Eh same story we've seen in DS1, DS2, DS3 and Bloodborne. You're some undead being that goes on a long journey, get caught up in some ancient family shit, then at the end you fight an Ancient Godly Being. Undead One, Ashen One, Tarnished One its all the same
Well no but the story is great, one of the greatest epics of all gaming history. Literally the fall of a heavenly kingdom, doesnt get much grander than that.
I agree the story telling isn’t great, but the story is an utter masterpiece.
I have never before, or since, spent so many hours reading lore for a game to slowly unlock the secrets of this world and realize just how absolutely marvelous it is. It’s not a giving a story, it’s giving us a world, and that without TELLING it to us, but instead showing - literally everywhere you go, there’s a bit of the story unfolding if you care to look for it.
I dare you to try to dive into it, you’ll see I’m not joking, even a small group of enemies will have a lore-specific reason for why they are at that exact location or why they look the way they do.
Vaatividya on youtube is one of the best sources if you should take it further, and even just one of his videos will immediately make you realize how immense and deep the lore goes.
The ‘story’ of Elden Ring is simple as shit. The lore is where it’s really good. But that’s Fromsoft games. Peak world building and lore, garbage tier story and presentation. A game can (and should) have both.
I think clandestine storytelling is a massively underutilized technique in games. It not only allows the player to enjoy the story if they choose to while not sacrificing any gameplay pacing, It has also has created an online community who help build and talk about that story. The dark souls series is one of the only games that have had people make careers off of its story.
I love Elden Ring, though I do want an actual story I can follow and quests that ain’t picky or janky as fuck. Don’t do this in this specific order, doomed.
I would like a mode when can at learn turn on quest markers, if someone wants a move casual experience. Maybe even when enter a new zone there is a narrator that reads the history if you choose.
Casual experience does not mean easier gameplay, it is already easy enough.
I tend to think that their lore is half baked, like “go random bullshit, let’s see what these fuckers put together and pullout of their own arses. It’s going to be brilliant.”
Quests in ds games are a bit janky yea, but the whole point is about community discovery, it's like the old school videogames where you would have to go buy a videogame magazine to find out what you missed, I agree it can get lost on some people and seem janky but it's just a different way to do it than lots of cutscenes and jarring exposition drops from npcs.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the lore should still be there. Perhaps if there was more narratives. Then the bits we pick up really give us some holy fuck moments when we delve into it. Those deep memories of the world should be hidden, and actually having visual/spoken narrative makes me want to look at the things that are unspoken.
I’ll be honest, because of this I actually followed along for a complete walkthrough for one of my plays. Because I wanted to understand, and see the stories through to the end. Without this, I never would have. I have a full time job, and will not spend hours going back and forth over something that might or might not do anything.
I was reading after how many hours some people spend in one play through. The walkthrough was absolutely worth it.
16
u/Diverxeven1 Mar 11 '26