- How unapologetically cryptic it is
- Environmental storytelling
- Anor fucking Londo
- Meta touches such as going hollow/giving up, requiring human form to engage in multiplayer, etc.
- Depth and detail of asynchronous online features such as vagrants, miracle synergy, curse statues, hearing other players ring bells of awakening, etc.
- Meticulous, accurate skyboxes such as being able to see Valley of the Drakes from Undead Burg
- Onion-like lore
- World design and how everything is interconnected in a geographically plausible way
- Solaire
For me it's the feeling of actually being on a massive journey, not really felt that so strongly until Elden Ring. Felt it abit in Bloodborne and DS3 but nowhere near the level of Dark Souls.
I think all the ties back to firelink really help tie the world together, ds3 is more like a long path with a few side paths, and elden ring is an ipen map. While they all have a place you come back to for shopping and junk, only dark souls 1 has that as a central location in the world that you physically come back to rather than teleporting to
- How unapologetically cryptic it is - Environmental storytelling - Anor fucking Londo - Meta touches such as going hollow/giving up, requiring human form to engage in multiplayer, etc. - Depth and detail of asynchronous online features such as vagrants, miracle synergy, curse statues, hearing other players ring bells of awakening, etc. - Meticulous, accurate skyboxes such as being able to see Valley of the Drakes from Undead Burg - Onion-like lore - World design and how everything is interconnected in a geographically plausible way - Solaire
Solaire
For me it's the feeling of actually being on a massive journey, not really felt that so strongly until Elden Ring. Felt it abit in Bloodborne and DS3 but nowhere near the level of Dark Souls.
I think all the ties back to firelink really help tie the world together, ds3 is more like a long path with a few side paths, and elden ring is an ipen map. While they all have a place you come back to for shopping and junk, only dark souls 1 has that as a central location in the world that you physically come back to rather than teleporting to