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Elden Ring Player to Sue FromSoftware Over High Game Difficulty

Another article that highlighs inherent flaws in the American legal system. How can this potentially be an actual lawsuit? How can “journalists” even entertain reporting on this?

Honestly I’m just posting to laugh at my fellow lemmings responses and watch see how the plaintiff is roasted for not gitting gud.

But, there is a real conversation here around continued ignorance of game development and the value of difficult games as a value proposition. Afterall, the person attempting to sue from did choose to purchase the games willingly knowing they’re not for scrub casuals like themselves.

What do you all think, is difficulty gating content a real issue? Should dev’s have some kind of legal requirement to appease players that can spec a build properly? Is it Thursday and I’m just looking for some easy laughs at a morons expense?

nokturne213 ,

I do not always have time to “git gud” at a game. Sometimes I want to sit down and play a game for fun, not frustration. I might have played Elden Ring for more than an hour if it had an easier difficulty.

vulgarcynic OP ,
@vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works avatar

The question is, does the responsibility fall on you to choose games that fit your skill level or the developer to compromise their vision to accomodate a broader audience? Would we take the same stance with other art? I find a lot of Foreign Arthouse Films to be slow paced and unenjoyable. Should the writers and directors be required to make an alternate cut to accomodate my preferences?

nokturne213 ,

Many games, have varying difficulty levels. AFAIK movies have never had anything like that.

I have also seen cuts of movies that were horrible, and then an alternative cut is released that is leaps and bounds better.

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

AFAIK movies have never had anything like that.

Try watching Primer.

Skua ,

To be fair they're still right to say that there are no difficulty settings on that film, it's just set at fuck you difficulty from the beginning

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

This is true.

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

If you had played it longer than an hour you probably would have gotten good.

rikudou ,

Or they wouldn’t. I tried, died with the first enemy every time, refunded the game. Not everyone can “git gud”.

teft , (edited )
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

So your argument against playing for longer than an hour and getting good is playing less than two hours and refunding? You need to play the game for a few hours to understand the combat systems and the way that enemies react.

The first enemy is meant to destroy you. You skip him and find other things to do and come back later when you’ve leveled up. It’s an open world game.

fushuan ,

Let them not like the game for gods sake, they are in their right to refund it, they are not complaining about the game, just saying that it’s not for them. I love it and have tons of hours played + spent reading the wiki but it’s not for everyone and it’s cool of they don’t like it.

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

I think you need to reread my comments. I don’t really care if someone likes the game or not. I only care if someone says they can’t get good at it when they put in less than the minimal effort. It makes me wonder if people like that gave up riding a bike since they couldn’t ride professional downhill racing tracks in the first hour of learning to ride.

fushuan ,

I find my comment completely valid. That “minimal” effort is just entertainment gate keeping. If they don’t have it in them to spend that extra effort it’s their choice and if you want them to change, complaining about it is very backwards.

You could have suggested them to ignore the tree sentinel or Margit, hoever was their first enemy, you could have suggested the to explore the game and ignore hard enemies just like in skyrim we ignored trolls, bears or dragons until we levelled up… Idk, anything but “you didn’t even try how dare you say you don’t like it” wtf.

If someone in their adulthood gets berated for being demotivated by not being as good as their peers at swimming or riding a bike, telling them off will just shut them about the idea of trying.

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

You could have suggested them to ignore the tree sentinel or Margit, hoever was their first enemy, you could have suggested the to explore the game and ignore hard enemies just like in skyrim we ignored trolls, bears or dragons until we levelled up… Idk, anything but “you didn’t even try how dare you say you don’t like it” wtf.

The first enemy is meant to destroy you. You skip him and find other things to do and come back later when you’ve leveled up. It’s an open world game.

You mean where I do exactly that?

fushuan ,

Right after berating them for not trying, great effort.

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

So your argument against playing for longer than an hour and getting good is playing less than two hours and refunding? You need to play the game for a few hours to understand the combat systems and the way that enemies react.

This is not a berating statement. This is a question followed by a statement of fact. Neither of which is scolding the OP.

Skua ,

It's okay for people to not want to take several hours to learn to play a videogame. I say this as someone who has taken the time and likes this game a lot

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

Oh absolutely it’s ok to not want to take several hours to learn to play a video game. But don’t say “i can’t get good at this video game” if you’ve only put in an hour or two. That makes little sense. Difficult things take time to get good at otherwise they would be easy things.

rikudou ,

I mean, what if I don’t get good after two hours? Will you refund it? Or will I be stuck with a game I suck at that cost $50 or $60 (or however much that was)? Look, I never was good at gaming. Everything I play is on easy or normal. I’m glad most developers keep gamers like me in mind. And as far as I understand, being hard is part of what makes Elden Ring entertaining, which pretty much makes it the opposite for me.

And pretending that everyone is (or can be) as good as everyone else at everything does not make much sense.

acosmichippo ,
@acosmichippo@lemmy.world avatar

So your argument against playing for longer than an hour and getting good is playing less than two hours and refunding? You need to play the game for a few hours to understand the combat systems and the way that enemies react.

and your argument to enjoy a game is to force yourself to play it longer than the return period is, therefore eliminating any chance of a refund?

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

That’s an argument for longer refund periods. Not for people giving up before they’ve tried.

acosmichippo ,
@acosmichippo@lemmy.world avatar

well the reality is we do not have longer refund periods. so in the current state of affairs, yes, it is an argument for people to give up. Trying for 2 hours is at least one step better than not buying the game at all.

rikudou ,

Dude, I just don’t like it. The game just wasn’t fun for me. The game’s not my cup of tea. It’s not a hard concept. Also, you kinda move the goal post a bit.

Alawami ,

it’s almost as if not every game is made for everyone

TropicalDingdong ,

You know I could have played Euro Truck simulator for more than an hour if it had been an online pay-to-win MOBA.

Banichan ,
@Banichan@dormi.zone avatar

I’ve played it for over 500. It’s easier than the Dark Souls games.

solsangraal ,

Sometimes I want to sit down and play a game for fun, not frustration.

there are a lot of games that are fun AND easy…that said, if i’m really enjoying a game and get to a boss that causes more frustration than fun, and is going to consume more time than i’m willing to spend, then it’s cheese/godmode o’clock. done, dgaf. devs make the games they want, i play them the way i want. win-win

Bookmeat ,

In other news, Florida Man sues because space flight is hard, it should be as ready as opening a beer.

Aphelion ,

I haven’t bought Elden Ring for this exact reason, but I love watching other people struggle and then succeed at it.

I have one friend who uninstalled Elden Ring completely after they reduced the difficulty of the new expansion DLC because he felt like they watered down his achievement of beating it.

Ultimately games are a form of art and their designers and developers have the ultimate say in how accessable (or not) they want to make the experience. I have also seen games with way too much ease of play features that completely destroy any challenge to the point of making it unplayable (looks a Ubisoft).

Researching games before you buy has become a critical skill to avoid feeling burned, because social media does an amazing job of selling you games through FOMO.

Spacehooks ,

Wemod is how I do it.

RightHandOfIkaros ,

Who is it, QuantumTV?

It is a game that is difficult, made by a company that is widely known for making some of the highest difficulty games in gaming. And arguably, Elden Ring is their easiest game. This guy signed up for it. If he didn’t know, its his fault.

There is no lawsuit here, this gets thrown out instantly. FromSoftware makes games and they can make whatever they want. If people don’t want their games, then they won’t buy them.

Banichan ,
@Banichan@dormi.zone avatar

Literally the biggest casul to ever exist

peopleproblems ,

Elden ring is their easiest game

If you doubt this, go start a new play through on Dark Souls II.

WraithGear ,
@WraithGear@lemmy.world avatar

I have given dark souls II more chances then any other in the series. And man from was more then a little assholish there. Iron keep can kiss my ass

leavemealone ,

Fume Knight says hi. At the end I near perfected him but damn that took me a long time. Orphan of kos is a never again situation for me though.

Angry_Autist ,

Before the DLC I might have agreed with you.

DLC included, ER is significantly harder than DSII

Not that this is a bad thing

Abnorc ,

Somehow I had a way harder time with Elden Ring than Dark Souls 1 or 2, but difficulty is a bit subjective.

VizualWarrior ,

Very Onionesque.

Fo real tho, difficulty in some games is more of an add on than a core mechanic. FromSoft weave difficulty into the narrative of their games in a way that is just so deliciously painful. More please.

aciDC14 ,

I’ll get the popcorn…

catloaf ,

You can file a suit against anyone for any reason. Garbage ones get thrown out pretty quick.

Console_Modder ,
@Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works avatar

Absolute maidenless behavior.

Seriously tho, it’s really stupid. Not every game is meant to be enjoyed by every gamer, just like how not every book will not be enjoyed by every reader. If the devs are fine with excluding a potential group of audience members by making their game very difficult, then they should be allowed to do that. Unfortunately, I get that it sucks for the people that don’t have the time or skills to ‘git gud’ at a game like Elden Ring and they may feel like they wasted their money on it. However, it’s not like you can demand a refund at the movie theater because a movie you saw was confusing, not funny, or just not something you like.

This is definitely just my opinion, but to me it seems like Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 were both popular enough that most people that play video games should know FromSoftware’s reputation for making very difficult games. If you haven’t played one of their games before, you should know that it’s a gamble as to weather you can even finish the game. But, my view on this might be pretty skewed as most people I talk to play a lot of video games

AnyOldName3 ,
@AnyOldName3@lemmy.world avatar

You can’t really find out of you’ll get good enough to enjoy a soulslike without buying one and playing it for longer than the two hour refund period. For other products, you usually have something you can do about it or some way to try it first. You don’t need to buy a kayak to find out you don’t like kayaking as you can go for a kayaking lesson first and use the venue’s equipment. It’s understandable that people who hit a wall and can never get any enjoyment from a soulslike will be upset that it cost them just as much to find that out as it costs someone who’ll compete the game and have a great time.

Maybe it’s enough to just do the refund window based on progression rather than time.

FooBarrington ,

There’s always the option to buy a cheaper game in the genre first, or to wait for a sale. You don’t have to start with the newest biggest title.

I don’t think that there’s a realistic way to measure a fair amount of progression in every game, and it could be hard as a consumer to keep track of the limit. It could work if the minimum limit is 2 hours, and a maximum can be set by devs/publishers, but it seems unlikely many would go for that…

Aganim ,

Soulslike games only frustrate me immensely. I don’t mind a challenge, but when a game starts to feel more like work than hobby I’ll pass. So Elden Ring has never been on my wishlist, but I applaud those who have the motivation to git gud and persevere.

To each their own, research a bit before you buy something and accept that you might sometimes buy a game that doesn’t suit you. Mistakes and wrong decisions happen, that’s life.

Skua , (edited )

This is a healthy attitude. The game offers "easy mode" in the sense that you can use tools like summons, magic, just plain old grinding until you're massively levelled, and so on, but if you're not enjoying it then there's no point playing. It's okay for a game to not be for everyone and good for people to recognise that it's not for them.

I really enjoy the games but fuck me there's no way I'll ever be taking on Malenia. I could use summons and stuff, but what I actually like is the one-on-one dodging fights, so if I did I'd just be doing it to have done it. That's fine. I just have to evaluate the game based on what I get from the rest of it

RaoulDook ,

To beat Malenia I used the Fallingstar Beast Jaw gravity-lightning attack with Mimic Tear doing it too. It slows her down with lots of poise damage and it does high damage. I think I added a magic potion combo of the one that makes you have high equipment capacity (for light rolling) and the one that increases poise damage.

odelik ,

Elden Ring is probabaly the easiest game that From Software (FS) has made.

I however don’t like the default multi-player design of FS games and waited for the Seamless Co-op mod to be released and then picked it up to play with friends as a tough open world MP adventure.

RE: Default MP Design -

I think it’s poor design to offer incentives for players to be anonymous assholes to other players. Game Studios have spent millions of dollars investing in research and technologies to reduce game community toxicity. And if you attempt to play a FS game outside the first month of release in MP mode, prepare to have your fun ruined.

Jax ,

Invasions aren’t toxic. You’re brute forcing a game balanced around solo play by abusing action economy and boss aggro. You can, at any time, start a boss and boot someone. Not to mention the overwhelming advantage you have over the invader should you choose to fight them.

It could, literally, not be more in your control.

dinckelman ,

A game that is designed to be difficult, turns out to be difficult. More at 11

rustyfish , (edited )
@rustyfish@lemmy.world avatar

Buy game that is wildly known to be too difficult for some. Made by studio known for making games too difficult for some.

Throws a fit and sues studio.

Yeah, that sounds like a skill issue.

Edit: It gets worse.

The player references not only Elden Ring but also Bloodborne in this regard. He says that game director Hidetaka Miyazaki cut a large chunk of Bloodborne out of the game. This was revealed in an interview where Miyazaki discussed players transforming into a beast. The player believes that this transformation feature is in Bloodborne but wasn’t ever added to the playable game.

nexushub.co.za/…/elden-ring-player-sues-from-soft…

This person is just plain mentally challenged. And I don’t mean that as an insult. Shit, that’s actually sad.

GiantRobotTRex ,

The player believes that this transformation feature is in Bloodborne but wasn’t ever added to the playable game.

Uhh… What? It was added in the DLC with the Beast’s Embrace rune. Equip that rune and the Beast Claw and voila! You’re now a beast.

echodot ,

The reason that they can be a lawsuit is you can sue for anything in the US, doesn’t mean that it has any merit to it, or the case will ever even be heard.

dual_sport_dork ,
@dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar
  1. You can file the paperwork to attempt to sue anyone for anything. It doesn’t mean it will be accepted by the court, or that the judge will not summon you there specifically to laugh in your face, declare your suit frivolous, throw you out, and refuse to validate your parking.
  2. If Jabroni thinks he’s having it rough with Elden Ring, he ought to go back and try out the first couple of King’s Field games…
RightHandOfIkaros ,

Kings Field II (JP) my beloved

L0rdMathias ,

From reading his posts, he doesn’t think the game is too hard he thinks there’s an entire game hidden inside Elden Ring. He claims there’s an entire parallel universe for the lands between hidden in the game files and no one has found it because they purposely hid this final “50% of the game” and made it impossible to find.

Iapar ,

…what?..

Angry_Autist ,

Is this your first time being exposed to frivolous lawsuit bullshittery?

peopleproblems ,

So if they made it impossible to find, how did he find it?

L0rdMathias ,

Not sure and I don’t exactly understand that part. It has to do with the themes and messages behind Bloodborne and how that game is a metaphor for awakening true humanity or something along those lines. But that was just a cross franchise hint for the actual parallel universe in Elden Ring.

peopleproblems ,

That… Is quite a stretch.

RaoulDook ,

Elden Rangus Evangelion conspiracy theory! Far out!

Cocodapuf ,

I think that’s called teasing a sequel…

WraithGear ,
@WraithGear@lemmy.world avatar

I mean if so then good! If he has any evidence he could fucking share about it then we can go on trying to solve the puzzle. It would be a bold and striking move that would put from software aseven more transcendent a developer

Maalus ,

The “evidence” most likely came to him when he forgot to take his pills. From Software games have a huge following of people hunting for cut content, going through every item for its lore etc. They even got Armored Cores into the game, and tarnished into Armored Core. If there was anything, it would be known on release basically.

WraithGear ,
@WraithGear@lemmy.world avatar

Yea, i mean i don’t believe it for a second, but it would still be cool AF

edgemaster72 ,
@edgemaster72@lemmy.world avatar

Holy hell I kinda hope they actually let this go to trial just to make him present his “evidence”

LostWanderer ,

It’s the oddest choice to sue FromSoftware because Elden Ring, a Souls-like which, is advertised to be a very difficult game. Personally, I stay away from Fromsoft games because of their difficulty, I play games for fun; any game that requires an extreme amount of skill right out off the bat is simply not it to me. I guess this person can waste their money doing whatever they’d like; I don’t see them having any hope of winning this frivolous lawsuit.

braindefragger ,

Source?

Broken_Monitor ,

It’s not even that hard. I seriously was bracing for some ridiculous bullshit based on the response but I haven’t struggled at all through it. Sometimes I do hit a hard boss and explore to come back later, but nothing insurmountable. I still have yet to finish but Sekiro still makes this games seem like a walk in the park. Hell, all the Dark souls games are far harder too.

Katana314 ,

Given its open world nature, I would bet the difficulty of the game varies greatly depending on where someone randomly decides to explore.

And, any repeat attempts won’t reveal much because on a second go the player will have experience with systems that will keep them safe or at least better conditioned around their losses.

Broken_Monitor ,

I guess that’s the thing really, is all you gotta do is recognize you can go somewhere else. Come back and practice the hard part occasionally. Go find more scadu fragments, new weapons, spells, tools, experiment a little. Hell if you really need go respec and make a focused build. Or summon people to help you. There’s so many options, I hit some hard stuff but it never felt like a brick wall.

Katana314 ,

This once again tires back in with patience and recognizing which parts are hard by comparison.

“Time to try Elden Ring! Hm. This first area I’ve spent 20 minutes in is too hard. I’ll go somewhere else. Actually, this other area I spent half an hour in is also too hard. I’ll go somewhere else. Hmm…actually…”

Not to mention, understanding the stat systems enough to respec can be hard itself. And, summoning people to help you often means you’re not learning or engaging with the game mechanics yourself (or, getting slaughtered by invaders - patience again)

There’s genuine reasons why those things as a form of difficulty adaptation do not work well for everyone. People get an inconsistent and unreadable experience, and conclude simply “The game is too hard.” Often, that statement is made with incomplete information, but that’s what they’ve got from trying to learn it themselves. Obviously, if you look up walkthroughs it’s boringly easy and has no sense of discovery.

lolola ,
@lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Where article? Am I stupid?

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