[h1]Elden Ring is a flawless 10/10 masterpiece, and easily one of the greatest gaming experiences I have ever had.[/h1]
Even coming to the party late, the breathtaking world design and the addicting, hyper polished gameplay completely hooked me.
The simple [b]joy of exploring and discovering[/b] what was around the next corner kept me playing until I successfully 100%ed the game and [b]unlocked every single achievement[/b].
However, I have one major critique regarding how this masterpiece respects a player's time.
The lore of Elden Ring is arguably one of the greatest fantasy stories ever written, but the game stubbornly refuses to actually tell it to you. Instead, the narrative is entirely shattered across cryptic NPC dialogues and random text descriptions on weapons and shields.
For a normal player with a busy life, this system completely breaks down.
When you only have 3 hours a week to play, a 30-hour gap in-game translates to two full months in real life.
If I pick up a sword in week 8, there is absolutely zero chance I will remember that its description connects to a vague sentence a nameless NPC muttered back in week 1.
On my first playthrough, I was completely disconnected from the plot.
I didn't understand the motivations of the bosses, I didn't know who Miquella was when Malenia called herself his blade, and I didn't understand the heartbreaking nobility of Starscourge Radahn until after I had already slaughtered him at his festival.
I was just checking weapon stats, hunting down Grand Lift medallions, and moving blindly from one boss to the next [b]driven solely by the gameplay[/b].
It was only when I finally sat down for consecutive 10 to 15 hour marathon sessions that the cohesion and beauty of the story finally started to make sense.
I am not asking the developers to turn this into a hand holding Ubisoft game filled with intrusive quest markers. However, a simple, elegant Lore Journal or Bestiary would have been an incredible, immersion saving feature.
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Imagine a beautifully illustrated book located safely inside the Roundtable Hold. It fits the lore flawlessly, as you would essentially be contributing findings to the archives of Sir Gideon while he keeps tabs on the world.
When you defeat a Demigod or find a legendary weapon out in the wild, their background lore would automatically compile into a clean history tab back at the Hold.
This would allow busy players to log into the game after a week away, travel to the safety of the Roundtable, read up on the history of the characters they’ve encountered, and instantly feel emotionally reconnected to their goals.
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Elden Ring's hidden lore is too beautiful to be left buried in menu screens, forcing players to turn to YouTube channels just to understand the plot holes of a game they have already mastered. It is a testament to the game's phenomenal PVE - PVP gameplay that it remains a [b]perfect 10/10[/b] anyway but an in game lore book would have elevated it to an [b]astronomical level[/b].
