@OverIt;
Was Mario the first game to have secrets of that sort? I feel like that kind of thing has been in games forever but I guess I can't really think of a game that pre-dates Mario that did it first.
I think the games that make the best discussions are the ones where people do need help. In days before the internet, especially school days talking on the playground at recess, having a lot to discuss would act as marketing in itself.
But, you're right, the trend in RPGs has been toward greater accessibility for a long time now. That's what people want. Quest markers and journals and anything to make it easy. Elden Ring has been a success despite being inaccessible.
But, it was the same with all the Souls games and Demon Souls is going back a long way now.
I guess what it does differently that makes it more accessible without adding in any hand-holding is give you more options. You could say there were options in Dark Souls but it was pretty much go to Undead Berg or go get destroyed in the catacombs or new londo ruins. In Elden Ring you have a whole shitload of easy places to go. You can easily play 60 hours just exploring and not even attempt a main boss.
But that brings me to what @sakichop; was saying about not being sure it's the most fun even though it's objectively the best souls game. And I kind of get that. But it's hard to tell if that's the game or if its me.
Trying to approach the game as I do with the other souls games is a fair amount more exhausting. I started off like always trying to systematically explore every inch of ground. But because terrain often blocks a straight path I couldn't just run up and down and explore it like a grid. I do think that's a good thing and evidence of a well built world. But I soon found myself taking a new approach of just not worrying about finding everything and riding off in whatever direction I feel like and not even trying to keep track of where I'd been. So I ended up just going east and found myself in Cailid or whatever and had a hard time there but did find a lot of stuff but I started to want to find a REAL dungeon for some actual Souls style levels to explore and went off to do Stormvail Castle and the game started feeling like a Souls game for a while. That was a great dungeon with lots to find and I spent a good while there. Farmed the set of Banished Knight Armor and weapons. Then I was eager for more Souls style dungeons so I barely explored the lake area before I found the key and went to do the second dungeon. But it wasn't as good. It had a bit of rooftop stuff to explore but it wasn't the greatest dungeon. The boss was super easy and died in about 5 hits to a +5 golden halberd. So, I thought I was probably ready for the third dungeon and went back to castle redmaine. But it was even less interesting than the academy, though it did have a hard boss. At the moment I'm still trying to do Rannis questline and the underground areas have been alright. I've also got access to Altus, though I haven't been there yet. But I'm kind of feeling weary. And, again, I'm not sure if that's the game or it's just me. Usually the feeling I have at this point is anxiety that the game will be over soon because I've had such a blast playing it. But now I feel like theres aboslutely loads left to explore but I'm not sure I can be bothered.
I dunno. Maybe open-world isn't that great. Like, if I think about playing an MMO, WoW or Lost Ark or something, I don't really care for exploring the world and questing. I just like the dungeons and the co-op. I mean, I do like a good view to admire the graphics and ER is full of that. Beautiful game to behold.
I guess that brings us to the multiplayer. A lot of people will rejoice that invasions NEVER happen. You literally can't be invaded while solo unless you use an item to turn it on or something. Haven't actually looked at it. But I do think this game is the worst for multiplayer, whether thats co-op or pvp. If you summon someone to help you can't use your spirit ashes. I want to beat the bosses solo, anyway, just for bragging rights. But I'm just not feeling it. I guess I'm not building up levels of Sunbro to look extra shiny or something. It's like the covenants are missing and there's a loss of progression the other games had towards being a rank3 sunbro. Is this true? What sort of covenants are there that I'm not noticing?
So, you know, there's less dungeons, there's less multiplayer. More RPG, more open-world exploration. I'm sure lots of people, especially on RPGwatch, will love that. I've seen people talk about not wanting to be invaded and just wanting a singleplayer experience. The games great for you guys. You don't even have to play offline. But you might as well because literally every wall in the game has some troll message saying it's a hidden passage. And, you know, that's fine. They're excited, they're having fun. I wouldn't want to mess with that. But I guess the "grumpy old man" in me is pretty sick of 95% of messages being some troll shit. Occasionally they've been helpful, like one said "gesture required" when I was trying to find where to click my fingers to summon Blaidd.
So, yeah, I dunno. Was I trying to make a point or something? I forget. Super Mario? Eh, whatever, post completed.