From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Scyrito]

Late to the party on this one, but finally bit the bullet on ER during the Steam sale since it was -40% (coming in at 35 euro-shekels). Was a mixed bag to say the least, for context I'm one of those fags who loves the first Dark Souls and thinks DS3 was a considerable decline due to going more twitchy action route with constant rolling.

ER is like the Superbowl of roll-fests, everything is hyper-aggressive and has at minimum a 5 attack chain that you HAVE to dodge. Gets particularly tiresome at the late-game boss rush Malekith -> Godfrey/Horah Louis Theroux -> Radagon/Elden Beast. By the end I was just ready for the game to be over. Bosses having a devastating combo is totally fine, but when everyone has 3-4 different ones with "fuck you" delays and optional combo-extenders it loses its luster fast. Back in the olden days Manus was a great fight and his ape-shit combo is "fondly" remembered, that fight wouldn't have been better or more memorable if he had 3 other combos with some roll-catching delays (granted he has ONE delay but it's on a single downward smash, not at the end of a 7-hitter) and other fuckery.

On the other hand, I did have great fun exploring the Legacy dungeons. Fromsoft can still design great levels. Personal favorites were Stormveil Castle, Raya Lucaria and especially The Royal Capital.

The open world was whatever, didnt really add much to the game. Catacombs and mines were just copy-pastes made to house upgrade materials. Castles and Forts were pretty good, shorter spurts of a level are a decent addition to Fromsoft formula.

There seems to be a shitload of build variety, I just stuck with my Glintblade Phalanx ash (does good poise damage) on Knight's Greatsword. Think I'll wait a few weeks and start another playthrough to do more experimenting. Though I will probably just consider the game finished at the end of the Royal Capital to skip the low-effort endgame.

Though looking at some ER shit on the tubes and whatnot, it seems the "meta" is powerstancing Ultra Greatswords and spamming jump attacks. Which looks fucking retarded.

Overall a good game tbh, could have been great with some restraint from the devs and cutting some of the fat.

 

[gabel]

ER is like the Superbowl of roll-fests, everything is hyper-aggressive and has at minimum a 5 attack chain that you HAVE to dodge.

Play with an upgraded greatshield.

 

[Scyrito]

ER is like the Superbowl of roll-fests, everything is hyper-aggressive and has at minimum a 5 attack chain that you HAVE to dodge.

Play with an upgraded greatshield.

Yeah, think I'll check what shields are like in ER. Might be a fun change of pace from my standard Souls runs where it's just rolling. Try out them fancy new Guard Counters while I'm at it.

 

[gabel]

Greatshields are.. uhm... fantastic. You still have to roll every now and then, and watch your stamina, but they block almost everything.
They're easy mode tbh, especially if you upgrade them and use the Greatshield Talisman and Barricade Shield Ash of War.

 

[Scyrito]

Actually had a greatshield build idea, Greatshield Soldier Ashes use these lads (if you haven't tried the ash out, it's 5 bros wearing nothing but helmets and two-handing greatshields) and dress accordingly. Just bully low poise bosses with the bros.

 

[gabel]

That sounds cheesy af, lol.
I don't like the Ashes mechanic, I only ever used the Wolf and Mimic Tear ashes for bosses I couldn't be arsed to fight for the tenth time or whose bullshit got on my nerves, like the Godskin Duo for example.

 

[Scyrito]

I refrained from Ashes for a good chunk of the game, but the endgame bullshit just kinda broke me I guess. For Godskin Duo I summoned the NPC and let him tank one while I fought whichever one wanted to come for me. Terrible fight to be honest, O&S it was not. Chungus's roll attack, shit hitting through pillars even in p1 and both comboing at the same time with 360 degrees was just so tiresome.

Mimic Tear seems busted as fuck, didn't use it myself but seems like it's a very popular flavour of cheese.

Apparently you can break Malenia with those Greatshield boys, since their 2handed shield bash does decent poise damage and there's 5 of them they can stagger her to death if you position them so they surround her in a corner. Sounds like a quality gangbang, though I refrained from it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Actually had a greatshield build idea, Greatshield Soldier Ashes use these lads (if you haven't tried the ash out, it's 5 bros wearing nothing but helmets and two-handing greatshields) and dress accordingly. Just bully low poise bosses with the bros.

Sadly those guys die too easy to magic damage or anything that can past their guard and hit them from the flanks. But if you corner some enemy with short range and only physical attacks, it is hilarous to watch them strugle :D

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Gets particularly tiresome at the late-game boss rush Malekith -> Godfrey/Horah Louis Theroux -> Radagon/Elden Beast.

Malekith is so far beyond acceptable it's a joke and he's a phase 2 making him even more of a piss take. Easily my least liked boss in a souls game. He's not as bad if you get him out of his arena in a randomizer and he loses his ability to hang on walls and shoot shit at you after he broke the camera jumping away.

There seems to be a shitload of build variety, I just stuck with my Glintblade Phalanx ash (does good poise damage) on Knight's Greatsword. Think I'll wait a few weeks and start another playthrough to do more experimenting. Though I will probably just consider the game finished at the end of the Royal Capital to skip the low-effort endgame.

Though looking at some ER shit on the tubes and whatnot, it seems the "meta" is powerstancing Ultra Greatswords and spamming jump attacks. Which looks fucking retarded.

Most 2nd play throughs of Elden ring don't get past Limgrave. There's nothing new to explore and the empty open world makes you bored really fast. You know you need the flask upgrades but have no desire to ride around getting them.

Yeah, think I'll check what shields are like in ER. Might be a fun change of pace from my standard Souls runs where it's just rolling. Try out them fancy new Guard Counters while I'm at it.

Guard counter is super fun against normal enemies but not most bosses since they still chunk your stamina if you're not a fat fuck going full tank which is boring as fuck.

I refrained from Ashes for a good chunk of the game, but the endgame bullshit just kinda broke me I guess. For Godskin Duo I summoned the NPC and let him tank one while I fought whichever one wanted to come for me. Terrible fight to be honest, O&S it was not. Chungus's roll attack, shit hitting through pillars even in p1 and both comboing at the same time with 360 degrees was just so tiresome.

Mimic Tear seems busted as fuck, didn't use it myself but seems like it's a very popular flavour of cheese.

Apparently you can break Malenia with those Greatshield boys, since their 2handed shield bash does decent poise damage and there's 5 of them they can stagger her to death if you position them so they surround her in a corner. Sounds like a quality gangbang, though I refrained from it.

The game is balanced around summoning ashes. The Duo have high resistances and the fat fucks roll becomes a problem when you can't really dodge it a lot of the time. They usually gate keep specific play styles while others mow them down no problem.

Shield midgets as I called them are very very bad against malenia. They're one of the best summons in the rest of the game but she will absolutely fuck them up and heal up any damage you or they do to her. You want the kapra summon (rolo?) or mimic tear. If you're summoning against her you need a fast aggressive summon to help keep her staggered. Anything else will heal her up constantly and become a problem for you not her.

 

[Scyrito]

Actually had a greatshield build idea, Greatshield Soldier Ashes use these lads (if you haven't tried the ash out, it's 5 bros wearing nothing but helmets and two-handing greatshields) and dress accordingly. Just bully low poise bosses with the bros.

Sadly those guys die too easy to magic damage or anything that can past their guard and hit them from the flanks. But if you corner some enemy with short range and only physical attacks, it is hilarous to watch them strugle :D

Aye, magic damage fucks them boys up. I need to look into magic/consumables to maybe give them more survivability (or do support magic/items even work on spirit ashes?), might be a fun playstyle; act like a ringleader of sorts "Get them, boyos!" while twirling a moustache.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Extra points for using whips and aristocrat hat.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Actually had a greatshield build idea, Greatshield Soldier Ashes use these lads (if you haven't tried the ash out, it's 5 bros wearing nothing but helmets and two-handing greatshields) and dress accordingly. Just bully low poise bosses with the bros.

Sadly those guys die too easy to magic damage or anything that can past their guard and hit them from the flanks. But if you corner some enemy with short range and only physical attacks, it is hilarous to watch them strugle :D

Aye, magic damage fucks them boys up. I need to look into magic/consumables to maybe give them more survivability (or do support magic/items even work on spirit ashes?), might be a fun playstyle; act like a ringleader of sorts "Get them, boyos!" while twirling a moustache.

You can buff them using the standards and miracles. I've seen challenge runs do it pokemon style. Shield guys are really bad against AOEs too. But most stuff they do well against. The other good summon is the headless ghost soldier squad. They phase in and out of reality to dodge attacks and a squad of guys wailing on someone usually does good damage. I used them against bosses like beast clergy since they spread out and attack decently often. I think 2 have big shields as well but they lack the taunt the greatshields have so don't grab aggro the same way. Still great when you want a group but shield guys are getting blasted with AOEs

 

[Damned Registrations]

The game is balanced around summoning ashes.

It really isn't. Most boss fights will last a total of 30 seconds or less if you use summons, you won't even see half the moveset of a given boss. It's infuriating that there's no middle ground between spanking the boss without seeing what it can do, and getting killed by 8 flavours on basically OHKO bullshit with arbitrary roll-baiting animations.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

The game is balanced around summoning ashes.

It really isn't. Most boss fights will last a total of 30 seconds or less if you use summons, you won't even see half the moveset of a given boss. It's infuriating that there's no middle ground between spanking the boss without seeing what it can do, and getting killed by 8 flavours on basically OHKO bullshit with arbitrary roll-baiting animations.

You're clearly playing broken builds because most bosses don't die that easy unless you and mimic tear are stacked. Which was something I accidentally experienced once.

 

[Ezekiel]

Will take getting used to after playing all the previous FromSoftware games the normal way. Only wish I could strafe and run backwards without a target, the way of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid 3 and so many other games that had it standard before Souls.

 

[Ezekiel]

Annoyed that they let you assign to whatever you want but didn't think to add a hold option for lock-on.

 

[Ezekiel]

Reset them. The Zelda control scheme just makes more sense, but without lockless strafing here and no ability to hold lock-on, it's pointless.

 

[Nathrandir]

Annoyed that they let you assign to whatever you want but didn't think to add a hold option for lock-on.

I'd settle for "reset camera" and "lock on" not being forced onto the same input.

Reseting the camera away from the enemy I'm fleeing because the lock on isn't working for some reason is the jankiest jank to ever jank.

 

[cvv]

Frenzied Flame Proscription IRL.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Well then, it should prove no challenge for a Tarnished. Only that he should be careful about the whole finger business down there. No, I will not elaborate.

 

[Ezekiel]

Demonstrated Elden Ring for my brother. I explained how target lock is R3 and before I even explained how the L1 of Zelda and other games before Souls made more sense and how it sucks that you can't strafe without lock-on and how clunky being locked into the alternate movement by a toggle feels, he said, "That's fucking stupid," going on to say that they're not good buttons for primary actions and that they get damaged over time when pressed down at angles. Was gratifying to hear that from an outsider to the FromSoftware games.

He also complained about the inability to turn off the dead zone and that the stick is basically digital with only two speeds: walk and slow run. The dead zone comment I don't understand, but after he explained how games have a range of movement speed with just the stick and pointed to Zelda as an example I realized he was right about that too. Nintendo has been doing it since the N64! I counted four different speeds in Tears of the Kingdom. But every Souls game just has walk and slow run, not counting Circle/B.



Why do RPGs have to be so mechanical?

 

[cvv]

There's much more headscratching shit in souls than that.

Just another proof the quality of a game doesn't depend on how many flaws it has. Like, at all. Flaws are completely irrelevant when judging whether a game is good or not. It's the greatness of the good parts that matter.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

Demonstrated Elden Ring for my brother. I explained how target lock is R3 and before I even explained how the L1 of Zelda and other games before Souls made me sense and how it sucks that you can't strafe without lock-on and how clunky being locked into the alternate movement by a toggle feels, he said, "That's fucking stupid," going on to say that they're not good buttons for primary actions and that they get damaged over time when pressed down at angles. Was gratifying to hear that from an outsider to the FromSoftware games.

He also complained about the inability to turn off the dead zone and that the stick is basically digital with only two speeds: walk and slow run. The dead zone comment I don't understand, but after he explained how games have a range of movement speed with just the stick and pointed to Zelda as an example I realized he was right about that too. Nintendo has been doing it since the N64! I counted four different speeds in Tears of the Kingdom. But every Souls game just has walk and slow run, not counting Circle/B.

Why do RPGs have to be so mechanical?

Did everyone clap afterwards? Your bother just happened to turn up and agree with everything you've been posting about for days, even using the same game you're obsessed with comparing From games to? For all their flaws at least From games are fun, ToTK took BOTW and decided you were having too much fun exploring the world so here's a pile of wood with no way to power what you make unless you do some serious grinding and that's your new mechanic. And also you can teleport through roof tops now because... well fuck level design, just teleport through solid rock.

Just another proof the quality of a game doesn't depend on how many flaws it has. Like, at all. Flaws are completely irrelevant when judging whether a game is good or not. It's the greatness of the good parts that matter.

From games have always been deeply flawed. What they did well was a sense of adventure in a classic 80's western sci fi style. They really did tap into the Livingstone/Jackson era or choose your own adventures and the games even looked like Fighting fantasy style covers. It's pretty sad that they have lost that over time and the flaws start to mount up because they leaned too much into anime bullshit and stopped being grounded. It's not just how great the good parts are, it's the overall package and From's flaws are generally not game breaking and their sense of exploration, level design and uniqueness of biomes (ignore the 3 swamps in every game please!) generally makes them worth putting up with the bullshit. It always saddens me that game devs saw rolling and high damage numbers to be the thing to take away from Souls games instead of the sense of exploration and achievement they do so well.

 

[Ezekiel]

Did everyone clap afterwards?

It was literally like this.



And no, after 14 years playing Souls games and gradual degradation of several factors, the positives don't make up for the negatives anymore.

 

[JarlFrank]

Will take getting used to after playing all the previous FromSoftware games the normal way. Only wish I could strafe and run backwards without a target, the way of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid 3 and so many other games that had it standard before Souls.

Consider the following: