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

[JDR13]

Hellpoint is the only Souls-clone i ever tried, and... it wasn't terrible actually lmao. Yeah kinda mediocre but all the Souls stuff was in there, including some neat level design. Also unique atmosphere. Makes me wonder about the other Souls clones, which maybe aren't as terrible as people say they are. That said, FromSoft has made so many of those games that it's hard to find the time to play any of those copy cats. Any time i feel like trying one i figured why not replay one by FromSoftware instead.

The Surge games aren't that bad.

The Surge games, some people prefer 1, I prefer 2. Either way, they're decent.
I enjoyed Steelrising, YMMV with that one as it's more of a janky action RPG, but still, I enjoyed the setting and art.
There's a lot of love for Nioh (especially 2) around here, as well. Though that's more actiony and has Diablo style loot.
There are a few other notable ones either out or coming out, but those are the best so far imo.

Coming up there's Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (China Souls from the Nioh guys) and the remake of Lords of the Fallen which at least has cool visuals from the Surge guys. Original Lords of the Fallen sucks ass, but it was also their first game and each successive one has improved, so...

I might catch some shit here for sayiing this, but I thought Jedi: Fallen Order was pretty good. It's more of a souls light, but it's fairly challenging if you crank up the difficulty.

 

[covr]

Thanks guys and fuck you fork, who the fuck are you? Will post my impressions after receiving the game - I've bought it on Xbox as jrpgs should be played on a console. And it's a boxed used version as I am just a retarded Polack.

I've played Jedi FO though, it was fun for a while, just before realising it is very linear and exploration is abysmal.

Back to ER: I want to play a class which requires the minimum manual agility from a player - is full summoner or full stealth character possible?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Thanks guys and fuck you fork, who the fuck are you? Will post my impressions after receiving the game - I've bought it on Xbox as jrpgs should be played on a console. And it's a boxed used version as I am just a retarded Polack.

I've played Jedi FO though, it was fun for a while, just before realising it is very linear and exploration is abysmal.

Back to ER: I want to play a class which requires the minimum manual agility from a player - is full summoner or full stealth character possible?

Nope. Summoning is very limited, normally left for particularly dangerous areas or bosses. Your summons won't fight your fights for you, and while the Mimic Tear is of great help, they mostly do half of the work for you.

Edit: to clarify--- ashes are summons you can do for your own single player adventures, and they consume FP (magic) or health. You have npc summons, which can be unlocked after progressing their personal quests, and human summons, but you have to be within a certain level range to be able to summon them, which may require you to progress in the "intended" order.

It's super easy to cheese in this game though. Bleed builds are all the rage, because you can find a very powerful weapon that does bleed damage and has a very op special ability. Onwards you'll find some katanas that are good as well. Usually bleed weapons were either too low range or fragile, but items don't have durability anymore, so that's not a worry.
Stealth is mostly an utility thing. You can sneak past most things in this game, and you can do so if you want to miss runes (xp points) or even critical items sometimes.

Sorcery has some grossly OP stuff (the dreaded kamehameha spell) but that requires full dedication and knowledge of what you're doing.

 

[JDR13]

Thanks guys and fuck you fork, who the fuck are you? Will post my impressions after receiving the game - I've bought it on Xbox as jrpgs should be played on a console. And it's a boxed used version as I am just a retarded Polack.

fork can be safely ignored. Like his tag says, he's just a dumbfuck.

I've played Jedi FO though, it was fun for a while, just before realising it is very linear and exploration is abysmal.

The exploration isn't great because the loot system sucks, but it's not linear. It has a metroidvania type level design where you often have to return to previously inaccessible areas.

Back to ER: I want to play a class which requires the minimum manual agility from a player - is full summoner or full stealth character possible?

The Vagabond would probably be a good class for you. You'll want to go heavy on Endurance, Strength, and Vigor.

No matter what class you choose though, there will still be situations where you'll need to dodge, so get used to the dodge-roll asap.

 

[fork]

You are the dumfuck. Imagine actually taking tags on the dex seriously, lol.

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

Thanks guys and fuck you fork, who the fuck are you? Will post my impressions after receiving the game - I've bought it on Xbox as jrpgs should be played on a console. And it's a boxed used version as I am just a retarded Polack.

I've played Jedi FO though, it was fun for a while, just before realising it is very linear and exploration is abysmal.

Back to ER: I want to play a class which requires the minimum manual agility from a player - is full summoner or full stealth character possible?

Nope. Summoning is very limited, normally left for particularly dangerous areas or bosses. Your summons won't fight your fights for you, and while the Mimic Tear is of great help, they mostly do half of the work for you.

Edit: to clarify--- ashes are summons you can do for your own single player adventures, and they consume FP (magic) or health. You have npc summons, which can be unlocked after progressing their personal quests, and human summons, but you have to be within a certain level range to be able to summon them, which may require you to progress in the "intended" order.

It's super easy to cheese in this game though. Bleed builds are all the rage, because you can find a very powerful weapon that does bleed damage and has a very op special ability. Onwards you'll find some katanas that are good as well. Usually bleed weapons were either too low range or fragile, but items don't have durability anymore, so that's not a worry.
Stealth is mostly an utility thing. You can sneak past most things in this game, and you can do so if you want to miss runes (xp points) or even critical items sometimes.

Sorcery has some grossly OP stuff (the dreaded kamehameha spell) but that requires full dedication and knowledge of what you're doing.

Kamehameha does not work on all bosses, anything that isn't incredibly slow and has decent poise will get to you just as you unleash it. But honestly, you can do Kamehameha type fuckery with melee builds just as easy. They just require more setup, But they are generally more applicable. Hand Cannon can be used to take out every single boss that doesn't have super high poise, just don't use target lock and always first aim away. You'll stunlock them to spot.

Meanwhile, Meteorite of Astel and Kamehameha can result in broken floor wiping when setup correctly. However, they're more of an intro duo to spell shenanigans, go ahead and try Golden Vow, 10%+ damage at full health talisman, and Loretta's greatbow or Spiral Shard. Snipe enemies with 4 homing great bow range projectiles or a spell that hits every Spiral turn *again* on the same enemy. Spiral Shard results in absolutely hilariousness if you can line it up in front of a giant enemy, like the Elden beast or Dragons. Spiral Shard has an insane DPS when setup correctly.

 

[Lyric Suite]

covid, i mean, covr, you really should have stuck with DS if you quit on the tutorial. One of the best games ever made kinda of a pity. And definitely what i'd have played first, but i guess it is what it be.

Report when you talk to that Tree Sentinel dude, wanna see how you gonna fair up with that if you couldn't even get past the fatso from the DS tutorial.

 

[mediocrepoet]

covid, i mean, covr, you really should have stuck with DS if you quit on the tutorial. One of the best games ever made kinda of a pity. And definitely what i'd have played first, but i guess it is what it be.

Report when you talk to that Tree Sentinel dude, wanna see how you gonna fair up with that if you couldn't even get past the fatso from the DS tutorial.

Fabulously optimistic. He's gonna rage quit at Soldier of Godrick.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

But! If that first 40 hours is really good I could risk getting the game just for the first good part. 40 hours is a lot, with my current pace it is 2 months of playing.

Fuck it, I've bought it despite what you've all said. I know I am going to regret this soon.

The "legacy dungeons" are the best-designed areas in the game, and these include Stormveil Castle (a short distance from the start in Limgrave) and Raya Lucaria Academy (in the next zone, Liurnia). Of course, you'll also want to explore the Open World environment and various mini-dungeons; IIRC, the only repetition in Limgrave (the starting zone) and the Weeping Peninsula (a small area south of Limgrave) is the Burial Watchdog mini-dungeon boss. Make sure you acquire the horse (Gatefront Ruins site of Grace) and then the Spirit Calling Bell (return to the Church of Ellah Site of Grace at night) right away. The Spirit Calling Bell allows you to summon spirit ashes during boss fights and also certain encounters with groups of enemies, which makes combat far easier. Also take note of the weapon skills (and the related Ashes of War), since some of these skills are quite overpowered and can similarly make combat far easier.

Completing Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula, Stormveil Castle, much of Liurnia, and Raya Lucaria Academy should put you at about 40 hours. Though you'd be missing out on several other well-designed areas, including "legacy dungeons" and underground zones.

 

[Multidirectional]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The real problem with the open world in Elden Ring is not the recycled content in and of itself. That's par course with all games of this type, including the good ones, and i think Elden Ring actually does a good job with most areas, which all have their unique aesthetic, some unique enemies and the recycled enemies get "thematic" changes that are line with the area you are in (in Liurnia for instance the soldiers will throw glinstone pebbles at you. It's a minor thing but it's still a nice touch).

I don't even mind the fact each area follows the same basic mold, with caves that are always based on one of two types (mining caves and imp caves), there always being a dragon (thematically altered to fit the concept of the area), and of course the perennial minor Erdree. None of that bothered me. The only time the recycling bogged me down was the few bosses that were geninely excessively reused (the fucking Ulcerated fucker for one).

The real problem with the way this game does open world is that the mixture with the Dark Souls style of having "secrets" around every corner and where everything you see is actually important compels you to sweep every inch of terrain, which is fun in Dark Souls because of the tight level design and the fact every discovery is rewarding, where as in Elden Ring the open world is just too large for that kind of minute exploration and while the game does have a massive number of items, they just aren't enough to make sure every discovery is worth making. In Dark Souls, every time you discover a secret you know you gonna get something good. In Elden Ring, many times your exploration is rewarded with pointless shit like mushrooms.

I never played any Ubishit games so i don't know how those work, but generally speaking, in most open world games i tried much of the "volume" was there merely for the purpose of realism and atmosphere. You weren't compelled to trace every inch of it and look for potential discoveries under every crevice. In Dark Souls, the amount of fluff versus actual quality content was extremely small. Every step you made there was something of note, either because of the level design or some special enemy placement or a secret, what have you. To take that kind of tight design and bloat it up with redundancy just makes the experience exhausting. You can't just traverse the expanse in Elden Ring for the immersivenes like you can in a regular LARPing simulator, knowing exactly what to pay attention to and what to focus on, because you gonna miss a ton of important shit.

But even more than that, the game doesn't even allow to have stuff for the sake of LARPing. All the ruins are the "same" because they are designed the way they are for a specific gameplay purpose and so they have to be repeated. You can't have a unique but albeit empty building that serves no other purpose but to create the illusion somebody lives in this world. No, everything is there for a specific gameplay purpose and since the area is so vast and so unlinear compared to Dark Souls it's all variations on a theme. There's always going to be ruins. There's always going to be a hut with some kind of NPC or painting inside, there's always going to be one of those towers with puzzles in them and so on. THAT, i think, is what creates the perception of repetition.

In reality, the amout of content in this game is kinda staggering, but the developers had to device a kind of standardization because a game of this size combined with the typical Souls style would have been unfeasible to create any other way.

Ultimately, to me it's still a great game but the flak it recieved was understandable. The game is exhausting in a way no other game i've played has ever been.

 

[Lyric Suite]

To add to the above, i think the area where the "recycling" is felt the most is the bosses. Take the imp caves for instance. Yes, they are all basically variations on the same theme, but each one of them has some kind of unique gimmick. Then you get to the boss and it's something you already met several times before. And in order to amend this problem, a lot of the times instead of a new harder boss, you just get the same boss but this time you fight two of them etc.

 

[Lyric Suite]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

It's funny how some people have different reactions.

I got stomped like a bitch by the turial boss in DS1 and that just made me decide the game was worth playing. A boss this hard, in the fucking tutorial? What else is this game gonna throw at me? That's what i thought and got me instantly hooked at the game.

So sad to think back and remember the time when the tutorial boss in DS1 was actually hard and scary. Nowadays i can just kill him with the broken weapon while picking my nose at the same time. I wish i could go back to being a scrub so i could repeat my first time experience.

 

[covr]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

It's funny how some people have different reactions.

I got stomped like a bitch by the turial boss in DS1 and that just made me decide the game was worth playing. A boss this hard, in the fucking tutorial? What else is this game gonna throw at me? That's what i thought and got me instantly hooked at the game.

So sad to think back and remember the time when the tutorial boss in DS1 was actually hard and scary. Nowadays i can just kill him with the broken weapon while picking my nose at the same time. I wish i could go back to being a scrub so i could repeat my first time experience.

Well, you misunderstood me - I don't think that I've ever made it to tutorial boss, as I've quit after a couple of minutes. Didn't like the game overall and difficult combat was only one of the things they put me off . Maybe I didn't figure out controls? I don't remember as it was many years ago. I remember fugly consolised UI, something about wrong resolution/aspect ratio and jrpg hints dressed in western aesthetics.
If ER would be too difficult, I might start with DS1. Lyric Suite - what's the best version of the game? There was some remaster/enhanced edition, right? Should I play this on console/gamepad or PC with K&M?

 

[covr]

Also, WTF, we can have a normal discussion about relatively new game without trans/gay/nigger stuff floating around?
Is it still my Codex or Sunday School discussion board?

 

[Bloodeyes]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

It's funny how some people have different reactions.

I got stomped like a bitch by the turial boss in DS1 and that just made me decide the game was worth playing. A boss this hard, in the fucking tutorial? What else is this game gonna throw at me? That's what i thought and got me instantly hooked at the game.

So sad to think back and remember the time when the tutorial boss in DS1 was actually hard and scary. Nowadays i can just kill him with the broken weapon while picking my nose at the same time. I wish i could go back to being a scrub so i could repeat my first time experience.

Well, you misunderstood me - I don't think that I've ever made it to tutorial boss, as I've quit after a couple of minutes. Didn't like the game overall and difficult combat was only one of the things they put me off . Maybe I didn't figure out controls? I don't remember as it was many years ago. I remember fugly consolised UI, something about wrong resolution/aspect ratio and jrpg hints dressed in western aesthetics.
If ER would be too difficult, I might start with DS1. Lyric Suite - what's the best version of the game? There was some remaster/enhanced edition, right? Should I play this on console/gamepad or PC with K&M?

What difficult combat is there before the tutorial boss? I'm not far into DS1 but there's really nothing to see before that dude. Also, he's piss easy if you've played Elden Ring first.

ER is a good place to start with Fromsoft games. It has some stuff in it that's arguably harder than DS3, but lots more easy filler content so it isn't as consistently punishing. It also has more hand-holding mechanics and the potential to make stupidly broken builds without much effort thanks to the interchangeable ashes of war. Also remember that not only is it a videogame that doesn't kill you in real life if you fuck up, there's barely any death penalty at all.

I got very frustrated when I first played it but someone on the Codex told me to level vigor as priority. I'd add that you should use a 100% physical damage negation shield with ash of war "no skill" on your first playthrough. And use spirit summons. If you get into the game and want to play again and upskill stop using the summons and the shield.

 

[NJClaw]

I got very frustrated when I first played it but someone on the Codex told me to level vigor as priority.

HEY. SOMEONE?! DO I MEAN NOTHING?!!! AM I A JOKE TO YOU

 

[Lyric Suite]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

It's funny how some people have different reactions.

I got stomped like a bitch by the turial boss in DS1 and that just made me decide the game was worth playing. A boss this hard, in the fucking tutorial? What else is this game gonna throw at me? That's what i thought and got me instantly hooked at the game.

So sad to think back and remember the time when the tutorial boss in DS1 was actually hard and scary. Nowadays i can just kill him with the broken weapon while picking my nose at the same time. I wish i could go back to being a scrub so i could repeat my first time experience.

Well, you misunderstood me - I don't think that I've ever made it to tutorial boss, as I've quit after a couple of minutes. Didn't like the game overall and difficult combat was only one of the things they put me off . Maybe I didn't figure out controls? I don't remember as it was many years ago. I remember fugly consolised UI, something about wrong resolution/aspect ratio and jrpg hints dressed in western aesthetics.
If ER would be too difficult, I might start with DS1. Lyric Suite - what's the best version of the game? There was some remaster/enhanced edition, right? Should I play this on console/gamepad or PC with K&M?

Elden Ring's difficulty is relative to how much you know about Souls combat and how good you feel about exploiting shit that trivalizes the game (and in Elden Ring there's a lot of that).

Dark Souls 1 just seems like a better better introduction to this series. It's smaller, more focused (except for a couple of unfinished areas), more "inspired" in a way. It's somewhat more primitive but that just makes it easier to get into. Your character moves slower but so do the enemies. After Dark Souls 3 bosses in those games adopted a kind of super fast style with wierd combos with seemingly infinite stamina that even some veterans seem to dislike. Dark Souls has little of that. The combat just feels "pure", it's not bogged down by this need to have to "challenge" people who already played half a dozen of those type of games.

BTW, the game does have some warts by virtue of that fact it was made for consoles (and an old console at that). Yes, the UI is a bit retarded all though once you get familiar with the game you'll see there's a logic to it. I had the same reaction when i first played it. I figured what's this console retardation and almost quit the game, but a friend was with me that day so we just persevered merely because we were curious and we had nothing better to do. Completing the tutorial sold me to the whole thing since it's a minature rapresentation of what the game has to offer, which is tight level design, and great combat once you figure out how it works. But even more than that, i just like the style of it. There's a lot of turbo twitch games out there that are super hard purely because of the twitchness but Dark Souls is different. It's slower, more methodical, there's almost something conteplative about it. The game isn't hard because of the twitch, it's hard because it is actually smart. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they get impatient and start attacking erratically, which always ends in instant death. The game forces you to think about what you are doing. You are actually PUNISHED if you go turbo twitch mode.

As for how to play the game, i have to reluctantly recommend the remaster. Yes, it was a bit of a cash grab and i didn't like some of the visual changes but there's just too many quality of life improvements to ignore, especially if you already found the game to be somewhat clunky to get into to begin with. I would also use a controller. This isn't Gothic or a PC game. Once you lock on an enemy it almost feels like a third person beat em up game.

To some up, the best things about the game are level design, atmosphere, and combat that is more cerebral than twich based.

A couple of tips:

1) Don't pick a magic user class out of the gate. Leave that for a second playthrough. Magic is a trap in Dark Souls. It makes some parts of it really easy, which only means you are not going to acquire the necessary skills, and because of how much worse split damage is compared to pure physical damage whenever a boss makes it impossible to use magic you gonna have a very, VERY bad time. You can do something like a Paladin class, stop at 30 faith and then rest physical, just so you can use heals and some buffs, but other than that i'd just keep it pure for a first playthrough.

2) NPCs will often say important stuff and will only say it once. So pay attention, make notes or keep a wiki close by. Also, remember to exhaust all dialogues by talking to them until you get to the point they keep repeating the last line. Then, as you explore the game, go back to them every now and then to see if more dialogue has been unlocked by something you did.

3) Don't hit NPCs, and whatever you do, don't kill them. You can actually fuck up your entire playthrough by killing important NPCs. If you accidentally hit them, you can "pacify" them by going to the judge dude and pay him to wash your "sins", but if you kill them you are shit out of luck.

4) Don't pick the master key for your first playthrough. Ignore the guides if you know anything about metroidvania level design you'll WANT to have certain portions of the game be locked away as to have everything open out of the gate just means you'll end up in places before you are ready for them and you are just going to get lost more often than not. Master key is a great tool if you already know the game well, but for a first playthrough it's better not to use it. A good option for a first time is the old witch ring, just because it's otherwise somewhat hard to get in game (requires you give up another important object). All it does is open a tiny bit of lore by allowing you to access a few lines of dialogue from an NPC but for a first playthrough it's neat to experience and personally i would never give up the item you can sacrifice to obtain this ring in game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

^ Imagine actually believing that guy who couldn't get past DS1 tutorial can do all that. He likes Gothic so what he should be playing is Risen 1 and Elex 1. Probably on Easy difficulty.

It's funny how some people have different reactions.

I got stomped like a bitch by the turial boss in DS1 and that just made me decide the game was worth playing. A boss this hard, in the fucking tutorial? What else is this game gonna throw at me? That's what i thought and got me instantly hooked at the game.

So sad to think back and remember the time when the tutorial boss in DS1 was actually hard and scary. Nowadays i can just kill him with the broken weapon while picking my nose at the same time. I wish i could go back to being a scrub so i could repeat my first time experience.

Well, you misunderstood me - I don't think that I've ever made it to tutorial boss, as I've quit after a couple of minutes. Didn't like the game overall and difficult combat was only one of the things they put me off . Maybe I didn't figure out controls? I don't remember as it was many years ago. I remember fugly consolised UI, something about wrong resolution/aspect ratio and jrpg hints dressed in western aesthetics.
If ER would be too difficult, I might start with DS1. Lyric Suite - what's the best version of the game? There was some remaster/enhanced edition, right? Should I play this on console/gamepad or PC with K&M?

What difficult combat is there before the tutorial boss? I'm not far into DS1 but there's really nothing to see before that dude. Also, he's piss easy if you've played Elden Ring first.

I think i got what he is saying is that the combat is hard to get into, not that it is hard as such.

I can see where he is coming from, because i had the same reaction at first. You just need sometime to get used to it before it starts to make sense, so to speak.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I got very frustrated when I first played it but someone on the Codex told me to level vigor as priority.

HEY. SOMEONE?! DO I MEAN NOTHING?!!! AM I A JOKE TO YOU

Yes

 

[Lyric Suite]

Another argument in favor of playing Dark Souls 1 first: it's the greater game, and the first time experience of it can be ruined by playing any of the other Souls games before hand. That alone is enough for me lmao.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Is the remake (the only version commercially available) ok or should I try to get the original version of Dark Souls 1?

 

[covr]

Thanks guys, I've bought DS1 remastered for a couple of potatoes on XBOX, will play later today. Saw some youtube gameplay, it all seems like a slow motion game - maybe it is something for me. The UI looks better vs what I remember from a decade ago, maybe it was also improved in remaster.
I will play ER after DS, given my pace late 2023.

 

[Doktor Best]

I think ER is a great introduction to FromSoft games but hey DS is also a great first pick.

 

[fork]

TLDR: The game is shit.