Why Western Developers Are So Angry About Elden Ring's Success 

"Elden Ring" , is my first time playing a FromSoft game. I am a 57 year old, who has been playing video games, since their inception, and "Elden Ring" is quite possibly my favorite game of all time. I look forward to any opportunity to play, more than any game that I've ever played. Bravo, FromSoft! Bravo!

The best explanation I’ve heard was from a tiny podcast : “game executives are going to think the way to get Elden Ring success is to make it open-world and really hard but the real reason is that they made a whole game”

Elden Ring is great to me because - It is a complete game - Playable offline - No monetization - No hand holding

Whenever I watch Elden Ring clips and gameplay it feels like I am watching a scene from a movie, I have my eyes focused on the character and not at the multitude of add-ons like compasses or maps or whatnot scattered on the UI. It actually feels so refreshing to watch a clean or at least a minimalist UI of Elden Ring

I am Japanese and have been a game designer for a Japanese game developer company (not FromSoftware) for about 20 years now. However, even Japanese game designers cannot help but envy FromSoftware's development style and the values and track record that allow them to maintain a certain auteuristic quality despite being commercial. The subject of this video says "Western game developers," but I feel that it is a kind of pathology that hovers over the game industry all over the world, regardless of East or West. It seems to me that FromSoftware is special in that they have so much faith in the player's "will to finish the game". On the other hand, many other development sites try to avoid game design that relies on the player's effort, curiosity, or observational skills. In other words, the type of game that leads you to a Disneyland-like hand-holding, such as the one mentioned in this video. They lead players to their next destination with annoyingly glowing icons, which everyone is tired of seeing nowadays. It is a cynical reality that this specification, originally born from good intentions, has become a detriment to the gameplay itself. But as Eldenring proves, players are inherently active when it comes to the fascinating world, mysterious story, and something they want to get their hands on in the first place. A game design that is always being led by the hand by a guide dog, despite the open world represented by the Assassin's Creed franchise, is a contradiction in the first place, and game designers are not so incompetent as to not notice this. However, on the other hand, the values of the management side, which seeks only "understandability" from a commercial standpoint, tend to take precedence in the industry. I can't help but feel that there are many major companies that should all realize this sooner, but have yet to do so.

Elden Ring wasn't just a game developed over 5 years but also the culmination of more than a decades of experience in refining the system over multiple games. It a damn good game.

Seeing the sheer success of Elden Ring makes me happy. In a world where soulless money dictates everything in western games it’s so refreshing to see a game absolutely crush the sales without micro transactions and a company that cares

As a AAA gamedev, it's been sad to see how our product's design has become more and more focus-tester based over the years. God forbid the focustester gets confused or doesn't know what to do next. I remember being a kid, spending countless hours of wandering around in games not knowing what to do next. Finally figuring it out was a big event for the family. Internet kinda ruins that, but lots of people can avoid spoilers. Remember puzzles? Games that weren't puzzle-games used to be enjoyable puzzles.

I liked how Elden Ring was a complete game, that was not loaded with micro transactions or bugs, had so much hidden content and secrets to find which really made it feel special and gave it some depth and it also gave you the freedom to do whatever you wanted so it wasnt totally linear which gave people the option to play the game how they want and make it more or less challenging depending on play style, character build and even the pace at which you push into the later areas in the game. I also love how for a game where you need to be able to parry and dodge you were able to actually see what is going on around you where a lot of other games these days have so many flashy moves with explosions and particles effects you cant tell up from down let alone see an incoming attack you need to dodge. The only real thing i wished they would change as a ps5 player would be the ability to play seemless coop.

I'm a Western game dev and I think a more accurate title would be "Why Western Game Executives Are So Angry About Elden Ring's Success". All of the devs I've talked to who have played Elden Ring love the fact that it's doing so well and are obsessed with the game design, including myself. Just like BotW I hope this continues to set a great example for open world games. It gives us more ammo when we go into meetings with execs to pitch why our games don't need tons of extra shit tacked onto them.

I remember the first open world rpgs where you're totally alone to discover dungeons, plot points, areas and no idea where the story will continue. Loved it, today i hate quest markers and glowing arrows telling me what to do.

I've played a ton of games where combat largely consists of button mashing overpowered weapons and abilities. Being forced to perform elden ring's very demanding combat mechanics without any prior explanation is truly challenging and rewarding. Elden Ring is the game I needed but didn't know I needed.

Elden Ring is a game, not a business. That’s why we love it.

Western devs are intimidated because this is a product that actually has passion, effort, and feedback behind it. Something most Western developers have been lacking for years.

I’m a western developer and I loved the game. I hope to reach that kind of level before I die

I found Elden Ring quite refreshing. I had great doubts if the "Souls" formula would work in an open world environment. How wrong I was, it works like a charm. What I absolutely love about Elden Ring is its architecture. When you step out from the starting area you immediately get a glimpse of things to come. A giant castle in the background, vast open lands, an area to explore. No quest markers, just go explore, look what you want to explore, the whole world is open to you. I recently finished Valhalla with all extra content apart from the master's trials and the roguelite part. I spent 250 hours into the game but what I hate most about it os its permanent desire to tell you "HEY LOOK! THERE'S A QUEST NEARBY!" and when you go there other quests and places pop up. In the end the map is full of quests and yellow and white spots to explore, it's just too much. Some more hidden events like the Excalibur sword are way more interesting but in the end you have to face the truth "the way is the reward, not the sword itself". Weapons you earn for solving a series of puzzles are just not worth it. I ended up using my axe from the beginning until the late game, then I switched to Thor's hammer. I didn't use any more weapons because I didn't feel it was necessary. In the end I made the platinum trophy on Valhalla but somehow it didn't feel "good". Didn't feel like a reward, I was more feeling kind of exhausted for all those things you had to do in order to get it. So yeah I hope Elden Ring's dlc will be good.I expect a lot and as sources say it'll be released early 2024 after the release of the next Armored Core.

The question that Devs who say ER's success is unearned need to consider is, "why is the average Elden Ring player's play time so much higher than ours?" Initially they could have claimed the success was due to an out-of-control hype train and George RR Martin name recognition, but if that's all it was players would have stopped playing by now. The fact the average ER player has well over 100 hours in the game and has reached level 100++ means players really enjoy it and don't want to stop playing. When was the last time you could say that about an Ubi-Clone?

honestly, the most important facts, on why Elden Ring is designed the way it is, are: - From Software is more interested in building mythology than on satisfying completionists, maximizing profits (they still want profits, but dropping a few pennies / yen on the floor is OK) - Bandi-Namco is willing to let it's development studios to thrive on their own merits, and make money from sales as opposed to online transactions

Man this hits so hard after seeing suicide squad ruining the legacy that batman Arkham series made for itself within six years and got ruined after nine bloody years of the last main installment which is Arkham Knight. Man I wish I died before the release of that shi*t called suicide squad game.

Elden Ring is unlike any game I’ve ever played, yet so familiar feels like a games game that challenges you and rewards you, just feels so good and fun to play I love it, the difference is the game is made with love ❤️

I love elden ring, and I believe elden rings success stems from the fact that 80% of its optional content, secret items and costumes would be dlc in all those western made games.

Elden Ring is the perfect example of “Make a good game that fosters good will and the people will follow it religiously”

Throughout the entire game, Elden Ring feels like a meticulous hand carefully crafted every moment of the game. The quality never dips from start to finish, and the game rarely breaks the player immersion.

Funny how a couple tweets from individuals that don't speak for their companies got blown out of proportions to the point we get this "western developpers are mad at/hate Elden Ring" opinion pieces. Never happened, the game is by large well recieved and revered for its numerous qualities amongst players and game developpers. Some of the tweets in question didn't even bashed the game and just pointed out small inconsistencies and flaws that they say are still vastly outshined by the many qualities. I don't really get this trend of getting at each other's throat for non arguments and then complain there can't be any discussion between game dev and players.

Western devs are trying to make a product, Japanese devs are trying to build their reputation and curate a long term catalog of art

Elden Ring and The Sinking City have an interesting take to map, by having the player set their own markers, it makes the sense of discovery more visceral, and the ability to miss something adds to the discovery.

Recently I was playing a game and it felt like im just in a simulator and that's the same feel i get from most of the games. There's no "escapism into the new world" feel that i used to get from playing. Which is why I have so much respect for the developers of Elden Ring to put so much effort into maling the game as it brings back that joy of playing games

Elden Ring made me relive the feeling of exploring and exchanging information about the game with my friend who was playing at his house... My best decision was to pre-order and play at launch. There was no information on the internet, so you had to scramble to figure everything out... Incredible game. You see the care they put in there, even though it's not that graphically complex. You are always rewarded for exploring this world, which you do without noticing, as the lands in between are beautiful and interesting.

I'm predicting a super jaded and almost "this is what you asked for" level of game design coming from the west in the next few years... they are gonna miss the point and think putting in less effort into quest design and stuff equates to eldend rings less oppressive take on quest design, before the devs hit the Internet to say "I don't get it"

Elden ring made me feel like a kid again, and it made alot of adults feel like a kid again with its massive exploration, difficulty and how it doesn't hold your hand like the games of old. Elden ring hit a feeling that I'd thought I'd never feel again, Thank you Fromsoft 🙏

Love to hear your take on FPS. I think that's a genre that western devs have mastered but constantly re hash.

the thing about "not holding the player's hand" is what made terraria and minecraft so successful in the first place, like terraria for example that gives you pieces of information but you don't really know how to use it. Or the boss progression that you don't really know what to kill first, and that is absolutely great! It does make the player a bit lost, but it also makes the player very curious and interested in the game. It's not like ARK where you really have no idea on how to do things and how to advance and where to go, because it's so big you get lost and get bored too.

i heard this from somewere, "They had the balls to put their heart and soul into someting, and make it optional, that confidence makes you want to keep searching for everything" and honestly, that is so true. the required bits are so amazing that the optional bits become things you genuinly want to see.

Also part of the dev hate is them breaking their own perception of good and bad. When breath of the Wild came out, many devs went with 'that wouldn't work on a grander game' 'most mechanics are not feasible with story telling' and whatever, then comes Elden Ring with the same formula but tackling those point and they don't have more arguments than cherry pick.

My first FromSoft game was Bloodborne and after 3 hours I knew it was something far different from anything I had played before. No hand holding or coddling and a world that you wanted to see more of. I’ve been a fan ever since, Elden Ring is just a little easier to pick up than their previous titles but not in a bad way if that makes sense.

The assassins creed color objective thing is really crazy when you think about it. Like yeah I definitely know something is here. I remember finding the dual blades in Elden Ring. I had no idea and I did a backflip cuz I was so happy

I think the biggest problem nowadays is companies try to cater to everyone. A franchise needs to be able to identify it's main fanbase and cater to them. If anyone else happens to like the game that's an added bonus. And that's what From always did. They know their main audience well, they know they love the challenge and the struggle. Elden Ring had all the key aspects of a soulslike game, yet managed to add new things into it, to make it feel more fresh without being distruptive.

One of my favorite moments playing Elden Ring is when I realized that caves were drawn into the map, i immediately started going over every inch of the map and marking caves I missed

Just because a few people who happened to be western game devs criticized elden ring doesn't mean western devs are angry about elden ring's success.

The thing i like most about Elden Ring is, that i can explore the world, go somewhere i want, take any dungeon i want and always feel like i am progressing without the game forcing me to. Similar to Legend of Zelda BotW. You see the target far off in the distand but you can choose freely how to get there and there are multiple ways to do it. There are some hickups in the level design. Like some places are clearly to op for your character to handle (like wtf is the Tree Sentinel doing right at my spawnpoint? XD) while others may be too easy, if you have leveled up somewhere else. But the bosses are still a challenge so it rarely really matters. But i wish that they would at least give me a quest book or something. Nothing serious but maybe a book in which the last conversation has been noted, (like Ranni is asking you to meet Blaat in at the River or something similar) so that you dont forget it. Other than that Elden Ring is propably my favorite game ever made.

Yessss I could say the same for Arcane - the animated series from League of Legends. It seems the producers from Arcane just let the artists do the work, so they made art. I think it's very similar to what I understood you said about Elden Ring: the developers did the work, so they made a beautiful and great game. Could we call it art also?

One of my favorite moments in Elden Ring is when I discovered Deeproot dephts by accident while doing Ranni's quest. I thought I was on the right path, but I didn't need to go there. And the gargoyles were so hard to beat! Still, I didn't regret a single second finding about a whole new area by accident. Or that time I found a traped chest and ended up in Caelid. I thought I was in some hellish dimension, but it's actually right next to Limgrave. Elden Ring is one of the games where getting lost might be even more fun than finding your way

This was so eloquently put. I am a professional game dev and you are 100% correct on all of your points.

The fact that I went to ng+ when elden ring came out, and started a new playthrough recently and am still finding completely new areas i’ve never been too speaks levels to the amount of content

It was so refreshing to play a game that EVERYONE was clamoring about, skills and secret ash summons were detailed by word of mouth, it felt like being in a school yard with the other kids seeing if babalities in Mortal Kombat were a real thing or not!!! 👍🏿👍🏿

The reason Elden Ring was well received is because it's a complete game, the worst thing that can happen to someone is buying a game only to find out that the devs cut corners & decided to use dlc as cash grab. 83.5 hrs into Elden Ring & all achievements unlocked, i am pretty sure there are areas yet to be discovered.

The only thing i wish it had was like a notepad to tell me where i left off on random questlines. Cause when i get on after a couple days, i have no memory of what im supposed to do next to progress it

This game did something so simple and that is improving on the formula that works… expanding it and evolving it. Reminds me of being a kid playing a game and pondering what the future of games would be like. Elden ring feels like the culmination of that, it’s the game little me dreamed of…. This being in stark contrast to the majority of other titles who have imo devolved due to greed. I actually have more fun playing old 2k, dragon age, fallouts than any of these cash grabs developers churn out in modern day.

"When a literal dragon can drop out of nowhere" That dude landed directly on top of me and crushed me flat. I had absolutely zero chance. I went into that area all cocky because I just saw another campfire and I was like hey free loot. 10/10

I'm in my 30's. Elden Ring makes me feel like I am playing the adult version of Zelda. Not in a direct parallel. It's missing some puzzle solving aspects but has others. The main thing it gets right for me is creating this massive world which I can get lost in.

I'm 37. This game reminded me of playing games in the 90s, when you really felt like you were exploring a new world and felt genuinely curious about what you'd discover. Well done on describing how they achieved this feeling for the player.

For real Elden Ring just looks very nice if you compare it to other games its just sooo clean

Elden Ring is so good because it feels good to have a game with very little marketing BS when it came out and just lets you enjoy it in its entirety. Kinda takes you back to the good ol PS2 era

I feel like a lot of western executives (especially those who have never played a video game in their lives) have adopted a very bad interpretation of "Work smarter, not harder" towards video game development. Micro transactions, loot boxes, and incomplete on arrival products are essentially the result of them trying to get maximum profit while putting in minimum effort.

Though I haven't finished Elden Ring, it stays rent free in my mind! It gave me such a sense of accomplishment when I found and slayed the monster keeping the mage npc locked, and when I was low on health but had to, carefully, fall onto wall ledges to to escape the mining caves/tunnels 🥰

I've replayed Elden Ring twice, each time managing to find so many new bosses, and then I go to watch other youtubers play the game and end up finding more bosses or quests I ended up missing. They put a lot of work into this game, which is something western companies refuse to do because they want to put as little effort as possible for as much profit as they can manage. For example, Activision knows there will be millions of idiots who will buy the next COD game even though it is literally no different to the last one, and so they know they don't need to put any effort in. Many games aren't even released as complete, instead being sold as alphas or betas and worked on for decades, all the while draining people's wallets of cash on microtransactions. It has affected many once-great game studios and has led to most years being rather uneventful for gaming.

Miyazaki's management style is also much different than in western studios. He calls it "total direction". Basically there's no middle management structure, he works directly with the individual artists and programmers etc.

I'm gonna take a moment to say that it's probably not the devs who are angry, but the senior executives who tried to increase profits by shoving thousands of micro transactions into games, and yet didn't overtake a game which refuses to integrate the pay to win mechanics that they pioneered.

Elden Ring works because it puts the FULL power in the players hands. There is no limit to what you can do or where you can go WHEN and HOW you want to go there. Every step, every enemy defeated, every boss conquered FEELS like such an accomplishment. You truly feel like YOU earned every step you took. This was my first FromSoft game and the level of frustration, and achievement i felt while playing this game was / is like no other game ive ever played in the last 25 years. IT brought back the sense of exploration and joy i hadnt felt since i was a kid. Cant wait for the next release from them.

The thing I loved about elden ring is I never knew what was coming next. I could pick up horizon cry: ragnorok and maybe not hit every story beat but I could pretty much nail down big chunks of the game .... horizon is a chosen one with crafting and map clearing, far cry is exactly the same but instead of robo-dino's you have military and god of war is a hack and slash story adventure and we've played each one enough to know how it's going to feel, what the controls are etc And yes elden ring is just an open world action adventure but the map doesn't have marks all over it, I had to look closely and see "oh, there are ruins there, lets so investigate them" or "oh, it looks like a cave enterence, lets go see. Yeah, it is, what is in here". The combat is like god of war in that you swing a weapon but the stamina bar punishes you for being greedy, the weapons have weight and the enemies are unforgiving... they're looking to kill you and not just be a lil hurdle At no point in ragnorok did I feel really challanged by a boss, I died a couple of times but nothing like what margit did to me! When I beat Margit I legit was elated, I worked my ass off and died a lot, I worked for that win ... I never had that kind of feeling from any other game outside of souls In other games, I feel like I am in a game like "here is an outpost you must clear out", "here is that random enemy, so the wilderness/jungle doesn't empty" but elden ring felt differen't like enemies weren't just scattershot ... like there is a camp set up outside limgrave on the way to the castle but it felt like it was gaurding the route and not "oh shit, we need content here", in Caelid there was a roving pack of zombies and a camp that had been destroyed by those dogs and ravens but they were picking at the corpses of the camp and near the castle is a battle happening between the wildlife and the soliders, who look like they are trying to defend the castle And I didn't think I was going to see any of that

Don't blame the devs. Blame the dev's bosses and publishers who want profits over quality.

After playing Elden Ring, I finally realized what I had been missing from games for so long. It truly invokes that childlike wonder that I first experienced with games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Back then, the worlds felt massive, explorable, and believable. I would look forward to coming home from school to beat Magus' Castle, or survive in The World Of Ruin. for nearly 20 years I had mostly forgotten that feeling until I played Elden Ring. I am 36, and I was talking to co-workers both much older and younger than me about the game, we were all sharing our own unique experiences. None of our playthroughs were the same, but the incredible thing is that we were all playing it, and equally enthralled. We would share advice back and forth, challenge each other to beat bosses, and discover nuances of the game that the others never even knew about. It was like being on the playground once again talking our friends about the Secret Worlds in Super Mario World. This game has easily cemented itself in my top 5 favorite games of all time, 3 months after release and I still look forward to playing it. I still find secrets. But most importantly, I genuinely care about seeing more of The Lands Between.

This was eloquently stated and did so without requiring an hour long ramble. I have no idea what your other content is, but I'm hitting subscribe as soon as I finish typing this.

Elden Ring does need a little bit of guidance or some sort of story log. There should have been more guidance on the main story. Most players end up resorting to RU-vid or the wiki to delve into the details, which speaks volumes about its storytelling and guidance system. They don't necessarily need to mark the map, but they do need some sort of logbook that tells the players about NPCs they've met, the information they shared, and the corresponding locations. From there, it's up to the players to decide whether to pursue those paths or not. However, the way it's currently done, NPCs often talk in codes or mention names you've only heard once, and they expect you to remember it all, which leads players to search for quest details and the actual pathway to the main story.

One thing with Elden ring that I don’t think gets talked about enough is the way it just naturally gets people discussing it because of the fact that there’s absolutely no set way to go from the beginning to the end. With other games that I share with friends they would ask me if I had done certain side quests, and most of the time the answer would either be “yeah I did that side quest inbetween these 2 main quests” or “nah I haven’t done it yet, but I know where the quest marker is for it so I can do it whenever”, with Elden Ring tho it’s more like “hey did you do this quest?” “What?! I had no idea that’s even a thing, where did you find that?”. There’s always things that either I’ve found that they haven’t, or they’ve found that I haven’t and that feels so refreshing.

I think we should also consider that From Software has maintained it's reputation for creating wonderful gaming experiences and have rightfully earned the favor of gamers. They have perfected their craft and deserve all of the praise they have been getting.

The open world is what does it for me. It feels like a MMORPG that is run on a personal server that only I have access too. Other players can invade and write messages for me to read but that is it. I am not running down a corridor that only has one path. You can run right to Caelid as a lvl 1 player, and die more than likely since you are not strong enough, but the game gives you the ability to do it. They built the world and populated it with tons of content, weapons, armor, spells and more then said "go do whatever you want". I have not beat it yet but I can already imagine myself playing again...crazy.

I enjoyed ghost wire, but I totally get the mind off collecting mode. Usually I don't like this kind of gameplay. But i loved the open world descovering side quest game style from elden ring , it reminded me a bit back to the old final fantasy parts where there were always hidden side quests.

Despite the games huge success and clearly breaking the current conventions for how western developers feel open world games need to be designed, I'm honestly a little sceptical that they'll learn the correct lesson from this. Its more likely that they'll either double down on their current approach or will make a half assed attempt to integrate some of the design elements that made Elden Ring successful but fail in the execution, at least more often than not.

As a "Western" game developer, I totally agree. Elden Ring is brilliant. Let's not forget Bioshock had a literal arrow pointing you where to go. I think developers took bioshock's themes to heart all those years back.

My single greatest annoyance regarding western games is that they hand hold and make things way too easy. What happened to a challenging and fulfilling experience? I think people have been yearning for that and it's why the souls games have been so successful

my first run of elden ring took me 80 hours to complete due to how full, open and ambigous the world is, I must have discorvered every nook and cranny in that game on my first run and i never once felt hopelessly lost or bored trying to find something to do or discover.

This made me realize why I loved Hollow Knight so much. While you do get the Endgame quest marks at some point the rest of the game is just pure exploring with no quest marks or hand-holding. The game is a true Wonder of Mystery and Exploration.

Elden Ring was made with passion by talented devs. We used to see that a lot in gaming. Decisions made by businessmen kind of ruined that. Look at what Blizzard used to be versus what they are now. They used to make next level iconic games. Now it's just remasters 1/4 of the quality of the original, microtransactions, terrible gameplay, no creativity, and just wastes of time not even worth touching. It's kind of why games like Hollow Knight and and Subnautica are so incredible made by 3 people pooling together pocket lint and nickels while $100M games are flopping.

Elden Ring perfectly displayed how „the evolution“ of gaming was not an evolution for gamers but for the market. The way that game design evolved was not to suit needs and hopes of already existing players but to broaden the market via accessibility. And while making games accessible to people with disabilities is always a great thing, it is not always a great thing to make them accessible to people who do not play. As seen with any established franchise players just have huge desires for gaming going back to „the good old days“. And as seen with the actual well done remakes like resident evil, it does work to just „go back to the good old days“. The issue is that most games are no longer actually brought to live by developers but rather by market analysts and salesmen. And this is coming from a salesman who just happens to also be a gamer. Modern games especially in AAA category just often do not have a soul anymore but rather are just very beautiful soulless creations.

I completely agree with your analysis. That's sums up quite a few jrpgs I've played, where they forget what they are and try to be 2 or 3 games at once.

I can understand why western devs are mad. But what did they expect? When you flood the system with live services, then the one game that doesn't supply said service is gona get major attention. This game just happened to come from a reputable studio with a reputable history. The best for this studio was bound to happen

I think we are generally coming to a “shift” in what is “good” game design. The same happened every time there was a breakthrough with games, say the overwhelming amount of platformers that no one remembers because they were just a retexture of basically the same thing. Then someone went and broke that concept by doing something new and evolving the formula. This is also happening now with Breath Of The Wild or Elden Ring, just that the changes are so many cause of the humongous scale of the titles. This if course throws many devs, that had the “rules” for game design drilled into them for years, for a loop as Elden ring breaks most of those.

I am a 55 year old rpg but and I am glad to see there are plenty of older gamers chiming in. Elden Ring was a masterpiece. I am currently enjoying Lords of The Fallen and suggest you all give it a shot.

Exactly, exactly and exactly! Also looking at 5:47 i'm reminded of the atmosphere of old Diablo, the first game. It had a really amazing feeling, dark and gothic, traversing the Church, going deeper and deeper, while hearing the choir of tormented souls and satanic influence corrupting what once was a symbol of holiness and purity. Sure i played it as a kid, but from what little i experienced of the second game (while apparently great) it lacked this oppressing theme.

I believe that the reason why Elden ring stands out is that you actually want to stay in an area and do everything there, you will retry the same useless boss 30 times and you’ll still come back after. The problem with most western games is that the do the same thing except they force you to stay in an area or force you to kill a boss to move on. It makes you lose the sense of it actually being you playing the game and not following the imaginary line of some developer. Elden ring gives you true freedom on how to play

the real big reason elden ring's open world works so well isn't just that it doesn't handhold, but literally every single thing you can stumble upon feels worthwhile and good. you're not following an objective marker to get a slightly upgraded piece of gear that *might* raise your DPS by 0.2%, you can legit stumble upon one of the best weapons in the game within two hours of creating your character. fromsoft wins because they designed a game that doesn't give a shit if players sequence break.

I love elden ring because it's not auto pilot, I got to the capital city I thought I was at the end. also at that point build ideas starts to flow from what I had discovered so far, I think he said it right, the best thing about the game is figuring stuff out without expecting anything, this is way more rewarding then knowing and to be forced to collect stuff. Perfect example, I played GOW, and after 10 hours of play I was bored, it feels very auto pilot, like your running down a corridor, but in that corridor sometime the path splits in 2x, but there's not really a second path or corridor, it's a distraction / collection point, so you deviate from the main path for a couple seconds, grab the chest and start going back on same path, this doesn't feel rewarding. Instead it always makes you think did I forget something am I punishing my gameplay, or if you pick the right path, you kinda realise this right away, if your on that path for more then 30 second and did not find a chest your on the right path, so turn around go on the other path, collect chest and come back again, the other thing that feels bad it's mainly because those rewards are tied with power of your character, so if you forget to collect one chest there's a possibility your health will be lower then the game intended for the rest of the game, that's just bad design,

And now that baldur's gate 3 is here, the rest of the western devs are frothing at the mouth again

100% agree except for one point. You said we don’t need more open world games. I think we don’t need more games to shoehorn in open world elements. If the game is designed around the concept of an open world i’m all for it but if it’s open world to just be open world then I agree it should just be a tighter experience

I love open world games, or at least i did before Elden Ring. I thought the quest markers made things snappy and when other games didnt have those it was hard to complete a quest correctly. Then I found Rya the Scout. She told to find an abandoned house and get back her necklace. I searched for 20 minutes max, going north to find this house snd couldn't. Figured I'd need a map and tried to find one but to no avail. Then on my fifth exploration of the general area, i go to a place I didnt normally go towards. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a strange building. I think to myself, is it a ruin?. I turn towards it and realize it's a house. In my head it feels like i found the golden egg at easter. I think to myself. "I found it! I found it! I cant believe I found it." That feeling has never happened in a ubisoft stlye of open world game where you just follow the quest marker and do whatecer the instructions tell you. I had never been so happy to find something in any game. Maybe surprised or content but nothing ever made me race towards it to find out what is was. Elden Ring did that. And I'm glad it did. More games should give you a feeling like that.

Ahh yes, the Balders Gate drama meta algo is feeding this video. Time for you to make a vid tying these together.

Elden Ring is an example of a game, where you can actually see, the hard work that game developer has put in his product. Its an example of a product, where you pay for the game, and you dont feel like you wasted your money.

What's great in Elden Ring for me: -excelent atmospheric gaming experience and challenging dificulty -complete game for a single player -huge, high lore open world -serious, gritty fantasy story -great replay value: different character builds/tons of hidden secrets

As a westerner and longtime soulsborne fan, I have to express how much I loathe western game design while mentioning my excitement at seeing Fromsoft finally being worthy of no longer being called niche. (Sorry for the rant, but I need to vent) For years I felt that western games would continue to be stereotypical first-person shooters with stereotypical T-shirt wearing everyman protagonists with five-o-clock shadow facial hair while having a stereotypically overcomplicated plot that says very little with hardly any change or development along the way, and I still strongly believe that won't change. But then here comes Elden Ring with fantastical and mystical elements to not only the story and gameplay, but also the aesthetics and setting! I finally get to once again have a sense of wonder and a real challenge that was missing in AAA video games for God knows how long!

I honestly haven't really bought many games since Dark Souls 1 due to how superior the gameplay was compared to any other game I had previously played. These are the only games where it feels like there are real stakes, and you can't just breeze through it with a few quicksaves.

To be fair the Skyrim dragon logic is the same for Elden ring. Once I fought two dragons learned they had the same pattern. Expect for different breath attacks.

One thing that doesn't get brought up a lot is the sense of community this game brought with it. During my first playthrough I would call and text friends to ask about certain quests and how to complete them, we would talk about where to find new weapons and armor, and we all had different experiences with the game. That's a huge reason the game was so successful.

I am Senior Programmer in a Western European AAA studio. I like Elden Ring and I think game designers and top managers have a lot to learn about what players actually like to play. I admire every good game's success and I'm never angry when some other (even competitor) game has more success than mine I've been working on for couple of years. I'm only occasionally upset about decisions big bosses do to ruin something I gave my soul, time and enormous effort. I believe that's the way how most regular game developers (programmers, artists, designers and their direct leads) feel. TL;DR - People have to distinguish developers, studio bosses and publishers

Life long gamer, half my life western developer here and I think Elden Ring is one of the most amazing games ever made. Maybe I have a bias for From Software since I've been a fan of their games since their PS1 debut of King's Field but regardless, Elden Ring is definitely amazing!

I’ve beating Eldin Ring 5 times … I still play it and still find new and interesting uncovered things about the game to this day … gonna play it again now lol

As a new player, the thing I’ve loved most about Elden Ring so far is that I feel like I can just do whatever I want. This journey of discovery and challenge has been my best gaming experience in years.

The lack of hand holding in elden ring in regards to map I think is part of why I pissed myself with excitement when I went down a well and was like WTF THERES A WHOLE SOCIETY DOWN HERE. And it also sometimes punishes you for exploration when you wind up somewhere under leveled so it feels like there's at least a dangerous element to the world. The amount of times I discovered a new place in elden ring and was surprised at this vast place sitting there almost undetectable, was more times than I've experienced in any other game even breath of the wild. But if the map had given it away and I hadn't stumbled upon these places it would've made it all bland and way less of a fun moment.

i know EXACTLY what you mean and i couldn't agree more on everything you said. you nailed it.

Western game usually lacks that mysterious introverted depth that Japanese game dev are very good at (well, not all). Take Silent Hill for example, although the game settings are set in a Western world, but the original team of team Silent gave it a very mysterious and disturbing atmosphere. After SH4, all the Western dev of the SH series looks like B grade movie, and the horror elements are all laughably unsophisticated. Basically, Western game dev gave their game a very bright and straight vibe in their games regardless of the genre, while Japanese game dev are like an abyss that hides many unconventional tone and style.