Haven’t played Elden Ring, but I hate when games establish some way to play in the tutorial and when you watch some guides they first tell you to ignore what the game taught you.
Star Wars Squadrons was such an offender. Star Craft kind of is because singleplayer balancing is different from multiplayer. Can’t think of more now but I have a feeling like that’s the case with many games.
So, great that Elden Ring wants to tackle that. Ideally a game should teach you the ideal way to play.
Arguably the first Dark Souls is one of these. Most of the classes push you towards shields as the cornerstone of defense. The studio felt like this overemphasis on shields was such a mistake they took 2 whole games (Bloodborne and Sekiro) in an almost entirely shield-free direction to teach players there were other ways.
Pyromancy (and magic in general) were also undervalued in DS1 initially due to how the game presents them. People eventually figured out that Pyro is so OP you don’t even need to use leveling with it to have an easy time.
Arguably the first Dark Souls is one of these. Most of the classes push you towards shields as the cornerstone of defense. The studio felt like this overemphasis on shields was such a mistake they took 2 whole games (Bloodborne and Sekiro) in an almost entirely shield-free direction to teach players there were other ways.
That’s more the studio changing design philosophy rather than the game giving poor hints, I would argue. Shields are very viable through all of DS1.
Elden Ring’s tutorial consists of a single little cave that merely tells you all the basics of the game (how to move, your basic attack buttons, dodging, blocking, parrying, backstabs, sneaking, posture breaking and guard breaks) and then gives you an emote to perform as if to say “have fun” on your way out. The best part, to me coming from previous From games, is that you can skip it. It’s just off to the right from where you start the game proper and if you don’t want that emote, you can just go off to play the game. All the other games have a forced tutorial section (you can still sprint through it though).
The game is amazing. It was easily GOTY for me when I got it and I dumped around 300 hours into it. That said, there are a lot of players out there that really deserve to enjoy it, but it’s insanely tough and not ideal for some people, especially if you’re someone that plays mostly for the story. So I appreciate that the ER devs are thinking about this to some degree.
I feel like aside from full-on accessibility settings for those who need them (which absolutely should be implemented and the FromSoft devs don’t get a pass on this), they could do something as simple as a 2% speed, health, & damage nerf to all their enemies and it could be enough for most newcomers that have paid for the game, but didn’t get anything out of it. Like me. There are probably a huge amount of people that bought the game because of glowing “this is GOTY” reviews and couldn’t get past even Margit.
There’s old guys like me too that don’t have the reflexes the younger gens do lmao. I had to get help from other players on a few occasions.
One of the worst arguments I had online was about “what is accessibility? How does it fit into multiplayer?”
Is increasing the parry window accessibility? Should you be able to change yours in a competitive match?
Is changing health levels an accessibility option? Should you be able to change that in multiplayer?
My opposite number said they should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want, and if that means spoiling the game for an invader or cooperator well that’s their problem.
I’m sure most people have a more nuanced take.
Definitely the weakest link in the fromsoft chain for me.
The open world is a downgrade and just spreads out the interesting parts instead of enhancing the exploration. Lots of padding with repeated bosses and dungeons as well.
Quality over quantity please.
