I played Elden Ring until 10am and still enjoy the game. The purpose of this article is to share with you my thoughts on the appeal of Souls games and why they aren't really for me, except that they've gotten too slow for them.
Did you enjoy getting naked in World of Warcraft? Do you skip the first few raid boss attempts, then learn the "dance", the correct moves and responses that allow you to defeat that boss until your guild finally manages to defeat it? Elden Ring is the single player version.
There are plenty of games these days, especially in the mobile space, that shower you with rewards for lots of trivial tasks. Some people like it, some don't. It should be rewarded when you actually accomplish something! But how do you know if you've really accomplished something worthwhile? Well, if you have repeatedly failed at a task, that task must be difficult. And so I find it very rewarding and gratifying to finally complete this task.
Only, of course, all of this is done as rewards in mobile games. Elden Ring is full of surprises that you couldn't find and that will most likely kill you. The base is even bigger, as they tend to have opening moves that you learn to outplay, only to be surprised when the boss does a completely different sudden move after he's only half healthy and you kill again. You have to learn the entire boss "dance" through various mistakes in order to defeat him. And it will be very good for many people.
But not for me. I already hated the "dancing" of WoW raids. I definitely don't want a solo version of this. But I kept playing WoW long after I stopped poaching because there are so many other things to do in this game Elden Ring with the ability to trigger cheats is very similar. Without cheating, I might get stuck at some point or be unable to do or accomplish certain things. Cheats allow me to dodge bosses and pretend I beat them.
Please note: I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to, I could defeat the boss from the first story, Margit , without using any cheats. To some extent, you can overcome Elden Ring's lack of reaction speed by going for more levels and better equipment. So if I wanted to, I could play until I felt really strong, and then Margit would try it. It will take me a few tries, but on the condition that you spend all your runes before you lose anything to death. This way I was able to "learn the dance" in X unsuccessful attempts and finally succeeded. I have absolutely no desire to do so. Overcoming difficulties is of no use to me if the "challenge" is simply pressing the buttons in the right order and at the right time. Of course, your mileage may vary. Since there is a way to bypass the first boss and gain access to other areas of the Elden Ring without knocking him out, it's possible he could get strong enough before trying. And then you will probably be able to complete this task, even if it is a bit slow. The question is, do you want to? Is that what you like? Or find, fail, fail, fail again until you succeed at some not-so-fun game mechanic?
