@jenji120
I appreciate your take. Cheers.
Today I gave it another shot but as much as I love the look of the world and some of the encounters, it's just not clicking. It does feel like work. If I were to isolate why ...
Discovery / sense of wonder. It's an inevitable part of any game replay, unfortunately. Elden Ring in particular does little in the way of hand holding. There was a real imperative to explore and figure things out for yourself. I found it incredibly satisfying, albeit frustrating at times. The second time round, almost every part of the map I explore rekindles my memory.
Story / narrative. I suspect this is where the experience really differs from other open-world titles I've replayed (RDR2, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West) and paired with the first point, really impacts the replay value for me. There is no main protagonist to connect with and little in the way of a narrative to hook on to. It is purely about the gameplay & the combat.
Scouring Elden Ring subreddits, many say the replayability comes from experimenting with different builds. I can understand that (and was doing a new build this time round), but many of these players don't seem interested in the exploration / world immersion factor and tend to focus on only getting what they need for their build and speed-running the bosses. That just doesn't appeal to me, sadly.
I wasn't sure if it was Elden Ring or general burnout. I've gone from Witcher 3 + DLCs, Hogwarts Legacy, A Plague Tale Innocence and Requiem, HZW replay (with Burning Shores)
, Cyberpunk 2077 + DLC, RDR2 replay, now back to Elden Ring (all with a completionist approach). There's a lot of open world stuff packed in there. I tried a bit of TLOU part 1 earlier today and gotta say, it was a lot more satisfying.
Pity I've finally worked through my back catalogue.
Baldurs Gate 3 any good?
I have it, just never bothered to try it yet not sure what to expect.
BG3 has been on my radar. I was looking for a 2nd-hand copy, but none were to be found. I finally discovered there was no physical release for it in NZ (dunno about elsewhere). It's a turn-based RPG mirroring the tabletop
Dungeons and Dragons, so far as I know. I have never played D&D so have been a little apprehensive to try it out. From all accounts, it's amazing.