The Shattered Elden Ring Thread: Tarnished Edition - (Shadow of the Erdtree p. 85)
- Thread starter hanselthecaretaker
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Elden Ring review: "Suffering has never been as much fun"
Elden Ring is both a refinement and evolution of the Dark Souls formula, presenting an expansive world that's as hostile as it is inviting
www.gamesradar.com
About the difficulty since that’s inevitably one of the biggest talking points -
As a result, you rarely get into fights if you don't want to, at least out in the open. Torrent can outpace practically any threat and you can flee in any direction, so when six tons of scaly heartburn drops onto the road before you, you just scamper between its legs and vanish into the sunset like the goddamn Roadrunner. Sounds surprising, but this is the intentional experience - there are a lot of late-game threats spread across the world, even in the early areas, and a big part of how you play is deciding what you're going to confront and what you're going to slink away from until later.
I suspect this is why people have been talking about Elden Ring being the most accessible, or even easiest FromSoftware game. I guess that's half true. It's not that Elden Ring is empirically easier - there are boss monsters here that could give Isshin Sword Saint or the Orphan of Kos a run for their money - it's just that the really punishing elements are basically self-inflicted. You deal with them when you choose. More accessible? Yeah, I'll give it that. Easier? Not so much.
Check this outElden Ring review: "Suffering has never been as much fun"
Elden Ring is both a refinement and evolution of the Dark Souls formula, presenting an expansive world that's as hostile as it is inviting
About the difficulty since that’s inevitably one of the biggest talking points -
As a result, you rarely get into fights if you don't want to, at least out in the open. Torrent can outpace practically any threat and you can flee in any direction, so when six tons of scaly heartburn drops onto the road before you, you just scamper between its legs and vanish into the sunset like the goddamn Roadrunner. Sounds surprising, but this is the intentional experience - there are a lot of late-game threats spread across the world, even in the early areas, and a big part of how you play is deciding what you're going to confront and what you're going to slink away from until later.
I suspect this is why people have been talking about Elden Ring being the most accessible, or even easiest FromSoftware game. I guess that's half true. It's not that Elden Ring is empirically easier - there are boss monsters here that could give Isshin Sword Saint or the Orphan of Kos a run for their money - it's just that the really punishing elements are basically self-inflicted. You deal with them when you choose. More accessible? Yeah, I'll give it that. Easier? Not so much.
That feels a little weird - as much as I love Fromsoft games I can hardly claim that they are a universal pleasure. That every single reviewer loves it so much makes me wonder if this is a situation where only people who already like Fromsoft games are playing Elden Ring, but I guess I can at least hope to be impressed.
- Feb 7, 2011
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Got my copy pre-loaded and I have a half day from work tomorrow. Lets do this.
- Feb 7, 2011
- 8,574
- 3,099
- 118
- Country
- 'Merica
- Gender
- 3 children in a trench coat
I think From Software tried to make this game more accessible. The over-world seems to be quite a bit easier than other Soulsborne titles just given the basic ability to run past enemies will now be a lot less dependent on knowledge of enemy positioning given that the areas are so large and open, and you have a built in traversal ability in the form of your mount to just bypass enemies. If there was ever a From Software game that even the more casual crowd could get into this is probably it.
I mean, it's still going to have really difficult sections and hard bosses, but I don't think it's going to beat people over the head with difficulty as immediately as Sekiro.
Yes but with caveats. A lot of the core combat mechanics are rooted in its predecessors’ design but little tweaks here and there bump up the QoL meter. It’s basically an amalgamation of all their previous games, but yes most of the DNA is derived from Souls.
An dedicated jump button makes traversal much easier.
Stamina is only used during combat.
The bow is actually functional now and worth using for more than cheesing dragons or aggro’ing from a distance.
Counter attacks offer a safer alternative to parry/riposte. Kinda blends Souls and Sekiro.
Torrent controls really smoothly and feels similar to Horizon’s mounts.
On the whole if I was a newcomer to FROM games, it would be difficult to go backwards in their catalog after playing this (at least what I gathered from the network test). Maybe Sekiro, since it was a more significant departure from their previous titles.
Gasp!!!!
How DARE they!?
I'll probably check it out eventually, but from the looks of it the combat still feels like Souls combat, and I've just never found that combat genuinely fun. It's fun to know that a dangerous enemy can't kill you anymore because you killed it first, but the act of fighting it has never been fun for me at all.
It's the difference between this and Sifu, where I was having fun just kung-fu fighting and I was getting better because I simply liked the act of fighting, not because I felt I had to prove myself against a difficult game.
I’d be inclined to agree if Souls bosses weren’t generally so imaginative, along with the world building and lore. But yeah, the holy grail for me would be to see a more dynamic combat engine used in games like these. Basically what is done now with physically based rendering for graphics I’d love to see applied to damage models for NPCs. Like every type of attack you use would register appropriate damage with how the enemy is affected physically by it, let alone shown visually on their model.
It’s understandable why it isn’t being done yet much if at all given the technology and legwork required to create an engine like that, but it’s the next thing that will get me genuinely excited about combat focused games again. For now it mostly feels like more of the same, since generations ago.
That's what keeps me interested to check out any new Fromsoft game; the world and creatures in it. But in the last few years I've kinda gotten "lazy" - if I ain't having fun with the (action) gameplay I'm gonna move on to a game where I will. I think Bloodborne really brought about that change.
Just friendly reminder to all: NEVER BUY A GAME LAUNCH WEEK!
Between the glitches and bugs it will have, especially for a From Software game, massive patches and fixes, and the inevitable server lag and crashes, this game is not going to be 10/10 until at least early/mid March.
Between the glitches and bugs it will have, especially for a From Software game, massive patches and fixes, and the inevitable server lag and crashes, this game is not going to be 10/10 until at least early/mid March.
I was planning on buying/playing on release but a series of schedule, financial, technical and other things have totally changed that plan so it looks like I won't be playing this game in 2022.
But I'll admit, it's nice to see positive hype. Games are fun! This is fun, we're having fun.
But I'll admit, it's nice to see positive hype. Games are fun! This is fun, we're having fun.