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[begotten]

So, in the last 12 hours there's been a massive surge by Hogwarts Legacy and it has gone from being a mere 22% of the vote to a much more respectable 36% at the time of writing.

Deas Space still trails at a considerable distance and with so much ground to make up seems to be out of the running.

Elden Ring, as I had a feeling it might after the first few hours, is way out in front and a clear favourite among my fellow Gaffers.

The only thing that remains to be seen now is just how big the margin is that Elden Ring wins by.

After all, a comeback by Hogwarts Legacy can't happen... surely?

Why do you need biased (based off this thread) people on the internet to tell you what to play. Have you not played a video game in the last decade?

 

[FunkMiller]

Played all three, and I'd say Elden Ring by a mile.

All are good, though. But Elden Ring is on another level in terms of exploration, discovery and scale.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

Why do you need biased (based off this thread) people on the internet to tell you what to play. Have you not played a video game in the last decade?

Hmmmm...I wondered how long it would take.

Do I have the energy for this...?

Ok, I'll indulge you.

I wanted to hear from people that have played the games, who have spent their own money, to see what they think would be the best option.
At the moment, I'm not in the position to be spending hundreds of pounds on a games I will play once and drop after 2 hours.
I have too many responsibilities to factor in and so I thought I'd ask around, see what people think, and take it onboard.

Imagine, for argument sake, you work in an office and a large proportion of your co workers play games - and imagine you talk about games on your lunch break, before work, and maybe even after work online.
I don't think it would be unreasonable, in that context, to ask different people what they think of X or Y...does that make sense?

You'd get differing opinions, some would say X is the best game ever, some would say Y is a lot of fun, other would say avoid Z because of reasons.
I was also thinking about getting one of them on Steam, but some have advised me that I may struggle with performance on my computer - and so I may end up getting it on PlayStation, which is more expensive and does not have a refund policy like Steam.

After they get your money Sony do not give it back.

I'm also interested in the alleged difficulty of Elden Ring and whether you need to be a more experienced souls fan to get past the frustration, in particular from people who have never played a souls game before.

Plus, I like chatting about games while I have a few minutes here and there...that's why I visit a gaming forum.

I hope that clears things up a little?

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the games too.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

Played all three, and I'd say Elden Ring by a mile.

All are good, though. But Elden Ring is on another level in terms of exploration, discovery and scale.

What's the difficulty like... honestly.

 

[FunkMiller]

What's the difficulty like... honestly.

It’s the easiest Souls game, but still very difficult when compared to your average third person action adventure game.

 

[Rockondevil]

I personally prefer Hogwarts as a massive fan but you’ll get more out of Elden Ring for sure.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

It’s the easiest Souls game, but still very difficult when compared to your average third person action adventure game.

It's the main bosses, isn't it, were the difficulty spikes appear?

 

[Rendered Tangent]

I personally prefer Hogwarts as a massive fan but you’ll get more out of Elden Ring for sure.

I'm not that fussed about stuff to do per se, I prefer quality over quantity.

 

[nemiroff]

Hogwarts Legacy mostly just has more frequent loading screens on PC.

Wait, wat? I'm pretty sure I've never seen any loading screens in Hogwarts on my playthrough other than when booting up and teleporting.

Edit: Well, I finally saw one for a split second before entering a huge underground layer of some sort. You don't see that on console, because that would be weird. Never seen any loading screens in the main Hogwarts map.

 

[Rockondevil]

I'm not that fussed about stuff to do per se, I prefer quality over quantity.

That’s 100% fair and both games (haven’t played Dead Space) are outstanding in quality.

 

[baphomet]

Dead Space is the only one of those games I'd play, but if you're into the Souls games Elden Ring would probably be the best for you.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Elden Ring. Easy choice and it will last you even longer than the other two games.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

That’s 100% fair and both games (haven’t played Dead Space) are outstanding in quality.

It's funny, but I'm less sure of which one to get than before I started.

 

[FunkMiller]

It's the main bosses, isn't it, were the difficulty spikes appear?

Yep. All beatable though with summoning if needed. Nothing is a permanent block to progress.

 

[nikos]

Hogwarts, easily.

 

[bitbydeath]

It's the main bosses, isn't it, were the difficulty spikes appear?

The final boss in ER is complete BS.
I beat Dark Souls 1-3, and Bloodborne, but the final Elden Ring boss…

Otherwise it’s a fun game, although I did google a lot to try find the good loot.

Bloodborne is my fav souls game.

I haven’t played Hogwarts but it does look great.

 

[stn]

All good choices but I'd go with Elden Ring.

 

[zizou6971]

Elden Ring

 

[Neolombax]

I can only comment on elden ring and hogwarts. Elden ring is a fantastic action adventure rpg that can be quite hard at some points but because of its open world nature, some encounters you can just grind through some levels to get better stats,equipment etc.

Hogwarts is also an amazing game but progression can hit a wall after youve learned all the spells and their talents. It has tons of side quests and a good story length but I find that at the point im in now, theres not much else in terms of progression. Only cosmetics to chase.

 

[DryvBy]

Did you have any performance issues on pc or were you on console?

Played it on every platform and never did have any issues.

 

[semiconscious]

It's funny, but I'm less sure of which one to get than before I started.

you wanna relax? - hogwarts legacy
you wanna focus? - elden ring

 

[AJUMP23]

Elden Ring is wonderful.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

The final boss in ER is complete BS.
I beat Dark Souls 1-3, and Bloodborne, but the final Elden Ring boss…

Otherwise it’s a fun game, although I did google a lot to try find the good loot.

Bloodborne is my fav souls game.

I haven’t played Hogwarts but it does look great.

I've heard about that last boss.

That said, isn't there a video of some nutter beating them without getting hit once or something?

 

[Rendered Tangent]

I can only comment on elden ring and hogwarts. Elden ring is a fantastic action adventure rpg that can be quite hard at some points but because of its open world nature, some encounters you can just grind through some levels to get better stats,equipment etc.

Hogwarts is also an amazing game but progression can hit a wall after youve learned all the spells and their talents. It has tons of side quests and a good story length but I find that at the point im in now, theres not much else in terms of progression. Only cosmetics to chase.

So, Elden Ring has more to do?

 

[bitbydeath]

I've heard about that last boss.

That said, isn't there a video of some nutter beating them without getting hit once or something?

There is, I watched the video and it looked like they got hit a bunch of times but their health never decreased.

 

[Neolombax]

So, Elden Ring has more to do?

Im not sure about the quantity of things, but it certainly has more meaningful things to gain from doing those side quests, optional dungeons or optional bosses.

 

[Chukhopops]

I've heard about that last boss.

That said, isn't there a video of some nutter beating them without getting hit once or something?

The final boss is actually really easy if you have any form or ranged attack. With a Faith build it’s a walk in the park compared to the much faster and more aggressive bosses you have to fight before that.

 

[rofif]

Hogwarts.
You would already know if you wanted Elden ring

 

[SeraphJan]

Have they fixed Elden Ring's shader compile stutter on PC yet?

 

[Coconutt]

Love all 3 games but best bang for your buck would be Elden Ring. Dead Space Remake is amazing but short, would not pay full price for this, currently paying through Hogwarts Legacy, will probably be a one and done, probably won't go through the campaign again anytime soon, Elden Ring is both long and tons of options for playing with all the builds you can create, plus it has some co-op, neither of the 2 other games has that.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

Hogwarts.
You would already know if you wanted Elden ring

That's a fair comment in one sense.

I was never completely sold on the game for two reasons.

First, it is probably the only big AAA title that has never once gone on sale, so it's full retail and I begrudge paying that kind of money to play for a few hours only to get frustrated or bored and never touch it again.

Which is the second reason, the notorious difficulty spikes in these types of games.

I don't want to hit a boss or an location that I simply cannot get past.

I've had it in a couple of games and I ended up just giving up.

 

[Shtef]

They are all great games, depending of your mood you may enjoy one more than other.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

Have they fixed Elden Ring's shader compile stutter on PC yet?

Performance was an issue at launch... but a lot of games seem to these days.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

They are all great games, depending of your mood you may enjoy one more than other.

I completely get what you mean.

I think they are all very moody games in their own right.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

A little over half and hour to go and Hogwarts continues to rally support but it does look like it's just too little too late.

Dead Space Remake is now firmly relegated to third place and never really got going.

I shall return after the poll closes to formally announce the winner.

(P.S this is all completely tongue in cheek - just in case those with a sarcasm deficiency get riled up).

 

[skit_data]

I’d say Elden Ring probably gives you the most bang for your buck, given it’s possible to play endless amounts of cycles and vary your builds. Also, it’s last years GoTY and could be considered pretty much a classic already.

I haven’t played the others (will jump on Dead Space Remake on first discount, love the original) but I’ll definitely play all of them at some point. All three are probably viable options, but if I had to choose I’d go with Elden Ring over the other two.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

I’d say Elden Ring probably gives you the most bang for your buck, given it’s possible to play endless amounts of cycles and vary your builds. Also, it’s last years GoTY and could be considered pretty much a classic already.

I haven’t played the others (will jump on Dead Space Remake on first discount, love the original) but I’ll definitely play all of them at some point. All three are probably viable options, but if I had to choose I’d go with Elden Ring over the other two.

Thanks for your input, I think I broadly agree with you.

 

[rofif]

That's a fair comment in one sense.

I was never completely sold on the game for two reasons.

First, it is probably the only big AAA title that has never once gone on sale, so it's full retail and I begrudge paying that kind of money to play for a few hours only to get frustrated or bored and never touch it again.

Which is the second reason, the notorious difficulty spikes in these types of games.

I don't want to hit a boss or an location that I simply cannot get past.

I've had it in a couple of games and I ended up just giving up.

I find the bosses extremely difficult but you can avoid most

 

[Rendered Tangent]

We have a winner;

Elden Ring was always the favourite and has been way out in front the whole time, though Hogwarts Legacy did come from being 18% of the vote early on to 35% at the end, with Dead Space trailing in a very distant 3rd place.

All that remains for me to do now is completely disregard this entire exercise and buy Dead Space.

Joking aside, I shall be taking the advice of the majority and jumping into Elden Ring.

If I hate it, and the 2 hour refund window is over, I won't be happy and I will...well, actually, there's nothing I could do about it.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's advice and input, and for voting.

Poll result:

1st : Elden Ring (56.6%)
2nd : Hogwarts Legacy (34.6%)
3rd : Dead Space remake (8.8%)

 

[Rendered Tangent]

I find the bosses extremely difficult but you can avoid most

Well, you can avoid them for a time, but you'll eventually have to face them won't you?

 

[rofif]

Well, you can avoid them for a time, but you'll eventually have to face them won't you?

Only like 9 of all bosses in the game

 

[Mephisto40]

Elden ring is the best game out of those selections by a country mile

 

[BadBurger]

Octopath Traveler 2.

Having played some of this last night, I gotta say this is a strong contender. I started with the cleric character and man, they are unafraid to tell stories that may offend is all I will say.

 

[MiguelItUp]

In due time, all three. But I think Elden Ring is an outstanding start.

 

[Stainless]

I've got just under 200 hours in Elden Ring, for just one character. You can definitely get engrossed in exploring, killing optional bosses, side quests, getting better gear, better weapons, upgrade materials for your weapons and gear, etc. Definitely one of my favorite games, but it requires a commitment to push through to completion.

I finished everything I wanted to do in Hogwarts at about 50 hours. That's completing all main quests and all side/companionship quests. I skipped a bunch of the open world ancient magic spots, bandit camps, treasure caves, etc, and kept mostly to the story and quests. Still got about 75-80% of entire game/challenges complete. It was fun and honestly seemed to go by pretty quickly. For that reason alone, between the 2 large RPG's, I would probably go with Hogwarts, just because you can finish it quicker than ER and then you can move to ER.

Haven't played Dead Space, but howlongtobeat says you can bang it out in about 12 hours. I tend to play the shorter games first to get them finished before moving on to the longer ones.