FromSoftware should learn a lesson from Elden Ring's torrents.

There may be a lot to learn, but Elden Ring As FromSoftware's first attempt at blending open world and Soulslike design, one key lesson should be learned from Torrent and its approach to world exploration. Unlike FromSoftware's previous Soulslike games, Elden Ring It broke the mold in many ways, with its open world design and Spectral Steed mount.

Despite rumors that FromSoftware's next game will move away from the open world and return to a traditional linear design, there's still a chance that future developments will return to this world design due to its prowess in the game. With this in mind, Elden Ring It's FromSoftware's testing ground for what works and what doesn't work in the Soulslike open world, especially when it comes to torrents. After all, Soulslikes are notorious for their difficult but rewarding gameplay, so in-game mounts for open-world exploration need to ensure that they balance well with the rest of the game and its mechanics.

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Whenever FromSoftware returns to the open world genre, it should avoid repeating the shadow of Erdtree's mistake.

One boss in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree had less impact than intended, a mistake future open-world Souls games will need to avoid.

Analysis of how Elden Ring's Torrent works and does not work in Soulslike

As the main design philosophy of Soulslike games, essential mechanics are attributed to key in-game items, such as how the player uses the Estus Flask to restore health. dark soul series or healing gourd Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. By extension, Elden Ring A similar approach was taken with the Spectral Steed Whistle item, which players need to summon Torrent. If players want to easily summon a torrent without having to go into their inventory, they can assign the whistle to an item slot, such as a pouch.

Elden Ring anticipated how much of an impact Torrent would have on Soulslike gameplay.

Based on this approach, FromSoftware Elden Ring's in-game mount pushed the boundaries when it came to previous ideas and designs of Soulslike games. For example, players can use Torrent to their advantage, such as taking on larger or faster enemies, or running away from battles that are too difficult or have low health. Requiring players to relinquish item slots to whistle is one step FromSoftware is taking to balance Torrent and traditional Soulslike gameplay.

Elden Ring drops the ball when reviving a torrent

However, other features, such as allowing players to use only one hand at a time when riding, further improve balance. Elden Ring’s mounted combat, Torrent’s health independent of the player, is where FromSoftware’s next open-world game could learn a lesson. While healing the torrent Elden Ring It's not the biggest problem, but the problem arises when the torrent dies and needs to be respawned to be summoned again. This can be done by using the whistle and consuming one of the Flasks of Crimson Tears, but players are forced to confirm this due to the immersion-breaking prompts that interfere with gameplay.

FromSoftware's next open world game you should learn about from Elden Ring's Torrent.

Despite seeming like small details, forcing these messages on players was enough to create frustration within them. Elden Ring’s community basically leads to mods that resurrect Torrent or memes on social media like the one below.

Here we explain one lesson that mods can learn from FromSoftware. Elden RingTorrent allows players to disable messages through an in-game option. Alternatively, to ensure players don't waste their money on Flash of Crimson Tears, FromSoftware's next Soulslike game could include an upgrade for the next game's whistle replacement, similar to Estus Flask's own upgrade. Here, the player can eventually resurrect the mount immediately, removing any costs or prompts. .