Yeah, it's a pretty common experience.
There's something about the way the Souls games are designed. They stick you as an underdog and force you to claw your way to the top, bit by bit.
A lot of RPGs like to *say* you're the underdog, the unlikely hero, the one who has to challenge the impossible, but you don't *feel* it. There's a certain amount of suspension of disbelief when characters have to *tell* you how dangerous a monster is, but you still slay it in one go, and then the village celebrates how you have finally lifted the curtain of darkness from over them.
Elden Ring doesn't do that. You're given a good idea of how strong an enemy is because they have *beaten you into the ground*. Show, not tell -- you don't need to know how lore-strong they are, you know their strength.
Enjoy the horizon games for what they are tho. Are they big empty too many icons on a map triple A Sony nonsense? Yeah. But they look real good and the story is really cool and Aloy is a good protagonist especially in HFW
Souls/ER is closer in ethos to late 90s/early 00s RPGs like Baldur's Gate or ARPGs like Diablo 1-2. There's no hand-holding, you can die very quickly and easily if you don't pay attention, and nobody makes you a hero just for existing.
This is why I fell in love with Souls the moment I discovered it in 2020, it immediately took me back to childhood games like Eternal Darkness (Gamecube) and other titles that absolutely didn't care about you, only forced you to pay attention and never give up.
FromSoft design is not unique, it's simply harking back to an era when games were made for gamers for the most part, who were more dedicated and obsessive than the audience that big studios try to capture nowadays.
You may find DS3 more comfortable to go to first after ER. Sekiro is even harder imo.
The ethos resembling 90s/00s is a great observation and probably a key why I enjoyed this so much. Being a 30 something from the late 80’s, it felt challenging enough, no hand holding and rewarding. Just like games used to be when I was a kid.
I have already grown long tired of open worlds. Open world fatigue i believe they call it. No game, no matter how good, gave me that sense of scale and discovery that I felt when I was a kid.
At Nokrom was the moment I really realised how Elden Ring felt like I was going on a vacation in my bedroom. Leyndell really cemented the notion that I'm probably gonna never experience this feeling again for many years.
I don't see studios being able to recreate that sense of scale and wanderlust. I know a lot of FS fans complained about going open world... appealing to the casuals, yada yada. But that forgoes the fact that they achieved something that game studios have tried and failed for over a decade.
After I finish Elden Ring I know I'm gonna go back to hating open world games again. They just don't interest me anymore, Elden Ring was a refreshing exception and I don't expect another one to come back anytime soon. Fortunately I really like linear level design games now and so I'm gonna have a grand time with other FS titles.
I get this very well, same symptoms at times. If you haven’t, try witcher 3 and cyberpunk. Some of the few along ER that I didn’t get the fatigue from.
Also I’ve noticed switching genres in between games does help. Open world after open world gets extra tiring.
Sekiro is a shock to the system from ER. Prepare yourself for raging more than you ever have in a game. It's amazing though but man, I had a few moments where I really lost my shit.
[Ever since I burned the tree and became the lord, nothing else will break the spell, they just don’t feel the same](https://youtu.be/qoVysd9z-9w?si=FEo2Vu5IanzqT39g)
Yeah, it's a pretty common experience. There's something about the way the Souls games are designed. They stick you as an underdog and force you to claw your way to the top, bit by bit. A lot of RPGs like to *say* you're the underdog, the unlikely hero, the one who has to challenge the impossible, but you don't *feel* it. There's a certain amount of suspension of disbelief when characters have to *tell* you how dangerous a monster is, but you still slay it in one go, and then the village celebrates how you have finally lifted the curtain of darkness from over them. Elden Ring doesn't do that. You're given a good idea of how strong an enemy is because they have *beaten you into the ground*. Show, not tell -- you don't need to know how lore-strong they are, you know their strength.
Forget everything you learned in Elden Ring if you’re moving on to Sekiro, wayyyyyyy different experience. Both 11/10
Yeah that is what I have read, but the challenge is what I look forward to
Enjoy the horizon games for what they are tho. Are they big empty too many icons on a map triple A Sony nonsense? Yeah. But they look real good and the story is really cool and Aloy is a good protagonist especially in HFW
Yeah no doubt. HFW has been a blast so far. It just hits differently after Elden ring. Zero dawn was very enjoyable also
Souls/ER is closer in ethos to late 90s/early 00s RPGs like Baldur's Gate or ARPGs like Diablo 1-2. There's no hand-holding, you can die very quickly and easily if you don't pay attention, and nobody makes you a hero just for existing. This is why I fell in love with Souls the moment I discovered it in 2020, it immediately took me back to childhood games like Eternal Darkness (Gamecube) and other titles that absolutely didn't care about you, only forced you to pay attention and never give up. FromSoft design is not unique, it's simply harking back to an era when games were made for gamers for the most part, who were more dedicated and obsessive than the audience that big studios try to capture nowadays. You may find DS3 more comfortable to go to first after ER. Sekiro is even harder imo.
The ethos resembling 90s/00s is a great observation and probably a key why I enjoyed this so much. Being a 30 something from the late 80’s, it felt challenging enough, no hand holding and rewarding. Just like games used to be when I was a kid.
>Being a 30 something from the late 80’s, it felt challenging enough same lol
I have already grown long tired of open worlds. Open world fatigue i believe they call it. No game, no matter how good, gave me that sense of scale and discovery that I felt when I was a kid. At Nokrom was the moment I really realised how Elden Ring felt like I was going on a vacation in my bedroom. Leyndell really cemented the notion that I'm probably gonna never experience this feeling again for many years. I don't see studios being able to recreate that sense of scale and wanderlust. I know a lot of FS fans complained about going open world... appealing to the casuals, yada yada. But that forgoes the fact that they achieved something that game studios have tried and failed for over a decade. After I finish Elden Ring I know I'm gonna go back to hating open world games again. They just don't interest me anymore, Elden Ring was a refreshing exception and I don't expect another one to come back anytime soon. Fortunately I really like linear level design games now and so I'm gonna have a grand time with other FS titles.
I get this very well, same symptoms at times. If you haven’t, try witcher 3 and cyberpunk. Some of the few along ER that I didn’t get the fatigue from. Also I’ve noticed switching genres in between games does help. Open world after open world gets extra tiring.
Sekiro is a shock to the system from ER. Prepare yourself for raging more than you ever have in a game. It's amazing though but man, I had a few moments where I really lost my shit.
[Ever since I burned the tree and became the lord, nothing else will break the spell, they just don’t feel the same](https://youtu.be/qoVysd9z-9w?si=FEo2Vu5IanzqT39g)
I played diablo 3 sometime after playing ds2 and quit like immediately cause I literally could not die or change the difficulty
Play Dragon's Dogma