Elden Ring.txt

Elden Ring ---Deepak Kumar

	Elden Ring incentivizes you to explore but just doesn't care if you do or not. And that's the best Cathartic way to do it.



I saw "YOU DIED" on my screen 27 times before I killed Margit, The Fell Omen. 27 TIMES for the first Boss! And that's even the low bar. I've read and saw streamers and reviewers repeat the fight 50+ times before they could conquer him. And that's just the FIRST of many such senarios! I mean seriously!? 

------If you've played the souls games before you are already familiar with half the game.

	But that's what you have to expect when you dive into this game from FROM SOFTWARE. What else can I write? If you've played the souls games before you are already familiar with half the game mechanics and Elden Ring just feels like the next natural step for the soulsborn Genre. It's not Breath of the wild so stop comparing them both. You can't run for the the end game from the start. Elden ring make you work before it gives you bits and pieces of it's world. Much of the exciting part is locked behind the main and side stories. This game is unlike any you've played before. And I can say it without taking any words back. It is made to be explored. Each and every corner. It's like FROM SOFTWARE is challenging the curious quirk of players. Along with the nature and structure of the open world games that plauge the industries nowadays. Even if we forget the difficulty for a moment. This game still triumphs in several areas that many others fail to do so. 

 	For so long we have come to expect the quest being tracked or noted in some kind of a log or Journal. Not Her my friends. There is no journal. No Quest tracker. Barely any hand holding. So many NPC to keep a note of. And their questlines to follow. So many memorable boss encounters. And many more key items. Sometimes It kind of feels like a partial looter-slasher except in an openworld soulsborne game from the guys who invented the genre with a heavy emphasis on RPG. And that's just the best. 

Fighting, Survival and Leveling up

	The main drive of the game is to stay alive. Exhaust you runes as soon as you can. And then gather them back up again. Survive at any cost, because your just a lowly tarnished which can be killed by even the grunts roaming the world. Especially if you picked the wretch class. I admire and pity the guys who picked Wretch. I salute you my friends. 

	But fighting and surviving long enough is not all you'll be doing. Because There is also crafting, upgrading, Leveling up your stats, and collecting player's lifeline flasks and sacred tears. And then there is this world's lore created by George R.R. Martin. So one can be sure that the story this time around is also top notch. Previous souls game have always struggled with coveying their story and worldbuilding. But not this time. Infact I would say it's the best in all the games from FROM SOFTWARE. Specially with it's hidden endings that vastly change depending on who you helped, fought or spared. 

Players have to work for their Cathartic meal.
	
	Gems Like Elden ring are really far and few nowadays reminding us that players don't always need a constant spoon feeding that precious lore, gameplay tips or story to keep them engaged. Let your players be free. We know that you have invested millions maybe even billions of dollars making the game which itself takes years in the Oven. You want us all to take note of every thing there is to take note of. So the Developers shove it down our throat by quest markers, journal entries and in extreme cases by constantly marking it on the screen for us to remember. FROM SOFTWARE just...doesn't care. They built such a deep, layered and difficult to live in world and yet they make it so hard to explore. And that's the best Cathartic way to do it. Players in Elden ring have to work for their every meal. Even with a guide or help from the net it's not easy to navigate or reach places or ending they desire. Some quest like THOPS, the NPC in Liurnia have you doing jumps and parkour on the rooftops of the Raya Lucaria Academy. Totally Opitonal thing and yet a big part of his quest and a large hidden part of that map. You can find one of the best staffs and gears if you follow that path. I am writing and saying it again but all of this---totally optional. Some of it is so well hidden that players either find it out by follwing a guide or by sheer stroke of bad or good luck. And for most parts the reward for doing so is rarely dissapointing. You'll always find something or someone useful for your hellish journey. And that's the incentivization is what propels them to keep shiming the ledges, hit every possible wall for a hidden passage, fight every grunt enemy for a larva tear and exhaust the extensie dialiouges for hints or secrets in many quests. 

	The year had just had it's couple of months and I think that we've already gotten our Game of the year. Elden Ring is a Genre defining game like Red Redemption 2 or Witcher 3. It has already cemented itself as the pinnacle of what gaming could be and also the idea that sure online game are cool and all but the best stories are told in a single player games. FROM SOFTWARE has told us that there are still studios and Devlopers who are challenging the monotonus pattern and sheep herd mentallity of today's gaming Industry because they believe in players and they belive in the games they make. And that's why Elden ring will be remembered for years and years to come. And I hope that Games like these never fade away.