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[Fredrik]

It's an issue because it's essentially pointless and ends up being a gigantic waste of time. It's not fun, engaging or challenging to take your donkey goat horse and run across vast expanses of nothing or occasionally engage in terrible platforming with the goofy looking double jump.

So this is more fun

…than this?

Can’t agree.

And Elden Ring probably have the most packed and carefully crafted open world yet, It’s not like it’s barren like Shadow of the Colossus or samey. I just can’t see the upside of not being open world when the open world is as good as in Elden Ring.
The rest you say is mostly about taste, I don’t think the levels in Demon’s Souls or Bloodborne in any way surpass the closed levels in Elden Ring, I went back and played both after my first ER playthrough and went back to ER thinking FROM has refined what they already did so well and added an amazing open world on top.

 

[Boneless]

A true sense of adventure and freedom with Elden Ring, then add the multiplayer on top, what an amazing game.

I was hugged by a lady and did not realise a carried a health penalty from that half of the game. I love little things like that.

At 40 years of age, this is one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[cireza]

I was hugged by a lady and did not realise a carried a health penalty from that half of the game. I love little things like that.

Having things happen that you have no clue about unless you look on the internet is awesome.

 

[MagnesD3]

I haven’t played all but I’ll never understand why the open world is such an issue for some old Souls fans. If there was portals from Rountable Hold into Stormveil Castle and Haligtree and Volcano Manor etc it would essentially be Demon’s Souls 2. Fortunately FROM realized it would be more fun with a whole world to explore than just having a small hub area with portals.

You see you calling it potentially Demons Souls 2 with portals is kinda hilarious since I think in some ways it is, Demons Souls was my favorite souls game before ER due to its unmatched atmosphere (still king at this imo) and the way the hub and the archstones were structured were brilliant tbh. I absolutely love it had a Megaman esk style after the first boss where you had the freedom to go which ever way you wanted if you hit a frustrating roadblock. Struggling with an area well try this one and come back later, it didn't demand the player beat thier head against it like some of the other souks games do.

 

[Isa]

You see you calling it potentially Demons Souls 2 is kinda hilarious since I think in some ways it is, Demons Souls was my favorite souls game before ER due to its unmatched atmosphere (still king at this imo) and the way the hub and the archstones were structured were brilliant tbh. I absolutely love it had a Megaman esk style after the first boss where you had the freedom to go which ever way you wanted if you hit a frustrating roadblock. Struggling with an area well try this one and come back later, it didn't demand the player beat thier head against it like some of the other souks games do.

Man that atmosphere, the Nexus, the characters you can meet, the last monk hidden atop the place. That somber music. What a game.

 

[Flutta]

Opinions and all that. It’s an amazing game sure but has alot of flaws sadly.
I’ve replayed Sekiro multiple times and only played ER once. So there’s that.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Honestly I’m trying to recall my journey and it’s a little hazy. It’s a combo of it being way too long, having Google next to me literally 95% of the time, and also just experiencing a lot of annoyances almost constantly. The quest design greatly irritated me from beginning to end.


EDIT: omg I just remembered that absolutely TERRIBLE optional town where the insanely heavy-hitting enemies are invisible unless you go to some random merchant in a DIFFERENT REGION that gives you some invisibility-dispelling torch.

 

[MagnesD3]

Disagree.

ER sacrifices the very thing that makes DS games magic - perfectly interconnected, complicated levels with worthwhile exploration and an insanely addictive loop based on perfectly pitched character progression and challenge.

ER is just random stuff on a random map. Playing it is an exercise in frustration, boredom and occasional challenge.

Some good boss fights though. And looks beautiful.

But The Lands between is very connected and has a ton of interesting levels to explore. Like how the underground connects Liurnia, Caelid, Lindell, and Limgrave all together. The way you can get into areas like acending the secret mines into the Altus Plateu, being telephoned via the virgin to the volcano manor or even things like finding a secret entrance to caleid through the mines, this game is an extremely connected world. Also the level complexity is absolutely there in legacy dungeons like stomveil castle, lyndell, the haligtree, farum azula and exploring places like the eternal cities with thier interesting structures. I will agree that enemy balance can be thrown off at times due to tge openness to when you can encounter obsticles at different times than maybe intended but not too terribly unless you grind like you can in any souls game.

I do think to help that balance enemies should probably level up 2 levels with you for every 5 of your imo.

Also that map is anything but random, it's masterfully crafted, that team thought about every single little thing they did in that world, this is the main reason why it's so Overwhelmingly amazing.

 

[gaming_again]

Honestly I’m trying to recall my journey and it’s a little hazy. It’s a combo of it being way too long, having Google next to me literally 95% of the time, and also just experiencing a lot of annoyances almost constantly. The quest design greatly irritated me from beginning to end.


EDIT: omg I just remembered that absolutely TERRIBLE optional town where the insanely heavy-hitting enemies are invisible unless you go to some random merchant in a DIFFERENT REGION that gives you some invisibility-dispelling torch.

I’m bored of my rational responses. So here goes: git gud, scrub.

 

[Ulysses 31]

All the copy paste mobs and (dungeon) bosses could've been cut for a more focused and tighter experience for sure.

 

[Bragr]

I’m bored of my rational responses. So here goes: git gud, scrub.

Complaining that people aren't good enough at a game is a hit against it. Every time you guys use this sort of counter, you are just highlighting that the game has some problems.

The problems people have are usually not the difficulty, people are fine with fighting and figuring out mobs and bosses over and over, as long as it got good checkpoints. The thing people don't like is how the game can guide players into 10 hours of going the wrong way or spending 5 hours trying to find the right key or feeling like you need to look online for answers, or that the game uses a lot of the same tricks and gameplay that From Software has used for over 10 years.

Every angry spit from fans about players sucking and being weak is a notch on the belt for people with real complaints because it proves them right.

 

[gaming_again]

I’m just messing about. I don’t care who likes it or who doesn’t lol. I’m not a fanboy. I could write a short essay on what I don’t like about Elden Ring.

Although the slideshow complaint from pleaseinsertdisctwo AGAIN did trigger me a little.

 

[TintoConCasera]

If anything, this thread is making me want to play the game again.

 

[Hobbygaming]

EDIT: omg I just remembered that absolutely TERRIBLE optional town where the insanely heavy-hitting enemies are invisible unless you go to some random merchant in a DIFFERENT REGION that gives you some invisibility-dispelling torch.

This is my biggest problem with Elden Ring

I'd rather just play the game straight through without Google

 

[Hobbygaming]

I just remembered a moment that I found annoying

There's a tower where once you reach the top and talk to some lady the area becomes blocked off restricting you from leaving. I had to look up on how to unblock the wall just to leave and apparently I had to hit the lady

There might've been another way to leave idk but I tried nearly everything I could think of. I had to hit the lady who just offered me some kind of allegiance just to go back out into the open world

 

[22•22]

To be fair most of my favorite games have tons of shortcomings.

But as you said earlier, it's cool to be able to recognize and criticize such shortcomings while still being able to enjoy all the good stuff that it has.

In fact, I think being able to do so allows you to be a very cool person. Blind fanboys are the worst.

Just wanted to say good post Tinto.

 

[Balducci30]

I haven’t played all but I’ll never understand why the open world is such an issue for some old Souls fans. If there was portals from Rountable Hold into Stormveil Castle and Haligtree and Volcano Manor etc it would essentially be Demon’s Souls 2. Fortunately FROM realized it would be more fun with a whole world to explore than just having a small hub area with portals.

Yeah, for me personally having the ability to actually run away from the boss or bypass them and go exploring, with the beautifully down world and interesting surprises you find by just wandering around - that was the fun

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah, for me personally having the ability to actually run away from the boss or bypass them and go exploring, with the beautifully down world and interesting surprises you find by just wandering around - that was the fun

Yeah, I’d say that’s how it’s meant to be played. Some git gud veteran Souls gamer probably managed to beat Tree Sentinel with their starter wretch and a club and then went straight to Margit and Godrick but I assume most got stomped and went out exploring instead and then fell in love with the game and world that way. The exploration and amount of optional areas where you can find some of the best content it’s really something else. Maybe The Elder Scrolls is on par but I wouldn’t object if someone said ER was at the peak of the industry right now. I’m on my 4th playthrough and nearly 400 hours played total and I still find new things and even new strategies how to play it, might even be some area I haven’t seen yet. Superb game!

 

[Stuart360]

I have said this before but it is a game that felt a level above other games from the last 2 or 3 year, it certainly capyured my imagination like no ohter game from the last 2 or 3 years.
Its not the best game ever for me, but in terms of world design, and variety, you could make an argument for it having the best open world yet.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

It’s definitely up there , I couldn’t believe how well the “dungeon” design was in an open world game

Usually games that go open world start to lose its quality and depth in their dungeons (halo, botw etc) but this was not the case for ER

 

[Soodanim]

I just remembered a moment that I found annoying

There's a tower where once you reach the top and talk to some lady the area becomes blocked off restricting you from leaving. I had to look up on how to unblock the wall just to leave and apparently I had to hit the lady

There might've been another way to leave idk but I tried nearly everything I could think of. I had to hit the lady who just offered me some kind of allegiance just to go back out into the open world

That's a weird quirk that (I assume) brought on to encourage safe interaction with the NPCs summoned, and it takes a world reset to get out of. Resting does it, but I often quit out. It's definitely dumb, there's no need for them to do that as NPCs usually have protective barriers anyway. Requiring either is janky as fuck for a modern game, and it shows From's shortcomings as developers.

I don't know if it's been patched now, but there was a Catacomb in which selecting Stake of Marika on death took you back to the bonfire. A bit of classic "Run past everything to the boss" like the old days.

 

[sainraja]

I mean, have you not played Breath of the Wild? I wish I could get into Elden Ring as much as some of you. I am still enjoying the game but I am not getting the same vibe from it haha.

Maybe he's an orc

Ohh how I miss Warcraft!

 

[TropicanaTwista]

I absolutely love it had a Megaman esk style after the first boss where you had the freedom to go which ever way you wanted if you hit a frustrating roadblock. Struggling with an area well try this one and come back later, it didn't demand the player beat thier head against it like some of the other souks games do

Most of the issues with this game have popped up in this thread but here is one I haven't seen mentioned much. I personally think that this ruins the experience alot.

Like I got to Margit I think at level 12 and he was kicking my ass. To the point I was truly confused as I've played the souls games before and know what to expect from these games and all I heard was of ER was the easiest of the from games. End up just looking up what level is recommended just out of curiosity and walkthroughs we're mentioning around level 25. Go back to Margit at level 22 and it was a cakewalk. I didn't feel like I "got gud", I feel like I just cheesed and became too OP.

Can't remember the name of the boss but had a similar situation with the boss at the very southern most part of the weeping peninsula. Hell even tree sentinel. How many people just straight up beat him the first moment you see him? What I really hate about this, is did I need to truly get good? Or was I severely under leveled? This in turn doesn't make me want to explore. Being over leveled or under leveled in an area just isn't fun.

Conversely, this is what I love about the rest of the souls games. Not to say it's not possible, but very rarely have I came across an area in which I felt this way (outside of maybe some backtracking). If I got stuck in an area or vs a boss, in any of their other games, I know I just needed to get better.

 

[OsirisBlack]

Possibly the most overrated game of all time imo.
Its innovation on the Souls formula's exaggerated tbh & it's major flaws somehow escaped actual criticism.
But hey whatever works with you man.

What major flaws are those? outside of technical flaws of course. This is fromsoft and being tech savvy isn't exactly their thing.
Gameplay pretty flawless.
World building also pretty flawless.
Story see above several different endings based on your decisions in game and different story lines all within the same game.
Art style Top notch but that varies on personal taste.
Music god tier.
Customization also god tier.
Cash shop or micro-transactions are nonexistent.
Map isn't littered with quest logs and they don't treat the gamers like absolute idiots. I love me some Ragnarok but that head and the boy need to stfu.

So major flaws? I have a few minor gripes but they are just that. Minor gripes.

Edited to add a response to the overpowered comments about leveling up. Beat my first playthrough at level 44 SOLO. You can be overpowered if you choose or you can just play the game.

 

[Soodanim]

Most of the issues with this game have popped up in this thread but here is one I haven't seen mentioned much. I personally think that this ruins the experience alot.

Like I got to Margit I think at level 12 and he was kicking my ass. To the point I was truly confused as I've played the souls games before and know what to expect from these games and all I heard was of ER was the easiest of the from games. End up just looking up what level is recommended just out of curiosity and walkthroughs we're mentioning around level 25. Go back to Margit at level 22 and it was a cakewalk. I didn't feel like I "got gud", I feel like I just cheesed and became too OP.

Can't remember the name of the boss but had a similar situation with the boss at the very southern most part of the weeping peninsula. Hell even tree sentinel. How many people just straight up beat him the first moment you see him? What I really hate about this, is did I need to truly get good? Or was I severely under leveled? This in turn doesn't make me want to explore. Being over leveled or under leveled in an area just isn't fun.

Conversely, this is what I love about the rest of the souls games. Not to say it's not possible, but very rarely have I came across an area in which I felt this way (outside of maybe some backtracking). If I got stuck in an area or vs a boss, in any of their other games, I know I just needed to get better.

It's the biggest loss in the translation to open world. A lack of curation is inherent to the design, because you can't truly design for it. There's too many variables. In Dark Souls 3, you follow a set path (at least in the beginning) and the devs knew roughly what level you were going to be given or take some expected deaths. But how do you balance the late game of Elden Ring? If you haven't explored everything, you could easily be 40 levels below someone that did explore - and that's a low ball figure. People argue the scaling in late game areas is way off, and if you look at the area scaling (multipliers added to each base number) it shoots up in a non-linear fashion. But if they low balled it, people would complaint that it's too easy, so it's better to make optional areas too tough if you can't find a happy medium.

What I will say about ER though, is that it's clear that they put some effort into making things doable. They tell you to avoid Margit early on, and the intent is for him to be a wall that encourages exploration. North fails, so you go south because east is a bad idea. When you go to Weeping Peninsula, you find the densest collection of items and upgrades in the game. Even before that, the game hands a strength build to you in Limgrave in the form of Great Axe, Axe talisman, and Strength tear. Between that, the early mine for upgrades to +3, and the tanky summon that can inflict poison for you that you're given a minute from the boss, that's plenty to move forward with. That's not even going into ashes of war that help with stance breaks like Ground Slam. You ever used that on Margit? Cake walk. The game gives you plenty of tools, you just have to use them.

Truth be told, if people didn't want to explore then they shouldn't have bought open world Dark Souls. What's the alternative: no relevant rewards for dungeons? Yeah, I'm sure side content being pointless would have gone down a storm.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Replayed some more Bloodborne today

I think it whoops Elden Ring with both hands tied behind its back

 

[IchibanKasuga21]

Your interaction with that world is basically combat. Combat was much better in Sekiro. So it's not even the best FS game.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

It's the biggest loss in the translation to open world. A lack of curation is inherent to the design, because you can't truly design for it. There's too many variables. In Dark Souls 3, you follow a set path (at least in the beginning) and the devs knew roughly what level you were going to be given or take some expected deaths. But how do you balance the late game of Elden Ring? If you haven't explored everything, you could easily be 40 levels below someone that did explore - and that's a low ball figure. People argue the scaling in late game areas is way off, and if you look at the area scaling (multipliers added to each base number) it shoots up in a non-linear fashion. But if they low balled it, people would complaint that it's too easy, so it's better to make optional areas too tough if you can't find a happy medium.

Yea I don't disagree with that. Gonna be tough to balance for From.

Truth be told, if people didn't want to explore then they shouldn't have bought open world Dark Souls. What's the alternative: no relevant rewards for dungeons? Yeah, I'm sure side content being pointless would have gone down a storm.

I guess. My main issue is the exploration just sucks. I enjoy the hell out of ER when not exploring lol. Like getting to Margit and going through the first castle was a blast. Once in the second area, getting to the academy, I was also enjoying. Then I needed to find the key and realized I needed to explore again. That's when it kind of dawned on me that I wasn't having that much fun and the game felt like a chore. Just kind of sucked the joy out of playing.

 

[skneogaf]

As amazing as elden ring is I don't have much interest in playing it through again yet I do eith their usual games. In fact I play through bloodborne, demon's souls then the 3 dark souls games back to back at least once per year if not twice.

I think it's to do with the unlimited choice of direction you can go whereas the limits of the previous games narrow down my confusion and give me a path to follow.

I'm unable to just do the main bosses or something similar as I always try to tick every box on every play through and elden ring is so vast I'd likely need to have a look at a quick recommendation guide to not go astray.

1st time play through was as good as zelda a link to the past was back on the super Nintendo which was just perfect!

 

[crazy monkey]

I do not like overly punishing games.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Throwing Kena in there is just....

Seriously, who wrote that post? Froskurinn?

 

[DragonNCM]

having Google next to me literally 95% of the time

Then you didn't play the game....you watched the game.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

It was pretty good at first, maybe even fantastic. But it quickly got boring and far too difficult.

Also, it’s an absolute shambles technically speaking, that alone should disqualify it from GOAT status.

What’s the big deal with the open world? Like, what’s so great about it? Felt kind of barren and empty to me, a lot of open spaces with not much happening.

Overly oppressive too, it was often quite an unpleasant game to spend time with.

Meh, it’s WAAYYY overrated IMO, 7.5/10

 

[StueyDuck]

I would agree if RDR2 didn't already come out and absolutely shits on elden ring in every way. Especially vfx considering it's last Gen even

 

[bender]

It’s not like it’s barren like Shadow of the Colossus or samey.

Elden Ring could have taken some notes from SOTC. Most designers these days are afraid to let their open world games breath and need to let players have content every few paces. While Elden Ring has an impressive amount of content, it doesn't have enough to support the size or density of placement of its' open world which led to recycled bosses, recycled tile sets in optional dungeons, talismans +1/+2/+3 in one playthrough, and chests with inconsequential items.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I’m bored of my rational responses. So here goes: git gud, scrub.

I’ve beaten Sekiro twice, Bloodborne 4 times, DS2 twice, DS3 twice. “Git gud” doesn’t even apply here. I’m complaining that the solution to an annoying roadblock is completely ridiculous unless you use Google or have no life.

I don’t know if you guys know this but I promise the dev team will not spontaneously combust if you suggest something could be better. Do you also claim that the game’s slideshow intro is actually the most amazing intro for a Miyazaki game thus far?

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Then you didn't play the game....you watched the game.

The game is already like 70 hours long at a minimum. I’m not interested in adding 200 hours to that by getting lost and being hopelessly confused, along with screwing myself over because I didn’t guess how to do a questline correctly.

 

[Ribi]

Reusing assessment and game design plus adding dungeons with uninspired aesthetics is crowning achievement now?

 

[gaming_again]

I’ve beaten Sekiro twice, Bloodborne 4 times, DS2 twice, DS3 twice. “Git gud” doesn’t even apply here. I’m complaining that the solution to an annoying roadblock is completely ridiculous unless you use Google or have no life.

I don’t know if you guys know this but I promise the dev team will not spontaneously combust if you suggest something could be better. Do you also claim that the game’s slideshow intro is actually the most amazing intro for a Miyazaki game thus far?

I’m just astonished that you have such a bee in your bonnet about a slideshow intro. Every time I see your avatar I think ah it’s the slideshow rager.

 

[ntropy]

Honestly I’m trying to recall my journey and it’s a little hazy. It’s a combo of it being way too long, having Google next to me literally 95% of the time, and also just experiencing a lot of annoyances almost constantly. The quest design greatly irritated me from beginning to end.


EDIT: omg I just remembered that absolutely TERRIBLE optional town where the insanely heavy-hitting enemies are invisible unless you go to some random merchant in a DIFFERENT REGION that gives you some invisibility-dispelling torch.

terrible town? that was awesome! one of the more memorable moments for me
i looked at the ground and could see their snow tracks. killed them on my second try

 

[Dr. Claus]

Honestly I’m trying to recall my journey and it’s a little hazy. It’s a combo of it being way too long, having Google next to me literally 95% of the time, and also just experiencing a lot of annoyances almost constantly. The quest design greatly irritated me from beginning to end.


EDIT: omg I just remembered that absolutely TERRIBLE optional town where the insanely heavy-hitting enemies are invisible unless you go to some random merchant in a DIFFERENT REGION that gives you some invisibility-dispelling torch.

Honestly, your posts read more like someone who couldn't understand the basic tells and hints the game gives you. That optional town? Easily doable without needing the merchant. The entire game can easily be beaten without a single google search. Yes, even getting the Ranni questline. Completely blind. It really isn't as complicated or obtuse as you seem to make it out to be.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Honestly, your posts read more like someone who couldn't understand the basic tells and hints the game gives you. That optional town? Easily doable without needing the merchant. The entire game can easily be beaten without a single google search. Yes, even getting the Ranni questline. Completely blind. It really isn't as complicated or obtuse as you seem to make it out to be.

I have no interest in having a disingenuous conversation with you. "Easily be beaten without a single google search." Maybe (doubt it), if I devoted an amount of energy and time that I have no interest in devoting.

I’m just astonished that you have such a bee in your bonnet about a slideshow intro. Every time I see your avatar I think ah it’s the slideshow rager.

I'm sorry that I'm upset about a full-priced game having a slideshow intro + PS2-level animations for the rest of the cutscenes. I think the game's beautiful world and interesting characters and lore deserves better presentation.

terrible town? that was awesome! one of the more memorable moments for me
i looked at the ground and could see their snow tracks. killed them on my second try

WOW I'm really impressed. Because there were archers too, these enemies hit like a truck, and even the Elden Ring subreddit pretty much unanimously thinks that Ordina is terribly designed. I'm glad you thought it was easy.

 

[Dr. Claus]

I have no interest in having a disingenuous conversation with you. "Easily be beaten without a single google search." Maybe (doubt it), if I devoted an amount of energy and time that I have no interest in devoting.


I'm sorry that I'm upset about a full-priced game having a slideshow intro + PS2-level animations for the rest of the cutscenes. I think the game's beautiful world and interesting characters and lore deserves better presentation.

WOW I'm really impressed. Because there were archers too, these enemies hit like a truck, and even the Elden Ring subreddit pretty much unanimously thinks that Ordina is terribly designed. I'm glad you thought it was easy.

Disingenuous? Most of your posts here are just that. And no, I played it normally and beat the game in 94 hours for 100% with zero guide. Its easily doable and doesn't require that much effort or time compared to many others who claim they used guides to earn the trophies.

Sounds more like you are simply incredibly impatient.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Disingenuous? Most of your posts here are just that. And no, I played it normally and beat the game in 94 hours for 100% with zero guide. Its easily doable and doesn't require that much effort or time compared to many others who claim they used guides to earn the trophies.

Sounds more like you are simply incredibly impatient.

You 100%'d the game, first playthrough, with no guide, in 94 hours? Okay lol

And I'm sorry, did you imply that I'm impatient because I don't want to spend NINETY-FOUR hours on a single video game (though, let's be clear, I don't believe that you 100%'d the game on your first playthrough with no guide in 94 hours)?

 

[Dr. Claus]

You 100%'d the game, first playthrough, with no guide, in 94 hours? Okay lol

And I'm sorry, did you imply that I'm impatient because I don't want to spend NINETY-FOUR hours on a single video game (though, let's be clear, I don't believe that you 100%'d the game on your first playthrough with no guide in 94 hours)?

I implied you are impatient that you had a guide up for "95% of the time" (your words, might I remind you) in a game that absolutely does not need it. Having actually played the game to completion, yes, I would say you are an impatient person.

As for you not believing me, I don't really care. I don't believe you actually played this game beyond the first few hours and rage quit when you got stuck. At best. At worst, you didn't even play the game and just want reasons to bitch/moan about it - but I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you aren't that kind of person.

 

[Venom Snake]

"The greatest game ever made" is a term so worn out throughout the history of video games that it has little value today.
But i understand why some see Elden Ring that way. For me, this is one of the few games that awakened a somewhat dried up desire to explore EVERYTHING.

This works in several ways. First, well-placed points of interest, never so far away to get bored, never so close to get tired of them.
Second, anticipation. The world of Elden Ring can be rather harsh. The need to find something that will give some advantages is one of the dominating factors throughout a large portion of the game. And all this is amplified by a unsettling aura of the surroundings, subdued yet atmospheric soundtrack and the sense of danger, which is both alluring and alarming. Whether you dare to visit a certain location or leave it for later, you feel it getting under your skin.

All this makes exploration no longer a tedious necessity, but an adventure, an experience. Even if at some point it becomes mostly a quest for higher and higher levels, it does not lose its charm or purpose. Thanks to Elden Ring i felt like a little kid playing the first Fallout again, and that's precious. Enough to completely ignore the flaws, if i fuck up it's my fault and i must suffer. No pause option? Hide in the bushes. Uneventful quests? Who asked your opinion? You either do it or gtfo. Not enough smithing stones? Dig for them in your own ass if you think it will be faster and more efficient. This is how i see it.

If a game has that effect on me, it must be special. The greatest ever? Maybe not quite, but it's definitely up there.

 

[ntropy]

I have no interest in having a disingenuous conversation with you. "Easily be beaten without a single google search." Maybe (doubt it), if I devoted an amount of energy and time that I have no interest in devoting.


I'm sorry that I'm upset about a full-priced game having a slideshow intro + PS2-level animations for the rest of the cutscenes. I think the game's beautiful world and interesting characters and lore deserves better presentation.

WOW I'm really impressed. Because there were archers too, these enemies hit like a truck, and even the Elden Ring subreddit pretty much unanimously thinks that Ordina is terribly designed. I'm glad you thought it was easy.

i just luckily had a good style against them, dual straight swords. the black knives poise is low, so they'll stagger easily
on my second playthrough (faith), i just ran past them lol

such a weird criticism imo. it's such an interesting scenario and atmosphere. a refreshing nugget
when i first entered the evergoal, there was an eerie silence and i thought there was no way i'm just gonna walk around and light up these candles

 

[NeverYouMind]

Ordina is not easy, but a few suicide runs to unlock arguably the best area in the game is a small price to pay. More ridiculous is the secret boss in Crumbling Farum Azula. Do not know how anyone would find a way there and interact with a random piece of scenery to trigger it without a guide.

 

[Ogbert]

But The Lands between is very connected and has a ton of interesting levels to explore. Like how the underground connects Liurnia, Caelid, Lindell, and Limgrave all together. The way you can get into areas like acending the secret mines into the Altus Plateu, being telephoned via the virgin to the volcano manor or even things like finding a secret entrance to caleid through the mines, this game is an extremely connected world. Also the level complexity is absolutely there in legacy dungeons like stomveil castle, lyndell, the haligtree, farum azula and exploring places like the eternal cities with thier interesting structures. I will agree that enemy balance can be thrown off at times due to tge openness to when you can encounter obsticles at different times than maybe intended but not too terribly unless you grind like you can in any souls game.

I do think to help that balance enemies should probably level up 2 levels with you for every 5 of your imo.

Also that map is anything but random, it's masterfully crafted, that team thought about every single little thing they did in that world, this is the main reason why it's so Overwhelmingly amazing.

You make some really good points and I do wish I saw the game like that. It’s just, for example, I never got that sense of connection between the zones. Yes, the same links and pathways are there, to be revealed, but it felt like a chore, rather than a moment of revelation.

Agree on the legacy dungeons. Really enjoyed them as they felt like traditional DS. And I loved Castle Morne.

I also thing the game is just flat out too big. And it’s also too obtuse. I spent three hours dicking around the zone before the wizard chick dungeon, trying to find the key to the door. It was in some random ruins across the map, behind a dragon.

That was the moment, probably after about 15 hours or so, that the game started to irritate me. That’s not ‘the magic of exploration’. That’s just arrogant game design.

I laboured on and beat the game after about 70 hours or so, but I had to seriously force myself. Doubt I’ll ever pick it up again.

Whereas I’m currently on my 6th or 7th DS3 playthrough.

I just hope From don’t abandon traditional Souls for Open World. It would be great for them to do both.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

the greatest game ever made.???

Only Zelda Ocarina of time, Gravity Rush 1 and Gravity Rush 2