Summary

  • Souls games have players who believe using summons diminishes the challenge and enjoyment of the game.
  • Some feel allowing summons changes the core gameplay design, focusing on aggro management over pattern recognition.
  • Anti-summon community thinks FromSoftware should enhance Spirit Ashes mechanics and differentiate rewards for solo versus co-op play.

For as long as Souls games have existed, there have been players who are against summons, cooperative allies that can help you in a pinch. Yes, a lot of this is good old-fashioned memeing, but there are more than a handful of people who are genuinely opposed to the idea.

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For many, using summons is no harm, no foul. Given the genre's notorious difficulty, it's only right that you should use every tool that FromSoftware presents to you. At least, that's how it should be. It's not, though, and we spoke to those in the minority who are vehemently against the practice in FromSoft's latest hit, Elden Ring.

Even Miyazaki uses "Every Scrap Of Aid" when playing Elden Ring.

"Some Would Call Us Elitists"

"Some would call us elitists; I use the word 'purist,'" one Elden Ring player told me as we started our conversation. It was a familiar feeling of self-awareness I got from all of those I spoke to within the "anti-summon" contingent. They knew they were in the minority but still often chose to see summons as a "shortcut" and one that could "make the game less enjoyable."

I spoke to this group with the ambition of getting to the crux of exactly why they felt this way. "It's similar to using cheat codes in the '90s... You still have to expend some effort, but there's no challenge anymore," a player who goes by the name of Ameliorated_Potato told me. While they accepted summons previously, they feel things have changed in Elden Ring. "We've seen a huge influx of people who summon other people, and then they just cower in a corner... It was always about cooperation, never this," they said, before sharing their opinions on the game's two other types of summons — NPCs and Spirit Ashes.

"Summoning NPCs can be a great way to make the game more immersive; we see how the community has reacted to Igon." They feel that because FromSoftware increases the enemy's HP in this instance, it creates a better balance, allowing "the player to make mistakes." They feel very different about the "poorly thought out" Spirit Ashes, however. "The mechanic has virtually no downsides... which usually makes the encounter trivial," they said. "I wish they would expand on it, just not like this. It needs downsides, and it needs player agency," something which you don't get if you just "mindlessly summon," they continued. A_P, as I'll call them from here on out, had some interesting ideas on how to expand Spirit Ashes, which I'll touch on later.

The game has a difficulty curve. When you summon, you skip some of the self-improvement you have to do to match this curve. The more you summon, the wider the difficulty curve gets.

I also spoke to Rubio, a converted, former anti-summon subscriber, who admitted that they used to agree with the "purists" because "yes, summons do make things easier" and that it's not the "intended way" Elden Ring, or any FromSoftware game, is designed to be played. "It takes away from people developing," Jiu__Jitsu__John, whose first Souls game was Elden Ring, said when talking about the game's challenge. A_P echoed this, saying, "The game has a difficulty curve. When you summon, you skip some of the self-improvement you have to do to match this curve. The more you summon, the wider the difficulty curve gets,"

Vaulick expands on this line of thought. How can somebody who uses summons because they "struggle with pattern recognition" expect to get better at the game if they "never practice it?" "You have to play solo because you're specifically allowing yourself to circumnavigate patterns."

Rubio's opinion on things changed when they had the revelation that Elden Ring wasn't "designed to be played either solo or with summons, and that "every boss should be looked at individually." This came in the midst of their own "Let Me Solo Her" run in Dark Souls 3, soloing the notoriously difficult Midir for those in need. "Once I realised these players were not experiencing the boss the way FromSoft wanted, I stopped soloing them for people, I felt like I was taking the experience away from them."

To be able to pull a random person from literally out of thin air feels contrary to the rest of the series' themes.

The anti-summon community seemed overly concerned with how other people learned and adapted when playing the game. They felt their "lack of satisfaction" when defeating a boss using summons is something that everybody should feel and that they should only be experiencing the game in the way that they perceived FromSoft intended.

While many were concerned about the difficulty, Joe had a different perspective on things, one that made him stand out from the rest of the crowd. "The Souls series' whole atmosphere is about lonely exploration; the world's dead, you're all that's left in it", he details. "To be able to pull a random person from literally out of thin air feels contrary to the rest of the series' themes to me, so when I do, it feels like I'm making a concession just so I can get past a specific area."

"It Felt Like A Summoner Bragging Was Diminishing MY Solo Accomplishments"

While I found out the reasons that this group was anti-summon, some of which had a tinge of legitimacy, I wanted to dig into why they were so bothered and so vocal about other people using them.

Rubio told me that, when he was anti-summons, "It felt like a summoner bragging was diminishing MY solo accomplishments," following up with, "I felt the need to shut them down." They continued, "Can you imagine soloing Malenia after 20+ attempts? Now imagine 20+ attempts, and you beat Malenia with the Mimic Tear... It's two completely different experiences."

The crowd also felt the need to protect 'the difficulty of their beloved genre.'

The crowd also felt the need to protect "the difficulty of their beloved genre." There was a misguided line of thinking that, by including more summoning options, things would get "much easier" in the long run. In their opinion, using summons changes the fundamentals of the game, switching it from "having to learn bosses' patterns" to "learning how to trade aggro to cover the other player."

So, What Can FromSoft Do About It To Keep Everybody Happy?

When I asked each anti-summoner about what FromSoftware could do to maintain the peace between both groups, I got wildly different answers.

A_P, who wasn't necessarily against all summons, had some interesting ideas about how to improve Spirit Ashes. "I'd love if FromSoft turned them into something you can play around with... We have stats like Strength and Dexterity; maybe there could be a stat governing these Ashes." They also suggested the idea of "incorporeal" Ashes that "deal damage but don't draw the enemy's attention" and Ashes that were "purely supportive."

Jiu__Jitsu__John proposed different rewards for people who beat bosses "'Correctly' or how the game should be played." Beating a boss with summons would reward you with a "Sub-par weapon, talisman or Ash of War", whereas beating them solo, and you would get the "appropriate treasure."

Rubio's changed way of thinking meant that, on the other hand, they didn't think things should change. "A game made for everyone is a game made for no one," they philosophically mused. "Miyazaki is a visionary... I think if they want to keep being successful, they should stick to what they know."

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Elden Ring

RPG Action Systems 10.0/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 95/100 Critics Rec: 98% Released February 25, 2022 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Developer(s) From Software Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software Engine Proprietary
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With worldbuilding from Game of Thrones scribe George R.R. Martin and developed by FromSoftware, Elden Ring is a masterpiece in what has become known as the 'Soulslike' genre of action role-playing games.

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