Suprise, they are all shit.

@Zombie8814: There really wasn't a need to have powerful consoles running games at 120 FPS until near the end of the PS4 generation.

@mogan: Games as a service definitely have had a negative impact on the gaming community at large. Most of these games come with some sort of monetization scheme to keep investments coming in. That alongside the lack of creativity that some AAA developers seem to be suffering from has caused the landscape to become somewhat lackluster. There are some exceptions in the AAA segment and the growth of the indie segment has been a welcome one and great to see but poe13 does have a point here. It is getting worse and the backlash from the community in some cases is not even nearly enough to stop developers from continuing with schemes like this.

@Barighm: It's essential for people to understand that you will likely overcome all of the challenges if you take part at the right moment in time. The fact that you can move on, explore further, grow stronger and then come back when you feel you are powerful enough seems to escape people.

I fully agree with this - I do think ER goes beyond other open-world games of the last decade, but I certainly see decay and re-use of age-old mechanics in worlds seemingly devoid of real life. I have become somewhat allergic to games like AC and FC and even the latest Halo can't seem to escape this formula (if we are talking empty shells, that's probably a prime example. One of the worst open-worlds of the last few years.). I do feel ER is more handcrafted and caters more to my personal taste than any open-world of the last years.

@treechopper88: That's an exaggeration, plain and simple. Elden Ring is many things but certainly not in any sense a hollow shell. Yes, I have played DS1 all the way through DS3 and currently sit with the other 4% that have all achievements unlocked for ER, so I know a little about Souls. But I think we can end it here because I have a feeling our opinions are not going to align on this matter.

@just_visiting: I think Halo Inf. SP is one big joke, and it laughs straight in the face of any gamer that has been around for a while. Their open-world mechanics are extremely dated. The only thing this game has going for it is the gameplay and occasionally the great sandbox experience. Other than that I see lazy re-use of assets, static biome, and an empty world. Open-world exploration that holds your hand is almost identical to the systems that Ubisoft uses and has a forgettable storyline. It still amazes me that the SP is so well received by critics when really its MC disguised in a Ubisoft game with mechanics that are decades old... I would argue that you are correct, not because SP turned out so great but rather because they had no clue how to make it work and they used that extra year to churn something out. It probably has been said already, but I know another developer that made the move from a linear world to an open one, and that world is filled to brim with exciting features. Perhaps they could learn from them and try better next time.

And then there is the MP - Let's just not even get started on that. It's an absolute disaster.

The amount of 'patience' that some people have still amazes me to this day. I ran out of patience almost a month after games as a service became a thing. It is proven time and time again that games as service are usually not a good thing for a game and the community surrounding it. There are only a few examples where a developer was able to turn things around. 343i failed to learn from examples over the past decade and seems to make every classic mistake that others have before them and ultimately it is the consumer that is the victim. Yet people still support predatory developers like this, almost as if they like getting screwed over. Now, once again we get to read in weekly or monthly statements on their socials that they are "aware, working extremely hard, and apologize for the delays" all while asking huge sums of money for a colored piece of armor in their overpriced stores. I would urge consumers, for once, to stop buying trash like this - stop defending your games so rigorously, especially seeing as you end up abandoning it after a few months anyway...

@Sound_Demon: It's actually not that difficult. You certainly don't need to spend 3 hours to figure out a boss fight.