@Litchie: The thing that scares me is not much to do other than kill stuff. In Zelda you had puzzles and quests along the way along with killing stuff. Eldin Ring is just Dark Souls with more space.

Shoden

" It really feels to me like the "open field" is supposed to invoke more vibes from something like Xenoblade Chronicles than BOTW. There are some huge, open explorable areas in XC, but they are set maps instead of being part of one single "world" map. Elden ring's progression is looking more like "Here, this area is completely free to explore in new ways from any past title, but you must cross barriers to get to the next kingdom". The neater thing with Elden ring is you can see the areas in a way more cohesive way than Xenoblade. It all exist together as a landscape, even if the kingdoms are functionally separated.

While it's not the vast purely open world people might have imagined, the intriguing part for me is a souls game that feels less like areas that exist to progress through and more like areas that are meant to be played in. Day/night cycle, resource gathering, open world events and bosses. While I love replaying the games, I love things that give me more reason to just go out and exist in a game world. Elden Ring seems to be doing that, having a world where events go on without your direct involvement, where as past souls games feel like it's only full of dudes waiting to stab you as you turn a corner. "

This person is spot on, im getting Xenoblade vibes when im reading about the games design. Xenoblade is a great design to copy from too. Cause although Xenoblade isnt truly open world, it feels like it.

@Litchie: Yeah, i would have cried if they took the Metroidvania part out of the design. Im glad its not open world. Having a map is gonna suck though. Makes the places less memorable. Thats whats so awesome about Souls games, you have to remember where to go, no map to show you the way.

@sakaixx: Its not that bad. But yeah, tons of people hate breakable weapons.

@HalcyonScarlet: Yeah, i dont think he ever meant for people to be calling it open world. It makes people think the game is open like Zelda, Witcher, Vahalla, etc. But it seems that wasnt his intent. He wanted to add a little more openness to his game, but not make an open world game. The game is still a Metroidmania style game.

@TheEroica: Its not up to me whether gamers are disappointed or not. Thats their choice. Ill have to play the game to decide. I didnt get to play the network test.

@TheEroica: The short version is in the beginning.

It appears Eldin Ring isnt open world at all. And it appears you cant actually go wherever you want. Also despite claiming to be a huge world, leaks have revealed the games file size is super small. Leaks have shown the games file size to be around 44g. And after hearing from critics about how the game features vast amounts of empty space, we can guess why.

It seems people are agreeing, everything this game does and tries to do, would have been better in a traditional Souls design. It seems the open field approach is just a marketing gimmick to make it appear fresh.

Eldin Ring takes a lot of inspiration from the legendary BotW. They have fast travel, you have to unlock parts of the map, a focus on combat, weapons are breakable so have to use lots of different ones, can travel by mount, and both games like to tell the story through lore within its world. But it appears there are also some big differences that have fans highly disappointed. So lets start with the big ones.

It appears Eldin Ring isnt open world at all. And it appears you cant actually go wherever you want. Also despite claiming to be a huge world, leaks have revealed the games file size is super small. Leaks have shown the games file size to be around 44g. And after hearing from critics about how the game features vast amounts of empty space, we can guess why.

May contain spoilers below. Stop reading now if your scared.

" With the post about the old concept art for the map, which is very accurate to be honest (you just have to change some angles to increase the circle-like shape of the map and then it became fairly similar to the current geography), some people were a bit dissapointed that such map would limit free exploration of a true open world and the promise of "tackle the Legacy dungeons in the order you prefer". So I think it could be a good think to gather information, clarify misconceptions and manage expectations.

1. First: The Leaked Map and the Current Map. Already discussed but to stablish a few things

1: Limgrave / 2: South Island-Australia / 3: Church of Dragon Communion / 4: Stormveil / 5: Godrick Arena- Roundtable Keep/Hold-Hub?? / 6: Desert Area? / 7: Flooded Domain / 8: Legacy Dungeon, Raya Lucarian? / 9: Erdtree / 10: Volcano-Caldera

From the 20 minute preview and screenshots, we kind of know the Caldera is at the north of the giant Castle in the flooded domain, so the old map is consistent, and the caldera also seems to be located in the Autumnal domain.

2) Is Stormveil blocking progression into the rest of the map? The OPEN FIELD CONCEPT

One of the criticism and dissapointment I saw was that such geography meant that you were not free to explore the map as you pleased and were forced to fight Godrick in order to gain access to the next domain. So, this is where Miyazaki's words and some NPCs dialogue are relevant

• "The hub is not directly from the start, but there is a Hub are that you can acces a a little later in into the game. And as well as this Hub, which you can branch out from...." Miyazaki - IGN, June (2021) Link
• "What's the matter? Shouldn't you be off proving yourself, or some such? Then go on, take the hint and follow the guidance of grace. To castle Stormveil, on the cliff. And if, by chance you do find your way to the castle**, you may receive a summons. To the famed Rountable Keep**..." White-Faced Varre
• Is it designed so that you can go to the edge of the world from the beginning?Miyazaki: No, there are some barriers, or places where you can't access the map beyond that. However, there may be more than one way to go beyond that, and I think the degree of freedom is quite high here as well. Famitsu
• In you see japanese sites and western interviews with Miyazaki, he does not use the term "open world", he prefers to use the term "Open Field". Since old interviews he has expressed desire to distance from the concept of open world and have a FromSoftware approach to the world design. As such, he sais that (1) there are intended ways of progress in the game, (2) you can chose freely how to progress (3) but there are still certain limitations, items or thing you need in order to open a path.

As such, it is safe to presume that the game will have a dynamic structure with openness and restrictions or bottlenecks and not just a "here is the full map for you". And this is also vital in their storyline and narrative, it is part of their artistic direction and must not be seen necessarily as dissapointing or a limitation, since you'll still have a lot of freedom. So, probably the structure of the first part of the game will be:

• Tutorial, travel to the Lands Between, something related with the cutscene with the giant hand and 3 fingers?
• Limgrave, the first Domain, Melina, Torrent.
• Stormveil, Godrick
• Gaining Access to the Roundtrable Hold/Keep. This Area could be: (1) The Tower in Godrick Arena or (2) The Majestic Building after Stormveil (photo), it has a few bridges but still looks isolated, so makes sense that gaining access needs a summon.

The Roundtable Hold/Keep?

• Now you completed this Domain, which acts as a "Introductory Domain", where you defeat a Demigod who has a self-proclaimed title of "The Golden" and "Born a weakling child, coveted the strenght of his kin".
• So, now imagine the messages in the ground "The Real Elden Ring beggins Here". You Have probably most of the map open for you, 5 Demigod who are probably stronger than Godrick (a guy obssesed with obtaining more power, pretty insecure and paranoid Lord) and tons of secrets to explore.
• Edit just to be clear: I think from this part the world will be even more open. As I said, the map is open to you so you can technically go to virtually any of the remaining Legacy Dungeons if you are capable, even if the game suggest an specific order. Still, some map limitations may still be present.
• Maybe parts of the map are still out of reach for part of the game: The Eternal City underground, the Foot of the Erdtree, Something in the Sky/Remnants of the Temple of the Sky? Maybe those part will be end game content?

So, in conclusion. I suspect it is a Metroidvania-Souls Open World = Open Field, in the sense that things will be interconected and new paths will be opened as you make progres in the plot. It is not AC Valhalla where you take your horse and take to the almost final area of the game from the first mission, the world will be discovered as part of your exploration but also as part of the narrative of the game.

I think this is fantastic, is part of the magic of how FromSoft is taking his formula to the "Open World Formula" whitout losing the core souls elements. Some people may say "it's Open Wold Souls" in a bad sense, but to me, being able to make an "Open World" while maintaining the complexity of Souls level design, is a massive accomplishment and exactly what I was expecting. "

Source

" When I think about what makes me compelled to explore open world games, a few things come to mind. One is being able to interact with or affect the world in meaningful ways. There will be a hundred articles pitting Elden Ring against The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, so I won't linger on the comparison—the important takeaway is that Breath of the Wild was absorbing because the tools it gave you tied in with systems like gravity and temperature; stumbling upon something mysterious was more often a freeform puzzle to solve than an enemy to fight. FromSoft's games are about combat above all, and they've always done that brilliantly, but it means there's inevitably very little to interact with in the open world. You arrive at the crest of a hill, spend a moment appreciating the view, and then look to see what's in need of a good killing.

Quests also push me to explore open worlds. In The Witcher 3, I loved seeing where a new bit of story would take me, and how a quest about a tragic werewolf stalking a village or a specter haunting a mansion would enrich my understanding of the game world. Again, Elden Ring deliberately doesn't have those things. Its open world is connective tissue, and only engaging when it contains unique things to discover that make it worth slowing down for a moment. "

It seems people are agreeing, everything this game does and tries to do, would have been better in a traditional Souls design. It seems the open field approach is just a marketing gimmick to make it appear fresh.

" Cool discoveries, but all could've worked just as well in more traditional Souls levels. The small dungeons that pockmark the open world are mostly corridors with a few enemies and then a boss. Aside from the bosses, they seem destined to be forgotten, which I wouldn't say about many Souls areas—even the bad ones are usually memorable. "

Source

@BassMan: O wow, that almost looks as bad as Eldin Ring.

Holy crap this game is already so cheap. Heres some PC deals.

Amazon - £40.95

CDKeys - £37.99 (Standard Edition)

Shopto - £37.85 (Standard Edition)