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[Roufianos]

Not surprised by the reviews. Not a fan of forced open worlds but it seemed obvious the move would elevate the Souls experience.

Decision to skip Horizon for this redeemed, assuming I can actually finish this.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Thanks for including my review in the OP!

Ah, I'm so glad that I wasn't the only one who really enjoyed the game.

I played on PC and as I noted in my review, there were some issues with framerate drops and hitching. However, they did not detract from my enjoyment of the game. They weren't constant and are hopefully something that From will work on patching. Under most conditions, my 1080 Ti ran the game beautifully at 1440p with everything set to "High" (not maximum).

A question about the stutters... Did they happen during combat? Or were they more present during traversal or while loading new areas.

 

[AV]

yes but those were always small parts of the combat\game, and you need to have a specific build to use them.

In here seems like powerfull magic and skills are big central part of the game and they really streamlined their use for every class, even strenght based classes.

The hype for a game like elden ring comes from the fact that i want to explore and find all this new cool stuff that even a warrior like me can use, but if i use it, the game turns into a way easier experience.

How is this any different than when we criticize OP weapons\\skill and general balancement in every other non-souls game?

i think that good balancement is when you can use anything inside the game without feeling guilty of stomping enemies with ease.

Again, you do not have to use that stuff. It's up to you. I don't use magic in Souls specifically because it's broken as hell, and I don't summon other players because it trivialises bosses. Guess what I won't be doing in Elden Ring?

It's about self control, a game shouldn't have to shut you off from available tools if you're going to actively spend time extensively searching for those tools in the world. Also, it's an RPG, the longer you spend doing side activities, the more powerful you will become naturally - I'm sure if you beelined straight through the main content only you would have a much harder time than if you spend 50 hours levelling up in dungeons. That's just the nature of RPGs.

 

[DragoonKain]

The directors for Elden Ring 2 after seeing another GRRM project turn to gold:

 

[fart town usa]

Game looks great, I plan on getting it and then subsequently finding myself stuck in the opening area cause I suck at these games, lol.

Dark Souls has been the only one so far that I was actually pretty good at. My skills have since left but I'd really like to experience the co-op aspect with my buddy. He'll probably have beaten it by the time I get around to it, which is good cause I read that people who are assisting you can't activate bon fires for themselves, open treasure chests, etc. Not sure if that's standard, I've never done co-op in a Souls game before.

 

[Fredrik]

I'm fully upgrading my 8700k build to a 12900k build and in going all out. Part of it was because of prepping for this game and also because I'm turning 40 next month so I'm treating myself after 5 years.

I'm absolutely over the moon and have bought the game on all three platforms. Yes, I'm crazy but I'm that much of a fan.

This sounds amazing and I'm over the moon!

This is the way!

Spoiler: 40th birthday

I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 16, treated myself with two 2016 Gibson Les Paul when I became 40, a Standard and Classic, not my favorite guitars at all today but they look better than any painting on the wall and is an awesome reminder of my 40th birthday

My PC is nothing special today though, 3800x+3070ti, but if the console versions are badly optimized I’ll play it there anyway. It sucks that the Xbox version is the worst, it’s usually my main platform in the living room. Oh well.
Is the PC version playable with controller btw? Can’t do fast action with wasd controls.

 

[SZips]

A question about the stutters... Did they happen during combat? Or were they more present during traversal or while loading new areas.

They were mainly during traversal in the open world. There was one very notable exception to that: The fight against the Tree Sentinel near the very start of the game. In that area in particular is where I could pretty consistently see framerate drops. I just also happened to be where an open world boss fight was located. So, riding around on Torrent and engaging in combat against that boss in that area saw framerate drops.

Other times with hitches or stutters seemed to be away from anything I'd consider dangerous. Though your milage may vary on this. I'm very interested to see what Digital Foundry says about this one.

 

[MegaBustet]

Wow. I can't freaking wait to start playing!!

 

[BouncyFrag]

Will Angry Joe review this game or hes gona ignore it like the previous game cos hes too sucks at it

At this point elden ring are just too big to be ignored

FS is killing it. Incoming juggernaut.

 

[Airbus Jr]

I’m sure I’ll suck at it too, never finished a single FROM game, but I don’t care, I can’t wait to never be able to finish this game!

Im sure you can make it man with patience

Just watch and learn from expert walkthrough

Dont brute force your way into every boses or enemies

 

[faraany3k]

Newly married and a kid on the way. If only I had time.

 

[nani17]

I'm fully upgrading my 8700k build to a 12900k build and in going all out. Part of it was because of prepping for this game and also because I'm turning 40 next month so I'm treating myself after 5 years.

I'm absolutely over the moon and have bought the game on all three platforms. Yes, I'm crazy but I'm that much of a fan.

This sounds amazing and I'm over the moon!

I'm not 40 yet but I upgraded my pc too from an 8700k to a 12900k with a msi suprim x 3080ti.

 

[DenchDeckard]

This is the way!

Spoiler: 40th birthday

I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 16, treated myself with two 2016 Gibson Les Paul when I became 40, a Standard and Classic, not my favorite guitars at all today but they look better than any painting on the wall and is an awesome reminder of my 40th birthday

My PC is nothing special today though, 3800x+3070ti, but if the console versions are badly optimized I’ll play it there anyway. It sucks that the Xbox version is the worst, it’s usually my main platform in the living room. Oh well.
Is the PC version playable with controller btw? Can’t do fast action with wasd controls.

My dad left me his sunburst gibson les paul when he passed away. I have it hanging on the wall! it looks amazing.

Yeah, bad news on the xbox version. Hopefully Phil steps up and helps them get it sorted. Im sure we will see some crazy improvements through patches.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I'm not 40 yet but I upgraded my pc too from an 8700k to a 12900k with a msi suprim x 3080ti.

im just going to drop my MSI gaming trio X 3080 in for now until 4000 series later this year.

How did you find the jump from the 8700K ive heard the 12900K is a beast!

 

[DeepEnigma]

The directors for Elden Ring 2 after seeing another GRRM project turn to gold:

 

[KingGhidorah]

HOLY GOD at those scores. MC 97+!!!

From Soft is at the top of their game, they have truly ascended to another level

Right now, they and Nintendo EPD are the top of the food chain, they are absolutely without equal

 

[Dr. Claus]

Who are you "researching" in this instance? Other people. . .who are offering their take on a game you haven't played.

Systems. Boss design. Technical Achievement. Gleamed from interviews, impressions, and demos.

. . .seriously you sound like you're getting high off your own farts with this take. And if "shitty journalist" takes aren't to be relied on. . .why are you in this thread? What possible value would you - an informed and learned gamer - derive from these lowly shit takes?

You project too much. What do you have to gain by defending shitty “journalists”? Are you one of the very same “journalists” I called out? Or are you just a console warrior/child who needs validation?

 

[JokerMM]

dude, if my PC doesn't run this decently, I'm gonna actually cry

 

[Tchu-Espresso]

For people that want to look at an early comparison of all versions -



PS5 version runs the best in the 55-60fps range most of the time.
None of the modes are locked though, including the 30fps quality modes, which is pretty weird and shit really.. And even the best version in PS5 can be anywhere from 50-60fps. Series S hovers around 50fps, and XSX version sems to be in the 40-50fps range, and actually performs worse than the S version.

I dont really think any of the console versions are very good in any mode. I just hope my Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro luck keeps going and i can get a locked 60fps on my PC.

Not very impressive though from From, yet again.
The PS5 version is the one to get out of the consoles though.

40-50fps? VRR will fix that.

 

[GymWolf]

Again, you do not have to use that stuff. It's up to you. I don't use magic in Souls specifically because it's broken as hell, and I don't summon other players because it trivialises bosses. Guess what I won't be doing in Elden Ring?

It's about self control, a game shouldn't have to shut you off from available tools if you're going to actively spend time extensively searching for those tools in the world. Also, it's an RPG, the longer you spend doing side activities, the more powerful you will become naturally - I'm sure if you beelined straight through the main content only you would have a much harder time than if you spend 50 hours levelling up in dungeons. That's just the nature of RPGs.

I think that you are not getting my point, probably my fault, but it's okay, we are really splitting hairs here to what it looks like the usual from masterpiece.

i hope that actively avoiding to use all the cool new stuff in the game is not gonna be required to have and hard experience.

 

[kyoji]

PS5 preloaded and ready.

 

[playXray]

Same. I hope it has an actual tutorial. I tried to play the souls game on ps5 and got into some realm and had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. No tutorial at all

Which game was that? I thought all the Souls games had a tutorial of sorts. Maybe I’m forgetting one.

 

[ChiefDada]

Dont really get how a game shipping in such a technical stage can get a 97. I'll wait for reviews once the hype slowed down.

On the flipside, when a game is scoring mid 90s across the board in spite of technical issues, it must be pretty damn special. I thought earlier previews calling ER generation defining was hyperbole. Apparently not.

 

[Fredrik]

Are you me?

Seriously though, glad to see the game is getting really solid reviews. I played the Network Demo / Test thing a few months ago and pumped 12 hours into it before running out of stuff to do in the first area. Maybe this will be the first Souls-like game I'll actually beat?

To be serious I don’t expect to beat it but it can still be a great experience anyway, I hope.
Never finished a The Elder Scrolls, still my favorite RPG IP. Never finished Ikaruga, still one of my favorite shmups. Took me like 20 years to finish Zelda 2, using save states on the NES Classic, was still an odd retro Zelda favorite for all those years. Never finished No Man’s Sky, still on my top 10 GOAT list and nearly played 500 hours now. Never finished Dungeon Masters, still one of my absolut favorite dungeon crawlers. Etc.

No expectation to beat it. Less frustration if I can’t do it, I hope

 

[The artful mincer]

That's dumb. It's not like all the reviewers are colluding for some reason. They all just happen to like it. Would you want a rule that say 20% of all reviews for all games have to be negative?

No obviously I don't believe in any conspiracy theories and I have zero problem with individuals rating a game 10 out 10.

Having a diverse set of viewpoints is important for the consumer because we are diverse. If you look at user reviews most games top out at about 9 to 9.2 average because there will always be people that dislike a game and they need to be served by reviews.

Personally if a game averages over 95 + on metacritic that's problem. Like I said I don't believe its a conspiracy theory I belive it's selection bias happening I.e.fans reviewing the game and this heavily affecting the scores.

I get why this happens obviously if someone has to review a 40+ hour game it makes sense to have a fan do it than a non-fan but this comes at a cost to the consumer.

I don't have solution it's a difficult problem although perhaps having multiple reviewers for one publication would help.

 

[Fredrik]

40-50fps? VRR will fix that.

$1500 will fix that

 

[Elder Legend]

awesome, thanks. Can you mention anything about how Sidestep works? is it a skill? does it cost FP or just stamina? thanks

Don't think I've ever used that to be frank. I would assume it's stamina and don't believe it's a skill. I just use regular side dodges/rolls and backwards/forwards. Never had to use anything else

 

[Krappadizzle]

Well sheeeeeeeeeet. GOTY's on lock

 

[Tazzu]

Wind Waker got GOTY over KOTOR.

Never forget.

 

[drganon]

Those are some good scores. Even though it's early in the year, it already looks like a goty favorite. I'll never play it though since I fucking hate souls games. I'd save money by just throwing my controller out the window preemptively.

 

[Banjo64]

Most of From souls games have boring combat you can never mention it before a souls fanboys pulls out the actually card and trys to explain how its deep even at a technical level all you have to do in From souls games is Mash R1/RB, Block and Roll weapons all feel the same there is barely any pluses or minuses unless the weapon has a status element added to it or it does insane Blunt damage. The only thing you have to care about is the weapons range and thats it most of the time you will never need more than to use 2 to 3 hits at a time. Nioh and code vein fixed almost all of the problams I have with souls combat and the very limited moveset the dark souls and demon souls games have. Bloodborne and Sekiro have a way better combat system then any of the DE or DK games.

Put your money where your mouth is and show us your trophy/achievement record in From games. If it’s as easy as you say and you’ve played ‘most’ of the games you should have a shit load.

 

[SuperSaiyanWithDreads]

I liked Demon Souls, my first ever Souls type game i actually got into and beat. With that said, i tried Code Vein, mortal shell, the surge, and dark souls 3 but didnt get too far. Elden Ring sitting at a pretty 98 might make me hop back in a Souls game so the world may be mended again.

 

[AV]

No obviously I don't believe in any conspiracy theories and I have zero problem with individuals rating a game 10 out 10.

Having a diverse set of viewpoints is important for the consumer because we are diverse. If you look at user reviews most games top out at about 9 to 9.2 average because there will always be people that dislike a game and they need to be served by reviews.

Personally if a game averages over 95 + on metacritic that's problem. Like I said I don't believe its a conspiracy theory I belive it's selection bias happening I.e.fans reviewing the game and this heavily affecting the scores.

I get why this happens obviously if someone has to review a 40+ hour game it makes sense to have a fan do it than a non-fan but this comes at a cost to the consumer.

I don't have solution it's a difficult problem although perhaps having multiple reviewers for one publication would help.

You know how many video games there are in the world, right?

You must understand that eventually a handful of games are going to hit so hard that the vast majority of critics agree that they're 10/10 games. For the record there are 45 total 95+ games on MC , 45, total. Ever. Now take a look at how many games came out in 2021 in total, a year devastated by delays.

You can't even make a top 50 games of all time with 95+ MC. That's not selective bias, that's just what's going to eventually happen when people review hundreds of games per year. It's totally natural that a very select few form an upper bracket. It would be incredibly weird if no game ever hit a 95 or whatever other arbitrary number.

 

[ANDS]

You project too much. What do you have to gain by defending shitty “journalists”? Are you one of the very same “journalists” I called out? Or are you just a console warrior/child who needs validation?

Literally in a "shitty journalist" review thread, self-fellating about how you don't need "shitty journalist" reviews. Childish indeed.

. . .and not for nothing the original reply wasn't defending journalists and their takes, but your spectacularly stupid classification of people who read them. I guess that wasn't clear. . .what with the fellating.

 

[ElCasual]

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell yes.

Praise the fun

 

[sainraja]

yes but those were always small parts of the combat\game, and you need to have a specific build to use them.

In here seems like powerfull magic and skills are big central part of the game and they really streamlined their use for every class, even strenght based classes.

The hype for a game like elden ring comes from the fact that i want to explore and find all this new cool stuff that even a warrior like me can use, but if i use it, the game turns into a way easier experience.

How is this any different than when we criticize OP weapons\\skill and general balancement in every other non-souls game?

i think that good balancement is when you can use anything inside the game without feeling guilty of stomping enemies with ease.

Learning new skills in a game or getting better gear should have benefits that you can take advantage of when facing enemies. They could have added a scaling difficulty option for those that want what you want I suppose.
I mean, you learn a new skill in game or get better gear and the enemies for some reason still feel challenging as they did before then what did you gain by getting this new skill or gear? What was the point?

 

[Lanrutcon]

Ok.

But I haven't seen any reviews that say I can feed and name my horse.

GOTY my ass.

 

[Black_Mamba]

Having played King's Field 1 & 2 (but never any Souls), it's nice to see this level of critical acclaim for such a hardcore game. Curious to see how From Software will grow if commercial success follows. Netflix series soon? New studios? Sell it to MS or Sony?

 

[MagnesD3]

Nah thatz God of Wars gig but it will be a nice second place

 

[Lethal01]

Who could have thought that copying Breath of The Wild, the best open world by far, would lead to higher quality games?

 

[Klayzer]

Then don’t trust it, the reason I’m hyped for Elden Ring not because high score reviews but because I enjoyed FROM’s pervious games. I also didn’t pick up Horizon 2 despite its high score review because I didn’t liked last game or other Guerrilla’s pervious games….it’s that simple.

Ditto. I know exactly what im getting with a From title. Excellent gameplay, awesome art direction, a dark fantasy story. Can't wait to immerse myself in it.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

 

[BlackOlivesMatter]

Who could have thought that copying Breath of The Wild, the best open world by far, would lead to hire quality games?

Is that the cousin to higher?

 

[ElCasual]

I really miss Miyazaky hates Kojima.

 

[009EspadaSageJay]

This reads like someone who has literally no idea what they are talking about.

Combat being boring or fun is highly dependent on the person. It certainly isn’t overly flashy and relies more on skill and forethought than something like, say Horizon which is “point and click big glowy bits!”

As for “Mashing” buttons, that leads you to dying more often than not. You have to gauge what weapon is best used for the arena. Great swords for example are terrible in very confined spaces, but a polearm, rapier, or dagger? Much more useful. Then you also have to decide what is the best weapon based on your stats. Sure that Polearm may be nice, but without proper dexterity, you may as well be hitting them with a pool noodle. Then you also have to consider the enemy themselves. Is it an enemy that has high defense? Would a piercing weapon be more effective? What about blunt? Are they weak to fire? Rot?

Now whether this style of game interests you is one thing. Claiming it doesn’t have depth is another. Now the limited move pool in earlier games, I can completely understand - but that was mostly fixed from DS2 onwards, arguably even as early as DS. From jumping to new weapon types, enemy types, utilizing the environment more in the metroidvania-esque design, they added more and more with each entry.

This reads like someone who has literally no idea what they are talking about.

I beat all of the games

Combat being boring or fun is highly dependent on the person. It certainly isn’t overly flashy and relies more on skill and forethought than something like, say Horizon which is “point and click big glowy bits!”

never mentioned horizon and not even comparing it to horizon I could compare it to other hack n slash / beat em up games since the gameplay fits more in that category then even a zelda game.

As for “Mashing” buttons, that leads you to dying more often than not. You have to gauge what weapon is best used for the arena. Great swords for example are terrible in very confined spaces, but a polearm, rapier, or dagger? Much more useful. Then you also have to decide what is the best weapon based on your stats. Sure that Polearm may be nice, but without proper dexterity, you may as well be hitting them with a pool noodle. Then you also have to consider the enemy themselves. Is it an enemy that has high defense? Would a piercing weapon be more effective? What about blunt? Are they weak to fire? Rot?

Mashing in the since that most of the time you either press Block, Attack Or dodge there is no overdrive, Stance switching, JCing, Short hopping weapon switching or anything like that even ghost of tsushima had a some what interesting counter system. Souls games have the bare minimum in terms on combat attack movesets outside of sekiro and bloodborne. The combat weapon varity is great on paper but is never needed From should make it so that short shorts actually have a faster move set in line with daggers then great swords but way to many times alot of weapons just share the same move proprieties. Weakness is important for the later games in Demon souls and DS1 and DS2 you can easily get by without knowing any of the boss weakness .

 

[nani17]

im just going to drop my MSI gaming trio X 3080 in for now until 4000 series later this year.

How did you find the jump from the 8700K ive heard the 12900K is a beast!

The whole system is insane. I went with a complete new build. I went from a blackout build to this

Spoiler: System

 

[009EspadaSageJay]

Yeah, 100% this. Souls games have very basic and shallow combat system, Nioh shits all over it and it's not even a contest.

Nioh combat is too good for what it is once you learn to cancel attack the stamina system is less of a annoyance on the harder bosses

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Maybe some people will stop comparing every open world game with BOTW and it'll switch to this instead.

 

[009EspadaSageJay]

The problem is their combat in all their games feels the same. If it evolved a lot from game to game it wouldn't feel that way. But playing all the Souls games, it feels like I'm playing the same game just in a new setting. I've just gotten bored with Souls combat, and my concern for this game is I'm going to get major burnout of their combat in their longest game yet.

im interested to see what the game is like im sure like all of the souls games once you get to a high enough level you can just rush threw trash mobs. The combat in Demouls to Dark souls 3 is somewhat different but alot of stuff in DE, Dark souls 1 and Dark souls 2 is pretty much the same outside of world tendencies and stuff like that.