GooseMan69
Member
This game often gets credited along with Breath of the Wild as a pioneer for modern open world game design and I don’t really see it. It does some things well for sure. The hidden areas are cool, and I like the emphasis on discovering things for yourself, without the assistance of Ubi style checklists and map markers. I liked being able to do things in any order. But I dunno, it feels like most of the “discoveries” are just items that don’t even fit with my build, so they’re just useless. At some point I ended up just using a guide to find the best weapons and abilities for my build so I didn’t have to wander around aimlessly only to get rewarded with useless crap.
The world barely has any non hostile NPC’s in it. There’s no towns or settlements. For me, one of the great things about open world games is seeing a new town over the horizon. It feels like a reprieve from the sprawling forests, green fields, and mostly empty spaces that occupy open world games. I love going around to whatever unique shops a town might have, and talking to NPC’s. BOTW keeps this aspect, while still maintaining its free flowing open world. Elden Ring has basically none of this. MGS V gets derided for being empty and barren but ER doesn’t.
The only way to interact with anything in Elden Ring is through combat. Makes sense because it’s an essentially a Souls game, I know. But it became extremely dull as the game went on. There was no “discovery”, just a different enemy trying to kill me. The “what’s over there” feeling dissipated as I realized this. The game is just a series of enemy mobs and mini bosses. Most of them are very cool, no doubt. The art design is tremendous. Not denying any of that. But there is simply no world interactivity beyond direct combat.
For me, Red Dead 2 and BOTW are far superior open worlds. They actually feel alive and lived in. You can literally just walk around like a normal citizen in RDR2 and vibe with the games atmosphere because it is so filled with life.
The world barely has any non hostile NPC’s in it. There’s no towns or settlements. For me, one of the great things about open world games is seeing a new town over the horizon. It feels like a reprieve from the sprawling forests, green fields, and mostly empty spaces that occupy open world games. I love going around to whatever unique shops a town might have, and talking to NPC’s. BOTW keeps this aspect, while still maintaining its free flowing open world. Elden Ring has basically none of this. MGS V gets derided for being empty and barren but ER doesn’t.
The only way to interact with anything in Elden Ring is through combat. Makes sense because it’s an essentially a Souls game, I know. But it became extremely dull as the game went on. There was no “discovery”, just a different enemy trying to kill me. The “what’s over there” feeling dissipated as I realized this. The game is just a series of enemy mobs and mini bosses. Most of them are very cool, no doubt. The art design is tremendous. Not denying any of that. But there is simply no world interactivity beyond direct combat.
For me, Red Dead 2 and BOTW are far superior open worlds. They actually feel alive and lived in. You can literally just walk around like a normal citizen in RDR2 and vibe with the games atmosphere because it is so filled with life.
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