Elden Ring is now available and is being lauded by both fans as critics as one of if not the best FromSoftware game yet. It's only natural that Elden Ring's high praise is going to pull in a lot of new players, especially with promises that the RPG is more accessible and easier due to several key changes and features. That includes YouTube streamer Dr Disrespect. However, Elden Ring is still a pure FromSoftware RPG. Difficulty is innate. In Dr Disrespect's case, the Elden Ring experience didn't prove exactly what he expected.
The YouTube streamer described Elden Ring as his first From Software experience as he began. Even as he leaped into the world of Elden Ring, however, Dr Disrespect was not happy. He characterized the controls as sluggish, saying he didn't like them. FromSoftware games are notorious for having combat actions that can be slow or delayed, which not only introduces risk and reward but forces players to learn timings to get better. Dr Disrespect, however, had no interest in the nuance of Elden Ring's combat.
Dr Disrespect did give Elden Ring a healthy effort. It took six and a half hours for Elden Ring to break Dr Disrespect, leading him to rage-quit and play Escape from Tarkov instead. It wasn't a sudden or surprising thing. Dr Disrespect made his frustrations clear throughout the hours he spent in-game.
An encounter named Stormgate especially gave him a hard time, pushing him to the brink of tilting. The fight against a mid-boss named Mad Pumpkin Head pushed him further, with Dr Disrespect insulting the game, saying "lock-on magnetic controls from NBA 2K21." Several more deaths, insults toward the lock-on system and unresponsive controls, references to the NBA 2K franchise and "athleticism" later, Dr Disrespect finally pulled the plug on Elden Ring.
"I'm done with the game. Kinda bored with it, to be honest. Bored with it," were Dr. Disrespect's comments as he closed Elden Ring and chucked his controller to the other side of the room. He's go on to describe his feelings on the game, saying he didn't enjoy Elden Ring's melee combat loop involving attacking, dodging, healing, and repeating. "It wasn't free enough, it feels restrictive."
To Dr Disrespect's credit, he recognized how Elden Ring could be exactly what a lot of people would want from a game. He saw the depth of Elden Ring's progression and how much content there was to find and discover. Elden Ring just wasn't for him, as it wasn't fun for his preferences.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
