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I might be wrong, but to me the Nyark Nyark sounds terribly French and straight out of Naheulbeuk or Les Reflets d'Acide
. I take it you're Wallonian?
But about its real name, I always assume the world around you is hostile and was never meant for you the player in a Souls game, hence all the crazy convoluted parkour you have to get through to actually finish a level. So when I see Tower of Return I instantly assume it's not meant for me and I'm somehow intruding there. At least there you meet a 20 foot tall giant, so conceptually it feels a lot more acceptable to be one shot by him than by the dino dogs at the shack in Dragonbarrow that are inexplicably stronger than their cousins 50 meters aways.
But it's funny you mention that one, as it's one of my favourite traps in the game. It gives you a glimpse of things to come without the attached risk of players deciding they should totally tackle the capital at lvl20 since you can't get out of that tower.
More, this is a game—or series of games—whose very fame was beget by its supposed difficulty. And that further muddies the already troubled waters of perceiving said difficulty. This is precisely what caused so many players to wander into the graveyard or descend into New Londo in Dark Souls 1, then bash their heads against the wall until bloody between the ears—because the game was supposed to be hard, and they were having a hard time, so it made sense.
In an age of handholding easy games it sure does show that there is a place for mainstream, big budget difficult games provided you announce to the world that yes, this is meant to be a difficult game, you'll have to get used to the controls, the timing of the movements, the systems and be patient and methodical to conquer the game, in short Git Gud. Goes to show how much more patient and tolerant of difficulty gamers can be if you're honest about what the game expects of them.
Now granted, it's likely that this dynamic between marketing and player expectation has led the souls games towards a more "can you survive this one encounter?" rather than "can you survive this entire level?", and on that point I agree with you that I prefered the older approach. Souls games are at their best in my opinion during the long, tense crawling through long stretches of dungeons with narry a checkpoint in sight, something that at least From has had the good sense to recognise isn't usually feasible with the lethality of Elden Ring encounters. Hence why the Leyendel underground is my favourite dungeon on a mechanical and level design level.
I don't know. It's silly because it's a truly massive success, but, selfishly perhaps, I just hope they don't go the Elden Ring 2 route. It's exceptionnal that one studio can consistently create titles I want to play and replay again and again, but it's coming to an end and it honestly saddens me, because I don't see myself playing an Elden Ring 2.
I can absolutely relate to that. There is still enough in the game for me to enjoy to outweigh the negatives, but the Demon Souls level design philosophy still remains the clear and superior option for me too.
So did I on my first playthrough (we were three Swarm of Flies spammers, she got bullied real hard), but the impact of a full second playthough on my git gud skills make me confident that it shouldn't take too long this time around.
I must say, the combination of Volcano Manor, Leyndell and Shunning Ground was amazing. Those are the moments when I forgive the game all the boring open world parts and appreciate it so much. Not only Volcano Manor and Leyndell were great on its own, but the atmosphere change when going from Leyndell to sewers was really something. You have such a beautiful, open space filled with gold, and few minutes after you're crawling dirty sewers, fighting rats, falling into holes, getting killed by Basilisks and suffering. The game gives you this very strong feeling 'I don't want to be here' / 'take me home', which reminded me of Valley of Defilement in Demon Souls or Blighttown in Dark Souls.
It seems that Stormveil Castle was basically Boletaria on steroids, Leyndell can be considered Anor Londo on steroids, and Shunning Ground are Depths++. I don't think I will get Tower of Latria on steroids anywhere, won't I?
That's all well and good but in managing FOMO you do actually miss out on things. Actual masterpieces that can only properly be appreciated in their time, as even though it's possible to enjoy older games and prefer aspects of them the wow factor of the visuals is lost with time. And the wow factor of experiencing rapid technological evolution, seeing something new that wasn't possible last year, that's a big part of the appeal of AAA games. Of course PC is ahead here (if you can afford a good one, I can't right now), but I just mean that even if console exclusives do finally come to PC the experience often isn't the same, and sometimes the port isn't that good.
I understand what you're saying, and I know that to be true for the vast majority of folks. But visuals, as in 'graphical prowess'? As we sometimes say in french, "Ça m'en touche une sans faire bouger l'autre," which literally translated would become "It touches one [of my balls] without budging the other." This being a weird way of saying, "I acknowledge this, but don't give a shit about it." Really, I don't care for visuals—at all.
To this day, I look at this and think "Holy hell that looks so good." Possibly, I suffer from Trauma-Induced Nivea Aphasia, and I'm stuck in 1999, now forever blessed with bewilderment at any figure made of more than five polygons. But more likely is that I'm some manner of retard, sufficiently sludge-brained that any modern graphical prowess is entirely lost on me.
And as far as missing out on things... there's already so much! I have quite a bit of free time dedicated to video games, yet I still find myself staring at an ever-increasing backlog. It's just impossible to keep up, there's not enough hours in a day. As it is I'm already missing out on stuff left and right, so one more or one less doesn't even register anymore. In fact at times I feel rising an eerie guilt if I'm enjoying a game beyond what seems a reasonable amount of hours, because I have decades worth of games waiting for me.
Yeah, to me it is. I know I'm pissing in the wind, but when I'm sleeping alone my conscience slides in my sheets uninvited and I have to make that condescending bitch happy.
When dividing the cost of the console between the hours of enjoyment had in a single, good game and then comparing it to something else one might do for leisure like eating in a restaurant or going to a movie it becomes a negligible expense, and the console remains if there's anything else you want to play. The thing is also a DVD player and a handy way to watch youtube on your TV so even if it sees no more use as a console it's still good for something.
I'm sorry... a tv? You think I have a freaking tv? By means of a frankestein cable my computer is hooked to the screen of a clear-cased Game Boy™ gifted me by my grandmother in 1993! Lookie here at mister Fancy-Pants, with his tv; guy probably owns some plates and a fork, too!
Yes. It is a most unfortunate, hereditary condition. (now that I think about it, I might have first seen nyark nyark nyark long ago in a Pervers Pépère, or possibly a Fluide Glacial)
In an age of handholding easy games it sure does show that there is a place for mainstream, big budget difficult games provided you announce to the world that yes, this is meant to be a difficult game, you'll have to get used to the controls, the timing of the movements, the systems and be patient and methodical to conquer the game, in short Git Gud. Goes to show how much more patient and tolerant of difficulty gamers can be if you're honest about what the game expects of them.
Adding to what you're saying, I think Elden Ring also benefits greatly from the popularity accrued by the franchise as a whole. Enough people have played it now for the masses at large to realize that hey, it's not so difficult after all—it only requires a certain mindset, a certain approach.
No longer are these games some quasi-mystical thing reserved to some pseudo-elite gamers deserving of legendry. It is now plain that most everybody can play them.
Now granted, it's likely that this dynamic between marketing and player expectation has led the souls games towards a more "can you survive this one encounter?" rather than "can you survive this entire level?", and on that point I agree with you that I prefered the older approach. Souls games are at their best in my opinion during the long, tense crawling through long stretches of dungeons with narry a checkpoint in sight, something that at least From has had the good sense to recognise isn't usually feasible with the lethality of Elden Ring encounters. Hence why the Leyendel underground is my favourite dungeon on a mechanical and level design level. I can absolutely relate to that. There is still enough in the game for me to enjoy to outweigh the negatives, but the Demon Souls level design philosophy still remains the clear and superior option for me too.
Hey I actually hadn't thought about that once during my playthroughs.
Not once did I feel relief upon finding—at last!—a Grace. I took a long, deep breath of relief when finally reaching a bonfire in Blighttown; likewise in Shulva; and in the Ringed City. But not once in the entirety of Elden Ring.
Oh I loved that bit. Upon realizing that, I slowly panned the camera around until Rennala came into view, then murmured "Did you do that?" She's a sneaky-sneak that Rennala, acting all calm and demure.
It seems that Stormveil Castle was basically Boletaria on steroids, Leyndell can be considered Anor Londo on steroids, and Shunning Ground are Depths++. I don't think I will get Tower of Latria on steroids anywhere, won't I?
i'm exploring Leyndell and sewers and i'm getting really fatigued by the vastness of everything. i recognize how beutifully crafted and polished this legacy dungeon is, but after 90 hours i' m hoping the game ended 20 hours ago
i'm exploring Leyndell and sewers and i'm getting really fatigued by the vastness of everything. i recognize how beutifully crafted and polished this legacy dungeon is, but after 90 hours i' m hoping the game ended 20 hours ago
You need to take a break. Leyndell isn't even part of the actual endgame: you still have multiple open world areas and legacy dungeons in front of you, culminating in a streak of bosses that are much tougher than anything the game threw at you so far. If you're feeling the fatigue after 90 hours, at 140 you'll want to die.
i'm exploring Leyndell and sewers and i'm getting really fatigued by the vastness of everything. i recognize how beutifully crafted and polished this legacy dungeon is, but after 90 hours i' m hoping the game ended 20 hours ago
You need to take a break. Leyndell isn't even part of the actual endgame: you still have multiple open world areas and legacy dungeons in front of you, culminating in a streak of bosses that are much tougher than anything the game threw at you so far. If you're feeling the fatigue after 90 hours, at 140 you'll want to die.
Taking a break at around 80h mark was one the best ideas for me. I went from getting bored to fully enjoying and appreciating the game again. Highly recommended. This game has like 10x of typical AAA release content, it's perfectly fine to take a break from it in between, one week should completely recharge you.
Every time I face Malenia, I'm getting more and more convinced that Waterfowl Dance is a fair attack. Not because it's easy to dodge, but because the game gives you more than enough tools to deal with it in a way that doesn't require taking a PhD in "what the fuck even is this move".
Greatshields, the Barricade Shield and Bloodhound's Step ashes of war, and status effects are all hard counters. IMHO, 5 ways to survive the attack and make the bossfight playable are enough for every player to have at least one at his disposal.
I blame the outrage sparked by this move on two factors: (1) the rest of the game is so easy you can always just do your thing and steamroll everything, so this is the first time players will face a challenge they can't just overpower with whatever tool they used to trivialized the entire rest of the game, and (2) fucking youtubers.
Shields heal her, but that's nothing more than a psychological obstacle. If you block the first flurry, dodging through the second and third ones has very lenient timings. I'd say it's easier to dodge through the follow-up flurries than to avoid most of her regular attacks. Blocking the first flurry gives her a chunk of health you can take back with a single R1 combo from a greatsword.
Even if you block the first two flurries (which allows you to avoid the rest of the attack by just walking backwards), you can take that health back with just two R1 combos.
For reference, this is the health she gets back blocking the first part of the attack (excluding extremes):
now you rephrase it as partial blocks but whatever.
you are still healing her ~%10 each blocked flurry. a boss healing more than a quarter of their hp is not irrelevant and definitely not a "hard" counter.
are you saying bhs and greatshields are equally effective?
i'm exploring Leyndell and sewers and i'm getting really fatigued by the vastness of everything. i recognize how beutifully crafted and polished this legacy dungeon is, but after 90 hours i' m hoping the game ended 20 hours ago
You need to take a break. Leyndell isn't even part of the actual endgame: you still have multiple open world areas and legacy dungeons in front of you, culminating in a streak of bosses that are much tougher than anything the game threw at you so far. If you're feeling the fatigue after 90 hours, at 140 you'll want to die.
Bosses will tire you though. With how fuckhueg this game is, and how even before NG+ you can easily reach e.g. 120lvl, with a dozen of estuses upgraded to restore most of total health, it's "counterbalanced" by you getting one or two-shotted, or what essentially amounts to it, among other things. It's easily the most difficult of their games (Sekiro is its own thing) and not exactly for all the right reasons.
This guy has a great channel. There's a lot of trash content devoted to Elden Ring, but this guy gives simple, to-the-point presentations where he fills in the gaps in item and skill descriptions. Even if, like me, you don't care about optimization and PVP it's maddening to not know what your things actually do.
now you rephrase it as partial blocks but whatever.
you are still healing her ~%10 each blocked flurry. a boss healing more than a quarter of their hp is not irrelevant and definitely not a "hard" counter.
"Rephrase" what? I'm not saying that if you have a greatshield in your inventory then the attack does absolutely nothing. Waterfowl is a move that will simply kill any character, as avoiding it in its entirety requires unreasonable reflexes and strategies (I don't really count "running away on sight" as a valid option). By "hard counter", I meant that all those tools completely nullify this aspect of the attack, which is what makes it unfair and unreasonable. I guess this makes them hard counters to the move's instant death and not to the move itself, but I tend to equate the two since there have been a lot of discussions about the attack being problematic and the instant, unavoidable death is what makes it so.
The dance has been described multiple times as literally impossible to be avoided. I've never sat down and analyzed it in detail (because there is no need to), but a shield gives you two ways to deal with it:
1 - you block through the first flurry, then dodge into the next two. The timings come very natural and it's hard to mess up. She will heal herself of around 10% of her health:
2 - you block through the first two flurries, then wait for her to dash over your head and slowly walk backwards. It's literally impossible to mess up and you don't even need to dodge. She will heal herself more (roughly 20%, I'd say).
What this means is basically that using the first method you'll have to make 2-3 more R1s during the fight, with the second one you'll have to make 4-6 more of them. Reading the complaints against this move, I'd expect far harsher outcomes than "oh no, I'll have to attack 3 more times now". I guess that's not "irrelevant" in a vacuum, but it is when the attack has been described as the literal coming of the Antichrist on Earth.
I'm talking about greatshields because that's easier, but a medium shield is enough if you have a moderate amount of stamina.
Once you know how to time it, Bloodhound's Step is definitely more effective as she doesn't get the healing. But comparing anything to what's essentially the strongest defensive option in the game isn't really fair. I put them together in my first post because, just like frostbite and bleed, with Malenia they serve the same purpose: they allow you to pass Waterfowl's "does this guy have a way to survive this?" check.
Despite everything that has been said against Malenia and Waterfowl Dance, I WISH there were more bosses like her that force you to do something other than just steamroll them with your weapon of choice.
Surely I can't be the only one who does not care at all about Malenia, one way or the other. She's so bland.
I like the weird stuff, the bosses who are different—regardless of their potential difficulty when first encountered. Adjudicator; Old Hero; Gaping Dragon; Priscilla; Executioner's Chariot; Burned Ivory King; High Lord Wolnir; Dancer Of The Boreal Valley. I'll forever remember the Demon Of Song and its what-the-fuck-is-that design.
But I think in a year or two, the only Elden Ring bosses I'll remember clearly will be Rennala, Placidusax, and Astel. All in all, not a lot considering the astounding number of bosses.
I'm now kinda interested in what your life looks like if Rykard doesn't meet your weirdness standards.
I'd argue most, if not all, the mainline bosses are unique in their own ways. I mean:
Is this less WTF to you than the Demon of Song?
Radahn stomping his horse in the sand, the Godskin Noble with tits and asses sewed on his armor, Morgott following you around the lands between like a cheerleader, the Regal Ancestor Spirit respawning from all the animals and generally being completely out of the world, Hoarah Loux getting rid of his weapons and armor and going all Street Fighter on you, Radagon stomping runes on the ground with his hammer... and the Elden Beast! But most of all, Rykard. Everything about him is insane.
Even talking about Malenia in particular, her butterfly wings made of actual butterflies flying around make her a 10/10 in my eyes, but I recognize that's just my kink.
Time to put it down until the inevitable DLC. All good things must come to an end.
I enjoyed my Golden Order Fundamentalist playthrough (w/Goldmask ending) the most. Although it was a pity that making morally good choices just means you're missing out on content. And that so many major bosses have high Holy resistance.
But I think in a year or two, the only Elden Ring bosses I'll remember clearly will be Rennala, Placidusax, and Astel. All in all, not a lot considering the astounding number of bosses.
I mean, I like myself a good cosmic horror montrosity jut like everybody else, but how can you not have getting suplexed by Hoarah Loux engraved in your memory for forever and a day?
