Rex_DX
Gold Member
Altus is doable at 61 but it's on the low side. See if there's other places to go. And do/start Ranni's quest if you haven't already. I can't imagine missing all the areas that quest unlocks.
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ELDEN RING |OT| One Ring To Rule Them All
- Thread starter Black Chamber
- Start date
- |OT|
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Yes. I believe I did the same and the area isn't that super hard. And very pretty.
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Jeez that part in lyndelll or whatever with the stairs full of shield lightning dudes and then the fire caster plus asshole lion was pretty intense.
Fell in the sewers and eventually died stupidly do to thse albourics that grab you
Just want to get to the last volcano mansion summon spot ffs
Fell in the sewers and eventually died stupidly do to thse albourics that grab you
Just want to get to the last volcano mansion summon spot ffs
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FunkMiller
Gold Member
Personally, I won’t be happy until I see someone beat Elden Ring with… a dildo.
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DelireMan7
Member
You mean with a cock Ring I guess...
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Cocks wear wedding rings?
gela94
Member
yeah fuck these dudes!!!
The artful mincer
Member
I will do my review final thoughts in 3 parts open world/level design, combat and final throughts/ story. Souls games are very straightforward there doesn't feel like there's much else to discuss.
Anyway the open world.
I always hate it when people pull out the ubisoft template as a criticism. Honestly this tells me more about the critic than the game itself.
As far as I can tell the ubisoft template involves clearing points of interest off a map maybe climbing a tower to reveal these point of interest then moving on to the next stage of the map with little reason to return too stages you've cleared (this sound familiar)
This template is fine games can have completely different combat mechanics, traversal mechanics, worlds to explore, stories to tell etc etc. E.g. Horizon, Spiderman, far cry and Assassin's Creed follow this template but all feel completely different. If you want tell me with a straight face these games feel too similar I cannot take you seriously.
There can be good and bad games within this template obviously. I feel the ubisoft games suffer not beacuse of the template but because they have either subpar core mechanics (Assassin's creed) or refined but bland core mechanics ( far cry).
Good open worlds that stick to this structure in recent years include spiderman, ( very good) Horizon zero dawn ( excellent) . Well now there's another excellent open world built within the ubisoft template it's called Elden ring!!!
Okay before you crucify me here me out. I am saying this beacuse it seems like there has been alot of bullshit said about this games open world. About how it has revolutioned open world games and is different etc etc.
To be fair some things are a bit different but it doesn't fundamentally change how you interact with open world the way Death stranding did or even battle royal games did. Its very clearly built on the foundations of what came before.
And that's fine its still easily one of the best open world games ever made....but its not revolutionary.
At the end of the day you are still essentially clearing out a zone of it's content then moving on to next never to return again unless maybe you get stuck. If that's not an ubisoft template game I don't know what is.
But these are reasons why it succeeds where others have failed in order of importance.
1. Incredibly strong core gameplay I.e. combat and dungeon design.
2. Unprecedented unique content in the form of dungeons, enemies, spells, weapons, Ashes of war.
3. Strong level design within the openworld itself.
4. Minimal UI help from game regarding exploration.
To go into more depth
1. Core gameplay. More about the combat later but rest assured its good. The dungeon design is peak FROM especially legacy dungeons. There spectacular, gigantic ,loop round on themselves constantly, multilayered lots of verticality,packed full of secrets.... the capital alone is probably 1 quarter the size of bloodborne or something ridiculous. Mt gelmir, the capital and farum azusa are the best dungeons From have ever made its difficult to imagine them topping them. The rest of the legacy dungeons are all good as are the second tier ones.There are none that are outright bad. Even the smaller ones have good variation that have unique twists to them.
2. Unique content. It's just ridiculous really FROM have always made giant games but this is about the size of 3 to 4 of there previous games. There's more enemy, boss, build variety than ever before that's all worth seeing. Yes content starts to repeat but when games like call of duty exist with 1 or 2 enemy types I just can't bring myself to complain. This lends itself perfectly to the exploration because you're gonna experience new stuff right up to the end.
3. Open world level design. FROM brought its expert dungeon design into the open world. Most open world maps are shaped like big circular blobs. E.g. in spiderman you can go anywhere on the map instantly. This gives alot of freedom but zero sense of adventure and discovery and actually makes the world feel small. Elden rings map is shaped liked a gigantic C. You start at the bottom of C and slowly make your way to the top through out the game. To get somewhere in elden ring requires effort and thought from the player and it feels fantastic discovering new areas. On a smaller scale it funnels you into regions through cliffsides, coast and tunnels not to mention how the underground connects with the surface. The journey to Mt gelmir was my favourite incident of this.
4. Minimal UI to help navigating the open world. This is perhaps why it's called revolutionary but I think it might be the least important aspect in fact designing a game like this bring its own set of issues although overall I think its a plus. Firstly the strengths the sense of discovery is way more exciting. Without being hand held your engaging far more naturally with the open world moving towards landmarks then getting distracted by something else along the way. The map and map fragments ( you could say this games towers) are brilliant. It looks beautiful and gives just a enough information to pipe your cursioty to go check something you might have missed. The issue is once you've naturally explored an area trying to catch anything you have missed is an absolute nightmare. You basically have to search every inch of the map to make sure you got everything. A example for me was I stopped finding smiting stone 3 as I had progressed out of areas where they were. Naturally I had to go to Google to find out I had missed a dungeon which had the bell to buy them. Saying that it is certainly refreshing to play a game like this after years of hand holding UI's.
BUT none of this matters unless you have the above 3 in order first. I feel like ghost of tsushima was going for this same idea but fails hard with the first 2 points. The combat was fun but lacked challenge and the content was majorly recycled and some of it was plain boring. The fact that I discoverd boring content without way points means jack shit if it's boring content. Elden ring completely excels here where ghost humbled.
So that sums up my incoherent ramblings about the open world onto the combat another time.
Anyway the open world.
I always hate it when people pull out the ubisoft template as a criticism. Honestly this tells me more about the critic than the game itself.
As far as I can tell the ubisoft template involves clearing points of interest off a map maybe climbing a tower to reveal these point of interest then moving on to the next stage of the map with little reason to return too stages you've cleared (this sound familiar)
This template is fine games can have completely different combat mechanics, traversal mechanics, worlds to explore, stories to tell etc etc. E.g. Horizon, Spiderman, far cry and Assassin's Creed follow this template but all feel completely different. If you want tell me with a straight face these games feel too similar I cannot take you seriously.
There can be good and bad games within this template obviously. I feel the ubisoft games suffer not beacuse of the template but because they have either subpar core mechanics (Assassin's creed) or refined but bland core mechanics ( far cry).
Good open worlds that stick to this structure in recent years include spiderman, ( very good) Horizon zero dawn ( excellent) . Well now there's another excellent open world built within the ubisoft template it's called Elden ring!!!
Okay before you crucify me here me out. I am saying this beacuse it seems like there has been alot of bullshit said about this games open world. About how it has revolutioned open world games and is different etc etc.
To be fair some things are a bit different but it doesn't fundamentally change how you interact with open world the way Death stranding did or even battle royal games did. Its very clearly built on the foundations of what came before.
And that's fine its still easily one of the best open world games ever made....but its not revolutionary.
At the end of the day you are still essentially clearing out a zone of it's content then moving on to next never to return again unless maybe you get stuck. If that's not an ubisoft template game I don't know what is.
But these are reasons why it succeeds where others have failed in order of importance.
1. Incredibly strong core gameplay I.e. combat and dungeon design.
2. Unprecedented unique content in the form of dungeons, enemies, spells, weapons, Ashes of war.
3. Strong level design within the openworld itself.
4. Minimal UI help from game regarding exploration.
To go into more depth
1. Core gameplay. More about the combat later but rest assured its good. The dungeon design is peak FROM especially legacy dungeons. There spectacular, gigantic ,loop round on themselves constantly, multilayered lots of verticality,packed full of secrets.... the capital alone is probably 1 quarter the size of bloodborne or something ridiculous. Mt gelmir, the capital and farum azusa are the best dungeons From have ever made its difficult to imagine them topping them. The rest of the legacy dungeons are all good as are the second tier ones.There are none that are outright bad. Even the smaller ones have good variation that have unique twists to them.
2. Unique content. It's just ridiculous really FROM have always made giant games but this is about the size of 3 to 4 of there previous games. There's more enemy, boss, build variety than ever before that's all worth seeing. Yes content starts to repeat but when games like call of duty exist with 1 or 2 enemy types I just can't bring myself to complain. This lends itself perfectly to the exploration because you're gonna experience new stuff right up to the end.
3. Open world level design. FROM brought its expert dungeon design into the open world. Most open world maps are shaped like big circular blobs. E.g. in spiderman you can go anywhere on the map instantly. This gives alot of freedom but zero sense of adventure and discovery and actually makes the world feel small. Elden rings map is shaped liked a gigantic C. You start at the bottom of C and slowly make your way to the top through out the game. To get somewhere in elden ring requires effort and thought from the player and it feels fantastic discovering new areas. On a smaller scale it funnels you into regions through cliffsides, coast and tunnels not to mention how the underground connects with the surface. The journey to Mt gelmir was my favourite incident of this.
4. Minimal UI to help navigating the open world. This is perhaps why it's called revolutionary but I think it might be the least important aspect in fact designing a game like this bring its own set of issues although overall I think its a plus. Firstly the strengths the sense of discovery is way more exciting. Without being hand held your engaging far more naturally with the open world moving towards landmarks then getting distracted by something else along the way. The map and map fragments ( you could say this games towers) are brilliant. It looks beautiful and gives just a enough information to pipe your cursioty to go check something you might have missed. The issue is once you've naturally explored an area trying to catch anything you have missed is an absolute nightmare. You basically have to search every inch of the map to make sure you got everything. A example for me was I stopped finding smiting stone 3 as I had progressed out of areas where they were. Naturally I had to go to Google to find out I had missed a dungeon which had the bell to buy them. Saying that it is certainly refreshing to play a game like this after years of hand holding UI's.
BUT none of this matters unless you have the above 3 in order first. I feel like ghost of tsushima was going for this same idea but fails hard with the first 2 points. The combat was fun but lacked challenge and the content was majorly recycled and some of it was plain boring. The fact that I discoverd boring content without way points means jack shit if it's boring content. Elden ring completely excels here where ghost humbled.
So that sums up my incoherent ramblings about the open world onto the combat another time.
Rex_DX
Gold Member
I really enjoy reading thoughts from average gamers (no offense meant, man - average is good in this context!) as its a nice foil to the journo's often questionable perspectives. Its great to hear feedback from boots on the ground and compare your thoughts to my own. Thanks for taking the time to type that up.
I hate when I see people dismissed on this board for having "hot takes" when they took the time to write a couple hundred words about their experience with a game. That shows a passion for the medium and in the end that's why people come back to GAF (surely not for the memes or platform warring ...). If a "hot take" is purely an everyman's perspective then I think we should have more of 'em.
Congrats on beating the damn thing. o7
Dunkelgrau
Member
It's not possible to complete most quests without a guide, right?
The artful mincer
Member
Cheers dude! That took me way too long to write doing it on the phone is a pain in ass!
I still need to type a bunch of guff about the combat...
As a massive longterm souls fan I was disappointed with critical reception elden ring. I personally feel that it should be almost impossible to be getting
95 + meta scores. It's just really unhelpful from a consumer point to have everyone agree.
My score doesn't even deviate that much from the average (probably about a 9) but I would be interested in reading a sincere 6 to 8 review.
DelireMan7
Member
Quest can be a bit complex but overall I find that most of them are well explained/guided (for a Souls game I mean).
Rex_DX
Gold Member
I'm avoiding the "evil" quests and focusing on Millicent, Ranni, and a few others' quests this play through.
So far these seem like the most intuitive, straightforward quests I've ever seen in a Souls game. If you're used to From's games you should be good to go on most of them but I could see new players struggling.
I'm also 100 hours in and have barely started Altus Plateau so take that with a grain of salt.
Personally I find it rewarding to figure stuff out on my own but no shame in using a guide if you're not into that.
Rex_DX
Gold Member
Anyone have some advice for the triple red phantom fight in front of the Giant Jar in Caelid?
Sometimes I have near-success and other times the first phantom is a really badass build and wrecks me with effects like bleed or frost. The run there with two giant archers is a troll move by From too.
It's the last piece of Caelid I need before I call it completed.
Sometimes I have near-success and other times the first phantom is a really badass build and wrecks me with effects like bleed or frost. The run there with two giant archers is a troll move by From too.
It's the last piece of Caelid I need before I call it completed.
Rex_DX
Gold Member
Those guys are pretty easy to parry but it's the bleed builds that are destroying me. If it procs I die because im only at 25 VIG.
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You're right. Can't parry for shit, though. Far to early
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So weird. Just fought(another) festering intestine worm (lightning) in Lyndell but went for a smoke an cant for the life of me find him again... he's in a sandy area where he comes up out of the sand... Feels like I'm going crazy he's so close yet so far
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MarkMe2525
Member
I am finally elden Lord 6/10
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Found it. Had him halfway down when my battery died lol. Second try easy win. No to search for that last volcano manor summon sign. It's well hidden lol.
Edit: found the last (volcano manor summon) yay !?
Beat them 3rd Try. Had some NPC helling me.
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DeaconOfTheDank
Gold Member
Awesome review! These types of posts take lot of effort to write, but I feel like they add a whole lot more to the conversation by really getting down into the depths of game design.
The quoted bit in particular really resonates with me. A lot of open world games dump you into a wide open map and sprinkle in points of interest all over place while giving little thought to how the player actually gets to these locations. The environments might be pretty, but there's rarely any sense of actual level design implemented to ensure that the player remains actively engaged while traveling from point A to point B. It's one of the subtle things that a lot of players don't really pick up on and is a big reason why Elden Ring's open world design really stands out from the rest. Pair that with FromSoftware's excellent art direction and you have an open world that many players can immerse themselves in for 100+ hours before any semblance of fatigue starts to set in.
The artful mincer
Member
Cheers dude! Great to hear it resonates with you I enjoyed typing that but I do worry that I am typing a bunch of bullshit as well!!
I think the Horizon games do this well although not on the level of elden ring.
I think death stranding is still the king of forcing you to truly engage with the open world.
Rex_DX
Gold Member
The one below the Academy that kidnaps you scarred me and I cheesed them every time I saw them for dozens of hours from then on.
Then I whupped the one in Caelid and realized they're not that bad. They just have very few openings and you have to be patient and avoid that grab at all costs.
I still despise them but they're not as bad as we think they are.
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NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Lol had the same experience!!
This one is in a tight hallway with way more health.. it's fine I'll manage but fuck yeah they're scary!!!!
DelireMan7
Member
In case you don't know :
The one below Raya Lucaria teleports you somewhere if the grab kills you. For once Patches gives us a somehow reliable information
Rex_DX
Gold Member
Yeah I'm actually glad I got grabbed to discover that. I think I was 1 or 2 hits away from winning that fight, it was tense and unexpected and I'm pretty sure I fell down there and was nearly dead from the start. I was super pissed I died and then I woke up ... elsewhere. Very cool and a nice riff on Bloodborne's Bagmen and Gaol area.
Fredrik
Member
I did it! 
First Souls game I’ve finished. Never thought I could do it. What a wild journey, says 191 hours total on my Steam counter, phew!
Fantastic game!
It was on track to bring down some big ones on my best game of all time list, but the last few bosses dragged down the game for me. Too difficult and they just weren’t fun, the last one with two on a row was such a bs thing, lots of jank on the final because of the size.
I went back to max out two new weapons and more exploring to find another talisman to make things easier. Took me a couple hours for two days to clear it.
No doubt, difficulty options would’ve made it a better game.
It’s still a 9/10 but not on my all time top 5 anymore.
Still my GOTY so far.
I’ll jump back in to Horizon Forbidden West now.
First Souls game I’ve finished. Never thought I could do it. What a wild journey, says 191 hours total on my Steam counter, phew!
Fantastic game!
Age of Stars ending with the dear consort eternal line 
It was on track to bring down some big ones on my best game of all time list, but the last few bosses dragged down the game for me. Too difficult and they just weren’t fun, the last one with two on a row was such a bs thing, lots of jank on the final because of the size.
I went back to max out two new weapons and more exploring to find another talisman to make things easier. Took me a couple hours for two days to clear it.
No doubt, difficulty options would’ve made it a better game.
It’s still a 9/10 but not on my all time top 5 anymore.
Still my GOTY so far.
I’ll jump back in to Horizon Forbidden West now.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
So yesterday I was invading at hogwarts and got pulled into a world by the witch fog gate, and then I get a black screen and reappear inside the boss room while the host and his buddy were fighting her. It was wild!
After that I looked and it seems that’s a thing that happens with some bosses… damn almost tempted to make a mage build, dress it up with raya’s uniform and become the boss sidekick
After that I looked and it seems that’s a thing that happens with some bosses… damn almost tempted to make a mage build, dress it up with raya’s uniform and become the boss sidekick
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
When you find the shortcut under Hero's Grave with the Imps and walk along the long straight bridge whike thinking "Nah.. Erdtree's Favor isn't just laying there for the picking"
Sure enough that spider beast appears. I'm like fuck, no biggie; I can do this. Then I see a second one...
Sure enough that spider beast appears. I'm like fuck, no biggie; I can do this. Then I see a second one...
Soodanim
Gold Member
I've been playing a fresh INT character, and it's such a different combat experience. Some stuff is easy as pie, some is a pain. Either way, it was a good way to switch it up when I've done nothing but melee/faith until now. One gripe I have is the same one that has plagued all Souls games since day 1 - cycling through spells in one direction. I don't know how they could fix it with their current control layout, but I know it's a pain. That aside, it's fun to collect new spells and experiment with them, and there's a wide variety that keeps you using spells all the time. Carian Slicer and Greatsword alone are fun, let alone the big stuff.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Question: what kind of things you found hard with a pure spell caster?
DeaconOfTheDank
Gold Member
I came up with a strategy I'm pretty damn proud of. I got them to drop from the ceiling as usual and then immediately hopped off the bridge to make a quick getaway. I went back through the mini-dungeon to where those two were and lured them one at a time into the tunnel with a fire breathing statue to make short work of them. It was such a satisfying feeling to exploit my surroundings like that.When you find the shortcut under Hero's Grave with the Imps and walk along the long straight bridge whike thinking "Nah.. Erdtree's Favor isn't just laying there for the picking"
Sure enough that spider beast appears. I'm like fuck, no biggie; I can do this. Then I see a second one...
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NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
You can hop off the bridge? Sorry was early when I played.
Best is luring one by one for sure..Good stuff mate <3
Soodanim
Gold Member
Casting timings in that awkward stage of better spells but no Radagon icon was the main one. There's also an additional squshiness that comes with not upping stamina, I was trying to maintain light roll but that was unrealistic. Nothing major though, as a lot of the time you can maintain a healthy distance if you like and getting close with Carian Slice seems to do more poise damage and feels faster than normal swords for combos so there's safety there.
FP management is of course a factor too, but that gets easier as time goes on too.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Of all the cheap troll “surprises“ in the game, that one takes the cake as the cheapest and most unnecessary.When you find the shortcut under Hero's Grave with the Imps and walk along the long straight bridge whike thinking "Nah.. Erdtree's Favor isn't just laying there for the picking"
Sure enough that spider beast appears. I'm like fuck, no biggie; I can do this. Then I see a second one...
I hate that people think this is even remotely fun.
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You didn't have fun at that segment? /$
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Soodanim
Gold Member
Between those and the other fuckers, it seems like it's a rule that the more limbs an enemy has the less fun it is. How many do the Putrid Tree Spirits have?
Rex_DX
Gold Member
I'd fix it by having a hot key to hold. Basically you get four quick select spells. Hold A or Y or something and then hit up/down/left/right on the d-pad to instantly equip your four mains. Not revolutionary - Zelda comes to mind - but certainly a step up from the current system. All the more maddening as they already have this functionality in the game just not for spells!
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
22•22
NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
I almost did the same strategy early this morning but I just backtracked to the fire pole to kill the first and when I went back the other guy was chilling with his back towards me lol. Make quick work of him so yeah virtual high five!
Rex_DX
Gold Member
I never killed those guys. I think I was only level 20 or so when I went there. I encountered a really helpful message that said "beware of up" and I used my telescope to see those two fuckers on the ceiling. Really creepy. I just grabbed the talisman and ran.
Perhaps I should go back now that I'm level 99 and sort them out.
Perhaps I should go back now that I'm level 99 and sort them out.