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

[Olinser]

Another man life destroyed when they will stop!?

It's not entirely wrong, there were stupid messages in the previous souls but they helped me discover secret paths and shit plenty of times. DS2 I played a shitton on release day, I didn't feel like punching a bitch while reading messages (and most of the joke messages were concentrated around things like sex jokes on npcs/statues). But elden ring? well, the newfound success of this game with an audience that bought it because there's "open world" really shows how much more the base has degenerated. I stopped reading messages after doing stormveil, I became too tired to see if there's really a hidden whatever somewhere. They really should cut this feature, it doesn't do what it's supposed to do, and will never do it again because it's now a 12 millions hit franchise.

Yeah, there are a few good messages but at this point they're the RARE exception, rather than the rule. I can count the number of useful ones on two hands and I'm 30 hours into the game.

About the only useful dungeon one I've seen that wasn't pointing out obvious items or bosses was 'try target lock', and doing that actually locked onto a hidden enemy that would have ambushed me. There are others that point out ambushes and traps but there are so many troll messages that they're useless.

I'd say probably 95% of the messages are useless, and the useless ones make you not even pay attention to half of the rare good ones.

 

[Curratum]

The effort invested in Elden Ring in a nutshell:

Spoiler

 

[perfectslumbers]

The effort invested in Elden Ring in a nutshell:

What are we looking at here?

 

[Curratum]

The effort invested in Elden Ring in a nutshell:

What are we looking at here?

A recolor of an armor set, peddled as a different armor set.

 

[perfectslumbers]

A recolor of an armor set, peddled as a different armor set.

Oh okay I thought you found some orange goo to roll around in or something

 

[ADL]

A recolor of an armor set, peddled as a different armor set.

They did the same thing with Land of Reeds, the Samurai armor. I've found orange/white variants and they have different elemental stat distributions.

 

[Olinser]

The effort invested in Elden Ring in a nutshell:

Spoiler

Who the fuck cares? Games have been doing this for their entire history, don't act like this is some shocking departure from the formula. Crappy generic early and midgame sets are always re-used graphics, the good stuff is reserved for the endgame unique and hidden sets and weapons.

Heck some games like Final Fantasys or Xenoblade don't even bother to display your armor on your character model!

 

[Lutte]

You know how to spot autists? their inability to understand abstract meanings. Curratum used the pics as an illustration of how ER feels to play, not to point out the literal sin of armor recolor.
Unfortunately, gaming forums are choke full of autists so you need to be very literal in your use of words and illustrations to get your point across.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Have you finished the game?

Basically.
I'm pretty much at the doorsteps of the final boss and I'm deliberately taking my time before facing it because I'm going back to past areas looking for hidden shit I missed etc.

And I don't agree with fucking shit of what you said.
Not that they are straight up lies, I'll concede that there IS reuse of minor bosses that then become pretty much just "big enemies" later on.
It's the spergrage-fueled conclusion that "it's inexcusable garbage" that I find fucking ridiculous.

Well, of course you're entitled to your own opinion, but I think it's funny you keep saying "reuse of minor bosses" when 2 shardbearers and the final boss of the game's largest and most significant questline are recycled at different points.

Different people have different levels of tolerance for different things. I happen to think that this level of recycling is, yes, inexcusable garbage - not that the entire game is garbage, mind you - and this handwaving about "oh they had to do it because of the game's size" is looking at the problem backwards. The size is part of the problem. And I propose that it was mostly a market-driven choice, one that paid off for them in spades.

However, a company's bottom line has no bearing on my appreciation of their product. Elden Ring is a cool game, but it wore me down completely and it's the only From game that I didn't feel the urge to immediately go through again after finishing it. I don't expect to ever replay it. I'll check out the DLC, though.

Also worth noting that the paint by numbers open world stuff is particularly off-putting in a modern Fromsoft title (can't comment on pre DS output). Disappointing to see it creeping in at one of the last bastions of actual level design in big-budget game development.

Not just a late game problem either. Gatefront Ruins, Dragon-Burnt Ruins and Waypoint Ruins are all in Limgrave, I cleared them all within 5 hours of starting blind. Like most other overworld "Ruin" type locations in the game they're a simple hunt for 1-2 basements with chest/NPC +/- boss/enemies. I can't think of any equivalent instance of outright location repetition so early on in any Soulslke I've played in the last 10 years.

I don't think going open world was the right way to iterate on the formula. Bloats out the playtime and doesn't bring enough to the table to compensate for it.

 

[deem]

Exploring Redmane castle. The mechanical doll murder machine from the loading screens made an appearance. Reminiscent of the crossbow trap in Tower of Latria. The boss is tough. It is the Misbegotten Warrior accompanied later by the Crucible Knight. I can make short work of the Warrior with my fire flamberge but the Knight is tough. I have not encountered one of them before.

 

[ADL]

Runs better through a Linux compatibility layer than it does on the operating system it was designed for. From Software's incompetence on a technical level knows no bounds.

 

[Silva]

Hypothetical thought: What if the main weapons/items were delegated to the legacy dungeons?

Say, identify the 4 or 5 main builds and the stuff they need in terms of weapons and rings/amulets. Then spread those in and around the legacy dungeons, organized by, say, theme (so Raya Lucaria would have the best stuff for spell casters, for eg). Voilá! You would make the open-world really optional instead of this slog you must go through each playthrough to guarantee you don't miss key stuff. This is more or less how older Souls already functioned. Perhaps it would do better to the game than the current formula.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I mean, the game has a STAGGERING amount of UNIQUE-LOOKING landscapes, places, spots, buildings and areas.
It doesn't even just have "a lot of them", you could argue that is pretty much UNMATCHED in the amount it offers for a single player title. I can hardly think of anything below Rockstar-tier budget that comes even close (and this still towers over the average Rockstar game for the variety of gameplay situations).
It also has a very interesting landscape to navigate in general, with plenty of unmarked and cleverly hidden place, subtle and less subtle visual cues to draw your attention in the right place organically, etc.

But sure, let's fucking go into full weaponized autism and scream "Travesty!" about a few similar-looking ruins and churches every now and then.

 

[Ghulgothas]

If you kill the massive sleeping dragon in eastern Caelid with one of those rune-enhancing chickenfoots active, you can walk away with around 90,000 runes. Good way to get a leg-up on the beginning of the game fast if you're on a new playthrough

2 great runes are needed to get into the capitol, Godrick's is the easiest and Mohg is still the victim of this game's greatest cheese bypass. Does Rennala's Rune of the Unborn count?

Then you can push forward into the mountaintops, and have the whole of the open-world available to you with all of the as-of-yet unfinished sidequests. Tryin' to gauge how fast I can get my hands on the White Reed set and the Blood Katana and still have plenty of places to use 'em in.

I think that's the mark of a good open-world. All the sightseeing and fruitful wandering for awestruck beginners, but you can still crack it wide-open if you know what to do and where to go.

 

[Curratum]

My kid made me start NG+ because he wanted to see how quickly we can steamroll the first bosses.

In 60 minutes of playtime, I ran to Margit, killed him, ran to Godrick, killed him, got the Lucaria key and ran nearly all the way to Renalla, and then realized the bonfires won't let me level up.

I had to go back to Limgrave / Church of Elleh and rest there for Melina to show up and give me the level up ability and horse. People thought the game would count bonfired you use / rest at to trigger this but this is obviously not the case. I had rested at 5+ graces on my way to where I was in Liurnia / Lucaria and she never showed up before I went back to Limgrave.

NG+ is completely pointless. I almost hacked Godrick to death before he could lob off his hand.

I'd estimate another 30-40 minutes to get up past magma worm and into Altus plateau. Then it's a beeline to the Erdtree and the fire giant. I guess you could feasibly beat the game in NG+ in 2-3 hours if you do the critical path. No reason to do anything else as you're one-shotting open world bosses and already have what you need from NG.

 

[Cromwell]

Voilá! You would make the open-world really optional instead of this slog you must go through each playthrough to guarantee you don't miss key stuff for your build. This is more or less how older Souls already functioned. Perhaps it would do better to the game than the current formula.

I would like that but the open world wouldnt be optional it would be redundant since thanks to froms way of telling the "story" theres almost nothing to gain by exploring (if you dont do it because you enjoy videogame nature and are to lazy to enjoy nature nature).

 

[Haplo]

Exploring Redmane castle. The mechanical doll murder machine from the loading screens made an appearance. Reminiscent of the crossbow trap in Tower of Latria. The boss is tough. It is the Misbegotten Warrior accompanied later by the Crucible Knight. I can make short work of the Warrior with my fire flamberge but the Knight is tough. I have not encountered one of them before.

Well, there is one already in Stormhill evergaol.

 

[NJClaw]

You would make the open-world really optional instead of this slog you must go through each playthrough to guarantee you don't miss key stuff for your build.

I think you're overstating how much open world you have to explore to create any build AND understating how easy it is to quickly run around from place to place with the horsey boy. By now, we all know this is a game where you can easily spend 100+ hours exploring the world, but nothing prevents you from beelining for the items you want for your build. If you know which weapons, talismans, spells, and ashes of war you need for your build, you don't need to 100% explore each area to get them.

For example, on my second playthrough I decided to try a bleed build. I started as samurai and, in less than 1 hour, I already had a second Uchigatana, the Assassin's Crimson Dagger (both from the Deathtouched Catacombs), Reduvia, Misericorde, and the Bloody Slash ash of war. Then I went straight to the Black Knife Catacombs for the Assassin's Cerulean Dagger without even touching Godrick (you can also skip Margit if you don't care about the Misericorde). Once in Liurnia I decided to take my time and explore, but I think I could have reached the Altus Plateau for Nagakiba and Eleonora's Poleblade without having killed a single boss (well, apart from the Grafted Scion in the starting area).

 

[HumanTotemPole]

I mean, the game has a STAGGERING amount of UNIQUE-LOOKING landscapes, places, spots, buildings and areas.
It doesn't even just have "a lot of them", you could argue that is pretty much UNMATCHED in the amount it offers for a single player title. I can hardly think of anything below Rockstar-tier budget that comes even close (and this still towers over the average Rockstar game for the variety of gameplay situations).
It also has a very interesting landscape to navigate in general, with plenty of unmarked and cleverly hidden place, subtle and less subtle visual cues to draw your attention in the right place organically, etc.

But sure, let's fucking go into full weaponized autism and scream "Travesty!" about a few similar-looking ruins and churches every now and then.

You misunderstand. I don't think anybody would seriously dispute that Elden Ring is a good game with a huge amount of unique and interesting content to offer. Doesn't mean that aspects that some of us think could be better or are perhaps even unnecessary aren't worth critiquing.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Hypothetical thought: What if the main weapons/items were delegated to the legacy dungeons?

Another addition would to increase the amount of weapons and spells placed as loot by a lot. Instead of the uchigatana or scavengers curved sword or rock sling or other normal weapons/spells/catalysts/armour/talismans only existing once and in a very specific place, they could be placed many times around the world. It would reward the player for exploring the open world without forcing them to lawnmower to complete their build. Then put all the special loot in the unique locations in the game map instead.

Also increase the amount of smithing stones you find, jesus christ.

Normally that would induce inventory clutter but they could just make items stack in the inventory. Instead of two of the same thing being pictured side by side in an inventory screen it could just say "Uchigatana x2" like they do with consumables and materials.

 

[Lithium Flower]

The upgrade item balance is pretty wack. After exploring the world pretty intuitively and not trying to go out of my way to overlevel a weapon for a particular area, my Great Epee is at +23 in the Altus Plateau and - possibly due to my build which I feel is pretty strong - overworld and miniboss difficulty has all but evaporated. I experienced the same in Liurnia when after exploring half of the area I stumbled up into the Plateau originally and after exploring the mine there got my GE to I believe +15. However I hoped that Mt. Gelmir and the capital would kick my ass, but it looks like most of the game now is on the easy side, which is pretty unfortunate.

When I replay the game I think I will stick to the following autistic house rule:

At the beginning, I may only use the first tier of upgrade items (smithing stones and glovewort) - so regular weapons can only go up to +3 while boss weapons and spirit ashes only to +1. Unlocking the use of the next tier requires the defeat of a Remembrance-dropping boss. So after killing 8 and 9 of the said bosses I will be able to reach the maximum upgrades for smithing stones and somber/grave/ghost glovewort respectively.

I think this is a decent compromise between structure and freedom that also fixes other peripheral issues. Since upgrades are staged I will be able to accrue more weapons before I have the opportunity to upgrade them, so there is less FOMO resulting from upgrading a weapon that I want to replace later down the line. It would also particularly slow down the progression of overtuned boss weapons and spirit summons while still allowing their use. And it will still be possible to be under/over-leveled for an area, which are possibilities I enjoy, but given that most of your damage output tends to come from weapon upgrades I think this would sufficiently slow my progression to squeeze more challenge out of the less challenging parts of the game. Finally, while 8-9 remembrances would be enough to fully upgrade everything, there are more such bosses than that in the game, so completionism is not a requirement to maxing out your upgrades.

If anyone wants to try this in the meantime, let me know how it goes.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

the open world wouldnt be optional it would be redundant since thanks to froms way of telling the "story" theres almost nothing to gain by exploring

What are you on about, the world itself tells plenty of story.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Reports of NG+ being too easy are pretty disappointing. I'm thinking of filling my talisman slots with debuff talismans (like the Shabriri/Daedica's Woe and scorpion charms for damage types I don't use) if I ever go that route. Honestly, what they should have done in NG+ or perhaps after a few cycles thereof is given the whole world a *flat* scaling tuned to the most difficult parts of the game. Ie, give Godrick et all the same type of damage and health values as you would expect from Malena-chan or whatever end-game content people complain about the most. Because at some point you will have basically built an avatar that more or less developed their build past diminishing returns, and it would seem an appropriate challenge for them to face a consistently difficult world again instead of cutting through half the game like a hot knife through butter.

 

[Lithium Flower]

btw sometimes i have to go to the emergency room because i lose sounding rods in my urethra

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I farmed the Banished Knight some more and finally got his sword. That thing is sexy. It's definitely going to be my main once I can get it leveled up more. Anyone know a way to farm smithing stones 2&3?

My #1 goal is to eventually wield the Grafted Blade Greatsword. That beast requires 40 strength to use, good lord.