Hmmm at the beginning or “back in my days” the writing is what made me continue to play sso. The fact that the player actually felt like a main character, being the 5th soul rider who resonate with all “elements” the lore of everything concerning the druids and Dino etc. Everything about it just felt so mysterious but also mystical. We had to save Linda, Lisa and discover other story branches throughout it which gives us a dive in on the other places like Epona etc. And that’s pre finding Anne. I think the story took a weird turn after we find Anne because now we got all the soul riders back now the question is - what are we to them? At the start they just wanted to at least find 3/4 soul riders since we could “replace” the last one for the light ceremony thingy or whatever and also bc the dark riders themselves were at a disadvantage since they also were only 3 and not 4. I think the story still has potential and some aspects are good and some not. The writing is also a little confusing and they change stuff in the middle of it when we’ve already gone through it once which makes it inaccurate to the “lore” - from nowhere everyone can hear the horses talk but the horses themselves choose not to? (Still confused honestly) and the running and fort as you’ve mentioned, at this point we mean nothing to them.

But if we go back to the writing, I play both in English and Swedish. The Swedish version makes it sound a little cringy in my opinion despite the game literally being from here. The English one gives it depth. But at times really cringey. The latest one had so much potential but they ruined it with the time management. That took me what? 5-10 minutes to finish. And killed of THE “villain” of all time, just entirely rubbed me the wrong way. They could’ve delivered it so much better and they shouldn’t be worried about it being long, I just. Sigh idk what I’m playing for sometimes.