I genuinely think these games would not have the rep for difficulty if dodge was on button-down instead of up. That slight lack of responsiveness kills your a lot until you train yourself to compensate for it by pre-empting attacks (which means you have to learn the full moveset of the boss).

Was it >!Rellana!<? I've been avoiding spoilers so idk who's the most complained about, but I sat down and used a shield for the first time and parried her to death. It took 5 hours but it was fun lmao.

It's mostly fine if you go for the skibidi tree fragments. There's a couple of bosses feel like they were designed out of spite though, specially the final one.

Is it ironic and not just the most normal thing in the world that people don't play a game forever?

For me, it was their lack of attention to the bugs and crashes and pushing other unfinished and paywalled content.

When they patch things “should” work as described and still don’t.

Accessibility is an extremely important topic and Elden Ring could absolutely be better in that aspect.

Difficulty, however, is unrelated to accessibility. Disabled people should be able to play difficult games -- that's what accessibility is about, letting people with disabilities experience the same content as everyone.

Honestly how is this gatekeeping? That word gets slinged around a lot and it using it here seems like it diminishes the real situations where the word is useful. So they're limiting access to the game from people who what? It's hard for everyone, they're not being selective about the difficulty somehow.

I feel like the main difference is that Elden Rings difficulty is innately linked to its game design. A similar game in a largely different genre is Underrail which is basically designed with CRPG fans who want to be kicked in the dick... repeatedly. Seriously Underrails combat is weirdly complex and frankly speaking even on easier difficulties is still a bitch.

I get that accessibility is a factor and all but theres only so much one can do thatll help without compromising the game design. I think the current situation is for the best, folks can mod the game to make it easier but there shouldnt be any official fuckery.

Also go play Underrail if you like Isometric CRPGs it hurts so good.

You mean like summoning NPCs and other players to your world to help you defeat the boss?

No one is gatekeeping anything just because you don't agree with the art the artist has created.