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

[Hell Swarm]

Fucking disgusting shotacon garbage.

 

[Ravielsk]

They barely function and it's easy to slip off them since the platforming is terrible.

There was a sky falling mechanic related to the towers. The grave stones were originally post-fall maps but it was discarded and many of the maps we have are made up of or are the original post-gravity shift.

This is the first time I am hearing about this. Where did you hear about this bit of cut content?

Just so you know I 100% believe you, From has done this shit multiple times and each time is worse than then prior.

This one has some more details but it's covering other cut content too.

Thanks, so this is just like the rituals from DS3 a feature around which a huge chunk of the game was to revolve but cut basically at the last moment. It explains so much about why the underground sections are just sort of thrown into the overworld without much fanfare and why there are stellar creatures like Astel there. Also(and for me mainly) it clears up why the towers are just sort of left in the game. They do not really provide a challenge of any kind, lore wise they are completely ignored(I dont think a single NPC even acknowledges that they exist or you have to visit them) and why the tooltip for Great runes to this day still lies to you about not needing rune arcs to make them work.

Honestly this is the sort of stuff that made me give up the lore of Souls games after Bloodborne. The From soft style of storytelling simply does not work when the development keeps taking these bizarre U-turns and then only the bare minimum is done patch up the holes left.

 

[Odoryuk]

and why the tooltip for Great runes to this day still lies to you about not needing rune arcs to make them work.

But you need to use rune arcs to activate equipped runes???

 

[Ravielsk]

But you need to use rune arcs to activate equipped runes???

Yes, Great runes do literary nothing without a rune arc. The tooltip straight up lies and tells you that rune arcs only "enhance" the rune but self evidently that is a lie.
Without a rune:

Spoiler

With a rune but without an arc: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3222289706
With a rune and a arc: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3222290097

 

[Hell Swarm]

The From soft style of storytelling simply does not work when the development keeps taking these bizarre U-turns and then only the bare minimum is done patch up the holes left.

Anything From do is throwing shit at the wall and letting the fans 'make sense' of it. There's a Yullie video right before that one revealing the merchants were taken from a Fighting fantasy novel. They even have the same names as the novel characters. Seeing From as anything but mag pies who have a stupid fanbase is beyond stupid.

and why the tooltip for Great runes to this day still lies to you about not needing rune arcs to make them work.

But you need to use rune arcs to activate equipped runes???

That's what he said. The tool tip says you don't need one, but you do need one in game.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

I don't get how ER's style of open-world keeps getting compared to Ubisoft. They aren't even comparable...

And I refuse to believe From would copy something as western and decline as a battle-royal dropdown mechanic where you can land anywhere you want, based on a few snippets of cut code. What's would be the point of exploring then?! Are you straight up trying to say cliffs existing=bad open world design? I guess God was a bad open-world designer...

Anything From do is throwing shit at the wall and letting the fans 'make sense' of it. There's a Yullie video right before that one revealing the merchants were taken from a Fighting fantasy novel. They even have the same names as the novel characters. Seeing From as anything but mag pies who have a stupid fanbase is beyond stupid.

ER's story actually does make a lot of sense. You were just too impatient and/or gamer-brained to understand it. Miyazaki loves trolling gamer-brained westerners with his stories, who are unable to hold more than two concepts in their head at the same time. That's why so many people believe Melina is or was the Gloam-Eyed Queen, despite mountains of evidence that tell a different story.

To be fair, in past games, we couldn't have solved every mystery with deductive reasoning. Some mysteries weren't meant to be solved, a feature, not a bug, that helps the world feel larger and more alive. But ER is a far more put-together and internally-consistent story than any prior. It's a puzzle that was largely meant to be solved, and the intrigue only ends when you decide to stop digging.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I don't get how ER's style of open-world keeps getting compared to Ubisoft. They aren't even comparable...

You're correct. Ubisoft open worlds are so much better because they learn how to guide the player and give them ways to navigate the terrain. They don't add random jumping points that look stupid and often got the player killed because they're buggy. Adding giant grave stones sticking out of walls positioned awkwardly with a janky double jump system and a fatal fall at the bottom. They don't lock the player from looking at the map when in combat or even worse when 'in combat' but no where near any danger. They don't litter the place with useless crafting pick ups adding nothing useful to the player.

Elden ring's open world is empty and bland in a way few other games can match. We're not playing early open world games any more, we've seen what works and what doesn't and developers have hand time to adapt. Elden Ring does none of those and it's insulting to imply they're on par with western open world devs. It's pretty, in places. But it's devoid of meaningful content and lacks any sort of game play beyond holding up and hitting the run button on your horse.

Can you stop defending from slop already? It's pretty sad when you want to compare a bare bones attempt at an open world to over a decade of refinement and improvements. I'm not a big Ubisoft fan but I can see the ways they have improved their formula over the years and now Elden Ring is outdated and clunky compared to them.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Excuse the double post but I'd like the people defending Elden ring's open world to defend something. No drama or bullshit, please respond with why you think this is good design.

How are spirit springs a good way to design an open world? Do you consider them to be part of the base design or a stop gap implemented later? How is this a better way to create vertical paths than any of the solutions present in other open world games i.e climbing, grapples or designing paths up.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Wha...?! I don't even know how to acknowledge most of that post. At a certain point you just have to realize you're dealing with a troll...

I don't get how ER's style of open-world keeps getting compared to Ubisoft. They aren't even comparable...

You're correct. Ubisoft open worlds are so much better because they learn how to guide the player and give them ways to navigate the terrain. They don't add random jumping points that look stupid and often got the player killed because they're buggy. Adding giant grave stones sticking out of walls positioned awkwardly with a janky double jump system and a fatal fall at the bottom. They don't lock the player from looking at the map when in combat or even worse when 'in combat' but no where near any danger. They don't litter the place with useless crafting pick ups adding nothing useful to the player.

Guidance? There's literally huge wisps of light called the "Guidance of Grace" that, at the bare minimum, show you exactly where to go to progress the story! Beyond that there are multiple statues, steles and other interactables that show the locations of caves, dungeons and other secrets. Not to mention the two dozen or so NPCs giving you hints. How much more help do you need? Can you just admit that all the freedom makes you stir-crazy and you much prefer to have your hand held from one dopamine hit to the next??

Funny thing is, the terrain isn't difficult to navigate. There are multiple parts of the map where you can carefully sidle down, cliff by cliff, from a much higher elevation to a lower one. These parts largely appear in Limgrave and the Mountaintops, so they're not omnipresent, but they are there. You just didn't notice them, I'd bet money you weren't looking for them, and I'd bet my soul you didn't even try to experiment with Rainbow Stones to see which falls were lethal and which weren't. Bet my soul you didn't.

As for the gravestones, I can't find any evidence that they were shoehorned in at the last minute, considering:

1. They're in the first trailer.
2. They're correctly marked on the map, all except for the ones leading to the intentionally-hidden Jarburg.

So you can admit you pulled that one out of your ass. There is a point here, though, in your defense where you mentioned the "janky double-jump system" which tells me you tried to traverse the gravestones on horseback. That one lies squarely at the feet of the developers, they really should have put no-Torrent zones around those things, as you're supposed to drop down on foot. You don't even have to press the jump button a single time of most of them, only walk off at the right spots; one of the few much-maligned "jumping puzzles" in ER that requires no jumping.

It's ironic, actually, that there's a much stronger argument for weak world design to be made at the rampant use of Sending Gates and other warp points, particularly in the endgame. But you aren't making that argument. I wonder why...?

 

[Skinwalker]

Why the fuck would a meteor crash cause gravestones to horizontally insert themselves into canyon walls to form a staircase? Who are the retards that come up with these idiot theories?

The weakest part of Elden Ring is the demon clown exec who inserted a whole bunch of progression-breaking teleporters all over the map, out of fear that players will be too dumb to reach the intended areas normally (Hell Swarm is one of these players, given his incessant kvetching about cliffs). I've already pointed this out. Fortunately, once you figure out that teleporters are bullshit, you can just ignore them or teleport right back to where you were and progress through the marvelous open world as intended.

Related to this, they fucked up the entry point to Mohg's area. It should be accessed AFTER Malenia, with arrival at the furthest point from the Mausoleum (on the hill where the cartwheeling bobble-heads are hanging out). The medallion is progression-breaking and should never be used, and the warp gate in Consecrated Snowfields is too early.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Oh you're a troll? Makes sense. Or you're calling someone a troll for disagreeing with you like a Redditor. I guess that's why you repeatedly ignore things you can't defend.

Guidance? There's literally huge wisps of light called the "Guidance of Grace" that, at the bare minimum, show you exactly where to go to progress the story!

The first grace leads you right into Margott before you're ready for him. So hardly guidance you want to listen to.

There are multiple parts of the map where you can carefully sidle down, cliff by cliff, from a much higher elevation to a lower one.

Sure, and there's lots of places you can die trying to do the same thing. Fall damage is poorly designed where surviving and instadeath are insanely close to each other and fans had to use cheat engine to discover how it even works.

2. They're correctly marked on the map, all except for the ones leading to the intentionally-hidden Jarburg.

Jarburg wasn't "intentionally hidden". The original map was completely inconsistent.

There is a point here, though, in your defense where you mentioned the "janky double-jump system" which tells me you tried to traverse the gravestones on horseback. That one lies squarely at the feet of the developers, they really should have put no-Torrent zones around those things, as you're supposed to drop down on foot.

There are jumps you can only make with Torrents double jump and there's several locations with awful jumping puzzles the same way.

It's ironic, actually, that there's a much stronger argument for weak world design to be made at the rampant use of Sending Gates and other warp points, particularly in the endgame. But you aren't making that argument. I wonder why...?

I don't mind teleporters in an open world game. I think they're essential to keeping the Dark souls style 'find your weapon' scenarios possible. Other wise you would be riding for an hour to get to some of the locations. From poorly use them, but they aren't a problem specifically.

Why the fuck would a meteor crash cause gravestones to horizontally insert themselves into canyon walls? Who are the retards that come up with these idiot theories?

If you look where many of them are placed they are positioned in obvious impact areas. The area you first meet the big jar has an obvious path of destruction and then stones there.

 

[Skinwalker]

Why the fuck would a meteor crash cause gravestones to horizontally insert themselves into canyon walls? Who are the retards that come up with these idiot theories?

If you look where many of them are placed they are positioned in obvious impact areas. The area you first meet the big jar has an obvious path of destruction and then stones there.

This in no way answers my question.

 

[Skinwalker]

I don't mind teleporters in an open world game. I think they're essential to keeping the Dark souls style 'find your weapon' scenarios possible. Other wise you would be riding for an hour to get to some of the locations. From poorly use them, but they aren't a problem specifically.

Yup. Called it. Hell Swarm is a scrub and he hates Elden Ring because it hadn't been dumbed down enough for him. "Duuur whe's muh paraglider and helicopter, I hate travel and exploration in muh open-world games."

Never play anything from FromSoftware again, you loser.

 

[Cryomancer]

No one here discuss if Forspoken is bad. Because everyone knows that is shit in every aspect. The fact that a ER hater must try really hard to find silly reasons to hate ER only speaks about ER quality. ER is the best modern AAA RPG. And by far the best.

 

[Skinwalker]

There hasn't been an open-world RPG better than Elden Ring in a long time. Maybe ever. Noobs like Hell Scrub will never be satisfied with any game that doesn't have GPS navigation, quest compass, and unlimited levitation to let them instantly bypass any terrain for the sake of instant gratification.

"Oh, this colossal bridge is collapsed in the middle, and there's an item on the other side, but I have to go around and explore the area to find my way to the other side, and I can't just fly there instantly? WHAT A SHIT GAME FUCK THIS CRAP TAKE ME BACK TO FART CRY 3!!!"

 

[smaug]

There hasn't been an open-world RPG better than Elden Ring in a long time. Maybe ever. Noobs like Hell Scrub will never be satisfied with any game that doesn't have GPS navigation, quest compass, and unlimited levitation to let them instantly bypass any terrain for the sake of instant gratification.

"Oh, this colossal bridge is collapsed in the middle, and there's an item on the other side, but I have to go around and explore the area to find my way to the other side, and I can't just fly there instantly? WHAT A SHIT GAME FUCK THIS CRAP TAKE ME BACK TO FART CRY 3!!!"

ER’s open world is Ubisoft tier wth are you talking about?

 

[Silverfish]

ER’s open world is Ubisoft tier wth are you talking about?

They're completely different. ER has a compass, map markers, glowing navigation points and you expand the map by activating towers.

 

[Cryomancer]

They're completely different. ER has a compass, map markers, glowing navigation points and you expand the map by activating towers.

ER if was made by bugsoft

Sure, ER has some bugsoft "elements" but doesn't have the modern gaming plagues like handholding.

 

[Skinwalker]

They're completely different. ER has a compass, map markers, glowing navigation points and you expand the map by activating towers.

The towers have nothing whatsoever to do with expanding the map, and the game has no quest compass of any kind. The fact that you have to literally lie about the game says it all.

 

[smaug]

They're completely different. ER has a compass, map markers, glowing navigation points and you expand the map by activating towers.

ER if was made by bugsoft

Sure, ER has some bugsoft "elements" but doesn't have the modern gaming plagues like handholding.

ugh, who cares if most open world games now are garbage that doesn’t mean ER’s open world should even be accepted as passable

like just analyze the mechanics and the world on its own merits and deficiencies without resorting to “MUH FAR CRY 3” or whatever shit game you bring up

 

[Silverfish]

but doesn't have the modern gaming plagues like handholding.

I agree. It was pretty hardcore how the checkpoints point you toward main objectives, weapon and armor durability was removed and stamina is only drained in combat.

The towers have nothing whatsoever to do with expanding the map, and the game has no quest compass of any kind.

I can admit when I'm wrong. I mistakenly believed that using the interact button on towers with map fragments expanded the visible portion of the map. I see now that they actually didn't do that.

For the record, I never said "quest" compass, but I'm opposed to having a compass at all.

 

[Skinwalker]

For the record, I never said "quest" compass, but I'm opposed to having a compass at all.

Nothing wrong with a literal compass that shows you what direction is north, tard.

I can admit when I'm wrong. I mistakenly believed that using the interact button on towers with map fragments expanded the visible portion of the map. I see now that they actually didn't do that.

In other words, you've never played the game and have no clue what you're blithering about. Because if you had actually played the game, you'd have known that the (extremely optional) towers are for activating runes, and have nothing to do with the map.

Or you're severely mentally retarded. Pick your poison.

 

[Silverfish]

Nothing wrong with a literal compass that shows you what direction is north, tard.

If Elden Ring were From's first foray in this style, I would absolutely agree. But after five prior games that left you to navigate on your own, it's crap.

In other words, you've never played the game and have no clue what you're blithering about. Because if you had actually played the game, you'd know that the towers are for activating runes, and have nothing to do with the map.

 

[Hell Swarm]

No one here discuss if Forspoken is bad. Because everyone knows that is shit in every aspect. The fact that a ER hater must try really hard to find silly reasons to hate ER only speaks about ER quality. ER is the best modern AAA RPG. And by far the best.

Why do you think people hate Elden Ring if they see it has serious issues? The most common discussion in Elden ring is always "The open world sucks, the legacy dungeons are great". Which is where I fall in.

There hasn't been an open-world RPG better than Elden Ring in a long time. Maybe ever. Noobs like Hell Scrub will never be satisfied with any game that doesn't have GPS navigation, quest compass, and unlimited levitation to let them instantly bypass any terrain for the sake of instant gratification.

You mean the way the game does have a quest compass known as the guidance of grace? Having to open the map to see it doesn't stop it being a compass. You sure do like making strawmen and getting angry at them. No one said Elden Ring should let you fly around. But having multiple dead ends requiring you to ride back the way you came is a flaw with Elden ring's map. The lake is awful for this and it didn't help the map was (may still be) inaccurate there.

They're completely different. ER has a compass, map markers, glowing navigation points and you expand the map by activating towers.

The towers have nothing whatsoever to do with expanding the map, and the game has no quest compass of any kind. The fact that you have to literally lie about the game says it all.

The towers expand your map's revealed area. They work the same as ubisoft ones except From doesn't have quests in their game and doesn't have side activites so it doesn't have anything to 'reveal'. If you want to be technical after a few patches they added NPC locations to the map so it does point you to quest locations if you want to consider talking to NPCs a side quest.

I can admit when I'm wrong. I mistakenly believed that using the interact button on towers with map fragments expanded the visible portion of the map. I see now that they actually didn't do that.

You weren't wrong. That's exactly what the map fragment towers do.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The map design in Elden Ring is of the same quality as their level design in Souls. The issue with ER is that the Souls formula simply doesn't land itself to this kind of format. It's not that ER is done badly, it's that what it wanted to do cannot be done as a matter of principle.