Anyone else feel Elden Ring sometimes lacks creativity?

[Gvaedyn]

I love Elden Ring, but one advantage that Dark Souls had was that it was a very structured environment. The world was build around several key locations, with all the swamps, catacombs etc being unique in design, featuring multiple routes etc. Every boss was also unique and had it's own personality.

Elden Ring borrows a lot of this, especially with the major dungeons, but the open-world does end up still having "filler" content. The eldtree bosses are all the same, for example, and there's buildings with no real meaning behind them. You wouldn't see this in a Dark Souls game.

[ChiefE]

The map is also more than twice as big as dark souls. Feels pretty filled out to me

[trackles]

No, lacks creativity?, dumbest take ive heard yet.

[Trezoitao38]

I can see the similarities with Dark Souls games, like, areas similar to Duke's or Grand Archives, Depths, Anor Londo etc.

[FireShark]

Compared to other games? not at all. Compared to other Souls games? Not really, but it might seem that way if you don't like open world.

[Kashra Fall]

They sat around a table and were brainstorming ideas and went "You know what this world needs? FOG! Yes, Fog everywhere And, and Tombstones! Yes, big ones, small ones, giant ones! One's on walls, pieces of castles (The same piece.) the same rock EVERYWHERE! Giants? Yes, Giants! Not different weapons though, just a sword! Yes, yes it is all coming together!

That's the feeling I get anyways.

[Original Gengar]

Originally posted by Gvaedyn:

I love Elden Ring, but one advantage that Dark Souls had was that it was a very structured environment. The world was build around several key locations, with all the swamps, catacombs etc being unique in design, featuring multiple routes etc. Every boss was also unique and had it's own personality.

Elden Ring borrows a lot of this, especially with the major dungeons, but the open-world does end up still having "filler" content. The eldtree bosses are all the same, for example, and there's buildings with no real meaning behind them. You wouldn't see this in a Dark Souls game.

The open world is a lot bigger than you think, based on your achievements. There are some really cool and creative places, some more obvious as you progress through the game and some more hidden away.
Bosses get reused more than in previous souls games but that is to be expected in a game of this size. A good number of the more unique bosses in Elden Ring are definitely some of my favorites in the series. However, the souls games have always reused bosses. DS1 had the demons, DS2 had Dragon Rider and Persuer, DS3 had Dragon Armor and Sage.