A Look into Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3's Opening Moments

Introduction

Elden Ring is undoubtedly one of the most popular games on the market right now, and it's not slowing down. The discourse around the game has been rather positive, however the game has its flaws, and in this piece I am comparing the introductory moments of Elden Ring to its spiritual predecessor Dark Souls 3. While From Software has created a wonderful open world game, with countless of hours of exploration, the introduction falls short of teaching the player how to interact with the world, and it also sets a few confusing messages for the beginning hours of the game.

Dark Souls 3

The introduction of Dark Souls 3 is brilliant. It sets the tone visually for the game as well as teaching the player basic mechanics, encouraging exploration and showcasing the improvements to combat from the previous entries. The tutorial boss in Dark Souls 3 is not meant to kill you no matter what. The game fully equips the player to fight the boss, and without too much trouble beat him in a few tries. It gives you a great, hell I'd even say a perfect tutorial on how to play this game. Other than the somewhat poor visuals it has an incredible starting area. It gives you all the necessary information, pitting you against weak enemies and an optional harder path. It also has rewards for the more observant players, which will help in the boss fight. The "boss runback" is fairly simple, and while this mechanic has greatly been improved in Elden Ring (other than 3 weird places off the top of my head being Rennala, Maliketh and Placidusax) Dark Souls 3 sets the precedent for faster and easier "boss runbacks".

The boss is quite fair, giving the player an opening early to get a lot of damage in. His swings are clear and combos easy to understand and remember, as well as easy to react to if you aren't spamming attacks. He also has a clear phase transition, which leads to a transformation and a more difficult move set, which remains similar to the first phase (in terms of quality). The boss has a bigger hitbox and stronger attacks, which are all easy to read but a clear increase in pace. After defeating the boss you are awarded with a hefty amount of souls, and are urged to press forward. The following area is similar visually and allows the player to explore and reach the FireLink shrine where the player can gain 4-5 levels and rest.

Elden Ring

The introduction to Elden Ring is much more linear and quite confusing. You wake up and find an item next to you which has no immediate use. You aren't rewarded for exploration, because there is nothing to find. You are met with a boss without previously being taught any basic mechanics. You have no healing or additional reward from exploration to easily take the boss down. He has unpredictable attack patterns, incredibly long combos with short post fire windows, and his attacks can't be reacted to, but must be memorized, he also does way more damage than you can handle, especially considering you have no healing. If the player manages to beat the boss they are rewarded with his weapons (which you cannot use for a bit) and enough runes for 3-4 levels (depending on starting class) If the player manages to beat the boss, despite the odds, they will simply fall to their death and are transported to an unrelated area. This same outcomes happens if the player dies battling the boss, which is the intended outcome.

After this the player is met with the real tutorial, which is optional for veterans. This is good because it allows the new players to get introduced with the mechanics, while allowing the player to skip this on repeat playthroughs or if they are a veteran of the series, additionally the reward for engaging with the tutorial is a boss fight with a regular mob. This tutorial throws you for a complete 180 in comparison to the introduction. The enemies die in 1-2 hits, with very few exceptions. It is completely linear and doesn't reward you for exploration. As previously mentioned the boss is a common mob which can die within 2 guard counters and a repost. The runes you gain aren't enough for a single level.

Following this the player is left in awe of the open world, followed by a boss which kills you within 2 or 3 hits, and can even one shot you. On top of this you don't do nearly enough damage to combat him, and aside from healing you aren't equipped to take on the boss. The game doesn't teach the player any new mechanics and expects you to run away and explore. However, at this point the player hasn't been taught exploration is an option by anything previously. This is fine as you can chalk it up to visual design nudging you to go and explore, however this hasn't been previously established. Once you are actually capable of defeating the tree sentinel he doesn't drop enough runes to level up and at this point you can't wield his weapon.

The title "Tutorial Boss" can further be extended to Margit to whom the player is pointed towards by the first friendly NPC, as well as the Sites of Grace and Melina, who the player sees in the cutscene upon dying to the Grafted Scion and meets at a Site of Grace. Margit is meant to discourage the player from fighting him, and is there to teach the player to explore to world. This isn't done awfully to well, but contextually and with additional dialogue from Melina, upon losing to Margit, you are teleported to the Round Table and are encouraged to explore and engage with the world.

Potential Fixes

It is completely fine to suggest that this is simply how From Software designs their games, punishing the player and setting them up to fail and learn to expect death, however Elden Ring is clearly inferior in this regard. The game is nudging you towards 3 different experiences in the first 10-15 minutes of the game and it sends confusing messages all around.

First you are met with an area unconnected to the rest of the world, with no exploration value and a boss that you are unequipped to defeat and have no chance to immediately rematch. After this you are teleported to an unconnected area with an optional tutorial that teaches you the fundamentals of the game's mechanics, while not teaching you to explore. The boss at the end of this area is a common mob which barely poses a threat and isn't rewarding. Finally you are met with the vast and well advertised open world and a boss that you simply cannot compete with. After which you are encouraged to follow the sites of grace and fight yet another boss you cannot defeat, which contextually teaches you to go and explore.

A much better way to do this would be to have the player spawn in the Weeping Peninsula. This could be in the starting area we normally spawn in, or a different dungeon altogether, which has a puzzle and some exploration. This way the player would have a classic dungeon to go through, where exploration is rewarded, this would then lead the player to explore the open world that follows. At the end you'd have a boss which is easier and more fair than the introduction boss, and the player would be rewarded with multiple levels 3-5 being just fine. After which the player would have the entirety of the Weeping Peninsula, the easiest and most Southern area of the map, to explore first, with Melina nudging them towards castle Morn (which has direct connections to the first Demigod Godrick the Golden). This would fit the story point of Melina testing the player, after which she can teleport you to the Round Table Hold. The Tree Sentinel would now serve as a proper check if the player is ready to take on Limgrave. The player now taught to explore before taking on challenges would do so in order to be able to take on the first Legacy Dungeon and defeat the already established Demigod. Additionally, this would remove the ability for the player to miss the Weeping Peninsula altogether, while allowing the player to learn everything needed to take on the open world.