Let the Flame Die: Elden Ring Can't Resurrect the Souls Franchise

[droqen]

I find it ironic that blind loyalty to power is something the Souls narratives subtly reject, and yet FromSoftware have been so slavish in their loyalty to the Souls brand that they robbed Elden Ring of the ability to truly be its own thing. And the community have duly rewarded them for it. Well done Miyazaki, just keep giving us more of what we already know and love. Remember when the Souls games were indifferent to the player?

. . . Dark Souls was about a world which had existed for too long, its lifespan unnaturally extended by the feeding of souls into the great flame.

[droqen]

The Souls series' own age of light is fading -- and has been for a while now. . . . as long as we keep praising repetition and safeness, as long as we keep begging for more of the same, FromSoftware will continue feeding the fires of our devotion. But I say it's long past time we extinguished the flame.

[droqen]

Let The Flame Die

[droqen]

Thinking back to one quote I pulled:

Wonder requires wondering. In Elden Ring, when I see something moving towards me in the middle distance, I don't have to wonder -- I just draw my weapon.

I might paraphrase this as, "Wonder requires wondering. In Elden Ring, because it doesn't require me to wonder, I don't." I feel this, but at the same time, I feel like growing past it. Over the years, many games have taught me what wondering is like -- they have taught, or reminded, me that I love to wonder.

I think this is something to move past.

We are students, apprentices, of computerized systems.

We must outgrow them, become their masters.