Elden Ring

[Elayis]

Okay I understand this. But the way I approach any kind of media is that motivation and “a reason to care“ is the default. When I’m watching or playing or reading anything the object that I’m having a dialogue with has to give me a reason not to care.

As for the emotional context, the emotionality from Souls games doesn’t come from the story, it comes from the aesthetic and the boss battles. There is no better emotional stimulation than beating a boss that I’ve been trying and trying to best and finally getting there

I guess I just approach media differently. I'm already giving a movie or game the benefit of the doubt by trying it in the first place, it's up to the creators to wow me in the first few minutes or I'll drop it. Besides the difficulty in FromSoft games (which I feel is kind of overblown), the lackluster storytelling was also why I never bothered to complete one before. The aesthetics and world building are top notch, but I don't much care about lore, I need characters to engage with and root for. The gameplay is interesting enough on its own to keep me engaged. At least Elden Ring was trying to tell something resembling a story, Bloodborne didn't even bother, and I have a feeling FromSoft's other titles will be more of the same. Start the game, get killed, go from site of grace/lamp killing bosses and then it ends. Rinse and repeat. I tried Sekiro a couple of years ago and that one seemed more narrative focused, but the parry system was also much harder for me and there seems to be less opportunities to cheese. At least I have that one on PC so I can mod it if I have to.

 

[B]

Lets goooooo!!!

Might have to dust off the old copy & finally finish it.. or restart a save from scratch

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

 

[Deck Rickard]

That trailer was INSANE. So, as many of us suspected, you enter the DLC via Miquella’s cocoon in Mohg’s boss room. It appears that the Land of Shadow is somewhere new (or perhaps a dreamworld) in which the entire area is covered in darkness (if you look closely, that ghostly tent that appears over the tree also appears in the sky in other shots). Miyazaki said that the new area for is the biggest that FromSoft has ever created for a DLC and is bigger than Limgrave by comparison. There are 10 new bosses to face.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Surprised there isn’t more buzz around the DLC here. I started a new playthrough recently to try things I hadn’t before (mainly Varre’s quest and the Frenzied Flame ending). I never realized that doing Varre’s quest gives you access to the Palace Approach Ledge Road rune farm super early. So if you’re new to Elden Ring and want to play most of the game on easy mode, definitely do that quest!

 

[psylockolussus]

I just watched a ten minute free roam video of this and damn, this game feels insane. I don't think I would last for 2 hours.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I just watched a ten minute free roam video of this and damn, this game feels insane. I don't think I would last for 2 hours.

You should give it a shot. Even if Soulsbourne games aren’t your thing, Elden Ring is a lot more accessible because you can go exploring and building up your character so that you can face tougher enemies. It’s not like other games in the genre where you just slam into a brick wall of a boss and have to “git gud” and beat them if you want to keep progressing.