We’ve recently got back into Elden Ring which we’ll maybe get to again this weekend. We’ve recently finished the Abyssal Woods with its boss at the end (really cool fight, first time I’ve managed an entire fight with parries) and are now exploring this green, verdant, lush, and jungle-like area in the top-left corner of the DLC’s map (don’t remember the name).

Apart from that, I kept playing Monster Hunter Rise for a while this week and gave the lance a try for the first time in probably 15 years of my playing Monster Hunter, and I must say: it’s a lot of fun. Felt a little nostalgic today, so I downloaded PPSSPP and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and started a new character. It’s a lot different than I remembered it, and yet it felt a lot like visiting an old friend you’ve not seen for years.

Also transferred my old save data from the PSP:

Considering I had played the game for so long, I barely accomplished anything in it lol. A bunch of random armours and weapons, 0 actual builds with useful skills and whatnot. Simpler times 🤧

I’m not sure if I’ve made a post about this before but here goes. ER has had an enormous impact on the genre, the overall visibility of it, and pushed the boundaries of what a soulslike can look like nowadays. Between the liberty of the open world, the variety of possible builds as well as the very deep lore, there’s a lot to like about the game and for a good reason.

How much do you feel like ER will impact soulslikes to come? I’ve not felt a noticeable impact yet, but most soulslikes I’ve played either were in development only shortly after, I assume, or before ER dropped. I haven’t checked out newer ones outside Khazan or Lies of P yet. Have you felt a different in design yet? Because I feel like ER could very well be as, or close to, influential as Dark Souls was back when it came out.

  • M.int@lemmy.zip
    1·
    22 hours ago

    Elden Ring was such a critical and commercial success that, yes, this is going to be a massive influence on future Souls and Soulslikes games (and other games).

    What are those influences going to be? That’s a really interesting question. Here are my hopes:

    • Open World/Interconnectedness: That you can simply go almost anywhere you want is such a big selling point of ER. Go high up, pick a point in the distance, and just go there. The other thing that this brings is the non-linear access to things. Every playthrough can be different. You can beeline to something for your build specifically. The lesson other games take from this doesn’t strictly have to be an expensive open world. You can achieve interconnectedness in many ways. For example, you could make more classic dungeons and simply make many different connections between them.
    • Verticality (aka Jumping is fun): This has been missing for me when I’m playing other Souls(likes). Jumping in a fight is just such a fun movement option; you can dodge and then punish or gain more distance and so much more. But this also brings so much for environmental design in the dungeons and makes them far more fun to traverse.
    • Expansive RPG mechanics/Build variety: Elden Ring has just so many unique options, which combine beautifully with each other and give so many different build opportunities. This point also combines perfectly with the first point since each build gives you a different reason to go to a different place in the game and experience the game in a different way.

    I’m finishing up my first randomizer run of Elden Ring this weekend. It was lots of fun :) The toughest fight was in Messmer’s arena: first phase Gaius and second phase Midra.

    For my second run I’m going to change some options in the enemy randomizer. I found it boring that Bosses only randomized in their category (Night Bosses only with Night Bosses etc.). I’m also doing my second playthrough at RL1; I’m not sure if I will even be able to complete it – it’s going to be heavily dependent on the seed – but it’s going to be boatloads of fun.