I've been thinking about this a lot recently as someone who plays Elden Ring a lot. Both invading, and just doing solo playthroughs of the game. A couple of different points I want to touch on, though I do not have anything written down, so this will be fairly free-form. - ThreadSky

makuta1213.bsky.social • 56 days ago

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as someone who plays Elden Ring a lot. Both invading, and just doing solo playthroughs of the game. A couple of different points I want to touch on, though I do not have anything written down, so this will be fairly free-form.

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makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

That about sums it up for now. I have other things I want to talk about, but don't have the time/motivation to do so at the moment.

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

Finally, Spirit Summons. This is not a subject I see very often, though it doesn't surprise me. Most Spirit Summons are not good. Nearly all Spirit Summons that cost less than 100FP are almost universally underwhelming during boss fights, and while you can use them in certain encounters- 1/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

I haven't, but I suspect that they might perform better there, but given that these are often rewards at the end of lesser dungeons, it feels bad. Meanwhile we have a very healthy number of Spirit Summons that cost 100+FP, and these are usually worth there FP, but require investing into Mind 2/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

and it's usually quite the investment that is required. One of the most common starting classes I choose is Vagabond, and it has 10 Mind, giving 78 FP. To summon the very first Special Ash you find, you need 100FP, which is 16 Mind. Not too bad, but still a steep investment for something you - 3/4

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

can't use everywhere. This on its own is not really a problem. The issue is once you have the FP to summon said Spirit from my last post, Banished Knight Oleg, you no longer have a use for any of the lesser Spirit Ashes you find. They simply cannot compete, all at the cost of 6 levels. 4/4

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

Invasions will always be a controversial subject, but here goes. If invaders could collect crafting materials while in a hosts world the same way phantoms can, that would incentivize me to actually use the crafting system more. On top of that, I do miss getting invaded while playing through on- 1/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

my own, but as an invader I have almost always found invading solo hosts to be very boring, if not frustrating depending on the specifics of the invasion. I do not have a good solution to this "problem" and while I've been brainstorming ideas, I am not a game designer. On top of that, this is 2/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

not a pvp game, but primarily a singleplayer ARPG that gives you a massive world to explore and experience. I do think that getting invaded is a worthwhile experience, even if that experience is largely negative in the moment. The very first invasion I experienced was back in DeS on the PS3 and 3/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

I died very fast, very far into 1-3. It was a frustrating moment for me, but also a super memorable moment because I had no idea that someone else could come into my game and kill me. I thought it was super cool, even though I didn't really get into pvp until Dark Souls 3. 4/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

So going all the way back, I really do want that feeling of knowing I might be invaded at any moment, but without it turning into a 1v1 duel in an empty space with no pve involved. That's not very interesting to me as a host, nor as a the invader. How could this be accomplished? I have no idea. 5/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

Maybe allow solo hosts to be invaded (with a cooldown of course, but that mechanic already exists and has since DS1), but give them a blue spirit. This means it isn't just a 1v1, which most invaders I know do not care for, and also gives the host an ally, so they can keep making progress through 6/?

makuta1213.bsky.social•56 days ago

The day/night cycle could have been more interesting. Making night darker, and having patrols lead by the various demigod's knights would have gone a long ways to making night feel more dangerous, and would also give stuff like the torch or lantern a use outside of caves.

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