The Psychology of Powerlessness in Elden Ring and the Souls Genre

Hey everyone, this is a reupload from my psychology focused channel. I wanted to have a channel dedicated to these types of essays so I am in the process of moving a few videos like this one to this channel. I hope to make more over the coming months, thanks for watching!

"To embrace pain is to embody excellence"

I start up the game not thinking "you Died" but rather team four star pops up got picolo screaming in my ear DODGE!!!

ive been teaching my roommate's seven year old how to play elden ring. from being unable to kill the beastman of farum azula in his cave and exclaiming "i can't do it!" to now having beat him and a few other minor dungeon bosses, i've seen his attitude improve a lot. i told him "don't go in trying to win, because you'll have a harder time. go in trying to play a little better than your last run, and you'll get closer every time." and "see, you want to have played the game, which is different from wanting to play the game. enjoy the road up, man." by now, the "i can't do it" is much less frequent and when he wins he says "that was me." what other game can do that fr?

I like to ask myself a hypothetical when playing the Souls games; "who would win, an undefeated champion, or a warrior who has known a thousand defeats and will know a thousand more"

Tree sentinel helped me overcome the giant sized enemy and dodging. I’m finally on the last boss of today and it is amazing how far I’ve come getting stomped on by the tree sentinel for 6 hrs.

Elden ring was my first souls game and the sheer satisfaction I felt on becoming elden lord the first time was like nothing else I've ever played...havnt felt that way about a game since I started playing super Mario when it came out and I was little

Myself ASD late diagnosis. CPTSD from decades of abuse. Always had others speaking for me. Making my decisions for me Saying I couldn't or shouldn't. Then one day I realized it was all a big lie. Just in my head. And those saying those lies were just manipulating me. My point...Late to the party in Elden Ring. Started in Feb this year. Always wanted to play. But for 2 yeats in my mind thought it was too difficult for me to enjoy or fell. Like it was a bad thing. Or I would rage quit. I'm almost 500hrs in. Dlc ready. Probably the longest and best gaming and personal experience from Elden Ring. The game has taught me a lot about myself. My identity. Fear and to overcome. To look at things in many ways. Come at beauty and pain from different perspectives. If too much. Put down and try again come back later. To be knocked down and killed over and over to just to be made stringer and wiser. Such an enlightening exp besides being a top notch game in many aspects.

The minion thing you brought up is super interesting. In the Asylum in DS1 Oscar really would be the hero in most mainstream games, and you really are no one special. Its random chance that you end up on your journey at all.

I loved this video. Can’t wait for more!

I love the topic and your focus on video games! More please! 👍🏻

Very enjoyable and thought provoking. You do a great job of tying the theme of perseverance in their as well. Thank you!

This is one of the best videos I've ever watched. Thank you for creating it!

Great video. Insightful details and examples cited throughout 👍🏻

Awesome sentiment, great script and presentation. Hope your channel grows more and more, man!

Was an enjoying watch! The Soulslike genre is a genre i've always been fascinated with, this video was very informative and enjoyable. You've earned a sub, Can't wait for more!

Well done! Great essay, i appreciate your explanations.

Man this is so good we need more

“The path to greatness starts with conquering your doubts”

One thing I've never liked about the Soulsborne easy mode discussion is that advocates of an easy mode always come across as a bit - insulting? - to the people they're arguing on behalf of. The cycle of failing and improving is the point of the game; it's a bit infantilizing to say that some people are somehow less capable of improvement than others. I feel it echos a larger problem in the world today, where many people seem unable to accept hardship as a part of life and feel that it's a bad thing if they're ever made to feel uncomfortable. Soulsborne games don't have an easy mode, but neither does life. In a Soulsborne game you're going to fail again and again, and you have to learn from those failures to improve, just like life. And sometimes, a task may simply be beyond your capabilities, in which case you may need to call upon the help of a support structure, which is something the Soulsborne games allow for in their gameplay with summons. Saying that all of this is beyond the capabilities of some players is like saying they're incapable of growth or improvement, which is really damn insulting to those people's capabilities. And if they're talking about themselves, it demonstrates a really sad lack of belief in their own abilities; I believe those players are capable of more than they know.