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Eldon's Law Ring, developed by Fromsoftware, is now available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC (Steam) platforms on February 25, 2022.
Fromsoftware is well known to players for series such as Dark Souls, and the latest game, Eldon's Law Ring, is a new IP title it pioneered. Players will be free to explore and embark on a variety of adventures in the vast open world.
*This review is based on a PS5 beta version that is close to the official release.
Of course, I believe that there will be players who care about whether there are spoilers related to the process of the strategy in this article. In response to this problem, you can rest assured that the author will introduce the elements and charm of this game while avoiding spoiling the player's adventure fun as much as possible.
Blessed and Guided "Faded"
The adventure of this game takes place in the "Junction Land", which was once a blessed land full of "golden trees". The eyes of the blessed shine with golden light, while the eyes of the blessed are dim. In the eyes of the "faded" who have lost their blessings, the junction is a faded world, so they are also unknowingly driven out of the junction.
The protagonist played by the player in this game is the descendant of the above-mentioned "fader". One day, the "Ring of Eldon", the source of the Golden Tree's blessing, suddenly shattered, and the demigods holding its fragment "Great Lune" went mad by its power, which led to the "Fragment War".
The demigods threw themselves into battle in order to claim the throne, but no one won. The world collapsed.
Finally, the guidance of the blessing came to the faded one who had been expelled from the junction. The mysterious revelation begins to guide the faded man back to the junction, guiding the protagonist to obtain the Eldon Ring and become the King of Eldon.
The plot of this game can be summarized as follows: the protagonist "Fader" will be guided by blessings and return to the collapsed "Junction" to embark on an adventure in order to obtain the "Eldon Ring of Law". So who broke the "Eldon Ring" for what reason? Can the protagonist become the "king"? These will be the highlights of the story of this game. Compared with the slightly complicated plot of the Dark Souls series, the plot of this game is still easy to understand. And the majestic and royal orthodox story is also one of the charms of this work.
The fantasy world of the King's Way
The graphics in this game are quite beautiful, especially in the long-range view. Although the game's graphics are not at the top of the latest AAA blockbusters when you look closely, there are no particularly noteworthy flaws, and the overall balance of the graphics is wonderful.
The area of "Nymgfu", which can be visited only at the beginning of the game, covers a rich terrain of grasslands, forests, coasts, dungeons, and swamps. As the adventure progresses, a variety of areas will appear one by one, including strange places such as poison swamps, which can arouse the player's desire for adventure.
Similar works such as fromsoftware's Dark Souls series are all permeated with darkness. "Only The Wolf: Shadow Gone Twice" shows the beauty of Japanese painting style and nature, but still retains a dark and decadent feeling. However, this work creates a classical fantasy atmosphere from the whole, exuding a slight sense of refreshment, which is refreshing.
Having said that, the game still retains the personal style of Hidetaka Miyazaki, and the strange and dark elements can be seen in the locations in the scenes and the storyline. This game is not a simple and bright adventure game, and as a fan of Mr. Miyazaki, I can find many kinds of pleasing elements with Miyazaki style in the game (players who are exposed to Mr. Miyazaki's works for the first time through this game may be confused at first... ）。
Although the game's goal is as simple and easy to understand as mentioned above, from time to time, like Mr. Miyazaki's other works, it will suddenly throw out some information that confuses the player. This is because the game adopts the narrative style of "stitching together a complete story from fragmentary information such as text descriptions and NPC dialogues". It will be a great pleasure to solve the mystery with the protagonist, try to understand the story from the narrative such as dialogue scenes or texts!
A confusing "origin" character creation system
The protagonist of this game, "Fader", will be created by the player himself, and the name, appearance, age, etc. can be customized. You can either pinch out an Fromsoftware-style character or create a unique character that looks good but is a little unorthodox. The character's appearance can change at any time in the game, so you don't have to get too caught up in the beginning of the game.
One of the most troubling things is choosing "origin", that is, early career. There are ten unique origins to choose from, such as the "Wandering Knight" who fights with a sword and shield, and the "Stargazer" who is good at using magic. In the end, I chose the "samurai" that I personally liked, and the "Japanese wind" element that suddenly flashed in the classical fantasy work reminded me of the fantasy style RPG of the past. More importantly, the samurai is set from the "Land of Reeds", which is really reminiscent of the stage of "Only Wolf: Shadow Death Twice" - "Reed Country". As a big fan of Fromsoftware, I was pleasantly surprised to see this setting.
A vast and difficult to fully explore junction
The game system basically inherits the characteristics of the "Dark Souls" series and other works, and I believe that the fans of the series will be easy to get started. Players need to search for "blessing" points as much as possible (the equivalent of the "bonfire" in the Dark Souls series) in order to make a quick trip in an adventure full of battles and exploration. The basic gameplay of adventure can be simply summarized as ARPG.
The stage "junction" of this work is very vast, and the scale is even indescribable. In the network test held before the release of this game, players can experience the western region of Nyingef, I believe that friends who participated in this trial should remember how big the picture is, right? However, the junction experienced in the official version is even more vast. From the author's personal feelings, the area of the western region of Nyingfu is not even 1/10 of the area of the game's full map. The breadth of this work's exploration is evident from this.
Not only is the surface scene vast and boundless, but the underground scene of this work is also unique. The map is dotted with dungeons of all sizes, including huge "ruin dungeons". A dense content arrangement means a dense experience. Rather than being distracting to the player with the expansive scene, this creates a sense of openness and adventure on the journey. It's this balance and playability that enhances the game's RPG fun.
There may be players who worry about moving too much around the vast map, but this is not a problem. Players can obtain the Spirit Horse "Toret" at the beginning of the game, and riding it can achieve high-speed movement. In addition, the game has also added a fast travel function, which can teleport the player to the blessing point at any time, and move effortlessly. It is worth praising to alleviate the player's gaming stress by providing players with convenient means of moving around the early stages of the game.
There is no doubt that the amount of game content in this game is quite rich. If you want to completely squeeze out the game value, the game time may also be at least 100 hours. For players looking to challenge hardcore ARPG, this game is the perfect choice.
Experience battles rich in tactical fun
The combat system of this game also follows the mode of the Dark Souls series, such as freely equipping weapons in the left and right hands, changing the way weapons are held (one-handed/two-handed), and so on. Players can perform a variety of attack actions by equipping different weapons, and enjoy the fun of free use of weapons.
In soul games such as Bloodborne Curse, "anti-reaction" is often very important. If you are proficient, it can still play a good role in this work, but this time "anti-reaction" can only be regarded as an ordinary means of strategy.
Why? Because Ben as a player provides a variety of ways to attack. You can use ranged weapons to launch long-range attacks, or you can use magic or prayer to stabilize and deliver powerful damage. The new "Defensive Counterattack" in this game allows the player to immediately switch from a defensive state to a counterattack state. In addition, the game also has elements that break the balance of the enemy's body, and even in some cases, attack is the best defense. Overall, players will be able to employ many different tactics in this game.
In addition, the game also added a "spirit summoning" system that allows players to summon characters to help themselves, and the experience of multiplayer online mode is also more convenient and fast. Compared to the Dark Souls series, known as the "Death Games", this game is much easier in terms of enemy strategy. Still, players will die over and over again.
▲ In addition to spirits, some scenes can also summon help NPCs to help themselves while offline
In the Dark Souls series, there is a general tendency to add a focus on a certain ability (character growth policy). Of course, this work can also take this approach. However, I personally believe that the characters with balanced abilities are easier to get through to this game, and the author has not encountered too many difficulties in familiarizing himself with various actions such as weapons, magic/prayer, etc., and the whole process is full of fun. That being said, the exact way to play is completely different from person to person, and I'm sure there will be players who will hopefully dive deeper into the RPG character and shout "I want to become a magic swordsman!" , and the character development system of this game is enough to realize this wish of the player. Furthermore, this also enhances the game's high degree of freedom in terms of adventure in disguise, and strengthens the game's RPG charm.
The difficulty of the battle remains high
The combat difficulty of this game can be appropriately described as "relaxed and measured". Compared to the Dark Souls series, the game's normal enemies (miscellaneous soldiers) are fairly easy to deal with, and players no longer have to tensely face all enemies throughout the process. Of course, some ordinary enemies still need to be steady.
On the other hand, the difficulty of the boss battle is still very high. There is absolutely no boss monster that can be easily defeated at the first meeting, and players basically have to learn the method of strategy in the process of repeated deaths. However, due to the existence of "spirit summoning" and "multiplayer cooperation", the game actually does not have too many battles that require players to challenge with 120% serious energy. Of course, players can also enjoy the fun of dueling without using elements such as "spirit summoning", so the difficulty of this game can be said to be determined by the player's own adjustment. It is up to the player to choose whether to become the king of Eldon by any means or to die alone.
In addition, the huge "Ruins Dungeon" provides players with a similar experience to the Dark Souls series. Since they will encounter enemies at any time during their in-depth exploration of the dungeon, players must manage the amount of recovery pills and look for "blessing" points as much as possible. When the character dies, the experience is still so interesting to lament, "Oh, I'm going to start over from there again...", while reviewing the problem. The game's new jumping moves allow players to jump to distant locations, and in fact, the dungeon structure of the game is more three-dimensional, and sometimes even new roads can be found at the end of the climbing passage.
In summary, although the overall difficulty of the game is relatively low (*from the perspective of an Fromsoftware fan), there are still some strong enemies that are difficult to overcome. In other words, although this game is not too difficult for players, it will still encounter many difficulties for players who are not good at action games. This game does not mean that accumulating experience points and improving various attributes can easily advance the game (of course, it will be easier to do so), the battle still needs to test the player's operational strength and tactical depth, so the author hopes that everyone will not easily give up the challenge and strive to enjoy the sense of achievement after defeating the strong enemy.
Featured RPG elements
In my opinion, the Dark Souls series is a work that takes into account both action elements and RPG elements, "Bloodborne Curse" is a work that further highlights the action and level strategy elements on this basis, and "Eldon's Ring of Law" focuses on the RPG elements and strives to allow players to experience their own adventures.
For example, the player is free to decide the order of the raiders for each region. You can either ignore the boss monsters of the original Ningafu area and go to the next area, or you can exercise the protagonist by exploring various places. Although the game has the objectives that must be completed to advance the main storyline, how to enjoy the adventure is basically up to the player. Of course, some locations require the player to conquer specific areas or defeat specific bosses before they can enter.
Combat with a wealth of weapons and attacks can also be considered one of the characteristics of RPG. For example, when encountering rock enemies that are difficult to slash with a sword, you can switch to a sledgehammer-type strike weapon to attack. For example, it is more advantageous to use torches against flammable enemies than to attack with normal weapons. The gameplay of "winning with a fleeting selection of gear" is really RPG-flavored.
The variety of weapons and armor is also very rich, even surprisingly large. Not only do you have a variety of weapon types, such as swords and guns, but each weapon also has its own unique action, which makes equipment collection very interesting. Although the Dark Souls series has the same elements, this game is still superior in terms of internal capacity.
The existence of "combat skills" further increases the fun of this game. "Combat Skills" are similar in setting to skills, and can be used to unleash attacks or gain enhanced effects. Although the "combat skills" in this game are also linked to weapons like Dark Souls 3, they can be deeply customized.
At this time, it is necessary to use the power of "war ashes". Players can embed the "war ashes" in hand into the corresponding weapon to obtain the corresponding combat skills of the war ashes. Since players are free to choose a weapon's combat technique, embarrassing situations such as "the weapon performs well, but it is difficult to use because the combat technique is broken" will no longer appear. In addition, players will have more options when fighting, in addition to specializing in their favorite weapons, they can also flexibly choose a variety of weapons according to the battle situation. The highly customized "Combat Techniques" and "Battle Ashes" also contribute to the game's high degree of freedom of play.
▲ Take the knife fighting technique "juju" posture as an example...
The characters with their full personalities are also highlights
The characters in this game are also full of personality, but compared to Mr. Miyazaki's previous works, they are quite "soft" in design. Of course, there are also many characters in the game who have too distinct personalities, and it is easy for players to have feelings for them... Because in this game, it is easier for players to meet relatively friendly characters, rather than those characters who are difficult to say.
There are a large number of characters in this game, and communicating with these various characters is also one of the charms of this game. The mysteries of the world told in just a few words and the stories of the faded people further deepen the worldview of this work. The game's side quests and encounters with the game's characters also make the process of scene exploration fun.
Personal evaluation: A "masterpiece" that will be recommended to everyone
Finally, I would like to say two more words about the loading time. This time, when I played the PS5 version, I almost didn't feel the loading time. Re-challenging can also quickly enter the game, so it is easy to die, and coupled with the fast travel that can be moved instantaneously, the play experience of this game can be said to be very comfortable. However, if you are accustomed to playing the PS4 version, you may feel pressured by the smooth experience of the PS5 version.
The above is the author's general impression of this work. When it comes to Fromsoftware's work, there are always many charms that are deliberately difficult for players, and gamers who eat this set will of course play until they can't stop playing, but I don't think this is a feature that can be recommended to everyone. The difficulty of the game is the threshold to prevent players from entering the pit, even if you forcibly recommend Bloodborne Curse or "Only Wolf: Shadow Death Twice" to players who are not good at action games, they may only be left in the corner...
But I think Eldon's Ring of Law is an ARPG that can be recommended to everyone. Although there are some complicated elements, it is relatively easy to get started overall, there is not much pressure to play, and anyone can enjoy this magnificent adventure. Of course, there are also difficult parts of the game, but most of them can use truancy to pass the level. I really can't get by, and I can choose to ask other players for help.
Eldon's Ring of Law is arguably a masterpiece that incorporates all the elements of Fromsoftware, and the only "drawback" of this game may be too much to play. As the game progresses, players will discover more and more adventure locations, addicted to exploring to the point where they simply can't stop.
In summary, this game can be called a game that is very dangerous as long as it is in the pit. I hope that everyone can challenge this game with the consciousness of "falling into the swamp that cannot be escaped". Fader, go and become the King of Eldon.
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