Published , by Dennis White
Published , by Dennis White
Happy Saturday everyone! Welcome to this week's edition of Weekend Discussion. Buckle in and enjoy the ride.
It has been a great week for Soulsborne fans as From Software dropped a new 15 minute long gameplay video this Thursday. Elden Ring was almost my favorite part of E3 but because it technically was revealed before the official show, I had to play by the rules. Before that reveal, there was a ton of worry for a while that the game had been delayed or canceled because of how long they had been radio silent. More recently, the game had been delayed a month as well which had players asking why.
So why am I and plenty of others excited after seeing new gameplay? Well, for starters, there is way more freedom on display from the gameplay footage. Massive open worlds with lush forests that require you to ride horseback to traverse is definitely what I envisioned when Miyazaki originally talked about the scale of the project. They have severely decreased fall damage and made the ability to jump and climb easier. This adds so much depth to how you can approach different areas and means that players like myself will have the opportunity to die in even more ways as well trying to push the limits of what is actually possible.
There’s a map! I honestly was not sure if I would ever see a full blown map in a Souls game. Seriously. One of the big selling points for From Software has been their ability to make players want to explore the unknown. That unknown could mean running into an area that isn’t really beatable until the end of the game but because of the ingenuity of players, may actually be possible. I think my fellow staff member TJ says it best here:
New abilities and spirit summons also add something new to the genre. I believe that code vein played around with the idea of having a partner or summon that could aid you in battle but it seems that FromSoft is taking it to a new level with the amount of customization and variety in your build based on the spirits you find throughout the world. I personally think this adds some really cool depth to the game. I love finding shiny new items and it’s going to be even harder to turn away from a dangerous looking area if there’s just a tiny chance that I can find a new bad-ass spirit or weapon with a cool ability inside. This also leads to one of the Soulsborne games’ biggest strengths, the power of choice. Replayability goes way up if I know my builds can lead to completely different ways to take down the bosses in an area.
Lastly, I have to mention multiplayer because I’m hoping and praying that exploration is more intuitive and convenient with friends this time around. There are still complaints about accessibility and lack of easy mode options with these games. I think Fromsoft’s approach has been to allow you to summon friends or NPCS. In this case, friends can also bring their spirit summons so there’s going to be a whole lot happening on the screen but I think this may give folks who struggle in solo situations a better chance to take on the open-world challenges without feeling like they are having to jump through hoops to get to the fun stuff.
I’m looking forward to the network test to see if we get some fun times with PVP and hopefully the opportunity to witness some broken combat combinations. Sorry, the fighting game player in me can’t hope but dream.
We are speeding towards the festive holiday season now whether you like it or not so take a look below and enjoy some laughs.
I would accept an entire movie of this over whatever Disney Plus is doing.
I gotta sneak one more Halloween video in here because its my favorite holiday! Also Jamie Lee Curtis is waaay too good at that baby crying. She sounds like me after watching Halloween Kills.
This was incredible.
Tom Nook would totally try to buy Tuluka Lake and turn it into a new resort spot.
Just went through this moment watching an anime and it's incredibly common.
Everything I see from this Marvel vs Capcom mod has been amazing. I love Psylocke and you should too.
We are jealous of Greg and his giant killer robot. Check out his review of this awesome Hasbro figure.
Plenty of great music to choose from this week. I want to take a moment to say that my thoughts go to the families of those who died at the Astroworld concert last night. Truly a tragic situation that I believe could have been avoided. Music is meant to bring people together and I hope that more events manage to do that safely and responsibly. Alright, hopefully you enjoy this week's choices.
Silk Sonic are going to most likely drop the album of the year and I'm looking forward to playing it at the family get-together this holiday after missing out last year thanks to the pandemic. Godspeed gentlemen.
Jazz is never out of style
The visuals and the jams here are exquisite. Enjoy the feast with this one.
I hope you enjoyed this week's Weekend Discussion. If you want to support what we do here at Shacknews, consider hitting us with a Mercury sub!. Have a great weekend!