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

Fredrik

Member
Well interactions like “press a to pet dog” aren’t in the game but it has the most reward for just going in a direction and seeing what happens. I got 300 hours in the game. The first 200+ was me just exploring finding interesting things and playing. Would the game be better with more fruitless filler content like most open world games today? I don’t think so.
Yeah, the way they can hide huge areas behind a tiny door in some random corner of the map, then pretty much turn it into a full Demon’s Souls level with a boss and epic loot at the end, it must be peak-level exploration reward for the industry.

And I remember how Blackreach blew my mind in Skyrim but what Elden Ring is doing down at… well I’m not spoiling anything for those who’re still playing, it’s just plain epic.

Contentwise, is there anything that could match it? Maybe The Witcher 3?
 
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engstra

Member
NO it's not. UNFUN only to be found in this game.

I'm 40 hours in playing off an on and have an Astrologer up to level 60.
I STILL have no idea what I'm doing or what the point of the game is other than to kill anything you see.
The game Looks amazing, Plays amazing, ZERO bugs, No crashes.
The difficulty, while I consider it a hard game and it's frustrating most times I think it's actually fair and that I can beat it if I just try again.

Now for the bad
I have no idea what I'm doing or what the point of the game is other than kill anything you see.
Try and convince me that anyone has played this game without going online to learn what the hell is what and where is where and what does what.
The open world nature without quest logging cuts down 99.9 percent of all bugs. It simply doesn't tell me what I'm doing. Things can be bugging out and I would never know because the game doesn't tell you that your doing anything.
Find a blind woman get a quest. I think. Could be a quest. It is. But you would never really know it unless you first find her father, kill the big boss, find father again, find bind woman again. I have no idea if there is anything more to this quest, if it's completed, could be bugged, but again the game does not track this.

Level 60 and I have been using the same Staff and Shield and Armor from the beginning of the game. NOTHING I've found is any better than what I got. I've upgraded the staff to a +7 at a blacksmith but I do not know what the heck to do about armor. There is nothing that an Astrologer can wear that doesn't kill my rolling around ability.
Again I by myself can't find what to do about this after 40 hours. I'm going to have to look it up online.
The story? I don't give a rats ass about it after 40 hours. I don't care about anyone or anything in this game. Failure.

Most games after 40 hours I would know what the end game was all about. I've learned nothing of importance and I've explored all but the most northern parts of the map where the big city is.

In summary this game has it's mechanics down pact, It plays better than I think any other game I've played in a long time.
It's a big beautiful world. Best looking 3rd party game I've played this year.
But it fails in it's open world. Completely. Exploring is just that, exploring a big beautiful world. Things that you find only help in the game mechanic of upgrading and leveling up.

I can't give this game a score because it I don't think it's fun.
I continue to play it because I feel as though I can beat it eventually.
I'm in it for the challenge only.
While I find the game amazing, I 100% agree with what you say. It would be ok to provide a little bit of guidance on how weapons and equipment work. Spent the first 100 hours of my 120 hour playtime so far using the same sword and shield I got very early on. Since smithing stones are not the easiest to come by, the game doesn't really lend itself to trying out new weapons as the one you already have and have upgraded a few times will almost always do more damage than any new weapons you pick up. It also makes no sense how levelling up doesn't really increase your damage, it's essentially all tied to the weapon you're using
 

anothertech

Member
"Hype has cleared"

nicholas-cage-funny.gif
 
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Schnauzer

Member
This was my first "Souls" game. I stopped right after the second Ice Zone because I realized I was not having fun. I didn't find it difficult. It just dragged on. It felt like filler was over tuned to make the game feel longer.
 
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BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
I can't take anyone seriously who says best game ever made.

I've shared my POV before but i found the game to go on too long, it became a drag. The last half was boring and tedious, the game was easy and required repetitive combat patterns, the abilities in the game and summons make the game too easy to scale and you get so strong you just spam your combat/weapon ability.

I know people say there are so many places to explore but i found them, despite being slightly different, to have the same gameplay patterns throughout the entire game where it never evolved. Last point, the camera system still sucks, giant enemies are annoying not fun unless you get caught up in looking at them from a distance.

I really just think the game is great but not that great.

Ok now compare it to other huge 80 hour open world games that are critically acclaimed. Assasins Creed, Ghost of Sushi, Far Cry, Horizon, etc. The combat variety and gameplay patterns in those games isn’t even in the same league. When I got bored of my STR build it took 2 mins to respec and completely change how the combat plays out.

I do agree about the camera though. I always find myself doing the claw move to control the camera in these games.
 

Outlier

Member
The gameplay is the best souls gameplay currently.
The visuals are nice, even if the graphics aren't great.
The opens world aspect works for those curious to explore, but it's a bit empty.
The music is AWFUL! Bland forgettable orchestras and choirs.

Overall IT was interesting to see all the locations, but I'm not excited for the next entry.
 
Yeah, the way they can hide huge areas behind a tiny door in some random corner of the map, then pretty much turn it into a full Demon’s Souls level with a boss and epic loot at the end, it must be peak-level exploration reward for the industry.

And I remember how Blackreach blew my mind in Skyrim but what Elden Ring is doing down at… well I’m not spoiling anything for those who’re still playing, it’s just plain epic.

Contentwise, is there anything that could match it? Maybe The Witcher 3?

The well? Am I thinking of the same place?

I basically kited on horseback the big bad mechanical looking giant guarding the well. That guy had reach and then even more reach. When I got to the well I went down and fought giant Ants and killed a queen ant. Further in is more stuff but I can't get much further down there as I just waste time losing all my runes.
 
Amazing game, I still prefer Bloodborne overall, though.
You've perfectly summed it up for me.

The hype hasn't fully died down. Regardless my opinion remains the same. Bloodborne was the tighter game and experience that Elden Ring's potential sequel can strive to be. My two biggest gripes with ER are as follows:

1) The balancing in the entire last 30% of the game is messed up, especially for non-shield melee players, and the sad thing is that people here will defend the idea of enemies melting a health bar within 4-5 hits on a 60 vigor character. This includes the enemies near the end who have move sets that belong in Bloodborne and Sekiro, and you're spamming dodge roll or wasting a weapon art on flash step(it's been a while since I've played so forgive me for misremembering the technical terms for these), hoping and praying that you live through their 10 hit combos while they're flipping and flying all over the place, because they didn't give you any sort mikiri counter nor parry system for that type of insanity.

2) (Copying and pasting this from a prior thread) My one other small issue is that the game simply felt a bit too long and Bloodborne had the best pacing and moment to moment experiences overall. This is subjective since you don't need to complete everything, but I can list out areas I would have cut or condensed for a more refined experience for completionists. I would have condensed most of Weeping Peninsula into Limgrave, including Castle Morne staying coastal, instead of making it a separate landmass with barely anything of note on it. I would have condensed the second half of the snow area(the area you can miss out on) and just put it as part of the mountaintops of the giants. I would have also combined Caelid and Mt. Gelmir(Volcano area) into one landmass. Lastly I would have combined Siofra, Nokstella, and Nokron into one big area as well(that you would simply unlock after Radahn), instead of making them all separate pieces that you have to travel to and from. This reduces the map to 6 big crucial landmasses(Liurnia, The Weeping-Limgrave Peninsula, Mt. Caelid-Gelmir, Nokron-Siofra, Mountaintops of the Giants, and Altus Plateau-Leyndell which is already connected together) which still manages to match the number of rune towers and still leaves plenty of secret areas to explore.
 

tmlDan

Member
Ok now compare it to other huge 80 hour open world games that are critically acclaimed. Assasins Creed, Ghost of Sushi, Far Cry, Horizon, etc. The combat variety and gameplay patterns in those games isn’t even in the same league. When I got bored of my STR build it took 2 mins to respec and completely change how the combat plays out.

I do agree about the camera though. I always find myself doing the claw move to control the camera in these games.
Thats not really fair now is it, in GoT you can change stances, you get upgrades and new abilities /items that vastly change the combat in the latter part of the game and that goes for Horizon as well.

Changing your build in ER doesn't change the combat mechanics, its just that now you have a bigger weapon to wack wack dodge with and if you have a magic build its roll roll use magic and roll roll......it never changes from lvl 1 to lvl 170.

I also have issue with no reaction from enemies when getting hit, the only mechanic they have is a stagger and it's canned animation where they take a knee and you crit them (also the crit is weak af in this game i usually do more when they stagger by just doing normal attacks)
 

Fredrik

Member
The well? Am I thinking of the same place?

I basically kited on horseback the big bad mechanical looking giant guarding the well. That guy had reach and then even more reach. When I got to the well I went down and fought giant Ants and killed a queen ant. Further in is more stuff but I can't get much further down there as I just waste time losing all my runes.
Well…
you’ve seen like a corner of it 😉 You’re at Ainsel River. Don’t remember where the queen was, have you exited the narrow caves? How much do you want to know? Or I could ask you this, is that the only well you’ve found? Hint: There are multiple big areas below surface, some through wells, some through waygates, trust me it’s not a waste, you’ll see some of the coolest and most unique areas in the game 👍
 

GermanZepp

Member
I'm 120 hours in, near to the end. It felt like a slow burn. Absolute blast, but with some things i didn't like. Some enemies/bosses are really awful/unfun to fight.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
By any accounts, one of the best games ever made, for this time objectively.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
It's like most of you played a different game.
It's running, useless magic gear and repeated bosses and enemies as bosses.
The best part of the game is the starting area and stormveil. Then the veil comes off and you see how repeated it all gets.
It's a great game but not as good as any souls.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Exactly like I felt after the initial 30-hour honeymoon. ER is horribly unbalanced, one of the most repetitive and formulaic games I’ve played in recent years, and just way, way too long - the latter probably being the cause of the former. It’s also arguably the cheapest Souls games ever, with completely unnecessary gotchas and cheap tricks at every step. It’s addictive as any Souls game, but it’s the one that felt less rewarding for me. Every major victory felt like I got very lucky, or like I simply managed to out-cheese the enemy. The game never felt like a properly balanced challenge.

Of course it’s a quality game, but its many cons soured me on its obvious pros and it’s a game I’ll hardly feel the urge to ever replay.
 

DeaconOfTheDank

Gold Member
Sekiro stands heads and shoulders above it for combat and boss design (fuck Demon of Hatred tho). Bloodborne + DS3 felt more polished and tightly designed from start to finish.

Easily one of my favorite open world games of all time and it's the only From game that truly makes me feel like I'm on an epic adventure. Art direction is hands down the best it's ever been. That being said, the game is too big for it's own good and gameplay loop peaks in Limgrave, Liurnia, and Altus Plateau with noticeable lack of polish and/or development budget spent in later areas.

I don't really agree with the sentiment that the game has less replay value than other Soulsborne titles. I'm having a blast in NG+ because I don't feel the pressure to explore every nook and cranny like I did in my first playthrough and just focus on the best parts.

Game is easily one of my top 5 favorites and the level design of the open world shits all over most other games regardless of the complete lack of immersive-sim elements.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
controversial opinion:
I liked ER way more than Sekiro. Sekiro combat is far too streamlined, and there are a bunch of design choices implemented in order to make the game feel harder than it actually was, like bosses with sponge health pools to force you into a break-stance type of combat, mini-bosses whose health bars would regenerate if they lose sight of in order to stop you from killing them stealthly, or enemies that would detect you no matter what you did.
 

MarkMe2525

Gold Member
I echo the OP's opinion of the game. I really enjoyed the first half but got really bored in the late game. Not enough visual or mechanical variety which led to it feeling repetitive. I realize I could have chosen to mix it up with different weapon types if I choose to, but as my loadout was effective, there wasn't a reason to. I did end up finishing it. 6.5/10

Edit: To be more specific, I mainly took issue with the lack of visual variety in the dungeons.
 
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Amazing, everything is really well done and imaginative. The only thing that bothers me (just me because this is actually a positive for most people) is that the game is so massive that I didn't feel like replaying it after my 1st playthrough.

BTW Bloodborne is much much better.
 
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SmokedMeat

Gamer™
It isn't that there's something "better" or that that is what the overhyped critique is about (for me at least). The "overhype" is that this BLEW all previous Souslike games out of the water critically and was described as an obvious iteration on the "Souls-formula". . .when it really isn't. There is nothing this game does fundamentally that is different than ANY of the games before it. Worse, the stuff it does add is so half-baked (the crafting system is one of the biggest wet-fart - relative to game systems - I've ever seen).

For the bigtime Souls fans I’m sure it’s just more of the same, mostly. I can’t say I’ve personally seen people claim it blew away all of the other Souls games. I’m sure some did, but I can’t say I noticed it myself.

In terms of sales I think ER smashed the sales of previous Souls games, so perhaps what longtime fans see as overhype, is really people discovering and loving the formula?

Personally this was the first time I was able to complete a Souls game, and I’ve bought them all, ever since Demon’s Souls released on PS3. I think the mount was a fantastic addition, as were the Summons. They definitely helped in making the game more accessible. Level design was fantastic, as was the feeling of discovery due to the wide open world. To me previous Souls games weren’t at that level of discovery and exploration.

Not sure if weapons differ or if Ashes of War is a thing in previous games. But I’m now going back to replay Demon Souls 3. Hoping to find that it’s a much smoother experience now that ER helped it all click with me.
 
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.
I feel the exact same way and am worried we'll never get another semi linear style soulsbourne again.
 
My biggest issue with it is the balance is not good. 98% of the enemies you face are just fodder for the open world. The only challenge is the boss fights and a few mini bosses.

I think this was FromSoft finally caving to the media pressure that "it's wrong not to have difficulty options". Even if someone can't defeat say, Godrick, they can still explore the entire map and feel good about being able to play a souls style game. Anyone can beat 99% of the game, whereas in ds1/2/3/sekir9/bloodborne you can't do that and there's more of a challenge from facing basic enemies.
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
I'm still hyped!

I didn't finish the game in 120/180 hours because I didn't have a guide next to me through my playthrough (you do you do)

Truth be told. I'm looking up stuff more and more because I don't want to get burned out and I have other games that really crave my attention.
 
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For the bigtime Souls fans I’m sure it’s just more of the same, mostly. I can’t say I’ve personally seen people claim it blew away all of the other Souls games. I’m sure some did, but I can’t say I noticed it myself.

In terms of sales I think ER smashed the sales of previous Souls games, so perhaps what longtime fans see as overhype, is really people discovering and loving the formula?

Personally this was the first time I was able to complete a Souls game, and I’ve bought them all, ever since Demon’s Souls released on PS3. I think the mount was a fantastic addition, as were the Summons. They definitely helped in making the game more accessible. Level design was fantastic, as was the feeling of discovery due to the wide open world. To me previous Souls games weren’t at that level of discovery and exploration.

Not sure if weapons differ or if Ashes of War is a thing in previous games. But I’m now going back to replay Demon Souls 3. Hoping to find that it’s a much smoother experience now that ER helped it all click with me.
Ds3 is a frickin awesome game
 

Boneless

Member
My biggest issue with it is the balance is not good. 98% of the enemies you face are just fodder for the open world. The only challenge is the boss fights and a few mini bosses.

I think this was FromSoft finally caving to the media pressure that "it's wrong not to have difficulty options". Even if someone can't defeat say, Godrick, they can still explore the entire map and feel good about being able to play a souls style game. Anyone can beat 99% of the game, whereas in ds1/2/3/sekir9/bloodborne you can't do that and there's more of a challenge from facing basic enemies.

Balance is fine, only darksouls purists complain about this. Most RPGs do this and its part of the genre, it gives you freedom. You can struggle if you want, but you can also grind, find that exclusive weapon and come back a badass. And even then, the game is still unforgiving as fuck.
 

Mozzarella

Member
Easy 5/5 for me, one of the greatest games i have played.
Its a good culmination of Fromsoft games, meaning that it combines aspects from literally every game from them.
Elden Ring has a lot of gameplay tools to play with, has great variety of environments and art direction, the weapons are awesome, the movesets is great, the best magic system they have ever done, great boss fights, rich lore.
Incredible game and while this may offend some, i think some contrarians are trying way too hard to nitpick and shit on this game, but it will always be an amazing game and it will age well.
Waiting for the inevitable GOTY and the DLC with it.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
I quit somewhere around level 40. Not my kind of game. I got too frustrated early on and I never could drum up any desire to play it and had to force myself. Once I have to force myself to play a game I quickly quit it.
 

RainblowDash

Gold Member
Last month I stopped playing after 170+ hours and the Platinum trophy.

Been having cravings every so often and will probably play again soon.

The game is just that good.
 
The game is so big that I've ended up not finishing it lol.
200 hours but I'm exploring a lot and memorizing everything. (not moving until I'm comfortable)
 

Madflavor

Member
Don't know why some people are always calling into question whether or not Elden Ring is a great game or deserves it's praise.

It's awesome. One of the best open world games ever made. DLC will make it even better.
 

Fredrik

Member
I quit somewhere around level 40. Not my kind of game. I got too frustrated early on and I never could drum up any desire to play it and had to force myself. Once I have to force myself to play a game I quickly quit it.
Did you stop because of a specific boss?

This will be a long post, kind of a summary of my struggles as one of those who’re not among the git gud group of gamers. Read if you want.

I went into Elden Ring thinking about it like Ikaruga. I’ve never finished Ikaruga but still hold it as one of the best shmups ever made. I thought I need to stop thinking it’s not worth playing if I can’t finish it. I kinda said to myself that I won’t ever finish it but thought I could enjoy it until I hit a boss wall at least, like Ikaruga with level 4.

First such wall was Margit, stumbled there at about level 20. Almost no added points in vigor.
Took me 2.5 hours to beat him…
I literally dissected every move he made and planned out where I should roll, step back move in and attack. It was insanely frustrating but it was also where I truly learned the game, learned to experiment with the gear and ashes and in the end that helped me throughout the whole playthrough.

Then I had a minor difficulty wall in Stormveil castle with the Banished Knights. I died so many times. Eventually learned to do jump attack there.

Second wall was Tree Sentinel early on in Limgrave. That’s when I learned to do slow and methodical mount combat, rode away, rode forward for one attack, rinse and repeat.
Could use that for a Night Cavalry fight too afterwards.

Third serious wall was Godrick. Took me 3 hours… I hated that boss fight so much! But it was also awesome with his second phase and all. Learned to use dual weapons at that boss fight. Slow powerful weapon in one hand and fast weapon in the other and I learned to take it easy sometimes and get some distance until things are safe with the fire and all.

After that I knew the basics and could use what I had learned for pretty much everything there after.

I had some minor struggles for maybe 1.5 hours at worst but the really big difficulty wall thereafter was actually the final boss fight. I think I was way up at level 130 at that point. Maxed out weapon. Should definitely be enough I thought.
But nope I had to rethink everything. Went back to level up, max out a second weapon. Didn’t work. Went back to level up more, max out a third weapon. Closing in on level 140 now. Hmm now we’re talking. But Nah, still too difficult. Went away to explore some more and got a new talisman that was perfect. Went back and it wasn’t easy peasy but I did it in like the third attempt.
All in all it took me possibly 6 hours during 3 days…

After that I dropped the score from 10 to 9…
FROM needs to learn how to use difficulty options. That was my final thought when seeing the credits roll. While I loved so much of the game I’ve literally finished whole games during the same time I struggled to bring down one boss in Elden Ring. Not okay.

But it’s still my GOTY so far and it has ignited my interest in Souls games.

I just installed Bloodborne again for another test after hearing the talk in this thread. I’ve stepped out many times because of the framerate judder, makes it look so incredibly unpolished imo, but since Sony refuse to give me any hint when a 60fps remake by Bluepoint might happen I can dabble a bit with the original for awhile. Need to see if it’s just people being nostalgic or if it truly stack up well to Elden Ring.
 
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Hestar69

Member
One of the best game ever made and makes BOTW and all other open world games look bad.

I hope elden ring 2 fixes some of the things wrong with elden ring
 
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