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How do you feel about Elden Ring now that the hype has cleared?

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
I found the latter third of the game fell off and the open world felt too static. The bosses were not balanced well and either very difficult or too easy and started to become repetitious. I was mesmerised at first but by the end the experience felt too bloated. I think the only Souls-like from From I'd rank it above is Dark Souls 2. I'm really craving a tighter experience again.

Bloodborne, DS3 and Sekiro are still my favourites.

Did get 50 plus hours of good enjoyment out it of though so I can't say I'm overly disappointed.
 
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Excellent game, unbelievable what From Software was able to achieve. The game kept surprising me with how massive it was yet it still retained most of what made From Software games so great. It has many memorably moments and some great boss fights.

I think the open world structure had benefits (specially in the early game) but also massive drawbacks (difficulty was all over the place and maybe it's too big for it's own good). Depending on how you play it you'll most likely burn out and lose enthusiasm towards the end (after I beat Malenia I had to push towards the end and didn't feel like exploring much anymore).
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Not the best game ever made, but probably the best game made in recent years, and a lesson for the whole industry in how to design and actual open world instead of a theme park full of map markers.
 

llLeonhart

Gold Member
Well, it's one of the best From's made, but still not near bloodborne or even sekiro imo.

Maybe I'm just a bit tired of the souls series, since I've been playing them since the original demon's souls, but I found it strange that to me this was the worst game to get to ng7, truly felt like a chore, and I ended up skipping most content from ng2 onwards. Getting loot from that point on, pretty much only serves one purpose: bogging down your inventory.
 

llLeonhart

Gold Member
I felt the open world was mostly transportation between the bosses. To be honest i think i'm having more fun with Nioh 2.... :pie_thinking:

But it's insanely beautiful. This game could be sold as a piece of art :pie_drooling:

8/10
High Five!

I too felt the urge to finish nioh2 after ER hahaha just finished the platinum yesterday.:messenger_grinning:
 

Labadal

Member
It's a very solid game. But when I think about it, it is neither my favorite FROM game nor my favorite open world game
8.5/10 is my score, which is very good.
 

REDRZA MWS

Member
Loves it in so many ways. The open world and exploration, the gameplay, the graphics (I loved how the weather/wind) effected the trees, looked so real at times. One of my all time favorites.
 
FROM is my favorite dev, but yes, I put Elden Ring firmly behind Bloodborne and DS3.
I think the open world did not make the game better.
Boss difficulty was all over the place. You are either way OP for them, or vice versa. There was also WAY too many relentless enemies that you can't even really fight properly. You just need to face tank their damage, because you can't dodge them and you can't block them without getting staggered.
Or they have so many enemies spamming attacks at once that it just a chore in some places. Thinking about the mages spamming spells especially there, and some other spots.
Also, the scarlet rot buildup speed and DOT can go back into the abyss where it belongs.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I hope this is the last game we get with the same feel when it comes to gameplay as the previous souls games.

I like the formula, but I'd like it even more if they reworked the combat feel, the camera and specially big sized bosses, a department in which they re far behind titles like Monster Hunter or Dragon's Dogma.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
It was a good game that I hope drives changes to current paint by numbers game design. That said, it was held back by technical issues, and is a bit too obtuse for its own good. Additionally, it does get quite repetitive after awhile. Still one of my favorite games of the past few years though.
 

yunkaiza

Member
I've played every souls game and I was pretty dissapointed by Elden Ring. The open world just introduces too many problems. Repeat bosses, same enemies with slight differences in each region and boring dungeons. On top of that the game has some of the most poorly designed bosses in the series in the lategame with maximum aggression and very few openings. The last gauntlet of bosses is just a miserable experience.

I will say however, Liurnia and Limgrave were excellent and I wished the game maintained the same level of quality in these areas throughout.

I really really really really hope From go back to more linear style games.
 
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KXVXII9X

Member
Not the best game ever made, but probably the best game made in recent years, and a lesson for the whole industry in how to design and actual open world instead of a theme park full of map markers.
The open world is still static. It is hardly dynamic. You just kill things. There isn't much of a diversity on how you interact with the world. The game is big for the sake of being big.
 
My best game of all time.

I think best part it does is long draw distance so you always enjoy epic scenery. And once you beat the area boss you can go there.

Something Bethesda RPGs also do, you are not reliant on map markers to find stuff, but Elden Ring adventure had this epic feeling that I got only from Baldurs Gate 2 before.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
The open world is still static. It is hardly dynamic. You just kill things. There isn't much of a diversity on how you interact with the world. The game is big for the sake of being big.
What kind of interactions would you have added to the world, that would have been meaningful for the gameplay?

And I don't think it's big just for the sake of it. The clear intention from the devs, at least imo, is that you would get lost in those big areas while figuring out by yourself where to go next and how to do it.
 

Ellery

Member
Awesome game and considering the scale it is natural that it isn't without flaws. There certainly are things I would change, but that is true for most games and it is much better to focus on the positives here and FROM did pretty well with the open world nature of Elden Ring and I say that as someone who doesn't devour too many open world games, because they bore me.

Impossible to rank FROM games. So many good ones in the last 10-15 years. Their track record is wonderful and Elden Ring continues on that in the open world space.

Thanks Miyazaki !
 

FUBARx89

Member
I think it suffered from being open world. Repeated boss fights all over the shop. Dungeons where skyrim levels of copy & paste and not sure whats gone on with the invasions (then again it's nicely unbalanced in pvp, like other from games)

BUT, the main area bosses where good, the proper areas where well put together, soundtrack was amazing, the world writing was on point as usual and the world does look really good.

I do like the game, but I preferred Dark Souls/3 and Bloodborne more (DS1 soley for how interconnected the world is, something that has never really been done again in a soulsborne). I can't even be bothered finishing off the NG+ run I'm in and I'm at the black blade.
 
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Jennings

Member
I put 300 hours into it and loved almost all my time in its world, minus Malenia. As of now it is easily my game of the year.

There are still a few other 2022 games I plan to play so we'll see if that still holds true by new years.

My feelings for the game grow ever fonder as time goes by, and are best represented by my favorite Elden Ring video yet. I love this video so much.

 
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Winter John

Member
It's alright. Had a few rage quit moments but that's to be expected because I got a bad habit of ending up in places where I'm clearly under levelled
 

Mister Wolf

Member
The Souls franchise didn't need to go open world. Im also tired of the dead/fallen worlds. From need to challenge themselves and create a living world. The formula and settings are growing stagnant. Dark Fantasy is fine still. The Warhammer universe/setting is dark fantasy yet its still full of life. Dragon's Dogma is another example of a Dark Fantasy game with a living world.
 
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Artofwar420

Member
Loved it. I'll agree with the general sentiment that the first half of the game is so amazing, just by sheer impact of how polished and so immersive an open world could be. It was like refreshing drink after a sea of formulaic games full of fetch quests and immense hand-holding. It was just what I needed. The only downside is its size, which will lose people looking for a more compact experience. Some people would like to be done with a game by hour 10. On the other hand I have just managed to hit the last "mission" of the game by hour 483.

 
It's great but I feel it overstayed its welcome with some areas and bosses. I hate the lazy design there were some duo bosses because they simply put two different enemies together, disregarding their attack behavior and patterns, although with some tweaked aggro. I loved my time with it but starting a new playthrough is not that fun when you have to run around collecting smithing stones bells scattered throughout the whole map (the legit way, not mentioning save edits).
 

Soodanim

Member
I’m still playing it, and it’s still great fun. As with a number of From games the quality/balancing drops off in the end-game, and that’s doubly true here because of the open world having a huge effect on the range of levels you could be tackling it at so they went with the difficulty and made everything hit like a truck.

However, the game itself is full of content and the different gameplay styles give plenty of replay value - just don’t do it in NG+. NG+ is little more than a boss rush, because there’s little incentive to do it all again unless you’re chasing specific questlines. Start a new character, it’s more fun and more rewarding.
 
You know, it's an absolutely sensational game, easily game of the year material.

But there was a point early on there where it felt like the second coming, and now the dust has settled it's clear Elden Ring does actually have problems in terms of having a long life with lots of replayability. Specifically multiplayer balancing issues and some of the later areas just not being as awesome as the early and mid-game ones.

However I don't think of Elden Ring just in terms of what it is now. All the souls games really were "completed" by their DLC. Can you imagine how big the DLC will have to be for such a monster of a game? It would be as bigger/bigger than a regular game, and will come with balance patches that will tone down over-powered or fun killing ashes of war and weapons when it comes to pvp, as well as adding cool new ones.

So game of the year now, maybe something more once the DLC is factored in. But if the DLC doesn't deliver, then I actually don't think Elden Ring is the game of forever, which is something I was really starting to believe in the first half of my time with it when the game kept wowing me over and over with amazing new discoveries.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
it has its share of flaws, mainly how areas followed a clear difficulty curve and if you didn't tackle them in the proper order the game could end up being either too difficult or too easy at times. The snowy mountain area was also clearly below when compared with other areas.

But even at its lowest points the game still felt miles ahead other open world games out there.
 

Flutta

Banned
Best dev in the biz. But not their best game. BB is still has the numer one spot in my book. But ELDEN RING still outshines the majority of games on the market, thats for damn sure.
 

DragonNCM

Member
I found the latter third of the game fell off and the open world felt too static. The bosses were not balanced well and either very difficult or too easy and started to become repetitious. I was mesmerised at first but by the end the experience felt too bloated. I think the only Souls-like from From I'd rank it above is Dark Souls 2. I'm really craving a tighter experience again.

Bloodborne, DS3 and Sekiro are still my favourites.

Did get 50 plus hours of good enjoyment out it of though so I can't say I'm overly disappointed.
50 hours for Elden ring is very low playthrough.
Probably you missed 60% of the game.
For me Elden ring is best game I have ever played to this day (also my first souls game ever).
 
I felt the open world was mostly transportation between the bosses. To be honest i think i'm having more fun with Nioh 2.... :pie_thinking:

But it's insanely beautiful. This game could be sold as a piece of art :pie_drooling:

8/10
I played nioh 2 before elden ring. Overall I enjoyed elden ring but niohs combat is so much better.

In fact certain parts of elden rings combat are really dated in comparison
 

iorek21

Member
Amazing game, and will probably get lots and lots of GOTYs. It managed to recapture that magic of discovery that only the first DS had.

With that said, just as DS1, Elden Ring kind of falls apart in the third act, mainly because of the boss design and recycled bosses, making the endgame a drag to play through.
 

DavidGzz

Member
It went from best game ever to top 3. Dark Souls 3 is currently better because of mods so Elden Ring can still dethrone it. As far as open world games go, easily the best ever for me. I drop almost all open world games. I beat ER and put hundreds of more hours into it.
 
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arvfab

Banned

Very good game. Without the open world it would have been even better. Easiest Souls game from From. Doesn't enter my top 3 of From games, though.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
I've played every souls game and I was pretty dissapointed by Elden Ring. The open world just introduces too many problems. Repeat bosses, same enemies with slight differences in each region and boring dungeons. On top of that the game has some of the most poorly designed bosses in the series in the lategame with maximum aggression and very few openings. The last gauntlet of bosses is just a miserable experience.

I will say however, Liurnia and Limgrave were excellent and I wished the game maintained the same level of quality in these areas throughout.

I really really really really hope From go back to more linear style games.
Preach. The last gauntlet of bosses is one of the worst experience I had in gaming recently and it really soured my feelings regarding the game.
 
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engstra

Member
For me personally the hype has definitely not died. It's been a long time since a game has grabbed me this much and takes up so much headspace. My colleagues and I discuss the game every week, finding out the progress we're making etc. Can't think of another game where I've had that experience.

I'm 120 hours in and just started the mountains last night. Have explored every piece of the world and done most of the questlines. Exploration is rewarding in the sense that I'm pretty high level now at 150, so hopefully I should be able to complete the remaining part without too much trouble.

I've loved my time with the game but I also want to see the end of it soon. Once I finish it I will never touch it again unless/until some form of DLC is released. The game is great in terms of exploration and combat. Story/narrative is complete nonsense as per usual in the Souls series and I can't see how anyone could complete some of these questlines without the use of a guide. It's crazy how large portions of the map like Deeproot Depths, Ainsel River, Lake of Rot, Moonlight Altar and Mohgwyn Mausoleum can't be accessed without following some really specific actions or obtaining an item etc. I wish they would guide you a little bit more in the game.
 
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