| Darashiva said: The thing that hit me first about the game, once I made my way through the introductory dungeon and opened that first door into the open world, was just how gorgeous it looked. There may be games with better graphics from a pure technological point of view, but no other game in a long time has looked this great in terms of art direction. |
I always think good art direction is recognizable in the way, that a game can be recognized by a random screenshot, possibly you can even recognize which region of the game you're in. I think Elden Ring surely fits that, as it's art style is unique and each of the areas has their own colors and styles.
And about that moment leaving the dungeon: this is the part Hidetaka Miyazaki got inspired from by Breath of the Wild. Everyone else took climbing everywhere and the glider - but Miyazaki instead choose that moment you leave an underground location in the beginning with a forst look at the open world and instantly showing you your goal for the game - no quest marker, no NPC, no cutscene is needed to tell you where to go, I just took a look at the Erdtree and knew I *wanted* to go there. I didn't even know it was my penultimative goal in the game, but with it's beauty and gloriousness it instantly drew me in. That is masterful visual design. And this is not the only moment that works that way. The moment I stepped out onto the cliff to get my first look on Liurnia, I couldn't do anything but stop and marvel about this mysterious land below me. And again the Academy of Raya Lucaria stands out as not only beatiful, but also mysterious. It drew my interest and I knew I couldn't go on without first visiting there. Same as I took an elevator ride down, expecting a dungeon, but this elevator got deeper and deeper and I started wondering - and then a breathtaking view opens up. Elden Ring is masterful design. A lot of game devs are good at checking boxes for supposedly good games wit tech and graphics and gameplay tweaks and interface, but crafting these breathtaking moments, this is real artistry.
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