One of my favourite (open) worlds, whilst also being one of my least favourite Souls games, whilst also being the most accessible, whilst also containing some of the most frustrating encounters in any of the From games I've played. Also probably the biggest case for me not sticking ratings on media anymore because my feelings cover pretty much every area of the enjoyment spectrum. I think Elden Ring might be the last game I play made by From Software.
I've tried and failed to finish Elden Ring roughly 3 times, my first playthrough near release ended about 10 hours in, if I remember correctly I was in a period of open world fatigue (dramatic, I know, but that's what it was) and found the ways the game obfuscates so much necessary information to be offputting. The next couple of times I started again, and got further than I did before, but ultimately got burnt out and decided it just wasn't for me due to the sheer length. I almost got burnt out this time as well, but I found just taking a day or two off when that feeling started to creep in helped me keep going. I felt more motivated to see it through to the end this time, purely because I just hadn't stopped thinking about existing in this game since I first started it in 2022. The Lands Between is 1000% my favourite part of all this. This world is (mostly) a joy to inhabit and exploring it was just as mesmerising even after multiple restarts. It's gorgeous, intriguing and it just never fails to suck me in for hours on end. I had the same sort of feeling while exploring Dark Souls III, albeit in a much more linear and closed container with that entry.
But, I do think I've had my fill of Souls/From games for the forseeable future. I fear their next open world Souls entry will be twice as long and twice as hard and I have just gotten slightly tired of it all. God, this game is so fucking long. I love the slow adoption of the Breath of the Wild-like open world where your curiosity is the motivator to get around it, but I would love to see it applied in some games that don't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Seriously, the last stretch of bosses in this, while visually insane and gorgeously animated, I found straight up unfair and just WAY above my patience and skill level. I Mimic Tear'd, I summoned other players, I grinded (ground?) to get overlevelled and still just kept getting my ass beat which kinda sucked a lot of the "epic" out of it. Elden Beast and Maliketh can straight up go to hell. Dicks.
Also not particularly a fan of just how much ER obfuscates it's quests. The map markers for NPCs definitely help (and I couldn't even fucking imagine trying to get through any of them at launch without them) but there were still so many times where NPCs would just disappear and I would never find them again (Blaidd, come back to me!). The story stuff I did end up doing didn't actually do all that much for me anyway though, the characters have strong personalities but the actual lore and storytelling I think is just too sporadically paced to really hook me.
I've run out of thoughts now, but I'm glad I finally finished this. Mostly because I think it was worth doing, but also because I'm glad it's finally over.
I've tried and failed to finish Elden Ring roughly 3 times, my first playthrough near release ended about 10 hours in, if I remember correctly I was in a period of open world fatigue (dramatic, I know, but that's what it was) and found the ways the game obfuscates so much necessary information to be offputting. The next couple of times I started again, and got further than I did before, but ultimately got burnt out and decided it just wasn't for me due to the sheer length. I almost got burnt out this time as well, but I found just taking a day or two off when that feeling started to creep in helped me keep going. I felt more motivated to see it through to the end this time, purely because I just hadn't stopped thinking about existing in this game since I first started it in 2022. The Lands Between is 1000% my favourite part of all this. This world is (mostly) a joy to inhabit and exploring it was just as mesmerising even after multiple restarts. It's gorgeous, intriguing and it just never fails to suck me in for hours on end. I had the same sort of feeling while exploring Dark Souls III, albeit in a much more linear and closed container with that entry.
But, I do think I've had my fill of Souls/From games for the forseeable future. I fear their next open world Souls entry will be twice as long and twice as hard and I have just gotten slightly tired of it all. God, this game is so fucking long. I love the slow adoption of the Breath of the Wild-like open world where your curiosity is the motivator to get around it, but I would love to see it applied in some games that don't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Seriously, the last stretch of bosses in this, while visually insane and gorgeously animated, I found straight up unfair and just WAY above my patience and skill level. I Mimic Tear'd, I summoned other players, I grinded (ground?) to get overlevelled and still just kept getting my ass beat which kinda sucked a lot of the "epic" out of it. Elden Beast and Maliketh can straight up go to hell. Dicks.
Also not particularly a fan of just how much ER obfuscates it's quests. The map markers for NPCs definitely help (and I couldn't even fucking imagine trying to get through any of them at launch without them) but there were still so many times where NPCs would just disappear and I would never find them again (Blaidd, come back to me!). The story stuff I did end up doing didn't actually do all that much for me anyway though, the characters have strong personalities but the actual lore and storytelling I think is just too sporadically paced to really hook me.
I've run out of thoughts now, but I'm glad I finally finished this. Mostly because I think it was worth doing, but also because I'm glad it's finally over.