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

[Skinwalker]

Altus plateau is the most beautiful location in Elden Ring, and for some reason also my least favorite one so far. Not as boring as the endless snowfields, but something feels... disjointed there. And too big. All these open-world locations are too big. Why did they need to make this an open-world RPG, again?

 

[Cryomancer]

Agreed Skinwalker, the game in many location fells too "bloated". Being open world is not a problem, because Gothic 1 was open world and din't fell bloated. Would be better if instead of multiple mines, they had only one or two very big and well designed mine(s).

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Altus plateau is the most beautiful location in Elden Ring, and for some reason also my least favorite one so far. Not as boring as the endless snowfields, but something feels... disjointed there. And too big. All these open-world locations are too big. Why did they need to make this an open-world RPG, again?

I don't know. Why does any game need to be open world? Also name a better one in the last decade.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I'll say this. You can argue that From Software switching to a open world format is decline compared to their usual stuff. Fair argument. That being said their open world is still better than all the rest, because their trademark brilliantly designed levels/dungeons still exist within the open world, and that makes exploration in their open world better than everybody elses' open world. You're not gonna find a From Software style area in shit Skyrim, or even the new Zeldas. That's why Elden Ring is better than the rest. I also think their open world is more interesting than all the rest.

 

[Child of Malkav]

H. P. Lovecraft's Cat So because there are a few legacy dungeons on the map that makes the open world good? Not random encounters, or dynamic events of any kind or just literally anything else that would differentiate this open world from another?

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm still not seeing any pattern connecting these various attacks.

It helps if you see the parry frame in terms of a circle. Whenever i'm parrying, it feels more like i'm parrying the hands than the weapon. It's hard to explain but it becomes kinda second nature once you get an instinct for it.

Loretta's only parryable attack is a weird jab with the blunt end.

I think there's a few more you can parry i just didn't feel comfortable doing it. You can also parry her magic bolts with Carian but like an idiot i forgot to do it lol.

I know for a fact there's a few attacks from the Night's Cavarly that can also be parried because i managed to do it, but again i wasn't too sure of myself when i made the video so i didn't try it then.

Edit: This basically sums up my experience with trying to parry in ER:



Why the fuck would I keep trying after shit like that?

Like i said it's more about parrying the hands. It's like you have to be able to enter the enemy's guard. There's an attack in your video where the banished knight makes a little backstep before coming down with an overhead swing, that's probably why that couldn't be parried.

I also got the distinct impression not all parry tools are the same. Maybe i was imagining things but i found Carian Retaliation for instance had a more "rounded" parry hit box that made it easier to parry overhead swings, where as Golden Parry had a more horizontal hit box witih a longer parry range. I don't know what the parry hit box is on the shield that guy is using but i wouldn't be surprised if it's not as good as some of the others. I think only the buckler proper is comparable with weapon arts like Carian or Golden Parry, none of the regular shields compare, including the small shields. Unless i'm remembering wrong that is.

Keep in mind it's not like you HAVE to parry everything. I'm not arguing that parry is a universal counter for everything the game throws at you. It's more that whenever you feel that the game is doing something that just seems outright impossible or unfair, it's because you failed to use the proper counter. That you can just clear of Morgott's entire flurry combo of death by stepping behind him may seem a bit strange but it shows the kind of logic the designers are using. It feels like they have gone a bit avantguard with this game. If Dark Souls is Bach or Beethoven, Elden Ring is Wagner or something. Having run out of ways to up the challenge in a conventional way, they decided to get esoteric and unconventional. Some people say it's a degeneration but i also can understand their point of view (the designers i mean) as what else can they do? I mean short of shelving the combat system altoghether, which they can't do given Dark Souls is still their main bread and butter.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Sleep is really useful... one one whole fucking boss in the entire game.

Sleep would be broken as shit if it worked on all bosses. Every single boss fight would look like this:



Sleep is more of a utility tool to avoid uncessary combat in the open world. You didn't get the message every time you saw a sleeping bear or lobster?

I agree that poison is kinda of weak in this game but that's because they have that rot shit now, which kinda makes poison redudant. It is what it be.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There's an attack in your video where the banished knight makes a little backstep before coming down with an overhead swing, that's probably why that couldn't be parried.

Dude every attempted parry in that video has the knights hands clipping into the PC. There's no way he's too far away.

 

[Multidirectional]

I'll say this. You can argue that From Software switching to a open world format is decline compared to their usual stuff. Fair argument. That being said their open world is still better than all the rest, because their trademark brilliantly designed levels/dungeons still exist within the open world, and that makes exploration in their open world better than everybody elses' open world.

Their open world is better than the rest because there are some good non open world levels within it? I don't think anyone is talking about these levels when they complain about open world.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Sleep is more of a utility tool to avoid uncessary combat in the open world. You didn't get the message every time you saw a sleeping bear or lobster?

The message I got was 'kill this, it might have a dungeon or rare item underneath it because it's a rare and powerful enemy.'

And you miss the point with sleep. It doesn't work on mundane enemies either, aside from like, demihumans. It won't work on the leyndell or zamor knights, or the blade lions. You know, enemies where it would have been useful avoid fighting 2 at once. It's not a matter of 'oh boo hoo I can't stunlock everything' it's a matter of 'I can hit this fucker with 2500 power worth of sleep to make him stagger for half a second thrice, or I can inflict that much bleed and cause him to lose 80% of his health and stagger 8 times.' Sleep is a status effect in monster hunter and it works just fine there. Literally all it would have needed to be useful is to let you take a swig of estus and cast buffs in the middle of a boss fight once or twice. They can make the required status climb after infliction so making it a guarantee only once in the fight is no big deal.

 

[Lyric Suite]

There's an attack in your video where the banished knight makes a little backstep before coming down with an overhead swing, that's probably why that couldn't be parried.

Dude every attempted parry in that video has the knights hands clipping into the PC. There's no way he's too far away.

That's not true.

The only ambiguous parry is the one at 0:27, where he hits the shaft of the halberd with the shield but parries the second swing since he is now a little closer to the body. The rest i don't see a parry opportunity. There's an attack where he swings around to create a whirlwind but doesn't really feel like an attack, more like a prelude for something else. There's several where he back steps as the weapon is coming down which definitely couldn't be parried. The one where he follows up an overhead swing with a low attack where he scrapes the ground and then goes for an upward swing while moving his body sideways is not something i personally would assume could be parried.

Keep in mind i'm not saying there aren't situations where it's a bit ambigous whether you can parry an attack or not but usually if it's a matter of using parry because rolling doesn't seem as effective you generally only have to focus on those specific attacks you are sure can be parried. I don't know if EVERY swing the dual wielding banished knight makes can be parried, but in reality what difference does it make, you only need the one:



When i tried to do this boss fight with rolling the dual wielding knight had me dick around the arena for like 10 minutes fuck that shit. One good parry and bam, he is gone.

One thing to keep in mind is that unlike previous Souls games, Elden Ring allows you to use the best parries on 100% medium shields. This makes things even easier since you can mix up parry with blocking, meaning parry is not as risky as it used to be which further stresses that it has now been "upgraded" to being a standard tool, which also means you only have to use it if you feel you need it.

The dual wielding knight you fight on the bridge for instance could be done with parry also, but he is so close that sometimes it's best to rely on the great shield bounce, as i displayed recently:



Everything in this game is situational. I can see if you went through Dark Souls 1 to 3 with rolling only it can be frustrating to be forced to employ unfamiliar play styles but honestly i don't see how they could just keep the roll-fu stuff going indefinitely. In a way it's also the reason they did Sekiro in the first place.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The one where he follows up an overhead swing with a low attack where he scrapes the ground and then goes for an upward swing while moving his body sideways is not something i personally would assume could be parried.

This is my problem! Because the bloodhound knights have pretty much the same attack, and it CAN be parried. Why? You can also parry their attacks where they do a backflip to escape as they swing. How the fuck am I supposed to know except to try it and die? For fucks sake, you can parry the bare fist attacks on omens. How the shit does that make sense? The Marais guys have a sword swing that comes from your right hand side. You can parry it, by bashing it to the left... through your body. Why the fuck would I think you could parry that? But literally not a single move Godrick has can be parried. You can't parry the banished knight's jumping attack... but you can parry MALEKITH's. And it's not because the wind attacks can't be parried, because you can parry his lunge.

There. Are. No. Rules.

And this is just parrying. Good luck trying to figure out which boss attacks you can safely guard counter with your specific weapon. Will he read your guard counter as an opening and trade with you? Who the fuck knows! Probably, since guard counters are absolute shit.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'll say this. You can argue that From Software switching to a open world format is decline compared to their usual stuff. Fair argument. That being said their open world is still better than all the rest, because their trademark brilliantly designed levels/dungeons still exist within the open world, and that makes exploration in their open world better than everybody elses' open world.

Their open world is better than the rest because there are some good non open world levels within it? I don't think anyone is talking about these levels when they complain about open world.

It's better than the rest because the FromSoft gameplay is just better in general. That's not a virtue with the open world of Elden Ring, it's more of a testament of how shitty modern AAA games are. I saw my nephew play one of the new Far Cry games once and i was shocked at how mind numbly retarded the open world stuff was. He had a map which was cluttered with icons that pretty much indicated everything he needed. It felt extremely shematic. Go to place, acquire thing, rinse and repeat with nary any kind of variation, a complete far cry (no pun intended) from the open areas in Stalker which felt more organic and natural (and thus immersive).

Elden Ring also was fairly schematic (there was ALWAYS caves, there was ALWAYS ruins, there was ALWAYS a bird at night etc) but it never feels as normie tier as modern western open world turds do. Also, every zone in Elden Ring was fairly distinct thematically and aesthetically.

 

[toro]

 

[Lyric Suite]

Maybe i just have better instincts for this stuff but i still didn't find that confusing figuring out what can be parried etc. And there's really no hard rule it's more of a feel you have to develop. Yes, occationally some attacks seem to defy all logic but i tend to assume the designer just had a brain fart. With a game this massive and with every enemy having such a vast array of unique movies it's probably impossible to make everything 100% perfect but for the most part errors aren't really that common and often whenever i find something that's confusing i automatically assume i fucked up, not the designer, which happens to be the case 90% of the time.

Probably, since guard counters are absolute shit.

It depends on the enemy. Enemies that look like they wouldn't have a lot of poise like the insect guys are very weak to guard counters:



Guard counters are also more useful on great shields because of the bounce. But they can be useful with some enemies even if you are using medium shields, like those stupid birds:



Notice the Elden Ring logic though. The above tactic isn't so easy to use on the upgraded war hawks, the one that spit fire, and i can only assume that was by design. If you become complacent in killing the regular hawks with guard counters, they made them trickier to use on the tougher version:



Basically, on the regular hawks you block the double claw slam then use guard counters to knock the bird down. On the fire version, you have to roll out of the double claw slam then back up as the bird spits fire to catch him from behind.

 

[Lyric Suite]

While I'm looking forward to the DLC, I'm also kind of dreading it. I'm going to need to acquire every new weapon, spell, ash of war, talisman, site of grace and crafting material. All at RL9 +0. I did this for the base game and I have a really awesome mule now, but it was a mammoth project.

If the DLC is as big as rumored it'll be like starting that all over again only worse because nobody will have the new stuff on their mules yet so I'll have to farm it instead of getting it dropped.

Well, generally a lot of the stuff that require a lot of farming to get isn't really that important. Like there's some ultra rare nobles clothes who cares though. I think only the Banished Knight set pissed me off since to get the complete thing you have to do some obnoxious grinding.

That said, some added variety in weapons and armors is something i'm actually welcoming. Elden Ring was a bit lacking in terms of fashion. A few more options wouldn't hurt.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Shiiiet.

I really hope they announce the release date so i can at least get ready for it.

 

[Bendu]

Marika's tits! I hope they beef up the Multiplayer.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Don't release it next month you cocksuckers.

Honestly
I wouldn't mind if it did
Sure it would hurt DD2 sales - though perhaps not by much, as I don't see much overlap between audiences
But on the other hand it would keep all the normalfags and midwits that unironically think "simon says" rollslop combat is great game design, out of DD2 discussions

You can argue that From Software switching to a open world format is decline compared to their usual stuff.

They've been already doing open world since DS1

You're not gonna find a From Software style area in shit Skyrim, or even the new Zeldas.

Yeah no shit
Those game have completely different priorities and gameplay focus

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

DS1 is not open world though, the first half is basically a 3d metroidvania and the overall experience is a mess for it. It's a good thing they went back to the linear level design of DeS with the sequels.

 

[REhorror]

What is the definition of open world again, no loading screen when you traverse the world?

 

[Multidirectional]

Maybe my fucking apartment is open world too.

DS1 is not open world though, the first half is basically a 3d metroidvania and the overall experience is a mess for it.

If the best content in entire series is a mess then it's a shame they didn't make more messes.

 

[REhorror]

Maybe my fucking apartment is open world too.

DS1 is not open world though, the first half is basically a 3d metroidvania and the overall experience is a mess for it.

If the best content in entire series is a mess then it's a shame they didn't make more messes.

Why is DaS1 so well-regarded anyway? DaS3 plays much better, and ER is much better too.

I think it always comes down between DaS3 vs. ER.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Maybe my fucking apartment is open world too.

DS1 is not open world though, the first half is basically a 3d metroidvania and the overall experience is a mess for it.

If the best content in entire series is a mess then it's a shame they didn't make more messes.

Why is DaS1 so well-regarded anyway? DaS3 plays much better, and ER is much better too.

I think it always comes down between DaS3 vs. ER.

DS3 is ass though, DS1 is well regarded because it was the game that made FROM popular among the mainstream audience.

 

[REhorror]

Maybe my fucking apartment is open world too.

DS1 is not open world though, the first half is basically a 3d metroidvania and the overall experience is a mess for it.

If the best content in entire series is a mess then it's a shame they didn't make more messes.

Why is DaS1 so well-regarded anyway? DaS3 plays much better, and ER is much better too.

I think it always comes down between DaS3 vs. ER.

DS3 is ass though, DS1 is well regarded because it was the game that made FROM popular among the mainstream audience.

DaS3 plays so much better than DaS1, it's not even funny.

Maybe it's just nostalgia at this point.