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

[deem]

I think we should keep in mind, while discussing the overwhelming amount of stuff in the open world, that the game has been out for less than a week.

 

[Old Hans]

actually makes light sources useful. Like Dragon's Dogma

which cast cool shadows in the dungeons & boy howdy do I wish Elden Ring had shadows inside the dungeons, but I guess we will never reach that kind of technology

 

[Shrimp]

I'm annoyed with the game for the first time. I think I got screwed out of a boss fight.

Spoiler

At Redmane castle, the fight against the lion guy where a knight shows up halfway. I tried it a few times and lost, and decided to explore elsewhere for a while. When I returned, the fog wall was gone and there were some NPCs hanging around in the arena. Is there any way to fight them still? I didn't know exploring would cause bosses to despawn. Makes me paranoid about doing stuff when content is just going to be taken away, feels like a punishment for exploring.

This exact same thing happened to me, but for some reason the fight actually re-appeared when I went back to the area much later on. I have no clue what triggered it, but it seems that at least it is possible to respawn it... Somehow.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

I'm really enjoying the game so far, despite the poor performance on PC (Runs ok in closed environments, but at the open world the framerate just dies). I really like how despite it's nature as an open world game it has a lot of unique moments and hidden dynamic shit. Like in the castle

Spoiler

I got trapped inside a dark room with a tough mob.

You approach the game with a mindset like "This is just a Souls game with a bigger and generic map", but the world is filled with details everywhere and manages to surprise you. Also, the horse combat is surprisingly decent. I remember that when Dark souls 2 was in development they mentioned that they wanted to add horses in the game at some point, but they didnt in the end due to technical difficulties. I always wondered if that was a good idea to begin with, now I can see that it actually works.

 

[cvv]

I've been finding all sorts of stuff that I missed the first, or even second time through areas.

I've scoured Stormveil, thought I've explored it p. thoroughly.

Went it second time, discovered two more major areas, with one additional boss.

Watched a video, realized I've still missed a couple of places and juicy items.

After DS3 and Sekiro FromSoft is back in form level design-wise. Best they have ever been in.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

 

[Curratum]

When you're cheesing, you have to cheese in style :D

Spoiler

 

[Echo Mirage]

Damn this jumping sucks. I died more to platforming in a cave than I did to anything else right now. If they wanted to add jumping then at the very least they could have made it so it had the same basic features at Tomb Raider from over 20 years ago!

 

[Tim the Bore]

In a recent interview Miyazaki said this game is what he and From wanted DS to be from the very start, but they didn't have the skills, money and technology to pull it off so they took it step by step.

That's interesting and a little sad to know. I find the structure and content amounts of DS1-3 much easier to digest. I have clear memories of nearly every location and encounter from DS1 and 2 because of how concentrated those elements are in both games. I'm somewhat struggling to hold onto specifics with Elden Ring already.

It's a problem of scale that's a bit like massive CGI action sequences in movies. You can have 1000s of CGI goblins on screen destroying a city or whatever but it’ll struggle for impact or significance due to the overwhelming visual noise. Smaller scale action sequences tend to be a much better watch in comparison precisely because there's a more manageable amount of visual information to process. The filmmakers can better focus on high level details of the craft when shooting it too.

Similarly the amount of raw content on offer in new open world games is huge but almost inevitably diluted compared to a similar title with a more focused structure. There's so much going on that everything just blends together after a while, not helped by occasional repetition of content. Because you’re free to go anywhere pacing just goes out the window unless you’re disciplined enough to impose your own set of restrictions. It must be impossible to maintain a consistent top end level of attention to detail in design once a game world gets to a certain size these days. Too many different assets and people to manage.

Impressed by the effort by From here but as ever it’s the well made major levels & dungeons that really keep me playing.

Yeah, exactly. You can take one glance at some screenshot from DS 1-3 or BB and you will immediatally know what locations it shows. They are very memorable. In Elden Ring though, that's not really possible.

 

[Curratum]

Honestly, I like both styles. I enjoy both the smaller designs of the older games, but I like this too. I like getting a little lost in it, like getting a fresh vista every few hours. After a while, especially if I get stuck on an area, I just want to go somewhere else in older games.

DS2 on my first playthrough (it was my first DS game) drove me to nearly out of body experiences, dying over and over to the same area until I sometimes even despawned the enemies. I still like DS2 most, probably because it was my first DS. Started DS1 simultaneously with it, but the game glitched out in Sen's Fort and every time I loaded my save, I'd keep falling forever under the level geometry without hitting a surface or dying, so I just deleted it.

My son watched me play DS1 and 2 almost in full and he loves them. He likes Elden Ring too, a lot. His judgment on the sheer sense of spooky, atmospheric, cool and awesome action and adventure in those games is probably more accurate and worthwhile than that of us old fucks who have grown too used to overanalyzing everything :D

 

[HumanTotemPole]

His judgment on the sheer sense of spooky, atmospheric, cool and awesome action and adventure in those games is probably more accurate and worthwhile than that of us old fucks who have grown too used to overanalyzing everything

True, true. Funny enough my girlfriend has just started playing. Interested in how she'll find it as a Soulslike newbie, only halfway through DS1 before she started ER.

In a recent interview Miyazaki said this game is what he and From wanted DS to be from the very start, but they didn't have the skills, money and technology to pull it off so they took it step by step.

That's interesting and a little sad to know. I find the structure and content amounts of DS1-3 much easier to digest. I have clear memories of nearly every location and encounter from DS1 and 2 because of how concentrated those elements are in both games. I'm somewhat struggling to hold onto specifics with Elden Ring already.

It's a problem of scale that's a bit like massive CGI action sequences in movies. You can have 1000s of CGI goblins on screen destroying a city or whatever but it’ll struggle for impact or significance due to the overwhelming visual noise. Smaller scale action sequences tend to be a much better watch in comparison precisely because there's a more manageable amount of visual information to process. The filmmakers can better focus on high level details of the craft when shooting it too.

Similarly the amount of raw content on offer in new open world games is huge but almost inevitably diluted compared to a similar title with a more focused structure. There's so much going on that everything just blends together after a while, not helped by occasional repetition of content. Because you’re free to go anywhere pacing just goes out the window unless you’re disciplined enough to impose your own set of restrictions. It must be impossible to maintain a consistent top end level of attention to detail in design once a game world gets to a certain size these days. Too many different assets and people to manage.

Impressed by the effort by From here but as ever it’s the well made major levels & dungeons that really keep me playing.

Yeah, exactly. You can take one glance at some screenshot from DS 1-3 or BB and you will immediately know what locations it shows. They are very memorable. In Elden Ring though, that's not really possible.

I'd say it's definitely possible if you play for long enough, particularly with main dungeons, areas etc. I take more issue with the existence of areas that are not worth remembering at all i.e. the short generic dungeons/ruins with reused tilesets. Not up to the usual Fromsoft standard and all the more jarring because of how good the other stuff is. But as I alluded to above I think they're an unavoidable consequence of the open world format. Allegedly puzzle dungeons in BotW suffered from a similar issue but I've never played it. Skyrim and TW3 definitely have the same issue with big quality gaps between main areas and side areas, compounded by worse area design than ER in general.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao Elden Ring is what we wanted Dark Souls 1 to be all along guys!

Yeah right it's just standard marketing bullshit to create hype don't believe that shit.

BTW, the golden rider is kicking my ass. Ok i'm SL1 and everything but i almost had him if wasn't for that shield slam that he does because the aoe range makes no sense. I can't roll away if its in front and from the back sometimes i can avoid it and sometimes i can't, which always means he one shots me as my health is too small and it's frustrating because there doesn't seem to be any logic to it. I guess the hit box is just shit.

I'll try later with the horse and if i can't do it fuck it i'll come back once i level.

 

[Ventidius]

Just beat Morgott and made my way to the Mountaintops of the Giants. I imagine another Legacy Dungeon awaits here, and I'm probably not even close to having seen all the Shardbearers. Man, this game doesn't run out of content, does it? It's been a while since we've had an RPG with this sheer amount of content. And I mean substantive content, not the kind that often passes for that in modern open world games. That in itself should be counted as a major triumph of the game, though I have no doubt some people are gonna burn out. That's still much better than the typical "empty open world syndrome". Either way, I think Elden Ring is gonna end up setting a new standard for open worlds from now on.

As for Leyndell, I'd say the capital feels like the largest, most sprawling dungeon so far. It also has probably the toughest non-boss encounters of any Legacy Dungeon up to this point. It may not be quite as atmospheric and gorgeous as the academy, but it still looks glorious. This sense of regal grandeur is likely what they were going for with Anor Londo, but this is on another level.

I like that the level design in this game has kept up the pace established by Stormveil, even if the academy was more about atmosphere and aesthetics than layout, and the capital doesn't have the kind of interesting design nuances that Stormveil did.

Morgott was somewhat on the easy side, but that's likely because I have grown overleveled; thanks in part to all of those Hero's Runes I found in the capital, and in part due to how huge and filled with tough encounters the place is and how thorough I was in sweeping it up. It probably also helped that he's rather weak to bleed, and I've been focusing on bleed quite a bit for my build. The fact that you can have at him while he's changing phases exacerbates that.

Anyway, the game's still going strong for me, Raya Lunaria was in some ways a slight quality dip compared to Stormveil, but also arguably a welcome change of pace. Either way, Leyndell has certainly picked up the slack since, and I'm looking forward to exploring the Mountaintops, as the area looks very cool. On that note, I really like how varied the overworld biomes have been so far, while also avoiding feeling too theme parkish. Just great stuff all around.

 

[Jermu]

Reusing bosses is probably my least favorite part of this game. There would be enough bosses at least for me with just unique encounters.

Spoiler

Did you enjoy Tree Sentinel? Well here is two of those have fun (you can pull them 1 at the time if u wish)
Okay next boss how about the main baddie Godfrey again?
I would not mind if they just reused some random bosses again but Godfrey seems like an bad idea.

Think Im going to start using walkthough to check which boss optional area x has if this keeps going on for too long.

Edit Sellia Crystal Mine Fallingstar boss might be the worst encounter so far

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Early data on stat breakpoints for the interested:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2765060616

Looks like 40/40 might be dead for a quality build but the author hasn't finished testing yet

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

 

[Jackpot]

More than anything I like the game because its one of the very few open worlds that has actual interesting things to find.
Armor, weapons, spirits, spells, talismans, golden seeds, ect.
Even though I'm not a mage finding some weird ass spell feels cool, even if it turns out to be shit.

It has its repetitive and formulaic moments, but as far as big open worlds go it is much better than any others I've played.

 

[Curratum]

So there really is no "increased item drop" talisman in the game and the only way to get better drops is the silver foot? I mean, fuck me, I've killed a camp with Cuckoo knights in it about 25 times go get the chest piece.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

I heard item drop chances increase during nights, but I don't know if it is true.

 

[Curratum]

I really wish they had a formula that would start off the most desirable drops at a very low percentage and boost that every time you get a different drop or none at all, resetting the counter once the item in question drops.

I still have flashbacks about collecting armor sets in previous Souls games.

 

[Silva]

So there really is no "increased item drop" talisman in the game and the only way to get better drops is the silver foot? I mean, fuck me, I've killed a camp with Cuckoo knights in it about 25 times go get the chest piece.

I thought the Arcane stat does it?

 

[Brickfrog]

Ok 50 hours in and I just realized that some of those dung beatles drop items/ashes. I think it's the white ones, especially ones that hang out around ruins.

 

[Brickfrog]

Does anyone know what the softcap breakpoints for stats are yet? I'm working on the assumption that it's around 40 for melee stats

 

[Puukko]

Does anyone know what the softcap breakpoints for stats are yet? I'm working on the assumption that it's around 40 for melee stats

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2765060616

 

[Curratum]

I'm on 35 vigor and 25 on both dex and STR right now. Will probably park them both at 30. I need those points for mana for the juicier summons.