Excellent article- not so fond of the game
Mr. Currie's article here is well written and helpful. It doesn't 'gush' over the game quite so much as the usual Elden Ring critical piece, and gives some actual useful information for a newcomer to the "Soulslike" genre.
Elden Ring is a beautiful, well-crafted game. My problem with Elden Ring and Soulslike games in general is quite simply the so-called 'difficulty'. These games aren't really that difficult: every monster has a learnable pattern and counters. But perfecting the timing of those patterns and counters is frustrating and patently unenjoyable for me. Even the low-level 'yard trash' mobs can still kill you easily if you miss-time something or forget their particular move sequence. This makes even 'grinding' for runes into a chore.
I spent over 30 hours on the game, got to about level 30, and still couldn't beat the first real boss, Margit. Through multiple tries I could get him down to about 30% health before a simple, tiny mistake would result in death. Although I'm sure the 'win' would be satisfying, all the wasted time to get there isn't 'fun' for me.
Games are, for me, escapism. I'm looking for a story to get engrossed in, NPCs who actually have background and interests to engage with, and a sense of being a 'motivator' to those stories. I like some combat challenges, but dying over and over and over again even to yard trash isn't really a 'challenge': it is developing a particular game-specific skillset that I really don't want or need.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
