> Greentext

You're sensing a bit of bias? Because they're telling you that they like the game?

I'm sensing a bit of bias from you, being completely unable to understand someone else's point of view once you've made your mind up

I didn't buy the game, and I am enjoying it immensely.

You can throw as many buzzwords at it as you like, but that doesn't diminish the lived experience of people who had fun with the game. Why are you so insistent on convincing people they didn't enjoy it? There must be a buzzword for that mindset too.

I get it for "free" because I sub to xbox service. I'd have paid $70 for it, though. As for time, I could have spent it in other games, but it's the first really fun gaming experience I've had in quite a while.

It's easy to make accusations against Bethesda fans like this, but they're unfalsifiable. You could make the same accusations of people enjoying any other game and there's nothing they could do to prove they actually enjoy the game. Except that they DO actually enjoy the game.

I've played about 20 games this year. If I had to pick only 1 to play (which isn't far from the truth anymore with my second job), it would be Starfield. And you might be surprised at the names of games that rank below it on the list. Like Elden Ring (which I will never touch again after my cheat-easy-mode run), Hitman WoA, etc. Maybe I won't be playing it in a year, or two years. Maybe I will.

I think it's interesting you brought up Souls Games. Quite literally your first paragraph, I feel about them. I have 100% buyer's remorse about Bloodborne, and lesser buyer's remorse about Elden Ring. Neither will I ever touch again. To some extent, I kept trying to convince myself the story is worth their unwillingness to give gamers the controls that would actually make the game fun... and I gave up trying to have fun playing it.

I agree with all your points but cannot disagree more on the inclusion of a difficulty slider for Souls games. I have been very adamant about a difficulty slider "cheapening the experience" or "jeopardising the artistic intent", but it really doesn't make a difference - at all.

If your enjoyment of the game stems from the fact that the game is difficult and the inclusion of a difficulty slider cheapens your "sense of accomplishment", then you might have to reevaluate your priorities.

Consider people with disabilities, for example, who are interested in the lore of Souls games and want to experience them themselves but can't because the games present themselves to be too difficult (for example in the way some bosses in Elden Ring have seemingly endless attack chains that give you no breathing room at all, requiring very precise input on the player's side), thus gatekeeping the experience from a potentially enthusiastic and interested player.

Or consider people who are just not interested in a hyper tense and difficult time and just want to experience the story and atmosphere of the game. What's wrong with that? How does that impact your enjoyment of the game if their experience is completely separate from yours?

For reference, I have platinumed numerous FromSoft Souls games and would not feel any less "proud" of that if the games had difficulty settings.