FromSoftware Still Struggles to Teach Players How to Play Elden Ring
Teaching players how to best play any given title can be one of the most difficult obstacles for a developer like FromSoftware. As Elden Ring has quickly proven to be the toughest FromSoftware game to date, a significant amount of difficulty comes from needing to learn the depth of Elden Ring's systems.
In a lot of cases, this is where the Soulslike community tends to step in by teaching each other secrets and hidden mechanics they've learned through online guides and videos. Utilities like fan wikis, content creators like VaatiVidya or Iron Pineapple, or Elden Ring guides on news websites, can be helpful filling in the gaps left by FromSoftware, but seeing feedback now could help ease that burden in future games.
Elden Ring Player Creates Wolverine with Regenerative HP Talismans and Hookclaws
Several of FromSoftware's older titles have a history of poorly explaining mechanics, or simply not having proper explanations for critical information. One of the most notable examples is the world tendency system in Demon's Souls, which persisted into the recent remake with little in-game explanation. It's a complex system that rewards players for better play and punishes them for dying, and most playthroughs will likely run into the hardest possible experience without realizing it.
This problem also persists for features as critical as leveling, with a lack of explanation for the utility of stats that can be upgraded like «resistance» in Dark Souls or «adaptability» in Dark Souls 2. The former is essentially useless while the latter is key to making sure dodge rolls have the invincibility frames needed to survive tough encounters. It should be noted that this isn't a critique of undiscovered secrets or items in a game like Demon's
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