I feel like this has become a somewhat contentious topic as of recent. Upon release, ER was heralded as a grand new direction for soulslikes, praised for its seamless open world, amazing bosses and freedom of choice. It's regarded as one of the best open world games, being put in the same conversations as games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
However, not everyone seems to resonate with the game equally: repetive mini bosses and dungeons, rather empty open stretches in the overworld, leading to the feeling of just being funneled from one boss to another (at least on repeat playthroughs). Its lack of tight linearity compared to "classic" soulslikes is also brought up as a negative sometimes, with people wishing for more tight and honed experiences.
What's your guys' thoughts on this? I feel like Elden Ring is owed a huge deal since it's the de facto soulslike that's brought in millions of players who would never have touched a soulslike ever. It's debatable whether it's the best entry point, but its impact is undeniable.
I vibe with tighter experiences personally but still like Elden Ring and am coming around to it more and more playing the DLC. I think I might have spoiled the fun out of the game by watching entire playthroughs on YouTube before playing, thus already knowing most of what's in the game.
Great game, played the hell out of it, but to me its the easy mode dark souls people always asked for, especially with regards to multiplayer. Invasions are almost always 1 v 3 people, and the reward is minimal when you can craft the item you need to summon people endlessly. There's no covenants, so theres no decent rewards for multiplayer participation. I almost never felt threatened getting invaded, I always easily had two allies and could just run away in the massive areas.
I played way more single player in this than most other souls games as a result, and felt like I overleveled for most of it just because of exploring. Exploring was fun, but wow, being thorough just led to me being rich even when spending on weapons and armor I didnt really need. Even respeccing allowed for way more uses than I ever actually needed. All the other souls games felt way tighter on resources and required a little more consideration when using them, or leveling up, or even summoning help. Can I handle an invasion? Am I running out of uses - will I be able to summon for a boss? Shit I might need to invade people if I cant (or go help others with a boss Im better at). Elden ring just never felt that way, I just helped occasionally because it was easy to top off for a level up. Invading was just tiresome.