If you're a fan of Dark Souls/Bloodbourne/Sekiroh, then you probably already know the game is out. So far, I've died like 25 times to the first big story boss, and I'm loving this game.
The game mechanics feel very similar to Dark Souls 3 to me with a few quality of life improvements. The open world style is very interesting, and I love it. You run around and see an enemy... and you have no idea if it's going to be easy or hard. That knight on a horse who looks just a little too shiny? Probably a mini-boss. The game world feels dangerous, and exploring is exciting.
The story is a little more laid out than other Souls games that I've played. It is still something you have to investigate to uncover, but there's a little less trying to piece it together like you're Sherlock Holmes. More NPCs actually have plot dialogue to share.
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I'm glad that the first reply here echoes my exact experience with it so far, nothing is more frustrating than having to trudge back to my runes tail in-between my legs, all because I misjudged and thought the mount double jump would save me.
I hated the feel and play experience of Demon Souls and DS1, gave up after only a few hours in them, and was glad I was just borrowing the discs, but it seems FS really nailed the difficulty curve this time around with the more non-linear ability to just wander around (without getting lost and stuck) and pick fights you're comfortable with. They evolved the souls-like genre enough that I, as a casual gamer, can actually enjoy it and feel like I'm making progress.
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I doubt we'll run into each other often, but I have a group password: Durin
It increases the chances of seeing each other's messages, bloodstains, and summoning symbols.
I was never an especially good DS3 player. I did get my first Great Rune tonight on the second try (with summoned help, of course). The Stormveil boss was a little more predictable than the gate boss. It was a really cool one though.
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That chest. THAT CHEST! *Joker laugh*
I always think about a magic build, but I get suckered into the big cool weapons and armor every time.
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I helped someone else beat a boss, and I legit took zero damage from that boss while still dishing out lots of it. I was super proud of myself. It was even on my first ever try with that boss.
Summoned someone to my world, and I immediately died due to my arrogance.
Siofra River is probably one of my favorite zones so far, at least for the aesthetic.
Some thoughts after waaaaay too many hours this week.
I hesitate to put Elden Ring in the pantheon of greatest games ever, though I'm tempted. Partially it's because it feels like the result of small changes. There's nothing truly new or innovative in this game, but... everything it has in it is being done to perfection. The open world design is amazing. It feels huge, varied, and you are rewarded for exploring it constantly (both in finding secrets, and just the experience of seeing the landscape). The combat is just the best combat I've ever experienced in a game IMO. The designers occasionally hold your hand to explain a concept, but it's usually done in subtle ways, and afterwards they definitely expect you to figure it out on your own.
I think it should be compared to Skyrim, or possibly Breath of the Wild (though I only watched that some, never played it). Having spent a lot of time on Skyrim, Elden Ring is miles better as a final product IMO. Skyrim has two advantages. It has a better explained narrative, and can be customized with mods. The multiplayer aspect of ER precludes the latter, and having multiplayer is a huge bonus, so I think that's a wash. ER's story is good and still there, and it's much more explained than any previous Souls game, but it's still something you have to piece together kind of, and it's easy to miss elements.
All that said, I think it's one of the most perfected games ever. It is the culmination of a design ethos and technical possibilities. It runs counter to so many design philosophies in other games, but it makes those choices intentionally. I know it's early in the year, but I have a hard time believing that there will be a better made game this year. I even suspect this may be one of the best games of this decade. I hesitate to call it the best ever, but it has a place in that conversation.
How does the combat compare to Ghost of Tsushima?
Giant finger weapon!
How does the combat compare to Ghost of Tsushima?
I'm still wondering how the combat in this game stacks up against Ghost of Tsushima. Obviously they are different games but for me Ghost is the gold standard for fluid and intuitive combat so just curious.
How does the combat compare to Ghost of Tsushima?I'm still wondering how the combat in this game stacks up against Ghost of Tsushima. Obviously they are different games but for me Ghost is the gold standard for fluid and intuitive combat so just curious.
I never played Ghost of Tsushima, so I can't tell you.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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From what I recall of GoT, In general, the combat is more arcade-y than Elden Ring (especially in the later parts of Tsushima). There’s a similar emphasis on blocks, parries, and dodges, but in Tsushima there wasn’t a stamina bar to worry about, and the parry windows were pretty generous.
Elden Ring (and souls games in general) are less forgiving. If you attack when you shouldn’t, expect to get punished for it, and with stamina you can’t just roll all the time.
The one-on-one duel segments of Tsushima felt more Souls-y though—you had to learn the boss’s moves and pick the right time to attack.
Elden Ring doesn’t have the different stance mechanics, but it does give you a lot more options for combat styles, with tons of weapons and magic to choose from, so combat is also a lot more varied. A tanky sword-and-board character is going to feel very different from Jin, as will an astrologer shooting magic missiles.
Ultimately, the combat is pretty similar to prior souls games. When it clicks for you, it feels incredibly intuitive and rewarding. I’ve revisited DS3 several times, trying different builds and styles of play, but I haven’t felt the same urge to go back to Tsushima.
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Turtle Pope is best NPC.
From what I recall of GoT, In general, the combat is more arcade-y than Elden Ring (especially in the later parts of Tsushima). There’s a similar emphasis on blocks, parries, and dodges, but in Tsushima there wasn’t a stamina bar to worry about, and the parry windows were pretty generous.
Elden Ring (and souls games in general) are less forgiving. If you attack when you shouldn’t, expect to get punished for it, and with stamina you can’t just roll all the time.
The one-on-one duel segments of Tsushima felt more Souls-y though—you had to learn the boss’s moves and pick the right time to attack.
Elden Ring doesn’t have the different stance mechanics, but it does give you a lot more options for combat styles, with tons of weapons and magic to choose from, so combat is also a lot more varied. A tanky sword-and-board character is going to feel very different from Jin, as will an astrologer shooting magic missiles.
Ultimately, the combat is pretty similar to prior souls games. When it clicks for you, it feels incredibly intuitive and rewarding. I’ve revisited DS3 several times, trying different builds and styles of play, but I haven’t felt the same urge to go back to Tsushima.
Thank you!
I guess a better question is is it as smooth as Ghost or as clunky as say Skyrim in 3rd person.
But I see it's more like Ghost, excellent! Definitely something to look forward to for when I can afford it!
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To anyone who might be concerned about the sort of difficulty of the game since it is a Souls-like game made by the very same people who all other storied rage-quit games... I want to just advise you not to worry about it so much.
The challenges of the game really more or less come out of trying to tackle things quickly, without taking care to learn how enemies actually fight, being impatient during exploration, or when you're really just hitting a wall with a boss or area just generally being underleveled or using older equipment. This is far and away the EASIEST of the FROM-S games to spend a bit of time grinding to level up, explore, and gather equipment in order to functionally make a huge difference in actually fighting bosses. You will still need to learn the boss moves and how to dodge at the right times but if it's worth anything at all I honestly found Metroid Dread to be significantly "harder" a game than Elden Ring simply due to the fact that in one I can take 30-120 minutes to wander off to go level up and explore and come back in far better shape and more prepared when I needed to.
That is something that I NEVER felt like I was able to do in Demon Souls or DS2 which I each played for about a half dozen hours before just rage quitting from frustration. ER however gives a kind of freedom to go just focus on doing things that will help you advance by way of offering a number of areas you can just straight up walk to once you exist the tutorial dungeon that isn't going to overwhelm the player... though I'd be lying if I said I didn't waste a half-hour trying to kill that blasted Tree Sentinel right outside before heading back south to try and get gud.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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That's mostly true. I'll add a caveat that there are a couple bosses that are genuinely pretty nasty, in ways that levelling and improving your equipment aren't going to help much with (one boss in particular, really, though they are optional).
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And a couple bosses have 3-4 hit combos that can kill nearly anyone in 2 hits, but these tend to be the major bosses of each region.
The freedom to just go somewhere else does make the difficulty of the game much easier to handle. If a dungeon is just too hard, go do other stuff for an hour or two, come back to it tomorrow.
I do enjoy the fact that the horse is sometimes better than the help of 2 random summoned players.
Hitting a wall today in Castle Sol. Mostly been practicing as a summoned player, but with 25-30 attempts I didn't get a single kill.
It's a little frustrating too, because there's an obvious strategy that would make it like 25-30% easier and precisely zero people seem to be aware of it. As I'm writing, I'm going to try a couple of attempts solo tomorrow with a summons.
I'm trying a sword and sorcery build, and it feels so different from my traditional sword and board.
Went back to sword and board. I just like the feel of the game better.
I know I'm supposed to run dual katanas right now, but I'm happy with just one. Rivers of Blood is pretty strong. I've also been using the godskin peeler with frost on it and I like it. It applies a lot of frost, and anything susceptible to frost takes the extra damage in about 4 hits.
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Hitting a wall today in Castle Sol. Mostly been practicing as a summoned player, but with 25-30 attempts I didn't get a single kill.
It's a little frustrating too, because there's an obvious strategy that would make it like 25-30% easier and precisely zero people seem to be aware of it. As I'm writing, I'm going to try a couple of attempts solo tomorrow with a summons.
I'm trying a sword and sorcery build, and it feels so different from my traditional sword and board.
I beat that boss this morning, one of the most instead boss fights I’ve had, mostly due to the lack of breathing room.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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I think I got lucky in that fight. On my third or fourth attempt, I caught the boss and both summons in a physick-boosted Comet Azur. With the summons burned down pretty quickly, me and Banished Knight Oleg were able to keep pressure on the boss and wrap things up.
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I love Oleg. His damage isn't massive, but it's pretty good, and he has a ton of HP when upgraded.
Ser Jellyfish for life.
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Best NPCS
Dame Jellyfish
Shrimp Bro
Turtle Pope
What do people think the "level cap" is? Not the max possible level, but the natural matchmaking stopping point?
Conditioned by previous games, I was thinking it's 125, but I've so easily blown past that (and still getting enough runes for 2 levels from some bosses), I think the common stopping point is going to be much higher, like between 150-200.
Not the dueling meta level either... I suck at dueling, and I'm seeing some hardcore players still pushing the DS3 cap of 125. Those people are going to do whatever, and I don't mind leveling past them since they'll invade me less.
The NPC summons and ashes take the sting out of offline is one wants help.
Yeah, I started journey 2, and Tiche and I are dismantling bosses pretty quickly.
I started the Age of Stars the first time. This time I want to see what happens with Goldmask.
Lessons of the week:
1) Walls are the bane of many a knight. What it can't see, it can't hit. As the Warmaster Shack and at least one knight in Stormveil Castle learned.
2) Dodge? No, sorry, can't be bothered to do that.
3) The odds of successfully hitting a boss decrease as the hp of the boss decrease.
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So many deaths when the boss has a so little health that it just looks like an empty bar.
Good weekend so far. Godrick is now toast. Or at least sashimi. Knock off Adahn Thief of Fire, Elder Dragon Greyoll, and Glintstone Dragon Smarag too. Nice pile of levels even though the loot isn't all that conducive to my needs. Did get 4 levels off Greyoll though. Which got me to boost faith enough to actually cast an incantation LOL. I suppose I should keep cleaning up Liurnia next.
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The lure of being able to summon Giant Enemy Crabs is strong.
Made it to the Altus Plateau via the Ravine. Friendly place: monsters that upgraded Northern Mercs which I hated for 20 levels. A dragon. And a baby omenkiller. All in walking distance of the lift. Great neighborhood LOL. Did I mention the dragon?
True. Now I'm trying to figure out where a merchant is. Too bad I've got an abductor virgin, bats, wraiths, snails, and everything else annoying me. I might just go to the Sellia Mines for honest annoyance next LOL
Rennala now down after fighting thru several catacombs with variable degrees of frustration ranging from none (Gael Tunnel) to moderately high (Minor Erdtree Catacombs). Cheesed the Night's Cavalry of Caelid while I was it. Rennala was a refreshing fight. Not nearly as painful as Godrick and the rest of Stormveil really. Her second phase consisted of getting savaged by the wolves and my morningstar.
As melee, I smashed through her so fast on my first two play throughs that I had no clue how to actually beat her on my third game. When she didn't die immediately, I was very confused.
I might try to finish it today/tomorrow.
I'm a melee type. I'm still on the 1st playthrough as this is my first Souls-type game. I'm overleveled for her. I do agree the aesthetic for the fight was amazing. Much better than that mess in Stormveil. Even if I did fall off the rooftops more than few times to get to her. It was payback when I dropped the Carian Knight down the elevator shaft :)