Elden Ring [2022-21-01] [PS, XB, PC]

[iroboto]

I love this game and hate it at the same time. LOL.

In theory, I don't like the part where I feel that a portion of the difficulty of the game is due to your ignorance. And where part of your ignorance is due to the lack of hand-holding by the game. But at the same time in actuality, I love it when the light bulb goes off and something I was struggling with becomes easy with a simple change in how I approach it.

However, there are some parts that can easily add to the frustration because they are poorly designed. I spent the first few hours getting continuously smashed and couldn't figure out how to level up. The world suddenly opens up but there is still a linear path that you have to take before leveling is allowed. The game does point you in the right direction but in most open-world games, those types of pointers often lead you to the continuation of the storyline, not to the activation of the leveling mechanic.

yea one of those games I think you would have been more than happy with in the 80s to 90s maybe as far as early 2000s. But todays modern games have completely trained players to just follow a highlighted item on their HUD, it's a habit to break, but once you're used to it, you'll find it okay. I did get lost on occasion however, as the mapping is not very good, and it's very easy to miss something. So sometimes you may want to consider relying on a guide if you know you completely missed something you shouldn't have. ie. I'm level 30 and I just found my first sorcery trainer.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

This game is absolutely ridiculously large.

There's the main map layer which is already absolutely massive. Then there's another map layer which I won't spoil. Then there's, of course, all those mini areas that are layered within the areas that the map shows. And I suspect there may actually be a third smaller map layer, but I'm not certain on that.

I was watching itmeJP playing and he's been playing it for like 10+ hours a day since launch. He thought he was getting close to the end of the game when something happens to him in his playthrough. His comment? Something along the lines of, "You've got to be shitting me, there's still that much more of the game to go? I'm like maybe halfway through the game? This is incredible, I love it."

Regards,
SB

 

[London Geezer]

And yet, I am rushing through HFW because the couple of hours I put into Elden Ring had so much... I dunno personality and wonder that I cannot wait to go back and see what I discover. Tech wise its a downer (although it looks much better than I expected, youtube does not do the game justice) but the art is too good to ignore.

I find the opposite so far.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Elden Ring creator Miyazaki "feels apologetic" towards players defeated by his games

Somehow this makes me feel a little bit better about my Elden Ring experience.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Somehow this makes me feel a little bit better about my Elden Ring experience.

This is a really interesting take by the creator. I don't feel defeated by his games, they just don't appeal to me. Perhaps 20 years ago Souls-like games, with their lack of tutorials and - let's be honest, lack of balance/barriers-to-death - would have appealed. But the reality is my available time to play games is severely limited and to spend precious to spend dozens and dozens of hours in a trial-and-error cycle. I don't need to play videogames to fulfil the need overcome challenges; that's what I am well paid to do professionally.

I get why this appeals to others, as it used to me when I had vast amounts of free time, and where getting stuck at a certain point in a game wasn't so easily solved by looking up the way forward on the internet because there was no internet. But for the folks like me whose time is limited, it's a really fine line between challenge and frustration.

 

[digitalwanderer]

And I rage deleted the game. I can see how some people would like it, but I got a heart condition so I try and avoid any super stressful stuff that's not necessary. Elden Ring definitely fits that category for me, I know it's meant to but I just don't enjoy that type of experience even though I could see how some would. I don't like horror games either, I don't like creeping around jumping at every sound.

G'luck to those who like it and I truly hope y'all enjoy it. You're much tougher gamers than I, you're all seriously hardcore if you can handle this game. Respect.

I have no shame admitting I'm a lightweight gamer. I cheat and never play online, it's meant to be my relaxation time.

 

[digitalwanderer]

This is a really interesting take by the creator. I don't feel defeated by his games, they just don't appeal to me. Perhaps 20 years ago Souls-like games, with their lack of tutorials and - let's be honest, lack of balance/barriers-to-death - would have appealed. But the reality is my available time to play games is severely limited and to precious to spend dozens and dozens of hours in a trial-and-error cycle. I don't need to play videogames to fulfil the need overcome challenges; that's what I am well paid to do professionally.

I get why this appeals to others, as it used to me when I had vast amounts of free time, and where getting stuck at a certain point in a game wasn't so easily solved by looking up the way froward on the internet because there was no internet. But for the folks like me whose time is limited, it's a really fine line between challenge and frustration.

GET OUT OF MY BRAINHOLE!

You posted that seconds before mine.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

So, a few days after the relatively disastrous PC launch, Steam user reviews (109,917 entries) are now Mostly Positive. If you limit reviews to English language reviews (69,460 entries), it's Very Positive.

As expected, now that most people can play the game, they generally like it.

Anyway, I think the one thing that most impresses me about the game isn't so much how absolutely ridiculously massive it is, but how there is such a great variety in NPC designs. Some models (bosses) are used only once while some dungeon bosses might be reused multiple times (like the Zombie Dog Automaton dungeon boss). But overall there's such a large variety of NPC models that it doesn't ever really get stale.

Basically, I rarely get the feeling that when I move to another part of the map that I'm still fighting the same enemies. That's quite an accomplishment, IMO, for a world as large as this one with as much content packed into it as this one has.

It's quite obvious to me that it's likely that the majority of the budget of this game went towards world creation, NPC creation and NPC combat AI. Moreso than you would typically see in AAA games. While the graphics rendering engine is a bit of a technical mess, the rest of it stands head and shoulders above most AAA games.

One other thing that I love is that they've not only kept the Souls style of non-linear storytelling, but they've also expanded on it. I love that side stories/quests are entirely dependent on many often-conflicting requirements. What order you do things in, what time of day you do something, what NPCs you've talked to, what NPC requests you've agreed to and potentially completed, are all intertwined with other NPC stories/quests. So for example, doing something for one NPC too early or too late could either negatively or positively affect another NPCs story such that it'll either continue or come to an end (often tragically). It's not just whether you do something for an NPC or not, it's also the timing with which you choose to do something for an NPC or not.

On the one hand it makes the intertwined NPC stories/quests complex and convoluted such that it's extremely difficult to keep track of all the relationships, but on the other hand it gives it a sense of life and realness that is often lacking in other games.

Also, the lore in this game is incredibly deep and complex. There's a new streamer that I've started to watch play this and his entire stream is talking about the lore in the game and actively looking for more lore in the game. That's hours and hours of lore discussion which, to me, was never boring.

It's extremely rare and virtually unheard of for me to gush so much about any game. But I find it hard not to with Elden Ring. As much as I like previous Souls games, none has drawn me in as much as this game has.

Regards,
SB

 

[mr magoo]

Something i love about souls games is that those game take me back in time. Suddenly i get the same feeling when i was young sitting in my friend room and playing old amiga 500 games. We didn't know exactly what to do where to go how to use some items we found, there was a bit mystery and excitement with every path we took and every item we found. ER to me is like the games used to be back then and i love it.
People often focus on the aspect that souls game are hard, and you get the sense of accomplishment when you defeat boss but this is not why i love them. For me this feeling of exploring unknown, being lost and trying to find you way around, fantastic atmosphere, this is what make those games great. FS nailed this!

 

[eastmen]

Something i love about souls games is that those game take me back in time. Suddenly i get the same feeling when i was young sitting in my friend room and playing old amiga 500 games. We didn't know exactly what to do where to go how to use some items we found, there was a bit mystery and excitement with every path we took and every item we found. ER to me is like the games used to be back then and i love it.
People often focus on the aspect that souls game are hard, and you get the sense of accomplishment when you defeat boss but this is not why i love them. For me this feeling of exploring unknown, being lost and trying to find you way around, fantastic atmosphere, this is what make those games great. FS nailed this!

Some games hit the right spot for that to happen. The early systems had difficult games because they came from the arcade that wanted you to pump quarters like no tomorrow. As a kid with the nes and genesis games were hard but we used to play them over and over again until we were able to beat them. We also didn't have much choice because games were expensive and I would get few games a year. Now you just get access to so much for so little relatively in cost

 

[Billy Idol]

Really enjyoing the game - slowly craweling up to be one of my favorite FROM games, Dark Souls 2 being my current favorite followed by BB. The sense of meaningful discovery is really great - already finding a cite of grace kinda let's you take a breather and gives you a good feeling! But killing bosses still gives me a rush of blood (after being annoyed because of all the fails that I have accumulated).I could finally kill a stupid magma wyrm that somehow was harder than the first two main bosses...ha ha ha, lol.

I went with the confessor class and tried to do some shield tank...my build is unfortunately all over the place and I have no clue where to move on with this. I just use the Katana and the Brass shield (best shield by far atm for me). Compared to socery, it seems that faith weapons are a bit lacking...or at least, I have not found a very good one that I like.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I've never played a Souls game and, when I've watched oher people playing them and getting super stressed instead of having a relaxing time, I knew I never would. But I then I thought Elden Ring might be a bit different, with the barrier to entry being lower and there being some thought put into a more fun experience. But I have to admit I think I was wrong there I've tried to get my head around what the game actually is and what it's tying to acheive. But I guess I just don't like games, especially open world ones, that punish you for exploring and make advancement a chore. I also find the world so washed out ,shallow and, to be honest, pretty boring. Just not the experience for me, I can't really think of it as a game, it's more a source of frustration than fun. Another one to super glue to the mosaic of failed experiments!!

 

[mr magoo]

The art in this game is simply amazing. As some already mentioned before it would be amazing if the tech was handled by lets say blue point, coalition or id ...

 

[Phantom88]

https://www.dsogaming.com/news/elden-ring-has-reportedly-sold-10-million-copies-on-pc-in-a-week/

How does steamspy work these days ? From what i understand, it now follows the public steam accounts that have the game ? It can't see hidden profiles. It shows Elden Ring between 10 million and 20 million owners

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Just a few grossly inaccurate napkin math numbers here with some gross assumptions.

Let's assume that PC/PS/XB each have a roughly equal share of sales. And let's take the lower bound of that SteamSpy estimate (10 million). Then Elden Ring may have already sold 30+ million copies.

If that ends up being the case, that would potentially catapult the title into the top 20 best selling video games of all time.

Remember, napkin math. So, not claiming that this is actually the case. But to put into perspective how big that potentially is. It took GTA V more than a month to sell 30 million copies (of course, keep in mind there was no PC version when it launched). RDR 2, I believe, currently holds the record for fastest launch weekend sales although it took longer to reach 30 million copies than GTA V.

It just boggles my mind to think that a Souls game is even in the discussion for entry into the top 20 best selling video games of all time. However, take even that with a grain of salt as I'm using Wikipedia for that information and I'm pretty sure it's not up to date with the latest sales information.

Also, interestingly, the PS4 version of Elden Ring sold twice as many copies (188,490) in Japan as the PS5 version (90,017).

Regards,
SB

 

[Phantom88]

Elden Ring is also the 7th most played game on steam in history. It did close to Cyberpunk numbers. The game has a 24 hour peak of 858,316 players right now. Doing the CC steam numbers times 8 from launch, we have 7.2 million in the first 24 hours. Not a stretch to believe it passed 10 million after a week if it was above 7 million right at launch.

Its kinda mind blowing when you think about it. 7th most played game in history. Almost at Cyberpunk levels, which i felt had an unquantifiably bigger hype and presence overall.

PC probably has the majority of the sales though. Press from 2015 claims the Souls series was 40% on PC alone, against four different consoles for the other 60%. Although i distinctly remember myself counting the steamspy numbers back then and ending up with a clean 50% for PC, so i dont know why the press only registered 40. Did i count wrong or did they skiped some dlc's or other stuff from steamspy ?

 

[PSman1700]

PC probably has the majority of the sales though.

It had most sales on pc at launch.

 

[Phantom88]

So, 9 days after release, Elden Ring reaches a new peak for CC players and passes New World to snatch the number 6 most played game in history. Considering Dota 2, Counter Strike and Lost Ark are free games, this means that Cyberpunk is the only full priced game thats ahead. Pubg was $30. Those 10+ million copies sold reported yesterday are without a shadow of a doubt correct, in light of these numbers today

 

[Silent_Buddha]

OK, I'm quite obviously slow at this game as I love exploring.

And now part of my exploration has led me to find a path that bypasses the first 2 story bosses (I'll obviously have to go back to them to continue the story) and I've now got access to the next major area.

I basically skipped a castle which has as much explorable content as I've already played. And looking across this vast expanse that I can now see. I think I see at least 3 more explorable castles as well as a vast expanse of explorable wilderness.

Basically, there are multiple ways to do anything and everything in the game. If you get stuck on something, honestly, just go explore and adventure somewhere else. When you come back, you'll likely be more powerful and what had you stuck will be something you'll be able to then handle relatively easily.

I'm over 30 hours in and I've still mostly been in the starting areas just farting around, leveling, exploring, fighting, and having a grand old time.

I'd also completely forgotten how you could summon other players to help you with boss fights. I did that with a giant bear boss that was giving me trouble.

Looking at the map, with how slowly I'm taking things. I'd estimate it's going to take me close to 300 hours to finish the game. I'm like maybe 5% of the way through it. And that might be optimistic. It may be (probably is) even less. I've played MANY AAA games with less content than I've already played.

Of course, if you're faster at this (better at the combat) then it can obviously be finished much faster.

The key thing is, 30 hours in, I'm still playing an open world game. More importantly, I'm still having just as much fun as when I first started. I'm still coming across world areas that make my jaw drop at how incredibly well designed it is.

Hell, this vista I'm looking at is absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Graphically, it's not as technically accomplished as Forza Horizon 5 or Horizon Forbidden West, but aesthetically and artistically, it evokes feelings of awe that neither of those games really did for me. Unlike any game before it, it really feels like I'm in an epic fantasy where some of what I see is beyond what my mind could have imagined prior to seeing it in the game.

It's extremely rare that a game can conjure up images or scenes that surpass what I can imagine. For me, this is a shiny example of a game that can.

Regards,
SB

 

[London Geezer]

As expected, my initial feeling of MEH has been replaced with WOW. Only issue I have now is figuring out what the heck I’m supposed to do. Just beat the queen boss. Been running around doing side stuff but… now what?