As someone who's been playing these games for over a decade, and has been "that guy" who buys Dark Souls for his friends to get them into the genre, I can say you've accurately put that feeling of being a fan into words. The swell of accomplishment in watching FromSoft rise to the top but putting out nothing but quality games (and Dark Souls II) is nothing short of amazing. Elden Ring might have some issues, but just the existence of such a massive ambitious title coming out in today's market and actually succeeding, is something I didn't think I could see happen.
You’re so underrated man, fantastic video. I got into souls games back in November 2021 and finished DS Remastered and DS3 by January 2022. It is now one of my favorite game franchises, and I’ve been loving Elden Ring. Couldn’t recommend these games enough. All my friends who never played dark souls have been playing Elden Ring and it’s beautiful to witness.
As the #1 "don't chase trends" guy, I knew we'd eventually get an elden ring video. Really hoping this is the gaming industry's [and especially a few specific companies} wake-up call. Great vid fav.
@@Z0iD_exe Sort of. Of all the 343 games, Halo 4 at LEAST felt like an honest effort, despite its many faults. There are a lot of positives about it, as well as negatives. Halo 5 was a straight up slap in the face. Halo Infinite's campaign was major damage control for a very troubled development, and its multiplayer was brought down both by the main game's technical failings as well as just straight up greed.
This game really threw me off when I first started playing it The combat and hands off nature of the game really turned me off at first but I kept trudging because It’s the first game I’ve purchased since getting gamepass. Man I fucking love this game. It has the most interesting open world I’ve ever played. I spent so much time comparing it to Skyrim and it truly surpasses it in almost every way.
Dude maybe this video isn't getting the same attention as your Halo stuff, but I'm glad you made this. I've never played a Souls game, but my friends are just like yours. They are all pulling for me to start with Elden Ring. Love the insight and review of the game as well as the gaming industry.
Back in 2009 and 2011 when the souls style was rising, it was not a huge hit and did not have much media attention. However it was still considered revolutionary and groundbreaking, now it is shining alone as the industry is creatively dead and bankrupt.
"as the industry is creatively dead and bankrupt" That's pure projection dude. You're not playing nearly enough indie and middle-market games if you truly believe that nonsense.
I'm a young UX designer, and I've wanted to work in video games for years. I followed a bunch of UX designers and one of them was that UX designer that you quoted. I was incredibly disappointed when he said that and so many industry people agreed with what was said. As a UX designer you need to leverage industry trends but also be willing to break away from them to make something unique and accessible for your audience. Its incredibly concerning, as someone who will likely enter the games industry as a junior designer, that my product managers and senior designers could share this incredibly narrow/uninspired view on how to approach design.
I also bought the game for my brother who had never even thought about picking up a souls game and we co-oped the entire way through. Elden Ring is a wonderful experience.
Beautifully spoken. I've watched as the video game industry became less about how can we be better, and more about how we can be more successful; A foolish, flawed philosophy that ends up biting many developers on the ass.
This is the kinda video that's perfect to watch right before getting back into the game- it gets me hype! I need it to make it thru the haligtree😱Excellent video with really well articulated points!
This is actually something i have been trying to convey for a long time, when games like DOOM showed that following market trend was not necessary to he successful, but Elden Ring is the first success that is different enough from the market to really make that idea come to light. Excellent video, cant wait to see the review. Side note, i am the big sad because my computer cannot run elden ring. As such, i cannot play it. But i want to so bad. Sekiro was my first attempt at a soulsborne and i never finished it. But that is likely because i was more interested in the setting than the game and i was deterred by the extremely narrow gameplay. Elden Ring is the first soulsborne game that makes me want to dive into the gameplay and RPG systems of the genre, and it being dark fantasy helps with that.
There is nothing pioneering or different about elden ring. Fromsoft has used the same formula for the last 7 games they've created all to huge success. No offense but this comment perfectly encapsulates why I think this video is so stupid. Op here freely admits he's never played a souls game, he tried sekiro back n a while ago but never finished it....... These people, who haven't played the last 6 games over more than a decade, discover elden ring and are like "wow what a different and unique game" it's fucking laughable. My brothers in christ, there is nothing new or unique about this, it's been going on for MORE THAN A DECADE. Stop acting like this is some new big thing when you jump on the bandwagon 10 years after the fact hahah. I'm not gatekeeping, I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy or appreciate the quality of elden ring. It's just dumb, as a person who's played these games with my friends for nearly 15 years, to hear people babble on like this so new thing. Removing your ignorance and discovering new things to you does not make these things new or unique or a "shake-up". Elden ring is essentially the same game I've played for over 10 years, just with a bigger map.
i think the most important point you made in this video is that its not about making every game play like elden ring now, its about illustrating that there is no one game audience, no one way to make any game or genre. the best thing about gaming is it's variety, there a genre or game you don't like, well find something else, something is bound to resonate with you. you wouldn't have that if all games were the same with different coats of paint. as someone who personally does not enjoy this game or most souls games (with the exception of nioh2 and bloodborne) I can atleast see why people love this game, and honestly seeing tons of people enjoy it makes me want to keep trying to get into it. I'm just way to into sifu right now (another game that's great despite of how different it is from what the so called gamer likes)
It is actually a miracle how From Software manages to sell their hardcore game design, and Elden Ring being the game it is, in this industry! Elden Ring is totally a saviour as you say :)
I'm really glad I gave this game a shot. I always had the wrong idea of fromsoft games and even now when I could name literally 100 times more flaws than I could when I knew nothing, I still deeply enjoy the game. The only part of the game I would say is straight up bad is PVP in every single aspect. The annoying way they force you to do co-op also plays into it, but the balance is really really really bad, connections aren't good, people play in very annoying ways which goes back to balancing and also just in general how the pvp system works. The only comparable PVP I can think of is CoD (obviously not because of gameplay). There are a lot of options to choose from that aren't balanced as well as they could be, the sense of casual competitiveness is there but it inevitably boils down to people trying to out-annoy each other, and the ratio of types of people is about the same with people who just want to cheese being the majority. I tried to give PVP a chance but it's just so bad. It even causes the cool weapons and abilities to be balanced around PVP so some stuff is less fun in PVE than it could be. But other than that and a small handful of mobs, the game is so enjoyable. I'm passed 400 hours as of right now and I've already started going through demons souls remake which is fun too, but I can tell elden ring has a ton of general gameplay improvements that fromsoft has honed over the years so some stuff in demons souls can be rough. I'm just so glad the perfect storm of events pushed me into playing elden ring, to the point where I'm relieved like I avoided a catastrophe
Yeah we don’t know what happened to PvP either, who in gods name though bloodhounds step ought to be in the game? Another thing is who decided not to have separate damage values for PVE and PvP, some of the combat arts and stuff you can do later on do so much damage you really don’t have any hope if you get hit as a player
I was one of those people that said I didn't want to try it because I thought it would be too frustrating. Gf got for my bday last month... and let's say I haven't touched halo since, I'm in love and addicted to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
god your videos are so incredible. you took the words right out of my mouth when you said that you’re not looking for the perfect game, but a game that has integrity, vision, confidence. you can tell when a game has a soul and even if it may not resonate with you, it’s so needed and such a rare joy to have in gaming today.
Im def happy that Elden Ring blew up like it did. But for me I am just not really interested in playing it tbh. Overall not my kind of game TBH. But thats ok because the art is still amazing and I plan on doing some artwork for it. Should tell you about how good the game is overall. ;D
Favyn you have made a great video and what you said about elden ring having a vision and being different and being good enough that people want to buy copies for their friends that is exactly how I feel about Falcom's Legend of heroes Trails series since I heard about them and started playing them this year and I'm on cold steel 4 and I can't get enough of it and I want more people to try it. I bought 2 copies of trails in the sky, one for my brother and another for a friend.
Great video. Just like many other industries(movies, tv, sports, etc) the gaming industry has devolved. Gaming is suppose be about fun. Not hoarding your time and attention. Most games have no soul now in days, no passion, no innovation. Ahhh. The days of cod 3 - BO2 were awesome. Halo reach was awesome. ;/
its not that bad, I got to the end without any complaint of performance, most pc players have ridiculously high standards. Elden Ring PC port is far from broken or unplayab;e.
@@threech2657 As I recall, there were major slowdowns/stuttering with AMD processors. Kind of a big deal. Plus, the control system was super consolized.
I don’t think we can understate the sense of community these games cause. Literally, within this community, there is this this unspoken notion that naked people are the most powerful in these games and it creates legends. It’s so beautiful and awe inspiring
9:15 Great point of why not to think in traditional business terms 10:02 - 11:40 Great point of why great unique games create devout cult-following; like FromSoftware and Remedy Games. Community building and content positive. 11:42 Exploration and not holding hands as a community building mechanic 17:24 Great Commentary on Industry response to successful games and potential for unique gameplay
Hey @Favyn hearing you talking about games so good that you would buy the game to a friend so they can enjoy it remind me of the game Outer Wilds (NOT the Outer Worlds¡¡¡¡¡¡). That game it´s just beautiful. You should try it and make a video about its game design because it is genius. If you haven´t heard or play the game pleas don´t look for analysis or spoil yourself, that game NEEDS to be play without spoilers. If you have play it, then i would love to see an analysis from you. Keep the good work¡¡¡¡¡. PS. i think the game is on Game Pass, if not its incredibly cheap on steam it even has DLC
I, for the most part, don't have any problems with Elden Ring, and even applaud it for not falling for the live service bullshit that has INFESTED so many """AAA""" games these days. However... It's Dark Souls 4. That's what it is. DS4 with a new coat of paint. And that's totally fine! But my one big complaint is people calling it "innovative". It's not innovative at all. It's the same exact Dark Souls formula we've seen 3 times before. 4 if you count Demon's Souls. So while I'm glad that Elden Ring hasn't fallen to the greedy trends of late, I also think, as Favyn already pointed out, that it's pretty damn sad Elden Ring has succeeded as much as it has FOR JUST SIMPLY BEING Dark Souls 4.
One of the best, most intricate open worlds, combat that mixes Bloodborne and Sekiro, bosses that behave differently than Dark Souls (delayed attacks, long combos, pace), much more lore exposition and cutscenes, etc. "iTs jUSt dArk SoULs 4". The sheer stupidity
Mmmmmm think really hard on the most glaring and impressive difference between dark souls and Elden ring, that’s what people are talking about being innovative, not the combat or multiplayer those are the tried and true formula with minor tweaks (guard counters for example) jumping alone has opened limitless potential to expand on level/world design, we have access to the Y axis and the level design reflects this, we would never get a Stormveil castle or the Leyndell capital if we could hop, these are beyond the biggest and most intricate locales in the series because that was the focus, it’s what Fromsoft decided was the best direction to take the series I wholeheartedly agree. If you take a reductionist look at Elden ring, yeah it’s dark souls four but when you scrutinize it you see it’s doing things differently than the rest of the souls games
Elden Ring couldn't have had a more perfect time to release. Souls games were not big as big are they are now. Easily, part of Elden Ring's success is due to the lackluster AAA releases before it.
When I read the title, I was a little hesitant, since I don't think that from an actual design perspective ER is particularly revolutionary - It's just the Souls DNA from 10+ years ago tossed in an open world. But I really agree with how you put it - What makes ER a "revolution" in the AAA space is how it managed to achieve monumental success despite how "unmarketable" it is. It's unapologetic. It has a vision, and it sticks to it. That's something that you normally see only in the indie space these days. The only other AAA teams I can think of with the same gumption are Kojima and Ueda,
"It's just the Souls DNA from 10+ years ago tossed in an open world." not really. i mean sure but thats a little reductive.elden ring is a revolution in markerless open world games. so far there have been only three truly markerless open world games. i love em all to death. shadow of the colossus(which was basically a boss fight rush), breath of the wild(which was a series of shrines and korok seeds), and then elden ring came along and finally created an open world with barely any markers filled to the brim with quality content, level design out of this world and discovery design that takes from botw and shadow and creates something truly just spectacular. the open world design alone in this game is revolutionary. never has there been a discovery based open world like this. not a single game on this earth allows you to go underground in a freakin star city and notice upside down castles in the ceiling, then 50 hours later you go down a meteor crater that landed on the open world youve ran through many times, only to take u to another underground star city within the upside castle you saw 50 hours ago. that is unheard of level design, and thats only one of the things that makes this game legendary. this is what makes this game revolutionary. the dark souls dna + open world is something thats never been done before. lets not be reductive in how that would also shake up the industry, considering just how influential dark souls was. i can guarantee you that alot of open world games will be extremely influenced by elden ring. i truly believe elden ring will be the new "just like dark souls". considering the interviews taken from alot of game studio CEOs and devs in GDC last month and what they had to say about elden ring, its already happening. dark souls started the wave of souls over the industry. elden ring is gonna start the tsunami.
If you want to continue your research at this from an industry point of view, there's a term for what Elden Ring did. Rejecting standards and going new places is often called a Blue Ocean strategy. Hope it'll help you explore the subject even deeper :)
How is doing the literal exact same thing you've done for over a decade (create souls likes with somewhat varying gimmicks) the "blue ocean strategy"???? From my perspective it seems like fromsoft has discovered a reliable shipping route and has used it exclusively for the last 10+ years....... Like there is literally a whole souls-like genre, and it didn't spring out of elden ring.... so how is this in anyway "rejecting standards and going new places"? It's not. It's refining their existing niche standards.
I bought Elden Ring for my closet friend and roommate. It’s been half a year and he’s made it painfully clear he just wants to play destiny 2 and GTA 5 for the rest of his life apparently. I was deeply and profoundly disappointed.
Personal i don't like the Ubisoft activities focuses of game design, or more specifically i don't like it in open worlds, as they kind of undermine the advantages of open world games. But considering how many of these Ubisfot like open world games that have come out in the past several years that all broke 20m in sales, as well as the interests in elden ring, that in fact most consumers do in fact love this Ubisfot like game design. And honestly i can see why they do in fact like Ubisfot like open worlds, It's very safe and very consistent. As a designer and a player you don't have to worry about any actually threats or danger in your open world since everything fits with narrow and focused designs. The only threat coming from some arbitrary stats that limit your damage and health, proportionally if not numerical, with out having to worry about a player running into something whose threat comes not from the excel spreed sheet but from being mechanical beyond the player. This also makes the game very consistent as the player is by design the player is not going to be breaking out of the bounds of the basic core structure, even if their jsut never notice that their effectively playing the same loop with only cosmetic changes. Of course their is a massive pit fall to this kind of game design, a lack of challenge. Not a lack of challenge in the mob lack proportional high health and damage, you know the standard the industry, but a lack of challenge as the game will never ask that you step out of the comfort zone of content loop it established in the first few minuets. While i don't particaul liek this kind of deisgn, expecally in open worlds, it's ovbious from the mutiple 20m puls games that have adopted this Ubiosft like design, including elden ring just not 20m+, that im in the minority. That in fact the average consumers problem with Ubisoft Like open worlds is not the core deign its self, but the problem is Ubisfot it's self.
"is content to be different" lol I get the point is that Fromsoft, a Japanese company is somehow doing something better currently than companies from NA/EU, but they are just going through the motions. Elden Ring is effectively the 7th Souls game, 6th if we don't count Sekiro which varies quite a bit from the basic souls formula. Fromsoft is milking their cash cow to the bone, this game is barely different than Dark Souls 3, unless you consider a mount and a jump button sufficient to be a completely different game. Fromsoft is not immune to being sleazy or lazy. Speaking of sleaze, the Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3 PC servers have been down for over 100 days now, and were promised to be back up following the release of Elden Ring. Instead, Fromsoft is choosing to remain silent which makes it appear, to me at least, that they are intentionally stretching out the time it takes for the servers to come back up so they can maximize sales on Elden Ring. What does the modern videogame market want? the same thing apparently, over and over again. I reflexively say this simply because I feel people give Fromsoft the same pass they gave Bethesda and CJ Projekt in the past, which is probably not wise.
So are they to abandon the succesful formula they built just because they used it already? The formula they built was and is different. And their open world design is astonishing. How much of these games have you actually played? To lump sekiro and bloodborne in to the souls formula feels super disingenuous
@@FavynTube I've played all of them, I never beat Sekiro, and I have yet to buy ER and probably never will. Sekiro is a rhythm game unlike the other games which is why I said it differs the most, Bloodborne is just Dark Souls without a shield, it's still a good game, but it's still very close to Dark Souls. I would not expect any company to abandon a formula this successful, but in the process of chasing the success of the Souls genre, Fromsoft has abandoned its other franchises, most notably the Armored Core franchise. I think posturing that this is a good thing is cutting Fromsoft way too much slack, if they can get away with what is essentially an asset flip for Dark Souls 3 and have it be a smashing success, expect poor results as the dev team becomes complacent in their own rigid game design. Lots of people have already pointed out some glaring issues in ER, such as certain bosses seemingly not being designed with the player's movement speed and recovery in mind (leading up to probably the worst final boss I have ever seen in these games, even worse than DS2). There's also more repeats of bosses than unique ones, which means Fromsoft is leaning heavily on Souls' action elements, which have never been the stand-out feature of Souls in my opinion. If you want to get where I'm coming from on that, Matthewematosis puts it quite well in his "Lost Soul Arts of Demon's Souls" video. The open world design is probably the only thing I would praise about it, I'd do it reluctantly since open world games only recently stopped saturating the market, so because of its timing ER is seen as special. However, from both reviewers I trust and have followed for years and my own friends, the quality of the levels varies widely, which is a shame, Dark Souls 3 had a pretty consistent level of quality with its levels, and I've heard ER's described as being inconsistent as Dark Souls 1. So you see, this sort of confirms my own doubts about the series actually improving if we are seeing regression like this, I honestly would like to see Fromsoft develop new IPs, they are an undoubtedly talented studio, but I think I've has my fill of rolling at the right time and mashing my R1 button.
Well again it's hard to embrace the opinion of someone who has admitted they didn't try it yet Give it a go and decide for yourself. As for Armored Core, that is rumored to be their next game so you may be in luck.
"in an industry dominated by content live service games" How many games fit those descriptions in the modern day compared to amount of Great content complete game we receive yearly? "Stagnant Formulas" It's funny you say this when FromSoft hasn't evolved the formula of this series in any meaningful way The combat system has barely evolved ever since Demon's Souls to the point where the Difference between ER and DeS is almost unnoticeable. -Rolling and R1 is still the dominant strategy -No encouragement to use the new tools After DS1 the level design went downhill and never bothered to improve and retake the interconnected world "It is a full price self-contained content complete title it is untarnished by predatory monetization practices" Which is something that has been done time and time again in the last 5 years 2017:Nier Automata,Ni-oh,Persona 5,Zelda BOTW,Super Mario Odyssey,Wolfenstein 2 TNC,Resident Evil 7,Prey,Horizon Zero Dawn,Xenoblade Chronicles 2,Splatoon 2,Nioh,The Evil Within 2 2018:Monster Hunter World,God of War,Spiderman,Super Smash Bros Ultimate,Red Dead Redemption 2,Dragon Quest 11,Forza Horizon 4,Megaman 11,Dragon Ball FighterZ 2019:RE 2 remake,DMC 5,Monster Hunter World:Iceborne,Sekiro,Control,Fire Emblem:Three Houses,Luigi's Mansion 3,Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order,Astral Chain,Super Mario Maker 2,Control,Astral Chain 2020:Ni-oh 2,Doom Eternal,TLOU 2,Ghost of Tsushima,Final Fantasy 7 Remake,Animal Crossing New Horizons,Half-Life:Alyx,Demon's Souls Remake,Spiderman: Miles Morales 2021:Monster Hunter Rise,RE 8,Metroid Dread,Ratchet and Clank:Rift Apart,Tales of Arise,Returnal,Forza Horizon 5,Guilty Gear Strive,Age of Empires 4. And you still have the nerve to say that the industry is dominated by this practices? "A vision that often contradicts what the industry thinks it's necessary for games to be" Being difficulty and not giving the player directions doesn't contradict anything because videogames have been doing those things before Elden Ring came out. "In an era where games were becoming increasingly easy and challenge was being pushed aside Dark Souls was uncaring and punishing" Hard games were still existing even before Dark Souls came out, a year before DeS came out we got Devil May Cry 4 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and in 2009 we got Bayonetta,and all of these games put Dark Souls to shame when it comes to difficulty because it's nowhere near as challenging and punishing at these games especially MH which is a far more punishing game than Dark souls would ever be. "it's gameplay is so unique and distinct that created it's own genre" All i see is a rudimentary combat system, and no Souls-like is not a genre. "The difficulty in their games creates a sense of great accomplishment the frustration and tension you may feel translates into an increased sense of euphoria when you do finally overcome the challenge" Congratulations Favyn you discovered the most common feeling when playing Difficult games "You discuss amongst yourselves different strategies and methods" How many strategies this franchise encourages outside of rolling and r1?Because there is no reason to do that. "They've almost put Elden Ring in a pedestal as a shining example of what games can be" -Awful boss design -Stagnated Combat system -Copy-pasted and recycled bosses -Terrible balance Yup what a shining example. "look at elden ring's success and then try to make every game hard" Why they should do that when it's not even that difficult in comparison to other action games in the market like DMCV Monster Hunter World:Iceborne,Bayonetta 2 etc... Also the difficulty balance in Elden Ring is atrocious. I fail to understand how many people praise Elden Ring calling it a shining beacon of the game industry when it's not even that special.
This comment reeks of bitterness and dismissal. If you think this game is just roll and r1 you truly haven't played it. I didn't deny this game has problems. But it's arguably the greatest open world that has ever been made and I'm not acting like it's the only game to have been good in the past 5 years (funny enough you named multiple other fromsoft titles) but for a game to be this hardcore and for it to achieve the massive success it has IS astonishing. These games are mechanically distinct. They are not stagnant. You can't fault a dev for utilizing the formula THEY pioneered. The beauty is they stuck to their guns and stayed with it as opposed to just adopting whatever seemed more popular at the time. That's the actual point that either flew over your head or you intentionally misconstrued. And you would also know that the mechanics lie within the encounters and enemy design. The gameplay is simply the vessel you use to interact with those mechanics. This is similar o the principles I've spoken of regarding Halo. You seem almost annoyed by its success. As if you feel it's undeserving and so you've gone on the attack. The game is extremely good. You're not even wrong about various balancing issues, and some questionable reuse of bosses. I agree with that. But there are extremely strong elements here as well. My review will discuss them all.
@@FavynTube I completed every single souls game including Elden ring(with the exception of Demon Souls Except it is There are no valuable options outside of Rolling and R1 because the options that do exist are too impractical and inconsistent. -Guard countering is useless against bosses since they have attack chains and they can cancel it by hitting you -Shields consume a huge amount of stamina unless they have massive stability. -R2 attacks are not recommendable because despite their high damage they leave you vulnerable an as such R1 attacks are they way to go because they have Good DPS and allow you to dodge quicker. -Ashes of war are mostly style over substance attacks that might look appealing until you realize they don't have any synergy with the basic moves and are very unrealiable against most enemies/bosses. You know which game also managed to sell well despite being "Hardcore"?Monster Hunter World.Monster Hunter was a series that was known for its huge difficulty and World still managed to sell over 20 million copies and it's not only that but other games like Generations Ultimate sold 8.2 million copies.And Monster Hunter when it comes to difficulty makes Souls games look like child's play Elden Ring isn't even that Hardcore, it's generally more simple than other action games and it's mechanics aren't hard to master. The only games that are mechanically distinct are Bloodborne and Sekiro,Elden Ring is barely any different than DeS,DS1,DS2 and DS3 -Jumping(Which is only useful while exploring) -Crouching(Same as above) -Guard Countering(Worthless against bosses) -Dual Wielding -Ashes of war Those are the only differences between Elden Ring and Demon's Soul's combat system. And for a series that has been around since 2009 it has barely evolved from a gameplay perspective Other developers have stuck to their guns and still managed to improve and evolve their gameplay over the years without following trends so that is not an excuse to justify a lack of evolution.MH is a great example of this Once again there is no encouragement to use the new mechanics and mechanically these games are shallow and there is barely any interactivity with the enemies and bosses. I could care less about the success of this game because no matter how successful it is it's flaws will never disappear.
Well written comment. I get bored of souls games really fast. The combat is so unsatisfying. There’s games made back in the 2000s like Ninja Gaiden which have far better mechanics than souls games. I can’t stop laughing at people who think Elden ring is the best open world game ever. Even Ubisoft open worlds are more interesting, and I dislike their games.
I hope you don't turn into a dark souls channel, cause I'm not really into that kinda thing, but I can understand if you did. Halo has taken a massive fall and 343 has proved, yet again, with an 0 for 3 track record that they are the undefeated worst game developer in the industry. Some might say EA, Activision or Rockstar, cause of their recent blunders, but at least they once made a great game, they have great games under their belt. That's something 343 can't say. 343 has never had a success. They don't have a win under their belt. They don't know the taste of victory. They only know what it's like to take 3 steps forward, and 43 steps back.
Calling gatekeeping and elitism a myth is laughable. This “myth” can be seen under every single discussion of Elden Ring, it can be seen on in countless posts in it’s SubReddit, and it can be seen in countless RUclips videos about it. That’s a whole lot of “bad apples.” I’m happy you’ve had a good experience with the community, but calling the toxicity a myth is disingenuous.
I've been playing this game for over a month. I'm about to finish it. I say that to ad context to my nxt statement........EVERY content creator that starts off SLURPING for this game INSTEAD of pointing out its OBVIOUS flaws, loses all credibility with me. Guess what.......I'm not the only person that feels this way. SHILL on ur own time, or the time of others. Not mine.
I gotta fully disagree with the main thesis of this. Everyone has known what fromsoft has been doing for literally almost a decade now. The dev team at fromsoftware is known to make the video game equivalent of high art.... the Rembrandts of the gaming world........ That's still not going to change a damn thing. I'll demonstrate why by keeping this analogy going: Everyone agrees and recognizes the sheer talent Rembrandt (from soft) puts into their creations. It is extremely difficult to argue any other conclusion. But the fact of the matter is it takes them years to produce a single piece of artwork with this polish and professionalism..... while on the other hand, artists (companies) like Activision, EA, ubisoft, etc. Make FAR MORE MONEY selling their "cheap paper posters" that they mass produce several times a year. So no.... elden ring is by no means a revelation for the gaming industry. It's just a facet of it. Everyone in the industry knows that "Rembrandt" is over there in the corner working on their latest masterpiece that will be received with the huge praise it deserves. No one else gives a shit. They either A) wisely realize they aren't a Rembrandt and thus can't produce these works of art that gives Rembrandt (fromsoft) their success and ability to keep producing these Or B) the companies that have the resources for creating a piece of art on this scale are the ones that have made from more money than Rembrandt selling cheap annual paper posters. These "artists" put in less effort and produce more money...... why on earth would elden ring be a revelation to anyone in the wider gaming industry? The passionate indie devs who want to make a game like this don't have the resources or talent to do so. The large established companies that have the resources make more money investing those resources into easier cheaper to produce products. Also, your whole point just reeks of a console gamer who's only played competitive games like halo or titanfall for the last decade. If you're a console gamer (and haven't played any souls ganes in the ladt deacde), I fully understand why you'd think elden Ring is a big revelation to the industry But anyone that games on PC and has been a part of the souls community since near its inception know how dumb this all sounds..... A vast majority of PC releases follow your exact criteria of why the elden ring is so great. The last FIVE Souls games, all incredibly successful? before ER also fit this criteria.... so why is elden ring the Revelation to the gaming industry? I'll tell you why...... It's not. It's just another solid release by a dev team with passion and enough money to make it happen. There is nothing about elden ring that is a revelation or that makes it "groundbreaking" or "pioneering." It's no different than the last 2 God of War games.
"00:10" just 10 seconds in and you're already being far more charitable and and half-truthful to paint fromsoft in a better light (not that it's undeserved). But the idea that fromsoft doesn't rely on a "stagnant formula" is legitmately laughable. Fayvn, my brother, the souls series has not had a radical change in almost 15 years since demon souls first came out. The souls formula literally hasn't changed at all, it is the epitome of stagnant. That's not a bad thing, dont fix what ain't broken. But to act like this isn't a tried and tested formula and that they are pushing new bounds here is just funny to me. It's not even close to what's actually going on here.
Final thoughts: The reason I've written all this dumb shit out and seemingly are so passionate about this is because there are actual games that are truly pioneering new consumer friendly montezation or gameplay. Take the total war: warhammer franchise. The dev team, CA, has actually pushed the normal bounds of montezation compared to any other team. Their dlc and game content are actively ported over and updated in their new installments. That's right, the five dollar dlc I bought for warhammer 1 has been supported, updated, and is playable in the newly released warhammer 3. The dlc has also gotten a FREE update for its release in 3, vastly improving it. Can you all imagine if this was the norm? If all your content from the COD game you bought last year was available and updated in the next COD installment? Can any of you name a single other franchise where your 5 dollar dlc is given a huge update and is added to a new game for free, seven years after the fact????? I can't. That's TRUE pioneering in the gaming industry. This is what pisses me off about this video so much. Fayvn, there ARE pioneers and devs pushing the boundaries of the industry..... You're just not covering them, and they aren't elden ring, which is arguably one of the most stagnant and unchanging tent poles in the industry.
@Jabroni this is one of the biggest yikes I've read in a long time. Snobby, narrow minded, and also just wrong. You point to low effort cash cows like Call of Duty and say "this is what's actually successful and Elden Ring is not what devs will strive for" Call of duty is a cash cow. It lives off an audience with severe Stockholm syndrome. When you attempt to be like Call of Duty and follow its formula as a NEW franchise you will fail. And thats what this industry has had over the over again in the AAA space. Failure after failure. Your analysis is making the same mistake every other developer is making. They look at the cash cows and think " oh that's how you make money in this industry" but it isn't. It doesn't work. The argument I made is not " make everything like Dark Souls or Elden Ring" your analysis of that is just horrifically shallow. My argument was literally...make good games. Make distinct and unique memorable experiences and it DOESNT MATTER if you're indie or AAA audiences will recognize that and they will evangelize your game. Look at games like Dark and Darker, Valheim, etc. They're passion projects that resonated with people and they were evangelized. Don't be a part of the problem. And if you've ACTUALLY played Froms entire catalog, as I have, you'd know just how different Elden Ring is and how unique it's approach to world design is not just amongst From games but from any game.
Another huge point you missed was HOW these games are successful. The industry has ZERO respect for players. It holds their hand, it is terrified of players getting lost or not seeing content, it is afraid of challenge, and it forces narratives down your throat. Fromsoft has found success in a way that is quite literally contradictory to everything AAA publishers and devs have THOUGHT games needed to be. The Revelation is that that is incorrect and games can be whatever they want if designed with strong principles. That's the actual point. Not " hey let's copy Fromsoft now" but " hey...maybe all this bullshit we've just accepted as fact in regards to game design is incorrect....maybe we can trust the players more and maybe we can break from this mold"
As someone who's been playing these games for over a decade, and has been "that guy" who buys Dark Souls for his friends to get them into the genre, I can say you've accurately put that feeling of being a fan into words. The swell of accomplishment in watching FromSoft rise to the top but putting out nothing but quality games (and Dark Souls II) is nothing short of amazing. Elden Ring might have some issues, but just the existence of such a massive ambitious title coming out in today's market and actually succeeding, is something I didn't think I could see happen.
you show DS2 some respect right now
(and Dark Souls II) 😭 unfortunately agree
You’re so underrated man, fantastic video.
I got into souls games back in November 2021 and finished DS Remastered and DS3 by January 2022. It is now one of my favorite game franchises, and I’ve been loving Elden Ring. Couldn’t recommend these games enough. All my friends who never played dark souls have been playing Elden Ring and it’s beautiful to witness.
As the #1 "don't chase trends" guy, I knew we'd eventually get an elden ring video.
Really hoping this is the gaming industry's [and especially a few specific companies} wake-up call.
Great vid fav.
I mean it was enough for Nintendo to delay BOTW 2....
But that was it- everyone else STILL leans in on live service
Halo and Assassin’s Creed really come into mind when thinking of games driven by market force and not being unique
halo 4
Halo is very unique in it's gameplay and feel, just fucked over by other factors
@@devashishathawale4807 i’d argue your comment is correct in context of 343i halo
edit: w/ the exception of h5 multi, to a degree
@@Z0iD_exe Sort of. Of all the 343 games, Halo 4 at LEAST felt like an honest effort, despite its many faults. There are a lot of positives about it, as well as negatives.
Halo 5 was a straight up slap in the face.
Halo Infinite's campaign was major damage control for a very troubled development, and its multiplayer was brought down both by the main game's technical failings as well as just straight up greed.
@@arnox4554 Is this comment campaign only?
This game really threw me off when I first started playing it
The combat and hands off nature of the game really turned me off at first but I kept trudging because It’s the first game I’ve purchased since getting gamepass.
Man I fucking love this game. It has the most interesting open world I’ve ever played. I spent so much time comparing it to Skyrim and it truly surpasses it in almost every way.
170 hours 3rd playthough love every second of this game
12:33 The delivery on this line was impeccable
Dude maybe this video isn't getting the same attention as your Halo stuff, but I'm glad you made this. I've never played a Souls game, but my friends are just like yours. They are all pulling for me to start with Elden Ring. Love the insight and review of the game as well as the gaming industry.
Back in 2009 and 2011 when the souls style was rising, it was not a huge hit and did not have much media attention. However it was still considered revolutionary and groundbreaking, now it is shining alone as the industry is creatively dead and bankrupt.
"as the industry is creatively dead and bankrupt"
That's pure projection dude. You're not playing nearly enough indie and middle-market games if you truly believe that nonsense.
@@TheGamerTronShow When people say this kind of thing, they’re usually talking about the triple A gaming industry.
@@TheGamerTronShow nobody is referring to the 3 good indie games that come out every couple years lmao
@@user-ns4zm8qe9p That's some bizarre projection there...
Also my comment is 2 weeks old dude. It's a wee bit late for this.
I'm a young UX designer, and I've wanted to work in video games for years. I followed a bunch of UX designers and one of them was that UX designer that you quoted. I was incredibly disappointed when he said that and so many industry people agreed with what was said. As a UX designer you need to leverage industry trends but also be willing to break away from them to make something unique and accessible for your audience. Its incredibly concerning, as someone who will likely enter the games industry as a junior designer, that my product managers and senior designers could share this incredibly narrow/uninspired view on how to approach design.
I also bought the game for my brother who had never even thought about picking up a souls game and we co-oped the entire way through. Elden Ring is a wonderful experience.
Beautifully spoken. I've watched as the video game industry became less about how can we be better, and more about how we can be more successful; A foolish, flawed philosophy that ends up biting many developers on the ass.
I never get tired of listening to this kind of thing
This is the kinda video that's perfect to watch right before getting back into the game- it gets me hype! I need it to make it thru the haligtree😱Excellent video with really well articulated points!
Elden ring is my first souls game and I'm hooked. Probably one of my fav games for the year
Hope this gets more views
The success of elden ring isn't the success of a game it's the success of a genre , the souls genre
This is actually something i have been trying to convey for a long time, when games like DOOM showed that following market trend was not necessary to he successful, but Elden Ring is the first success that is different enough from the market to really make that idea come to light. Excellent video, cant wait to see the review.
Side note, i am the big sad because my computer cannot run elden ring. As such, i cannot play it. But i want to so bad.
Sekiro was my first attempt at a soulsborne and i never finished it. But that is likely because i was more interested in the setting than the game and i was deterred by the extremely narrow gameplay. Elden Ring is the first soulsborne game that makes me want to dive into the gameplay and RPG systems of the genre, and it being dark fantasy helps with that.
base ps4 can run Elden Ring
@@tomsin1417 my processor is XBox 360 era hardware .-.
@@OnyxTheWiseWolf damn bro my like 2014 xbone can handle it you’re so close
There is nothing pioneering or different about elden ring. Fromsoft has used the same formula for the last 7 games they've created all to huge success.
No offense but this comment perfectly encapsulates why I think this video is so stupid. Op here freely admits he's never played a souls game, he tried sekiro back n a while ago but never finished it.......
These people, who haven't played the last 6 games over more than a decade, discover elden ring and are like "wow what a different and unique game" it's fucking laughable.
My brothers in christ, there is nothing new or unique about this, it's been going on for MORE THAN A DECADE. Stop acting like this is some new big thing when you jump on the bandwagon 10 years after the fact hahah.
I'm not gatekeeping, I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy or appreciate the quality of elden ring. It's just dumb, as a person who's played these games with my friends for nearly 15 years, to hear people babble on like this so new thing.
Removing your ignorance and discovering new things to you does not make these things new or unique or a "shake-up".
Elden ring is essentially the same game I've played for over 10 years, just with a bigger map.
i think the most important point you made in this video is that its not about making every game play like elden ring now, its about illustrating that there is no one game audience, no one way to make any game or genre. the best thing about gaming is it's variety, there a genre or game you don't like, well find something else, something is bound to resonate with you. you wouldn't have that if all games were the same with different coats of paint.
as someone who personally does not enjoy this game or most souls games (with the exception of nioh2 and bloodborne) I can atleast see why people love this game, and honestly seeing tons of people enjoy it makes me want to keep trying to get into it. I'm just way to into sifu right now (another game that's great despite of how different it is from what the so called gamer likes)
I've got 150 hours into it so far and haven't even finished the first playthrough. I explore every nook & cranny though.
Same here… I take my time… Enjoying this world so much… No need to rush.
In the same boat only it’s 200 hours, stuck in the mountains lmao
It is actually a miracle how From Software manages to sell their hardcore game design, and Elden Ring being the game it is, in this industry! Elden Ring is totally a saviour as you say :)
I'm really glad I gave this game a shot. I always had the wrong idea of fromsoft games and even now when I could name literally 100 times more flaws than I could when I knew nothing, I still deeply enjoy the game. The only part of the game I would say is straight up bad is PVP in every single aspect. The annoying way they force you to do co-op also plays into it, but the balance is really really really bad, connections aren't good, people play in very annoying ways which goes back to balancing and also just in general how the pvp system works. The only comparable PVP I can think of is CoD (obviously not because of gameplay). There are a lot of options to choose from that aren't balanced as well as they could be, the sense of casual competitiveness is there but it inevitably boils down to people trying to out-annoy each other, and the ratio of types of people is about the same with people who just want to cheese being the majority. I tried to give PVP a chance but it's just so bad. It even causes the cool weapons and abilities to be balanced around PVP so some stuff is less fun in PVE than it could be. But other than that and a small handful of mobs, the game is so enjoyable. I'm passed 400 hours as of right now and I've already started going through demons souls remake which is fun too, but I can tell elden ring has a ton of general gameplay improvements that fromsoft has honed over the years so some stuff in demons souls can be rough. I'm just so glad the perfect storm of events pushed me into playing elden ring, to the point where I'm relieved like I avoided a catastrophe
Yeah we don’t know what happened to PvP either, who in gods name though bloodhounds step ought to be in the game? Another thing is who decided not to have separate damage values for PVE and PvP, some of the combat arts and stuff you can do later on do so much damage you really don’t have any hope if you get hit as a player
Quite the timing for this to come out considering I just entered Journey 2 today.
I was one of those people that said I didn't want to try it because I thought it would be too frustrating. Gf got for my bday last month... and let's say I haven't touched halo since, I'm in love and addicted to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
She's a keeper
A gf that got you ELDEN RING? she's a keeper bro.
@@jackcolson4745 Yep she's been putting up with my shenanigans for 8 year now 😅
The man of culture is back.
If you make a really good game, fans will become your greatest marketing team.
Yes… This is so true !
Something 343 fail to realize.
spoken like a true gamer
The gaming gods taketh the halo and giveth the elden ring.
god your videos are so incredible. you took the words right out of my mouth when you said that you’re not looking for the perfect game, but a game that has integrity, vision, confidence. you can tell when a game has a soul and even if it may not resonate with you, it’s so needed and such a rare joy to have in gaming today.
12:34 probably the most obscure lore to date.
Im def happy that Elden Ring blew up like it did. But for me I am just not really interested in playing it tbh. Overall not my kind of game TBH.
But thats ok because the art is still amazing and I plan on doing some artwork for it.
Should tell you about how good the game is overall. ;D
This isn't normally my style of game but you've made a very persuasive argument here. I'll give it a go just because it breaks the modern gaming mold.
Favyn you have made a great video and what you said about elden ring having a vision and being different and being good enough that people want to buy copies for their friends that is exactly how I feel about Falcom's Legend of heroes Trails series since I heard about them and started playing them this year and I'm on cold steel 4 and I can't get enough of it and I want more people to try it. I bought 2 copies of trails in the sky, one for my brother and another for a friend.
One of the best essays I’ve seen on the subject. You’ve earned a sub.
Amazing work as always sir. Can't wait for the next vid.
Great video. Just like many other industries(movies, tv, sports, etc) the gaming industry has devolved. Gaming is suppose be about fun. Not hoarding your time and attention. Most games have no soul now in days, no passion, no innovation. Ahhh. The days of cod 3 - BO2 were awesome. Halo reach was awesome. ;/
Halo reach was the last halo worth playing
This game is so good that it has completely overshadowed how awful the PC port truly is.
its not that bad, I got to the end without any complaint of performance, most pc players have ridiculously high standards. Elden Ring PC port is far from broken or unplayab;e.
@@threech2657 As I recall, there were major slowdowns/stuttering with AMD processors. Kind of a big deal. Plus, the control system was super consolized.
It took a while but they did finally fix the overworld stutters at least on my end.
I don’t think we can understate the sense of community these games cause. Literally, within this community, there is this this unspoken notion that naked people are the most powerful in these games and it creates legends. It’s so beautiful and awe inspiring
9:15 Great point of why not to think in traditional business terms
10:02 - 11:40 Great point of why great unique games create devout cult-following; like FromSoftware and Remedy Games. Community building and content positive.
11:42 Exploration and not holding hands as a community building mechanic
17:24 Great Commentary on Industry response to successful games and potential for unique gameplay
I can't wait for the Elden Ring battle royale update
Hey @Favyn hearing you talking about games so good that you would buy the game to a friend so they can enjoy it remind me of the game Outer Wilds (NOT the Outer Worlds¡¡¡¡¡¡). That game it´s just beautiful. You should try it and make a video about its game design because it is genius. If you haven´t heard or play the game pleas don´t look for analysis or spoil yourself, that game NEEDS to be play without spoilers. If you have play it, then i would love to see an analysis from you. Keep the good work¡¡¡¡¡. PS. i think the game is on Game Pass, if not its incredibly cheap on steam it even has DLC
Try finger but hole. But what could it mean ? I fuchken died m8 XD
An inside joke in FromSoft games, quite funny once you catch on
Video so great, you're actually persuading me to get the game right this second. 👍🏾
Don’t give up, skeleton!
Literally got goosebumps at the end
I, for the most part, don't have any problems with Elden Ring, and even applaud it for not falling for the live service bullshit that has INFESTED so many """AAA""" games these days.
However...
It's Dark Souls 4. That's what it is. DS4 with a new coat of paint. And that's totally fine! But my one big complaint is people calling it "innovative". It's not innovative at all. It's the same exact Dark Souls formula we've seen 3 times before. 4 if you count Demon's Souls. So while I'm glad that Elden Ring hasn't fallen to the greedy trends of late, I also think, as Favyn already pointed out, that it's pretty damn sad Elden Ring has succeeded as much as it has FOR JUST SIMPLY BEING Dark Souls 4.
I think that really undersells how innovative its open world is.
It doesn't feel like Dark Souls to me outside of its core mechanics
One of the best, most intricate open worlds, combat that mixes Bloodborne and Sekiro, bosses that behave differently than Dark Souls (delayed attacks, long combos, pace), much more lore exposition and cutscenes, etc.
"iTs jUSt dArk SoULs 4". The sheer stupidity
I am sorry dude. Except for the boss fights, it really doesn’t feel like dark souls to me.
Mmmmmm think really hard on the most glaring and impressive difference between dark souls and Elden ring, that’s what people are talking about being innovative, not the combat or multiplayer those are the tried and true formula with minor tweaks (guard counters for example) jumping alone has opened limitless potential to expand on level/world design, we have access to the Y axis and the level design reflects this, we would never get a Stormveil castle or the Leyndell capital if we could hop, these are beyond the biggest and most intricate locales in the series because that was the focus, it’s what Fromsoft decided was the best direction to take the series I wholeheartedly agree. If you take a reductionist look at Elden ring, yeah it’s dark souls four but when you scrutinize it you see it’s doing things differently than the rest of the souls games
@@godlikecrazy6482 Perfect response, the fuck. Just Dark Souls 4, lol.
Elden Ring couldn't have had a more perfect time to release. Souls games were not big as big are they are now. Easily, part of Elden Ring's success is due to the lackluster AAA releases before it.
Fantastic commentary. Listened to it twice!
When I read the title, I was a little hesitant, since I don't think that from an actual design perspective ER is particularly revolutionary - It's just the Souls DNA from 10+ years ago tossed in an open world. But I really agree with how you put it - What makes ER a "revolution" in the AAA space is how it managed to achieve monumental success despite how "unmarketable" it is. It's unapologetic. It has a vision, and it sticks to it. That's something that you normally see only in the indie space these days. The only other AAA teams I can think of with the same gumption are Kojima and Ueda,
"It's just the Souls DNA from 10+ years ago tossed in an open world." not really. i mean sure but thats a little reductive.elden ring is a revolution in markerless open world games. so far there have been only three truly markerless open world games. i love em all to death. shadow of the colossus(which was basically a boss fight rush), breath of the wild(which was a series of shrines and korok seeds), and then elden ring came along and finally created an open world with barely any markers filled to the brim with quality content, level design out of this world and discovery design that takes from botw and shadow and creates something truly just spectacular. the open world design alone in this game is revolutionary. never has there been a discovery based open world like this.
not a single game on this earth allows you to go underground in a freakin star city and notice upside down castles in the ceiling, then 50 hours later you go down a meteor crater that landed on the open world youve ran through many times, only to take u to another underground star city within the upside castle you saw 50 hours ago. that is unheard of level design, and thats only one of the things that makes this game legendary. this is what makes this game revolutionary. the dark souls dna + open world is something thats never been done before. lets not be reductive in how that would also shake up the industry, considering just how influential dark souls was. i can guarantee you that alot of open world games will be extremely influenced by elden ring. i truly believe elden ring will be the new "just like dark souls".
considering the interviews taken from alot of game studio CEOs and devs in GDC last month and what they had to say about elden ring, its already happening. dark souls started the wave of souls over the industry. elden ring is gonna start the tsunami.
Great take, that's how I feel about the souls franchise
You deserve so many more views man, get a big youtuber to shout out this video
This… is the truth… thank you
And you playing Radagon’s theme is just… *mwah*
10/10 video bro....*sigh* guess i'll go buy elden ring
You could make a four hour video on barbie and I’d still watch it
Amazing video
Its good to see you cover other games. Halo infinite is so screwed its not even worth talking about for the time being.
Here before 1 Million + views 👍🏽🔥
Another great video!
If you want to continue your research at this from an industry point of view, there's a term for what Elden Ring did. Rejecting standards and going new places is often called a Blue Ocean strategy. Hope it'll help you explore the subject even deeper :)
Thanks for the tip!
How is doing the literal exact same thing you've done for over a decade (create souls likes with somewhat varying gimmicks) the "blue ocean strategy"????
From my perspective it seems like fromsoft has discovered a reliable shipping route and has used it exclusively for the last 10+ years.......
Like there is literally a whole souls-like genre, and it didn't spring out of elden ring.... so how is this in anyway "rejecting standards and going new places"?
It's not. It's refining their existing niche standards.
"Ds2 the low point of the series to be sure"
Ds1 Pvp would like to know your location
I bought Elden Ring for my closet friend and roommate.
It’s been half a year and he’s made it painfully clear he just wants to play destiny 2 and GTA 5 for the rest of his life apparently. I was deeply and profoundly disappointed.
Well spoken.
Well said 👍🏼
This video is basically applying the same arguments about classic Halo to a new game.
And showing that it works
@@FavynTube it’s only too bad that 343i isn’t making the positive example.
Personal i don't like the Ubisoft activities focuses of game design, or more specifically i don't like it in open worlds, as they kind of undermine the advantages of open world games. But considering how many of these Ubisfot like open world games that have come out in the past several years that all broke 20m in sales, as well as the interests in elden ring, that in fact most consumers do in fact love this Ubisfot like game design. And honestly i can see why they do in fact like Ubisfot like open worlds, It's very safe and very consistent.
As a designer and a player you don't have to worry about any actually threats or danger in your open world since everything fits with narrow and focused designs. The only threat coming from some arbitrary stats that limit your damage and health, proportionally if not numerical, with out having to worry about a player running into something whose threat comes not from the excel spreed sheet but from being mechanical beyond the player.
This also makes the game very consistent as the player is by design the player is not going to be breaking out of the bounds of the basic core structure, even if their jsut never notice that their effectively playing the same loop with only cosmetic changes. Of course their is a massive pit fall to this kind of game design, a lack of challenge. Not a lack of challenge in the mob lack proportional high health and damage, you know the standard the industry, but a lack of challenge as the game will never ask that you step out of the comfort zone of content loop it established in the first few minuets.
While i don't particaul liek this kind of deisgn, expecally in open worlds, it's ovbious from the mutiple 20m puls games that have adopted this Ubiosft like design, including elden ring just not 20m+, that im in the minority. That in fact the average consumers problem with Ubisoft Like open worlds is not the core deign its self, but the problem is Ubisfot it's self.
This is not a Ubisoft open world
Enjoyable video
hell yeah dude
14:30 Talking about Quantum lol?
A lot of these points can be attributed to the past 10 years of Halo.
Plenty of problems? Big problems? I need to hear these
till next time
A letter to 343
would be cool but I don't ever play non competitive multiplayer online games.
Poggers
"is content to be different" lol I get the point is that Fromsoft, a Japanese company is somehow doing something better currently than companies from NA/EU, but they are just going through the motions.
Elden Ring is effectively the 7th Souls game, 6th if we don't count Sekiro which varies quite a bit from the basic souls formula. Fromsoft is milking their cash cow to the bone, this game is barely different than Dark Souls 3, unless you consider a mount and a jump button sufficient to be a completely different game.
Fromsoft is not immune to being sleazy or lazy. Speaking of sleaze, the Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3 PC servers have been down for over 100 days now, and were promised to be back up following the release of Elden Ring. Instead, Fromsoft is choosing to remain silent which makes it appear, to me at least, that they are intentionally stretching out the time it takes for the servers to come back up so they can maximize sales on Elden Ring.
What does the modern videogame market want? the same thing apparently, over and over again. I reflexively say this simply because I feel people give Fromsoft the same pass they gave Bethesda and CJ Projekt in the past, which is probably not wise.
So are they to abandon the succesful formula they built just because they used it already?
The formula they built was and is different. And their open world design is astonishing.
How much of these games have you actually played? To lump sekiro and bloodborne in to the souls formula feels super disingenuous
@@FavynTube I've played all of them, I never beat Sekiro, and I have yet to buy ER and probably never will. Sekiro is a rhythm game unlike the other games which is why I said it differs the most, Bloodborne is just Dark Souls without a shield, it's still a good game, but it's still very close to Dark Souls.
I would not expect any company to abandon a formula this successful, but in the process of chasing the success of the Souls genre, Fromsoft has abandoned its other franchises, most notably the Armored Core franchise.
I think posturing that this is a good thing is cutting Fromsoft way too much slack, if they can get away with what is essentially an asset flip for Dark Souls 3 and have it be a smashing success, expect poor results as the dev team becomes complacent in their own rigid game design.
Lots of people have already pointed out some glaring issues in ER, such as certain bosses seemingly not being designed with the player's movement speed and recovery in mind (leading up to probably the worst final boss I have ever seen in these games, even worse than DS2). There's also more repeats of bosses than unique ones, which means Fromsoft is leaning heavily on Souls' action elements, which have never been the stand-out feature of Souls in my opinion. If you want to get where I'm coming from on that, Matthewematosis puts it quite well in his "Lost Soul Arts of Demon's Souls" video.
The open world design is probably the only thing I would praise about it, I'd do it reluctantly since open world games only recently stopped saturating the market, so because of its timing ER is seen as special. However, from both reviewers I trust and have followed for years and my own friends, the quality of the levels varies widely, which is a shame, Dark Souls 3 had a pretty consistent level of quality with its levels, and I've heard ER's described as being inconsistent as Dark Souls 1. So you see, this sort of confirms my own doubts about the series actually improving if we are seeing regression like this, I honestly would like to see Fromsoft develop new IPs, they are an undoubtedly talented studio, but I think I've has my fill of rolling at the right time and mashing my R1 button.
Well again it's hard to embrace the opinion of someone who has admitted they didn't try it yet
Give it a go and decide for yourself.
As for Armored Core, that is rumored to be their next game so you may be in luck.
Elden Ring is the best game ever made. 👉🏿😐
I offered to buy it for him and he still said no ):
Somehow this is actually a halo video haha
Frawms
Uninstalled Halo Infinite for this game. Here to stay.
f off then levave me to deal with the prodeam
Meanwhile.... Halo Infinite Battle Royal....
"in an industry dominated by content live service games"
How many games fit those descriptions in the modern day compared to amount of Great content complete game we receive yearly?
"Stagnant Formulas"
It's funny you say this when FromSoft hasn't evolved the formula of this series in any meaningful way
The combat system has barely evolved ever since Demon's Souls to the point where the Difference between ER and DeS is almost unnoticeable.
-Rolling and R1 is still the dominant strategy
-No encouragement to use the new tools
After DS1 the level design went downhill and never bothered to improve and retake the interconnected world
"It is a full price self-contained content complete title it is untarnished by predatory monetization practices"
Which is something that has been done time and time again in the last 5 years
2017:Nier Automata,Ni-oh,Persona 5,Zelda BOTW,Super Mario Odyssey,Wolfenstein 2 TNC,Resident Evil 7,Prey,Horizon Zero Dawn,Xenoblade Chronicles 2,Splatoon 2,Nioh,The Evil Within 2
2018:Monster Hunter World,God of War,Spiderman,Super Smash Bros Ultimate,Red Dead Redemption 2,Dragon Quest 11,Forza Horizon 4,Megaman 11,Dragon Ball FighterZ
2019:RE 2 remake,DMC 5,Monster Hunter World:Iceborne,Sekiro,Control,Fire Emblem:Three Houses,Luigi's Mansion 3,Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order,Astral Chain,Super Mario Maker 2,Control,Astral Chain
2020:Ni-oh 2,Doom Eternal,TLOU 2,Ghost of Tsushima,Final Fantasy 7 Remake,Animal Crossing New Horizons,Half-Life:Alyx,Demon's Souls Remake,Spiderman: Miles Morales
2021:Monster Hunter Rise,RE 8,Metroid Dread,Ratchet and Clank:Rift Apart,Tales of Arise,Returnal,Forza Horizon 5,Guilty Gear Strive,Age of Empires 4.
And you still have the nerve to say that the industry is dominated by this practices?
"A vision that often contradicts what the industry thinks it's necessary for games to be"
Being difficulty and not giving the player directions doesn't contradict anything because videogames have been doing those things before Elden Ring came out.
"In an era where games were becoming increasingly easy and challenge was being pushed aside Dark Souls was uncaring and punishing"
Hard games were still existing even before Dark Souls came out, a year before DeS came out we got Devil May Cry 4 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and in 2009 we got Bayonetta,and all of these games put Dark Souls to shame when it comes to difficulty because it's nowhere near as challenging and punishing at these games especially MH which is a far more punishing game than Dark souls would ever be.
"it's gameplay is so unique and distinct that created it's own genre"
All i see is a rudimentary combat system, and no Souls-like is not a genre.
"The difficulty in their games creates a sense of great accomplishment the frustration and tension you may feel translates into an increased sense of euphoria when you do finally overcome the challenge"
Congratulations Favyn you discovered the most common feeling when playing Difficult games
"You discuss amongst yourselves different strategies and methods"
How many strategies this franchise encourages outside of rolling and r1?Because there is no reason to do that.
"They've almost put Elden Ring in a pedestal as a shining example of what games can be"
-Awful boss design
-Stagnated Combat system
-Copy-pasted and recycled bosses
-Terrible balance
Yup what a shining example.
"look at elden ring's success and then try to make every game hard"
Why they should do that when it's not even that difficult in comparison to other action games in the market like DMCV Monster Hunter World:Iceborne,Bayonetta 2 etc...
Also the difficulty balance in Elden Ring is atrocious.
I fail to understand how many people praise Elden Ring calling it a shining beacon of the game industry when it's not even that special.
This comment reeks of bitterness and dismissal.
If you think this game is just roll and r1 you truly haven't played it.
I didn't deny this game has problems. But it's arguably the greatest open world that has ever been made and I'm not acting like it's the only game to have been good in the past 5 years (funny enough you named multiple other fromsoft titles) but for a game to be this hardcore and for it to achieve the massive success it has IS astonishing.
These games are mechanically distinct. They are not stagnant. You can't fault a dev for utilizing the formula THEY pioneered. The beauty is they stuck to their guns and stayed with it as opposed to just adopting whatever seemed more popular at the time. That's the actual point that either flew over your head or you intentionally misconstrued.
And you would also know that the mechanics lie within the encounters and enemy design. The gameplay is simply the vessel you use to interact with those mechanics. This is similar o the principles I've spoken of regarding Halo.
You seem almost annoyed by its success. As if you feel it's undeserving and so you've gone on the attack.
The game is extremely good. You're not even wrong about various balancing issues, and some questionable reuse of bosses. I agree with that.
But there are extremely strong elements here as well.
My review will discuss them all.
@@FavynTube I completed every single souls game including Elden ring(with the exception of Demon Souls
Except it is
There are no valuable options outside of Rolling and R1 because the options that do exist are too impractical and inconsistent.
-Guard countering is useless against bosses since they have attack chains and they can cancel it by hitting you
-Shields consume a huge amount of stamina unless they have massive stability.
-R2 attacks are not recommendable because despite their high damage they leave you vulnerable an as such R1 attacks are they way to go because they have Good DPS and allow you to dodge quicker.
-Ashes of war are mostly style over substance attacks that might look appealing until you realize they don't have any synergy with the basic moves and are very unrealiable against most enemies/bosses.
You know which game also managed to sell well despite being "Hardcore"?Monster Hunter World.Monster Hunter was a series that was known for its huge difficulty and World still managed to sell over 20 million copies and it's not only that but other games like Generations Ultimate sold 8.2 million copies.And Monster Hunter when it comes to difficulty makes Souls games look like child's play
Elden Ring isn't even that Hardcore, it's generally more simple than other action games and it's mechanics aren't hard to master.
The only games that are mechanically distinct are Bloodborne and Sekiro,Elden Ring is barely any different than DeS,DS1,DS2 and DS3
-Jumping(Which is only useful while exploring)
-Crouching(Same as above)
-Guard Countering(Worthless against bosses)
-Dual Wielding
-Ashes of war
Those are the only differences between Elden Ring and Demon's Soul's combat system. And for a series that has been around since 2009 it has barely evolved from a gameplay perspective
Other developers have stuck to their guns and still managed to improve and evolve their gameplay over the years without following trends so that is not an excuse to justify a lack of evolution.MH is a great example of this
Once again there is no encouragement to use the new mechanics and mechanically these games are shallow and there is barely any interactivity with the enemies and bosses.
I could care less about the success of this game because no matter how successful it is it's flaws will never disappear.
@@frozenvoltz6739 ooooooooookie dokie
@@FavynTube He is wrong about R2 in Elden Ring, check out this video :) ruclips.net/video/mXsFQDnqxBs/видео.html
Well written comment. I get bored of souls games really fast. The combat is so unsatisfying. There’s games made back in the 2000s like Ninja Gaiden which have far better mechanics than souls games. I can’t stop laughing at people who think Elden ring is the best open world game ever. Even Ubisoft open worlds are more interesting, and I dislike their games.
I hope you don't turn into a dark souls channel, cause I'm not really into that kinda thing, but I can understand if you did. Halo has taken a massive fall and 343 has proved, yet again, with an 0 for 3 track record that they are the undefeated worst game developer in the industry.
Some might say EA, Activision or Rockstar, cause of their recent blunders, but at least they once made a great game, they have great games under their belt. That's something 343 can't say. 343 has never had a success. They don't have a win under their belt. They don't know the taste of victory. They only know what it's like to take 3 steps forward, and 43 steps back.
he should turn soul youtuber he hate halo as he wsmt a rehase of halo 3
@@blakegregory7436 Negative.
Calling gatekeeping and elitism a myth is laughable. This “myth” can be seen under every single discussion of Elden Ring, it can be seen on in countless posts in it’s SubReddit, and it can be seen in countless RUclips videos about it. That’s a whole lot of “bad apples.”
I’m happy you’ve had a good experience with the community, but calling the toxicity a myth is disingenuous.
It's perpetuated worse than it is.
If you come in and are genuinely in need of help you will be helped.
The bad apples are in the minority 100%
I've been playing this game for over a month. I'm about to finish it. I say that to ad context to my nxt statement........EVERY content creator that starts off SLURPING for this game INSTEAD of pointing out its OBVIOUS flaws, loses all credibility with me. Guess what.......I'm not the only person that feels this way. SHILL on ur own time, or the time of others. Not mine.
Ummm.....ok
I gotta fully disagree with the main thesis of this.
Everyone has known what fromsoft has been doing for literally almost a decade now. The dev team at fromsoftware is known to make the video game equivalent of high art.... the Rembrandts of the gaming world........
That's still not going to change a damn thing. I'll demonstrate why by keeping this analogy going:
Everyone agrees and recognizes the sheer talent Rembrandt (from soft) puts into their creations. It is extremely difficult to argue any other conclusion. But the fact of the matter is it takes them years to produce a single piece of artwork with this polish and professionalism..... while on the other hand, artists (companies) like Activision, EA, ubisoft, etc. Make FAR MORE MONEY selling their "cheap paper posters" that they mass produce several times a year.
So no.... elden ring is by no means a revelation for the gaming industry. It's just a facet of it. Everyone in the industry knows that "Rembrandt" is over there in the corner working on their latest masterpiece that will be received with the huge praise it deserves. No one else gives a shit. They either A) wisely realize they aren't a Rembrandt and thus can't produce these works of art that gives Rembrandt (fromsoft) their success and ability to keep producing these Or B) the companies that have the resources for creating a piece of art on this scale are the ones that have made from more money than Rembrandt selling cheap annual paper posters. These "artists" put in less effort and produce more money...... why on earth would elden ring be a revelation to anyone in the wider gaming industry? The passionate indie devs who want to make a game like this don't have the resources or talent to do so. The large established companies that have the resources make more money investing those resources into easier cheaper to produce products.
Also, your whole point just reeks of a console gamer who's only played competitive games like halo or titanfall for the last decade.
If you're a console gamer (and haven't played any souls ganes in the ladt deacde), I fully understand why you'd think elden Ring is a big revelation to the industry But anyone that games on PC and has been a part of the souls community since near its inception know how dumb this all sounds.....
A vast majority of PC releases follow your exact criteria of why the elden ring is so great. The last FIVE Souls games, all incredibly successful? before ER also fit this criteria.... so why is elden ring the Revelation to the gaming industry? I'll tell you why...... It's not. It's just another solid release by a dev team with passion and enough money to make it happen. There is nothing about elden ring that is a revelation or that makes it "groundbreaking" or "pioneering." It's no different than the last 2 God of War games.
"00:10" just 10 seconds in and you're already being far more charitable and and half-truthful to paint fromsoft in a better light (not that it's undeserved).
But the idea that fromsoft doesn't rely on a "stagnant formula" is legitmately laughable. Fayvn, my brother, the souls series has not had a radical change in almost 15 years since demon souls first came out. The souls formula literally hasn't changed at all, it is the epitome of stagnant. That's not a bad thing, dont fix what ain't broken. But to act like this isn't a tried and tested formula and that they are pushing new bounds here is just funny to me. It's not even close to what's actually going on here.
Final thoughts:
The reason I've written all this dumb shit out and seemingly are so passionate about this is because there are actual games that are truly pioneering new consumer friendly montezation or gameplay.
Take the total war: warhammer franchise. The dev team, CA, has actually pushed the normal bounds of montezation compared to any other team. Their dlc and game content are actively ported over and updated in their new installments. That's right, the five dollar dlc I bought for warhammer 1 has been supported, updated, and is playable in the newly released warhammer 3. The dlc has also gotten a FREE update for its release in 3, vastly improving it.
Can you all imagine if this was the norm? If all your content from the COD game you bought last year was available and updated in the next COD installment? Can any of you name a single other franchise where your 5 dollar dlc is given a huge update and is added to a new game for free, seven years after the fact????? I can't. That's TRUE pioneering in the gaming industry.
This is what pisses me off about this video so much. Fayvn, there ARE pioneers and devs pushing the boundaries of the industry..... You're just not covering them, and they aren't elden ring, which is arguably one of the most stagnant and unchanging tent poles in the industry.
@Jabroni this is one of the biggest yikes I've read in a long time.
Snobby, narrow minded, and also just wrong.
You point to low effort cash cows like Call of Duty and say "this is what's actually successful and Elden Ring is not what devs will strive for"
Call of duty is a cash cow. It lives off an audience with severe Stockholm syndrome. When you attempt to be like Call of Duty and follow its formula as a NEW franchise you will fail. And thats what this industry has had over the over again in the AAA space. Failure after failure. Your analysis is making the same mistake every other developer is making.
They look at the cash cows and think " oh that's how you make money in this industry" but it isn't. It doesn't work.
The argument I made is not " make everything like Dark Souls or Elden Ring" your analysis of that is just horrifically shallow.
My argument was literally...make good games. Make distinct and unique memorable experiences and it DOESNT MATTER if you're indie or AAA audiences will recognize that and they will evangelize your game.
Look at games like Dark and Darker, Valheim, etc.
They're passion projects that resonated with people and they were evangelized.
Don't be a part of the problem. And if you've ACTUALLY played Froms entire catalog, as I have, you'd know just how different Elden Ring is and how unique it's approach to world design is not just amongst From games but from any game.
Another huge point you missed was HOW these games are successful.
The industry has ZERO respect for players. It holds their hand, it is terrified of players getting lost or not seeing content, it is afraid of challenge, and it forces narratives down your throat.
Fromsoft has found success in a way that is quite literally contradictory to everything AAA publishers and devs have THOUGHT games needed to be.
The Revelation is that that is incorrect and games can be whatever they want if designed with strong principles.
That's the actual point. Not " hey let's copy Fromsoft now" but " hey...maybe all this bullshit we've just accepted as fact in regards to game design is incorrect....maybe we can trust the players more and maybe we can break from this mold"