From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[fork]

Even GRRM just calls it a sequel to Dark Souls. He also says that his work with it was done "years ago" and that his job more or less just was to create a setting for them to place the game in.
That's probably the final nail in the coffin for the people who genuinely believed it'd have some deep and engaging (lol) story.

I think the vast majority of people just expect Dark Souls but open world and with some neat worldbuilding.

I feel like I must point out again how retarded "Dark Souls but open world" sounds.

The best thing about Dark Souls is that it is not open world. Exploration like in Dark Souls is not possible in a true open world. There may be some hope left that the dungeons might resemble Dark Souls' interconnected level design somewhat, but I seriously doubt it.

I have a feeling that it won't be open world in the sense of a flat grass field on a rectangular map. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a bunch of different large open areas like Darkroot Garden in DS1 or the poison swamp in DS3, except these areas will be connected to a number of other similar areas.

Perhaps, but that would still make it hard to even come close to the greatness that is the first half of Dark Souls in terms of interconnectedness and different routes, which should be the goal to aim for.

 

[Hassar]

Even GRRM just calls it a sequel to Dark Souls. He also says that his work with it was done "years ago" and that his job more or less just was to create a setting for them to place the game in.
That's probably the final nail in the coffin for the people who genuinely believed it'd have some deep and engaging (lol) story.

I think the vast majority of people just expect Dark Souls but open world and with some neat worldbuilding.

I feel like I must point out again how retarded "Dark Souls but open world" sounds.

The best thing about Dark Souls is that it is not open world. Exploration like in Dark Souls is not possible in a true open world. There may be some hope left that the dungeons might resemble Dark Souls' interconnected level design somewhat, but I seriously doubt it. Like, even Sekiro, which was _not_ open world, while still having good level design, had nowhere near as many *woah* moments as Dark Souls, and neither had Bloodborne. Level design-wise, From have been on a decline ever since Dark Souls, and I doubt they'll turn that around with Elden Ring.

So in my view, there's no reason to be excited, because there are enough mediocre open world games (which all are not worth playing) already.

This is true. Dark Souls’ genius was in creative and challenging enemy placement in comparison to player/character capability and player knowledge. It is definitely not open world.

I keep returning to this, but to me Miyazaki has a creative block and is embracing it. Makes for fun games, but it is probably why Elden Ring looks like Dark Souls 4.

 

[Latelistener]

Open world means basically the ability to go in any direction as you see fit. Dark Souls does that well. How many bosses can you access from the first bonfire? Dark Souls IS an open world game. On top of that it's almost seamless like Gothic was.

What you're talking about is a completely different subject. They're trying to make the surface level more wide and open. It's questionable, but there isn't much point making the same game over and over again, so I'm glad they're experimenting.

 

[Lutte]

Open world means basically the ability to go in any direction as you see fit.

Open world is one of these terms used a lot in gaming that has ""implied meanings"" beyond just the literal meaning of the two words collated together. Like, have you ever seen people describe rogue likes, one of the oldest genre of PC gaming, as being "open world games" ? It almost never happens, even though every single roguelike would fit the literal definition behind "open world".

Like another one of those bullshit terms (immersive sims) it tends to be associated with a few specific game lineages, although it has occasional uses that go beyond said lineages. Something is open world if it's reminiscent of sandboxes like GTA (for the more action types) or TES (for the more RPG-ish). You may see games that have nothing to do with these being associated with open world in masturbatory discussions about the term but it's mostly invoked in reviews when games remind you of said sandboxes, just as "immersive sims" really means "anything even remotely inspired by Looking Glass games. Even if the inspiration doesn't go beyond skin deep.".

And thus, in most people's mind when they invoke this stupid term, they have content expectations that go beyond just "finding a few dungeons in a Zelda like map" which is what Elden Ring is going to be. Because open world in their mind means something like "huge world" and "lots of quests/checklist content". Dark Souls never even came close to fitting said expectations. It's literally open world, but it's not open world, see?

 

[toroid]

Remember this shit from when they were marketing DS2 as being more open than DS1?
https://www.digitalspy.com/videogam...re-freedom-can-start-halfway-if-brave-enough/

Director Yui Tanimura said that more open progression was a focus, and teased that players won't have to go to certain places in a specific order, as with the original.

The reality was that locations and items were locked behind progression gates (stats, souls, bosses, keys, whatever) even more so than in DS1. Didn't they originally tout DS3 as being more open world as well?

 

[Caim]

The first half of DS2 isn't very linear, so what he said is kind of correct. The second half of the game is pretty much a corridor though. DS3 is more linear in the beginning with a few side paths here and there, but those are more like branches off the main path. DS1 is open at the beginning, narrows after ringing the bells, then opens up into three additional branches after getting the Lordvessel (Four Kings can be done before ringing either of the bells). Demon's Souls was just straight up five linear paths.

How Elden Ring has been presented suggests that it will have more open terrain with a dungeon here and there, ala Breath of the Wild. It remains to be seen whether they will actually do that or that this belief is the product of hype.

 

[Child of Malkav]

DkS2 is by far and large the most non linear of the Soulsborne games, it's not even funny. Aekiro was pretty open as well.

 

[Lutte]

Remember this shit from when they were marketing DS2 as being more open than DS1?
https://www.digitalspy.com/videogam...re-freedom-can-start-halfway-if-brave-enough/

Director Yui Tanimura said that more open progression was a focus, and teased that players won't have to go to certain places in a specific order, as with the original.

The reality was that locations and items were locked behind progression gates (stats, souls, bosses, keys, whatever) even more so than in DS1. Didn't they originally tout DS3 as being more open world as well?

DS2 is less linearly structured. You can bypass the equivalent of the lord vessel stage of DS1 in DS2 just by accumulating souls instead of killing the required bosses if you want to, and accumulating souls is very easy in a game that gives you the ability to refight the boss you want again when you want with the bonfire ascetic mechanism (all people who speedrun the game, with or without glitch abuse, just farm the rotten a few times. Takes a few minutes and poof you're done.).
DS2 does have a lot of stuff that is locked by things like branches of yore and those wall rock thingies but it's mostly optional items and secret rooms, not whole areas, that are blocked, and those bits can safely be ignored and don't affect the actual linearity of your game pathing.

On the other hand DS3 is probably the most linear of the modern From games indeed.

 

[toroid]

At the beginning of DS1, with only the Master Key and without killing a single boss, you have access to over 50% of the areas of the base game. (uh, forgot the Asylum Demon, but you get what I'm saying. the game is quite open)

 

[Shrimp]

What people think Elden Ring will be: Dark Souls IV
What Elden Ring actually will be: Dark Souls III 2

 

[d1r]

What people think Elden Ring will be: Dark Souls IV
What Elden Ring actually will be: Dark Souls III 2

That would be horrible indeed. No one needs another Dark Souls 3.

 

[Lutte]

What people think Elden Ring will be: Dark Souls IV
What Elden Ring actually will be: Dark Souls III 2

Elden Ring has been cooking for longer than most souls games in recent years. From had been concurrently devving DS3 before DS2 even released, and then devving Bloodborne concurrently with DS3. Their current dev cycle seems a tad more normal this time.

It would be really nuts if Elden Ring ended up as DS3++.

 

[toro]

What people think Elden Ring will be: Dark Souls IV
What Elden Ring actually will be: Dark Souls III 2

This is my feeling as well but I did not want to post it first.

FromSW will probably never go back to the slow and methodical combat from DaS1 and DaS2.

 

[Morality Games]

What people think Elden Ring will be: Dark Souls IV
What Elden Ring actually will be: Dark Souls III 2

Elden Ring has been cooking for longer than most souls games in recent years. From had been concurrently devving DS3 before DS2 even released, and then devving Bloodborne concurrently with DS3. Their current dev cycle seems a tad more normal this time.

It would be really nuts if Elden Ring ended up as DS3++.

It's going to be DS3++.

Maybe a bit more open, maybe a bit more interactive. But DS3++.

It's pretty evident they set out to make something more ambitious to subsequently realize they didn't know how.

 

[Silverfish]

I have to admit, DS1 looks pretty linear when you omit entire areas and connective routes.

 

[toro]

Bonus:

 

[toro]

Somebody is messing around with the screenshots on Bandai Namco's site. Some are old, some are new.

 

[Wunderbar]

New Minecraft update looks good.

 

[cvv]

I feel like I must point out again how retarded "Dark Souls but open world" sounds.

It's not "pure" open world but calling it so certainly isn't retarded. DS1 almost meets both general criteria - you can freely travel around without a linear, level-based progression (even before the final boss you can easily go back to the beginning) and the world is continuous, i.e. not chopped up into instances. Well with two exceptions, that's why it's "almost" open world.

So far all FromSoft games had at least one or two loading screens, the world was not completely continuous. I'm curious to see if Miyazaki drops that for ER.

 

[Villagkouras]

So far all FromSoft games had at least one or two loading screens, the world was not completely continuous. I'm curious to see if Miyazaki drops that for ER.

King's Field 3, I think, is completely continuous, not even one loading screen.

 

[cvv]

So far all FromSoft games had at least one or two loading screens, the world was not completely continuous. I'm curious to see if Miyazaki drops that for ER.

King's Field 3, I think, is completely continuous, not even one loading screen.

Lemme rephrase: "All FS games since Miyazaki working there".

 

[Villagkouras]

Yeah, I know that's what you meant, I just wanted to point it out, it's a commentable feat.

Especially, considering its age and hardware.

 

[Machocruz]

My prediction and hope: world's structure and atmosphere will evoke Shadow of the Colossus*. Very handcrafted, navigable via geographical landmarks. Open range that funnels seamlessly, via corridors, canyons, platforms, etc into largeish, distinct "hotspot" regions where a major dungeon or encounter will be situated. Significant changes in elevation. The usual From motif of a dead or dying world shrouded in mystery.

*To which Dark Souls is Ico - a series of "corridors"

 

[Great Deceiver]

My prediction and hope: world's structure and atmosphere will evoke Shadow of the Colossus*. Very handcrafted, navigable via geographical landmarks. Open range that funnels seamlessly, via corridors, canyons, platforms, etc into largeish, distinct "hotspot" regions where a major dungeon or encounter will be situated. Significant changes in elevation. The usual From motif of a dead or dying world shrouded in mystery.

*To which Dark Souls is Ico - a series of "corridors"

I don't think From has the chops to accomplish anything near SotC's organic world. Wouldn't mind being wrong though!

 

[Machocruz]

I don't think From has the chops to accomplish anything near SotC's organic world. Wouldn't mind being wrong though!

Geographically, it really is marvelous. There hasn't been anything like it. But do you mean they lack the technical chops or creative?