-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Which was the better open world game: Elden Ring or Breath of the Wild?
- Thread starter Rurouni
- Start date
I gotta go with Elden Ring simply because it's much more dense and varied though It's pretty close. I love both of those worlds.
Elden Ring has a stronger start but ultimately I prefer Zelda. Elden Ring is miles ahead of Zelda when it comes to reward variety whereas Zelda is miles ahead of ER when it comes to variety of moment to moment activities. Both are important when you are constructing a game so large.
Last edited:
As much as I'm loving Elden Ring, I'd love a handful of towns here or there like in BOTW. A little place to chill and interact with people who have a little slice of safety in an otherwise insane world.
I fell ya, completing Leyndell was about the point I really cemented that I like the game most when it's pretending to be Dark Souls 4 (legacy dungeons), and had zero excitement to spend time in any of the open world.
Same. Looking back over the game, my favourite areas were the legacy dungeons and the more closed zones (underground areas and whatnot without being too spoilerish). Roaming around in the real world was fun for sure, but at a certain point it got a little stale for me and I was ready to focus on the meat of the game.
Unfortunately it's pretty accurate. BoTW is known to lack meaningful progression
There are like 6 tracks of progression in BoTW:
-Health and Stamina, from shrines which are mostly puzzles with the rare combat shrine.
-Weapon stock size, from korok seeds
-Armor, generally just simple stat boosts (speed, Zorah armor, and disguises are the only truly unique ones)
-Abilities, with one stat increase (extra life), one traversal ability, two combat boosts (Charge and Blocking boosts)
-Powers, a few upgrades
-Everything else like Questlines
Technically there is progression in gear where over time you fight stronger enemies who have stronger weapons, but this is passive and isn't really a factor of exploring.
All in all, the most unique and non-stat related progression comes in the forms of quest lines and traversal improvements. People aren't saying there's no progression, just so little of it that feels worthwhile. When you go around a corner, you aren't expecting to find a new item that has unique value or some new moveset to use. You're expecting a korok seed, maybe a shrine, and if you're lucky a questline.
Too many rewards come in the form of stat increases or money/supplies, and lacks something that pushes you to explore more for more. The world invitees you to explore, but it only does so in nature; there's very little to offer most of the time. They give you such a vast toolbox at the start but make little effort to give you new experiences, only periodically dangling neat upgrades like being able to make a windshaft, swim up waterfalls, or track down ingredients more easily.
It's just a known issue of breath of the wild and is one of the most asked for things to change in BoTW2. For the record, I have no stake nor care for this topic overall. People just aren't enthralled by having 1.5s more time to sprint , another bow slot, an extra heart, or 100 rupees.
Yes I did. Only 30 odd hours to be fair. I was being reductive, in the same way that claiming everything in Elden Ring leads to combat is.
Even the older Zelda games felt like this tbh. Heart Pieces, unlockable super potions and stronger swords felt regressive in a game that was already fairly easy. The differences is that now the game is absolutely massive so if you really feel that kind of anti-reward aspect it sucks more because you spent more hours on it.
Wow, BigGorons Sword is sick! *kills the last boss in 2 seconds* oh.
Wow, Fierce Deity is cool! *makes the rest of the game a joke* oh....
Last edited:
Some of us play the game cause it's fun and not trying to make a career out of it.
Elden Rings open world is relatively simple. The possibilities for traversal are limited and the world feels very "level" like. Jumping around to climbing some rocks feels and looks very last-last gen. All traversal animations looks very basic. And there is nothing to do besides killing monsters. BotW world is far more complex. No climbing in Elden Rings big world feels disappointing. The world "resets" far to often. It plays and feels more like a mmo world than a single player game world.
BotWs open world is a whole other story. It feels more real, the traversal is much better (even so the horse is to slow to summon). All the game mechanics and traversal mechanics work always as expected, there is much more thought put into the world.
Both are good games, but Elden Rings world is far away from BotW highly technical complex world and travel mechanics.
BotWs open world is a whole other story. It feels more real, the traversal is much better (even so the horse is to slow to summon). All the game mechanics and traversal mechanics work always as expected, there is much more thought put into the world.
Both are good games, but Elden Rings world is far away from BotW highly technical complex world and travel mechanics.
they are pretty much the same
the only difference is that the shrines have a "theme" in elder ring
the uniqueness of the rewards didnt mattered to me that much at the end for me, because i really didnt used them.
maybe thats on me for finding what i like and focusing on that.
(something that botw actually tried to avoid with the breakable weapons)
the only difference is that the shrines have a "theme" in elder ring
the uniqueness of the rewards didnt mattered to me that much at the end for me, because i really didnt used them.
maybe thats on me for finding what i like and focusing on that.
(something that botw actually tried to avoid with the breakable weapons)
I had more fun exploring BOTW's open world but what he said is entirely true and can definitely impact someone's enjoyment. You cannot deny that reward can be tied to the satisfaction of exploration, and Elden Ring definitely is excellent at the quantity of varied and satisfying rewards that you get exploring its world, a lot more than BOTW.
This is exactly how I feel. I loved Elden Ring and BotW and I really don't see a whole lot that's similar to them beyond the surface level
Me too! That doesn't make it less of known issue. It doesn't mean everyone finds it to be a problem. It's simply one of the most complained about things. I personally solved it by deciding to cook every food in the game once, which turned simple items like a banana into crucial progression pieces. I didn't even know recipes, only names, so I had to actively waste materials trying to get the right recipe.
I'm also really all about intrinsic rewards so I don't need a direct reward all the time, fun is fun in the end for me. But many people need some tidbit, some morsel, even if infrequent. It's just almost entirely absent in BoTW. This is because part of the fun is finding new things by exploring; without new things, you're exploring for little purpose beyond seeing what there is to see. Which is great! But having rewards doesn't stop you from seeing what there is to see, luckily.
Remember, I responded to you suggesting some poster hadn't played the game. The answer is that they are not you, they do not have the same motivations, and do not have the same conclusions. I promise you the people who have played and replayed the game the most are those most knowledgeable on the flaws of the game, and the lack of progression is a commonly noted flaw.
Last edited:
It's the same. Both games give you various things. Armour, weapon, items etc. Just because someone doesn't value an orb or weapon or rupee in BotW doesn't mean it's handled poorly. I can make the same argument for ER which is worse actually cause half the reward gear is unusable by my current spec.
Hello, it was me you replied to in the first instance claiming I hadn't played BOTW.
Please check the comment I responded to in the first place, and subsequent discussion. This is getting very circular! Likely was before I said anything really.
Running through a hero's grave for half an hour, memorizing how to get through the chariots, only for the rewards to be a talisman I'll never use and spirit ashes that'll never be as good as the mimic I already have was the opposite of satisfying exploration.
I'll take a generic seed, spirit orb, and weapon that'll break, plus the intrinsic satisfaction of discovering a well thought out puzzle.
Getting upgrades in Zelda games tends makes an easy game even easier, and its always sucked even when I was like 13. It was bad in early games, and waaaay worse now in BOTW that the balance is done around being able to go in any direction thus the enemy scaling feels more like its just enemies and their weapon drops getting flat stat increases. Its not rewarding because its designed to be an all purpose endless cycle rather than anything necessary or planned.
The other thing is that pre-botw Zelda tended to have a constant influx of new enemies, tools and scaling complexity, all themed around the dungeon or area they're found in. You can call it basic if you want, but it still had some sense of progression. Beating the 4 beasts in BOTW had the function of making the final boss easier before throwing you into what felt like the most effortless spectacle boss of the series. That was a sinking feeling.
Obviously this isn't the case for everyone due to the variable nature and preferences, but I really felt like the freedom came at the cost of a well directed difficulty and complexity curve.
Last edited:
I'm about 70 hours in and not tired of the exploration in Elden Ring. I guess this is a win, usually somewhere before that I get tired of Open worlds and BotW was not an exception. But I really have to say that aside from the map with it's placeable markers I don't think there's much inspiration from BotW in Elden Ring at all. It really feels like an iteration on the previous more open areas that the Souls series had.
And it does it really well. Aside from some of the b-tier content like crypts and some caves all the areas are really distinct from each other.
My biggest complaints so far are, that the difficulty is kinda busted. Too many enemies (and especially optional bosses) have way too little health. My inventory is full of upgrade materials, flask upgrades but I'm not seeing any reason to upgrade yet.. the game would have profited from a little more restriction where you can go first - alternatively enemies with higher stats in some zones, where it's clear you should go there later.
World interactivity is also a bit low. Please no physics system like BotW but there should be just more interactable things all over the place. I miss kickable shortcut tees like in DS2, or water interacting with torches. Also I do think the Souls series should do more puzzle like interaction with their environments. DS2 again did this really well in it's first DLC and also a bit in the other 2.
I also really dislike the teleporters. Feels just like spoiling later areas. I'm, sure it will be practical for runs in the future, but there should be some condition or key item for using them.
Regarding rewards vs BotW.. eh I think both systems have their pro&con. Souls always gives you tons of stuff you never have a use for, because it doesn't fit your build. The upside is later with other playthroughs, where your entire way of going through the game starts to be guided which items you want to grab first. My second run will most likely be some sorcerer build and the playthrough will look very different.
I never really disliked BotW's rewards but... there is just not that much unique stuff. Most of the time I'm not even paying attention what I get unless it's a new armor piece. Pro is most of the time everything you find is at least useful.
Not much unique stuff is generally a problem in BotW... I don't think I've seen anything new in some hours of playtime. No new enemies, shrines that do something different (actually I've found a labyrinth recently but tbh... labyrinths aren't exactly all that amazing). Some of the korok seed "puzzles" are at this point annoying. I have seen too many stone circles with one missing stone, or these wells with the chained ball or the block puzzles, where you have to copy the form.
Content wise it's really as formulaic as some Ubisoft OW's, but it feels alot better because it's not telling you where all these samey interaction spots are. The occasional unique thing also helps a lot.
Also I don't think I would've been that positive for Elden Ring if it hadn't the legacy dungeons. Same for BotW, I think I would like the game much more if it hadn't ripped this core part of Zelda out. I have not kept up with news around BotW2 but I hope classic dungeons (+ maybe gadgets) make a return.
And it does it really well. Aside from some of the b-tier content like crypts and some caves all the areas are really distinct from each other.
My biggest complaints so far are, that the difficulty is kinda busted. Too many enemies (and especially optional bosses) have way too little health. My inventory is full of upgrade materials, flask upgrades but I'm not seeing any reason to upgrade yet.. the game would have profited from a little more restriction where you can go first - alternatively enemies with higher stats in some zones, where it's clear you should go there later.
World interactivity is also a bit low. Please no physics system like BotW but there should be just more interactable things all over the place. I miss kickable shortcut tees like in DS2, or water interacting with torches. Also I do think the Souls series should do more puzzle like interaction with their environments. DS2 again did this really well in it's first DLC and also a bit in the other 2.
I also really dislike the teleporters. Feels just like spoiling later areas. I'm, sure it will be practical for runs in the future, but there should be some condition or key item for using them.
Regarding rewards vs BotW.. eh I think both systems have their pro&con. Souls always gives you tons of stuff you never have a use for, because it doesn't fit your build. The upside is later with other playthroughs, where your entire way of going through the game starts to be guided which items you want to grab first. My second run will most likely be some sorcerer build and the playthrough will look very different.
I never really disliked BotW's rewards but... there is just not that much unique stuff. Most of the time I'm not even paying attention what I get unless it's a new armor piece. Pro is most of the time everything you find is at least useful.
Not much unique stuff is generally a problem in BotW... I don't think I've seen anything new in some hours of playtime. No new enemies, shrines that do something different (actually I've found a labyrinth recently but tbh... labyrinths aren't exactly all that amazing). Some of the korok seed "puzzles" are at this point annoying. I have seen too many stone circles with one missing stone, or these wells with the chained ball or the block puzzles, where you have to copy the form.
Content wise it's really as formulaic as some Ubisoft OW's, but it feels alot better because it's not telling you where all these samey interaction spots are. The occasional unique thing also helps a lot.
Also I don't think I would've been that positive for Elden Ring if it hadn't the legacy dungeons. Same for BotW, I think I would like the game much more if it hadn't ripped this core part of Zelda out. I have not kept up with news around BotW2 but I hope classic dungeons (+ maybe gadgets) make a return.
Last edited:
That's perfectly fair. Personally I just find the rewards of Elden Ring more interesting because they're adding a unique gameplay element, even if mild or something that I won't necessarily use, rather than the same breakable weapon. Still loved traversing BOTW's world more but I think they can definitely improve a bit the rewards in the second game, and I can't wait to see what they did.
I just did the hero's grave and you also get some some upgrade materials, at least one new weapon, and a couple complete armor sets from that dungeon as you go through it, so it's not just the boss rewards. I also thought there was some intrinsic rewards in figuring it out how to get past the chariots & past the lava, as well as a couple tough fights. Also, I figured out that you can permanently kill regenerating undead there if they get damaged while they're already down (which you can do if you kill them while they're on lava or if the chariot runs them over again). All in all, I thought it was one of the better extra mini-dungeons in the game that I've seen so far.
I also don't know about everyone else, but I've already respeced my character in Elden Ring twice to take advantage of gear & spells I've been getting that I wanted to use. The respec item is pretty common in some areas of the world.
Elden Ring certainly has higher highs, but it also loses a lot of steam towards the end; the latter areas in particular don't feel nearly as engaging nor intricately designed as those at the beginning. BotW, for me, was much more compelling and much more consistent. I was as rapt at hour 90 as I was after hour 1, which definitely wasn't the case with ER.
End of the day, though, these are both exemplary games that excel at what they set out to do.
End of the day, though, these are both exemplary games that excel at what they set out to do.
I'm around 130 hours on Elden ring and yeah the end game is not very fun anymore. I'm not sure I'm going to finish the game.
BOTW.
Elden Ring falls apart a bit toward the end, especially with the final boss. Cut, or rearrange, buff, nerf, a few things toward endgame, and maybe you have a fair ending, but my personal experience with the ending has been abysmal, though I see others really enjoying it.
With BOTW, I was floored for every single second of it.
Elden Ring falls apart a bit toward the end, especially with the final boss. Cut, or rearrange, buff, nerf, a few things toward endgame, and maybe you have a fair ending, but my personal experience with the ending has been abysmal, though I see others really enjoying it.
With BOTW, I was floored for every single second of it.
Entirely absent? Seriously, sounds like you didn't play BotW.
Yes it's no easy task doing go anywhere gameplay.
Due it having more than the two pleasant or joyous areas that Elden Ring has, I'm going to have to give it to that on that basis alone.
Ignoring gameplay mechanics/dungeons (which I think are better in ER) and world interactivity (which is infinitely better in BOTW) and just focusing on the open world itself, there is more joy to a lot of BOTW.
I can only be awed by a new area for a few seconds in Elden Ring before It falls into the same pattern as the area before.
The question of "I wonder what's over there?" get tedious when the answer is "Oh, it's some more bullshit"
Ignoring gameplay mechanics/dungeons (which I think are better in ER) and world interactivity (which is infinitely better in BOTW) and just focusing on the open world itself, there is more joy to a lot of BOTW.
I can only be awed by a new area for a few seconds in Elden Ring before It falls into the same pattern as the area before.
The question of "I wonder what's over there?" get tedious when the answer is "Oh, it's some more bullshit"
In my experience despite the variety that is possible, most people I know in my circles are playing Elden Ring the same way (tackling areas in a similar order, using the Mimic Tear etc.)
It may be open world, but it seems that a lot of players are still following the same approach with it - maybe because it's too hard for a lot of people to play it otherwise.
Nothing I've personally seen in Elden Ring comes close to the highs of BotW, which I see as being some of the environmental puzzles and overworld riddles, which were proper "eureka" moments when you worked them out. They're the main reason I haven't replayed the game, to be honest - the sense of discovery in the game is truly magical, but I can't now forget it all. Works best first time you experience it.
It may be open world, but it seems that a lot of players are still following the same approach with it - maybe because it's too hard for a lot of people to play it otherwise.
Nothing I've personally seen in Elden Ring comes close to the highs of BotW, which I see as being some of the environmental puzzles and overworld riddles, which were proper "eureka" moments when you worked them out. They're the main reason I haven't replayed the game, to be honest - the sense of discovery in the game is truly magical, but I can't now forget it all. Works best first time you experience it.
The one I'm complaining about is actually much simpler than the Gelmir one lol (Auriza Hero's Grave). I also understand I seem to be in the minority.
Since I got so burnt-out spending so much time unlocking things I wouldn't use unless I respeced after each mini-dungeon, I stopped enjoying all hero's graves, catacombs, and caves. I unlocked the grace for the Gelmir grave you're talking about but since there was no guarantee anything in there would be relevant this playthrough I just left and powered through to the credits, unless someone in the OT said "make sure to do x one".
Despite having the same RPG system, DeS and DS1-3 didn't have the large open world timesinks so the Skinner box of "will I even use this" didn't burn me out of thoroughly exploring each level. It's just a common single-character open-world RPG thing; finding new equipment is only meaningful if it's better than your existing equipment, but by being open world they can't make it so that getting better stuff is a common guarantee. Throw in Dark Souls combat and there's the dilemma of "I could be spending my time working through the amazing legacy dungeons, or I could find four imp-laden catacombs and maybe get a relevant drop".
I thought it was quite telling that the most useful things to find via exploration are ball bearings so you can shop for materials instead of explore more lol.
Maybe BotW 2 will surpass it after they add good dungeons and get rid of breakable weapons (sorry i did not liked that mechanic). I had a lot more fun with Elden Ring.
Votes are as i expected them to be.
Votes are as i expected them to be.
Nah the platforming is pretty terrible in ER. I have too many deaths due to clunky mechanics.
Excluding the fact that I listed literally every progression form in the game which you've either ignored or forgotten leading me to suspect bad faith, I have over 300 hours on at least 6 playthroughs. I don't need to justify how much or when I've played the game, but there ya go! Is it the most of any player out there? Not a chance, but if you really want I can leave my switch on for the next 4 years and come to you with a couple thousand hours under my belt. By the way, I noticed that you forgot to read the word "almost" which is a pretty important qualifier. It modifies the word "entirely" to be almost ironically not all encompassing? That's what the word's for in that sentence, even if it looks silly. It's like literally using literally wrong, people know what you mean even if it's not literally correct.
In total, what I am genuinely saying in all the posts I've made is that the progression mechanics that are present in Breath of the Wild aren't very valuable to the player as a motivation. They exist, motivation exists elsewhere, and most people do need to use the mechanics to clear the game. But in the end knowing that you probably need more hearts doesn't make having an extra heart that much more enticing the 8th or 15th time around, and you also have armor which is an effective health increase. Almost ironically (The word almost again, making "ironically" not quite ironic) the search for the fairy fountains to upgrade your armor is much more rewarding and enticing than the upgrades themselves. Barring the second fountain where set bonuses come into play but unfortunately the majority of set bonuses are again just stat increases and few are truly unique like the night-time movement speed increase the Sheikah armor gets.
To be clear in total, I understand that you don't actually care about progression. That's awesome! I totally get it, but are you really sure that if suddenly in addition to the current rewards, solving a complex puzzle rewarded you with an armor piece that made boomerangs ricochet off to nearby targets (for example), you'd have less fun and explore less? Stuff that modifies how you play rather than boosting your current play, sidegrades that make traversal evolve over time (like the zorah chest piece does), or overall features that are both memorable and useful (like completing a quest line that unlocks a new merchant, new place to go, or a new ending). You really sure that you would have less fun?
Just to give you an idea of how, what, and why I play games, over the years I repeatedly go back to Gravity Rush. It's a video game with cool movement in a cool world. Exploring only truly involves a collectible material to upgrade your character, which is nice and rewarding for progression's sake. But having upgraded everything to the max, I still go back and float around, walk on walls and under buildings. There's nothing to find unfortunately and there never was barring those collectible materials. I collected probably thousands of them. They were a reason to explore, but they were also a shallow mechanic that really faded away from importance near the end of the game; this beautiful world worth exploring, mechanics that still feel great years later, all let down by the lack of purpose. Cool hideaways and vistas, with not a collectible in sight even when they were still covering the world. Those nooks and crannies felt like there should've been something there, something to drive me to go out into this world and see what there is to see. But there never was, and it's one of those things that just makes me sad when playing games. How much I yearn to explore, not reciprocated because the progression was limited. There weren't even characters to find, or posters with lore, or anything. Just empty spots on the map to find, empty.
Last edited:
Have you considered the artistic integrity of the developers and the clear commentary of society at large by having 19.9m falls be completely safe but 20.0m falls be instant death? /s
I find the progression in BotW more satisfying. Getting the Master Sword, upgrading it, getting the Divine Beast abilities (Even if I usually choose not to use them), and set bonuses/armor abilities are more substantial in terms of altering the way I actually play than ERs stats and equipment. These things alter fundamental facts of the character, in a way which is only paralleled by the Great Rune system in ER.
The game would be more enjoyable if I wasn't dying constantly after one or two hits from enemies and slow crawling every corner because they posted enemies as a trap.
I don't really get this complaint.
It's not like this kind of event doesn't appear in BotW.
You literally have 3 gigantic mazes that only there to get a heart piece + a piece of armor dedicated to having more offense.
You also have 3 specific puzzles/quests dedicated to giving you a set that makes you immune to lightning.
A whole quest line to get a piece of gear to make lightning strike from the sky irrelevant.
If you want improved traversal, while there's nothign that nosell rain, there's a whole set of equipment that is dedicated to just that. And you have to find them because no one is selling that.
Heck most racial equipment set that can be bought are also behind their own quests that you can do to either get a better version of the set or get them for free.
The game is giving you shit that transform how you can view the world over and over again but it's not mandatory and bypassing them is equally as valid as interacting with them.
Additional DLCs even had the most disjointed quests (and fun if you ask me) in providing clues where you could find additional gears that would totally break the game if upgradable so they're just nice novelties instead that you can have additional fun with.
There's an argument that there's not enough of that type of reward but then again that's still a lot of shit that the game throws at you already.
That's awesome! I found the ways that I made progress more enticing in BoTW with it's varied approaches.
I don't really think the ER comparison is worthwhile because they're just not trying be the same games or even the same genre, and I've felt that way throughout all the conversations in this thread. But, it is interesting to compare the ways each game does progression in their own ways.
I agree, the things you discover in Elden Ring - while almost always useful in some capacity to someone - often aren't things useful to you individually. It varies by build too, and it may vary even further depending on how rigidly you stick to an approach to the game. That's one of the games problems, where some areas are so biased towards a specific category like sorcery or scarlet rot that you eventually realize that as an incantation based build you are unlikely to find much valuable in those areas. The things you find are still valuable forms of vertical or horizontal progression, but not for you, and that's certainly one of the games macro problems. For example, there are ways to get more spell slots and they're almost all from the same building structure, so as a non-spellcaster you know those buildings will not bring you anything valuable.
ER instead rewards exploration because you know you'll find something. For example, there's an item, always, in every basement of every ruin. You have insurance, if you finish a ruin and have not gotten to the basement then you know you've missed something. This doesn't address the above of issue of not knowing if what you find will be valuable to you at all in that playthrough. But at least you know that not exploring means you will miss something, and exploring will at least find you something. To contrast it to Breath of The Wild, if you look down at an area from above and don't see any unusual things, you can conclude there is nothing to find; outside of my chef of the wild runs where every food or combinable material was valuable, that's the case.
I think the great rune system is underwhelming because it's really just an expansion on "more max health" consumables. They're not interesting and only a few could change how you play. If they had no great rune system and only had rune arcs, I don't think much would change.
As I addressed originally, there are tidbits. There are little bits here and there with encouraging rewards. There's just so infrequent and so few of them, that it is hard to gauge whether or not there will be a reward. Like the sandshoes and snowshoes! They're cool rewards for a quest that make two areas of the game less problematic. But if the past 4 quests got you a golden rupee, a weapon to use that will inevitably break, a korok seed, or 1/4th of a hear/stamina upgrade... you don't actually have any way of gauging what your endeavors will bring. It could just be another golden rupee which I could get by simply selling Koi or cooked meals. Or it could be a really cool bokoblin mask!
The game especially is awkward when it guides you towards the Zorah kingdom and are given the Zorah armor which really does change how you traverse. But that's the only time, otherwise it's offsetting negatives (hot and cold protection in a few capacities) that all but one can be solved with other approaches like consumables. You get the Zorah armor and say "Ah, ha! That's how I'll get more cool things, I wonder what I'll get from the other large portions of the game" and the answer is everything unlike the Zorah armor. Lightning immunity is great in the niche scenarios that you'd want to use it; opens using metal weapons in combat. Or you could just not use metal weapons, or just not do combat. You'd have to lose your set bonus that gives you extra stealth to be lightning immune, and that may not be what you want.
I'm also not saying that the first time around the game presents it's problems very heavily. It's pretty much one of the best first times playing a game I've ever had, and many others share the same sentiments. It's when you replay the game that you realize that you really don't need to change anything about how you play. The enticing world no longer offers your mysteries, instead stuff that you can say "Eh, do I really need to have 3 charge attacks do a lightning proc every 30 minutes" or "Do I really want to get the master sword when I used it only 5 or 6 times?", etc. It's not abysmal at progression, it's just one of the weakest areas of the game.
Last edited:
Some players will find the extrinsic rewards and progression sense subpar, of course. It always can be improved and further developed, I agree. Especially when it's a big game.
And lol I deserve your write up on the word almost.
Also, more health was never a good reward for shrines.
It's max stamina that was worth it.
That allows you to go farther and faster without having to rely on consumables that you have to craft for.
THAT is usefull, that's why at the start you bee line to the nearest shrines to get the most stamina possible.
It's max stamina that was worth it.
That allows you to go farther and faster without having to rely on consumables that you have to craft for.
THAT is usefull, that's why at the start you bee line to the nearest shrines to get the most stamina possible.
You place intrinsic value on working out the puzzle in one game, but not the other? I know which Grave you're talking about, and working that out in itself, and unlocking everything as a result, was pretty rewarding. The items themselves not being immediately useful, wasn't really a concern, which considering BotW rewards were... bland, at best, means they're probably comparable, no?
Just interesting that you find one so much more satisfying than the other, when you pretty much described the same circumstances.
No worries! Yeah, improvement is always there waiting behind a door. No game's perfect and never can be, and it's not like issues can erase how much fun games are the first or thousandth time around. Mileage will vary and enjoyment will vary. We all have games whose issues we don't actually mind; I know of plenty, where I can absolutely agree that there are huge problems with the game I love. But I still love it enough that those problems don't stop me from loving the game! Elden Ring is especially a game which has so many problems for me, even though I enjoyed it a lot. Some things there, gah, absolutely terrible.
I'm not telling anyone they have to like it the way I do but the general "X game rewards exploration but Y doesn't" that gets posted tends to be "everyone needs to like it the way Elden Ring does it, it is fact". I'll always use spirit orbs and korok seeds, and the weapon system means I'm constantly cycling through weapons I find by exploring. My feelings mostly come from if I only have 1 hour to game, spending all of it collecting items I won't use until playthrough 2 or 3 feels like "I should've spent my free time doing something else, like the next legacy dungeon". I understand someone who doesn't care about physics puzzles and feels loss-averse to breaking weapons will feel "I spent 1 hour for some orbs and some seeds?!"
I found intrinsic value in Elden Ring to be beating a well-designed boss or interesting combat encounter which are mostly limited to the legacy dungeons, or stumbling upon a cool area like Siofra. I'm sure someone finds the chariots, catacombs, caves, etc., to be interesting, I thought I would love them pre-launch but it turns out I do not lol. The chariots felt more like a test of what I was willing to put up with than asking me to solve something interesting using the game's mechanics.
If they had a unique boss at the end, instead of a copy-paste one, that alone would be huge motivation for me to find and go through every single of them even if I wouldn't use the equipment. Obviously it's not realistic to expect that much high-quality unique content with a reasonable dev cycle and the devs getting to see their families, but that's why I ended up preferring DS1-3's scope.
EDIT: Apologies for the atrocious grammar all over the place in this one, I tried to fix it as much as I could lol
Last edited:
Unpopulair opinion. I really don't like both.
I just can't get into open world, because I loose track of my main goal.
So yeah, I'd rather play Demon's Souls and the older Zelda games.
I'll see myself out 😅
I just can't get into open world, because I loose track of my main goal.
So yeah, I'd rather play Demon's Souls and the older Zelda games.
I'll see myself out 😅