Elden Ring: Fromsoftware’s Entrance into Pop Culture.

There is a good chance that my explaining what kind of game Elden Ring is would be redundant, as it has been the talk around town since its launch in 2022, a conversation revamped in recent months with the release of its long-awaited DLC: Shadow Of the Erdtree. But what isn’t redundant, or at the very least, more interesting in my opinion, is the evolution of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s design approach, which culminated in Elden Ring and combined with the cultural events surrounding its launch window, how it became many peoples foray into the world of Soulslikes and the rekindling of the Difficulty Setting debate which began in 2019 with Fromsoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. But to have that conversation and explain how Elden Ring refined itself to be accessible without losing what made it unique in the first place, we have to talk about Dark Souls and Game of Thrones.

Dark Souls: Larger Market, Same Players. 

            It’s September 2011; Skyrim doesn’t come out for another two months, Mists of Pandaria is coming the following year, and Dragon Age: Inquisition in three. It is also smack dab in the middle of the Seventh Console Generation, where systems like the Wii and Xbox 360 are making their way into more homes, launching at $250 for the Wii and $300 for the Xbox 360, half of what Sony was selling a base model PS3 at launch for $500 [3/14]. This massive bargain, alongside more comprehensive games such as Wii Sports for Nintendo and the original Modern Warfare trilogy for Microsoft, allowed the market to expand beyond its core install base [13]. But now, the market is making moves to retain these new consumers by continuing to make more easily accessible games that could be fitted more snugly into a nine-five work schedule or the gaps in your newborn’s erratic sleep schedule [8]. This left the core audience (the ones with the time and capability to commit to longer playtimes and more demanding challenges) feeling as if they were being ignored in their preferred medium [4/5]. Then, on September 22, 2011, you start hearing about Dark Souls: a brutal, nail-biting trial of a game, and you pick it up and feel heard once more.

            Fromsoftware targeted the smaller, more seasoned members of the gaming community, those who had been with games for the long haul and who had put aside time in their schedules, no matter how busy, to play the kinds of games they love, even if it is just for an hour a day. This paid off for Fromsoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki’s team, allowing them to continue making games like Dark Souls every couple of years. But for the longest time, they remained outside the mainstream, or at the very least, they were on the border. However, by Dark Souls III and Bloodborne, the studio and the games it produced were starting to turn heads. But not in a completely positive manner. Dark Souls and its children became bogymen to the new stock of seventh-generation gamers, people who wanted to try these games due to the rave reviews but who bounced off of them due to their difficulty and demand that you sit and learn its systems over the course of dozens of hours [1]. The community around the game also didn’t help. While many of them did want to share the fun of the game with others, the more vocal minority became toxic gatekeepers hell-bent on keeping ‘normies’ from ‘ruining’ the game [11]. So, for the average consumer who comes to games for a quick fix and rush of satisfaction after a long day at work or keeping kids alive, the game wasn’t overly inviting. However, Hidetaka Miyazaki saw this and knew that if he wanted to keep making these games- and one day make the game he dreamed of- Miyazaki would need more people to buy what he was selling [9]. But at the same time, he was adamant about the intent of his games [9]. They were difficult by design because Miyazaki wanted players to learn and overcome his games through practice and understanding, to look back at the mountain they just surmounted and know they did that with the skills they cultivated [9]. So, little by little, he and his team played with the idea. NPC summons appeared near harder boss fights, safety rolls were added so you could get back on your feet faster after getting knocked down, and parrying was played with as a core concept in two different games to see how players would take to it as a central part of combat. But, for the most part, these changes were primarily appreciated by their established fans, and while those fans used these changes to spread the good word and convert friends, it wasn’t enough to break into the public consciousness. It was still missing a few things. Namely, a hook that new players could get excited about.

Game of Thrones: The Awakening of Pop-Fantasy.

            May 19, 2019: HBO is reeling from the backlash of the ending to Game of Thrones. Many fans feel as if this final season took eight years of buildup, drama, and intrigue -- and flushed it all down the toilet [7]. However, the cultural effect that the series had on the world could still be felt. If Peter Jackson de-stigmatized fantasy with his adaptation of Lord of The Rings in 2001 and brought the works of Tolkien to the public consciousness while giving long-time fans something to orbit around so they could share their love of the books with new fans - D. B. Weiss and David Benioff made fantasy mainstream with Game of Thrones and George RR Martain’s books. Fantasy was hot, sexy, and more than just elves and dwarves and wizards fighting dragons and orcs; it was mature, grounded, serious, and compelling. So, despite the massive blunder that was their final season, Game of Thrones awakened a craving in people that they didn’t know they had and now can’t sate. But Martain has two key things over Tolkien: that he is still alive, and his works are unfinished. Meaning that people can hold out not only for the original author to resolve the ending more conclusively. But they can also watch him for anything else that he might work on in the meantime, as Geroge RR Martain escaped the backlash of the adaptation of his work unscathed. His name was still associated with quality, passion, and that form of fantasy people wanted to see. All they needed to do was wait, with bated breath, for him to announce a new project.

Elden Ring: Perfect Time, Perfect Place, Near Perfect Execution.

            June 2019, E3; one of the last E3s ever to grace the LA Convention Center. But that is not why it will be remembered. No, it will be remembered because it was there that we got the first confirmation of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s newest game: Eldren Ring – an open-world Dark Souls. By now, the open-world genre was a cup well overflowing, and most people were beginning to wane over the whole idea. But helmed by Miyazaki, it could be a breath of fresh air for the genre, like Breath of the Wild in 2017; yet, as the trailer rolled by, something caught the attention of everyone watching: “A new world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Geroge RR Martain” [6]. This was it: the hook Miyazaki had been looking for: the modern-day JRR Tolkien was to write the lore, story, and world of the Lands Between, and everyone was excited [6]. The game did rounds after that, appearing in so many places that when it dropped, 20 Million people bought it and logged on – twice the number of copies Dark Souls III sold in its entire lifetime, and it kept growing [2]. Partly because, similar to the seventh generation (because no one learned anything apparently), Microsoft had released a cheaper $300 digital-only version of the Xbox Series X to juxtapose the $550 PS5 once more [15]. So once again, people had the economic means to play Elden Ring through a more affordable platform, and with the game’s publisher, Bandi Namco, keeping the price to $60 at a time when games of similar scope and budget had raised their price to $70 only made the deal more compelling. But the biggest boon Elden Ring had for breaking into the broader market was that Miyazaki and his team had done it; they figured out how to make Soulslikes accessible without diminishing their challenge. There are a lot of changes that I could mention, so these are the ones that I think helped the most in making Elden Ring more accessible to new players.

• They increased the number of bonfires across the map, meaning you find safe zones more often and can replenish resources more often.

• They added smaller checkpoints called Stakes of Marika, which act as mini bonfires that you can’t replenish resources at but can spawn at when you die, making downtime between boss attempts shorter and less frustrating.

• You can re-allocate your stat points at a certain point in the game in exchange for a rare resource if you felt as if you made a mistake or want to try a new build.

• Mini-dungeons abound in the Lands Between, offering smaller, non-critical challenges to practice with and get new items.

• Player summoning can be done from a group pool or the usual Summoning Sign. You can only be invaded by other players by opting into it, meaning if you want to play online and not be harassed by other players, you can do so in peace.

  
  

• Each starting class begins with excellent starting gear, the Vagabond and Samurai, especially as the former has a 100% damage negation shield and Halberd, perfect for safely learning the ins and outs of counter pokes, and combined with the newly introduced Guard Counters, players could now counter safely with a push of a button. In contrast, the Samurai begins with a weapon that applies Bleed buildup: a condition that, when filled, deals damage equal to 10% of the target’s max HP, meaning players didn’t need to rely on long combo strings to deal damage and could focus just on landing a few good hits; his armor offers solid damage mitigation while allowing for medium rolls, so players who want to try something more aggressive and dodgy but not as fragile as the Thief or Sword Master could now do so.

  
  

• All consumable items can now be crafted and replenished without hunting down merchants and are easier to find and consolidate into one place.

  
  

• Spirit Ashes allows you to summon monsters during boss fights to draw agro and do extra damage.

  
  

• Bolstering items for weapons, summons, and healing items are easily identifiable and can be bought from merchants easily.

  Now, each of the above-listed items makes the game much easier and more accessible. As a long-time player, none of the above changes have impacted my enjoyment of Elden Ring; if anything, they increased it by taking the grinder work elements of getting stronger out of the game. It's still an effort to find everything I just listed. But unlike previous games, I don’t need to play the game twice, and I have a wiki open on my second monitor to know where everything is. No, the world provides me with the tools and resources I need to become stronger and guides me to them by making the journey to this discovery less stop and start. Before, when you died to a boss, or god forbid in a dungeon, reclaiming your souls was haunting, as you had to run all the way back to your Blood Stain, possibly using more resources than before or dying again and losing all your souls. There is a good reason why veteran players talk about Blight Town and Sen’s Fortress as if they are mid-PTSD flashback: because these areas were aggravating to go through, and the test was on your patience, not your skill. Elden Ring is 90% a skill challenge and 10% patience check, and it’s that 10%, which is where the lion's share of the criticisms for the game come from.

10% from Perfection.

            Now, to be fair, there are some points that I am going to bring up that I agree with; however, I do hold fast that not only is Elden Ring the most accessible Souls Like on the market today, but I also stand firm in my option that it doesn’t need a difficulty slider: because it already has one. Everything I listed before can adjust the difficulty to a ludicrous degree. For some anecdotal evidence, my brother swore off using Spirit Summons because he used them until he got to the first main boss, beat him on his first try, and didn’t feel satisfied. Then, later on, when he was learning Malenia: Blade of Miquella, arguably the hardest boss in the base game, his roommate saw him and remarked: “You still on her? I beat her first try;” but when my brother asked how, he discovered that his roommate was using a full bleed build, which Malenia is weak to and was using summons. The game is built around getting stronger, learning what options you have available, and finding out what works best for you. Because there are many options to beat the game with, and unlike previous Soulslikes, if you hit a wall, you’re not stuck there until you give up or breakthrough. You can leave any dungeon, visit any area from the word go, and skip half the main bosses for half the game if you want to. That first main boss my brother beat his first go; you need to beat him to get into the late-game areas. But at the start, when you don’t know this and are getting wrecked by him, you can go to two other areas nearby or find the hidden passage around the first dungeon, bypassing it entirely and putting you into the area you unlock when you beat it. Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team did all they could to maintain their original vision while not wasting your time [12]. They realized that most people have jobs, family, and other responsibilities and cannot commit to getting pulverized for four hours a day. So, they refocused, kept things still about learning and growing stronger, but put how you go about it in the player's hands [12]. They are the ones who dictate their progress, and within each session, no matter how small, they will find something that makes them stronger. The Lands Between are packed with adventure and discovery, history, and lore that you can discover at any skill level. But, like I said before, it's still 10% a patience check, and on that front, people have a point.

            Allana Piece, an independent games journalist, caught flack for a video she put about accessibility in Elden Ring, and one of the points she focused on was the lack of a pause button [10]. Pausing has only appeared in one Fromsoftwear game to date, Sekiro, and that was because it was not online. Every other Fromsoftwear game has online elements, so not pausing was just a feature the fans accepted as something sacrificed for (simi) stable net code. However, Allana does make a good point, as giving people the option to put down the game whenever is a big draw for most people. Like I said before, people have jobs, family, etc.; they might get an emergency call mid-boss, or the baby wakes up, or someone’s at the door; and yes, there is a sudo pause function if you go into settings, and then click Help, the game freezes. But that’s rather roundabout compared to one button, and it was a feature I only learned about when people started replying to Allana. The game also, let's say, overcompensates for the myriad of options available to the player, as most bosses are very aggressive, deal lots of damage, and have at least one combo you can’t dodge away / into that if it connects, you’re dead. There is also the topic of Side Quests in Elden Ring, something that was, in my opinion, dragged unnecessarily through the mud on launch. But from all the muck-slinging I can understand the cry for a quest log/journal to keep track of what stage of the quest players are at. While I do enjoy the somewhat vague nature of the quests that force you to explore more, I can see it being useful to know how far in Ranni’s quest I am after I put the game down for a week and forgot what half the Shakespearian riddles the woman speaks in actually means. However, with the exception of the journal and pausing, Elden Ring is still trying to give the player more options.

Shadow of the Erdtree: A new design direction for a new audience.

            The DLC for any Soulslikes is going to be harder than the base game. This has been the case for every game up to this one, and it's why the community puts Artorias, Sister Friede, Ludwick, and Slave Knight Gael on different levels than base game bosses, and Shadow of the Erdtree is no different. But it is packed with new items, locations, spells, and tools to take each and every one of those new challenges and curb-stomp them into oblivion. Mainly with the Scadutree Fragments and Rivered Spirit Ashes, items you find all over the Shadow Lands that boost your main stats and spirit summons beyond normal limits while in the DLC. If a boss in the DLC is giving you a hard time, you should consider looking for more Fragments or summoning one of Miquella’s knights to help you. Almost every boss in the DLC has an NPC summon sign baked into it. This means there is always someone to help you draw agro and deal chip damage. Yes, the boss gets more health if you summon these helpers. However, I would argue that learning the boss with the training wheels on elevates your overall skill and understanding of the boss. For instance, when I fought Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, on my second character, I did so with summons like the first time, and that’s how I managed to beat her on that initial run. But as I kept going, I found that I knew her patterns well enough that if I fought her one-on-one, I could make up for the lack of another player by knowing what attacks were safe to attack into, and after that, I beat her in five or so more tries.

Again, I want to emphasize that Fromsoftwear respects your time with their game. They know you may not have all the time in the world to commit to their game like they want. But they are willing to meet you halfway. That is what shot Elden Ring into popular consciousness. While it may have ridden the economic wave of affordable systems and the culture buff of being associated with one of the most beloved modern-day fantasy writers, it was their desire for everyone to experience their vision uncompromised that brought them into the public eye. They didn’t want to give the world an imitation of their work; they wanted people to see what others saw, so they asked themselves how they could reach those people and give them the same experience as the diehard fans who recommended their games. As for all the external forces working toward the game's success, if it failed to sell people on the fantasy it set out to give them, then we wouldn’t still be having this conversation about accessibility in Elden Ring because all the people who did not acclimate would have dropped the game and moved on. But Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team wanted people to experience the game they wanted to make and saw the hurdles they put in front of them, so it's been a slow process of asking what hurdles add to the sense of satisfaction knowing that you completed the race and which ones are just getting in the way of the finish line. That is what accessibility means in Elden Ring, and that should be how we should think about it when trying to make our games more inviting to others who are interested but not fully prepared to commit, as doing so respects both the consumer's time and the artist's vision, making games that can truly be appreciated by more people.  

Citations

1.     Bakalar, Jack, et al. “Is Dark Souls Too Hard?” CNET, 7 Oct. 2011, www.cnet.com/culture/is-dark-souls-too-hard/.

2.     Bandi Namco. “Steam :: Elden Ring :: 20 Million Tarnished.” Steam Community, 28 Feb. 2023, steamcommunity.com/games/1245620/announcements/detail/3677788723155425809?snr=2___.

3.     Chappell, Tami. “Sony’s PS3 Makes U.S. Debut to Long Lines, Short Supplies.” Sony’s PS3 Makes U.S. Debut to Long Lines, Short Supplies - Usatoday.Com, 17 Nov. 2006, web.archive.org/web/20080308233638/www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-11-17-ps3-debut_x.htm.

4.     Croshaw, Ben “Yahtzee.” “CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 (Zero Punctuation).” YouTube, YouTube, 22 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukcaVYsgvJg.

5.     Croshaw, Ben “Yahtzee.” “CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3 (Zero Punctuation).” YouTube, YouTube, 23 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM4RQHgYpow.

6.     Fromsoftwear. “Elden Ring - Announcement Trailer | E3 2019.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 June 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2enbYOMtR4I.

7.     Miller, Liz Shannon, and Therese Lacson. “Yes, We’re Still Mad about the ‘game of Thrones’ Finale.” Collider, 24 Feb. 2024, collider.com/game-of-thrones-ending-bad-explained/.

8.     Padilla-Rodriguez, Maximilian. “Did the Seventh Gen Consoles Reshape the Industry for the Better?” CBR, 6 Aug. 2023, www.cbr.com/7th-gen-console-changes-xbox360-ps3-nintendo-wii/.

9.     Parrish, Ash. “Even Elden Ring’s Game Director Knows Erdtree Is Too Hard.” The Verge, The Verge, 22 June 2024, www.theverge.com/24183692/hidetaka-miyazaki-interview-shadow-of-the-erdtree-difficulty.

10.  Peirce , Allana. “Elden Ring Dlc Is ‘TOO HARD’ (It’s Not).” YouTube, YouTube, 1 June 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cv0s2obpTk.

11.  RedControllers. “[Serious] Is Dark Souls Really as Hard as People Say It Is?” Reddit , 2015, www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/4buz98/serious_is_dark_souls_really_as_hard_as_people/.

12.  Saltzman, Mitchell. “Exclusive: Elden Ring Director Answers All of Our Shadow of the Erdtree Dlc Questions: IGN Fan Fest 2024.” IGN, IGN, 21 Mar. 2024, www.ign.com/articles/hidetaka-miyazaki-elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-interview.

13.  Satoru, Iwata. “Wii.” Iwata Asks - Wii Sports Resort - Page 4, iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/wiisportsresort/0/3/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.

14.  Surette, Tim. “Xbox 360 Pricing Revealed: $299 and $399 Models Due at Launch.” GameSpot, 18 Aug. 2005, www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-360-pricing-revealed-299-and-399-models-due-at-launch/1100-6131245/.

15.  Wood, Rhys. “PS5 Digital Edition vs Xbox Series S: Which Digital-Only Console Should You Buy?” TechRadar, TechRadar, 16 May 2023, www.techradar.com/news/ps5-digital-edition-vs-xbox-series-s-which-digital-only-console-should-you-buy#section-ps5-digital-edition-vs-xbox-series-s-price-and-release-date.