Does Elden Ring Have a Narrative?

Justin from NoobFeed writes - There have been a number of comments and arguments lately about From Software games. These kinds of arguments crop up all the time, such as the endless “should there be difficulty modes” debate whenever a From Software game releases, but the current debate is about narrative, and whether Elden Ring, and by extension other From Software games, have a narrative at all.

[stefd75]

Like the Souls games there is a story there you just have to find it. That half the fun of Souls games.

[Smellsforfree]

I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that, yes it does have a story, but no it doesn't have a narrative. A narrative is a written or spoken account of connected events. There is some of that in Elden Ring, and I love how they handle the story in that game and wouldn't change a thing -- but i don't think it rises to the level of "a narrative". But that is just like my opinion.

[Flawlessmic]

Agreed mate people take art direction and great world building with lore as a proper narrative amd it's just not.

[stefd75]

I see your point there and maybe I didn't understand there is a difference in story and narrative.

[thorstein]

And (I agree), the narrative that there is usually follows whatever questline you wish to pursue.

The only "narrative" breaking thing was the Elden Beast. It didn't fit, at all. And if you were heavy melee, the battle was tedious and not fun (ex: running around for 15 minutes getting hits.)

[gurp]

there might be story, but I didn't want to go look for it, I have other games to play
there is no narrative in this game, that is why I found it boring
I beat it once, doing what was necessary and nothing extra, would never play again though
the art and characters/enemies were good though

[garos82]

does anyone who asks this question actually have a functioning brain?

[EmperorDalek]

Considering they've been asking this about all of the Souls games since 2009... You'd have to question it.

[anast]

This game was designed for this question. There's a world with some lore, but the story is yours.

[Mr_cheese]

I like that. Good summary.

[Flawlessmic]

The art direction and world building of the souls games are fantastic.

The narrative or narrative direction not so much, especially direction seeing as there barely direction in regards to it.

[LordoftheCritics]

Yes it does, broken and boring to the point that no one can explain it with enthusiasm.

[dmonee]

It’s like someone trying to explain “Grateful dead” music. Like me as a gamer I am not sophisticated or smart enough to understand the in game narrative. I put a lot of time into elden ring. Loved it, but story telling this is not!

[dmonee]

100+ hours of wasted time in the lands between for me. I only ever got little tidbits of what was going on while playing the game. I’d start a side quest and never figure out where to go afterwards. If not for cheating and going on YouTube, I’d never have figured out half the story lines that were going on. That said, I still had more fun with elden ring than any narrative driven sandbox like far cry 6, horizon forbidden west and assassins creed Valhalla. If From software added a story driven narrative to elden ring, heads would explode and the universe possibly implode. They probably left it out on purpose because we the gamer wouldn’t be able to handle it.

[Inverno]

According to literally the first thing that shows up on a Google search a narrative is "a story or an account of a series of events." By that definition then Elden Ring and every other game in the Soulsborn series a narrative.

[KingOfArcadia]

yes

[myfathersbastard]

I don’t think it does. Isn’t that what people LOVED about the game when it released? People are confusing lore for narrative. The story as presented is bare bones. You’re given a reason to explore, nothing else. If you’re interested in the story, you have to go through it all and find that for yourself. But it’s never really presented in a conventional way.
I beat the game and couldn’t tell you what it was about. Not a clue. That’s why I voted for Ragnarok.

[buffig]

Yes