The release of a new From Software title always rekindles an old workhorse, all geared towards greater fruition to a wider audience, with two elements above all: accessibility and the much vaunted easy mode. This discussion starts from the preconception that any work given birth by Hidetaka Miyazaki is a concentrate of pure evil and that underneath, he enjoys seeing the various unfortunates suffer in the lands of Lordran, Yharnam or in the Interregnum.
There are many articles and discussions focused on this topic, almost always with a cry for help at the base towards greater clarity and simplicity of the game mechanics as well as less difficulty (because let’s face it, in the end this is what you would like).
This article, on the other hand, goes in a completely different direction, focusing on a necessary difficulty in every sense, a type of product that stands out from the crowd and above all on a part of the public that does not give up in the face of adversity and undaunted decides to continue.
Is Elden Ring a perfect title? Obviously not, suffering from the same problems that afflict the souls and the like since 2009, between camera dancer, deadly interpenetrations and the lack of clarity of the quests. If on the first two it might be a good idea to start making these shortcomings weigh even in the review phase, given that more than ten years have passed since their appearance, on the third we can discuss and it is perhaps from this point that we should start: Is Elden Ring Really Difficult?
As many of you already know, the answer is a firm no. No game is ever really “difficult” in the strict sense, and even less so are From Software titles, which can be easily opened like a can in no time at all if you use a necessary tool: your head.
If there is one thing that Elden Ring manages to do (it applies to all souls, but let’s focus on this) it is to make the player directly participate not only in the events but also in the bowels of the system itself, to understand its parameters and strive to face the difficulties. that are placed in front. The resulting sense of challenge and subsequent fulfillment is one of the reasons for From Software’s success, also because in the meantime, the market has flattened out terribly.
The videogame world is made up of fashions and in the last period we have had that of the open world with a myriad of titles very similar to each other in nature but there are few who have really found a square. The original Assassin’s Creed has certainly opened a trend that we still find today, vast environments in which to spend tens of hours, perhaps even hundreds, in which to gallop between points of interest to discover who knows what new structure or enemy.
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Even the last Guerrilla work, Horizon Forbidden West is part of this trend, purely commercial works and open to a wide audience also because, failing with a triple A these days is not an element to be taken into consideration. Since this type of Open World appeared, there have been rare cases in which we have found something formidable, that variation capable of making the game environment unique but not because, for once, quantity rhymes with quality but because it was possible to make sense of the hours invested in that stock.
The quality of time spent in a work is a concept that has begun to emerge in recent years and certainly Elden Ring is the one that holds the highest ratio. But has this figure been achieved simply because the elements on the screen are innumerable? No or at least, not only for that, but because it is the player himself who discovers new areas or understands how to enter a seemingly inaccessible building.
This is not only due to the obvious lack of indications but because it is the game itself that comes up against thanks to the excellent level design, suggesting for example what could be hidden under the protruding branches. In reality, the lack of indications is not even so true: even with the game map entirely empty, the points where it is possible to retrieve the fragments are marked and once acquired, a little attention is enough to find the points of interest. Yet why is all this seen by one part of the public as something negative?
In the field of design, ergonomics is a key concept for which a structure that is simple to use and understand is preferred. Still, sometimes you get attached to something terribly complicated or hate something that is very intuitive. The concept of “experience” is fundamental and is what allows you to perceive as pleasant to use something that in reality is not.
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Obviously, the opposite is also true but it is essential to understand how why all the edges of the game interface and the various shortcomings of the menu are not even perceived by those who are immersed in the game mood, precisely because the perceived experience is still pleasant. . The question of design and perception will perhaps be a topic for another article, but going forward, we can associate experiences with habits and if you are used to a certain approach, almost remotely controlled in many works, it is quite clear how in front of Elden Ring you are may find it a little uncomfortable.
Does the latest From Software work therefore need clearer indications to understand where to go? Elden Ring does everything to come up against us, starting from the Places of Grace able to indicate the main Lord and the direction to take. As if that weren’t enough, we can also use objects called “Mimic Grace”, which do exactly the same thing if we are in the middle of nowhere. We have a very precise map on what it is possible to find and very often only a minimum of foresight is enough to see something that seems really hidden. Let’s not forget the quests and the various NPCs, able to show us the way to follow or how to get to certain areas. It doesn’t always happen, but most of the time we can easily guess where to go.
So, on an exploratory level, you can be quite calm and live a huge map in serenity even if there are no indicators above (which we can still add). We come to the quests. Elden Ring is the most intricate From Software title on a narrative level, with many different stories and purposes that intersect like the branches of the Mother Tree. The various NPCs are also part of this but since Demon’s Souls, they have come a long way!
Never as in this case the expressions and dialogues are clear, at least in most of the times. Leaving out a few pieces of the puzzle for Nepheli, the rest can be reconstructed but always paying a little more attention than what we usually play. The famous logbook would not be bad to be clear, also because by its very nature, such a vastness of dialogues and suggestions can be lost from sight.
This is where counters are of vital importance and this brings us to another point: difficulty in the strict sense of the word. There is no way to get around it: Elden Ring is the simplest From Software job ever, but not because it is enough to give the bosses a couple of hits to defeat them but because we have all the tools possible to face any adversity. It is the game that wants to help us and in every way, from the construction of the builds to the exploratory freedom granted: Elden Ring talks to us constantly; you just need to know and want to listen. This is how, by exploring all the available assets, one can understand how the bleeding effect is among the most powerful statuses or that witchcraft is “broken” as always. The beauty is that all this information is present in the various descriptions.
Therefore, you can safely explore without losing content and we have all the tools to face any adversity. But having all of this is apparently not enough. Going back to the beginning of the article, each From Software title is accompanied by the request for an easy mode or at least a selection of the difficulty. Obviously, it is a request that makes little sense and why it goes far beyond “the author’s choice”. Bandai Namco marches a little above it, transforming the alleged difficulty into a pure marketing slogan yet the “prepare to die” is the most necessary in these works and all this can be explained by a motoring comparison.
Assetto Corsa is the only driving simulator to arrive on console, playable with a pad but which expresses its best only through an excellent combination of steering wheel and pedals. Those who have come from Need For Speed for years could find themselves in difficulty due to the complexity shown, from the dosage of the pedals to learning real driving techniques to run at record times. Despite the commitment, however, many users find themselves with a handful of flies, never managing to establish a time necessary to be in the first places on the grid or, more simply, failing to stay on the track. In this case, is it easier to criticize Kunos Simulations about the accessibility to the driving experience or to realize that simply more effort should be made?
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Elden Ring is a super car, but not in the “elitist” sense of the term but in the attention it takes to get the most out of it. It is impossible to approach a McLaren Senna if you have driven a Panda for years and in the same way, you can have difficulty with the latest From Software epic if you come from years of titles in which you are literally accompanied by the hand. What is needed is to roll up your sleeves and learn, investing some extra time but that will be amply rewarded with a unique experience of its kind. In life no one gives us anything but in the videogame field it is possible to choose what to face according to your preferences. Elden Ring is a pure hardcore experience aimed at an audience that wants to get involved.
Let’s say Miyazaki goes crazy and decides to add the difficulty selection. What would players who decided to use an easy mode face? Probably only 10% of the stock. You would get to the bosses very easily (that’s already the case with the Marika Statues but let’s postpone it) and they would defeat them with a couple of hits so yes, most of the audience would reach the end credits, but what experience would they get? How was a fight with a divinity experienced?
Everyone is free to approach the title as they see fit and this is also the beauty of Elden Ring, but the easy mode would further flatten everything: first of all there would be no need to learn the enemies’ moveset, completing the clashes without literally having treasured the lessons learned; you would not use all the tools made available by the software house, becoming simple decorative trappings and above all, one would become incredibly powerful in a very short time, destroying even the narrative fabric.
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The difficulty in facing Malenia for example is the key to understanding Elden Ring and why an easy mode is not needed: it is a terrifying but highly readable boss, with many frames of preparation for attacks that allow you to defend yourself quickly, a very powerful status but that it is possible to bypass and also the regeneration of health. It seems like something insurmountable, especially in the “Goddess of Rotting” phase, yet she can be defeated very easily (“break” in jargon) once you understand the mechanisms. Understanding is the key concept of From Software titles, and Elden Ring is no different.
We need complete player participation, “we play with the game” and it is not the game that plays for us. There has always been talk of an Elden Ring capable of dictating a new line for future open worlds regarding the number and quality of the contents but perhaps, it is precisely from the difficulty that we must start but not in the parametric sense of damage suffered and inflicted, but rather in involving the player to the challenges he will have to face, leading him to think about how to overcome them. In a nutshell, it’s not that From Software’s games are difficult, it’s that all the others are too easy.
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