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[Bernardougf]

First things first, Iam a big souls/from fan, since Demons Souls on ps3 I have fallen in love for this games and have been playing them multiple times, SEKIRO and BLOODBORNE are my absolute favorites followed by DS REMAKE, DS3 AND 1 , AND FOR LAST DS2.

You can judge ELDEN RING in the souls category of games or you can judge by it's on merits, so Iam not here to say its a bad or even a average game because its not, its good as usual for FROM (including DS2), BUT! , as a lover of this type of games I just didnt liked what they did with Elden Ring and I would think and hope that the blame is because of the OPEN WORLD push and the choice to appeal finally to the mainstream and offer a more easy-to-swallow experience. So I will try to break some thing here for anyone the bothers to read.

GRAPHICS: after playing DS remake is difficult to embrace FROMs dated engine, it feels and screams last gen, even more that I had to play the ps4 version on PS5 for achieve the desired locked 60fps, but it is what it is and FROM games shines in level and art design, so no big deal but I hope we can see an upgraded engine for their next game.

Gameplay: as good as ever, so many choices, each one with their pros and cons, you can always feel the weight of the weapon you are using and how this affects the fights. From is king of gameplay and nothing comes close for me. I always play souls with a melee build favoring great/ultraswords and use very litte to zero magic.

The world: well it sucks, im sorry but I just hate this open world stick, it feels diluted, empty and repetitive, it is big ? Yeah sure.. so ? More is not equal to better, open world plagues this game and brings down the souls experience for me. And now in NG+, something that I always enjoyed, feels like a slog and I dont think I'll be able to enjoy my second run in any way.

THE CORE GAME PLAY/DIFFICULT/BOSSES: souls games are about exploration,lore,secrets, and building your character but in the end is all really about the challenges of facing difficult enemies and getting good to beat them, for ages people have been asking for an "easy mode" and this time from gave them, is not coincidence that people that long hated souls games are singing praises for Elden Ring as the "first souls game they can play and/or enjoy", the game is just bland and easy, sure you can choose not to develop your character, not upgrade your weapon and etc, and artificially create the difficult but thats not the way this games are meant to be played.

I can only blame the open world formula for this, not having a clear and linear way for progression made the developers loose the tightness and controlled balance of the game's difficulty.

The other thing is, its clear for me that From wanted to make the game friendly for casuals, without a clear "easy mode" they choose to put several itens (ashes of war for example) to facilitate the game, you can have for example h an exactly mimic high level character fight for you or along side you, and this is just one of many many helps you can get, and some will say " you just dont use that and its ok" well its not because again , because of this choice, FROM have to account for the difficult and balance of the game, you know people can use this so you will make your difficult boss fights balanced for that and in the end you have cheap difficult fights. And ill close with this

IT FEELS CHEAP ! DARK SOULS 2 CHEAP
Since DS2 i have never seen From make the bosses so cheap, the difficult of well thought bosses of the last games is substituted for bosses with 6 hit no defense, no scape, ultra stamina never ending combos, so the game is hard afterall??? NOPE!! the game is cheap, and is screaming for you to use the "special itens" they gave to you for win, and well, you use, and ?? Becames easy as beat a mario game on auto, just sit and watch the bosses been melted away.

.........

So with the open world and appeal to mainstrean, the balance and tightness of souls/from games was lost, and for me the fun of the game was lost, becoming empty and soulless (no pun intended).

For the first time I dont think Ill finish an NG+ (I did 4 runs at least for DS2) and this for me is just sad.

Iam really heappy for all that loved this game, and happy for the new fans that could for the first time enjoy Miyazaki great franchise, it can be the best game of all time, but for me it didnt work and I really hope that this stays its on thing, its on series, and dont become all From and Miyazaki do from now on.

Cheers my friends, have a nice day and thanks for anyone that took the time to read all this.

Good games for you all

 

[PaddyOCanager]

You typed all that but didn't even state where you'd rank Elden Ring amongst the other FROM games. Are you saying it's your least favorite behind DS2?

 

[near]

The world: well it sucks, im sorry but I just hate this open world stick, it feels diluted, empty and repetitive, it is big ? Yeah sure.. so ? More is not equal to better, open world plagues this game and brings down the souls experience for me. And now in NG+, something that I always enjoyed, feels like a slog and I dont think I'll be able to enjoy my second run in any way.

So I take it you've completely finished the game? Explored all it has to offer, beaten every major boss, found all the different worlds within worlds? Because I really struggle to understand how you can use words like 'diluted' and 'empty' when discussing Elden Ring's overworld. Even on a surface level, there is plenty to explore, and you're rewarded well. There are no feathers to collect here and its not superficially filled, yet there are many layers to peel when exploring Elden Ring. I get that ER's design isn't entirely kind to NG+, but only if you've explored everything, including its hidden areas.

THE CORE GAME PLAY/DIFFICULT/BOSSES: souls games are about exploration,lore,secrets, and building your character but in the end is all really about the challenges of facing difficult enemies and getting good to beat them, for ages people have been asking for an "easy mode" and this time from gave them, is not coincidence that people that long hated souls games are singing praises for Elden Ring as the "first souls game they can play and/or enjoy", the game is just bland and easy, sure you can choose not to develop your character, not upgrade your weapon and etc, and artificially create the difficult but thats not the way this games are meant to be played.

I can only blame the open world formula for this, not having a clear and linear way for progression made the developers loose the tightness and controlled balance of the game's difficulty.

It's not easy by any means, but yes you're right in the sense that there is far more here to facilitate and bridge the skill gap found in former From games. However, bar Sekiro, you could always circumvent the difficulty curve in Soulsborne games, by simply over levelling, and if you understood the game's mechanics. You don't have to artificially increase the difficulty level in Elden Ring either, the game encourages this with the Daedicar's Woe talisman. The game is designed in such a way that it enables the player to tackle and beat the game however they want. It can be difficult, it can be easy, it can be whatever you want it to be.

 

[gaming_again]

The moment-to-moment combat in Elden Ring is absurdly satisfying. The moment-to-moment combat in DS2 feels like doing homework.

I get why you don't like the open world, though. It is very polarising and it feels as though gaming is due a major vibe shift away from them.

 

[SpokkX]

I agree mostly. Played every souls several times and Elden is the first i dont really want to play again. Enjoyed the dungeon parts but the open world gets old fast and you are really invincible on that horse

Still amazing game but one if the worst souls

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Agree with you 100% OP. Only Soulsbourne game I haven't beaten from From. Gameplay is great but everything is just a buzzkill.

The 2 points I agree with you most are the world and bosses. The world is a bore and not rewarding. I remember finding the siofra river and so many people talking about how cool it was and it was just pointless for me. Feel like I asked myself in my head "why the fuck am I here" like a dozen times as I went through it. Even just throughout finding stupid ass caves or catacombs we're just so boring as well.

As for the bosses you nailed it with the difficulty. Oh your stuck in this boss, go explore and become OP. It felt cheap to me. Other souls games do this sooooo much better. Getting your ass kicked? It most likely was your fault. In ER, is that the case or are you just too under leveled?

Lastly, about the ashes of war you brought up as well. Also terrible. Just a cheap gimmick to make the game easier and for dumbed down bosses. As mentioned I beat all other souls game, and by no means am I saying Im even that good at them, but I took a lot of pride in
NEVER using a summon in any of those games, human or NPC. Every boss I beat my just me and my weapon, nothing more, nothing less. So why do I have to change that up now? Its always funny to me that people talk about the "build diversity" in ER. But yet I feel like if you go with just a straight melee build with no magic/ashes, you're fucked.

 

[TheHolyGhost]

Never disagreed more with a post in my life, I too been playing since release of Demon's Souls and I think Elden Ring is the perfect "different" that I've been looking for in a souls game, Sekiro was god tier but it wasn't the classic RPG souls I wanted.

Saying it's cheap and comparing it to DS2 which was cooked up in like a year or two while it had to be reworked the last couple months from the ground up is just insulting FromSoftware considering it took them nearly 6+ years to make Elden Ring.

When you take Elden Ring and compare it to other open world games it's the absolute best in several categories, which would be Combat, Build Variety, Replayability, Enemy and Boss design, Exploration, Freedom and general level design - most of these you'll find in previous souls games as well except the Freedom and (a big amount) of build variety - the freedom of Elden Ring comes at a cost in the form of balance and "tightness" which again is borderline impossible in an open-world game with this much freedom, in Dark Souls 3 they can have a good guess when you're about to fight Pontiff or Abyss Watchers and can balance them around those levels, much harder to do in an open world that focuses on the element of freedom and exploration.

So with the open world and appeal to mainstrean, the balance and tightness of souls/from games was lost, and for me the fun of the game was lost, becoming empty and soulless (no pun intended).

This says it all really, upset that more people who aren't traditional souls fans get to enjoy a FromSoftware game while you disliked it because you're playing it as if it's Dark Souls and wondering why it isn't like Dark Souls.

Since DS2 i have never seen From make the bosses so cheap, the difficult of well thought bosses of the last games is substituted for bosses with 6 hit no defense, no scape, ultra stamina never ending combos, so the game is hard afterall??? NOPE!! the game is cheap, and is screaming for you to use the "special itens" they gave to you for win, and well, you use, and ?? Becames easy as beat a mario game on auto, just sit and watch the bosses been melted away.

To strengthen my arguments from above, you play it like it's Dark Souls by spam rolling around a boss WHICH HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO PUNISHED SPAM ROLLING and then complain that you can't play the game like traditional souls - almost as if it's a new IP and meant to be played <slightly> differently. I have yet to see someone new at the game complain about "long combos" because they're not used to spam rolling like in Dark souls 3.

Imagine playing Sekiro and trying to kill bosses by just trying to wear their health down instead of breaking their posture and complaining that they have too many phases and it takes too long.


If they wanted cheap sellout they could've made Dark Souls 4, 5 and 6 in the same time it took them to make Elden Ring, they wanted to make an open world game with the souls formula and nailed it - if by 30 hours into the game you had not figured out that the spotlight and most important parts of ER are the Exploration, World Design and absolute freedom that comes with it but instead "bosses and combat" then you went into it with the wrong expectations. It's their absolute best work with Sekiro for me, going back to the linear souls games felt extremely limited in freedom, the enemy A.I were dumber and much easier and it wasn't a challenge anymore (for me, at least).

I have a solid ~400-500 hours in it now, my first playthrough was ~110 hours which was nearly three times as much as it took me to Platinum Dark Souls 1 at which point I was dead bored with it, 500 hours later in ER i'm still finding new shit and builds to experiment with and I haven't even touched PvP yet.

 

[Doom85]

 

[Captain Toad]

That was too long to read.

Here's my take: "Elden Ring is one of the top 5 videogame experiences I've ever had."

And also, Dark Souls 2 is a fantastic game as well.

 

[TheHolyGhost]

Lastly, about the ashes of war you brought up as well. Also terrible. Just a cheap gimmick to make the game easier and for dumbed down bosses. As mentioned I beat all other souls game, and by no means am I saying Im even that good at them, but I took a lot of pride in
NEVER using a summon in any of those games, human or NPC. Every boss I beat my just me and my weapon, nothing more, nothing less. So why do I have to change that up now? Its always funny to me that people talk about the "build diversity" in ER. But yet I feel like if you go with just a straight melee build with no magic/ashes, you're fucked.

Ashes of War is the scaling mechanism in Elden Ring, if you find a good halberd that scales only with Dexterity you can use Ashes of War to make it scale with say Strenght instead, or add passive fire/lightning to it.

You're confusing it with Spirit Summons which you absolutely do not need to beat the game, and good for you that you took no pride in not using summons but the game is absolutely not designed with summons in mind.

 

[fart town usa]

I really don't understand why everyone says DS remake has mind blowing visuals but ER looks dated.

I think both look great and honestly, the DS remake isn't all that impressive to me in terms of visuals. Yea it looks good but that's about it for me.

Just my two cents. I love both, they're both great. There's this weird scrutiny with ER though. For me, ER is just damn fun and that's were my analysis ends.

To each their own though, not trying to flame bait.

 

[Gideon]

Disagree 100%, I disliked most of the souls games but absolutely loved elden ring, I liked sekiro tho.

 

[LectureMaster]

I actually share a fair amount of points of view of OP.

I think one thing that really needs to be taken account for is whether you are a soul veteran or Elden ring is your first souls game. When I play Elden ring, I already feel a bit fatigue for the OG souls formula.
Sekiro on the other hand, is a great refresh on the formula and combat logics.

Still working on Platinum Elden Ring tho, after that I hope to do a personal ranking of From's games as I will have them all platinumed.

 

[Old_and_Slow]

OP, I applaud your post! Great read and summary of your thoughts. While I have played some Souls games they are not a passion, though I've had similar kinds of feelings with other game series I have enjoyed. Watching as the sequels lose their way. It's sad when the original thing that clicked with you just disappears, or even when it begins to.

I was on side with 'no easy mode' in Souls games when the debate was big in here. The thought that Elden Ring IS the easy mode never crossed my mind! Makes sense though.

Don't let the posts that try to pick away at your stance get to you. There are no wrong opinions, specially when justified with your examples and experiences.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Ashes of War is the scaling mechanism in Elden Ring, if you find a good halberd that scales only with Dexterity you can use Ashes of War to make it scale with say Strenght instead, or add passive fire/lightning to it.

You're confusing it with Spirit Summons which you absolutely do not need to beat the game, and good for you that you took no pride in not using summons but the game is absolutely not designed with summons in mind.

Hm maybe getting the names mixed up. I swore that was part of ashes but you are probably right. Regardless I disagree. Maybe for just main story bosses but some of the optional I felt like they were needed by design.

 

[Bekind]

Maybe replayability is an crucial part of souls game's values for hardcore diehard souls fans, mayby they just like playing the games over and over and over again then become obsessed with the games.

For me, I dont usually replay games in general because i dont have much time to play a game that i have played not long ago over and over again, so the first experience is enough for me to judge if the game is good or not.

For me, the first experience of Elden Ring is the best experience i had in gaming, the only game on par with it is Botw&FF14 Shadowbringers.

The previous souls games were also great but they just cant beat the first experience of ER( but for hardcore souls fans/purist, they may like the previous ones becasue they have more replayability which is something i dont really care).

And i am so glad FROM made Elden Ring an open world game, its a bold and successful attempt. I had way more fun in ER and Botw than any other open world games.

Of course its also not a game for everyone, just like any other game, someone likes this FROM's new attempt, someone doesnt, which is fine.

But the huge success of Elden Ring just proves that FROM made the right decision.

 

[HYDE]

These shittty comparisons to the worst Souls game need to stop!! Fuck Dark Souls II, it’s obviously a B Team effort.
As has been stated fifty fucking million times…Miyazaki was working on Bloodborne during that time. /rant

 

[intbal]

I started playing it a few weeks ago. I'm about at the halfway point of the game's main questline.

Prior to Elden Ring, the only From Software games I had played were Otogi 1 and 2.

While I'm not sure this particular formula is something that suits me very well, I will give the game credit for one thing. It does "grand scale" better than any video game I've ever seen. Intricate detail extends vertically, horizontally, and into the distance all at the same time. Very impressive stuff.

 

[Katajx]

I really appreciated the changes to the formula. I don’t tend to care for many open world games, but this was done well and everything just clicked for me.

Most souls games I have experienced in co-op so discovering new things, builds, and testing strategies with my kids was a ton of fun.

I didn’t look up a ton on my first playthrough and not following a guide was the way to go. Discovering and sharing enemies and different drops with them was so much fun.

One of my only platinum trophies and a game my kids put more than 100 hours into and multiple playthroughs. Definitely felt like $60 well spent.

 

[NT80]

I don't know what it's like on the consoles but on PC with max settings it looks really good graphically for a cross gen open world game. Royal Leyndell Capital is the best area they ever created. The majesty of the place, the atmosphere, design, enemy variety etc. Music in all stages is a good addition.

I do agree with some of the OP about the open world though.

 

[Bernardougf]

You typed all that but didn't even state where you'd rank Elden Ring amongst the other FROM games. Are you saying it's your least favorite behind DS2?

Sorry, I haven't played DS2 in a long long time, but I did at least NG+4 in that, and in elden ring I just dont feel like doing it, so at least in this regard it is worse for me

My rank is SEKIRO=BLOODBORNE > DS REMAKE > DS3 > DS1> DS2

 

[Bernardougf]

So I take it you've completely finished the game? Explored all it has to offer, beaten every major boss, found all the different worlds within worlds? Because I really struggle to understand how you can use words like 'diluted' and 'empty' when discussing Elden Ring's overworld. Even on a surface level, there is plenty to explore, and you're rewarded well. There are no feathers to collect here and its not superficially filled, yet there are many layers to peel when exploring Elden Ring. I get that ER's design isn't entirely kind to NG+, but only if you've explored everything, including its hidden areas.



It's not easy by any means, but yes you're right in the sense that there is far more here to facilitate and bridge the skill gap found in former From games. However, bar Sekiro, you could always circumvent the difficulty curve in Soulsborne games, by simply over levelling, and if you understood the game's mechanics. You don't have to artificially increase the difficulty level in Elden Ring either, the game encourages this with the Daedicar's Woe talisman. The game is designed in such a way that it enables the player to tackle and beat the game however they want. It can be difficult, it can be easy, it can be whatever you want it to be.

Yeah, I did 100% of everything on my first run, i didnt complete all the NPCs arcs or got all the itens avaible to get a platinum trophy, but explored every inch of everything and fight everyone that is to fight

 

[Bernardougf]

Never disagreed more with a post in my life, I too been playing since release of Demon's Souls and I think Elden Ring is the perfect "different" that I've been looking for in a souls game, Sekiro was god tier but it wasn't the classic RPG souls I wanted.

Saying it's cheap and comparing it to DS2 which was cooked up in like a year or two while it had to be reworked the last couple months from the ground up is just insulting FromSoftware considering it took them nearly 6+ years to make Elden Ring.

When you take Elden Ring and compare it to other open world games it's the absolute best in several categories, which would be Combat, Build Variety, Replayability, Enemy and Boss design, Exploration, Freedom and general level design - most of these you'll find in previous souls games as well except the Freedom and (a big amount) of build variety - the freedom of Elden Ring comes at a cost in the form of balance and "tightness" which again is borderline impossible in an open-world game with this much freedom, in Dark Souls 3 they can have a good guess when you're about to fight Pontiff or Abyss Watchers and can balance them around those levels, much harder to do in an open world that focuses on the element of freedom and exploration.



This says it all really, upset that more people who aren't traditional souls fans get to enjoy a FromSoftware game while you disliked it because you're playing it as if it's Dark Souls and wondering why it isn't like Dark Souls.



To strengthen my arguments from above, you play it like it's Dark Souls by spam rolling around a boss WHICH HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO PUNISHED SPAM ROLLING and then complain that you can't play the game like traditional souls - almost as if it's a new IP and meant to be played <slightly> differently. I have yet to see someone new at the game complain about "long combos" because they're not used to spam rolling like in Dark souls 3.

Imagine playing Sekiro and trying to kill bosses by just trying to wear their health down instead of breaking their posture and complaining that they have too many phases and it takes too long.


If they wanted cheap sellout they could've made Dark Souls 4, 5 and 6 in the same time it took them to make Elden Ring, they wanted to make an open world game with the souls formula and nailed it - if by 30 hours into the game you had not figured out that the spotlight and most important parts of ER are the Exploration, World Design and absolute freedom that comes with it but instead "bosses and combat" then you went into it with the wrong expectations. It's their absolute best work with Sekiro for me, going back to the linear souls games felt extremely limited in freedom, the enemy A.I were dumber and much easier and it wasn't a challenge anymore (for me, at least).

I have a solid ~400-500 hours in it now, my first playthrough was ~110 hours which was nearly three times as much as it took me to Platinum Dark Souls 1 at which point I was dead bored with it, 500 hours later in ER i'm still finding new shit and builds to experiment with and I haven't even touched PvP yet.

Well its is a heavily inspired dark souls open world game, and not some great new formula of exploration, you can approach only as a open world experience and judge this way or you can approach as a dark souls experience and judge this way also... its not some brand new revolutionary IP, is dark souls open world with the same weapons, combat system etc etc.. I think you are been a little unfair thinking that is stupidly crazy to face this game as a dark souls type of game, but Im happy that you were able to enjoy so much, the game is a best seller and goty so this is just my point of view and to why i didnt like so much.

Thanks for your impute anyway my friend

 

[Bernardougf]

These shittty comparisons to the worst Souls game need to stop!! Fuck Dark Souls II, it’s obviously a B Team effort.
As has been stated fifty fucking million times…Miyazaki was working on Bloodborne during that time. /rant

I know is a bit unfair, because ELDEN RING is a much more polished game, but that are some things that people complained for years about DS2 that are very much present in ELDEN RING and its getting a pass because of the grand scheme of things ... nothing wrong there.. but acknowledge some of them is not wrong either

And in the end of the day I can only speak for myself, but I replayed DS2 and I dont think Ill ever play elden ring again

 

[NT80]

Sorry, I haven't played DS2 in a long long time, but I did at least NG+4 in that, and in elden ring I just dont feel like doing it, so at least in this regard it is worse for me

My rank is SEKIRO=BLOODBORNE > DS REMAKE > DS3 > DS1> DS2

Demon Souls is one I would strongly disagree with. It had terrible bosses and is feels so far behind the others. I agree with Sekiro and Bloodborne being their best but I would put DS3 alongside them.

 

[Rodolink]

I've played all from "souls" games and this didn't feel easier to me than the others. specially since bosses needed like 1000000x hits to die, I always felt i was chipping away health with a little pickaxe. The world did felt bland visually but it's very well designed with a lot of hidden posts, treasures and environmental puzzles.

 

[nightmare-slain]

I enjoyed DS2 way more than ER.

I spent more time with ER but it was tooo damn easy and the open world got boring after ~20-30 hours (into a 100+ hour game). The only thing that kept me going was the combat, lore, seeing different parts of the map and hoping it would become fun to explore again.

 

[Orbital2060]

Ive been playing through ng+ and I miss finding better items like you do in the souls games. Everything is spread out in the first playthrough. In DS2 you need to have two cycles on your save for a particular vendor in Drangleic castle to unlock some great items. Thats 2.5 games before you can buy arguably the best Pyro spell in the game - the Great Chaos Fireball. I think I prefer that way of distributing items. But maybe there will be something added for ng+ games with DLC.

 

[Boneless]

If you like Sekiro, which is not an RPG at all, more than Dark Souls I could have told you already that Elden Ring is not for you.

And yes demon souls graphics and sounds are nice, but it pales to Elden Ring's backdrops.

 

[Madflavor]

Elden Ring is one of the greatest gaming experiences I’ve ever had in my life. It’s a crowning achievement in world design, and set a new bar for me for Open World games that focus on exploration.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

The world is great. My main gripes with the game are:
- it’s formulaic as hell. Every macro area has a mine, a catacomb, and some ruins that all look exactly the same.
- the joy of exploration is totally killed by the absolute compulsion of every moving thing to kill you, no questions asked. Everything in the game is subordinate to combat, combat is the only way to interact with the world besides some mild platforming.
- it’s cheap to a degree that shouldn’t be acceptable. Watching DS2’s DLC bosses feels like everything is in slow motion. Bosses before DS3 actually paused their attacks after a combo. Bosses in Elden Ring are Dragon Ball Z superbeings with infinite stamina and the reaction time of the CPU fighters in Street Fighter 2. Every boss battle is a contest of out-cheaping each other. And not only bosses, everything bigger than a human also performs endless attack chains and will follow you to the end of the earth. Aggro a crow in Caelid and it’ll still be on your tail five miles away.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Ive been playing through ng+ and I miss finding better items like you do in the souls games. Everything is spread out in the first playthrough. In DS2 you need to have two cycles on your save for a particular vendor in Drangleic castle to unlock some great items. Thats 2.5 games before you can buy arguably the best Pyro spell in the game - the Great Chaos Fireball. I think I prefer that way of distributing items. But maybe there will be something added for ng+ games with DLC.

Technically, there are some absurd Brotherhood of Blood covenant requirements for unlocking it. However, it is not even the highest damage pyromancy. That destinction goes to Forbidden Sun, which is unlocked by completing the assassination/item collection quests of Navlaan at Aldia's Keep. NG++ is an awfully long time to get those online oriented covenant unlockables. Farming items in the other games is far more reasonable.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Ps5 version performance mode was busted at launch, but it runs fine now.
No need to play the ps4 version.

 

[Wherewithal Not Found]

I've put hundreds of hours into each of the souls games. Elden Ring has great PvE moments but if you want pvp absolutely do not play Elden Ring. It's full of the same maybe eight overpowered builds and leagues of over leveled phantoms downscaled just to gank and murderfuck any invader unlucky enough to show up. Happens at all levels too. Doesn't matter how prepared you are or how much experience you have. You're basically relying on luck and your own overpowered horseshit to nuke the host before the others group up on you. This is at any level range, any weapon upgrade level, any location and region from level 20 invasion builds to level 150. Oh and it will always start with you at a numbers disadvantage which gets worse as they have an item to call in free buddies to just meat shield into you. TLDR PvE good, pvp worst it's ever been.

 

[Orbital2060]

Technically, there are some absurd Brotherhood of Blood covenant requirements for unlocking it. However, it is not even the highest damage pyromancy. That destinction goes to Forbidden Sun, which is unlocked by completing the assassination/item collection quests of Navlaan at Aldia's Keep. NG++ is an awfully long time to get those online oriented covenant unlockables. Farming items in the other games is far more reasonable.

I didnt know about the covenant unlocking it but I just checked and on fextralife it looks like you can acquire the chaos fireball either way? I hope so.

https://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Great+Chaos+Fireball

Yeah I havent tried that Forbidden Sun spell, it was just because the GCF is so nice to have in DS1 new games, for the AoE. Just out of habit, and then in DS2 its hidden behind an unlock on ng++.

 

[poodaddy]

I really don't understand why everyone says DS remake has mind blowing visuals but ER looks dated.

I think both look great and honestly, the DS remake isn't all that impressive to me in terms of visuals. Yea it looks good but that's about it for me.

Just my two cents. I love both, they're both great. There's this weird scrutiny with ER though. For me, ER is just damn fun and that's were my analysis ends.

To each their own though, not trying to flame bait.

I legitimately have no idea how you can look at Demon's Souls visuals and think they aren't that impressive. I actually love the look of Elden Ring too, just like you, so we agree on that....but the DS remake is probably one of the best looking games I've ever laid eyes on. I rank it up there with Cyberpunk maxed on PC, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching my wife play through recently, in terms of the level of pure visual awe I feel when playing it. I adore both games, have no preference there, but gat damn Demon's Souls looks mind numbingly incredible to me. Bear in mind that I don't like Sony's first party titles about 90% of the time and that I vastly prefer the Series X, Switch, and PC to the PS5, but I legitimately don't regret buying the PS5 purely because of Demon's Souls. It's that good in my opinion.

 

[fart town usa]

I legitimately have no idea how you can look at Demon's Souls visuals and think they aren't that impressive. I actually love the look of Elden Ring too, just like you, so we agree on that....but the DS remake is probably one of the best looking games I've ever laid eyes on. I rank it up there with Cyberpunk maxed on PC, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching my wife play through recently, in terms of the level of pure visual awe I feel when playing it. I adore both games, have no preference there, but gat damn Demon's Souls looks mind numbingly incredible to me. Bear in mind that I don't like Sony's first party titles about 90% of the time and that I vastly prefer the Series X, Switch, and PC to the PS5, but I legitimately don't regret buying the PS5 purely because of Demon's Souls. It's that good in my opinion.

I can dig it.

I dunno, they look good to me but I was honestly never blown away when I played it. It just looked good. Not that "good" is undermining anything but yea, just a solid looking game to me.

The game is near flawless though as far as I'm concerned, I got so sucked into it in March 2022 or so. Actually beat it too, was really proud of myself.

Here's something that will make you laugh or make you want to slap me. I'm playing the PS4 version of ER on a PS5 and both games honestly impress me the same. I feel like the visual style and lighting are really different between the two so I can't really say which one I think looks better. They both look great to me though.

 

[Bernardougf]

Demon Souls is one I would strongly disagree with. It had terrible bosses and is feels so far behind the others. I agree with Sekiro and Bloodborne being their best but I would put DS3 alongside them.

Fair enough!! Remake has a strong nostalgia factor for me... so there is a bias.... Ds3 is awesome either

If I had to choose just one, would be Sekiro, just endless replayability

 

[Bernardougf]

If you like Sekiro, which is not an RPG at all, more than Dark Souls I could have told you already that Elden Ring is not for you.

And yes demon souls graphics and sounds are nice, but it pales to Elden Ring's backdrops.

Well I LOVE all dark souls (including ds2) and sekiro.. so I have no problems with souls RPGs..

As why I dont like elden ring I tried my best to explain in my OP.

Have a nice day my friend

 

[poodaddy]

I can dig it.

I dunno, they look good to me but I was honestly never blown away when I played it. It just looked good. Not that "good" is undermining anything but yea, just a solid looking game to me.

The game is near flawless though as far as I'm concerned, I got so sucked into it in March 2022 or so. Actually beat it too, was really proud of myself.

Here's something that will make you laugh or make you want to slap me. I'm playing the PS4 version of ER on a PS5 and both games honestly impress me the same. I feel like the visual style and lighting are really different between the two so I can't really say which one I think looks better. They both look great to me though.

Fair enough lol. Like I said, I'm on of the few that seems to love the look of the engine in Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and DS3, I genuinely like the look of it, so I'm with ya there.

Buuuuut Demon's Souls absolutely destroys it. What Bluepoint pulled off with that makes me want a Metal Gear Solid 1 visual remake so bad. Wouldn't mind a complete modern remake of Metal Gear 1 and 2 as well, but for some reason I just feel like that'll never happen, but I'm digressing lol.

 

[Boneless]

Well I LOVE all dark souls (including ds2) and sekiro.. so I have no problems with souls RPGs..

As why I dont like elden ring I tried my best to explain in my OP.

Have a nice day my friend

I mean, if you played all the games NG+, many hundreds of hours, I don't think anybody would be surprised that Elden Ring feels a bit bland.

 

[skeebs]

Disagree 100%, I disliked most of the souls games but absolutely loved elden ring, I liked sekiro tho.

I think that’s part of the disconnect.

I agree with OP and I’ve beaten every other from souls game. This one? Kind of just didn’t care after a while. Too big too easy while being cheap.

I can see why folks like it but it’s also not the souls experience we are used to and want.

 

[Madflavor]

There's no such thing as a game that appeals to everyone. Not everyone loves The Last of Us, Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, or Fornite. Elden Ring is no exception. It takes a very specific approach to it's Open World design and combat. You're either with it or you're not. But even if it doesn't click with you, I think it still shouldn't be hard for anyone to understand why the game is so beloved. The first month of that game's release was a magic time. Listening to other player's talk about the things they discovered, the secrets they unearthed, the weapons they found, the game didn't explain shit and it was fun to discover the world with the rest of the community. I'll never forget on my 2nd playthrough how absolutely floored I was that I completely missed half a dozen dungeons on my first playthrough. Not just tiny insignificant dungeons, I'm talking massive massive areas that I missed. The scale of the game is absolutely crazy, and I'm sorry but anyone who claims the game is anything less than impressive is a goddamn fool. You don't have to like it, but at least recognized what it achieved and why it resonated with so many gamers.

Going from many AAA games that would hold your hand and constantly explain shit to you, to a game that just dropped you into a world and said "Go!" was so goddamn refreshing. It scratches that itch many of us yearned for since the early days of playing the original Legend of Zelda.

 

[Orbital2060]

Malenia ng+ down since previous post. Ive been trying to beat her for a few days and it seemed just as impossible as first time but it worked out in the end. Took a bit of learning and patience. Elden beast, too, so thats second cycle cleared. One more run for the last ending achievement to 100 %.. I did the frenzied flame ending this time and the cinematic for it I thought was awesome. Lots of details that passed me by first time too. Its crazy you go through all that and then the first thing you want to do is start a new game right away.

 

[Fess]

Its crazy you go through all that and then the first thing you want to do is start a new game right away.

It’s what’s been going on for me since I started a year ago. I’ve never stopped playing it. 450 hours, 4th playthrough, last third right now with my strength-dexterity Bloodhound’s Fang build - And I’m already thinking about my next character. Samurai? Pure fire magic build?

It’s my #2 best game of all time. Only thing that tops it for me is Super Metroid, but that’s a whole lot of nostalgia and I would understand if someone had Elden Ring as their #1.

The only serious complaint I have is the terrible camera for big bosses/enemies, and there are lots of those. I’m thinking there must be a way to zoom out when you can’t see shit on screen. Like old God of War. Wouldn’t that work?

 

[Rea]

Agree with OP, The only thing I love about Elden Ring is the Rot goddess. It's the worst open world game I have played, felt so empty and depressing. The exploration is the only thing that i like but even then I was tired of galloping from one place to another, it felt like forever to reach one place from another.

 

[Orbital2060]

It’s what’s been going on for me since I started a year ago. I’ve never stopped playing it. 450 hours, 4th playthrough, last third right now with my strength-dexterity Bloodhound’s Fang build - And I’m already thinking about my next character. Samurai? Pure fire magic build?

It’s my #2 best game of all time. Only thing that tops it for me is Super Metroid, but that’s a whole lot of nostalgia and I would understand if someone had Elden Ring as their #1.

The only serious complaint I have is the terrible camera for big bosses/enemies, and there are lots of those. I’m thinking there must be a way to zoom out when you can’t see shit on screen. Like old God of War. Wouldn’t that work?

Ive often thought the games deserve a better targeting system. Something that doesnt include clicking either stick. But I dont mind the camera so much. I dont know if it would change the feel of the game if you could do a lot more with the camera, or have the game zoom in and out for a better overview. It kind of adds to the suspense and overall experience as it is now.

 

[names are for friends]

The OP is fairly incoherent but I agree with the general criticisms of Elden Ring. I was both vindicated and annoyed when the king of bad analysis, Joseph Anderson, expressed almost my exact opinion on the game.

I'd go further against the open world, though. It's purely a negative. The joy of exploring it was never that strong, because it was always clearly in the vein of Elder Scrolls, with a lot of low-effort dungeons scattered over an otherwise unremarkable landscape. Running around the open world doesn't feel adventurous, it feels like you're clearing a checklist.

Later bosses and level design are just abusive to the player.

 

[Arsic]

Best From titles ranked:

Bloodborne
Elden Ring
Sekiro
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Dark Souls 3
Demons Souls

If we count DS remake then I’d put the remake above DS2.

So you see OP, you’re just wrong. I’m somewhat of an expert on FromSoftware games. Not liking Elden Ring just means you have shit taste is all.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

I really don't understand why everyone says DS remake has mind blowing visuals but ER looks dated.

I think both look great and honestly, the DS remake isn't all that impressive to me in terms of visuals. Yea it looks good but that's about it for me.

Just my two cents. I love both, they're both great. There's this weird scrutiny with ER though. For me, ER is just damn fun and that's were my analysis ends.

To each their own though, not trying to flame bait.

At the time of it's release, what game would you say looked better than DS Remake? From a technical standpoint.