In Elden Ring, a scripted first boss fight is expected to be lost but some players have managed to win the fight without taking any hits. There have been instances in other games of winning with a hit, but in Elden Ring taking any hit before the player's first checkpoint means restarting from scratch.
The speaker talks about how game testing works and how scripted games are tested by bots to ensure that player experience does not have any frustration, confusion or boredom.
The speaker discusses the enjoyment and simplicity of classic video games like Dragon's Lair, compared to modern procedurally generated games.
Arcanum was an innovative game for its time, featuring choices between magic and technology, procedurally generated worlds, and a story-driven experience with over 40 different endings. Although its graphics were isometric and do not hold up as well today, it was based on the same framework as Interplay's Fallout games and allowed for unique gameplay decisions such as persuading the villain to kill themselves instead of fighting.
The speaker shares an anecdote from his time at Little Creek, where he and Art Tolkien competed in the O course, a physical training exercise, and Curry advised him to not skip every other tire.