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[Mjordan23]

I will do my review final thoughts in 3 parts open world/level design, combat and final throughts/ story. Souls games are very straightforward there doesn't feel like there's much else to discuss.

Anyway the open world.

I always hate it when people pull out the ubisoft template as a criticism. Honestly this tells me more about the critic than the game itself.

As far as I can tell the ubisoft template involves clearing points of interest off a map maybe climbing a tower to reveal these point of interest then moving on to the next stage of the map with little reason to return too stages you've cleared (this sound familiar)

This template is fine games can have completely different combat mechanics, traversal mechanics, worlds to explore, stories to tell etc etc. E.g. Horizon, Spiderman, far cry and Assassin's Creed follow this template but all feel completely different. If you want tell me with a straight face these games feel too similar I cannot take you seriously.

There can be good and bad games within this template obviously. I feel the ubisoft games suffer not beacuse of the template but because they have either subpar core mechanics (Assassin's creed) or refined but bland core mechanics ( far cry).

Good open worlds that stick to this structure in recent years include spiderman, ( very good) Horizon zero dawn ( excellent) . Well now there's another excellent open world built within the ubisoft template it's called Elden ring!!!

Okay before you crucify me here me out. I am saying this beacuse it seems like there has been alot of bullshit said about this games open world. About how it has revolutioned open world games and is different etc etc.

To be fair some things are a bit different but it doesn't fundamentally change how you interact with open world the way Death stranding did or even battle royal games did. Its very clearly built on the foundations of what came before.

And that's fine its still easily one of the best open world games ever made....but its not revolutionary.

At the end of the day you are still essentially clearing out a zone of it's content then moving on to next never to return again unless maybe you get stuck. If that's not an ubisoft template game I don't know what is.

But these are reasons why it succeeds where others have failed in order of importance.

1. Incredibly strong core gameplay I.e. combat and dungeon design.
2. Unprecedented unique content in the form of dungeons, enemies, spells, weapons, Ashes of war.
3. Strong level design within the openworld itself.
4. Minimal UI help from game regarding exploration.

To go into more depth

1. Core gameplay. More about the combat later but rest assured its good. The dungeon design is peak FROM especially legacy dungeons. There spectacular, gigantic ,loop round on themselves constantly, multilayered lots of verticality,packed full of secrets.... the capital alone is probably 1 quarter the size of bloodborne or something ridiculous. Mt gelmir, the capital and farum azusa are the best dungeons From have ever made its difficult to imagine them topping them. The rest of the legacy dungeons are all good as are the second tier ones.There are none that are outright bad. Even the smaller ones have good variation that have unique twists to them.

2. Unique content. It's just ridiculous really FROM have always made giant games but this is about the size of 3 to 4 of there previous games. There's more enemy, boss, build variety than ever before that's all worth seeing. Yes content starts to repeat but when games like call of duty exist with 1 or 2 enemy types I just can't bring myself to complain. This lends itself perfectly to the exploration because you're gonna experience new stuff right up to the end.

3. Open world level design. FROM brought its expert dungeon design into the open world. Most open world maps are shaped like big circular blobs. E.g. in spiderman you can go anywhere on the map instantly. This gives alot of freedom but zero sense of adventure and discovery and actually makes the world feel small. Elden rings map is shaped liked a gigantic C. You start at the bottom of C and slowly make your way to the top through out the game. To get somewhere in elden ring requires effort and thought from the player and it feels fantastic discovering new areas. On a smaller scale it funnels you into regions through cliffsides, coast and tunnels not to mention how the underground connects with the surface. The journey to Mt gelmir was my favourite incident of this.

4. Minimal UI to help navigating the open world. This is perhaps why it's called revolutionary but I think it might be the least important aspect in fact designing a game like this bring its own set of issues although overall I think its a plus. Firstly the strengths the sense of discovery is way more exciting. Without being hand held your engaging far more naturally with the open world moving towards landmarks then getting distracted by something else along the way. The map and map fragments ( you could say this games towers) are brilliant. It looks beautiful and gives just a enough information to pipe your cursioty to go check something you might have missed. The issue is once you've naturally explored an area trying to catch anything you have missed is an absolute nightmare. You basically have to search every inch of the map to make sure you got everything. A example for me was I stopped finding smiting stone 3 as I had progressed out of areas where they were. Naturally I had to go to Google to find out I had missed a dungeon which had the bell to buy them. Saying that it is certainly refreshing to play a game like this after years of hand holding UI's.

BUT none of this matters unless you have the above 3 in order first. I feel like ghost of tsushima was going for this same idea but fails hard with the first 2 points. The combat was fun but lacked challenge and the content was majorly recycled and some of it was plain boring. The fact that I discoverd boring content without way points means jack shit if it's boring content. Elden ring completely excels here where ghost humbled.

So that sums up my incoherent ramblings about the open world onto the combat another time.

Only been playing for around 8-9 hours or so, but this seems pretty accurate. The game is good, but there are some disappointing aspects to Elden Ring as well. Graphically it`s not more than ok, far from a true nextgen experience and performance wise it isn`t great either. The camera isn`t very helpful also.
The one thing I feel they really nailed, is the atmosphere. You really get sucked into the world and the mood of the game. If FROM improved the negative points i mentioned, it would have been one hell of a game.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Josemayuste]

Do we know something about that mythical raytracing patch yet?

 

[ValiantTraveler]

Short update on my playthrough: I've progressed well in the Altus plateau and have managed to beat the twin Tree Sentinels. They seem a lot stronger than the one at the beginning of the game, even when I manage to isolate one from the other. One hit from the sentinel and I get dismounted and finished off before I can start moving again. There are hard bosses and then there are bullshit bosses. So I did a bit of research and decided to use a cheap tactic against this cheap dual boss. I went to the narrow spot at the right of the gate where they can't reach me and kept shooting with all my arrows. Ended up exhausting nearly 300 arrows between my bow and arbalest. It took more than 30 minutes but boy was it worth it.

Now I'm going to aim for the Stellar Creature and the Wormface. Should reach level 70-71 by then.

 

[22•22]

Question for a hint regarding the bell wearing giant turtle where you have to cut of greenery to let him rest.

This one is in that huge three area wilt the golden knights. Basiliks and white fluid on the floor.


Does it become obvious when watched from up high? The greenery around its legs don't react

 

[WalterSobchak]

I'm confused by the save system . I thought it is constantly saving the game ? But I just lost over an hour of progress when my power tripped out for a min. I found like 3 new sites of grace during that time and did the Millicent quest as well and killed that commander boss in the Aeonia swamp.

Power trips out and I reload and nothing I did got saved. Wtf ? Shit like this happening make me struggle to want to pick it back up. Thanks for a shitty save system FROM.

 

[DelireMan7]

I'm confused by the save system . I thought it is constantly saving the game ? But I just lost over an hour of progress when my power tripped out for a min. I found like 3 new sites of grace during that time and did the Millicent quest as well and killed that commander boss in the Aeonia swamp.

Power trips out and I reload and nothing I did got saved. Wtf ? Shit like this happening make me struggle to want to pick it back up. Thanks for a shitty save system FROM.

It saves constantly but sometimes if the games is suddenly shutdown for any reason (without using the quit option) it can mess up the save. It never happened to me in any game of the franchise. I always got a message to tell me to quit properly before shutting down the game but lost nothing.

You were unlucky I guess.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Question for a hint regarding the bell wearing giant turtle where you have to cut of greenery to let him rest.

This one is in that huge three area wilt the golden knights. Basiliks and white fluid on the floor.


Does it become obvious when watched from up high? The greenery around its legs don't react

The white corruption isn't located on the feet this time around.

 

[WalterSobchak]

It saves constantly but sometimes if the games is suddenly shutdown for any reason (without using the quit option) it can mess up the save. It never happened to me in any game of the franchise. I always got a message to tell me to quit properly before shutting down the game but lost nothing.

You were unlucky I guess.

I guess I must have been. I also got the message when loading about how I logged off improperly and may lose save progress. I kind of chuckled when I saw it since I am used to FROM games constantly saving and did not think i lost any time. I was not laughing when it loaded me up to an area I started the day on. Brutal.

Oh well re-did all that progress I lost and all caught up now. Really enjoying my time with it overall , an impressive effort by FROM.

 

[22•22]

The white corruption isn't located on the feet this time around.

I more or less figured as such due to my approach not working. Yay for somehwat already knowing! Lmao Thanks brother! Also forgot it had white color

I did went all up and decimated those 4 mist summons and forgot all about the turtle so now I'm battling (dying,) to hose 2 knights near auriza cave.

I'll head back and deal with the turtle first.

 

[Rien]

Commander Niall is a son of a bitch man. The first boss so far who really annoys me.
Perhaps focus on Fire Giant first.

 

[Peter303]

Commander Niall is a son of a bitch man. The first boss so far who really annoys me.
Perhaps focus on Fire Giant first.

There's an incredible and hilarious way to cheese that boss.

Spoiler: Spoiler

 

[Rien]

There's an incredible and hilarious way to cheese that boss.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Took him down second try today. Fire giant after that.

 

[Rien]

There's an incredible and hilarious way to cheese that boss.

Spoiler: Spoiler

What… he shoots him trough that little hole in the wall? That’s nuts.

Edit:

So where is the point of no return? I have a feeling I am reaching the end of the game. I killed the Fire Giant and didn’t proceed further with the quest from there. Is this the point of no return?

 

[22•22]

I dont know how to get to the talisman crimson seed. I'm going insane. I cant reach the spot. Maddening

Elden Ring Map: Interactive | Elden Ring Wiki

Elden Ring Map: Find all Locations, Armor, Weapons, Bosses, Keys and NPCs with an easy interactive map search. Links to strategies and item details!

eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com

I'm i blind? I cant see those magical crests =/

 

[DelireMan7]

I dont know how to get to the talisman crimson seed. I'm going insane. I cant reach the spot. Maddening

http://[URL]https://eldenring.wiki....lat=-94.054687&lng=89.019735&zoom=8&code=mapA

[/URL]

I'm i blind? I cant see those magical crests =/

Don't remember exactly but on the wiki it says it's inside the Sainted Hero's grave. "Right in front of the site of grace". There should be a Imp statue with a fog wall.



25 hours in my third run. Taking my time and a looooot of note. Still much faster than my first playthrough. To do as much I took at least 50 hours the first time.
Really enjoying my Strenght character playing with Greataxes and Roar ashes of war.

I am now in Raya Lucaria. Did everything in Limgraves areas, most of Liurnia is covered and first part of Caelid done. After the academy I'll push further in Caelid till Redmane Castle. I like to clear the castle before having access to the festival. Then I'll finish Liurnia and trigger Ranni's quest to have access to the festival and then finish exploring Caelid while I walk to the divine tower to activate Radhan's rune.

Lore is really fascinating. I am still figuring out all the conflicts that happened in Liurnia : 2 "Liurnian wars" (don't know about the first, might be linked to Malenia marching to the South, the second is Radagon vs Rennala leadint to their wedding) and the rebellion of the academy against the Royal Family (which I assume is the Carian Royal family). Also the presence of the Fire monks in the region puzzled me. Were they siding with Radagon during the second war ? Or is it link to the fire Thief boss (in an evergoal) that stole part of the fire giants flame (and the Firemonks went there to take it back)?

 

[22•22]

DelireMan7

My Bad forgot to mention it's about the +1 version. But I think I'm on the right path atm.

Thanks anyway man

 

[22•22]

Holy Snake

The second form of god devouring serpent when gets his human face is great design. Love it. Almost got him first try. Need to be more patient

 

[The artful mincer]

So part 2 of my review.. I started this earlier but then lost it all I finally now have the time.

So the Combat

I initially wrote up in detail what's good about it but I think most people are aware of it so to sum up why it's excellent

1. Challenging and punishing combat that is also simple and straightforward. I.e. no complex combos to learn or weapon switching etc. Nearly everyone can beat it if they adjust to its rythm. I.e. slow paced no animation cancels.

2. Low depth but massive breadth. Each individual weapon is fairly simple and has a small moveset in the middle of a fight you don't have that much choice ( faith and intelligence builds not included).But you have unmatched choice in weapon and build variety. These games have crazy replay value beacuse you can restart with entirely different weapons spells etc and elden ring has significantly more than any souls game prior.

3. Unrivalled enemy/boss variety. Despite the build variety alot of players are happy sticking with one weapon ( or there forced to but more on that later )because the enemy variety is unmatched. You might be doing the same move over and over again but the enemy in front of you won't. Each enemy and especially boss will have a unique move set to learn and overcome.

4. Feels and looks good. Japanese action games just tend to feel good don't there!? Darks souls always has and Elden ring is no acception. Its just satisfying smacking dudes about in these game.

That's it I could go into more detail but I want to chat more about the negatives as there more interesting. I have 2 main criticisms one big and the other fucking gigantic they are-

1. Lack of upgrade materials
2. Complete fucking dogshit inventory system.

So lack of upgrade materials. I ve always played a melee character in these games but this time I decided to go with a faith build for 2 main reasons. The first that the spells in the promotional trailers looked spectacular and secondly I wanted to actually find more useful stuff in the levels. The lack of upgrade materials has always been a big problem in these games in games prior you get enough for maybe 1 or 2 fully upgraded weapons throughout a playthrough this game is a better I fully upgraded about 4 to 5 but it is way longer so I am not sure it's much better.

As I said before the combat is pretty straight forward. These games can be beaten by spamming r1( more likely spamming L2 in elden ring) I want to experiment with more weapons and I want my exploration to be more rewarding. You can do this at the start but the further in you go the more you get stuck with the weapons you decided to upgrade. For games with such simple combat this isn't acceptable. It's crazy breadth of weapons aren't really accessible unless you're willing to grind or do multiple playthroughs.

As I said before the enemy variety does negate this a bit but I really think the game would be better if alot more weapons were fully upgradable. Honestly I wonder if the game would be better if they removed upgrade materials entirely and gated the weapons through other means like stat levelling as an example.

I will post this now as I don't want to lose it all again then onto my bigger issue...

 

[DelireMan7]

So part 2 of my review.. I started this earlier but then lost it all I finally now have the time.

So the Combat

I initially wrote up in detail what's good about it but I think most people are aware of it so to sum up why it's excellent

1. Challenging and punishing combat that is also simple and straightforward. I.e. no complex combos to learn or weapon switching etc. Nearly everyone can beat it if they adjust to its rythm. I.e. slow paced no animation cancels.

2. Low depth but massive breadth. Each individual weapon is fairly simple and has a small moveset in the middle of a fight you don't have that much choice ( faith and intelligence builds not included).But you have unmatched choice in weapon and build variety. These games have crazy replay value beacuse you can restart with entirely different weapons spells etc and elden ring has significantly more than any souls game prior.

3. Unrivalled enemy/boss variety. Despite the build variety alot of players are happy sticking with one weapon ( or there forced to but more on that later )because the enemy variety is unmatched. You might be doing the same move over and over again but the enemy in front of you won't. Each enemy and especially boss will have a unique move set to learn and overcome.

4. Feels and looks good. Japanese action games just tend to feel good don't there!? Darks souls always has and Elden ring is no acception. Its just satisfying smacking dudes about in these game.

That's it I could go into more detail but I want to chat more about the negatives as there more interesting. I have 2 main criticisms one big and the other fucking gigantic they are-

1. Lack of upgrade materials
2. Complete fucking dogshit inventory system.

So lack of upgrade materials. I ve always played a melee character in these games but this time I decided to go with a faith build for 2 main reasons. The first that the spells in the promotional trailers looked spectacular and secondly I wanted to actually find more useful stuff in the levels. The lack of upgrade materials has always been a big problem in these games in games prior you get enough for maybe 1 or 2 fully upgraded weapons throughout a playthrough this game is a better I fully upgraded about 4 to 5 but it is way longer so I am not sure it's much better.

As I said before the combat is pretty straight forward. These games can be beaten by spamming r1( more likely spamming L2 in elden ring) I want to experiment with more weapons and I want my exploration to be more rewarding. You can do this at the start but the further in you go the more you get stuck with the weapons you decided to upgrade. For games with such simple combat this isn't acceptable. It's crazy breadth of weapons aren't really accessible unless you're willing to grind or do multiple playthroughs.

As I said before the enemy variety does negate this a bit but I really think the game would be better if alot more weapons were fully upgradable. Honestly I wonder if the game would be better if they removed upgrade materials entirely and gated the weapons through other means like stat levelling as an example.

I will post this now as I don't want to lose it all again then onto my bigger issue...

I like your description of the combat system "low depth but massive breadth". I agree you all your point on that.

Upgrade material is a tricky issue. I personally didn't have much problem with it on my first run where I explored everything. I got plenty of smithing stone and could upgrade quite a bit of weapons (and this was before the patch that make smithing stone available at merchants).
But on my second run where I went much faster I was much more limited.

If you don't explore a lot (and I would understand why), you'll get very limited in upgrade materials.
The balance on that is a bit weird, I agree. It penalizes too much the player who don't want to explore everything.

Waiting to see your post on inventory. I am used to it (pretty much the same since Dark Souls 1) so I am don't dislike it but I agree it's not optimal. Especially in Elden Ring where there is a huge variety of item. Also a icon for new items you just picked up would be nice.

 

[The artful mincer]

So to continue from above this is less of an issue with faith and intelligence builds. If your at the right level each spell you find is accessible immediately. I did enjoy playing as a faith build you have alot more tactics available ( Although of course its not balanced some spells are rubbish some are OP but whatever) and exploring is more rewarding. BUT!!!! It revealed a far more pressing issue one that's probably always been there but after 140 hours as a faith build and playing nioh 2 before hand is now easily the worst part of the whole series the ....FUCKING IVENTORY!!!

So here's nioh 2 core controls

Google Image Result for https://nioh2.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Nioh-2/nioh-2-controls-ps4-nioh-2-wiki-guide.jpg

Here's elden ring core controls

Redirect Notice

So at glance you see nioh 2 gives you alot more overall control than elden ring. I want to mainly focuse on what's happening with the d pad and how nioh 2 core controls and inventory are so much more intutive and give you way more depth than elden ring does.

Before that chat about God of War..

I had to turn off the ui to beat sigrun on give me god of war. Basically the split second my eyes shifted to check the health bar, runes timers, rage meter etc would often get me splattered across the area. Once I turned off the ui it was amazing how much better my reflexes got. I had to get a feel for when my health was low, runes recharged etc but it was worth it because I was no longer distracted by the ui and could pay complete attention to Sigrun.

Basically the ui should distract as minimally as possible the player should be focusing on the action on screen.

Now let's talk about elden rings fucking inventory!

If your on a PC or you chose to play as a melee character it's less of an issue but as a caster.... You have to tap up or down to cycle through your spells or consumbles then press Square or L1 to activate them. It sounds trival but in the heat of combat its anything but. You eyes need to be glued to the corner of the screen to make sure you select the right tool you want the more tools you have equipped the more you have to cycle through them. Spells are locked to up button consumables to the down if you overshoot you have to cycle through all the items again just what you want when a deranged weirdo is trying to take off your head. Literally if I needed to change a spell or flask I would have to run off to a corner hope and I don't die then run back into battle does that sound like a fun combat system!!!!???

Now look at nioh 2 perfectly elegant inventory! You have 8 slots for spells and items a simple button press of any of d pad activates the ability instantly. You can create combos with spells and your normal moves. Once you have your favourite spells and items established they will become part of your muscle memory and you won't even have to look at the UI. You only have to cycle through between 2 sets of 4 abilities.

Seriously considering the type of game elden ring is this inventory is completely unacceptable. I summoned alot so that often gave me the breathing room to cycle through this utter garbage but as a solo player this completely deincentives having lots of abilities equipped. Your better of sticking with what's essential and nothing else which will usually at least be health flasks, mana flasks, and wondrous physic but even that will force your eyes off the screen for way too long.

Breath, breath

Right despite the above I still love souls combat. But these two things really bugged me so I needed to get it off my chest ( especially the inventory!)

Part 3 finally will be my closing thoughts God's knows when that will be!!!

 

[The artful mincer]

I like your description of the combat system "low depth but massive breadth". I agree you all your point on that.

Upgrade material is a tricky issue. I personally didn't have much problem with it on my first run where I explored everything. I got plenty of smithing stone and could upgrade quite a bit of weapons (and this was before the patch that make smithing stone available at merchants).
But on my second run where I went much faster I was much more limited.

If you don't explore a lot (and I would understand why), you'll get very limited in upgrade materials.
The balance on that is a bit weird, I agree. It penalizes too much the player who don't want to explore everything.

Waiting to see your post on inventory. I am used to it (pretty much the same since Dark Souls 1) so I am don't dislike it but I agree it's not optimal. Especially in Elden Ring where there is a huge variety of item. Also a icon for new items you just picked up would be nice.

Yeah to be fair I forgot about the smithing stones being available at the mechant while typing that lol.

It been a few weeks now if I remember correctly normal smiting stones are reasonably priced but the sombre smithing stones are expensive and you have to grind for runes to get alot of them.

I guess it depends how much you like your weapons you have chosen to upgrade. I did explore and fully upgraded 5 weapons on my playthrough which is much better than previous souls games.

I dunno in the late game it would be cool if you found a weapon and it was instantly useful instead of okay this will be useful when I finally have all the upgrade materials

On your first playthrough how many weapons did you manage to fully upgrade?

 

[22•22]

Holy Snake

The second form of god devouring serpent when gets his human face is great design. Love it. Almost got him first try. Need to be more patient

Upgraded the spear a bit and made easy work of it. The reach of the spears light attack is amazing

 

[22•22]

Finally! Broke my first real wall

Those double (crucible?) knighta, the one with a sword and shield and the other with a spear.

Fuck that feels good!

Was weighing on me for a good minute!!!

 

[DelireMan7]

On your first playthrough how many weapons did you manage to fully upgrade?

4 I think. 2 mains, a secondary and a seal.
I had a lot of smithing stone in stock and could have upgraded more.

But the number of fully upgraded weapons is not really relevant for me. What matters is everytime I got a new weapon I wanted to try, I was able to upgrade almost till the level of my current main weapon. (If my main was at +15, I usually could upgrade a new weapon immediately to +13/14 for example) So I could always test in proper condition a new weapon.

This was not the case in my second playthrough where I rush more.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I wonder what the most optimum level up setup is for early game?

Spoiler: Theory

1. Finish tutorial as Bandit/Samurai.
2. Go North to Church of Elleh site of grace.
3. Follow road North East to Gate Front Ruins site of grace.
4. Speak to maiden to get Torrent.
5. Follow road West until fork in road.
6. Take South East branch until Waypoint Ruins is discovered.
7. Take Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot at base of crucifix on hill North of Waypoint Ruins.
8. Follow road back to fork.
9. Follow North branch to Third Church of Marika site of grace.
10. Obtain Sacred Tear and Flask of Wondrous Physique.
11. Follow lake North East to use Waygate to Bestial Sanctum.
12. Follow South East road to Farum Greatbridge site of grace.
13. Cross bridge South and follow road curving West to Dragonbarrow Fork site of grace.
14. Follow road west to fork.
15. Take South East branch to Fort Faroth site of grace.
16. Find a nice secluded nook at the side of the giant white dragon West and start hacking away.
17. Use Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot before killing it.
18. Run away with 65,000 runes.

Any other class requires a 15 minute detour South to Weeping Peninsula past Waypoint ruins to pick up morning star in a broken carriage on the main road.

 

[Rex_DX]

Upgraded the spear a bit and made easy work of it. The reach of the spears light attack is amazing

Which spear? Or you mean the spear?

I've always loved spears in From games and am using the Tree Spear as my secondary on my faith build right now. They're simple, but super effective in so many instances. Sadly the majority of them is garbage in PVP so I keep a few other toys available.

Double poke charged RT on the Tree Spear is fucking insane. I comes out fast, the second hit is almost triple the damage of the first hit, and if you buff with it it can take down some bosses in about three of four hits.

As a spear lover I murdered Patches for his fancy spear. Upgraded to about +9 but then decided it wasn't right for a faith build. I had a lot of fun with that thing though. Guess I'll have to do his quest in my second play-through.

 

[The artful mincer]

4 I think. 2 mains, a secondary and a seal.
I had a lot of smithing stone in stock and could have upgraded more.

But the number of fully upgraded weapons is not really relevant for me. What matters is everytime I got a new weapon I wanted to try, I was able to upgrade almost till the level of my current main weapon. (If my main was at +15, I usually could upgrade a new weapon immediately to +13/14 for example) So I could always test in proper condition a new weapon.

This was not the case in my second playthrough where I rush more.

Fair you don't need to fully upgrade them to be useful. It always irrationally bothers me if I have a weapon with one more upgrade to go and I can't find to the super rare material

To put numbers on it frextralife had worked out you need to playthrough the game 14 times to fully upgrade everything. I think at the very least it should take about 4 or 5 playthroughs to fully upgrade everything. That way the average playthrough you could upgrade about 20 weapons and if players want to speedrun/rush etc they would less likely to be starved for upgrade materials

 

[22•22]

My highest weapon is a +17 ultra sword. Lion's Claw is awesome.

I need more incantations.

Far more

 

[22•22]

Rex_DX

"Which spear? Or you mean the spear?"

The latter ;-)

 

[The artful mincer]

So part 3 closing throughts

But firsts a bit about combat balance regarding solo, Ashes of war and summoning etc. I said I didn't care during my plathrough and with hindsight I still dont care.

This playthrough has convinced me that while souls combat is still very good its nowhere near the best or most refined. If you want better combat you can find it in nioh, devil may cry, monster hunter, sekiro and even god of war 2018. Hell even hollow knight demands more of player.

No at the end of day all your doing is I frame dodgerolls and spamming either Ashes of war, jump attack or spells etc. It's fundamentally the same game since demons souls.

No what elden ring and from software do better than the above games is amazing level design and build variety. It's exploration where elden ring excles at and finding overpowered weapons etc is part of fun. It reminds me of FFVII that games easy but it'd loads of fun figuring out how broken you can make the game.

A bit on story what story? Yeah lore,item description, blah, blah. What about what's happening now? Honestly not a fan of FROMs way of story telling they lack momentum and intrigue. I'am just wondering across the land killing stuff occasionally a new pathway will open up or a tree will set on fire but I have no idea why. Maybe that's my fault for not engaging with the gormless npcs or reading or item descriptions but I just don't care. The item descriptions are so unnatural there's no logical reason for them to exist. The npcs are so boring and lifeless, it's funny that what was surely a budget in demons souls now is expected in these games. Saying that I really liked the cutscenes the standouts were rykards, godricks and radahn intro. I would be completely on board if FROM made a more traditional cutscene story game like resident evil or metal gear. There cutscene direction is really good I wish there more of them. ( Not as much as Metal Gear though please.

To sum up I've mainly ranted in my review but I promise I did love this game. The darks souls series has been a special series. Dark souls 1 is an easy personal top 3 game of all time. I thought this game would surpass it for the first half but as I got close to the 100 hour mark the issues that I brought up changed that and started to bring it down. It's now either 2nd or 3rd in the FROM software games saga behind dark souls 1 and maybe bloodborne that might change with time bur that how I feel now.

This game is bittersweet its feels like an endpoint for at least the souls games.( bloodborne and sekiro can go in different directions). FROM truly went all in on this game and it highs are peerless I don't see how they can top them. ( Maybe hindsight and future tech will prove me a fool here.)

The biggest praise I can think of is I don't want another one. Not because its bad but because I don't see how it can get any better.My main complaints are just quality of life issues at the end of the day and won't change anything fundamental. ( I would obviously play another one)

Well done FROM I salute you!!

I guess 9.5 out 10!

 

[22•22]

Did a lot. Just entered The Forgotten Lands.

Enough for the day.

Without google I wouldn't have found it in think.

I totally missed that pillar like elevator in that area. And it's not an area very inviting to revisit lmao.

 

[22•22]

.

 

[22•22]

Couple more runes and its shopping time... I'll edit a picture in later =P

Finally. It only took me 350 hours but I've got the Fell Omen Cloak! Wanted it the moment i laid my eye on it!

 

[DelireMan7]

Couple more runes and its shopping time... I'll edit a picture in later =P

Finally. It only took me 350 hours but I've got the Fell Omen Cloak! Wanted it the moment i laid my eye on it!

As a fashion Souls lover, I find your character amazing !. So sick

 

[22•22]

As a fashion Souls lover, I find your character amazing !. So sick

Wow. Thanks brother!

 

[NeverYouMind]

I am actually really disappointed in the armors this game offers. Many are just retextured and others do not look so good.

The only ones I found worthwhile were (1) Confessor set, (2) Land of Reeds set, (3) Guardian set, (4) Cleanrot set, (5) Godskin Apostle set, (6) Alberich set, (7) Bloodhound set, (8) Rogier set, (9) Maliketh's set, and (10) Lady Tanith's set.

The best looking piece is the metal MK Raiden type hat worn by Yura, but really only (9) Maliketh's set and (2) Land of Reeds set are on par with the best of Dark Souls armors.

Spoiler: 1

Spoiler: 2

Spoiler: 3

Spoiler: 4

Spoiler: 5

Spoiler: 6

Spoiler: 7

Spoiler: 8

Spoiler: 9

Spoiler: 10

 

[22•22]

I am actually really disappointed in the armors this game offers. Many are just retextured and others do not look so good.

The only ones I found worthwhile were (1) Confessor set, (2) Land of Reeds set, (3) Guardian set, (4) Cleanrot set, (5) Godskin Apostle set, (6) Alberich set, (7) Bloodhound set, (8) Rogier set, (9) Maliketh's set, and (10) Lady Tanith's set.

The best looking piece is the metal MK Raiden type hat worn by Yura, but really only (9) Maliketh's set and (2) Land of Reeds set are on par with the best of Dark Souls armors.

Do you have a good memory for weird fantasy names? I don't. Also what do those numbers mean? I feel dumb today.. All meant well fyi.



With that said. About to face the first boss right before the second elevator on Rold Path (yes had to look up the area's name lmao)

 

[NeverYouMind]

A1. Yes
A2. Organization and references if needed for future edits or posts.

 

[Rien]

Malenia is hard as fuck. Gonna save that fight for the end. Right now in this tornado area and last boss I killed were the Godskin duo. Pretty easy, did them first try. I think I am reaching the end of this area now. Getting kinda done with it. Reaching 90 hours, level 114.

 

[DelireMan7]

I am actually really disappointed in the armors this game offers. Many are just retextured and others do not look so good.

I am really surprised by this complaint (already seen it several times)

There are 126 armors set in the game. There is some reskin like the Godrick/ Radahn/Redmane/Leyndell's soldier set which are just color swap.

Most of the others armor are unique. So there are 100+ unique armors. You may not like some of them but saying there is only 10 worth looking is unbelievable to me.

Just to show some :

Crucible armors

Spoiler

Firemonk

Spoiler

Hoslow's set

Spoiler

Lusat and Asure's set :

Spoiler

Black Knife :

Spoiler

Blue Cloth :

Spoiler

And this is just to name a few.

I found the armor variety amazing honestly. As a fashion souls player, this game is amazing on the fashion possibilities.

 

[22•22]

I think I have a bug where the phantom crests don't appear.


They should be easy to spot i looked it up.

I'm giving up. Must be a bug

 

[Rex_DX]

I am really surprised by this complaint (already seen it several times)

There are 126 armors set in the game. There is some reskin like the Godrick/ Radahn/Redmane/Leyndell's soldier set which are just color swap.

Most of the others armor are unique. So there are 100+ unique armors. You may not like some of them but saying there is only 10 worth looking is unbelievable to me.

Just to show some :

Crucible armors

Spoiler

Firemonk

Spoiler

Hoslow's set

Spoiler

Lusat and Asure's set :

Spoiler

Black Knife :

Spoiler

Blue Cloth :

Spoiler

And this is just to name a few.

I found the armor variety amazing honestly. As a fashion souls player, this game is amazing on the fashion possibilities.

Not sure I agree but its possible I'm playing too slow. I'm 108 hours in, just now exploring the Altus Plateau. I'm wearing *junk* and haven't found anything decent for my Faith/Dex build yet. Basically I'm wearing rags. I've heard the Capital is where the good Faith stuff is but ... its pretty far into the game. This is like DS3 gating sorcerers to the back half of the game all over again. And anything I've found that's somewhat unique is like .. an awesome helmet that weighs 11.5.

I haven't farmed any sets yet though and some of the NPC armor has looked appealing.

I'm not saying good stuff doesn't exist, but its definitely not popping up at all in the early game (100+ hours lol).

Still love this game so far but god damn I just want to find some decent armor.

 

[DelireMan7]

Not sure I agree but its possible I'm playing too slow. I'm 108 hours in, just now exploring the Altus Plateau. I'm wearing *junk* and haven't found anything decent for my Faith/Dex build yet. Basically I'm wearing rags. I've heard the Capital is where the good Faith stuff is but ... its pretty far into the game. This is like DS3 gating sorcerers to the back half of the game all over again. And anything I've found that's somewhat unique is like .. an awesome helmet that weighs 11.5.

I haven't farmed any sets yet though and some of the NPC armor has looked appealing.

I'm not saying good stuff doesn't exist, but its definitely not popping up at all in the early game (100+ hours lol).

Still love this game so far but god damn I just want to find some decent armor.

What do you mean by "decent" ? You mean the look of it or the stat ?
I personally only care for the look of armor. Never look the stat.

But I agree that it can take some time to get some armor and for a long time, we get basic ones.
I am 30 hours into my third run, exploring everything again (Limgraves fully done, Liurnia almost fully and a good part of Caelid) and I have nothing crazy but still can find decent looking mix.

 

[22•22]

Taste is relative. I have quite some cool looking sets i can make and mix up. Just hate the clipping of my ultra sword trough hats =(

Btw if I can evade that one hit kill of on of those three Mega Pot asshole summons then I think I'm good for the other two.

Wish me strength brethren...

 

[DelireMan7]

Btw if I can evade that one hit kill of on of those three Mega Pot asshole summons then I think I'm good for the other two.

Trivia : If playing online, the summons are copy of others players build.

 

[22•22]

I always play offline =)

Going to gather some talismans before continuing

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I’m feeling a bit lost and aimless currently. I explored all of the Altus plateau save for the castle near the bridge leading to Mt. Gelmir. The Fallingstar Beast is such a bullshit boss, I’m just going to skip it until I reach the endgame. Leveling up by 5 or 10 levels doesn’t change a thing, it’s just too damn strong and fast, especially for my strength build. Fighting on horseback has become useless as Torrent get knocked out in one hit by bosses, and then whatever boss I’m fighting just one shots me while I’m still stunned. I’ll try fighting the Draconic Tree Sentinel and from some YouTube videos this seems like one of the hardest bosses in the game.

I’m going through some caves here and there while trying to decide where to go next. Either the aforementioned castle or Caelid which I started venturing into. It’s such an unsettling area it made me consider stop playing for a moment. It’s not everyday I get that kind of effect from a game. As someone who is not into horror at all, the idea of exploring that area is discomforting. I know it’s just a game lol. But Fromsoftware is really skilled in making the player feel uneasy in an area. I wouldn’t want to be the guy creating the monster models though, working on that deranging world for an extended period of time would hurt my sanity. The giant morbid dogs are super creepy but thankfully they are not very dangerous. But I’ve reached the area swarming with dragons and I wonder if it’s possible to kill them all.

I’ve also reached the Volcano Manor and I’m glad Mt Gelmir isn’t a huge area. Covered most of it while heading to the location of the map fragment. I wonder if level 78 is good enough for the manor and its boss? I got attacked by a summoned NPC and ran away before getting two-shotted lol.

What a huge, time-consuming game. It’s excellent but at almost 60 hours I’m getting closer to the point where I just want to reach the end. But there is still so much to explore and do.

 

[Soodanim]

Started a new character with the intent of only using Golden Order incants, but I'm disappointed with how it plays out. You get the initial 2 from D: Order's Blade and Litany of Proper Death. OB is a weapon buff which is okay, but Litany is essentially useless. Even skipping ahead to get Discus of Light from Altus only gives you one useful offensive spell, and that takes a long time to cast so isn't that great to play with so far. If I'm going to continue this I think I'll have to go get the Sword of Night and Flame to carry me through and make use of the dual requirement until I get better spells/weapons, because it's no fun so far.

Might just give up on the whole thing and do a fire character, maybe I'll throw Bloodflame in for good measure. It will at least be more offensive from the get go.

 

[Jebron]

After getting my platinum trophy last week, I'm in a severe gaming funk right now. Everything I play just feels "meh". I have a massive list of games I'd love to play/finish but I can't play anything for more than 2-3 hours. I can't tell if I'm burned out right now or if Elden Ring has fucked my expectations for every other game.