"first off, pickle, and then try sage" -a message on the ground, providing a delicious soup recipe
as some guy who likes exploring in video games and isn't satisfied until every square inch of the map has been scoured, this game is incredible and peak. everybody knows its strengths at this point, probably, but i am crawling over the finish line two years after the game came out so you'll have to give me some grace here. do you get it. grace like the. grace in game. haha
really though, it is actually absurd how many unique items, tidbits of storytelling, beautiful locations, and just adventures there are hidden away in mostly every nook and cranny of this world. there were multiple times i'd doubt my completionist's urge, thinking i had to be insane for attempting to check the most random spot for a path or dropped item, only to find that curiosity rewarded. and then they hide entire area entrances and bosses through illusory walls and off the sides of inconspicuous cliffs. of course. that's definitely where i'm most thankful for player messages (it's a strand-type game) since they can both tip you off towards those esoteric secrets and warn you when a long, annoying pathway in fact does not have anything hiding at its end.
the diversity of enemies and bosses is something i have to shout out to the void as well. i've seen some grumbling over bosses, enemies, assets etc being reused over time, but i feel like the variety here is honestly incredible with far more diversity than any open world game i've played before. if you told me there were like 100 enemy types in this game i'd believe you. every encounter brings a new arena, new mixes of combatants, and oftentimes some cool lore or environmental storytelling to go along with it. even in those cases where bosses graduate from "big encounter" to "just another enemy" it still feels interesting - like this beastman dude is pretty interesting, wonder what "farum azula" is. then you get to farum azula and there's a ton of him and it makes sense that he's not special there, he's just some dude, some beastman of farum azula. there's absolutely nothing like the capra demon spam of the dark souls endgame, or the undead dragon spam on that wondrous note.
i feel like you could get a phD in the weapons, weapon skills, sorceries/incantations, all the craftables, the weird niche interactions between enemies, it's all so much that it makes me want to do multiple new game cycles just to understand and appreciate it all. not to mention fashion souls, which of course returns. all of this freeform collecting and character building leaves the difficulty curve feeling totally adjustable. i for one marked most of the runebears on my map for later, because screw those guys until i'm overleveled. my only real complaints off the top of my head: what the hell is the fall damage, and we need new rats
perfect timing for shadow of the erdtree, just need to get my ten hours of youtube lore video studying in. now we can devour the gods togethaaa
as some guy who likes exploring in video games and isn't satisfied until every square inch of the map has been scoured, this game is incredible and peak. everybody knows its strengths at this point, probably, but i am crawling over the finish line two years after the game came out so you'll have to give me some grace here. do you get it. grace like the. grace in game. haha
really though, it is actually absurd how many unique items, tidbits of storytelling, beautiful locations, and just adventures there are hidden away in mostly every nook and cranny of this world. there were multiple times i'd doubt my completionist's urge, thinking i had to be insane for attempting to check the most random spot for a path or dropped item, only to find that curiosity rewarded. and then they hide entire area entrances and bosses through illusory walls and off the sides of inconspicuous cliffs. of course. that's definitely where i'm most thankful for player messages (it's a strand-type game) since they can both tip you off towards those esoteric secrets and warn you when a long, annoying pathway in fact does not have anything hiding at its end.
the diversity of enemies and bosses is something i have to shout out to the void as well. i've seen some grumbling over bosses, enemies, assets etc being reused over time, but i feel like the variety here is honestly incredible with far more diversity than any open world game i've played before. if you told me there were like 100 enemy types in this game i'd believe you. every encounter brings a new arena, new mixes of combatants, and oftentimes some cool lore or environmental storytelling to go along with it. even in those cases where bosses graduate from "big encounter" to "just another enemy" it still feels interesting - like this beastman dude is pretty interesting, wonder what "farum azula" is. then you get to farum azula and there's a ton of him and it makes sense that he's not special there, he's just some dude, some beastman of farum azula. there's absolutely nothing like the capra demon spam of the dark souls endgame, or the undead dragon spam on that wondrous note.
i feel like you could get a phD in the weapons, weapon skills, sorceries/incantations, all the craftables, the weird niche interactions between enemies, it's all so much that it makes me want to do multiple new game cycles just to understand and appreciate it all. not to mention fashion souls, which of course returns. all of this freeform collecting and character building leaves the difficulty curve feeling totally adjustable. i for one marked most of the runebears on my map for later, because screw those guys until i'm overleveled. my only real complaints off the top of my head: what the hell is the fall damage, and we need new rats
perfect timing for shadow of the erdtree, just need to get my ten hours of youtube lore video studying in. now we can devour the gods togethaaa