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Comment by nassimsoftware | Hacker News Reader

I'm new to From Soft games and decided to buy Elden Ring because it's a similar game to Zelda Breath of The Wild which I really liked.

I was afraid that the game would be too difficult. After playing 17hrs, the game is indeed difficult but there are many things you can do in the game to make it easier for yourself (Which I did because I'm more interested in exploring the world than mastering the gameplay).

For example, if you're a casual gamer focus on exploring and having small wins (beating mobs, beating mini bosses, buying weapons) in the game before tackling the suggested route.

There are guides online to help you lower the difficulty through finding certain items and buying certain things in the game. This is essentially the easy mode everyone wanted but the core souls fans.

Anyway, great game.

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I like that the extremely challenging bosses can be bypassed, but are still there for those who want it and I think frees FromSoftware to make some bosses even more challenging.

For example, there’s a spot where 2 of 3 major bosses have to be defeated. The third one is EXTREMELY difficult compared to the other two. Like, not even close. I didn’t have to beat it, having handily dispatched the other two, but I set a personal goal. I then proceeded to spend 4 hours the other night trying to beat it. I got frustrated, I got help from other players, but I just couldn’t progress.

Finally the multiplayer servers went down, and I didn’t want to quit. I started paying attention. I analyzed why I was dying, and adapted a three phase strategy for the different parts of the boss fight. First time, died, second time, died but got it to low health. Third time was the same, then finally the fourth time it all came together in harmony, and I beat the boss. The feeling I got from that was exquisite, like I had EARNED something, even if it’s just some game and mostly a waste of time.

It felt similar to when I used to raid in World of Warcraft, but without the 40+ hour a week commitment.

It’s been years since I’ve felt a sense of accomplishment anywhere close to that because of my professional career. Most of the projects I work on are pretty boring.

>This is essentially the easy mode everyone wanted but the core souls fans.

I don't think souls fans (which I am) are against 'having an easier time with the games', I think most are just against explicit difficulty settings and stuff like god mode, because they break the motif of the games. Easy mode has always been there, since DeS, in that there are multiplayer summons who can carry you through every fight.

> This is essentially the easy mode everyone wanted but the core souls fans.

This easy mode has been in every From game I’ve played. It’s the reason core fans don’t want the much-demanded difficulty settings.

This is also true for BOTW. My wife, who plays very little, grinds healing and stat increases before boss fights. I think the difficulty argument is just some dumb journo-take that guarantees easy outrage clicks.

I'd argue that Sekiro doesn't have an easy mode as such; while you can often explore different areas and alternative routes, when it comes down to it you need to master the combat system.

I'd argue it's possibly the least accessible From Software game. But, also the tightest in terms of combat.

Yes, it's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of Sekiro. I especially dislike how the posture mechanic puts time pressure on the player, because just playing more defensively for a short time will deplete the enemy posture bar far enough that the whole fight until that point was almost for nothing. It's a good game but it just feels more restrictive in many ways.

The intention is that you do enough hp damage that their posture bar doesn't drop very much at all. In practice though that doesn't happen for most people with the vast majority of boss fights - you either get good enough at the combat that you deathblow them while their hp is still high through consistent posture damage or you die before you do much hp damage to them.

Sekiro wants you to see an enemies attempts to attack you as a potential advantage. It's a very different way of playing, and I agree with you that compared to the dark souls games it can feel more restrictive (even though there is a lot of variety you just do not have access to turtle builds or spell casting builds for example).

Most of the demands for an easy mode are about accessibility concerns. If you’re working with a motor impairment you may be blocked out of ever playing a souls game.

A mode with slower enemies or more forgiving dodge timing would allow those people to experience the game in some form.

I've watched some one beat the game using wired bananas as the input method. The game just does not demand a lot from players in the form of twitch reflex or even particularly precise inputs. Basically, there may not be a accessibility menu but the design is already very accessible.

Considering that boss design is essentially "big ol' fat windup, -with a teeny pause to mess with your reaction times- then slamma-jamma into the ground" then it's pretty solvable. I'm playing Elden Ring and some monsters will basically require you to dodge roll once every 5 seconds or so. With very clear and telegraphed attacks.

And there are things you can do to make it harder too! Like limiting yourself to certain weapons, speed running or even doing a no hit run.

I hated BoTW, would I also hate Elden Ring?

I didn't like BoTW much. Possibly not for the same reason as you: I felt it was very pretty and had a lot of individually very nice game mechanics. But the world felt empty. Just a massive canvas for a bunch of little puzzle rooms that all give the same reward.

Elden Ring, on the other hand, feels quite dense and there's a massive amount of variety in that density.

Probably. The fighting mechanics are very different (and more interesting) in Elden Ring, but a ton of the fun of both games is seeing something cool on the map or off in the distance and exploring it. If that loop with its lack of explicit guidance or goals didn't work for you in BoTW it probably won't work for you here.

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