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

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Yeah I didn't expect the image to be a blurry mess. You get the idea though.

I've seen images like that before, they're bullshit

Almost as bullshit as claiming Dark Souls 2 is more linear than 3. Throw 2's DLCs into the mix and it's not even remotely close. Claiming 2 is the most linear is downright delusional. Dark Souls 3 has about as many branching paths as a Call of Duty campaign.

 

[Multidirectional]

Compared to Sekiro, game is a cakewalk.

Seems like a skill issue.

And to me Sekiro is a cakewalk compared to Elden Ring, which was one of the most annoying games ever, especially in late game. After taking days to beat Mohg without summons I didn't have it in me anymore to do the rest of the bosses properly and just started summoning players for majority of the following fights. I still ended up doing last boss alone as the other players proved useless against it and only made it harder. And what an utter biggest garbage boss it was too, in a game full of them. All these claims that this game is easy make me think I must've been missing half the combat mechanics or something. To me both ER and Dark Souls III were just very annoying games where I didn't feel in control of combat at all and bosses were hard to read, which is a complete opposite of Sekiro. I would just keep rolling around like a retard for majority of fight until I finally got a lucky run and didn't really feel like I got good at the fight afterwards. And I was using a bleed build with Rivers of Blood in ER, which is supposedly game breaking OP shit. Maybe Souls combat just isn't for me, the last game in series where it didn't feel like random bullshit to me was DS II. In DS III and ER it just felt like enemies were the ones having all the fun, being very agile and able to do long combos and I'm just stuck with a slow useless character that is constantly running out of stamina and is almost always on the defensive.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

they're bullshit though and only show the physical connections, ignoring which areas are actually gated behind others via keys and such.

Nah
Only the more simple ones don't shown "requirements" of each level
And from the looks of it, that map progression flowchart seems to be all captioned
Also physical connections do speak towards the map's non-linearity

Even without the DLC, DS2 is less linear than DS3 with it's DLC

 

[Damned Registrations]

FFS apparently I need to break out the crayons and draw you retards a picture. Also, LOL at all the maps of DS2 that include shit like the belfries. Literaly a tiny ass pvp arena, shown as though it's a whole fucking area. Cathedral of Blue is like counting the fucking Rotting Greatwood room as an entire level. The bias is ridiculous.

 

[Child of Malkav]

FFS apparently I need to break out the crayons and draw you retards a picture. Also, LOL at all the maps of DS2 that include shit like the belfries. Literaly a tiny ass pvp arena, shown as though it's a whole fucking area. Cathedral of Blue is like counting the fucking Rotting Greatwood room as an entire level. The bias is ridiculous.

Dude, you hate DkS2.
What an original, unique take. I'm amazed, we all are, truly.
Now move on.

 

[Riddler]

Compared to Sekiro, game is a cakewalk.

Seems like a skill issue.

And to me Sekiro is a cakewalk compared to Elden Ring, which was one of the most annoying games ever, especially in late game. After taking days to beat Mohg without summons I didn't have it in me anymore to do the rest of the bosses properly and just started summoning players for majority of the following fights. I still ended up doing last boss alone as the other players proved useless against it and only made it harder. And what an utter biggest garbage boss it was too, in a game full of them. All these claims that this game is easy make me think I must've been missing half the combat mechanics or something. To me both ER and Dark Souls III were just very annoying games where I didn't feel in control of combat at all and bosses were hard to read, which is a complete opposite of Sekiro. I would just keep rolling around like a retard for majority of fight until I finally got a lucky run and didn't really feel like I got good at the fight afterwards. And I was using a bleed build with Rivers of Blood in ER, which is supposedly game breaking OP shit. Maybe Souls combat just isn't for me, the last game in series where it didn't feel like random bullshit to me was DS II. In DS III and ER it just felt like enemies were the ones having all the fun, being very agile and able to do long combos and I'm just stuck with a slow useless character that is constantly running out of stamina and is almost always on the defensive.

I really don't understand this. The fights are easy and the bosses generally telegraph their moves well.

The one issue I had with elden ring is that some Bosses seem to be turned for summons and the overpowered tools while others weren't, leading to an uneven experience and some bosses being either hard as shit or trivial depending on whether you used average weapons or the overpowered stuff. (At least this was the case at release, maybe things have been rebalanced since)

In DS3 you can easily beat any boss with any weapon.

In Elden ring i rolled very little. Perhaps the issue is that you're trying to roll too much?

 

[Child of Malkav]

Riddler When it comes to bosses, ER has no middle ground. It's either very easy or very annoying. Not hard, annoying.

the bosses generally telegraph their moves well.

Uh huh.
Like those delayed attacks and those that make the boss jump and stay in the air for like a year or so before homing down on your location?
Or those frame 1 attacks (instant)?
Or those that you never knew existed until you exploit an opening and get hit by a very fast attack you had no way of knowing unless you get hit by one?
Or those infinite combos that may or may not end in a surprise attack?
I don't agree with that retarded "you didn't beat the game if [insert condition here]" but spirit summons absolutely put the game on journalist level of difficulty.
In DkS1 everything was OP, in 2 everything was balanced, in 3 everything was shit, in ER certain things are OP while others need to get through more steps to get there but it's possible.
In Sekiro you feel like you actually fight bosses, 1 on 1, exchanging blows, swords clashing, you're on the offensive then on the defensive the same as the boss, you're in there facing it not running away but repositioning for a sustained assault. It was exhilarating.
Then ER happened. How the fuck?
The worst boss fights that From has ever designed and they know it. Why else did they put so much spectacle and explosions and light shows in the fights? To make people go woooooooooow, so kewl. While mechanically they're a disaster.

 

[Damned Registrations]

 

[Multidirectional]

In Elden ring i rolled very little. Perhaps the issue is that you're trying to roll too much?

I didn't see how else to avoid damage. The medium shield I was using was only any good at earlier stages in game, it became pretty much worthless later. Well maybe I should have switched to full STR build and went for greatshields, but then there's Malenia and I don't see how greatshield would help me with her. I tried simply sidestepping their attacks, like I did in DSII at a lot but that didn't work for me either. I might just be bad at reading these fights but when the bosses start flailing about with their helicopter attacks shit just looks really confusing to me. I've read people say that there are lot of openings to attack but I couldn't see them when I played it, it always looked like I had to wait out a long combo just to get a hit or two in. And sometimes I couldn't even do that, after one combo they start up another one right away. Or jump all the way to the other side of the arena just as I'm about to hit. And don't even get me started on that delayed attack crap. It honestly felt like the bosses were designed just to be fucking annoying. Or maybe I'm too dumb to get it. Though I don't have these issues with other games people generally consider challenging, like Sekiro or Nioh 2. Those to me seem fairly designed and I feel like I have proper tools to deal with anything they throw at me and fights are proper back and forth interaction instead of spending most of the time avoiding the boss.

 

[Damned Registrations]

In Elden ring i rolled very little. Perhaps the issue is that you're trying to roll too much?

I didn't see how else to avoid damage. The medium shield I was using was only any good at earlier stages in game, it became pretty much worthless later. Well maybe I should have switched to full STR build and went for greatshields, but then there's Malenia and I don't see how greatshield would help me with her. I tried simply sidestepping their attacks, like I did in DSII at a lot but that didn't work for me either. I might just be bad at reading these fights but when the bosses start flailing about with their helicopter attacks shit just looks really confusing to me. I've read people say that there are lot of openings to attack but I couldn't see them when I played it, it always looked like I had to wait out a long combo just to get a hit or two in. And sometimes I couldn't even do that, after one combo they start up another one right away. Or jump all the way to the other side of the arena just as I'm about to hit. And don't even get me started on that delayed attack crap. It honestly felt like the bosses were designed just to be fucking annoying. Or maybe I'm too dumb to get it. Though I don't have these issues with other games people generally consider challenging, like Sekiro or Nioh 2. Those to me seem fairly designed and I feel like I have proper tools to deal with anything they throw at me and fights are proper back and forth interaction instead of spending most of the time avoiding the boss.

Elden Ring bosses do have openings, but finding them basically requires a fucking walkthrough. Nobody is actually going to figure out that stepping left instead of right on the third sword swing of attack pattern theta will always make the boss bend over and let you fist them for a few seconds. If you're actually trying to win, you'll use whatever means of not dying worked last time when a boss uses an attack, and that'll 90% of the time lead into more spastic RNG attacks without a chance to safely respond with either healing or attacking. It's why you can find videos of people spanking the bosses while naked at level 1 or whatever; they've basically got it stuck in a loop, one you're not meant to find. That and of course all the 'it's totally not a crap weapon guys' builds that 'only' require gathering items from every area in the game to enable your 4 minute buffing sequence before the boss.

For what it's worth, greatshield + poking does work on basically every boss aside from Malenia and Whorah Grabbyhands. Or at least it used to, I think pvp fags got butthurt over shields and they got nerfed to be balanced for pvp, so they probably suck vs the helicopters now. That's pretty much how it happened in all the previous games too iirc, all roads lead to bleed spam because edgy weapons are cool so the redditors bitch until they're the best.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Well, to their credit at least they did start a few patches ago to separate PvE from PvP changes. It took them till Demon's Souls 6 but hey, better late than never right?

 

[Silva]

Compared to Sekiro, game is a cakewalk.

Seems like a skill issue.

And to me Sekiro is a cakewalk compared to Elden Ring, which was one of the most annoying games ever, especially in late game. After taking days to beat Mohg without summons I didn't have it in me anymore to do the rest of the bosses properly and just started summoning players for majority of the following fights. I still ended up doing last boss alone as the other players proved useless against it and only made it harder. And what an utter biggest garbage boss it was too, in a game full of them. All these claims that this game is easy make me think I must've been missing half the combat mechanics or something. To me both ER and Dark Souls III were just very annoying games where I didn't feel in control of combat at all and bosses were hard to read, which is a complete opposite of Sekiro. I would just keep rolling around like a retard for majority of fight until I finally got a lucky run and didn't really feel like I got good at the fight afterwards. And I was using a bleed build with Rivers of Blood in ER, which is supposedly game breaking OP shit. Maybe Souls combat just isn't for me, the last game in series where it didn't feel like random bullshit to me was DS II. In DS III and ER it just felt like enemies were the ones having all the fun, being very agile and able to do long combos and I'm just stuck with a slow useless character that is constantly running out of stamina and is almost always on the defensive.

Have in mind the updates made the game easier.

In my first playthrough I was having a miserable time for the reasons you describe: I kept trying to have fair fights with bosses but their silly input-reading, insane delays and endless HP made it very frustrating forcing me to use cheese skills and spells.

1 year and a handful updates later and I managed to finish it without much fuss. The input reading seems less acentuated, their HP less bloated and the game became more manageable overall.

 

[Riddler]

Elden Ring bosses do have openings, but finding them basically requires a fucking walkthrough. Nobody is actually going to figure out that stepping left instead of right on the third sword swing of attack pattern theta will always make the boss bend over and let you fist them for a few seconds.

This is an extreme exaggeration. It's a normie game that normie people make it through just fine. It's not that hard.

The only thing requiring a walkthrough are some of the quests.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Elden Ring bosses do have openings, but finding them basically requires a fucking walkthrough. Nobody is actually going to figure out that stepping left instead of right on the third sword swing of attack pattern theta will always make the boss bend over and let you fist them for a few seconds.

This is an extreme exaggeration. It's a normie game that normie people make it through just fine. It's not that hard.

The only thing requiring a walkthrough are some of the quests.

Yeah you'll make it through, but not because you outplayed the boss and exploited it's openings. Just because you happened to get lucky and it didn't punish your healing spam and decided to go fuck a corner for half the fight. Anyone who's played these games knows the experience of struggling with a boss only to suddenly win because the boss became severely retarded all of the sudden and stopped using the move that always kills you. That's not satisfying.

Besides, the normies are using summons and a bunch of those can literally just solo the boss for you; which is again not terribly satisfying. Even just summoning some fucking rats to be a distraction for a bit while you get free attacks off changes a lot of fights from difficult to utterly trivial.

 

[Multidirectional]

Have in mind the updates made the game easier.

In my first playthrough I was having a miserable time for the reasons you describe: I kept trying to have fair fights with bosses but their silly input-reading, insane delays and endless HP made it very frustrating forcing me to use cheese skills and spells.

1 year and a handful updates later and I managed to finish it without much fuss. The input reading seems less acentuated, their HP less bloated and the game became more manageable overall.

Well it's nice of them to make the fights less retarded. Too bad boss fights aren't the only problem I had with the game, the other major issue would be the horrendous pacing. It feels like a massive waste of time for no good reason. Boredom to fun ratio in the game was too large so I don't feel like replaying it anymore. Not interested in getting DLC either. Though I was mildly curious about it just to see how much more retarded the boss fights will be. But based on what you just said maybe came to their senses now. I really shouldn't have bought the game at full price right after release, maybe if I waited for price to drop I would've ended up getting a patched, less frustrating version on top of saving money. Last time I ever buy into the hype. 60 euro for a fucking video game that ended up boring and annoying the shit out of me.

 

[Silva]

Have in mind the updates made the game easier.

In my first playthrough I was having a miserable time for the reasons you describe: I kept trying to have fair fights with bosses but their silly input-reading, insane delays and endless HP made it very frustrating forcing me to use cheese skills and spells.

1 year and a handful updates later and I managed to finish it without much fuss. The input reading seems less acentuated, their HP less bloated and the game became more manageable overall.

Well it's nice of them to make the fights less retarded. Too bad boss fights aren't the only problem I had with the game, the other major issue would be the horrendous pacing. It feels like a massive waste of time for no good reason. Boredom to fun ratio in the game was too large so I don't feel like replaying it anymore. Not interested in getting DLC either. Though I was mildly curious about it just to see how much more retarded the boss fights will be. But based on what you just said maybe came to their senses now. I really shouldn't have bought the game at full price right after release, maybe if I waited for price to drop I would've ended up getting a patched, less frustrating version on top of saving money. Last time I ever buy into the hype. 60 euro for a fucking video game that ended up boring and annoying the shit out of me.

I can relate to this, but I wanted to finish the game to confirm it. Now, after finishing it, I find ER to be subpar for From standards and not worth the full price at all. It's not a bad game (no From game is) but it's one of their most pedestrian efforts, probably only above whatever you consider their worst entry, which is usually DS2 or DS3.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Nobody is actually going to figure out that stepping left instead of right on the third sword swing of attack pattern theta will always make the boss bend over and let you fist them for a few seconds.

I have no trouble doing that. With the exception of Malenia's Waterfowl or that flurry attack Isshin does in Sekiro i never once felt the need to see a guide to learn how to avoid an attack. I always managed to figure out all the patterns and all the openings on my own, and i actually take a great deal of pleasure doing that which is why as a rule i avoid watching anything about a fight because i want to figure out everything by myself. I agree that Elden Ring got a bit esoteric compared to previous Souls games but i have yet to see a puzzle i couldn't solve (again, aside for that Waterfowl shit).

I guess those kind of games require a certain visual/spatial perception that just isn't available to everybody.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Elden Ring bosses do have openings, but finding them basically requires a fucking walkthrough. Nobody is actually going to figure out that stepping left instead of right on the third sword swing of attack pattern theta will always make the boss bend over and let you fist them for a few seconds.

This is an extreme exaggeration. It's a normie game that normie people make it through just fine. It's not that hard.

The only thing requiring a walkthrough are some of the quests.

Yeah you'll make it through, but not because you outplayed the boss and exploited it's openings. Just because you happened to get lucky and it didn't punish your healing spam and decided to go fuck a corner for half the fight. Anyone who's played these games knows the experience of struggling with a boss only to suddenly win because the boss became severely retarded all of the sudden and stopped using the move that always kills you. That's not satisfying.

Sounds like a skill issue to me. But then, it's always a skill issue.

 

[Nathir]

I can't beat a boss, what bad game design!

 

[Lyric Suite]

I can't beat a boss, what bad game design!

It's not even that.

Their argument is that it is impossible to beat the boss legit. I already had this discussion with Paladin what's his face but i guess there's just multiple people who seem to have this issue.

The truth is that just because you can't figure out the patterns doesn't mean it's impossible to do or even that prohibitively difficult. It's also annoying how they use the fact FromSoft gives you ways to bypass the difficult as "proof" that the games cannot be played legitimately. Just because FromSoft likes to make concessions for normies is no evidene their games are impossible to beat fairly. You might as well claim that the existence of easy or normal difficutly in Doom is proof nobody was ever meant to play it in nightmare. It's just sophistry.

 

[Multidirectional]

I don't think I can't figure out the patterns, I just can't be arsed to because I don't find this rote memorization shit to be fun. If I died enough times to it I can figure out any boss, but why would I do that when I can be playing games where I have more fun instead? Mohg was the fight that convinced to not bother anymore. I've spent many hours on that one, probably died over 70 times or something stupid like that and when I finally did it I didn't feel much satisfaction. I felt fucking stupid for causing myself this type of annoyance when I could've just cheesed it with summons or whatever. Good for people who actually enjoy it or who can learn these bosses much faster than me, but I would rather play other jap action games that have approach to combat which suits my taste way better. I like to be the one being agile and doing cool shit instead of just watching enemies do it.

Fuck I wish sometimes From Software and Team Ninja collaborated on a game, could be a match made in heaven. FS art design and production values + TN combat design, potential 10/10 game for me.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Rare footage of Lyric Suite 'beating a boss legit'



Such skill, I can only hope to aspire to one day. Teach us your ways, honored one.

 

[Silverfish]

I didn't see how else to avoid damage.

All you have to do is be in the top 0.01% of players.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I don't think I can't figure out the patterns, I just can't be arsed to because I don't find this rote memorization shit to be fun. If I died enough times to it I can figure out any boss, but why would I do that when I can be playing games where I have more fun instead? Mohg was the fight that convinced to not bother anymore. I've spent many hours on that one, probably died over 70 times or something stupid like that and when I finally did it I didn't feel much satisfaction. I felt fucking stupid for causing myself this type of annoyance when I could've just cheesed it with summons or whatever. Good for people who actually enjoy it or who can learn these bosses much faster than me, but I would rather play other jap action games that have approach to combat which suits my taste way better. I like to be the one being agile and doing cool shit instead of just watching enemies do it.

I guess we are just wired differently but i always have a blast figuring out patterns but it usually doesn't take me as long. If i'm doing 70 tries it's because i'm going for a no-hit run. Still, i don't generally get bored if i'm doing a boss over and over to discover openings and practice counters. Maybe i'm just autistic lul.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I don't think I can't figure out the patterns, I just can't be arsed to because I don't find this rote memorization shit to be fun. If I died enough times to it I can figure out any boss, but why would I do that when I can be playing games where I have more fun instead? Mohg was the fight that convinced to not bother anymore. I've spent many hours on that one, probably died over 70 times or something stupid like that and when I finally did it I didn't feel much satisfaction. I felt fucking stupid for causing myself this type of annoyance when I could've just cheesed it with summons or whatever. Good for people who actually enjoy it or who can learn these bosses much faster than me, but I would rather play other jap action games that have approach to combat which suits my taste way better. I like to be the one being agile and doing cool shit instead of just watching enemies do it.

I guess we are just wired differently but i always have a blast figuring out patterns but it usually doesn't take me as long. If i'm doing 70 tries it's because i'm going for a no-hit run.

To be clear, by 'figure out patterns' do you mean knowing that you can dodge roll towards waterfowl between the second and third step to evade it, or knowing how to make her do nothing but kicks in phase 2 and never using her ground combo in the entire fight. Because it's that second thing that is fucking witchcraft to me and I call bullshit on someone just randomly guessing how that works after a few fights. The only way that happens is trial and error. Ditto for learning to parry like... any fucking boss? Because half their shit can't be parried and there's no way to tell the difference between a bad timing and a move that just ignores parries.