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

[cvv]

After exploring Limgrave, Mistwood, Caelid and Weeping Peninsula I finally felt properly levelled for Margit at lvl 40

Went in with my +6 blood kahtanu, roflstomped all over his face.

Exploring Castle Stormveil, wow. Boletaria 2.0 in my Dark Souls PC game? Yes please.
Goddamn, so many secrets and side routes. I can't from the life of me figure out how to get this item: facing the Godrick summoning pool effigy look up left. There's a wooden walkway with an item and a doorway. How the fuck do I get there?

Godrick was whooping my ass for a while. He's the epitome of a modern FS boss - delayed attacks on steroids AND cocaine, flailing about, obviously, and AoEs, lot's and lot's of AoEs. Took me about 10 attempts, overall a good boss fight, except for that retarded walk-and-spew fire attack.

Except for Godrick I'm p. much one-shotting bosses and minibosses - Margit, Leonine, all the dungeon and mine stuff, dragons, giants....that katana with the blood ashes is a bit too retarded methinks. Were bleed builds always that good? I've never even tried any.

Overall 25 hours, having an absolute blast.

 

[Silva]

There's also a problem with the idea that one can and should just ignore the open world if they're tired of it, there's too many NPCs tied to it that you will just miss out on if you don't. I revisited a few early areas I didn't comb hard enough and found two questlines I missed, nothing major, but still.
It was always easy to miss out on some side content in the souls, but with the scope of a large open world it's kinda...

Perhaps the intention is for these elements to be found through multiple playthroughs and not just one.

 

[Puukko]

 

[Lutte]

There's also a problem with the idea that one can and should just ignore the open world if they're tired of it, there's too many NPCs tied to it that you will just miss out on if you don't. I revisited a few early areas I didn't comb hard enough and found two questlines I missed, nothing major, but still.
It was always easy to miss out on some side content in the souls, but with the scope of a large open world it's kinda...

Perhaps the intention is for these elements to be found through multiple playthroughs and not just one.

That would really be spreading the more interesting elements thin, it's not like Elden Ring has that many more NPCs than a typical souls.
Also, multiple playthroughs of this big ass game? I'll stick to trying to find as much as I can tolerate before finishing the run, then shelve it for a while.

Multiple playthroughs of Souls games are fine because even if you're not a master speedrunner it's not that difficult to reach sub 10 or 5 hours runs once you know the game and enemy patterns but I'm not sure I would be confident in even having end game ready weapon upgrades without combing through a lot of shit in this. I don't think this is going to have the same staying power among the online communities for the same reason too, making new characters in this sounds like a visit to the dentist.

 

[Curratum]

Fingerfolk Hero dungeon, more like fuck Miyazaki. Not only was the puzzle bit overlong and tedious, the boss was the absolute worst boss battle I've seen in any From game.

How can you make something so retarded after making the same game for nearly 15 years? How can you assume those animations and camera angles are fine when you've been at it for so long?

Sicced the doggos on the boss and just pressed a button until it dies. Such a disgusting design in what has so far been a great game.

 

[Funposter]

overall a good boss fight, except for that retarded walk-and-spew fire attack.

that was my favourite part because it meant getting in 4-5 free hits

 

[Forest Dweller]

So guys, is Martin's backstory comprehensible, like, at all in this game?

 

[Brickfrog]

I find it slightly more comprehensible than other ds games because the NPC's are just a little bit more talkative. The actual backstory is still pretty opaque. There was a ring, it was good, then it broke, now everything sucks dick, yada yada. Pretty much the same thing as ds.

Game is sick tho

 

[Curratum]

Jesus, I'm putting this game on pause. I can't deal with this.

The absolute worst soulsborne boss / camera fight that I just had to suffer through... I made it to the castle, and the same enemy is reused there, again... Like, why would you do that? Why? It's an absolute clusterfuck, and I ran into it at random, back to back twice in an hour.

 

[Brickfrog]

Repurposing early bosses into late game fodder is pretty standard.

 

[Silva]

So guys, is Martin's backstory comprehensible, like, at all in this game?

I think Martin just made the world in broad strokes, and Miyazaki did the actual plot and all the rest? Anyway, it's pretty simple this time, like DS1 really. World is shit because some ring was broken. Go find the pieces of the ring to fix the world.

What isn't so clear is the nature of these "Lands Between" - why do Tarnished need to cross the fog to reach it? Is it afterlife, or some divine realm? If so, what is the world Tarnished come from like? And what are Tarnished in first place? Why were they expelled from this afterlife/godrealm in the past? What "sin" did this tribe committed (there's a trailer which call them a tribe) ?

Also, the common humanoid dweller of this world looks slightly elven ( slender, white skin, etc. ). Which implies the world is supposed to be this divine realm of eurocentric cliches, but I'm not sure as I'm still early in the game.

 

[Jinn]

Learning about the world has been a big part of the joy of the game for me. While the standard setup is very Dark Souls 1 in its nature, the different details, factions, and idea of warring demigods gives it a little more depth to me than first meets the eye. It's still a very ethereal and dreamlike world, which does seem to indicate to me that it's a divine land that has fallen into decay. It is very clearly a creation of From and Miyazaki's, to the point where I can hardly think of what Martin would have been involved in. I think his involvement might be even more minor than it initially seemed.

And despite what Lutte said about it, I feel like I've met quite a few more NPCs than I recall finding in a lot of the prior From games. Maybe it's just that they have more to say, but I seem to be making more satisfying connections between them, their relationships with each other, and the world at large, without anything being spoon-fed. I feel like I have a lot to discover about the Lands Between, and will probably be discovering more on subsequent playthroughs.

 

[NJClaw]

Man, the non-open world sections are really great. That makes you think... they should just do a whole videogame about that. That shit would be amazing.

 

[Silva]

Learning about the world has been a big part of the joy of the game for me. While the standard setup is very Dark Souls 1 in its nature, the different details, factions, and idea of warring demigods gives it a little more depth to me than first meets the eye. It's still a very ethereal and dreamlike world, which does seem to indicate to me that it's a divine land that has fallen into decay

Ethereal was the exact word Miyazaki used in an interview to describe the world. And I think the game succeeds in transmitting this feeling. At first I frowned at this apparent classic take on fantasy (I prefer darker, or even bizarre, stuff) but after I got the more dreamlike cues I'm liking it.

Something still not clear to me is the overarching themes. Like, Light x Darkness in DS1 (or Men x Gods if you will), Mind x Beast in Bloodborne, etc. What are the forces at play here?

 

[N0rn]

Just beat Radahn. The presentation of the fight was pretty cool, but the actual fight was ass. Fuck those spinning attacks that just keep going on and on. Once again, having bleed on your weapon is a huge help in most bossfights.
It's pretty easy to get sidetracked in this game. Oftentimes I think that I want to progress in the main content a bit, but notice something in the distance or on the map that keeps me occupied for a while. It is kinda annoying though when you do an optional dungeon or something and get rewarded with stuff you get no use out of.

 

[Lutte]

And despite what Lutte said about it, I feel like I've met quite a few more NPCs than I recall finding in a lot of the prior From games.

There's 31 NPCs in DS1. 40 in DS2, 39 in DS3. I just counted the amount of NPCs listed in the wiki for Elden Ring and while some might have been missed since it's not been long since release, there's about 50 referenced, so 10 more than the last games+DLC, which is really not much more considering how much bigger this game is, how likely you are to miss many of the NPCs and how much longer it takes to complete the game. Spread thin is really the name of the game.

 

[Forest Dweller]

What isn't so clear is the nature of these "Lands Between" - why do Tarnished need to cross the fog to reach it? Is it afterlife, or some divine realm? If so, what is the world Tarnished come from like? And what are Tarnished in first place? Why were they expelled from this afterlife/godrealm in the past? What "sin" did this tribe committed (there's a trailer which call them a tribe) ?

Sounds like a FromSoftware game all right.

 

[Lambach]

I'm balls-deep into Nioh 2 right now and will be for the foreseeable future, so I won't be able to devote myself to this (maybe for the better, some performance-enhancing patches will probably drop by then), but god damn, I've been looking at some YT-ers showcasing this and can't get over the fact that Miyazaki basically tells the player "kill yourself, incel".

 

[Brickfrog]

I found a great shield with an item description that basically says "for wussies who are afraid to get hurt"

 

[toro]

The game is more like open gates than open world.

I've spent hours looking for a Somber Stone 6 and I found 2 pieces which is good. The bad part is that there is no way to get a Somber Stone 7 unless the boss with the small horsie is killed.

Basically the second half of the game is gated beyond a special boss. This is a lame move from Miyazaki.

Spoiler

Normal Armaments

• Smithing Stone [1] – Reinforce weapons to +5
• Smithing Stone [2] – Reinforce weapons to +6
• Smithing Stone [3] – Reinforce weapons to +9
• Smithing Stone [4] – Reinforce weapons to +12
• Smithing Stone [5] – Reinforce weapons to +15
• Smithing Stone [6] – Reinforce weapons to +18
• Smithing Stone [7] – Reinforce weapons to +21
• Smithing Stone [8] – Reinforce weapons to +24
• Smithing Stone [9] – Reinforce weapons to +25

Special Armaments

• Somber Smithing Stone [1] – Reinforce special weapons to +1
• Somber Smithing Stone [2] – Reinforce special weapons to +2
• Somber Smithing Stone [3] – Reinforce special weapons to +3
• Somber Smithing Stone [4] – Reinforce special weapons to +4
• Somber Smithing Stone [5] – Reinforce special weapons to +5
• Somber Smithing Stone [6] – Reinforce special weapons to +6
• Somber Smithing Stone [7] – Reinforce special weapons to +7
• Somber Smithing Stone [8] – Reinforce special weapons to +8
• Somber Smithing Stone [9] – Reinforce special weapons to +9
• Somber Smithing Stone [10] – Reinforce special weapons to +10

 

[Lutte]

I found a great shield with an item description that basically says "for wussies who are afraid to get hurt"

 

[Jinn]

There's 31 NPCs in DS1. 40 in DS2, 39 in DS3. I just counted the amount of NPCs listed in the wiki for Elden Ring and while some might have been missed since it's not been long since release, there's about 50 referenced, so 10 more than the last games+DLC, which is really not much more considering how much bigger this game is, how likely you are to miss many of the NPCs and how much longer it takes to complete the game. Spread thin is really the name of the game.

Yeah, might be that there is more NPC interaction front-loaded in the game too. But the wiki isn't complete either, so who knows what the final numbers will be. I'm just giving a very vague general feeling I've gotten in terms of interacting with NPCs.

And I think there might be a bit of a misinterpretation about my thoughts on the overworld-ness of the game, particularly from you. I am not the biggest fan of some of the stuff inspired by open-world trends, particularly the mini-dungeons. Yes, I'm more positive about it than a lot of the greatest critics of it in this thread, but I do believe the game would have been stronger had they at least trimmed down these elements, or not included them at all. And on that note, yes, the game would have also benefitted from overworld being trimmed down too. But in the end, despite the missteps that came with such a wide scope, I'm glad we didn't get another Dark Souls 3, and I'm glad we were given a world with a great deal more freedom to explore. Don't get me wrong, I loved the tight design of Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 2, with moments of freedom of exploration present despite the restraint. But I'm still glad they tried something different. And despite overreaching in their scope in Elden Ring, I stand by my opinions on the tighter sections of the overworld and how fun they are - at least for me - to dig deep into and explore. And of course, the points where they double down on design principles that made their last games great - IE Legacy Dungeons, places like Siofra River - are the high points of the game. So I guess what I'm saying is that what was sacrificed for the open-world design has at least partially been made up for in my increased sense of freedom.

Is this game 10/10 masterpiece game of all time? Fuck no. Does it have a ton of flaws and things that could have been tightened up on? Absolutely. It's just been an incredibly fun action RPG to play, to the point where I'm less likely to focus on these parts that are an annoyance to me, and just have a very enjoyable time. And really, I haven't felt a moment where it's been a slog to me. Obviously patience with this stuff is going to vary from person to person, but it hasn't burnt me out yet. We'll see where I'm at when I hit 60-70 hours.

 

[Ivan]

Holy shit, just finished the Shrouded Castle. Wonderful experience, particularly the combat encounters and finale. Was not expecting much but wowzers def a personal highlight for me thus far.

 

[toro]

There is a rumor that the game sold 10mil+ on PC only.

 

[Brickfrog]

I found a great shield with an item description that basically says "for wussies who are afraid to get hurt"

"No skill"

Weapon upgrades going up to +25 is a fucking crime against humanity