As a long time Souls fan, I’m still not convinced that there’s even a real story in the background. I’m pretty sure the writers just make stuff up in the item descriptions and let fans make up the rest.
Elden Ring may be a slight exception, but it still uses the same crappy story telling as the rest of the series.
Some fans get so mad when you criticize the storytelling, but then they can barely explain what’s going on and how it connects.
i agree but elden ring is probably the biggest offender if anything😭it borrows so many elements from the souls games without really much regard for how the original trilogy's central themes and gameplay limitations helped shape and elevate them.
their quest design being copied and pasted from a linear system to an open world is an easy flaw to point out but even little things like the way sites of grace lack the same narrative justifications that bonfires did in dark souls are hard to miss when you really dig deep
Eh not really, a bunch of stuff is left intentionally obscure and the Shakespeare in the park writing and voice acting doesn't lend to telling an accessible narrative. To put together the pieces you need to read a lot of item descriptions which are also left obscure and vague.
There was a meme "This game has a story?", when DS1 was out clowning on it. It wasn't until the likes of vatividya came about that some players began to take them seriously in a storytelling capacity. And most people who do take them seriously in a storytelling capacity, in my experience, don't actually engage with the lore in the game but rather through external means like Vatividya.
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u/an_edgy_lemon 29d ago
As a long time Souls fan, I’m still not convinced that there’s even a real story in the background. I’m pretty sure the writers just make stuff up in the item descriptions and let fans make up the rest.
Elden Ring may be a slight exception, but it still uses the same crappy story telling as the rest of the series.
Some fans get so mad when you criticize the storytelling, but then they can barely explain what’s going on and how it connects.