My Love-Hate Relationship with Elden Ring: A Veteran's Perspective in 2025
Elden Ring's captivating gameplay is marred by frustrating upgrade, rune loss, and repetitive mechanics, demanding more player-friendly improvements.
As I look back on my journey through the Lands Between in 2025, I can't help but feel a mix of exhilaration and exasperation. Elden Ring continues to be one of the most captivating gaming experiences I've ever had, but let's be honest—there are aspects of this masterpiece that make me want to throw my controller across the room.
The Smithing Stone Struggle
The weapon upgrade system in Elden Ring remains one of my biggest frustrations. Three years after release, and I'm still spending hours hunting for Smithing Stones. The merchants stock limited quantities, forcing me into those treacherous mines where enemies seem to have a sixth sense for when I'm trying to mine peacefully.
Is it too much to ask for a straightforward upgrade system? I've spent more time farming for upgrade materials than actually enjoying my newly upgraded weapons. The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion did add some new mining locations, but the fundamental tedium remains unchanged.
The Rune Recovery Marathon
Nothing—and I mean nothing—tests my patience more than dying with a substantial amount of runes and having to trek back to retrieve them. It's 2025, and I'm still losing hours of progress because I got greedy or careless.
The anxiety that comes with carrying a large number of unspent runes completely changes how I play. Instead of exploring freely and taking risks, I find myself playing conservatively, constantly calculating whether I should head back to a Site of Grace. Wouldn't it be refreshing if FromSoftware implemented some kind of rune insurance system in their next title?
The Leveling Crawl
Early game leveling gives you such a false sense of progression. Those first 30 levels fly by, and you feel like you're becoming more powerful with each passing hour. Fast forward to level 150+, and I'm spending days farming just to increase a single stat point.
The system practically forces specialization rather than versatility. Want to try a hybrid build? Good luck spending another 50 hours farming runes. And while Larval Tears allow for respeccing, they're limited enough that experimentation feels punished rather than encouraged.
The Repetition Punishment
Death in Elden Ring isn't just a setback—it's often a time tax. Dying means repeating entire sections of difficult terrain and enemies, especially in legacy dungeons where Sites of Grace can be frustratingly sparse.
I've memorized every enemy placement in Stormveil Castle not because I wanted to, but because I had to repeat it so many times. Those birds with blade-feet haunt my nightmares. And don't get me started on Raya Lucaria's mages. The 2025 quality-of-life update added a few more checkpoints, but not nearly enough.
Co-op Complications
In theory, co-op should make difficult bosses more manageable. In practice? It's often more trouble than it's worth.
The scaling mechanism makes enemies significantly tougher, which can actually make boss fights harder with an inexperienced partner. And the connection issues! Even in 2025, with all the patches and updates, I still experience random disconnections at the worst possible moments. How many friendships have been tested when one player keeps dying to mechanics they don't understand?
The Boss Battle Blues
Some bosses in Elden Ring cross the line from challenging to infuriating. I've spent entire weekends trying to defeat a single opponent, questioning my life choices with each defeat.
Take Malenia, for instance. Even with the slight rebalancing in the 2024 patch, she remains a nightmare. That waterfowl dance still catches me off guard after hundreds of attempts. Yes, I eventually beat her, and yes, the dopamine rush was incredible—but was it worth the 12 hours of frustration? I'm still not sure.
FP Management Madness
As someone who loves playing as a spellcaster, FP management is the bane of my existence. All the coolest spells and weapon arts drain FP like there's no tomorrow.
The constant balancing act between saving FP for tough encounters versus using it to clear regular enemies efficiently is exhausting. I often find myself resorting to basic attacks just to conserve resources, which makes combat far less exciting. Couldn't we get an FP regeneration mechanic that doesn't rely solely on flasks?
Torrent Troubles
Torrent is one of the best innovations in Elden Ring, but his fragility in combat is maddening. Nothing disrupts the flow of an epic mounted battle like having your steed die underneath you.
The fact that resummoning Torrent consumes a healing flask is salt in the wound. In the heat of battle, that prompt asking if I want to use a flask to resummon has led to many avoidable deaths as I fumble with the controls. Why not give Torrent his own separate healing item?
Fall Damage Frustrations
The verticality of Elden Ring's world is breathtaking, but the fall damage system seems designed to limit exploration rather than encourage it.
I can't count how many times I've spotted an interesting area below me, only to die instantly when trying to reach it. The lack of clarity about which falls are survivable adds another layer of frustration. Would it really break the game to add some kind of visual indicator for survivable drops?
Catacomb Fatigue
If I never see another catacomb in my gaming life, it would be too soon. These copy-paste dungeons with their predictable traps and ambushes have long outstayed their welcome.
While each catacomb does have slight variations, they all blur together after a while. The reward-to-frustration ratio rarely feels balanced, especially when you're sent on a wild goose chase through flame traps and teleportation chests. Aren't we all a bit tired of the same skeleton enemies popping out of the ground for the hundredth time?
The Verdict
Despite all these frustrations, I keep coming back to Elden Ring. It's like that toxic relationship you can't quit—punishing and rewarding in equal measure. The highs are so high that they somehow justify the lows.
But FromSoftware, if you're listening: not every challenge needs to be a test of patience as well as skill. Some quality-of-life improvements wouldn't make your game any less challenging—they'd just make it more respectful of our time.
What about you, fellow Tarnished? Which aspects of Elden Ring push your buttons the most? Have you found ways to mitigate these frustrations, or do you simply power through them? Join our community discord and share your tips for maintaining sanity in the Lands Between—because we're all in this beautiful nightmare together! 🎮🗡️