So far, it's a pretty looking game. The trouble is finding things to do in it.
That was the end of the quest. All setup, no punchline.
There was no one to thank me. All I had was a little more loot. Where's my impact on the world?
If these quotes ring true in the final game, that's a hard pass. I want RPGs, action-oriented or not, to allow me to play a role. A million games can make fantasy look pretty, Obsidian needs to make it interesting.
Seriously, a typical D&D session might last 6 hours and you accomplish nothing of note, but you have fun! Enjoyment should not be transactional with time.
Light references can be fun but this movie was nearly fourth-wall breaking with how hard they were winking at the audience. When the character itself doesn't even have a reason or know why they're saying the line, just because it's a reference, it begins to feel egregious and kinda icky. Tone helps, stuff like Deadpool can get away with it obviously but I have a hard time giving this one a pass.
True other games have had that, but it really wasn't a goal for Elden Ring and I don't think it really hinders it. The immersion into a real world was clearly a tentpole design decision for Rockstar in RDR2, but not Fromsoft. Which is fine for you to miss in Elden Ring, I just think we gotta manage expectations sometimes where not every game can have every thing.
I had a similar experience tbh. Never played on release, got it a few months ago with Phantom Liberty, really had to push myself through the first "act" which honestly felt like all preamble. Jackie never felt particularly believable to me as a character, he was honestly kinda annoying with how eager he was and the "one more job and we're out" trope, then I was clearly supposed to have grown attached because of a montage of our adventures I didn't get to experience?
I'm glad they're showing more extended sections of gameplay. I was worried after the last few trailers featured mainly quick cuts between cutscenes and seemingly canned animations. This is shaping up to be promising despite the somewhat worrisome delays.
I just felt like I ran out of things to do and there was no point to keep playing.
To each their own of course, but it sounds like you basically just "beat" the game, in the same way someone beats Animal Crossing. You just stop playing eventually. I don't see that as a negative if you enjoyed that time.
It's an incredible game, a love letter to all the best aspects of the Harvest Moon series. My only real gripe is the NPC characters can feel a little stale and robotic after a while, but during a first playthrough they are all full of life.
National security? Nah, those ghouls want to live forever.