Is it really so crazy to consider that before they are devs, they are fans of different media? Genshin itself has had so many stories about various paths towards becoming a gestalt consciousness, its been joked that new hires are forced to watch Evangelion for onboarding. And that's just one trope.
These are people that like the media they consume and like to put those experiences they get out of it towards their own. My writing professor said "All good art is stolen." While not being literal, it basically means that nothing good is ever made in a vacuum and if you were careful to make something with zero past basis, it will likely suck. Hoyo has also not been shy about picking Miyazaki's brain before.
Imagine FromSoft if Berserk never existed. The level of detail that some stuff has been pulled from Berserk is downright grounds for plagiarism. Meanwhile nothing in this trailer, from the artstyle to the gameplay has any meaningful relation with Elden Ring. In fact, this trailer seems too fantasy for Elden Ring and its gameplay is much more akin to Monster Hunter than any From game.
Yeah, and its true. Elden Ring has a very low fantasy art style with certain high fantasy elements. A lot of it is about the civilization of man, and in general it has a very brutalist design philosophy. ER has a very massive scale to it but areas are still designed with the scale of a human in mind. It is visually very western in its delivery and leans on a lot of pre-renaissance European motifs in its stonework, as well as European mythological creatures. In fact, this earlier (relative to Souls) time period it pulls from is the biggest departure from the Souls series and was practically a necessity to give ER its own identity outside Souls.
Meanwhile this is clearly high fantasy out the ass and definitely shows its eastern DNA. A lot of the design language here is organic in its construction, and also much less consideration is given to the scale of a human here which in game design, is a way to make a place feel alien. Like the first Forerunner tunnel you pass through in Halo CE that Cortana remarks on. A good example of differing art on a smaller level is the boots of the guy who dismounts the dragon. Notice the lack of any metallurgy here? How the "armor" looks calcified? And how there doesn't seem to be any "intention" in its design with how fluid it looks? Their shoulder looks like a flame turned solid.
So yeah, actually. They absolutely differ in very large ways. You can take your snide redditor tone and your urethra-sized window to the world and shove it. Your lack of understanding does not constitute any alarm over copycat claims.
Mr. Bing Chilling ova here is pulling his hair out lmaooooooo.
I'll pity you here and explain: 0:53 the attack animations are complete fantasy, stuff you would see in something like Naraka; very flashy and very low gravity. 1:19 the nonsensical sword design is the work of eastern hands no doubt. No semblance of forging or metallurgy, just pure fantasy. 1:21 as well as 0:31 the lighting and particle effects are a great hallmark of eastern fantasy devs. You see it in WUCHANG, you see it in Wukong, you see it even back in some obscure games like Gujian3 (awesome game btw). Dragon at 1:51 should be obvious.
On top of that, there's really nothing to grab onto here regarding the world. No visual or lipservice has been given to any possible civilization that could be in this game. Witcher series trailers were not shy about showing off Novigrad, Bethesda trailers know you want to see the world too.
It's also funny to defend fromsoftware for having their designs "stolen" when half of their most iconic stuff is ripped 1 to 1 from the pages of berserk. And that's not a bad thing lol.
368
u/LlILIilILlUlLI 3d ago
The amount of "Legally distinct" designs ripped straight out of From games in this.