The Shattered Elden Ring Thread: Tarnished Edition - (Shadow of the Erdtree p. 85)

[hanselthecaretaker]

With such a highly anticipated game that now has a…tentatively firm release date, might as well have a thread for it to serve as a conglomeration of any new info, media, hopes, theories, etc. between now and then.

*Warning*: the risk of spoilers is inevitable involving unreleased games, so it’s best to use appropriate tags relating to any highly detailed elements or simply avoid the thread if wanting to go in “untarnished”. I personally, don’t mind being tarnished

Spoiler: Without further ado,

ELDEN RING

*/ The Golden Order has been broken. Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between. In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree, has been shattered...

en.bandainamcoent.eu

Elden Ring: The Big Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview - Summer of Gaming - IGN

Elden Ring's gameplay trailer left a lot of questions still to be answered – but thankfully we spent an hour with creator Hidetaka Miyazaki to get answers to a lot of them. Here's our interview, in full.

www.ign.com

 

[stroopwafel]

Someone on Reddit translated the Famitsu interview which is really interesting.

But yeah, Miyazaki pretty much confirmed what I expected that Elden Ring is a culmination of everything they've learned from making these games in the last 10 years or so. Can't wait! Jump for high attacks and jump to avoid low attacks and a specific parry shield that seems crucial in a particular fight sounds like they haven't forgotten about Sekiro either.

Elden Ring does sound like one of the most accessible games they've made with difficulty being around Dark Souls 3 levels but with royal co-op functions and offline NPC help. The offline NPCs actually sounds a lot like those puppets in Dragon's Dogma(forgot the name). It seems like you can avoid a lot of the bosses as well. I guess the traditional difficulty will be more in the optional areas.

 

[meiam]

Elden Ring does sound like one of the most accessible games they've made with difficulty being around Dark Souls 3 levels but with royal co-op functions and offline NPC help. The offline NPCs actually sounds a lot like those puppets in Dragon's Dogma(forgot the name). It seems like you can avoid a lot of the bosses as well. I guess the traditional difficulty will be more in the optional areas.

Pawn was the name of the NPC. Pretty cool system tbh, specially liked that they used them to populate the world making it feel alive without needing to copy paste the same 5 NPC design.

So I'm happy Miyazaki is helming the game, but I really hope he gets to do some other type of game eventually, guy is creative and doesn't seem like a one hit wonder, I want to play whatever else he end up making that's different from the soul formula.

Hope parry isn't too important, I managed to finished bloodborne without ever using it but Sekiro last boss without parry is complete nonsense. I never liked having to memorize timing, just feel like I'm playing dance dance revolution rather than an action game.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Someone on Reddit translated the Famitsu interview which is really interesting.

But yeah, Miyazaki pretty much confirmed what I expected that Elden Ring is a culmination of everything they've learned from making these games in the last 10 years or so. Can't wait! Jump for high attacks and jump to avoid low attacks and a specific parry shield that seems crucial in a particular fight sounds like they haven't forgotten about Sekiro either.

Elden Ring does sound like one of the most accessible games they've made with difficulty being around Dark Souls 3 levels but with royal co-op functions and offline NPC help. The offline NPCs actually sounds a lot like those puppets in Dragon's Dogma(forgot the name). It seems like you can avoid a lot of the bosses as well. I guess the traditional difficulty will be more in the optional areas.

It’s sounding exactly like what I’d wanted in an open world attempt from FROM; giving the player freedom to explore with a malleable difficulty based on willingness for exploring the various aspects of the world. Going through a treacherous swamp by choice to nab some elite loot and gaining a supreme upper hand on a boss later on sounds wonderful to me.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Elden Ring does sound like one of the most accessible games they've made....

Oh, I can hear the purists complaining already.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Oh, I can hear the purists complaining already.

I dunno. They compare it to Dark soul 3 because that is generally considered the easiest Souls game.

However DS3 is the result of a couple of things that make it easier. Number 1 is the better engine that simply makes things more responsive and smoother which gets rid of a lot of jank. Number 2 is the fact that the community has gotten used to the games over the course of 4 games, thus with experience the final installment feels easier than the others.

I imagine Elden Ring will be much the same. People know what the game will mostly expect of them and assuming the game functions fairly smoothly there will be no artifical resistance.

That is not to say that people still wont struggle. I hate to bring up DSP but he is a guy who doesnt have any ability to learn. So despite playing and beating several souls games he never remembers anything game to game and each new entry acts like the first entry by the way he plays it. Im sure he isnt the only person who suffers a full reset with each game but i dont think those people are common.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I dunno. They compare it to Dark soul 3 because that is generally considered the easiest Souls game.

However DS3 is the result of a couple of things that make it easier. Number 1 is the better engine that simply makes things more responsive and smoother which gets rid of a lot of jank. Number 2 is the fact that the community has gotten used to the games over the course of 4 games, thus with experience the final installment feels easier than the others.

I imagine Elden Ring will be much the same. People know what the game will mostly expect of them and assuming the game functions fairly smoothly there will be no artifical resistance.

That is not to say that people still wont struggle. I hate to bring up DSP but he is a guy who doesnt have any ability to learn. So despite playing and beating several souls games he never remembers anything game to game and each new entry acts like the first entry by the way he plays it. Im sure he isnt the only person who suffers a full reset with each game but i dont think those people are common.

As a whole, I personally felt it was the hardest (if we’re counting optional/DLC bosses), even considering it being the most playable. I’m ready for a fresh take on the typical FROMSOFT brand of difficulty anyways after like a half dozen games now. Making something more open and free form is a good call IMO, and I’m curious to see how the “culmination” of all their recent efforts will play.

 

[CriticalGaming]

As a whole, it personally felt it was the hardest (if we’re counting optional/DLC bosses), even considering it being the most playable. I’m ready for a fresh take on the typical FROMSOFT brand of difficulty anyways after like a half dozen games now. Making something more open and free form is a good call IMO, and I’m curious to see how the “culmination” of all their recent efforts will play.

I would have said that DS3 imo was the easiest game, but that was before i played Demon's Souls which I never played before the remake. The Remake was by far the easiest game to a laughable degree. However my point of newer more polished game still stands as the ps3 sluggish performance likely made the game harder than it would have been otherwise.

Then there is the argument that sometimes a game just clicks with you. Bloodborne is a good example for myself. I struggled for 8 hours to get to cleric beast for the first time. Then I saw the fucking Matrix or some shit because once i beat Cleric Beast I literally never struggled anywhere in the game ever again. The shit just clicked and I breezed through it. Even Orphan of Kos I found rather easy, yet I've seen videos of very good gamers unable to kill Kos. Like TheCompletionist, struggled like crazy against it and his partner Alex could never beat him after 7 hours of attempts. Yet I beat the boss in four tries.

DS3 was by far the easiest game in the Souls series for me. DS1 was the hardest and DS2 is too long to hold my attention to actually rank. The only DS3 boss to prove a problem was the very last boss of the final dlc, I forget his name I called him Robin Hood after a while.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I would have said that DS3 imo was the easiest game, but that was before i played Demon's Souls which I never played before the remake. The Remake was by far the easiest game to a laughable degree. However my point of newer more polished game still stands as the ps3 sluggish performance likely made the game harder than it would have been otherwise.

Then there is the argument that sometimes a game just clicks with you. Bloodborne is a good example for myself. I struggled for 8 hours to get to cleric beast for the first time. Then I saw the fucking Matrix or some shit because once i beat Cleric Beast I literally never struggled anywhere in the game ever again. The shit just clicked and I breezed through it. Even Orphan of Kos I found rather easy, yet I've seen videos of very good gamers unable to kill Kos. Like TheCompletionist, struggled like crazy against it and his partner Alex could never beat him after 7 hours of attempts. Yet I beat the boss in four tries.

DS3 was by far the easiest game in the Souls series for me. DS1 was the hardest and DS2 is too long to hold my attention to actually rank. The only DS3 boss to prove a problem was the very last boss of the final dlc, I forget his name I called him Robin Hood after a while.

You're thinking of Slave Knight Gael.

I heavily disagree with Dark Souls 3 being the easiest though.

Demon's Souls is by far the easiest. People remember it being hard because it was so obtuse the first time you played it, and people didn't really understand what it wanted from them.

Dark Souls 1 was pretty easy because it wasn't balanced very well and it was really easy to make a cheesy build that would carry you through the game. Magic and ranged attacks basically completely broke enemy AI at times as well.

I would say that Dark Souls 2 is probably the hardest, mostly because it has the most "gank" boss fights with multiple enemies.

 

[Dalisclock]

You're thinking of Slave Knight Gael.

I heavily disagree with Dark Souls 3 being the easiest though.

Demon's Souls is by far the easiest. People remember it being hard because it was so obtuse the first time you played it, and people didn't really understand what it wanted from them.

Dark Souls 1 was pretty easy because it wasn't balanced very well and it was really easy to make a cheesy build that would carry you through the game. Magic and ranged attacks basically completely broke enemy AI at times as well.

I would say that Dark Souls 2 is probably the hardest, mostly because it has the most "gank" boss fights with multiple enemies.

Dark Souls 2 is the one I find the most Tedious and probably has the most difficult early game. When I found out about the extremely rough dev cycle that apparently had to Frankenstein the completed bits together at the end, yeah, not shocked at all.

 

[meiam]

I would have said that DS3 imo was the easiest game, but that was before i played Demon's Souls which I never played before the remake. The Remake was by far the easiest game to a laughable degree. However my point of newer more polished game still stands as the ps3 sluggish performance likely made the game harder than it would have been otherwise.

Then there is the argument that sometimes a game just clicks with you. Bloodborne is a good example for myself. I struggled for 8 hours to get to cleric beast for the first time. Then I saw the fucking Matrix or some shit because once i beat Cleric Beast I literally never struggled anywhere in the game ever again. The shit just clicked and I breezed through it. Even Orphan of Kos I found rather easy, yet I've seen videos of very good gamers unable to kill Kos. Like TheCompletionist, struggled like crazy against it and his partner Alex could never beat him after 7 hours of attempts. Yet I beat the boss in four tries.

DS3 was by far the easiest game in the Souls series for me. DS1 was the hardest and DS2 is too long to hold my attention to actually rank. The only DS3 boss to prove a problem was the very last boss of the final dlc, I forget his name I called him Robin Hood after a while.

Playing style is a weird thing, killed cleric beast on my first attempt easy but werewolf dude after him took forever (hate how stupid his tracking is). Orphan of Kos was much easier than the lady before him for me (the only thing I disliked about Kos was the stupid string attached to his weapon shouldn't do any damage), which actually took me quite a few attempt.

For other, don't really remember any DS2/3 being as hard as Ornestein and Smough so I guess I'd rank DS1 as hardest but I played DS1 so much before 2/3 that its hard to say if I played them fresh I wouldn't find them harder.

 

[stroopwafel]

I would have said that DS3 imo was the easiest game, but that was before i played Demon's Souls which I never played before the remake. The Remake was by far the easiest game to a laughable degree. However my point of newer more polished game still stands as the ps3 sluggish performance likely made the game harder than it would have been otherwise.

You have to consider the time DeS came out. It was the late 00s and games pretty much played themselves and it was the time of ''press a button, something awesome happens''. DeS completely broke with the design trends of the time, was poorly received at E3 and Sony didn't even want to publish it in the west. Miyazaki overcame tremendous odds with the game and just look how things have changed when you consider Elden Ring's reception.

So yeah, DeS is definitely not that difficult in hindsight but compared to it's contemporaries in 2009 it was considered a monumental challenge. I do have to say if you're unfamiliar with how OP magic is or how the tendency system can make the game a lot harder (which most players still had to find out for themselves) that this definitely added to the game's obtuse reputation.

I'm glad I picked up DeS in 2009 as I've been a huge fan ever since. It definitely renewed my appreciation for the medium. Challenge is always a balancing act and subjective. At one side you want to service existing fans of which many played the games so much that they are now a cakewalk but on the other side you also want to accomodate newcomers and not alienate players with less experience or skill. What I read in the interviews they really seem to have found that balance with Elden Ring. I absolutely adore Sekiro but for many players it was perhaps a bit too uncompromising in it's vision.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

You have to consider the time DeS came out. It was the late 00s and games pretty much played themselves and it was the time of ''press a button, something awesome happens''. DeS completely broke with the design trends of the time, was poorly received at E3 and Sony didn't even want to publish it in the west. Miyazaki overcame tremendous odds with the game and just look how things have changed when you consider Elden Ring's reception.

So yeah, DeS is definitely not that difficult in hindsight but compared to it's contemporaries in 2009 it was considered a monumental challenge. I do have to say if you're unfamiliar with how OP magic is or how the tendency system can make the game a lot harder (which most players still had to find out for themselves) that this definitely added to the game's obtuse reputation.

I'm glad I picked up DeS in 2009 as I've been a huge fan ever since. It definitely renewed my appreciation for the medium. Challenge is always a balancing act and subjective. At one side you want to service existing fans of which many played the games so much that they are now a cakewalk but on the other side you also want to accomodate newcomers and not alienate players with less experience or skill. What I read in the interviews they really seem to have found that balance with Elden Ring. I absolutely adore Sekiro but for many players it was perhaps a bit too uncompromising in it's vision.

Yeah back then it felt so different in so many ways and that’s what drew me to it. The deliberateness of combat, the progression system, the fact that you’re free to just play and figure things out in an age of cutscenes, objective markers, reminders and QTE saturation. Hell even the Havok physics which I’d grown to love from other games like Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 were now implemented in a methodical melee game.

It’s also quite something how over the course of these games players have been conditioned to excel at them, and it kinda serves as a testament to the overall arc of FROM’s design philosophy.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Demon's Souls is by far the easiest. People remember it being hard because it was so obtuse the first time you played it, and people didn't really understand what it wanted from them.

I did mention that, as i did fine the PS5 remake the easiest game by far.

So yeah, DeS is definitely not that difficult in hindsight but compared to it's contemporaries in 2009 it was considered a monumental challenge. I do have to say if you're unfamiliar with how OP magic is or how the tendency system can make the game a lot harder (which most players still had to find out for themselves) that this definitely added to the game's obtuse reputation.

I hate magic builds, and i never touched it in DeSRemake. I did just fine with a sword and board build and still found it incredibly easy with few actual spikes in difficulty like the Maneaters but even then it was only a couple of attempts. Even the King at the "end" is a joke for the most part.

Ultimately I think Elden Ring is simply going to be just more "souls" which is perfectly fine because they're great games. I feel like my disappointment is just how similar it all sounds. Even the story that the trailer seems to hint at is the same thing with different nouns replaced. But if the itterates on the formula enough I suppose it's fine.

I kinda feel like that if they were just going to do another Souls game then they should have completely changed the setting, like a cyberpunk, or furturistic space theme. Instead of giant monsters you fight giant robots and have lazer swords and shit. Dodge could become a short range teleport, and you would have more freedom to take your masterful experience of making souls games and get really creative with entirely new mechanics.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I did mention that, as i did fine the PS5 remake the easiest game by far.



I hate magic builds, and i never touched it in DeSRemake. I did just fine with a sword and board build and still found it incredibly easy with few actual spikes in difficulty like the Maneaters but even then it was only a couple of attempts. Even the King at the "end" is a joke for the most part.

Ultimately I think Elden Ring is simply going to be just more "souls" which is perfectly fine because they're great games. I feel like my disappointment is just how similar it all sounds. Even the story that the trailer seems to hint at is the same thing with different nouns replaced. But if the itterates on the formula enough I suppose it's fine.

I kinda feel like that if they were just going to do another Souls game then they should have completely changed the setting, like a cyberpunk, or furturistic space theme. Instead of giant monsters you fight giant robots and have lazer swords and shit. Dodge could become a short range teleport, and you would have more freedom to take your masterful experience of making souls games and get really creative with entirely new mechanics.

Guessing Cyberpunk isn’t Miyazaki’s thing. It would be cool to see their formula applied to it though, as it’s kind of a niche other cyberpunk stuff isn’t filling AFAIK.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Guessing Cyberpunk isn’t Miyazaki’s thing. It would be cool to see their formula applied to it though, as it’s kind of a niche other cyberpunk stuff isn’t filling AFAIK.

Miyazaki isn't the only person making FromSoft games. Surely the people who've been working on those projects could apply those same concepts and designs into a new setting with a different director.

For example here is some concept art I found. Tell me that idea wouldn't be fucking badass.


All that being said, I'm not even upset that Elden Ring is still fantasy based. I'm upset that it looks so much like Dark Souls that there doesn't seem much point to not call it Dark Souls 4. You can take a fantasy setting and change up the art style, to make the world's look unique. The Witcher doesn't look like World of Warcraft and Final Fnatasy doesn't look like DragonQuest, yet all of these games technically are just medival fantasy for the most part. Yet Elden Ring doesn't do that, it looks like it is just using a lot of framework and art design straight out of the titles we've already seen, which would be fine if this was Dark Souls 4. But it isn't. it's supposed to be a completely new IP, but in reality it's just Dark Souls 4 with a different Noun.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Ultimately I think Elden Ring is simply going to be just more "souls" which is perfectly fine because they're great games. I feel like my disappointment is just how similar it all sounds. Even the story that the trailer seems to hint at is the same thing with different nouns replaced. But if the itterates on the formula enough I suppose it's fine.

I'm not disappointed by the fact that we're basically getting more "souls" because I love the souls games, but I do find it kind of strange how much emphasis was put on George RR Martin writing the story, and the story so far doesn't seem to be all that different (or at least isn't presented as being all that different) than something From Software would have come up with on their own.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I'm not disappointed by the fact that we're basically getting more "souls" because I love the souls games, but I do find it kind of strange how much emphasis was put on George RR Martin writing the story, and the story so far doesn't seem to be all that different (or at least isn't presented as being all that different) than something From Software would have come up with on their own.

I dunno either. Value in the name i guess.

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I dunno either. Value in the name i guess.

The Lands Between. He came up with that, as in a GRRM original!

I'm not disappointed by the fact that we're basically getting more "souls" because I love the souls games, but I do find it kind of strange how much emphasis was put on George RR Martin writing the story, and the story so far doesn't seem to be all that different (or at least isn't presented as being all that different) than something From Software would have come up with on their own.

From a Miyazaki interview FWIW...

George R.R. Martin brought things to the table that we couldn't have done by ourselves, in terms of that rich storytelling and that sense of character and drama.