Monster Hunter 4 Unlimited (hereafter, "MH4U") was a video game released exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS circa 2013. Elden Ring was a video game released for multiple platforms in circa 2022 to critical acclaim. 

If MH4U and Elden Ring were considered to be siblings nine years apart in a small family, how might the experiences of MH4U have influenced the growth and development of Elden Ring?

Young parents face many challenges. Finances, education, and home expenses often compete with the needs of a growing family. Within the context provided, MH4U reflects the first child of a young couple who must make several investments, including clothing, baby essentials, and furniture.  This may be conveyed under the limited system resources available to MH4U under the 3DS console: 128MB of RAM. Additionally, one or both parents may work full time, leaving limited time to work with and grow the child. As the child, MH4U,  enters age 9, they should be entering 4th or 5th grade and have developed the cognitive and functional skills to support their parents. Additionally, the parents will have likely developed further in their careers and caretaking abilities that ensure the stability and growth of a small family. In this example, Elden Ring represents the second child, which arrives nine years after MH4U. In this context, as a result of the growth of experience and income of the family, and assuming the family equates to a Playstation 4, the family now enjoys 8GB of RAM.

As described in the preceding paragraph, the familial environment that Elden Ring emerges from is vastly different than that of MH4U. However, there are additional benefits beyond the system limitations provided. These benefits are conveyed through the emotional and physical support provided through familial bonds, in this case, that of an older and younger sibling. Upon the arrival of Elden Ring, MH4U is eager to help their parents with caretaking tasks which may include keeping the child company, completing small jobs and errands, and establishing familial bonds with their sibling. The parents will be able to draw upon the experience of raising MH4U and apply those lessons to their newest member of the family. It’s important that the parents continue to create small jobs for MH4U that help to convey positive responses to younger family members: caretaking, guidance, and companionship. 

As MH4U graduates from their teens and enters early adulthood, it’s critical that they stay actively involved in the life of their sibling. By age 18, MH4U will now be nine years older than Elden Ring, which as it happens, is the same age when MH4U became an older sibling. Under this lens, MH4U carries greater social responsibility than they did when they were the same age as Elden Ring. MH4U may also begin to contemplate leaving the family for continuing education. While it’s common for individuals to depart the family for secondary education after age 18, it’s critically important that MH4U continue to maintain constant contact with its younger sibling to provide guidance and advice and convey lessons learned from its formative experiences.  

In this way, Elden Ring has a fast track to develop. MH4U is able to provide guidance equatable to best practices, experiences, and trial and error. Additionally, MH4U development during constrained resources encourages Elden Ring to do “more with less” and ensures a fastidious approach towards the allocation of resources. By the time Elden Ring approaches age 18, they enjoy the combined experiences of their parents and their older sibling which helps to increase their likelihood of success and families are stronger when they provide guidance and stability to their children.

In summary, the success of Elden Ring was no accident. The investments of the parents into the older sibling, MH4U, however lacking, provided a baseline level by which MH4U could invest in its younger sibling Elden Ring. Through this chain of investments, the family finds a greater chance of success. Under the lens of the original context, there would not be a critically reception to Elden Ring had not the parents made baseline investment and support to MH4U during the formative years of the family.