Less is More, it seems. FROM's Elden Ring drives up hype without lifting a finger

[Dreiko]

I'm hard in the camp of Sekiro 2 over BB2 since I was actually a fan of them from their ps1 Tenchu and later original xbox Otogi days so I love their take on traditional dark Japanese fantasy tales but at the same time I wanna see em try new things.

Maybe after elden ring they can try a futuristic game, kinda like Astral Chains or Nier themed. That'd be new for them.

 

[sXeth]

I literally forgot the game existed, and/or mashed it together with Mortal Shell.


Then again, I don't hang out in the venues that most of folks hyping this stuff do, cause they're so nauseating they make me not want to play the Souls out of principle (and I already had some objections after Miyazaki managed to screw up Armored Core so much it apparently killed the series on his first outing)

 

[Dalisclock]

I'm hard in the camp of Sekiro 2 over BB2 since I was actually a fan of them from their ps1 Tenchu and later original xbox Otogi days so I love their take on traditional dark Japanese fantasy tales but at the same time I wanna see em try new things.

Maybe after elden ring they can try a futuristic game, kinda like Astral Chains or Nier themed. That'd be new for them.

I'd be fine with Sekiro 2 as well. I just made the BB2 joke because for a while you'd keep seeing people find any possible excuse to yell "BLOODBOURNE 2!". Fuck, FROM made a little PSVR game a while back and it had a BB reference in it, which somehow convinced people that a sequel was in the works(as opposed to being an easter egg).

I'd love to see BB2(or BB on the PC) but I also accept it may never happen and BB is a fine stand alone game that does not need a sequel.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I literally forgot the game existed, and/or mashed it together with Mortal Shell.


Then again, I don't hang out in the venues that most of folks hyping this stuff do, cause they're so nauseating they make me not want to play the Souls out of principle (and I already had some objections after Miyazaki managed to screw up Armored Core so much it apparently killed the series on his first outing)

I forgot Mortal Shell existed. Was it even nominated for anything? The demo was interesting for a moment, but it ultimately gave me the impression of the game being more attritional than I’d have patience for. The combat and even movement felt a bit too rigid and weightless for me too. Like your character wasn’t really connected with the environments and instead held no illusion of not shuffling across a textured plain like they just dropped a deuce in their armor.

 

[Dalisclock]

I literally forgot the game existed, and/or mashed it together with Mortal Shell.


Then again, I don't hang out in the venues that most of folks hyping this stuff do, cause they're so nauseating they make me not want to play the Souls out of principle (and I already had some objections after Miyazaki managed to screw up Armored Core so much it apparently killed the series on his first outing)

I would like to try the Armored Core series at some point. I haven't it seen it readily available though.

 

[sXeth]

I forgot Mortal Shell existed. Was it even nominated for anything? The demo was interesting for a moment, but it ultimately gave me the impression of the game being more attritional than I’d have patience for. The combat and even movement felt a bit too rigid and weightless for me too. Like your character wasn’t really connected with the environments and instead held no illusion of not shuffling across a textured plain like they just dropped a deuce in their armor.

The concept, that you're a thing possessing bodies/people was novel, but unless you really wanted to go out of your way, there wasn't enough variation in shells or by the time you got a shell you'd already invested everything in the earlier ones.


The harden mechanic is just the parry button without an animation to deflect a hit off you, even more quicktimey feeling.


The rest overall just suffered from inde-dev trying to punch abovet heir weight class. Game too short, very little environment design or variety. A lot of stiffness or lack of fluidity to the ani,mations (not that the Souls have ever been kicking any prizzes for that either)

I would like to try the Armored Core series at some point. I haven't it seen it readily available though.

The PS3 one (which presumably might pop on the PS3 store still or maybe PSnow) was the aformentioned train wreck that was Miyazakis arrival on the franchise.


The rest are all PS1 or PS2, I think there might've been a PSP title. None of it was super-popular (anywhere? I think. though Japan was probably higher then elsewhere), so dredging up those discs would be rough. FROM's too busy dispensing from the same Sols bucket to go back and bother with remasters I assume.

 

[Dreiko]

I remember armored core as a ps1 thing because it was in one of those demo discs that game magazines came packed with, I never was much of a fan of the series but it seemed kinda...simplistic and arcadey? Not bad really but not the best mech thing ever either.

 

[Gergar12]

The hype is overrated. The real power is good products. However, there is always a chance that your game is like Dragon's Dogma where no one likes it despite it being good. (Dark Arisen at least)

However, some people in high positions of people don't know what that means. They think short-term vs long-term, granted in the long term we are all dead, and money for your kids does help in the long term, but if everyone thought that way we would never get another good game again.

But hey at least your kids get to go to good private schools while the rest of us have to go to public or charter schools. So fuck society, and consumer loyalty.

 

[Dreiko]

The hype is overrated. The real power is good products. However, there is always a chance that your game is like Dragon's Dogma where no one likes it despite it being good. (Dark Arisen at least)

However, some people in high positions of people don't know what that means. They think short-term vs long-term, granted in the long term we are all dead, and money for your kids does help in the long term, but if everyone thought that way we would never get another good game again.

But hey at least your kids get to go to good private schools while the rest of us have to go to public or charter schools. So fuck society, and consumer loyalty.

Nobody liked Dragon's Dogma? That's news to me. Game was amazing lol.

The only thing that was negative about that game that I heard was people complaining it wasn't ported to pc.

 

[Neuromancer]

From's catalogue has been extremely hit and miss, with the hits being bullseyes and the misses being so far off the mark they hit the pedestrian walking down the street.

DS1 and especially Bloodborne are great. They are mechanically solid, have interesting worlds, and are thematically sound.

DS2 I will give tried to do something new with the setting, but the gameplay was very much an inferior experience, with the franchise's weakest bosses and areas who are challenging without the challenge being interesting.

DS3 was a cynical sequel that tried to win back the fans by vomiting fanservice as a harkening back to the glory days of DS1. Its world and storytelling were downright insulting. The gameplay is also not sure what it wants to be, with the exception of "faster". They saw how well Bloodborne did, and tried to inject it into Dark Souls and the end result just didn't work. Extremely hit and miss bosses didn't help either.

Sekiro was a one trick pony of a borefest. I had fun with it for the first 4-5 hours getting used to its parrying mechanics, and bosses felt like fun back and forths of offensive parries followed by attacks. But the more into it I got the more evident it became that it had nothing else to it. Not to mention the writing and storytelling is a step back from previous (good) entries. The bosses were pretty uninspired, the majority of which merely required you to parry at the right time, and the rest being uninteresting gimmicks (the dragon being the biggest example).

So, yes, I am not convinced about Elden Ring yet.

 

[Dalisclock]

Nobody liked Dragon's Dogma? That's news to me. Game was amazing lol.

The only thing that was negative about that game that I heard was people complaining it wasn't ported to pc.

It wasn't ported to PC? Or was that before it was Ported?


I know a little about it but it doesn't get nearly the amount of press that series like Souls or Dragon Age do.

 

[Gergar12]

Nobody liked Dragon's Dogma? That's news to me. Game was amazing lol.

The only thing that was negative about that game that I heard was people complaining it wasn't ported to pc.

It didn't sell well enough in the west.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Nobody liked Dragon's Dogma? That's news to me. Game was amazing lol.

The only thing that was negative about that game that I heard was people complaining it wasn't ported to pc.

The only problem with Dragon's Dogma is how visually boring it is. No wait, the story is also boring. All of the presentation is boring.

If you don't pick it up and play it for yourself you never get the chance to actually feel how great the combat is. The strengths of the game only come out once you've already given it a chance and tried it.

No one looked at screenshots or saw it on a shelf and went "I need to play that because it looks cool." It doesn't look cool, it looks like the most generic fantasy RPG that ever fantasy RPG'd.

 

[Dreiko]

The only problem with Dragon's Dogma is how visually boring it is. No wait, the story is also boring. All of the presentation is boring.

If you don't pick it up and play it for yourself you never get the chance to actually feel how great the combat is. The strengths of the game only come out once you've already given it a chance and tried it.

No one looked at screenshots or saw it on a shelf and went "I need to play that because it looks cool." It doesn't look cool, it looks like the most generic fantasy RPG that ever fantasy RPG'd.

I don't think the story is boring. I've actually read Berserk and the homages to it were crystal clear (and you also had official Guts and Griffith cosplay armors in the game) and I thoroughly enjoyed em. Also the monster designs were awesome. It's clear that capcom used monster hunter devs for these monsters. Especially the Hydra was amazing.

It wasn't ported to PC? Or was that before it was Ported?


I know a little about it but it doesn't get nearly the amount of press that series like Souls or Dragon Age do.

Yeah this is back like 6+ years ago when the game was new. Everyone had good things to say about the game, how it mixed Shadow of the Collosus, Dark Souls and Devil May Cry to create something unique in the combat system.


I know it did well enough that Dark Arisen was even one of the ps+ games back in the day when ps+ was actually premium because you didn't need to have it to access netplay. It was treated like how the likes of Bioshock Infinite and Infamous were by Sony anyhow, no matter how it sold.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

It's super weird to me how people *just saw* a hype-turbocharged CP2077 burst into flame, slam into a bus full of nuns, and scatter wreckage across 3 time zones; and yet have decided to dose the tank of Elden Ring with the same hypeoline.

 

[Dreiko]

It's super weird to me how people *just saw* a hype-turbocharged CP2077 burst into flame, slam into a bus full of nuns, and scatter wreckage across 3 time zones; and yet have decided to dose the tank of Elden Ring with the same hypeoline.

This sounds like an Enen No Shouboutai/fire force action scene.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's super weird to me how people *just saw* a hype-turbocharged CP2077 burst into flame, slam into a bus full of nuns, and scatter wreckage across 3 time zones; and yet have decided to dose the tank of Elden Ring with the same hypeoline.

It's because nobody knows how to wait anymore. It's like they need to have something to be hyped/angry about every hour of the day or some all-consuming void enters their souls.

 

[bluegate]

What marketing?

They released a trailer in 2019 and haven't shown anything because they probably have nothing to show. All marketing being done is by From Soft drones creaming their pants constantly.

 

[Dalisclock]

What marketing?

They released a trailer in 2019 and haven't shown anything because they probably have nothing to show. All marketing being done is by From Soft drones creaming their pants constantly.

I mean, that's kind of the joke, isn't it?

FROM releases one trailer, does nothing for another year and half , rabid FROM fans begin going insane waiting for news.


WE ARE BORN OF THE HYPE
MADE MEN BY THE HYPE
UNDONE BY THE HYPE
FEAR THE OLD HYPE

The Elden Ring subbreddit is like 50% posts and memes about Whoopers now.

I had to look up WTF a Whooper was(it's a pokemans, which explains why I never heard of it). It actually makes even less sense in context when I found out why.