Even though Elden Ring is one of the best games released in recent memory, there are a few ways in which the game’s almost certain sequel could be even more impressive.
There is no way to deny the success that Elden Ring has had. Bandai Namco estimates that more than 12 million copies of the game have been sold up to this point, and the widespread acclaim that has been bestowed upon it speaks volumes. The fact that considers Elden Ring to be the beginning of gaming’s next major franchise is the only thing that is more obvious than the game’s overall success.
Recently, Bandai Namco issued a press release in which they heaped a great deal of praise on the FromSoftware team. The press release concluded with the following statement: “Please look forward to more of ‘ELDEN RING’ as an IP (characters and other intellectual property) in hopes of expanding beyond the realm of games. ” The statement praised Hidetaka Miyazaki for combining his studio’s experience producing Soulsborne titles with George R. R. Martin’s worldbuilding. The statement also commended Miyazaki for marrying his studio’s experience producing Soulsborne titles with Martin’s worldbuilding.Although the wording was not entirely clear, the message that Bandai Namco has significant ambitions for Elden Ring was not at all obscure. These plans may include anything from tie-in comics and manga to action figures, and, of course, sequels, which are the most obvious of the bunch. Despite the fact that Elden Ring has an insanely high level of polish (which is something of a minor miracle considering that it is the first open-world Soulsborne title and open-world FromSoftware game), the game is not without its flaws. FromSoftware would have the opportunity to implement several of these changes, which could make “Elden Ring 2” the kind of game that lives up to an incredible standard, if the game was continued in the form of a sequel.
Elden Ring 2 Should Feature Weirder Weapons
The world of Elden Ring is based on a medieval fantasy setting, and its arsenal of weapons is surprisingly traditional for the time period. There are a few weapons in the game that are so bizarre that they defy explanation, but there is always room to make things even stranger. The more the players explore Elden Ring, the more opportunities they will have to find Elden Ring items that are unequivocally part of the “fantasy” category of “medieval fantasy. “For example, you have access to the Coil Shield, which is a shield in the shape of a snake and has the ability to unfurl and shoot poison at your foes. In addition to that, there is the Ringed Finger, which is a gigantic severed finger that hits like a hammer and, most peculiarly of all, can even inflate itself and flick enemies away.
Elden Ring, I’m sorry to say that, but that’s about as strange as weapons get. Although it may be challenging to top a hammer that gives a whole new meaning to the expression “giving someone the finger,” we’d still love to see FromSoftware give it a shot. Maybe a whip that’s been made out of a spine? A guillotine-inspired design for the blade of a scythe, perhaps? Practically anything can be used as a weapon, and this is especially true if the unusual weapons help fill in severely underutilized weapon classes. Even Reapers and Ballistas have a need for affection.
Elden Ring 2 should bring back the boss fight concept from the original Demon’s Souls game
Players are able to invade each other’s worlds in Elden Ring, much like in other Soulsborne games, in order to begin player versus player (PvP) combat; however, this is pretty much the extent of the game’s competitive multiplayer features. It would be possible for a sequel to expand on that system by bringing back an innovative PvP mechanic that led to one of the most interesting boss battles seen in a Soulsborne game.
Demon’s Souls by FromSoftware was the game that basically started the whole Soulsborne craze (and genre), and a large part of that can be attributed to the game’s collection of memorable bosses to get Elden Ring runes. The battle against the Old Monk is the one that stands out all these years later, largely because players never actually fought him in the game. Many gamers remember the Tower Knight and the Storm King, but the battle against the Old Monk is the one that stands out. Instead, players faced off against a random invading player who fought on behalf of the monk utilizing the player’s own equipment and strategies. This resulted in a disorganized experience for the players because they always fought a different foe (who occasionally tookon the role of the boss). FromSoftware has had more than a decade to perfect the player versus player combat in Soulsborne, despite the fact that this concept was scrapped for subsequent Soulsborne titles due to issues with balancing and griefing.
It’s possible that the next installment of Elden Ring will feature a boss that, much like the Old Monk in Demon’s Souls, will rely on other players to do their fighting for them. After all, Elden Ring is packed with sequences in which a non-player character (NPC) invades the world of a player and, in essence, plays the role of a player competing in a player versus player game. That idea might be further developed into a player-versus-player boss fight at some point. In this hypothetical conflict, the same improved system that connects invaders’ character and weapon levels to those of the host could be utilized. It does not even need to be a required boss fight; all that is required is an update to the kind of battle players need to prevail in to acquire the Great-Jar’s Arsenal talisman.
A Genuine Co-op and Multiplayer System is Required for Elden Ring 2
It’s never easy to figure out how to play cooperatively in open-world games that aren’t MMOs. If players are free to explore virtually any location at any time, when and how do game designers ensure that players still have the same degree of independence when they choose to work together?The process of calling on other players in Elden Ring is not particularly taxing, but it does come with a number of restrictions. For example, neither the host nor the help that was summoned can use their mounts, which effectively confines co-op play to the immediate vicinity. To make matters even more difficult, dungeons and other distinct areas are off-limits to everyone. If a player summons help in the open world but needs that person’s help in Stormveil Castle, the player will need to dismiss their ally in order to enter the castle, then they will need to summon them again once they are inside the dungeon, and then they will need to pray that they team up with the same player. This restriction not only makes the game move at a more leisurely pace, but it also strangely did not appear in any of the earlier Soulsborne games.
In a perfect world, a sequel to Elden Ring would incorporate a more fluid and flexible form of drop-in/drop-out co-op play, allowing players to fully explore the world as a group. There are already implementations of that fundamental cooperative gameplay in games like Dying Light 2 and Borderlands 3 that, while not flawless, do not require players to split up into separate groups. If it were implemented, this uncomplicated change would bring the cooperative mode of a potential Elden Ring sequel significantly closer (if not exactly on par) with the experience of playing the Soulsborne games that came before it.
It is anticipated that the PC version of Elden Ring 2 will function properly upon its release
The track record that FromSoftware has with PC ports is not very good. Fans at the time attributed the historically poor quality of the first PC version of Dark Souls to developer FromSoftware’s lack of prior experience working with personal computers. Therefore, when the studio announced Elden Ring, every Soulsborne fan expected FromSoftware to use a decade’s worth of porting experience to create a PC version that ran well from the very beginning and was optimized for the platform. To say that’s not exactly what we got would be an accurate statement.
Despite the fact that the original PC version of Elden Ring on Steam is significantly more playable than the original PC version of Dark Souls, the Steam version of Elden Ring still has performance problems. Users have reported numerous issues, including severe tearing of the screen, erratic framerates, invisible foes, and crashes. Even though Elden Ring is now more stable on computers than it was when it first launched, early adopters still had to wait for the game to reach that point before they could play it. Given the level of publicity surrounding the release of Elden Ring, we had all anticipated more.
Since Bandai Namco and FromSoftware appear to have plans to make Elden Ring their next major franchise, they ought to work toward developing a sequel that is compatible with all platforms right from the start of the game’s production. There is a limit to the number of times a studio can deliver an underwhelming PC port before audiences lose faith in the company, even if they eventually make up for those mistakes.
