Many years ago, I spent an evening in the pub with a cohort of fellow game journalists.
Graham said something that helped it all click into place, and which I have never forgotten.
People say they want good AI in shooters, but they dont.
It would be awful.
I am not going to try and disagree with his premise that Elden Rings balance often feels extreme.
But my counterargument is that old line of Grahams.
Sure, Elden Ring could have a linear difficulty curve.
But this sounds terrifically boring, does it not?
AsSpelunkydesigner Derek Yu is fond of pointing out, balance is often to the detriment of fun.
Dunkey isnt asking for that sort of balance in Elden Ring, sure.
How do you balance enemies around a player with all that power in their pockets?
Okay, one-shotting them is a bit extreme, but this is FromSoftware were talking about.
This is FromSofts whole deal.
I interviewed Miyazaki a few E3s back about the newly announcedSekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
We all know how that turned out.
I hadnt felt that good about myself since the first time I killed Smough and Ornstein.)
Balance is a weird thing, a subjective one, often more about feelings than facts.
And a perceived imbalance can ultimately define a game, rather than break it in two.
Take, for example, my beloved Street Fighter IV.
Series producer Yoshinori Ono demurred, explaining in a Famitsu interview that Yun was working as intended.
But the legacy of the Yun years endures, and in hindsight Im glad it happened.
That experience changed the way I thought about balance, or at least the supposed importance of it.
I see something similar in Elden Ring, and FromSofts games more broadly.
Technically they are PvE games with an optional and this time largely opt-in, praise the sun PvP component.
I am, after all, a bit of a Yun myself.
The final boss could tell you that, if I hadnt already killed it.
‘Technically they are PvE games with an optional and this time largely opt-in, praise the sun PvP component.
you’re able to run around an early-game area cathartically one-shotting everything, blowing off some steam.
and the walls are all that remains.
The pain becomes sharper, but is it really because the game is too hard?
I may use some words that make the eldest shout Language!
from round the corner.
That, right there, is the hardest balance for game designers to strike.
Personally I think that is worth all the one-shot attacks in the world.
Two thousand words, that took, give or take.
Dunkey did it in five minutes.
Told you I was a fraud, didnt I.
Thanks to Hit Points for allowing us to share this article.
