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

[Andnjord]

Yeah, the problem is not delays and long combos, it's seeing those in every fucking enemy. An intelligent fella like Margit delaying an attack makes sense but a crab?? An expert swordsmen dodging away after a combo is okay but a dumb fatass troll??

Also, whoever designed those fucking fire breathing, razor talon wielding eagles in Stomrveil deserves the rake. That is all. Mercifully there were only two of them.

That's like... the opposite of my feeling. Magrit did not twirl around rolling accross the battlefield, creating (fiery) tornados around him, that you cannot even approach him.

I found the fiery tornadoes (and AOE stomp) easy enough to read and consequently to run out from and wait out. Gave me a moment to either catch my mental breath, heal or throw a cheeky fireball at his face. The other flame attacks actually left him open to melee if I reacted fast enough to them (the flamethrower and the meteorites).
I also found his normal melee attacks a lot easier to read and anticipate, don't know if it was because I was more 'in the zone' mentally or if Wunderbar is right.

 

[Zizka]

I don’t think voice acting really enhances a game. Atom RPG didn’t use voice acting because of the costs involved (it’s very expensive). If it had, a lot of the game content would’ve been scrapped. Not a positive in my opinion.

(There isn’t a lot of voice acting in Elden Ring, I was talking in general).

 

[CyberWhale]

I don’t think voice acting really enhances a game. Atom RPG didn’t use voice acting because of the costs involved (it’s very expensive). If it had, a lot of the game content would’ve been scrapped. Not a positive in my opinion.

(There isn’t a lot of voice acting in Elden Ring, I was talking in general).

Don't need to have all the lines voiced.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I don’t think voice acting really enhances a game.

It does.
VTMB wouldn't be half the game it is without its voice acting.

because of the costs involved (it’s very expensive).

Voice acting is incredibly cheap unless you go with SAG actors. And if you hire a single SAG actor, you have to use only SAG actors.
SAG is the reason so many non-English version of games/TV shows have excellent dubs while the English versions are inconsistent in quality(non-SAG) or only have a few voice actors(expensive.)

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Amen to that.

Voice acting, open world and romance are not step forwards.

No! Give me cute wifes! Give me cute voice wifes! Do not worry anon it is okay anon because I do not care open world anon! Do not! No!

 

[Lutte]

I have yet to play a game in which open world is a strength and not a piece of shit.

Nah, there are plenty of good early open world games like Stalker, Far Cry 2 or Just Cause 2, to name a few.

Yet Hedon, which is basically a doom mod, is about a billion times more enjoyable than any of this tripe.

 

[Wunderbar]

I have yet to play a game in which open world is a strength and not a piece of shit.

Nah, there are plenty of good early open world games like Stalker, Far Cry 2 or Just Cause 2, to name a few.

STALKER is great, but it's not quite an open world. Well maybe Call of Pripyat is, but SHoC and CS are hub-based games.

 

[v1rus]

I'll say it again, FUCK. THE. OPEN. WORLD. Games don't need open world. Period. I have yet to play a game in which open world is a strength and not a piece of shit. Zelda BOTW is not the exception either.

I've been enjoying Elden Ring, and all the usual complaints ring true - copy/pasted bosses/areas, too fucking big and ofcourse, stupid decisions influenced by open world. BotW did it better, but still found it too empty most of the time.

OTOH, one single newer game I can think of that did the open world exactly right was Outer Wilds.

 

[Silva]

Come on, is this really the Codex?

Stalkers, Ultimas, Genesis Shadowrun, Fallouts, Arcanum, Planescape, Gothic, Morrowind, etc. are all great games with open worlds. There was never a problem with the concept. The problem is in the modern take of it, as seen in AAA Ubi and AssCreeds theme parks, that got popular with the unwashed masses.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Come on, is this really the Codex?

Stalkers, Ultimas, Genesis Shadowrun, Fallouts, Arcanum, Planescape, Gothic, Morrowind, etc. are all great games with open worlds. There was never a problem with the concept. The problem is in the modern take of it, as seen in those Ubi and Asscreeds mini-game theme parks.

I have no idea how anyone can think the Fallouts are open world. The map is essentially just a more detailed level selection screen for individual hubs.
Arcanum, yes, but it adds... nothing. The game would be identical without it.

If you're defining "open world" as nonlinear, then basically every non-jrpg rpg is an "open world" game.

 

[Haplo]

...or Planescape:Torment for that matter.

 

[Zizka]

Exploration on the world map in Fallout and Arcanum wasn’t your character wandering in vast, empty areas. You moved on a 2D map and would be prompted to switch to ‘exploration’ if you reached an area of interest.

I wish there was a term to differentiate ‘Ubisoft’ open world from non-linear exploration like Fallout and Arcanum. Because I despise the former but love the latter.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Exploration on the world map in Fallout and Arcanum wasn’t your character wandering in vast, empty areas.

It is in Arcanum, and it adds nothing.

 

[Lutte]

Come on, is this really the Codex?

Stalkers, Ultimas, Genesis Shadowrun, Fallouts, Arcanum, Planescape, Gothic, Morrowind, etc. are all great games with open worlds. There was never a problem with the concept. The problem is in the modern take of it, as seen in AAA Ubi and AssCreeds theme parks, that got popular with the unwashed masses.

A lot of this isn't really open world. Fallout lets you go everywhere you want to but it's an abstracted world with random encounters on the map and well made cities and underground bases. There is no walking simulation moment in Fallout 1 & 2 compared to New Vegas where you spend almost half of the game just walking and doing nothing of value.

Morrowind has a cool setting but it's a pretty trash game. The combat is trash. Traversing the world at your snail walking speed is horrible until you learn how to break the game and speed yourself up, which is about the same moment you learn how to break the combat and make its mechanics entirely irrelevant too.

I'll stop here, I don't feel like derailing the thread with entire arguments about other games.

 

[Zizka]

I have no idea how anyone can think the Fallouts are open world.

Because words are interpreted differently depending on the person. If you stick to this definition (from Wikipedia):

In video games, an open world is a game mechanic of using a virtual world that the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay.

If you stick to this definition, Fallout 1 and 2 are open world.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have no idea how anyone can think the Fallouts are open world.

Because words are interpreted differently depending on the person. If you stick to this definition (from Wikipedia):

In video games, an open world is a game mechanic of using a virtual world that the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay.

If you stick to this definition, Fallout 1 and 2 are open world.

yeah well wikipedia is gay
if someone says 'open world', I think daggerfall.

 

[Silva]

To me, as long as you have a map with different locations where travel between is gamified is an open-world, no matter if it's through overview maps with encounters, or moment-to-moment gameplay. Thus Ultima 4, Stalkers and Fallouts are all open-worlds to me.

Edit: yeah, the Wikipedia definition is mine as well. But I was here before wikipedia soooo.... you're welcome faggots.

 

[NJClaw]

Commander Niall and his two adds that hit like trucks and stick to you like glue with constant close gap spam : is that fight even doable without summons?

The two dudes' health bar is very short, and they come to you way faster than the main boss. You can just deal with them while watching out for the single attack from the boss that can damage you from afar.

First, the catdog shit. I never really managed to learn how to react to them, they have almost no animation to their moveset and just suddenly do things, I never died to those fights because they have little hp and don't do one shot level of damage to you but they were among the worst when it comes to how to implement an action game moveset IMHO by far.

The catdog shits have a very clear moveset where every move is perfectly telegraphed. The difference with normal telegraphed moves we are used to is that there isn't a fluid animation from the moment the attack begins and the moment it actually lands. The boss "announces" his move with a clearly recognizable action, and after a second it performs the announced attack very quickly.

 

[Lutte]

To me, as long as you have a map with different locations where travel/transport between is gamified is an open-world, no matter if it's through overview maps with encounters, or moment-to-moment gameplay. Thus Ultima 4, Stalkers and Fallouts are all open-worlds to me.

Generally speaking, everywhere you go, when people talk about open world games it's all derivative from Daggerfall and GTA. This is the first time I even hear someone talk of Fallout as open world (before the Betheshit incarnation of Fallout 3)

 

[Zizka]

Generally speaking, everywhere you go, when people talk about open world games it's all derivative from Daggerfall and GTA. This is the first time I even hear someone talk of Fallout as open world (before the Betheshit incarnation of Fallout 3)

But what would you call Fallout and Arcanum to distinguish them from Assassin Creed, Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption? I struggle to find the right term.

 

[Lutte]

Generally speaking, everywhere you go, when people talk about open world games it's all derivative from Daggerfall and GTA. This is the first time I even hear someone talk of Fallout as open world (before the Betheshit incarnation of Fallout 3)

But what would you call Fallout and Arcanum to distinguish them from Assassin Creed, Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption? I struggle to find the right term.

Well, the first two are RPGs and the latter are not, it's a good start.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Generally speaking, everywhere you go, when people talk about open world games it's all derivative from Daggerfall and GTA. This is the first time I even hear someone talk of Fallout as open world (before the Betheshit incarnation of Fallout 3)

But what would you call Fallout and Arcanum to distinguish them from Assassin Creed, Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption? I struggle to find the right term.

"crpg"

Being nonlinear is essentially an inherit property of the genre. There are very few linear cRPGs. If you look at the top 10 games here:
https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=11193

nonlinearity is a trait shared by every single one of them. Arguably moreso than any other feature sans interactive stat-based combat.

 

[Silva]

To me, as long as you have a map with different locations where travel/transport between is gamified is an open-world, no matter if it's through overview maps with encounters, or moment-to-moment gameplay. Thus Ultima 4, Stalkers and Fallouts are all open-worlds to me.

Generally speaking, everywhere you go, when people talk about open world games it's all derivative from Daggerfall and GTA. This is the first time I even hear someone talk of Fallout as open world (before the Betheshit incarnation of Fallout 3)

Well, let's agree to disagree. But notice my first point stands even by your narrow definition: Stalkers, Ultimas, Gothic, New Vegas, Genesis Shadowrun, Stardew Valley, Quarantine, even the older GTAs, are great and use the formula as you define it.

 

[Zizka]

How would you describe Dark Souls then? Non-linear non-open non-CRPG world exploration? Anyway, I don’t want to derail the thread either for those who’d rather stick to Elden Ring but it’s interesting to think about.

 

[Lutte]

We'll agree to disagree, because if there's one classic series of RPGs I never got one shit for, it was Ultima. I'd rather replay a Wizardry again than touch these things. Could never get into Stalker, Gothic is peak eurojank and GTA is more of an arcade driving game than any other elements when you consider how much time you spend in a car.

Never played genesis Shadowrun.