A Shift in the Balance
No more strange blogging-related dreams to report, but in my last post, I noted an accidental balance had been struck. An unspoken accord reached between my time spent in Lost Ark and my time spent in Elden Ring. Much like the Elden Ring itself, that accord has been shattered. … Well alright, ‘shattered’ might be a bit over the top. It has certainly moved on though, with Elden Ring taking a fairly solid lead.
At last update, they were 44 and 41 hours apiece for the month, in favour of Lost Ark. Now it’s 62 and 54 hours in favour of Elden Ring for the month. For the last 7 days in isolation, it’s 26 and 15 hours, still in favour of Elden Ring of course.
So then the questions become, has the shine worn off Lost Ark? Or is it just that Elden Ring is that good?
To which I say…
Yes.
Although to say the shine has worn off might be a little harsh. I absolutely bombed this game with hours spent in the early days of its release (complete with time off work!) and so have largely done the things I want to for the time being. I still have more room for growth in Tier 3, I can’t do Argos yet for example (Phase 1 requires 1370 ilvl, and I’m presently ~1330ish).
But I’ve settled into a much more casual state of play. The mad drive to just, ‘Go, go, go’ through the gearing levels has vanished. I’m content to take the upgrades as they come at the pace the game deems fitting for my play, which largely involves doing the Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids at the moment, with a side of dailies (only on my main though).
Elden Ring is a large part of the reason why. But the rest of that equation is letting friends catch up so we can do more meaningful content together. Which we’re getting really close to! So it’ll be interesting to see how or if the balance shifts once more when this occurs.
In the meantime, I wouldn’t say the Lost Ark shine has gone… Maybe it’s just a little… Tarnished. ;)
As for Elden Ring itself, I think I’m going to hold off discussing specifics myself until I’ve completed a playthrough. I’ve given some non-spoiler thoughts over here already and I’m dying to talk to the detail some more with spoilers included but… I can hold off a little while yet. :)
As a way of telling those who know where I’m up to without spoiling anything: yesterday I obtained the Dark Moon Greatsword1 and got it to +9.
That questline and just everything else in Elden Ring is so compelling. I have so many different options for areas to explore and things to do! This open-world element has translated so well into the Souls formula, more than I ever could’ve anticipated even after my early hours with the game. If I had to estimate my progress through the game, I would say I’m probably in the latter 50% but beyond that, I just don’t know. Less than 75% done, probably. So somewhere in that range. :)
I feel that the momentum toward Elden Ring is growing as if a gravitational pull I’m getting ever closer to. It will have a hard limit as I won’t stop playing Lost Ark with my friends when they’re available — but it seems rather clear to me I won’t be playing anything else until I’ve finished Elden Ring at least once.
At least once… …Although subsequent playthroughs I might be able to fit something else in alongside. I’ve let a lot of games worthy of attention slide over the last month and a bit!
