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

[Lyric Suite]

Martin doesn't need PR and I'd say FromSoft really doesn't either.

its still a good boost if you can get the fanbase of martin to buy your game if they otherwise wouldn because they arent into games.

The fan base of Martin, you mean people who watch the show? Not sure how those kind of folks are going to react to a Souls-like game.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

Yeah, it only makes sense if they want to attract a significantly larger audience, make the game more story-driven/cinematic. That's also one of the main reasons why I don't have much hope for this.

 

[Black Angel]

It's gonna be another Souls game (which is fine, i like them)

I hope not. I've had my fill of Souls from Soulsborne alone. Never touched any of the Soulslike because of that.

Sekiro was such a breath of fresh air, I'd love them to further improve on that while also, as they promised themselves, put more emphasize on role-playing mechanics instead of action combat gameplay.

 

[v1rus]

Am i the only one who enjoyed the more streamlined design direction in Sekiro, and was hoping for another one of those?

If this game smells of sekiro2 I'm going to skip it for sure.

Whyy?

I really liked it. Thought that that principle of design was more in line with the overall gameplay of the games.

Not that hyper-customizable games are inherently inferior to that metroidvaniasque/zelda variety of streamlining, to the contrary, just that this style fitted better imho.

 

[NJClaw]

Souls game with characters that may finally stop sounding like they were written by somebody who quite clearly wasn't a native English speaker.

How so?
The few dialogue there is never seemed off-putting or badly worded.

Yes, they are.

DS2 is actually worse than DS1 in that respect, but you can quite clearly tell the game was written in Japanese first and then awkwardly rendered in English. That's why sometimes it's hard to tell WTF a character is hinting at, not because the writing is obscure or subtle (it's actually the opposite of subtle, sometimes comically so, like the guy in the undead asylum in DS1 whose family "saying" happens to be exactly what you, the player, is supposed to be doing as soon as he drops dead, i mean, seriously), it's just awkwardly written.

Now of course in a game like this it doesn't really matter, but that begs the question of what the point is of bringing in someone like GRRM. Souls is like Diablo precisely in that writing is kept to a minimum in order for the "story" to get out of the way of the action and you gonna get a novelist for this? Why?

Except that, while nobody cares about Diablo "story", half the people on the internet drool over DS' lore and religiously revere it as the coming of Christ in the world of videogames. DS' lore and world are as much selling points for the game as its supposed difficulty.

 

[Lyric Suite]

That's because weaboos are retards who mistake mood for meaning.

I'm also pretty sure there's tons of Blizztard fans out there who obsess over the shitty Dioblo lore but you know, they are Blizztards, who cares.

I would also argue Diablo 1 had better tone than Dark Souls, bite me. Diablo 2 started out decent but then fell apart in the middle of it with all that angel shit. Dark Souls is actually mostly stupid but it has some killer art direction that saves it. Like in Anor Londo, which has a splendid Gothic atmosphere that's ruined by the stupid animu tits lady at the end of it.

 

[Black Angel]

Except that, while nobody cares about Diablo "story", half the people on the internet drool over DS' lore and religiously revere it as the coming of Christ in the world of videogames. DS' lore and world are as much selling points for the game as its supposed difficulty.

While I don't necessarily disagree with what you said (Vaati is overrated to me, imho), it wasn't DS lore and world that was the selling point, but the way they presented it and how interwoven it is into the gameplay. In Dark Souls, lore, story, and its overall narrative aspects is used to support gameplay, and it was beautiful. But yeah, half the people on the internet didn't really understood that so they discussed it like any normie storyfags would.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

DS' lore and world are as much selling points for the game as its supposed difficulty.

Selling point is strong language. People who like story don't play hard games. I enjoy the minimalist story style of DS and seeing how the puzzle pieces fit. But I have never and will never purchase ANY game just for 'lore.' That's Story Mode faggotry.

 

[Jaedar]

Am i the only one who enjoyed the more streamlined design direction in Sekiro, and was hoping for another one of those?

If this game smells of sekiro2 I'm going to skip it for sure.

Whyy?

I really liked it. Thought that that principle of design was more in line with the overall gameplay of the games.

Not that hyper-customizable games are inherently inferior to that metroidvaniasque/zelda variety of streamlining, to the contrary, just that this style fitted better imho.

Sekiro is an action game with heavy focus on quick and precise timing for parries. The precise timing for parries has always been my least favorite soulsborne mechanic. I found the setting and story fairly bland, and none of the levels very interesting either.

I like being able to use different weapons, build different characters and focusing on mastering the systems rather than quick reflexes. Sekiro isn't a bad game, it's just focusing on everything I don't want.

Except that, while nobody cares about Diablo "story", half the people on the internet drool over DS' lore and religiously revere it as the coming of Christ in the world of videogames. DS' lore and world are as much selling points for the game as its supposed difficulty.

While I don't necessarily disagree with what you said (Vaati is overrated to me, imho), it wasn't DS lore and world that was the selling point, but the way they presented it and how interwoven it is into the gameplay. In Dark Souls, lore, story, and its overall narrative aspects is used to support gameplay, and it was beautiful. But yeah, half the people on the internet didn't really understood that so they discussed it like any normie storyfags would.

This is very true, unfortunately it was a point the sequels mostly or entirely missed. Bloodborne mostly got it though.

 

[NJClaw]

Except that, while nobody cares about Diablo "story", half the people on the internet drool over DS' lore and religiously revere it as the coming of Christ in the world of videogames. DS' lore and world are as much selling points for the game as its supposed difficulty.

While I don't necessarily disagree with what you said (Vaati is overrated to me, imho), it wasn't DS lore and world that was the selling point, but the way they presented it and how interwoven it is into the gameplay. In Dark Souls, lore, story, and its overall narrative aspects is used to support gameplay, and it was beautiful. But yeah, half the people on the internet didn't really understood that so they discussed it like any normie storyfags would.

"Overrated" is a euphemism, Vaati rapidly goes from "mildly interesting" to "complete buffoon" and I think he knows it. But, hey, it's his job.

I'm not saying that lore is the selling point for me, I'm just stating the unequivocal fact that the internet got utterly obsessed with it, so it's understandable From wants to push it as much as it can (with the inclusion of Martin). I know just as many people who bought DS 1, 2 and 3 because their lore and atmosphere was being praised everywhere as people who did it because of their gameplay. Google gives 27,500,000 results for "Dark Souls lore", 14,400,000 for "Dark Souls difficulty" and 17,800,000 for "Dark Souls gameplay".

 

[Silverfish]

It's fucking retarded. The Souls games do NOT have great writing, they are not even suited for any kind of heavy narrative what the fuck is GRRM going to do?

GRRM's needed someone to clamp down on his impulses for years. From couldn't be a better match.

 

[Multidirectional]

Sekiro is an action game with heavy focus on quick and precise timing for parries. The precise timing for parries has always been my least favorite soulsborne mechanic.

Timings for deflects are way more forgiving than Dark Souls parries though. Dark Souls wins over Sekiro when it comes to atmosphere and exploration but combat in Sekiro is way more fun. Not that I would say Sekiro is particularly bad at atmosphere, I would still take it over what I saw in Nioh any time. Now that seemed bland as fuck, enough for me to get bored few hours in, despite combat being enjoyable. But it seems to have lots of build/loot sperging so maybe you'd enjoy it.

 

[Jaedar]

Sekiro is an action game with heavy focus on quick and precise timing for parries. The precise timing for parries has always been my least favorite soulsborne mechanic.

Timings for deflects are way more forgiving than Dark Souls parries though.

Maybe? But you also need way more of them to win a fight, especially against bosses. I found Sekiro much harder than any other from game I played, and I didn't even finish it.

The only from game where I can somewhat reliably pull off parries is bloodborne.

 

[Multidirectional]

I found Sekiro much harder than any other from game I played, and I didn't even finish it.

Pretty sure most people found it much harder at first, me too. As evidenced by epic rage in the thread soon after release. Now I find it to be more forgiving than Souls games. It's just that it was designed to punish you if you play it like Souls. It was a great "git gud" experience that was actually comparable to my first run of DS1 in many ways and I love it for it.

 

[toro]

I found Sekiro much harder than any other from game I played, and I didn't even finish it.

Pretty suremost people found it much harder at first, me too. As evidenced by epic rage in the thread soon after release. Now I find it to be more forgiving than Souls games. It's just that it was designed to punish you if you play it like Souls. It was a great "git gud" experience that was actually comparable to my first run of DS1 in many ways and I love it for it.

Yeah. I was one of those. I even used CE to give me double damage on the 1st run ... but then I learned to parry and I won Sekiro

 

[Multidirectional]

Yeah. I was one of those. I even used CE to give me double damage on the 1st run ... but then I learned to parry and I won Sekiro

I added 3 Attack Power points with trainer after I found out Genichiro had a third phase and got butthurt. Not that it really changed much, still had to git gud. Having more damage doesn't mean shit when you can't even land a fucking hit on a boss.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I found the setting a

Sekiro setting is one of its best points.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I hope he does, for the reasons i have stated.

 

[Black Angel]

"Overrated" is a euphemism, Vaati rapidly goes from "mildly interesting" to "complete buffoon" and I think he knows it. But, hey, it's his job.

I know, I know. I wanted to avoid using the word but was unable to for the lack of better terms. There was also the matter with plagiarism a few years back. Unfortunately his accuser backed off too soon due to his fanboys, even though he presented quite strong case.

I'm not saying that lore is the selling point for me, I'm just stating the unequivocal fact that the internet got utterly obsessed with it, so it's understandable From wants to push it as much as it can (with the inclusion of Martin). I know just as many people who bought DS 1, 2 and 3 because their lore and atmosphere was being praised everywhere as people who did it because of their gameplay. Google gives 27,500,000 results for "Dark Souls lore", 14,400,000 for "Dark Souls difficulty" and 17,800,000 for "Dark Souls gameplay".

Yeah, you got a point there.

Sekiro is an action game with heavy focus on quick and precise timing for parries. The precise timing for parries has always been my least favorite soulsborne mechanic.

I like being able to use different weapons, build different characters and focusing on mastering the systems rather than quick reflexes. Sekiro isn't a bad game, it's just focusing on everything I don't want.

This is a more honest assessment of the game from someone who preferred the more RPG-focused Soulsborne, instead of the rhythmic dance meme. However, the game is actually playable with minimal use of deflection. Instead of different weapons and different builds, Sekiro present its options in form of prosthetic tools, combat arts, latent skills, and consumables. And I think mastering the systems isn't mutually exclusive with quick reflexes; after all, Multidirectional and toro showed they managed to master the system after a time. During NG, the game would unlock all the training options with Hanbei, and I find training with him from time to time helps me shake off a bit of the rust especially after dying to a boss too many times. Training with him felt like training with Captain Bernard from Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Even without using much of the options the game gives you, you can still play it with step-dodging just like the Soulsborne games, and on top of that it throws the perilous attacks to keep you on your toes so the moment-to-moment combat don't get too monotone. Enemies like Lady Butterfly, and Owl to an extent, was meant to show that. I find it nigh impossible to do Lady Butterfly parry-only, especially her second phase where she would occasionally retreat and summon her illusions. What's more annoying is that it seemed like she got infinite amount of illusions, while we only had limited amount of snap seeds.
This guy here showed how to parry-only Lady Butterfly

And even on the second phase he had to resort to deadlock her to a corner with 'attack-attack-parry' cheese, with occasional charged shuriken to prevent here from escaping, because of how nigh-impossible it is to parry-only her without use of snap seeds.

Sekiro is an action game with heavy focus on quick and precise timing for parries. The precise timing for parries has always been my least favorite soulsborne mechanic.

Timings for deflects are way more forgiving than Dark Souls parries though.

Maybe? But you also need way more of them to win a fight, especially against bosses.

Think of it from this perspective, how many bosses in Soulsborne where you can fight through the whole thing with parries, and make it *exciting*? That's right, not that much. And to be honest, after Sekiro, I found that dodge-rolling or shield-turtling against few attacks only to poke in an attack or two or magic/pyromancy/miracles/hexes too monotonic for my taste. So, Sekiro's shifting the gameplay focus to parrying really separates it from Soulsborne.
Even then they still designed it so that focusing on your target's HP (Vitality, as the game put it), rather than their posture bar, is still a valid way to play. You can train with Hanbei on how to focus on an enemy's vitality, and first time going against Lady Butterfly the game would notify you that focusing on her vitality by using the step-dodging->counter attack is the most valid way to deal with enemies like her. Even then, step-dodging->counter attack is still a valid way to deal with most, if not all enemies, with the exception of perilous sweep attacks which can only be dealt with by jump-stomping or dodging *away* from the enemy.

The only from game where I can somewhat reliably pull off parries is bloodborne.

Heh, I personally found parrying mechanic in Bloodborne iffy at times. Way too many times I experienced pulling off the parries, but STILL the enemy's attack goes through.

This is very true, unfortunately it was a point the sequels mostly or entirely missed. Bloodborne mostly got it though.

Yeah, which is why I don't get the notion that Miyazaki can only do one game only after Demon's, Dark 1, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. And with Miyazaki's involvement in Dark Souls 3, it just proves that From Software is at their best when creating an entirely new game with fresh concept and additional gameplay features to separate it from their previous works. I know credits of a good game goes not just to one guy, and I'm not familiar with From Software pre-Demon's Souls, but no one should deny after he entered the picture, From Software has been consistently producing nothing but quality products worth every bit of their customer's money.

It's fucking retarded. The Souls games do NOT have great writing, they are not even suited for any kind of heavy narrative what the fuck is GRRM going to do?

GRRM's needed someone to clamp down on his impulses for years. From couldn't be a better match.

Ha, didn't see it that way. If this means the fatfuck would finally find what he needs to finish and release Winds of Winter, then so be it. Let the Light of Asia™ shows him how it's done.

 

[Multidirectional]

Haha, snap seeds are for noobs. I never use them anymore on either Lady Butterfly or Illusory Corrupted Monk. What I do with those illusions is I kill a few of them (they always drop a Spirit Emblem), usually with Whirlwind then GTFO and hide behind one of those wooden supports or just plain run around in circles along the edges of room when they are about to be turned into projectiles, then get back to fighting the old hag again. Also, parrying is my preferred way to beat her, with occasional charged shuriken throw if she gets up in the air.

I remember how much I raged at this fight on first run, took me fucking days to get through it. Now it always feels like it's over too soon.

 

[Black Angel]

Haha, snap seeds are for noobs. I never use them anymore on either Lady Butterfly or Illusory Corrupted Monk. What I do with those illusions is I kill a few of them (they always drop a Spirit Emblem), usually with Whirlwind then GTFO and hide behind one of those wooden supports or just plain run around in circles along the edges of room when they are about to be turned into projectiles, then get back to fighting the old hag again. Also, parrying is my preferred way to beat her, with occasional charged shuriken throw if she gets up in the air.

I remember how much I raged at this fight on first run, took me fucking days to get through it. Now it always feels like it's over too soon.

Well, using snap seeds still counts as killing them because I remember getting spirit emblems with a single well placed snap seeds right in the middle of the arena to hit all the illusions. And yeah, during the times I used up my snap seeds and she summoned the illusions, I just run around in circle like a coward.
I have a hard time comprehending her moves because of the mix of her small kunai and kicking-style combat. Hence why I can't parry her consistently and need to step-dodge every time, while other enemies usually wield big, long, and winded weapons so I have easier time reading their moves.

 

[Wunderbar]

Using limbs as currency sounds too weird to be made up.

sounds like The Surge

 

[Multidirectional]

Dark Limbs.

 

[Lyric Suite]

They should add limbs memory since that's a thing that actually exists.

 

[StaticSpine]

Elden Ring Rumor Might Spell Bad News for FromSoftware Fans

The former Game Informer senior editor, Imran Khan, announced that fans of From Software would have "a lot of reasons to be happy in the next two years." A fellow Twitter user responded to the given time frame and Khan offered more clarity although it may not please fans. The reporter replied, "Things that people think are hitting 2020 might not hit 2020 or even be shown in 2020." It is unclear what title this is specifically referring to, but given that the Bloodborne PC port will likely be significantly less work than a new IP, many fans believe that they will have to wait a little while longer for more information about the upcoming Elden Ring.

Elden Ring Might Be Facing A Trademark Issue

The reason for Bandai Namco's passive marketing for Elden Ring is now being linked to a trademark issue. As per a report on Respawn First, Bandai Namco was unable to obtain a trademark for Elden Ring as the initial application was rejected "for either a trademark dispute or some error in the application". Bandai Namco filed the application again and this time around the trademark was published on the 14th April as per the USPTO website. Usually, trademarks have a 30-day time period after filing during which any party can file a complaint against the trademark. That period is now over so the trademarking procedure is complete.