Elden Ring (New From Soft Game)

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
BTW, why does FROM even offer Deluxe Editions? Digital artbook? Soundtrack? An in-game gesture and armor you can get later anyway (plus, who the hell cares)? It's like so clearly not their bag and just mandated by modern corporate gaming practices (you gotta offer a $20 more expensive edition for people that will automatically buy the most expensive edition). I do appreciate that it's so un-enticing that there's absolutely no practical temptation to purchase it or regret not doing so, but it's still bizarre when they push it front and center with the awesome cover but it's the equivalent of, "For an extra third of the cost of the game we'll also give you NOTHING desirable in the game (like future DLC access), but we will send you a dog turd in the mail. Correction: Digital Dog Turd."
Yeah, that's just dumb. Instead, send me the $20 and I'll personally draw you 6 or 10 character sketches based on watching one of the trailers. The money will go to a delux sandwich from my local pizza shop.
 
I was waiting up for reviews to drop and Jesus....I don't think my hype can possibly reach higher levels. Took off Monday so I can play for a straight 3 and a half days. Going to be booting it up with my best bud from back home in Canada in a call so we can share in the magic together.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Would that work? The game unlocks tomorrow at midnight for me. Unfortunately not going to be able to put too much time into it until Friday evening.

Allegedly, and more easily on X-Box (without having to buy and own the game on a separate NZ account =). Yeah, not worth it to me as I'd end up having to wait until the weekend to really get into it anyway. I'll be firing it up tonight at 9pm though.

I'm gonna wait for it to drop first before I buy it. Haven't touched my Series X in a few months, so I'm excited that there's looking to be a game to change that.

I have the same argument with my boss; why buy a Microsoft console when they make all their games available on PC (and more, like SFV, FF7 Remake, or Death Stranding)? My PC is my X-box! I know the answer is it's a much cheaper gaming PC, but if you're going to presumably need a computer anyway, put the extra $3-500 you'd spend on the X-Box into it to make it a viable gaming PC... says the guy whose PC just took a shit for a week. :shrug:

Same here!

Funny correction/mea culpa/I'm dumb: in your last post, I thought you were talking about 100%ing Elden Ring already (via a review code or a physical copy that got out) rather than RDR2, thus what I thought was a rather braggadocious day one recommendation. Once again everybody, I'm an idiot.

send me the $20 and I'll personally draw you 6 or 10 character sketches based on watching one of the trailers. The money will go to a delux sandwich from my local pizza shop.

The $20 going toward a sandwich is objectively much better value!

I was waiting up for reviews to drop and Jesus....I don't think my hype can possibly reach higher levels. Took off Monday so I can play for a straight 3 and a half days.

All you guys taking time off work to play are making me feel like a poser. I think the last time I tried skipping school/work for a game release was Donkey Kong Country 2, and it didn't even work because my friend/accomplice got caught and narc'd on me to his mom who told my mom! She said it was a great performance though; still almost believed I was really sick! :ganishka:
 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
I have the same argument with my boss; why buy a Microsoft console when they make all their games available on PC (and more, like SFV, FF7 Remake, or Death Stranding)? My PC is my X-box! I know the answer is it's a much cheaper gaming PC, but if you're going to presumably need a computer anyway, put the extra $3-500 you'd spend on the X-Box into it to make it a viable gaming PC... says the guy whose PC just took a shit for a week. :shrug:
you're correct, but my parents were the ones who bought the console not me. I also don't have a computer powerful enough for gaming yet. I'm currently saving up for one.
 
My PS4 physical copy shipped last night, so I should get it tomorrow.
I took tomorrow and next monday off (last days of vacation from 2021) but I'm sick as fuck since few days, so I hope to feel better when I'll start to play.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
Other than hopping into the network test for an hour or two, I've not paid much attention to any of this until about 3 days ago...

...and now the hype train is at full speed. Preloaded and ready to go. I serendipitously took two weeks off work (the burn out is real), and now I have a fresh new game to eat up all my time :chomp:
 
I'm so jelly (in a positive way, if that's even believable)!! but my kid takes all of my free time while being at home!! not regretting it one bit though, and he hates action games sounds, they really get to his nerves and I might wake him up from his evening naps. Oh well.
 
Well, I woke up early today and gave this game a solid 30 mins and 2/3 of that time was spent overanalyzing the my character's forehead to nose ratios. ;)
From the extremely little I've experienced so far, it's familiar in all the right ways.

I've made it a conscious point to watch only a single trailer a few months back and to NOT tune in to Vaatividya's channel. I want to have a more authentic and genuine experience with this one.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
ELDEN FUCKING RING, BITCHES - Well, after my first couple of hours I can confirm it's the Soulsiest Souls game that ever Souls'd. I didn't spend TOO LONG on character creation; you're all hot to see this epic world unfold before you and then realize you're going to essentially be stuck in line at a generic character creator menu for an hour. But, I got through that in half the usual time by not bothering with all the crazy face specifics that just make you look worse for adjusting, picked the knight class (Vagabond) for the balance, long sword (halberd too!) and armor, got what seems to easily be the best starting gift ever (a flask reinforcement from the jump!?) and I was off. I liked that I could make my dude schlubby this time too. =)

The opening cinematic and lore is more esoteric than ever. I have no idea what they're talking about, yet it's all familiar. At some point they're just going straight meta and calling everything by their functions in these game, "Find the level-up maiden!" I thought the artwork in the opening cinematic was beautiful, but an odd choice given the FMV cinematics in the trailer. They're clearly not going the Blizzard route of spending half the money on the most ridiculous CGI cutscenes money can buy.

Gameplay-wise... It's Souls with real jumping and basic stealth, plus a very, uh, true-to-form, horse mechanic (it's going to take some getting used to =). I like that you could basically skip the tutorial area but did it anyway, and the world is... what's really different! I think the best, and a very generous, way to describe it is Souls meets Breath of the Wild, or at least it's trying to do for Souls what BotW did for Zelda, but how effectively remains to be seen.

Anyway, I figured out how to level up and get the horse, rode around, wrecked dudes on land, got wrecked by guy's on horses, got a better long sword, a curved sword and the twinblade, which, from the name, I hoped was going to be the OP dual-wielded variety from DS3, but it's more of a Darth Maul deal.

Maybe it's just experience, but I felt like it was a lot easier to overwhelm trash mobs than in the past by spamming attack, but the bigger baddies could still ruin your day in a second. Also, they've added a few regen mechanics, like by killing certain big enemies or clearing mobs you can get flask refills (which resurrecting your horse also costs you). This is more forgiving than in the past, but a good thing because it rewards you for good play, even when you're behind, instead of essentially making a good run a matter of attrition in the end. The other quality of life changes, like the points of grace (bonfires) giving you a point in the right direction are such meager approximations of a helpful mechanic they may do more harm than good (I hope it's revealed later they actually point you towards danger =).

Oh! Maybe the the biggest news of all: Endurance increases stamina AND carry weight again, making it the most OP it's been since DS1 (though they may have balanced that by lowering how much it gives you per point). So, that's everyone's best build: whatever strength and dex you need for your armaments, then all points into life and endurance! Unless you're some magicasual or something. :guts:
 
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Walter

Administrator
Staff member
~3 hours in and very much enjoying it. It feels like From Software's laying all their cards on the table with this one. That whoosh after you hit a big leap with Torrent, that's a memorable moment. I guess Sekiro players would liken it to the grappling hook mechanic, but it’s new to me!

I went with Prisoner class, because Ive always leaned toward Dex builds in these games. And the ability to have some good ranged magic at the start has proven incredibly useful. No regrets except for the dorky helmet.

The world is beautiful and I love discovering corridors that lead to whole new areas while on the way to what I THOUGHT my objective should be. Though I'm now realizing that even though it may feel like Breath of the Wild's approach to open world, there's a distinct difference in that with BotW, you could viably go anywhere and do anything in any order. Whereas in this game it (seems to me!) more like: "sure, you COULD go wherever you lay your eyes, but you are going to get absolutely wrecked."

Aside from the obvious changes in discovery potential, paths and objectives that an open world provides, the most appealing addition to the Souls formula for me has been the integration of combat and MANY enemies into that open world. The earliest, completely insane example of this is to pick a fight with the Tree Sentinel and then lead him to the church (the closest grace point). Watch what happens. I also pulled off, half by accident, a pretty great maneuver around Godrick’s squad of goons in front of his entrance.
Tossed a knife at the guy with the horn, which gathered everyone in the area, then I slipped into the empty encampment, allowing me to sneak around the area undisturbed.
I love that the tactical options are now far more fluid than “do i clear out the area with melee or ranged?” Also, you aren’t railroaded into one particular tactic once you use it.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I should have mentioned I fucked with the dragon very briefly, basically pissed him off and ran like hell. You mess with the dragon, Wally? I didn't even bother engaging because the biggest thing I could take on were the crabs, even a bear proved way too taxing (for the game too, poor guy was kind of malfing, camera getting stuck inside him so he'd disappear n shit, I actually thought it was intentional at first like he was some kind of invisi-bear; From Soft! =)

my kid takes all of my free time while being at home!! not regretting it one bit though, and he hates action games sounds, they really get to his nerves and I might wake him up from his evening naps. Oh well.
I would get too immersed!! he might fall from our bed :sad:

I hear ya, and I have the solution: one headphone on, one off! One foot in the real world, preferably whichever ear is closer to the door, one in the game world. That's been my home life the past four years while the kid and/or wife are in the other room(s) but I still have to keep an ear out for trouble. I played a lot of games this way, and it's perfect for grinding or more task oriented shit (you can save the big, dramatic payoffs for after hours, "daddy after dark" =), though sometimes I even forget to put both cans on at night when everyone's asleep. :ganishka:

Eh, but you're probably doing the right thing putting 100% of your focus on your taking care of your kid.:shrug:
 
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Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
Another shitty from soft pc port. Tons of stuttering and frame drops. Unplayable.
Yeah I’ve heard there’s been a ton of issues with staggering frames for people playing on pc. That being said, confessor is the best class. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Also to add, I love how the game pretty much forces you to explore if you can’t beat a boss yet. It’s forcing you to get your money’s worth instead of speeding through it, and you can just brute force your way through shit if you’re good enough anyway. It’s genius design imo.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
Not gonna lie, the inclusion of mounted combat is really doing it for me. I haven't played BotW, but riding around a huge world on a trusted steed was one of my favorite parts of Shadow of the Colossus, only in this game there is way more to do. Plus, I'm getting to live out a bogatyr fantasy complete with ride-by impalings.

As others have said, the game feels like all of the best parts of Souls in an open world, and I'm really enjoying myself. The option to just point yourself in a new direction and explore instead of bashing your head against a boss for the 30th time is really nice, but I guess the completionist in me is having a hard time letting go of the feeling that I'm missing too much if I don't painstakingly explore every nook and cranny.
 
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