I lost a friend over this. I didn't use a guide and aimed to 100% without guides. Until a certain point, like invisible walls or bridges, I did. Exploration was phenomenal. But my friend struggled to do the same. He got super angry at very basic "are you following the questlines?" "have you met x?" "What do you mean you haven't gotten torrent yet you're in caelid" He was a anti-guide purist. He looked down on my hard won knowledge, and said that I read guides. No mother fucker, I experienced 90% of the game through exploration, you just suck and want to cry and dismiss. My point is that these people that hate guides, are the ones that would benefit the most from reading one or two.
Sorry to hear your friend reacted like that over basically nothing! Sounds like he cared more about comparing himself to you rather than actually enjoying his time with the game. Sadly not uncommon...
I found the gateway in the Consecrated Snowfield and walked right past it because I didn't think it would lead to a whole new area. Had to go back after I read about it.
Great vid! Imo people are too simple minded with games, elden ring is rlly complex and misterious, soo its fun to run in blind, but usualy people dont really care about story telling through cenario or items, if it isnt told to them on a cutscene or dialog they wont care, that's ok but for me at least i want people to have the same fun as me. Not that i want them to suffer throught the game, i want them to enjoy 100% of what this game has to offer, thats why it scared me how in steam only arround 40%-30% of players have the achievement from finishing the game. So i don't recomend using guides but i do recomend asking people how to get through an expecific part, or ask for a certain build or whatever. These games arent truly hard, you only need motivation to make them easy thats why i believe people just need to get more explorative and curious (Btw i say this cuz i have an 100% on this game)
Fair points. I think it's reasonable to have a preference for guide or no guide approaches as long as you're not trying to hold new players to your own standards! I'm kind of similar in no telling people to use a guide, but just saying it's fine if they do. I think a large part of it is the non-traditional format/presentation of the lore and narrative in ER, which a vast majority of new players have not encountered at such a large scale before. I think we need to be understanding and accepting of that context!
Sometimes I use a guide when I can't find an entrance or I want to check if something is missing. In Destiny 2 I had to compare one room with mine, because I assumed a critical item didn't trigger. And I was right, after restarting the game and redoing the mission, the correct item dropped and I was able to move forward. Overall, I don't use guides to tell me how to play the game, which path to follow, or what build I need because the others are "trash" (aka, they are 5% less dps than the optimal). If you're going for an achievement, then using a guide for routing and discussion is logical. Even then, you've played the game for many hours, finished it multiple times, so what are we really talking about? :) As a final note: I don't care if another person plays a game for the first time and uses a guide for the full playthrough. It's just not for me.
I think that's a good attitude to have. I am of a similar mindset generally speaking. Although as a PvPer I like to understand optimal builds likely more than most. But to each their own as long as it's enjoyable.
My take is fairly similar, I purposefully avoided elden ring content and discourse leading up to the release because I wanted to have as blind of a first playthrough as possible, but after I finished my first game I started looking up what I missed and used guides to find all the different secrets and areas as I could.
Crazy thing is if you go and actually read the interview I quote in the video you'll see that Miyazaki doesn't want people to *have* to use guides, but recognizes it as a "perfectly valid playstyle" and they "we expect that". He does not say that they *shouldn't* use guides, as if it's against his vision. Just that they do not design around the usage of guides. He even concedes that there's room for improvement on the dev's part if people are feeling lost or left out of the experience. There's nuance.
@@Weird_B0nes I don’t think there’s a Dev out there who would flat out gatekeep his own game and drive away customers. I use a guide on my second play thru. I respect the game and the studio too much to not grant one attempt to play blind, as intended.
You are indirectly of implying that blind playthroughs are the real way to "respect" the game and the studio. Is someone disrespecting them by not playing blind? Seems very black and white and passive aggressive. And yeah it's nice that you have this special relationship with the games like many do. But you're doing exactly what I argue against doing in the video. You are prescribing "intent" based on your own rules for play. It just seems to be assigning some intangible value to playing the game a certain way.
@@Weird_B0nes people who use guides on a first run, although not all of them (some know exactly what they want) , have never played blind. So how can they know which is better ? Or how can they know what they would enjoy if they only rush to use guides without experiencing the other way? I would never tell someone who uses guides they’re playing wrong, if they knew what they were doing. But so many players fall into a trap and do it without knowing the other side. “If I asked people what they wanted, they would’ve said faster horses” Henry Ford Sometimes people don’t know what they want until they experience it. Someone who uses guides out of the gate, cannot possibly know if they’d prefer going in blind until they actually give it a chance. Humans often rush to optimize everything if given the chance, it’s a human condition. Sometimes they shoot themselves in the foot by having a less than stellar time and then base an opinion around a subpar experience. I try and tell new players just play the game , you don’t need ten tabs open. It does kill the immersion. Some people rather that, and that’s fine. Some don’t know what they want, so maybe try first before killing the first experience that you only get once. What do u have to lose if it doesn’t work out? Then open a guide. Why take the chance ? Using a guide is playing someone else’s experiences and you’re stripping your own by doing that. Again, if they actually want that, who am I to tell them not to? What I do is, ask ppl to make sure that’s what they actually want, and not just something they feel like they need to do.
Pretty good vid. The only thing I'll say after beating this game, is I'd advise everyone who's nearing the end of the game, or feels like they're at the end, to think about the characters they interacted with and see if they're tied to any quest-lines (this game is so nonsensically cryptic, you don't even know when a quest is done or when it's even active, partly because of poor design, and partly because of unfinished content). I'd say personally, due to many fun rewards being tied to quest conclusions, that everyone explicitly go and read up on how to do every quest line possible if they find the rewards in this game satisfying. Sooner rather than later. It's actually worth spoiling some parts of where you'll travel just to know if you're done with a questline or not. Ideally, a spoiler-free guide (a friend) that tells you where you might need to go, or if you can even progress the quest line at the time. But even without someone keeping it mostly spoiler-free, I'd say the downside of potentially locking-away certain questlines and rewards until another playthough is simply worth addressing by having some parts spoiled of where to go for instance. Everything else I'd say people should try and do blind, and only when they're on the brink of shutting off the game in frustration, seek a guide perhaps. But the quests in a game like this, I'd say (especially with the poor storytelling in general, since all you do is hear an NPC talk a bit, and then just teleport to the next quest-segment), it's worth spoiling things to avoid making a mistake a locking yourself out until the next playthrough. The way quests are handled aren't satisfying at all from a gameplay perspective, and only interesting from a story perspective for characters you might care for.
🎯 Always appreciate insightful vids. Quick navi: 00:01 *🎮 The speaker introduces themselves as a hobbyist RU-vidr who enjoys Souls games and video editing, focusing on Elden Ring invasions and clip compilations.* 00:41 *🗣️ There has been community discourse about using guides and co-op systems in Elden Ring, which the speaker finds frustrating.* 01:08 *📝 The speaker plans to discuss guides and co-op in two separate videos, expressing their thoughts on these topics.* 02:01 *🎮 The speaker believes it's fine to use guides and external resources in games as long as it doesn't harm others' experiences.* 02:39 *🤔 The speaker finds the debate around guide usage in games fruitless and believes it needs to end.* 03:05 *📚 Miyazaki, the developer, acknowledges the use of guides but doesn't design games with that as a prerequisite, aiming for organic discovery.* 04:14 *🎯 Miyazaki respects players who use guides but prefers players to experience the game without them, aiming for a meaningful individual experience.* 05:12 *🤷♂️ The speaker notes a divide in the community, with some advocating for blind playthroughs and others appreciating the developer's stance on guide usage.* 06:18 *🤝 The speaker supports providing guidance to new players, explaining the trade-offs of using guides versus playing blind.* 07:23 *🌟 The speaker acknowledges that even with online help, players can still have a deeply rewarding experience with Elden Ring.* 08:15 *📈 Elden Ring's success has led to a larger player base, many of whom may not have the context for a 100% blind playthrough.* 09:16 *🕒 Many players expect to only complete Elden Ring once due to time constraints, influencing their approach to the game.* 10:25 *📊 The speaker discusses the impact of life circumstances on gaming engagement, especially with lengthy games like Elden Ring.* 12:13 *🎙️ The speaker criticizes community figures who indirectly push their gaming standards onto others, despite claiming otherwise.* 14:29 *🎮 Miyazaki's priority is for players to have a meaningful experience, regardless of how they engage with the game.* 16:27 *🌐 The speaker believes the Souls games' robustness comes from accommodating various player approaches and intentions.* 18:05 *🆚 The speaker shares personal experiences of unconventional playthroughs that were still enjoyable and rewarding.* 20:37 *🚫 The speaker advises against letting others dictate your gaming experience, emphasizing personal victory and meaning.* 23:35 *🎮 The speaker concludes by encouraging players to find their own way to engage with games, free from external policing.* 26:46 *🗺️ The speaker mentions the obscurity of accessing certain areas in Elden Ring, highlighting the game's complex progression.* 27:26 *🎥 The speaker thanks viewers and looks forward to a more concise discussion on co-op invasions in the next video.*
I love that he criticizes him self by saying the need for guides is a fault on his part. A level of criticism most souls fans are incapable of emotionally excepting. The blind play threw is all in someones mind, i have done both and got the same experience. The CEO has always been on the side of play your way and no gate keeping.
Always good to be self aware. Not sure if I'd use the term "fault" for anyone needing a guide, since it's I don't consider it a shortcoming on the player's part. But definitely agree with your overall point!
