Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree already kicking the players’ asses. Durable DLC takes a challenging game and makes it even more difficult. Players joked about how a character higher than 500 and the strongest build in the game could be crushed by a random creature in the field. Now that it’s out, FromSoftware has once again successfully cemented its reputation for making heavy games, but that’s not all. The players themselves and the culture around FromSoftware games can play Elden Ring even more difficult because some players embarrass others for using certain items or fighting styles.
As developers FromSoftware have diversified the toolkits players can use to defeat their game’s many monsters, a subset of die-hard fans have responded by debating which methods of defeating the game are valid. Tools like Mimic Tear Ashes can summon a duplicate of the player’s character to fight them during a boss fight, or magic spells like Meteorite of Astel can fire a barrage of meteors at an enemy. These items exist in the regular core version of the game, but some people claim that they can reduce specific challenges because they can be used from a distance. Now with an even higher difficulty Shadow of Erdtreeprominent streamers and gamers on social media platforms like Reddit are taking to the platforms to discuss why it’s actually okay to use these tools – especially now that DLC is even more difficult.
Im_dontai, a streamer with over 1.9 million followers on Twitch, has been streaming the DLC since its release. In the clip, he pushed back against the wider culture of players disapproving of using features like magic build or Mimic Tear, and people complaining about the game’s difficulty.
“It’s because you’re all playing it that the internet makes you feel like you have to,” Imdontai said in the stream. “Yeah, no magic, no summoning, no mimicry, no armor. […] The game is hella hard and I got my fucking Mimic next to me, bro. I play how I want to play. I don’t care who calls me a whore, and neither should you. Play the game the way you want to play the game.”
The idea that Elden Ring should be played without a summons predates this game’s release and ties into a more than decade-long conversation about difficulty in previous FromSoftware games. All modern FromSoftware games include ways for players to get help with certain challenges, either by getting NPCs or other players to fight alongside them. Elden Ring it also expanded the repertoire of fighting styles and magical powers available to players much further. However, there are still some players who say that this is not the “correct” way to play a FromSoftware game. If you’ve had trouble defeating a boss, magic and summoning aren’t the answer. The correct response according to die-hard fans was to “git gud” and learn the correct attack patterns for each boss without the need for ranged magical attacks, NPC summons, or (in the case of Elden Ring) spirit ash. But now players have their hands on the DLC and it’s… well… really damn hard! So much so that it sparked a larger conversation about the role of summoners and other supports in the game.
Reddit user TheHessianHussar shared a subpoena post on Reddit that received over 11,000 upvotes. “To all who don’t yet use summons… Just do it. The game is literally balanced around them,” the user said. “I’m an oldschool souls gamer myself and I was one of the people who refused to use summons because I wanted to play the old way. The “ethical” way I thought. But I will tell you that they are no longer optional.’
Commenters resonated with the general sentiment of echoing those who say you shouldn’t play the game with additional support. One person responded by likening the sentiment to “low self-esteem, insecure teenage bullshit,” and others said that people who don’t like players using summons can go “touch grace.” It’s not like using sorcery and summoning makes a hard game that much easier; each player has yet to learn how to fight each boss. Additionally, Elden Ring is largely a single-player game, and whether someone uses a summon or not doesn’t affect other players.
A post on Reddit suggested that you are need will prompt you to beat the DLC. Not entirely true, but maybe the time has come to let people play the game the way they want. In heart-to-heart conversations, he broaches the idea of using a subpoena ban Elden Ring, some players talked about how “rewarding” it can be. However you play Elden Ring, whether you like it as a girl riding simulator or play it for fashion, the game can be rewarding. You can even run away and that’s still a valid way to deal with an overwhelming enemy! So now at least some players are supporting each other – summon or not – playing the game as everyone wants.