrying was a big thing in the game, much to my dismay. Or rather, deflecting like you do in Sekiro. Plus, there were two different boost buttons, which broke my brain. In addition, you could go out of the fighting area, and you would be rudely reminded that you could not go in that direction. It wasn’t just a wall that you run into–it was, if I remember correctly, flashing red lights.
In addition, you had to boost in order to fly, and I just could not get the hang of that. Oh, and there was definitely fall damage in the game–lots of it. If you don’t land on a platform, you take damage. Since I have almost no depth perception, landing correctly was not happening with any consistency.
I fought the tutorial boss for over an hour. I was not getting it. I’m stubborn, though, and I kept going. I eventually got the boss, but I didn’t enjoy it. Nor could I tell you how I got it. Could I do it again? Probably not. I did a few missions after, but I did not enjoy that, either. After dying several times by not being able to boost properly and falling over and over again, I put it aside. I wasn’t enjoying it, and it was not for me.
Let’s talk about Nightreign. Double sigh.
I had my doubts when I saw the trailer. Multiplayer? Roguelike/lite-ish? Fast-paced? No lore or story (well, minimal, and it’s not told in-game)? Yeah, that was a whole lot of nope for me. In fact, if this wasn’t FromSoft and set in the world of the Lands Between, I wouldn’t have even watched the trailer.
Because it was from FromSoft and was, indeed, set in the Lands Between (though a standalone), I did watch the trailer with a heart that sank more and more as I watched the trailer. Everything I loved about From games was absent from this game, and I knew that I would not like it.
Still. I bought it, installed it, and played it. And I was right. It was not for me. By some miracle, I got two really great players my first time out, and we beat the first boss. Easily. That was probably the worst thing that could have happened to me because it gave me unrealistic expectations. I was playing as The Recluse (the witch), which is considered an advanced character. Of course. I really dug her, but I was not good with her.
I tried. I really did. But I jsut could not do it. I have no sense of direction in the best of times, and it definitely was not that as I rushed around the map, trying to find the place I needed to be. In addition, I did not have people to play it with, so I mostly played with randos. This is not a game where this is something I wanted to do.
I managed to kill the second boss after several dozen more runs (again, with two great randos, plenty of levels, and great items), but then I was just worn out. The problem is that it takes so long to get to the Night Lord, and you can’t just skip all the enemies on your way there.
I don’t feel like the reward for failing is worth the forty-five minute wasted run, to be honest. I think I saw the third boss, but I just could not be bothered. It was a relief to say that the game was not for me and to put it aside.
Another FromSoft game that is not for me is The Duskbloods. It’s also going to be multiplayer and it’s branded as PvPvE. The biggest reason it’s not for me is because it’s exclusive to the Switch 2, which I have not/am not/will not bought/buying/buy. Even if I had one, I don’t think I’d be interested in this game. Nothing in the description speaks to me, and it makes me really sad.
As I said, I have known for quite some time that I will one day not be able to play From games any longer. They are good for having in-game ways to adjust for personal shortcomings in most of their games (I stop short of saying they are accommodating because they clearly do not focus on accessibility), but that can only go so far.
Elden Ring really was the peak of the Dark Souls formula–combined with a wonderful open world. If it’s the last game by FromSoft that I can play, well, I’m not going to complain about that.