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Members of Lords of the Fallen 2 developer CI Games make a few comparisons to Elden Ring and FromSoftware's other games in a new developer update focusing on combat in their upcoming Soulslike sequel, with special attention paid to build diversity and how those builds come together.
"With a FromSoft game, and I'm not slamming FromSoftware, once I find my build, I'm in," says game director James Lowe. "That's probably the build I'm going to use for the entire experience, and I'm not going to really mess around with it.
"Whereas in Lords of the Fallen," he continues, "I have a few more drives to experiment a bit more and go, 'Do you know what? I want to try dual-wielding. How does that feel?' And it's not that I don't feel attached to my build, but I feel confident enough as a player to go, 'I'm going to mess around with this for a few hours.' Or, 'You know what, I've really struggled against this encounter, let me try and play with something else and see how it goes.'
"And I think Lords of the Fallen respects you for doing that as well. And it also rewards you for having those different play styles."
Even as a dev obviously talking favorably about his own game, Lowe makes a fair point. To unpack it, while there is a great range of builds available, the ability to respec your character is often backloaded or limited in FromSoftware games, and in the opening portions of games like Elden Ring, the heart of your build is often just the one best weapon or spell you've found so far.
Once you've upgraded that weapon and invested in the stats for it, you're probably going to use it, or things just like it, for a good while. Elden Ring is the broadest example; Bloodborne is more linear in its buildcrafting, and Sekiro even more so as an action game built around your one main katana.
Lords of the Fallen is a little more dynamic, and may feel more forgiving if you want to dip in and out of different styles regularly, though it's not on the level of something like Nioh 3. That's largely thanks to a combination of lighter stat requirements on weapons and spells, a respec system that I remember being pretty available, and a less costly weapon upgrade path than Elden Ring's. (The Bell Bearings in Elden Ring do help with weapon upgrade materials and they give you a floor for weapon experiments, but the bells are also pretty backloaded, and frankly there's a reason Somber-type weapons are so popular early-game.)
I'm reminded of Obsidian's stance on respeccing in The Outer Worlds 2 – rather, why you can't. I would put this decision on the scales opposite Baldur's Gate 3, where you can adjust your stats and classes all the time. Neither approach – for Soulslikes or more traditional RPGs – is strictly wrong. It really comes down to developers prioritizing consequence, permanence, and deliberation on your journey, or flexibility and moment-to-moment variety. Refining my largely unchanged spell swordsman in Elden Ring was fun, but I also enjoyed figuring out what kind of Crusader I wanted to stick to in Lords of the Fallen.
