I’ve been watching videos from Kinda Funny Games. They have recently changed their review score to 10 (from 5). Then, they did two videos in which they listed games for each number (from each guy). I’ve included the one for 10 below. They briefly say that 10 is not perfect, but a masterpiece. Then they go into detail about what they consider a masterpiece to be. This is the closest to what I think a 10 is, and I appreciate that they really get down to the nitty-gritty. And also that they mention that no game is perfect.
That’s what gets me stuck on giving a 10. Nothing is perfect. If 10 is perfect, then no game can be a 10. Saying it’s the best of the best, though, is something different. I still hesitate in giving a 10, but it’s more conceivable when I don’t think of it as perfection.
Here’s part two of why the game is not a 10 (perfect). I think part of my hesitation is that the flaws are persistent and continue from game to game. Wonky hitboxes; poison swamps; the last pixel of health; enemies hidden around the corner/up on the ceiling/behind a crate; surprise swarm of enemies; messy UI. The last was cleaned up somewhat in this game and I appreciate the ‘new’ tab they instituted in the DLC.
The UI is not great, though. I won’t say it’s terrible, but it’s barely serviceable. There are not ways to easily sort items (at least not that I know of), and it’s a pain to have to scroll through a million items to find the one you want. Now, granted, you can put items in the storage box at a site of grace or sell the extras, but I’m not going to do either of those. One reason for the latter is because I have the irrational fear that I’m going to want to do something different with each of the fifteen straight swords that I have. Or the thirty-two Radahn’s gauntlets. I actually have less of a problem selling the armor because you can’t do anything with them, but the weapons Iget stuck on.
With my NG+ characters, I have so much shit on them. It gives me lowkey anxiety any time I scroll through all the shit I have on me. Again, that is more me than the game, though.
I’m currently doing an intelligence build run and NG+ on my strength run. I really wish there was more to do on NG+ to distinguish it from NG. I still enjoy NG+, mind, but it would be a little boost to have something new to perk me up on NG+ and beyond.
Another thing I don’t like about the game that takes it down a notch in my eyes are the smaller dungeons/catacombs/heroes graves–especially the last. Oh, and crucible knights. They are shitty enemies because they have poise for day and hit insanely hard. Plus they have reach for days, and they are just ridiculous.
The heroes’ graves all have chariots in them (I think? At least most of them do.) In the tutorial pit, there is one. I left it for later, but even when I came back to it, it could one-shot me. Yes, I only had 18 Vigor, but still. I don’t do the heroes’ graves in NG+ for the most part because I hate them so much. I know some people love the dungeons around the world, but I don’t. They remind me of the Chalice Dungeons in Bloodborne, which I hated.
I just did one to keep pace with the RKG lads in their Retry Elden Ring playthrough (I’m loosely following), and it is one I never do on my own. It’s awful, and I hate it, and I cussed thoroughly as I did it. I did not make myself adhere to what Powers is doing because he’s way better than I am, and he prefers to go dex. That is my least-favorite build. To be fair to him, his build is what I would generously call eclectic. They’ve jokingly called it the smorgasbuild, which is pretty apt. They started out as an int. build, but they quickly fell off that. They switched to dex/faith, which has served Rory well–mostly.
He’s really taken to the incantations, which makes me very happy and proud. He will only have four at a time, though, no matter how many slots he has (eight), which is hilarious. When he first got the fourth slot, he refused to have four. For whatever reason, he can’t deal with having as many spells/incantations as he has slots.
I have to give a shout-out to how From revamped the magicks for this game. I’ve always been a caster kind of person, and I have always championed the maigcks in the previous games. I find that so many people would dismiss the magicks without even trying them. They bought into the meta even though they had no experience with it themselves. It amused me that when the demo for this game came out, games journalists who had never used magicks in the game were gushing about how great the magicks were in this game. They’re not wrong, but the things they mentioned were in previous games, too.
I will forever be grateful that the got rid of leveling up attunement for slots. The memory stones instead is such a brilliant idea that I would give them an extra .5 for that alone. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it’s such a relief not to have to waste levels on slots. Yes, you need to level up Mind in order to get more blue (mana, basically), but that isn’t nearly as frustrating or a souls-sink, er, runes-sink the way it has been in the past.
Back to what I don’t like. I think FromSoft could have cut a quarter of the content and not be any the worse for it. I appreciate that they wanted a big open world in which you could endlessly roam. They certainly achieved that, but there are a couple areas in which I felt there was no reason for it being there. And a few dragons (looking at you ice dragon) that definitely did not need to be there.
I realized after several playthroughs that I don’t like the second half of the game nearly as much as the first. I’ll go into the reasons why in the next post.