Star Wars Jedi Can Never Be Elden Ring and Thats for the Best

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Star Wars Jedi Can Never Be Elden Ring and Thats for the Best

Highlights

  • Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree offers a winding maze with breathtaking scenery and maintains gratifying exploration.
  • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor broadens Metroidvania exploration, but transitioning between planets prevents fully open-world gameplay.
  • Star Wars Jedi thrives in linear environments and should focus on refining its Metroidvania systems rather than embracing open-world trends.

As a longtime fan of both open-world RPGs and the Star Wars franchise, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. However, after playing Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, I can’t help but feel that Star Wars Jedi might be biting off more than it can chew by attempting to create a fully open-world experience.

The new expansion for Elden Ring, named Shadow of the Erdtree, has been unveiled recently. In contrast to the extensive open-world of Lands Between in the main game, the Land of Shadow comes with a labyrinthine design, offering captivating vistas after each turn of the camera. While there is seemingly more ground to cover than treasures to discover within one area, besides Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes, exploration in this expansion remains as rewarding as in Elden Ring’s base game.

Survivor” doesn’t offer an entirely open world, Respawn cleverly expanded exploration on Koboh and Jedha with interconnected areas resembling mini open-worlds. It is speculated that Respawn may build upon this in future installments. However, transforming “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” into a fully open-world game like “Elden Ring” could mean sacrificing its Metroidvania roots, which might not be beneficial for the franchise.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Boasts Another Enormous Open World

The expansive world of Elden Ring is captivating because each region feels connected, giving players the sense that distant landmarks or areas are accessible and ripe for exploration. Instead of repeating regions from Elden Ring’s core game, FromSoftware created another intricate maze for players to navigate, becoming hopelessly lost while seeking out elusive map pieces in Shadow of the Erdtree.

In the hidden areas of the map, those small illustrated markers can be confusingly close and far away from each other. Players may encounter difficulties in navigating through the 3D holographic maps in the “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” and “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” series. Unlike some games that allow players to instantly travel between any desired locations, these titles do not make traversal as effortless as one might hope.

In the game “Elden Ring,” players usually have the freedom to quickly travel between locations. The exception is when they deliberately get trapped inside a dungeon, in which case fast traveling isn’t an option. However, most of the time exploration pays off as players discover more sites of grace they can reach before meeting their demise at the hands or claws of some dangerous enemy, even if they mistakenly trust Torrent to make a risky jump from a steep cliff.

The Star Wars Jedi Franchise Must Abide by the Galaxy It is Leashed to

Due to the captivating element of having various distinct planets in Star Wars, players will continually need to travel across the galaxy to get from one to another. Consequently, the immersive connectedness that Elden Ring and its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion boast would be absent from Fallen Order, Survivor, and any following sequels. Even if Respawn put in the work to make each explorable planet a vast open world, transitions between planets would still be essential.

In Elden Ring and its expansion packs, not every location is reached naturally. For instance, the path from the Forge of the Giants to Crumbling Farum Azula, as well as from the Consecrated Snowfield to Mohgwyn Palace via a waygate teleporter, are instantaneous for players. However, these quick transitions would be a significant undertaking for Cal Kestis and his team. They’d have to travel vast distances to reach a new planet, followed by locating an appropriate hangar or platform to park their Stinger Mantis spacecraft.

As a longtime fan of open-world RPGs, I’ve spent countless hours exploring intricately designed worlds filled with rich lore and diverse characters. So when I heard about “Star Wars Outlaws,” the first fully open-world game in the Star Wars universe, I was beyond excited. However, after playing it for a while, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Survivor’s Sequel Could Be Open-World, But Star Wars Jedi Thrives in Linear Environments

As a longtime fan of both “Survivor” and the “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” game series, I’ve given this topic a lot of thought based on my personal experiences with both franchises. While it may be tempting to criticize “Star Wars Jedi” for not keeping up with the latest trends in gaming by adhering to its Metroidvania roots, I firmly believe that this is precisely what makes the game unique and compelling.

If the sizes of planets in the “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” series are expected to increase, there’s a higher chance that the beloved Metroidvania aspects of the game might be overlooked or downplayed due to the abundance of features already present in just two games. As a new third game is being developed, it’s crucial to decide what elements to improve or expand upon from its predecessor while preserving the unique qualities that distinguish “Star Wars Jedi” from “Elden Ring.” These differences are worth appreciating and should not be overshadowed by expansive environments.

As a fan, I’d love to see Respawn continue pushing the boundaries of open-world exploration in a potential sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. However, it’s crucial that they exercise great care to avoid cluttering or complicating the experience. If not, they risk diluting the elegance and immersive nature of the franchise, which we’ve come to appreciate through its linear environments reminiscent of games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Sekiro.

Koboh and Jedha don’t harm Survivor, but they disrupt the comparison between planets in terms of quality and content. Drawing too much influence from Elden Ring’s complex and vast gameplay might misguide Cal Kestis and his Stinger Mantis team.

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2024-07-20 13:04