I’ve been playing elden ring, shadows of the erdtree DLC, and I noticed the following: In Elden Ring the protagonist is the world. Every boss feels important and as a player, you feel like you feel like worm, until you reach the end of the game. Elden ring makes you feel like an adventurer, and everything you get, feels like you deserved it. The power scaling makes sense: You get stronger as you defeat stronger foes. However, there is always a sense of threat, and respect you have as a player for the lands between.
In contrast to that: Diablo 4 makes you feel like the protagonist instead. You zoom through everything, and you oneshot stuff. Nothing is threatening, unless you specifically seek uber lilith or very high tiers out. As a player, you basically feel like a demi-god, and your growth is guaranteed. Everything is way weaker than you. Something that makes the vibe weird in this game is that it feels like the player is more important than the world. A big reason for that is the encounter design, and the character angles. The only place, where I feel threat is Liliths hall.
→ Sanctuary seems to be in the background, while the player is the zooming super hero.
I get what you’re say but your character in Elden Ring is still by definition the protagonist . Power isn’t the key to being the protagonist. If it were then the Martians and not the narrator would be the protagonist in War of the Worlds.
Technically yes, but that’s not how the game makes the player feel. That’s what I’m talking about. In diablo it’s the opposite, where the player isn’t canonically the protagonist, but the game makes you feel like that. In Elden Ring, your character may be the tarnished, compelled by the flame of ambition provided by your Maidens, but the world is the protagonist in the game. Hope you understand now, what I’m trying to say. Many really good RPGs have the player as a protagonist, without making him feel like one.
I always did. I think with Elden Ring it’s because they understand the essence of heroism better. It’s called the hero’s journey not the hero’s facetank for a reason.
I don’t think that mobs oneshotting me, would make the world suddenly the protagonist in Diablo 4. I wonder kind of, what it is, that makes it feel like sanctuary is in the background. The art in Diablo 4 is definitely beautiful, they did do a great job with that. There is just this sense of mystery missing, because you kind of know what to expect everywhere I think. Additionally, this design of zooming through the game kind of makes me ignore the mob mechanics. They are just HP bars.
Additionally, this design of zooming through the game kind of makes me ignore the mob mechanics. They are just HP bars.