Wistful
BACKER
Elden Ring 2022
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
135h 0m
Days in Journal
24 days
Last played
March 24, 2022
First played
February 25, 2022
Platforms Played
Library Ownership
After 135 hours and the credits roll, I can confidently say that not only is Elden Ring one of the greatest video games ever made, but easily one of my personal favorite video game experiences of all time, one that I will never forget, one that rivals if not surpasses Breath of the Wild for me and so much more, which I never expected.
Perhaps I should have though, as this is the quality that FROM seems to be able to output without fail, managing to continuously one-up themselves.
I would like to talk a bit about what I like to call FROM's 'mastery of subtlety' and how it translates flawlessly to the open world format, creating the best open world experience out there. Elden Ring, as with all Soulsborne-style games, does not hold your hand. This is no revelation, but analyzing how this development philosophy impacts one's experience reveals just how deeply important it is to the extremely successful formula that FROM has.
Elden Ring allows you to simply play a phenomenal video game at it's core without nearly any interruption, linearity, guidance, or rigidity of any sort. Elden Ring, and the Souls formula by extent in a way is the real version of the "every copy is personalized" Mario 64 urban legend in that every individual is going to have a varied, often wildly different experience from another. It is open world AND RPG done right, together.
The myriad of entirely unique build options, the ways you can approach a boss fight, the order in which you can visit different areas, the items you use, the Physick you mix, the quests you choose to follow, all without any indications of what 'should' be done, truly make your playthrough of Elden Ring feel like your game, your experience and your experience alone.
This all is supported by the fact that Elden Ring's open world I believe to be the best ever made. The variety of encounters and enemies/bosses in the world is unbelievable; there are very few stretches at any point where you would NOT find something, and more importantly, something valuable.
My typical playstyle in an open world game is one of weaving back and forth in one area, trying to leave no stone unturned before 'moving on' to the next. Often I feel somewhat silly doing this, as most games have little to offer other than visual differences, but I felt as though Elden Ring rewarded my meticulous exploring, and thus respected my time, more than any other game I have played in my life. So many times did I go back to some spot on the map that seemed strangely empty, or went left instead of right "just to check," and ended up finding an entirely new dungeon or valuable weapon or NPC with an entire questline or a boss or some Eldritch abomination.
The sheer variety of different "things" there are, from dungeons to ruins to NPCs to items to Sorcerer Rises to mini-bosses to Minor Erdtrees, is just the best I have ever seen. This, in-combination with the lack of an obnoxious quest-log or waypoints or linear paths, instead subtlety leads you where to go through obvious visual cues of "that looks huge I should probably go there." This is what makes Elden Ring's open world so near-perfect and the greatest ever made.
This open world experience would not have been as enjoyable either if it weren't for the game's gritty, beautiful, and mesmerizing dark fantasy aesthetic, which it nails in EVERY single one of the game's different environments. There was not a moment of Elden Ring, apart from some of the write-off minor dungeons, that I thought an area was bland or ugly or visually uninteresting. Even the game's early areas, Limgrave and Liurnia, are drop-dread gorgeous, and I loved taking my time through their every nook and cranny. There is one area in particular that I have concluded is one of my favorite all time areas in video game history (Leyndell), and several others that I couldn't get enough of. Every single unique location in this game is a sight to behold, often full of pieces of horror and suffering that perfectly contrast the melancholic beauty present in the bigger picture.
There is still a lot more I could say about this game, but for now I will leave it at this. Elden Ring is something truly special and is an experience that few games in the past for me have rivaled. It is a game that lived up to expectations and then some, shattering the ceiling of what we have come to expect in open world RPG games, taking a formula of subtlety that FROM has crafted from Soulsborne games and letting it soar.
The beauty of Elden Ring lies in setting you in an all-time great world and letting you play to your heart's content, letting you experience a masterful piece of art without fluff or filler. It allows you, in whatever way you like, to play a video game; one with a seemingly endless amount of content that rarely wavers in the pinnacle of quality that FROM has long established themselves as one of the only distributors of.
Perhaps I should have though, as this is the quality that FROM seems to be able to output without fail, managing to continuously one-up themselves.
I would like to talk a bit about what I like to call FROM's 'mastery of subtlety' and how it translates flawlessly to the open world format, creating the best open world experience out there. Elden Ring, as with all Soulsborne-style games, does not hold your hand. This is no revelation, but analyzing how this development philosophy impacts one's experience reveals just how deeply important it is to the extremely successful formula that FROM has.
Elden Ring allows you to simply play a phenomenal video game at it's core without nearly any interruption, linearity, guidance, or rigidity of any sort. Elden Ring, and the Souls formula by extent in a way is the real version of the "every copy is personalized" Mario 64 urban legend in that every individual is going to have a varied, often wildly different experience from another. It is open world AND RPG done right, together.
The myriad of entirely unique build options, the ways you can approach a boss fight, the order in which you can visit different areas, the items you use, the Physick you mix, the quests you choose to follow, all without any indications of what 'should' be done, truly make your playthrough of Elden Ring feel like your game, your experience and your experience alone.
This all is supported by the fact that Elden Ring's open world I believe to be the best ever made. The variety of encounters and enemies/bosses in the world is unbelievable; there are very few stretches at any point where you would NOT find something, and more importantly, something valuable.
My typical playstyle in an open world game is one of weaving back and forth in one area, trying to leave no stone unturned before 'moving on' to the next. Often I feel somewhat silly doing this, as most games have little to offer other than visual differences, but I felt as though Elden Ring rewarded my meticulous exploring, and thus respected my time, more than any other game I have played in my life. So many times did I go back to some spot on the map that seemed strangely empty, or went left instead of right "just to check," and ended up finding an entirely new dungeon or valuable weapon or NPC with an entire questline or a boss or some Eldritch abomination.
The sheer variety of different "things" there are, from dungeons to ruins to NPCs to items to Sorcerer Rises to mini-bosses to Minor Erdtrees, is just the best I have ever seen. This, in-combination with the lack of an obnoxious quest-log or waypoints or linear paths, instead subtlety leads you where to go through obvious visual cues of "that looks huge I should probably go there." This is what makes Elden Ring's open world so near-perfect and the greatest ever made.
This open world experience would not have been as enjoyable either if it weren't for the game's gritty, beautiful, and mesmerizing dark fantasy aesthetic, which it nails in EVERY single one of the game's different environments. There was not a moment of Elden Ring, apart from some of the write-off minor dungeons, that I thought an area was bland or ugly or visually uninteresting. Even the game's early areas, Limgrave and Liurnia, are drop-dread gorgeous, and I loved taking my time through their every nook and cranny. There is one area in particular that I have concluded is one of my favorite all time areas in video game history (Leyndell), and several others that I couldn't get enough of. Every single unique location in this game is a sight to behold, often full of pieces of horror and suffering that perfectly contrast the melancholic beauty present in the bigger picture.
There is still a lot more I could say about this game, but for now I will leave it at this. Elden Ring is something truly special and is an experience that few games in the past for me have rivaled. It is a game that lived up to expectations and then some, shattering the ceiling of what we have come to expect in open world RPG games, taking a formula of subtlety that FROM has crafted from Soulsborne games and letting it soar.
The beauty of Elden Ring lies in setting you in an all-time great world and letting you play to your heart's content, letting you experience a masterful piece of art without fluff or filler. It allows you, in whatever way you like, to play a video game; one with a seemingly endless amount of content that rarely wavers in the pinnacle of quality that FROM has long established themselves as one of the only distributors of.