Elden Ring is once again at the center of a huge discussion about the difficulty of video games and I’m already mostly fed up with it. Not only are we having the same conversation over and over again, but it often feels that way wrong conversation too. However, there’s one wrinkle in this latest round that has piqued my curiosity, as it delves into FromSoftware’s data philosophy around boss fightsand how each of them in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion seems to have infinite combos.
To be clear, this is not a bold new claim about FromSoft or Elden Ring. A quick search turns up many complaints about this approach, such as this Reddit post from two years ago complaining about the length of enemy combos when the game first launched. But recently things picked up again after the June 21 release Shadow of the Erdtreethe significantly more difficult expansion that adds a completely new leveling system as well as a series of bosses that drive the community up a wall.
Spoilers for some Shadow of the Erdtree‘s boss battles follow.
For some, Shadow of the ErdtreeFromSoft’s grueling boss encounters have taken too much inspiration from what they consider to be FromSoft’s worst game design tendencies. Posts keep popping up – on Reddit or X (formerly Twitter) – about the enormous length of the attack strings that bosses unleash on players, and the relatively short period of time they are given to take revenge. Whether it concerns the sword master Our, Messmer themselves, or Rellana, some people have had it so far with FromSoft’s endless onslaught.
The frustrations have sparked at least a few discussions about how these bosses fit into FromSoft’s oeuvre, and now many are missing simpler times. One message compares Elden Ring‘s overly complicated attack patterns Dark Souls’ more methodical struggle and Sekiro: Shadows die twice, which they felt put you at least largely on equal footing with enemies. For comparison, Elden Ring (and by extension, Shadow of the Erdtree) seems overwhelming. There’s now a whole genre of post poking fun at enemies who relentlessly attack players Elden Ring and the difference in meetings with the FromSoft boss over the years.
Not everyone subscribes to the idea that these fights are harder than usual, or that there’s something wrong with the long combos. One Redditor doesn’t believe this is a “bad boss design”, arguing that you can like it or not, but there is no one way to interpret the situation. Another post on Elden Ring is designed to trip up players who expect to have an intuitive feel for the pace of battle”, and ultimately found it “as satisfying to learn as [FromSoft’s] other games.”
And of course, there’s the tried-and-true philosophy that most players have internalized in one way or another. That is to say, these boss battles should be difficult and challenge you in these exceptional ways so that the triumph over them is that much sweeter.
me myself hate dealing with long combosand a lot of the shit I saw in it Shadow of the Erdtree is the stuff of nightmares. I may have dumped all my skill points into a Dexterity build for my Bloodhound Fang, but I’m not that dexterous myself and I’m just getting older. I can’t rush away when dodging and jumping over certain techniques just to find a split-second window to make an attack like I used to, and pretty much every encounter probably shouldn’t feel like this !
But I like the superhuman feeling I have Doing If you want to conquer these things, there are generally systems implemented in these games, whether they be Scadutree Blessings, damage-reducing armor and talismans, or even simply the act of summoning, that make this easier. These games are as hard as you make them, you are not their victim!
And then there’s the matter that there’s been a distinct change in philosophy at FromSoft over the years. As FromSoft has repeated its formula over the years, each successive title has been significantly different from the others, and the story here is the same. Dark Souls 2 was alienating to fans of the first game, Bloodborne leaned into a speed and aggression that flew in the face of the whole Souls series, and Sekiro pushed back most of the habits that FromSoft games collectively encouraged. Elden Ring is, like the rest of FromSoft’s legendary catalog, a distinct game variant, even if it plays within similar conventions and aesthetics. Although going against such versatile and powerful opponents can be exhausting – which is fair considering the literal gods what you often face: expectations set by playing previous FromSoft titles simply shouldn’t inform or dominate your understanding of what’s going on. Elden Ring has always been there and always will be.