I desperately wanted to love 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring, but it was just too much for me. I’ve never been a fan of Soulsborne games, but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:FromSoftware’s open world was so close to grabbing me. I loved being able to simply run away from an oppressive boss and explore elsewhere, rather than having to r✨am my head against the brick demon until I gave in.
The design of Elden Ring is immac☂ulate, unparalleled. Its brand of fantasy is completely unique, and I wanted to 💦drink it all in. But in the end it just put too many barriers in front of me. It’s unbearably difficult, for one. I like a challenge, but it was too much. If I put the game down for a week and came back – as is often necessary in this line of work – I’d feel like all my muscle memory had disappeared and I had to return to square one.
Then, there’s the issue with pausing. I’d vastly prefer to play a version of Elden Ring in which I couldn’t play online but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:could pause the game instead. This would mean I wouldn’t lose all mಌy progress when the postman knocked or my daughter (then an infant) woke up.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon’s Dogma 2 fixes both of these problems. The combat is hard, but the challenge in each fight never feels insurmountable. I’d go as far as ꧑to say the combat is perfectly balanced. Fighting 1v1 is pretty easy, goblins are no match for my blade, but when you’re up against 𓃲the odds things get more difficult. You can’t button mash your way through Dragon’s Dogma 2. Even as few as three wolves can surround you with devastating effect. You have to approach every encounter with the mind of a tactician, reciting Sun Tzu passages to make it through.
However, it never gets Elden Ring difficult. Plus, I like the fact that you can pause and even save your game freely (albeit not in combat), meaning that a death does not set you back as far as🍸 one in a FromSoftware game.
I’ll happily admit that Elden Ring is leagues ahead of Dragon’s Dogma 2 in a number of ways. It runs better, for starters, and the monsters are so much more visually interesting than Dragon’s Dogma 2’s more g﷽eneric designs. But from a gameplay perspective, I just don’t click with Elden Ring. I appreciate it for what it does, but it’s not for me. Dragon’s Dogma 2, however, is scratching that Elden Ring itch.
Exploration in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is more rewarding than in Elden Ring, even if 🦹the landscapes and enemies are✱ less interesting. Progression is more tangible, combat is more satisfying, and I’m thriving in Vermund.
I don’t know why my mind immediately shot to Elden Ring while playing Dragon’s Dogma 2. I could have thought about how it compares to last year’s masterpiece, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur’s Gate 3. I could have thought of another fantasy RPG like Skyrim or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Witcher. But Dragon’s Dogma 2 didn’t remind ඣme of any of those games. It reminded me of Elden R𝓀ing.
I think the design philosophies of both games are similarly aligned. Neither is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:afraid to feel abrasive or, dare I say it, unfair. In both games, you’re simultaneously the chosen one and the world goes on without you. Combat is also far more challenging in both than in the more mainstream RPGs I listed above. Dragon’s Dogma 2 feels like a version of Elden Ring made for me. It🌌’s difficult without being overwhelming, it’s rewarding without coddling. The game may have its problems but, to me, it might just be perfect.
