Elden Ring

Introduction

Elden Ring for me can be summed up as too much of a great thing. After a single 120 hour playthrough I felt defeated not victorious, I was sick of the game not infatuated. Elden Ring is a marvel and one of the finest games I’ve ever played but that just makes its annoyances that much more painful to acknowledge. Over the months since completing the game, I sense I’ve dwelt far too much on those annoyances but also, why do they stick with me? Here I’ll layout my pros and cons but know that overall, I strongly recommend Elden Ring.

Annoyances

SO MUCH SHIT!

Elden Ring has a loot problem. By the end of the game, I had so much shit in my inventory and had very little knowledge of or attachment to any of it. For a game where exploration has never felt and looked any better, the rewards are underwhelming. I think the low hanging fruit here is the crafting-related items. I’ll be honest, I might have crafted something a handful of times in 120 hours. Did that stop from picking up my 179th piece of Erdleaf flower? Nope. Guess that’s on me though.

Oh boy… quests

From Software correctly added a beautiful hand-drawn style world map to the game, but I would’ve loved to have seen a journal of some sorts. Darkwood, a game with equal levels of ambiguity in its quest design and minimal handholding, has a fantastic “quest log” in the form of a journal. Opening the journal reveals pages progressively being filled in with phrases, quick sketches, notes, cryptic messages… I adored this journal because in between surviving horrific nights in my shed I could refresh my mind with what the weird mushroom person told me 4 days ago. It’s not a quest marker, it’s not a talk to NPC A to finish questline B, it’s a gentle reminder that maybe something interesting lies ahead if you think on that subject a little more and more importantly, reminding you that the subject even exists. Elden Ring is full interesting characters, but it felt like a miracle if I ever ran into one twice. Dark Souls had Firelink Shrine and often after bumping into someone out in Lordran you would reconvene with them in that hub area. It felt spontaneous and unplanned and that’s great, but it worked because of how you’d regularly return to Firelink and the generally smaller scope. I really want to drive home this point because of how Elden Ring left me feeling sick of the game on completion. I think the repetitious gameplay, while phenomenal, gets stale without that human touch, that connection to other characters. To the game’s credit I think those characters exist, unfortunately for me they were lost in the massive open world and extensive playtime.

Was I supposed to respec multiple times during one playthrough?

I ask this because my dexterity/intelligence character was a lot of fun for 60 hours and then combat began to drag more and more. Meanwhile my inventory was chalk full of crazy great hammers, bizarre dragon sorceries, and who knows what’s in the next dungeon. The game feels too big to playthrough with a single character or a single build and not get bored. I realize this now, but in the moment, I wanted to beat the game with my character, my build, those are synonymous to me, at least they have been in previous Souls playthroughs. This might be a “me” problem and I may have been too stubborn. I could’ve respec-ed my character to a strength/faith build and had been slamming great hammers and casting dragon flame incantations for the last 60 hours of my playthrough, but I didn’t. I kept thinking to myself that this cool weapon or spell I just picked up would be fun to build around on a next playthrough. But like I already said, after beating the final boss I rather quickly uninstalled the game and didn’t think much of it in the following months. Just now, writing this review, thoughts of diving back into Elden Ring have crept into my head and I might do it and I hope this embarrassment of riches reaps its rewards then.

I can’t remember a lick of the story…

One of my favorite things about Dark Souls was its story and lore. It layered on the mysticism and intrigue and added another incentive to the exploration. I think From Software did more of the same for Elden Ring but didn’t adapt it for the larger stage. In between relevant story bits there could be a good 20 hours’ worth of gameplay. This on top of From Software’s usual vague dialogue meant I never knew what the fuck was going on… it all sounded very cool though.

Fast travel and the Roundtable Hold

I would have loved to see the hub area as a physical place on the map. I would have liked to see graces not ubiquitously used as fast travel points. The addition of a mount was fantastic and makes traversing the open world a breeze. So, while I think fast travel is necessary with a map this size, I think fast travel points could have been restricted. For instance, let’s say Roundtable Hold was in Limgrave, the starting area. Now imagine exploring that area and instead of fast traveling on a whim to the nebulous Roundtable, you plan excursions out of the Roundtable and then return when ready on horseback. Locations like Volcano Manor, The Shaded Castle, Raya Lucaria Academy, and Stormveil Castle all standout to me not only for the experiences within them but for their physical presence on the surrounding areas. Raya Lucaria looms in the skyline the entire time you explore Liurnia of the Lakes and I love that. I think that’s the bottom line, I wish Roundtable Hold had that kind of presence on the map. Then maybe each of the areas could have had a satellite “Roundtable Hold” that once discovered would allow fast travel back to the primary Roundtable. This would mean you’d have to venture out on a limb, into an unknown area until you found respite. But maybe this is me being nostalgic what Dark Souls brought to the table. In Dark Souls, when you left Firelink Shrine you were never sure how soon you would return.

Triumphs

Combat is extremely diverse, until it isn’t

Previous From Software games honed in on different aspects of “souls” combat. I’d say Demon and Dark Souls really established the combat as a slow-paced, punishing yet fair system. Dark Souls 2 really expanded the arsenal, adding loads of new weapons and spells. Bloodbourne, I haven’t played, but from what I can tell did away with shields and focused on faster paced combat by incentivizing counterattacking when injured. Dark Souls 3 brought rolling to the forefront, I think by lowering the stamina cost. Combat had adopted some of the fast-paced nature of Bloodbourne and continued to grow the arsenal size from Dark Souls 2. Sekiro dialed in on the parry mechanic and added a “posture” bar in what was the largest departure from the original Dark Souls formula. And then we come to Elden Ring… and to start, I think Dark Souls 3 is clearly the closest relative in the Souls combat system family. Movement feels snappy and responsive, but actions still have weight as there’s no animation cancelling. Rolling can still be a strong defensive option, but enemies seem to have been designed to counter this tactic more effectively. The array of weapon options has again been expanded. I’d say for a given weapon type, there’s 10-15 unique weapons… and there’s probably about 15 weapon types! The number of unique weapons is astounding to a fault honestly. It feels wrong to only complain about this (see section Was I supposed to respect multiple times during one playthrough?)… so here’s the compliment. Between weapons, talismans, weapon skills, spells, spirit ashes, armor, armor traits, shields, ashes of war, equipment upgrades, player character stats, and consumable items the variety of build options and the ways you can engage in combat are immense. Add on top of that the variety of enemies, bosses, and locations, and the combat system and its supporting structures come out to be something truly monumental.

Enemy design is absolutely extravagant

From Software has always had indulgent enemy design, particularly in the boss department, but Elden Ring takes the cake. Do you want to team-up on a larger-than-life demigod/meteor riding a decrepit steed smaller than your own? What about a fire giant that removes its own leg to awaken its third eye located in its chest? and oh yeah it wields a pot lid… What about a chieftain who wears a the ghost of a lion on his back? Or a moose that flies? Or a dragon? There’s a few of those and that’s about as normal as it gets.

Not totally abandoning classic souls level design

Elden Ring embraces both open world and classic souls level design. In the Lands Between, you can travel via horseback over gorgeous landscapes to arrive at the foot of a castle. Get off your mount, enter the castle walls, and now you’re in tightly woven, overlapping, dungeon corridors reminiscent of Seath’s Fortress or Anor Londo. It’s a beautiful contrast as the expansive open world areas act as a palate cleanser to restrictive dungeons and vice versa.

Color Palette

Ever play a game with a distinct color palette? Where a single-color tone harkens you back to that game world? This can be a strength of the game where it’s creators really honed in on a game’s atmosphere and what feelings it wants to convey. The Resident Evil Remaster comes to mind. Most environments carry this muted beige or grey tone to the point where it’s a bit oppressive. It works for a game that wants you to slow down and dread turning down the next hallway. However, other games can come off as simply banal, making the visual experience rather regrettable. Fear not, because Elden Ring is by far one of the most visually diverse games I have ever witnessed. The breadth of color palettes on display throughout the Lands Between is THE reward for exploration. All the previous issues I vented about like finding crafting items or your 15th different warhammer are mitigated somewhat by the truly inspired visual design of these environments. The screenshots below do the game better justice than my words ever can.

Verdict

★★★★

As you can probably tell my feelings are very conflicted when it comes to Elden Ring. I think the resounding take away needs to be that Elden Ring is a monumental accomplishment which I recommend everyone plays. However, I have a few hang-ups that keeps it from being one of my favorite games or even surpassing Dark Souls. The inventory clutter and repetitively useless rewards for exploration were a thorn in the side of what is one of the best worlds to discover in gaming. The usual From Software approach to story and quests I think lost its mystique and became more of a hindrance with the larger overall scope. However, the standalone quality of cutscenes and character dialogue did not suffer, it was just lost in the shuffle. The variety of build options and enemies to challenge yourself against is an order of magnitude greater than anything AAA gaming has ever seen before. I recognize this as a great accomplish that also muddies the waters when it comes to rewarding exploration. For a new player, the first playthrough of Elden Ring can be an all-time great experience. Just don’t obsess over exploring every nook and cranny, be open to respecing your build multiple times, and maybe do better following the story than I did.