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

[Skinwalker]

Another playthrough done and dusted. Will continue from this point in about two months, when DLC comes out. What an amazing game, still. I expected to feel some burnout because of its size, but no, it was just as fun as the first time. Looking forward to see what Miyazaki has been cooking for the last two years.

I've gotten to the Liturgical Town of Ordina, and got stuck there because of burn-out. So close to finishing my 2nd playthrough, yet so far...

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Didn't the base game come out two years ago? Seems rather late to be releasing an expansion now after people have beaten the game and forgotten about it.

If you listen to interviews they said it took them this long because they wanted to make the DLC as epic and huge as the basegame. They didn't want no baby dick DLC.

Another playthrough done and dusted. Will continue from this point in about two months, when DLC comes out. What an amazing game, still. I expected to feel some burnout because of its size, but no, it was just as fun as the first time. Looking forward to see what Miyazaki has been cooking for the last two years.

I've gotten to the Liturgical Town of Ordina, and got stuck there because of burn-out. So close to finishing my 2nd playthrough, yet so far...

I'm confused, isn't the Haligtree a 100% optional area? How are you saying you were "so close" when the actual end of the game is in Leyndell?

 

[Skinwalker]

I'm confused, isn't the Haligtree a 100% optional area? How are you saying you were "so close" when the actual end of the game is in Leyndell?

I have all of the Haligtree+Elfael, Mausoleum of Blood, half of the Mountaintops, Farum Azula, and the endgame ahead of me. I'm definitely beating all of these areas, optional or not, so it's just a matter of getting arsed to do it before the expansion hits.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Didn't the base game come out two years ago? Seems rather late to be releasing an expansion now after people have beaten the game and forgotten about it.

Yes. That's how Fromsoft releases, including DLCs go.

For pretty much any other company/title, I'd agree with you though.

In this case, Elden Ring is so long and I beat it several times, I needed the time between in order to start to get over my incredible Elden Ring burnout.

 

[ferratilis]

after people have beaten the game and forgotten about it

This concept doesn't exist when it comes to FromSoft's games. If you've beaten one once, you're a fan for life and will surely come back to these games regularly. Look at active player numbers for all of their games, Dark Souls 3 consistently has around 10k players daily. Even DS1 and 2 have healthy numbers for such old titles. These games simply don't age.

 

[Bendu]

The Shadow of the Erdtree trailer has nearly 10 millions views on YouTube. "Forgotten about it" my ass.

 

[Odoryuk]

Their power level so high they can shadowdrop a DLC for Sekiro* and it will sell millions on PC alone with no marketing.
*They will never do it, just an example

 

[Skinwalker]

They still should have released an expansion a year ago, and a second one this year. 2.5 years for an expansion to what used to be a hot new game seems like something was mismanaged on their end.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Codexers coping thinking they can pretend Elden Ring still doesn't have a massive pull. Other Japanese developers are even going so far as try to avoid getting in the way:



I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

 

[Skinwalker]

I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

Which is why it's retarded that 1. it took them two and a half years to release an expansion, and 2. they've immediately announced that there won't be any more expansions for Elden Ring. The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

Which is why it's retarded that 1. it took them two and a half years to release an expansion, and 2. they've immediately announced that there won't be any more expansions for Elden Ring. The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

It's a clever ploy. Now every Souls like game FS makes will be mainstream. Not just Elden Ring.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

Which is why it's retarded that 1. it took them two and a half years to release an expansion, and 2. they've immediately announced that there won't be any more expansions for Elden Ring. The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

It's because FromSoft aren't as compromised as you think they are.

They understand Elden Ring is overcooked as it is.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

Open World + years of Souls hype + COVID lock downs.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Open World + ...lost in translation...

Open world, really.
Edit 1: the souls formula doesn't translate well to open world format but it didn't matter.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Open World + ...lost in translation...

Open world, really.
Edit 1: the souls formula doesn't translate well to open world format but it didn't matter.

A bunch of people who never bought any Souls games before bought Elden Ring. They're not going to share your preconceived notions about what Souls is or should be, other than hearing people talk about them or seeing memes. And lockdowns drove a sales bubble across the industry which is part of why so many companies have been downsizing over the past year or so.

 

[Odoryuk]

The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

You're talking about a company that made a game under ActiVision publishing and not only didn't include any MTX fuckery (remember how Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled devs said there will be no microtransactions, and then stealthly added them after the release?), they didn't even release their classic paid DLC after a very successful release of said game (I'm talking about Sekiro).

 

[Cheesedragon117]

The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

You're talking about a company that made a game under ActiVision publishing and not only didn't include any MTX fuckery (remember how Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled devs said there will be no microtransactions, and then stealthly added them after the release?), they didn't even release their classic paid DLC after a very successful release of said game (I'm talking about Sekiro).

Yeah, I don't know why he's thinking Miyazaki would be content creating live-service shlop with the rest of the pack. He's never been anyone's fool, has he? He even had Games For Windows Live completely and utterly purged from the original PC release of Dark Souls as soon as he had the chance.

Is "creative ambition" really that much a dirty word these days?? Or should be spend our days simply chasing bags?

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I don't know what the hell Elden Ring did that it finally made FromSoft brake into the mainstream completely, whether it was just the open world, or the cumulative effect of FromSoft fans raving about their games over the years, but it happened, and you are not gonna see that genie get back in the bottle any time soon.

Which is why it's retarded that 1. it took them two and a half years to release an expansion, and 2. they've immediately announced that there won't be any more expansions for Elden Ring. The game is practically made for annual/semi-annual expansions, wtf is this shit.

Yeah they should just release half assed DLCs every month. Wtf are they thinking trying to make an epic proper expansion?

 

[Multidirectional]

The game is already too fucking big. Even without any DLCs. Only a madman would want annual expansions.

 

[smaug]

The game is already too fucking big. Even without any DLCs. Only a madman would want annual expansions.

you might as well not even count the open world as actual areas (although some places kind of don't fit the definition perfectly) and with that in mind the game is probably the size of Ds3 without the dlcs

 

[Skinwalker]

The game is already too fucking big. Even without any DLCs. Only a madman would want annual expansions.

"Ugh there's so much content in this game I like playing, I wish there was less of it. I hope they don't release a whole bunch of expansions that add even more new and unique areas to the game, I just wouldn't be able to handle such a catastrophe." - no one, ever

 

[Damned Registrations]

Not sure where you weirdos got the idea that annual expansions necessarily means low-quality slop.

The youngsters don't remember the good old days of getting expansions with decent amounts of content that were basically sequels made on the same engine.

Expansions like Starcraft:Broodwar are how it should be done. Instead these days we get horse armour removed from the initial release that's still on the fucking disk.

They understand Elden Ring is overcooked as it is.

What the fuck are you smoking? The game is half-baked if anything. Lack of enemy variety, NG+ system is lacking, no covenants, large areas lacking in content, tons of caves etc. with no reason to ever go in them once you know they only contain some shitty item nobody would want and nothing unique, not even an interesting layout. Fuck, half the questlines didn't even work on launch. This clearly wasn't a case of them delaying release to hit some specific sales date. It got punted out the door early while they were still struggling to rein in the inflated scope of the project. Everything after Leyndell probably wasn't even in the original plan.

Sad thing is, I doubt the expansion is going to improve any of that. It'll probably mostly do what modders have already done: add a bunch of weapons and spells, along with some variations on existing enemies. We'll get like 3 new bosses and enemies maybe, but only in the new areas. I suppose it'll be good for expanding the toolbox for modders.

 

[Skinwalker]

The youngsters don't remember the good old days of getting expansions with decent amounts of content that were basically sequels made on the same engine.

Expansions like Starcraft:Broodwar are how it should be done. Instead these days we get horse armour removed from the initial release that's still on the fucking disk.

All the soulsgames I've played so far have had pretty good expansions, including two good ones for DS1, two good ones (well, Ashes of Ariandel has some problems, but overall it's worth playing) for DS3, one good expansion for Bloodporn. Usually released on an annual/semi-annual schedule.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The youngsters don't remember the good old days of getting expansions with decent amounts of content that were basically sequels made on the same engine.

Expansions like Starcraft:Broodwar are how it should be done. Instead these days we get horse armour removed from the initial release that's still on the fucking disk.

All the soulsgames I've played so far have had pretty good expansions, including two good ones for DS1, two good ones (well, Ashes of Ariandel has some problems, but overall it's worth playing) for DS3, one good expansion for Bloodporn. Usually released on an annual/semi-annual schedule.

That's true, but I think previous games had a better base to start with. Elden Ring doesn't need new areas and weapons so much as it needs an overhaul of a lot of mechanics and fleshing out of it's more empty areas. I was glued to the game when I played it, constantly excited for the next cool weapon or talisman or whatever around the corner, but I can't get into it for a replay because I know that 85% of the side dungeons are just reused assets with something retarded like a +bleed resist talisman inside. Most of the weapons I haven't seen yet are 2% drops off some enemy that spawns 5 times in the entire game, and I'm just not that interested in speed running through the main dungeons because nothing feels rewarding. The souls don't matter because Greyoll is a thing, the weapons don't matter because on a replay nothing is new, so what is there to get excited about while playing without the novelty? I did one replay to try see some of the questline stuff I missed the first time around, but it became a slog really fast.

If the expansion added something like the NG+ mechanics in DS2 or a revamp of all the shitty side dungeons, even just to add some cool armour to hunt for, I'd be stoked for it. As it is... realistically I'm going to mow my way through the expansion with a build I've already tried before (probably frost antspur + shield), find a few things that look cool but aren't worth using (sleep/rot shit that is undertuned), and never touch it again.

Like, Astel was a cool fight, but I've already fought him 6 times now. And that's one of the bosses that only got reused once. There's a lot that I've fought dozens of times by now. They're boring. And I'd bet you anything there's imps, watchdogs, crystallians, zombies, and at least 3 other reskinned bosses in the expansion. Even if there's new stuff, it's going to be a chore fighting through the old shit again.

 

[smaug]

The youngsters don't remember the good old days of getting expansions with decent amounts of content that were basically sequels made on the same engine.

Expansions like Starcraft:Broodwar are how it should be done. Instead these days we get horse armour removed from the initial release that's still on the fucking disk.

All the soulsgames I've played so far have had pretty good expansions, including two good ones for DS1, two good ones (well, Ashes of Ariandel has some problems, but overall it's worth playing) for DS3, one good expansion for Bloodporn. Usually released on an annual/semi-annual schedule.

That's true, but I think previous games had a better base to start with. Elden Ring doesn't need new areas and weapons so much as it needs an overhaul of a lot of mechanics and fleshing out of it's more empty areas. I was glued to the game when I played it, constantly excited for the next cool weapon or talisman or whatever around the corner, but I can't get into it for a replay because I know that 85% of the side dungeons are just reused assets with something retarded like a +bleed resist talisman inside. Most of the weapons I haven't seen yet are 2% drops off some enemy that spawns 5 times in the entire game, and I'm just not that interested in speed running through the main dungeons because nothing feels rewarding. The souls don't matter because Greyoll is a thing, the weapons don't matter because on a replay nothing is new, so what is there to get excited about while playing without the novelty? I did one replay to try see some of the questline stuff I missed the first time around, but it became a slog really fast.

If the expansion added something like the NG+ mechanics in DS2 or a revamp of all the shitty side dungeons, even just to add some cool armour to hunt for, I'd be stoked for it. As it is... realistically I'm going to mow my way through the expansion with a build I've already tried before (probably frost antspur + shield), find a few things that look cool but aren't worth using (sleep/rot shit that is undertuned), and never touch it again.

Like, Astel was a cool fight, but I've already fought him 6 times now. And that's one of the bosses that only got reused once. There's a lot that I've fought dozens of times by now. They're boring. And I'd bet you anything there's imps, watchdogs, crystallians, zombies, and at least 3 other reskinned bosses in the expansion. Even if there's new stuff, it's going to be a chore fighting through the old shit again.

That’s why half of if not a little more of ER shouldn’t even be counted as content because it’s just filler. DLC should not be an open world but just massive interesting levels like DS2 DLC souls game need to push the level design to the limit in order to be interesting at this point.