I wouldn't say hyped, as we've seen very little, but I'm rooting for it. It was announced before the retro-futuristic boom we're finding ourselves in, so now it will have to deliver beyond the superficial aesthetic appeal.

Devs stuck around for what seems to be a passion project and Mick Gordon seems to have been invested in this for a long time as well.

Might pull the trigger on pre-order if gameplay reveal looks solid.

And when it comes to clear creative goals and technical downsides bourne out of your suggestions?

You keep pretending those were never brought up, and I'll keep rubbing them into your face.

As well as this:

surely you can name a few online RPGs with open PVP that handle easy mode exceptionally well, out the top of your head.

Are these "players" in a room with you right now?

It already does. You are not disabled, you just want a movie game. Actual disabled people have no issues playing Elden Ring. Have some god damn shame using accessibility as a shield for your half-assed, ignorant, limp-dick whims about a series you're not even interested in.

It's not "more difficult". It's as difficult as you want it to be.

It's not meant for "all people". It's meant for quite a large audience that enjoys this particular brand of RPG.

It would be nice if you could step back and realize that all the stink you're rasing over Elden Ring comes from your own scewed preconceptions of what it should be as a game, as well as what makes games popular.

Easy mode didn't make Anthem, Godfall and Marvel's Avengers popular.

Lack of easy mode never stopped Rockstar games breaking sales records either.

Weird how that works, huh?

My argument is "this will be a monumental effort, that runs contrary to author's clearly stated intent and will divide the online player pool".

3 objective downsides.

And the upside according to you is?

"Appealing to my subjective feelings will somehow make your game more popular (source: trust me dude)".

Let me guess, your perception of argument's merit also hinges on subjective feelings?

If it's so "disproven" something or other, with "numerous games", surely you can name a few online RPGs with open PVP that handle easy mode exceptionally well, out the top of your head.

Just to make sure we're comparing apples to apples here.

According to?

Multiplied by 172 enemy types, 157 bosses and entirely different PVP metas between each difficulty to balance separately post-launch. Cool story, bro.

If your ""subjective feelings"" are that you lose nothing watching movies on a phone, your ""subjective feelings"" are objectively wrong.

Don't let the door hit you.

Next time you wanna throw a temper tantrum demanding something from a game studio, with promises of real world benefits such as higher popularity, bring something more substantial than your fee-fees.

Elden Ring is not a difficult game, therefore easy mode is not needed.

Hooray for unironically thinking that appealing to subjectivity is an actual argument.

Hooray.

Difficulty settings are not volume sliders. They don't happen on the user side, they have to be designed and implemented by the developer. And developer's well within his rights not to waste development resources to do it. Deal with it.

Your analogy is trash, as well as your entire argument.

Stalker difficulty tuning is a prime example of a half-assed incoherent mess because it just increases headshot multiplier across the board and that's it. The result is a much easier game on maximum difficulty with occasional cheap insta-deaths to random headshots from NPCs, and a harder game on Easy because every hobo becomes a bullet sponge.

Thanks for proving my case for me.

Yes.

Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game.

In your case, it's not even optimization, but temper tantrums and outright refusal to engage with the fun.

Just like David Lynch knows better than you not to watch movies on a phone, Miyazaki knows what experience he wants you to have in his game. Being crafty in dealing with difficulties and having other players help you overcome some of them. You will not experience it in absense of difficulty.

You're free to rant about how Titanic would be more popular with a happy ending, and we're all free to laugh at how you refuse to see forest for the trees.

No, Elden Ring allows you to "adjust the volume", it just won't allow you to **** with sound levels to the point of turning music into jumbled mess, just because you think it'll make the experience better for you. You're really stretching this analogy thin, my guy. You might wanna find a better one.

Says the author. But you already know that, so I can skip this bad faith garbage.

Well, no, it's a bummer to the sissies that want to Ubisoft their way through every game since they're not getting an easy mode here. It's a done deal, so cope harder.

Did you read the part you're replying to, or are you struggling to comprehend written text?

"Altering volume to hear more clearly" implies ability to alter it the opposite way, doesn't it? You can absolutely ruin the original vision on the user end. Stop with this bad faith argumentation, will you.

It would negatively affect the one who plays on the easier difficulty first and foremost.

There's also a glaringly obvious splitting of the playerbase across these difficulties, because obviously they cannot be allowed to play together. Which makes already lengthy wait times for Co-op/PVP even longer.

Figuring out a way, cheesy as it may be, to overcome a challenge.

This is the vision.

Now explain to me how this is not lost with an easy mode.

Of course it is, it's called "mixing".

Which, like proper difficulty settings, isn't just a single fix-all freaking dial.

You have an option to watch movies on your phone with no fucking sound.

You have an option to listen to music through shitty dollar store ear buds and not hear half of the instruments.

You have an option to play Splinter Cell Chaos Theory on a Nintendo DS.

You have an option to play Resident Evil 4 on an Iphone.

In all of these cases you would be having a shittier experience because some good, god-loving philanthropist made sure there's an option for it.

Of course there's something to be lost when more options are introduced, what do you mean?

Convenience isn't some unquestionable absolute good you're painting it as, it has a cost.

There's value in boutique shit. People enjoy it for what it is, and if it's not up your alley, go shop literally anywhere else instead of asking these boutiques to make black T-shirts.

Stunning and brave.

None of the Steam payment options work in Russia for several days now, so nobody there is able to buy your game.

If anybody asks you what virtue signalling is, this shit right here.