Elden Ring - Teaching through repetition

It's kind of like how a stop sign is the same shape and color, so that you recognize it as a stop sign. It doesn't matter how unoriginal it is, it helps you immediately understand what's expected of you.

Song used: Korok Forest (Night) - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild OST

[ZullietheWitch]

Not every message from the developer has to be written in plain text. Sometimes the most carefully written instructions are ones we don't even know we're reading. Turning the environment itself towards conditioning the player is a useful tool.

[gungy_vt]

"A simple version might be leading you to an enemy whose back is turned to coax you into learning about backstabs"
And then having another enemy ambush you to teach you that some opportunities are too good to be true.

[burninable]

I love how the devs even understood how the dungeons and catacombs all looked the same to the point where they put in a dungeon that intentionally messes with your sense of direction by going in repeating cycles, making you feel like you're going insane. I don't think I'll ever forget going through one copy of the corridor, fighting an Omen, and then getting to the same corridor in the next loop only to see a second Omen looming over the corpse of the first one.

[MartoLun]

One of my favorite tricks they use is calling many of these recycled structures "Fifth Church of Marika" or "Third Church of Marika". That way we are less bothered by the repetition, since we assume they were created by the same group of people in-universe, with the same building techniques each time.

[PatrickProductions]

Your example at the beginning of the video was interesting, because regarding the soldier enemies being reused, my brother and I found it to be one of the most immersive parts of the whole game, excellent worldbuilding. Soldiers wearing different colors for different houses, different lords, all originally part of the same army but split and forced to face each other in the Shattering. Elden Ring did a great job.

[realkingofantarctica]

The Souls series has honestly become iconic in a way because of the re-use of certain mechanics and animations. Whenever a new game releases, you can always expect to see _"Door does not open from this side."_

[hugehuman]

Just like John Elden Ring said, "Every Elden has it's Ring, " every catacomb has its lever.

[Creepin_Jesus]

I also like how within the repetition of the catacombs or the hero graves, they begin to diversify HOW you have to find the lever or deal with the horse carriage robot. A few times you might be expecting another tunnel with home alone pressure plates again but you get some puzzle with the light mechanics or the teleporting chests. That repetition is also valuable in catching players off guard and I felt that was very effective in unison with your points on signage to players

[Prk_Sinigang]

As a fan of the Yakuza series, I must say that properly implemented reused assets can be a very special thing.

[argnator]

My favorite catacomb is the one in the Mountaintops, where you go through dodging the jarmen until you can't progress and drop down and end up going through what looks and feels like a loop. Same rooms, same layout, same hallways - only there's more enemies in different places. But still no lever. The lift up just takes you back to where you came from and you feel stuck.
But then you can let the lift go up without you, and see that it's not an infitnite hole - it's the top of the next area. It uses the "every catacomb looks the same" issue players feel by that point as part of its own mechanics and re-introduces you to some of the most basic FromSoft level design. You'll want to look down every elevator hole from then on - just in case.

[jordanf]

2:16 Or, unfortunately like me, the absence of an underground portion leads you to the assumption that not all ruins have loot. Took a while into my playthrough for a viewer to inform me that all the ruins with invisible sorcerer mobs have illusionary entrances.

I really appreciate this look at game design. It's one of those subtle, unspoken thing that we've had to just accept the player won't always understand. And sometimes the wrong message will come across, instead. It happens, but it's often times the most practical solution. This applies to so many different things in the industry that, yeah, looking at uninformed criticism can be pretty rough.

[kirklandish]

On a related note, but reusing visual cues on the map for areas like minor erd trees, mines, and churches helped me find essential items without relying on the usual traps of open world design. This is aside from all the legacy dungeons, forts, etc. that were clearly marked as well.

[Mart-E]

The worst thing I notice is the shacks. The houses are always completely the same with the 3 steps and on the last one is usually a body with a mushroom or something. If there at least wasn't so many of these houses copied all over the map.

[NavidIsANoob]

Zullie, your Elden Ring videos have been INSANELY popular last couple of weeks. You're obviously filling some kind of content gap that people have been craving. Good stuff!

[jujubeanz]

I feel a part 2 coming on about enemies: enemies like the erdtree avatar are enemies you typically see at the base of a minor erdtree, training you to expect this enemy upon arriving BUT you’ll see that it’s not always the case. Sometimes they’re accompanied by other minor enemies or it’ll have a different attack like the one in Caelid that sprays Scarlet Rot. But that should be expected or at least prepared for because Caelid has taught us that Rot is common. The enemy could be completely different such as the Ulcerated tree spirit or Wormface. But different isn’t always necessarily bad such as the one with the minor erdtree with just the three Demi-Humans.

[celestial_illusions]

me, who just assumed not every ruin has stairs leading underground: "ah yes, of course"

[Quicksilver_Cookie]

Honestly, just navigating the world of Elden Ring was so satisfying. It walks such a fine line between leaving you totally to your own devices, and giving you those subtle hints and clues. Essentially teaching you about how the environments work, but making it feel like you've figured it all on your own.

[hypethekomodo]

I certainly apply this to the churches: Almost every church hosts a Grace and a Sacred Tear, so you start to relate them to safe havens that also give health upgrades after you find one.

The one thing I don't like about reusing things is 'here's a boss you fought but now there's two'. Feel like just doubling the foes you face makes it harder in a not fun way.

[Farenklaw]

I would say antoher example of repeating assets serving the game design are the churches. Every time I've got a new map piece in my playthrough I immediately knew where to go for the flask upgrades.

[IceDrake]

I love the Zelda music overlaying the videos. It gives a sense of it being story time and a happier tone. There's a nice atmosphere with this channel that Zullie is a friendly witch teaching us and sharing knowledge. Well done establishing a unique channel that stands out.