In an adventure game, the design of the scenarios supposes the success or failure of the proposal. It is not only because of the feeling of discovery when a new space opens up before us, but also because of how enemies appear, how their enigmas and challenges are presented to us. That said, how does Elden Ring do it? Is it the best that he has created From Software?
If you could phone Hidetaka Miyazaki right now to advise him on what his next game should look like, would you tell him to go open world or go back to Dark Souls or Bloodborne? The big difference between the Midlands and Yharnam is the design of your world and your map. And the truth is that the experience changes a lot between one game and another. Yes, we have a similar gameplay, a similar way to improve our character… But everything feels radically different. Of course, it’s unfair to compare Bloodborne to Elden Ring. Miyazaki has come to such a fantastic result after Dark Souls, while his 2022 game is his first attempt at creating something so huge and free. Honestly, and although he believes that Bloodborne has more benefits than Elden Ring, he would tell him to insist on this proposal, and why? Well, because I want you to continue experimenting with some maps that have fascinated me for the reasons that I will tell you below.
First is the use of color. The Necrolimbo is green, Caelid is red, Liurnia is blue, Altus Plateau is golden, the Peaks of the Giants are white, and Leyndell works as a patella between these two zones combining both colors. The way in which it differentiates its areas through powerful and absolutely differential tones works to fully engage you. in the environment of each region. I remember with particular force the arrival in Caelid. The way its sky is stained with blood is so scary that it even makes you go back and prefer to return to Necrolimbo. However, it is extremely relaxing and even nostalgic to take Torrentera to Liurnia, all because of that humid cerulean color of her sky. This use of color is new in Miyazaki’s imagination, and it works thanks to the open world, by being able to have a wide expanse of land in which to recreate ourselves with the observation of the environment.
This very interesting novelty is combined with an idea that is repeated over and over again in all From Software’s work: the donut design. You know, I’m talking about the areas where you start at one point, go around the entire perimeter of the area, and come back to that same spot. opening a door. But something has changed: that during that journey you find more bosses, more secret areas, more dimensional portals that send you to new worlds, more enigmas and more reasons to continue exploring than ever. Also, now that donut has a much larger scale, and Hidetaka Miyazaki takes the opportunity to add new elements in the holes of her donut. Well, as the Tao says, the vase has value for the emptiness of its interior, not because of the material that gives it shape.
The open world has enriched the maps
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The swampy lake of central Liurnia, the rotten scarlet sea of Caelid, the unreachable streets of the heart of Leyndell, and even the ocean and clouds that are embraced by the Midlands are that emptiness that gives meaning to the game world. yes, it is a metaphor of a circle or a ring, which in turn contains that lesson of the Tao in its relationship with the fullness and emptiness of the vase. All this poetic beauty of its maps is complemented by some sites that are a novelty for From Software’s aesthetics. Astel, by means of his kite, buried the cities of the Nox. Underground, he decided to rule them by building on top of the underground fake starry sky. That is, in the depths of the earth is space. However, if we examine the description of the Azure Comet, we understand that in the cosmos there is the darkness of the eternal.
That is, when descending what we are actually doing is going up into space. And when we look into space, what we do is descend into the depths. This gives us a set of overwhelming and disconcerting emotions. The first time we used the elevator to go down to where the Uhls live, our jaws dropped. The elevator takes its time to reach the firm so that we rejoice in its false stars. He locks us on the falling platform after letting us roam freely through the Midlands, and forces us to watch. It’s amazing. In my opinion, it is one of those moments that I will never forget.
Elden Ring is entirely composed of opposites that are relatedThe open against the closed, the empty against the full, up against down, red against blue… Elden Ring is entirely made up of opposites that relate to each other, something that, of course, is also in its characters. It is surprising how such a particular concept is capable of directing the creation of the maps of an open world game; and it is precisely the concept that makes them unique. Going now to something easier to understand, that donut-like design of its routes also works great to confront the linear with what is not. This is something that we see already from the Necrolimbo. The presence of the wild gentleman generates that central point that forces us to walk in a linear way around him. The bottoms of the cliffs draw straight corridors in contrast to the countryside. And when we get to Stormshroud, Elden Ring enjoys making us go from narrow corridors to larger spaces and, from there, catapults us to what we enjoyed in his day in Anor Londo: walking through structures.
Walking through roofs and buttresses
The gothic style is wonderful. Their cathedrals want to have light walls, have rosettes and steps on their walls so that the light penetrates. To lighten the load, what is done is to resort to an exciting recipe book of structural solutions; essentially, to the buttresses. If you don’t know what a buttress is, know that you’ve walked through dozens of them in the Elden Ring. It is these towers from which a small passage starts that communicates blindly with a wall. They serve so that the load supported by the wall is transferred to that vertical element and can be build without so much thickness. By now having Sekiro’s jump at our disposal, Hidetaka Miyazaki has been able to create much more intricate scenarios thanks to these buttresses.
By now having the Hidetaka Miyazaki jump available, he has been able to create much more intricate scenarios.The Stormveil Castle or the Raya Lucaria Academy are enriched thanks to them, to how their narrowness is complemented by access to a wide ceiling or a window that gives us access to a room. But it has gone further. Using this idea, he has created both the Hieratic Tree descent and Elphael descent. Personally, I love this stretch. Hidetaka Miyazaki likes to design drops. Yeah, I wish it would learn to give us better platforming mechanics, but it is what it is. This is the longest and most intentional descent in the entire game, because we start at the top of a tree and reach its very roots. However, we have spent the entire game looking at another tree from its very bottom.
I mean, here’s a new confrontation through the gameplay and map design. As slaves of the Greater Will, we look at the representative of a god that enslaves. But when we reach the end of the adventure, we dominate another similar one, we reach its core and there we find the only two characters with a heart in the entire adventure: Miquella and Malenia. Elphael, by itself, is a very interesting site. It is full of nooks and crannies, secrets, corners and places to study. It is perfect for many civilizations to prosper and find their home, to slowly explore and enjoy. Of course, I have really missed a hook like the one in Sekiro to correct the many problems that the jump has in this game.
The fights of contrasts of the Elden Ring map
I wanted to bring together in this article all the reasons why the Middle Lands, through the soul of its maps, is such a magical journey. It’s great how the whole territory has cohesion with each other being so different north from south, how it manages to offer enjoyment both in its depths and in its skies. As everything is facing each other, unity is generated between its parts in an almost magical way. That is why when you have already seen everything, when you have already covered every inch of their territory, the same feeling of emptiness with which their world plays remains inside you. But, as in the maps of the Elden Ring, there is beauty in that emptiness even though it contains the darkness of the Abyss. And now it’s your turn, what has been your favorite Elden Ring map and what is the one you would never want to step on again in your life?
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