So with Elden Ring being the big hit it is and reaching more people than a Souls game usually does I'm seeing something come up, as it usually does, and want to try to clear things up as I see it. The "hardcore" Souls community is not what everyone makes it out to be. Anyone on a message board or who has listened to a gaming podcast has heard how awful they are and always call people out for being awful or playing wrong, but this isn't the hardcore community at all. This is the typical vocal gaming ass that all communities have.
To make a Dark Souls analogy that some might recognize. The Drake Sword from Dark Souls.
First someone that has played Dark Souls, maybe they beat it maybe not and thought it was neat. "Oh wow the Drake Sword is the best! You have to get it right away! It's like a cheat code."
Next the vocal jerks that people misrepresent as the actual hardcore community, but aren't. "Oh you use that? Get good noob. Just delete the game if you have to use that. Sword is trash."
Now the actual hardcore community. "Oh yeah the Drake Sword is really strong early, just be careful because it doesn't scale and the upgrade materials are hard to come by so late game it will be weaker"
The actual Dark Souls community is the most "play however the heck you want" community going because that's exactly what they are doing. They are the ones that do "fashion-souls" because they want to look cool or role play a certain character. They are the ones doing challenge runs so they rush to try and get random weapons or items to use. They are the ones who have beaten the game a dozen times over so they are going to mess around. They'll watch Sunlight Blade or Illusionary Wall on Youtube, they will show off their absurd build on reddit. Perhaps they might sound annoying when they give advice or comment, but that's just because they've beat the game a dozen times over and know exactly what to do.
So just the next time you're listening to a gaming podcast and someone talks about the toxic or negative or dismissive Dark Souls community, just know that's only the same vocal jerks that all gaming communities have.
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