I didn't want to start a thread for this question, so I figure I'll just pop into this thread and see if a side bar discussion is possible.
This is kind of inflammatory I think, given the nature of this fanbase, but brace yourselves:
Why do FROM fan make so many excuses for this developer? Poor controls, terrible button layout, generation spanning performance issues, and very little experimentation or iteration...so why is this developer immune to criticisms that absolutely level other studios?
Most recently with Elden Ring, it seems like From has their head so far up their own asses that it works to the detriment of their games. Instead of asking themselves questions, it feels like they just charged forward with whatever they put on paper or had in their head.
So why are all of these shortcomings overlooked and excused?
First up, the controls are central to what I like about the game, and I think a lot of players will agree. You list button layout and controls separately and both the way the controls work with animation priority giving everything a heavy real-time-strategy feeling and the button layout where my left hand controls the character's left side and the right hand the right side are a deep part of the appeal. It's not making excuses, I genuinely love the way the game controls... and the only thing I don't like I have criticized in this very thread (the way two handing works in this game vs the previous ones is pretty awkward so I don't swap between one and two handing as often as I'd like to.)
The performance issues suck and most of us agree it would be nice if they could get their shit together on that front but there's not much reason to derail the OT talking about it when there are separate threads for it and since many of us are playing the PS4 version on PS5 where it has 60 fps consistently the whole way through the game.
Iteration? If anything I wish they had iterated less from Dark Souls 1 in 2 and 3. Each game they've made in the last 13 years is a distinct flavor of the kind of game they've invented. When you make a game as influential and well loved as Demon's Souls, you're allowed to make 7 games in that style that each do something different with the formula. If anything, people *hated* DS2 at launch for changing too many things. Sekiro is a complete inversion of Souls, Bloodborne took away our shields, Elden Ring adds Guard Counters, Jumping, Ash Summons, Ash of War system, paintings, and an Open World (and a bunch of other new stuff...)
As to what you mean in the last thing, I've played 170 hours and have enjoyed everything except how much health the Fire Giant has. Maybe these games aren't for you or aren't fully to your taste, and that's fine, but I'm certainly not "giving them a pass" or anything when they are making pretty much exactly the game I want them to make? I've got to sit with it a bit and beat it a few more times but Elden Ring is easily in my top 3 favorite games of all time.
