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I liked Elden Ring and I also disliked it
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- I am a curious linguist, English and Japanese are my second and third languages respectively.
All gameplay footage is from my first playthrough.
Blog - shetanislair.c...
Twitter - / shetanislair
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:35 - Open world and exploration
7:39 - The feeling of randomness
12:41 - Discoverability of quests
16:56 - It's annoying
19:07 - Balance
23:35 - Ranni's Questline
25:51 - Some cool NPCs
28:45 - Bossfights and enemy design
33:34 - Elden Ring looks great
34:47 - Spirit Ashes and Ashes of War
36:43 - Early game exploration
38:08 - Voice actors
40:00 - Conclusion
![Sekiro Environments - Ashina Depths & Mibu Village [Japanese in Sekiro]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vlC3Oa5ykgc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Sekiro Environments — Ashina Depths & Mibu Village [Japanese in Sekiro]](/img/tr.png)
![[ ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree ] Прохождение с CHAOS TRICKS стрим](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0Wn_lra0K2M/mqdefault.jpg)
I saw my first godskin apostle in windmill village. I thought it was a super cool boss and that it totally made sense to see him there. A ghost at the bottom of windmill village says something about the villagers stealing people's skin or something, and the godskin apostle's cloak has faces on it, so I thought he was like the leader of windmill village who collected all the skin to make his outfit that gives him superpowers or whatever. Great boss, fit in perfectly, I loved it.
Of course, by the end of the game, I was like "oh great, another one of these fuckers..."
There are like 3 in the entire game dawg
my favorite line is: "forefathers one and all...bear witness!" i just really like his voice when he says that
Godrick was the height of bosses in the game imo
@@Alex-hp2rs No way. There were much better bosses than him. Malenia, Malekith, Godfrey, Dragonlord, Mohg and Radagon/Elden Beast
About the whole Sellen becoming mage-face-ball thing, I'm pretty sure Rennala had nothing to do with it.
I'm pretty sure telling you most of this is redundant, but just in case, those are graven schools that basically are fusions of multiple sorcerers, something Sellen and her associates did on multiple occasions as an experiment, it was outlawed by the academy and is the reason for her being exiled and earning the title of the graven witch.
Considering Lusat's and Azur's bodies are brought to the academy after she establishes herself as the new chief, her trying to fuse with the two most prominent researchers of the Primeval Current was probably just the next step of her plan, although considering her current mental state, I'd say that she overestimated herself and failed.
One aspect of rewards worth mentioning for dungeons is what items are common in a dungeon archetype. Mines for smithing stones, catacombs for grave wort and caves tending to have more gear. Most players would at least find 1 or 2 of those relevant to their character, particularly the smithing stones which are necessary to keep up as part of your progression.
You're absolutely right about crafting items as rewards, and every time I pick up an Arteria Leaf from a purple drop my soul feels a little more frail. But I would say there's a good amount of unique things from exploration, even stuff I don't necessarily use but I like getting because it's unique or special in some way.
Arteria can be used to craft Exalted Flesh which is quite a useful item since it's the only consumable that offers an attack boost.
But she's objectively wrong about overall rewards for exploring. Compare the list of items that are high value found on the main story path, vs this found off the path and you'll realize there's a TON of benefit to exploring.
Her opinion is shaded by her playstyle, literally constraining herself to playing with magic. If she chose to respec regularly, she would've found endless benefit to exploration.
So far as getting crafting mats, well of course they do that. Have you never played a game with random rewards for opening a loot chest? Most are meh, but the fact that some of them are amazing is what will bring people back.
@@crestfallenwarrior8435 Not to mention the fact that it doesn’t respawn and the only mob that drops it is a beef mob near the latter half of the game with a low drop chance.
Some very good and valid points you've raised. I'll just go through some that I wanna comment on:
- When it comes to exploration of the caves, tombs, etc. I think you didn't give them a fair shake. I think it's more of mindset that's the problem. Whenever I find a cave, I tend to wonder "Hey, it's a cave! I wonder what's inside?" rather than "Hey, it's a dungeon! Time to grind." or "Hey, it's a tomb! There should be something I can use inside." These dungeons were made to be explored with wonder, not to be grinding spots. But if you get sick of them later on, it's also fine to skip them since they are optional after all. And the dungeons don't just have crafting items, they also have plenty other stuff like weapons, talismans, ashes, etc. Mines even have ball bearings sometimes that can make the roundtable shop sell smithing stones. Now, whether or not the loot matches your build or if you can use it at all is another thing altogether but saying that all the dungeons have are crafting materials or that dungeons are unrewarding are pretty unfair statements.
- I agree with what you said with crafting. Such a weird game mechanic that's just there. I wish they made crafting more relevant because right now I only use crafting for arrows, bolts, status cures and the occasional poison darts.
- I agree that the quests could have been handled better. While I kinda get what FromSoft was going for with their quest system, no handholding, railroading or annoying quest markers of any kind, at the very least give us a quest log to tell us the dialogue we had with the relevant quest NPCs. I think FromSoft wanted us to jot down relevant quest details on our own, old school style, but that's just being tedious for the sake of it.
- For spell balance I'm kinda torn on this one. For one thing, I get the argument of "Why are you using OP spells and then calling the game easy?!" but on the other I also get your argument that we should be able to use any spell we want without worrying about trivializing the game. I'm also have a mage build because I saw all the spells and thought "Wow, so pretty! I wanna cast those too!" but I was disappointed to realize most spells were not really good except for some viable ones and a few OP ones. I wish they instead made it so that every spell viable as long as you build it right. I don't mind being OP (lets be honest, we all have the goal of becoming OP it's why we play an RPG game with a level up system), I just don't like being railroaded to specific spells and builds to be OP.
- For summons, I think FromSoft designed them with difficulty in mind. People who are having difficulty with the game can summon spirit ashes to make it easier as a sort of in game difficulty slider. I wish they didn't do this though as I found the summons really interesting especially those with unique quests and interactions with the world around them (also wish there was more of those). Now, I have to control myself and not summon stuff in boss battles to not trivialize the fight which is kinda sad since I wanna fight with my jellyfish buddy more.
- For the lack of upgrades when it comes to equipment, I think it's fine. We are so use to the cookie cutter RPG games that constantly give us better equipment as we progress but honestly that sort of system gives me anxieties since I always hesitate to upgrade my gear fearing there will be better ones right around the corner. The Souls series system of early game gear being viable even to the end of the game is something I prefer more since it makes me wanna upgrade them more without any worries of me gimping myself later on. Also, I can stick to a set of armor I find cool all the way to the end even if I found them early game which is also nice.
- Also on weapons, I like how unique some of the weapons are to the point that it makes you wonder "I wonder if I can build it like this?". It makes players wanna experiment with their builds to try out these weapons and their unique ashes of war. Again, all these weapons are viable and can take you to end game some are just more viable than others (stares at RoB).
- For the elitists that belittle other people for their playstyles, best to just ignore them. There are plenty of nice people in the souls community it's just that there are also plenty of toxic people that drown them out. It's because of the PVP aspect of the souls games that draws these maidenless runts in. Just play the way you want and let them have a heart attack as they spazz out on their own. It's a bit sad that these sorts of people actively discourage new players from trying Elden Ring though since I love the game and want other people to try it out too.
Overall, good review. 👍
Didn't really have anything to say that hasn't been said, but just wanted to point out some lore things:
The Crucible Knight and the Leonine Misbegotten are not a random pairing; both are related to the primordial crucible and share some interesting moveset parallels that have interesting implications; it was this fight that actually made me realise that.
Their placement in Redmane castle may seem random at first, but it's worth noting that it's Radahn's castle, who idolised Godfrey, who himself employed crucible knights despite everyone else looking down on them. I believe the lions in the castle may also be Godfrey related, but that's just supposition based on the existence of Serosh.
Farum Azula also makes sense for a place to have Godskin apostles precisely because it's so close to Maliketh and the rune of death. It seems like they generally appear in areas related to the gods/demigods, which makes sense since killing gods is like their whole thing. The windmill place is a bit of an anomaly though.
I'm not sure why being transported to Farum Azula confused you so much; Melina pretty much spells it out: you need to bring destined death to the erdtree so it can be burned to allow you access. Melina provides transport to the place where destined death is. Maliketh has already been brought up several times (though I guess only in descriptions?) as the one who sealed destined death.
Touching Rogier's bloodstain is not a requirement for his quest and he specifically tells you how he got blighted up anyway so all it adds is a "hey, I know that death animation" factor, which you probably wouldn't notice on your first playthrough anyway since you wouldn't have encountered death-blight.
I do have to disagree about Liurnia being better to explore than somewhere like Leyndell though; it's alright for the highlands but in the lake itself it's incredibly easy to miss things and not recognise where you are due to there being very few landmarks and there generally being a lot of fog.
About exploration:
I'm one of those "The challenge IS the reward" type of players and gotta say, I feel absolutely terrible just imagining myself in the shoes of someone who doesn't enjoy exploring dungeons or other miscelanious areas just for the thrill of exploration alone. And even being as I am, approaching the end of the game, the game was starting to wear me out quite a bit with how many side paths and miscelanious items there were to go through, so being a bit of a completionist the game felt like a checklist at times. I really wish I could just ignore optional things sometimes...
About questlines:
100% agree, absolutely hated googling for questlines because of just being completely lost for clues and the going "how was I supposed to know that"
Everything visuals/art direction/design wise is also a 100% agree so not much to say except the video's pretty enjoyable to watch as a person interested in other people's opinions on things!
When it comes to the NPC questlines; I got totally screwed by doing things "out of order," even tho it made perfect sense to me. I went through Raya Lucaria and the Carian manor, found Ranni's rise, and no-one was there. Came back 30 hours later to check, and sure enough, now Ranni is there.
However, after starting her questline and getting the Finger-slaying blade, she literally just disappeared and never came back. I was so confused, I literally did her questline and she just never came back!
The questlines in other Souls games were already ridiculous and basically required looking at the wiki, but Elden Ring takes that to a whole new level.
Fair points, I just personally can’t imagine feeling frustrated about useless rewards.. in an open world game. I loot, hoard and play for the sake of it, and I try to cover every corner of these types of games just to “be there”. In my mind it’s just like collecting all the stuff I never used in previous souls games, am I missing something?
There’s always been farming methods more efficient than playing normally, and specific routes to get the best or specific stuff you’d want and then finish the game, but that’s never been the point to me.
I'm a huge fan of whoever voiced maliketh's delivery for the "witless tarnished" line
Oddly enough, my favorite line is when you talk to Blaidd after the Radahn fight where he says “What a sick way to fight” that got me lol
I loved Elden Ring but I definitely had issues with it, too. I really wished it had more of a gameplay loop built around revisiting and affecting the hub area, Roundtable Hold. The lore and story and character stories are interesting and presented in a way that insists on engagement but I also find that to be lacking when it comes to crafting a cohesive narrative. I wish we got something closer to Sekiro in terms of a story told but this is far more in the realm of Dark Souls. I also wish the enemy AI was touched up because I've been exploiting the same Demon Souls AI for a decade now and it's sad that a current generation game as big as Elden Ring has enemies that can't properly pathfind to a player. When switching over to a game like Nioh, it's easy to immediately tell the difference and that basic enemy engagement is a huge part of most the play experience. Elden Ring falls really short for me as both an action game and as an RPG experience but it's still easily a masterpiece of a game and the culmination of the whole Souls franchise in terms of design. Its world is captivating and I loved every bit of inhabiting and exploring it.
I crafted a lot but I was playing a STR build so ranged and elemental options weren't as readily available to me as they would be to a mage--flame and volcano pots also scaled with STR too so I could get really great ranged damage from them. I also crafted status healing items and the occasional buffing item to help with bosses.
I didn't mind the repeated dungeons but I also quickly understood what kind of rewards I'd be getting--Crypts always rewarded ashes and materials to upgrade ashes, mines rewarded whetstones to upgrade weapons, and if I wanted magical equipment I could generally find that in the Liurnia region. Even still, the thrill of completing these dungeons was enough reward for me and I did not find them nearly as repetitive as most people do.
I was very familiar with the franchise so I didn't have much frustration playing through any areas. None of them provided too much challenge to be frustrating.
I do agree that the Giant Mountains felt like one of the least actualized areas. The enemies and dungeons there just don't do much for me. As for the enemy placements in general, I found them more sensible, especially with the godskin folks, but a lot of that's going to come down to how much you're willing to co-author rationale for them being there.
I also think the question of 'why am I doing this' is a big one--it bothered me that FROM did such a good job telling a clearer story with Sekiro but then Elden Ring is just full of inscrutable, esoteric questlines. The whole aspect of 'you played the game wrong' and missed quests aspect is really annoying. This could have been easily solved by making Roundtable Hold more of a central location and had it keep track of your NPCs after meeting them but nope. I am glad that they have finally patched the Vyke and Revenger invasions to work even if you have beaten the area bosses.
The platforming is awful, I agree. Any parts that wanted you to platform down a thing were especially obnoxious.
An important realization is that the games aren't hard. The community derides people for summoning, using magic, or using any good weapons because it diminishes their sense of accomplishment over this perceived 'hard' game. Part of the enjoyment for me is finding my own ways to thrash the game--maybe it is using a powerful assortment of spells, summoning a great ash companion, or using an interesting and good weapon.
It's cool to hear that you had to change up your tactics on Malenia, too! I relied a lot on blocking with a heavy shield and being at close to 99% of my equip load but since she could heal even if I blocked her attacks, I had to change my approach a lot from what I'd been doing before. I wish more bosses required that of the player.
For some good ashes, try Dung Eater, Stormhawk Deenh, Lhutel the Headless, the Greatshield Soldiers. They're all really good!
I wish every character's plotline was as involved and interesting as Ranni's. I'm not a fan of Ranni as a character but I found myself immediately drawn to characters like D who had utterly unsatisfying outcomes.
Some people don't want more people to enjoy the game because they want to belong to some niche counter-cultural group. The whole push of the Souls games as uber-difficult and inaccessibly hard is something players clung to because of that. It's unfortunate. It's nice hearing you have nuanced thoughts on the game and still being able to talk about how you enjoyed it even if you took issue with parts of it. I hope you had fun with most the game! I know I did.
Join the Shetani's Lair, as family... Together, we will devour the very mushrooms!
Please, pin this comment, this is golden
This just made me think of the Haligtree section with an Erdtree Avatar, 4 ballistas in 2 vantage points and 2 knights guarding the entrance to the next grace with 2 items in front of them all. It took me 8 attempts, countless consumables and about 1 hour for that single section. Just to get one of those red leaves and I can't even remember what useless crap the other one was. Fml
It's a shame that no one talks about Shaun Dooley who voiced Yura, Shabriri and the Fire Giant, he's an underrated and under appreciated talent who deserves more recognition. The most memorable line from him for me was, "Be on your way. Perhaps we will meet again, if fate permits." The way he speaks with such pain and loneliness always gets me, I wish I could have saved him.
I absolutely LOVE elden ring... with all of its flaws it might be my favorite game ever. I finished recently with 149hrs on my first playthrough and now I'm digging through the lore and liking it too. I also started a new character immediately instead of going back to forbidden west so I guess that shows just how much I liked it 😅
Just a small comment though... I wholeheartedly disagree with elden ring being "big dark souls".. I thought so at first too but as my playthrough progressed I noticed how elden ring changes the field in very significant ways. I also think this is important, bc from what I've seen of other creators content, this mindset has kinda hurt their playthrough. Maybe being in the dark medieval fantasy plus the recurring FromSoftware themes make it seem like a "sequel" initially, but that impression faded away quickly for me, and I ended up feeling this is more of a "FromSoftware best of...", with elements from all their games, instead of a "dark souls 4+5+6"
I thought the video was way short for how much interested I was in your perspective.
You cleared some things to me and even shine some light in something i was thinking about my experience with the game so far.
Thank you for the video.
Great job.
There's a Crucible Knight in Leyndell probably less than 100m from a Misbegotten group that includes a Leonine Misbegotten, on the way to the Forbidden Lands. Also there aren't any "regular enemy" Crucible Knights in the game to my knowledge. None of them respawn when killed. What I think is really happening is that Elden Ring is doing a poor job of communicating what a "miniboss" is, and so people are coming in with inflated expectations of the significance of various non-shardbearer bosses. There's a lot of refight minibosses in Sekiro, possibly even more than Elden Ring when you account for Sekiro's much shorter length, but this never came up in the conversation because the game clearly distinguishes bosses and minibosses.
Great video! I agree with some of your thoughts, while I disagree with some of your thoughts about the exploration and gameplay design, but that's only natural, not everyone will see everything the same way. I'll just list a few of my experiences with things you mentioned, to provide my perspective for the sake of discussion. For context, I played through NG with primarily Melee, combined with a few Incantations that I used sparingly. I also used Spirit Summons on a case-by-case basis, often using them while fighting mini bosses or Duo bosses and while exploring the open world, but I generally avoided using them for the demi gods, or "important" bosses (pretty much any boss with a remembrance).
I thought crafting was actually unexpectedly useful, Crystal Darts can cause the Erdtree Burial Watchdogs to fight their allies, Sleep Pots can make duo boss fights much more enjoyable without a summon (especially Godskin Duo), and the endlessly loathed Arteria Leaf is used to craft one of the best consumables in the game, the Uplifting Aromatic, which provides you with the bubble effect just like the Opaline Bubbletear does for the Physick Flask.
Magic is generally easier than Melee, but that's not a bad thing, and it DEFINITELY doesn't mean you "cheated" or somehow experienced it in a "lesser" way, if Magic overall dealt less damage than Melee to counteract the safety that it provides, odds are it wouldn't be fun to use. Spirit Summons do make the game easier, but if you are enjoying the game while using them, who cares what some idiots say in an effort to make themselves feel superior.
Balancing everything in Elden Ring with everything that exists in the game would be literally --yes, really literally-- impossible. The sheer number of variables the player could change that would affect the difficulty of any given boss is mind-blowing. Comet Azure with the Cerulean Hidden Tear combined with a Spirit Summon to hold the attention of the boss to keep them from moving out of the way, unfortunately just so happens to be on the top end of the spectrum for effective strategies, and I think it's unreasonable to expect the developers to balance that strategy, while also making it possible to complete for someone who doesn't understand the concept of a strategy at all, and just wants to whack away.
Some people enjoy variety more, while others enjoy a more curated, precise experience. I think you are the latter of the two, which would explain why you enjoyed Sekiro more than any other Fromsoftware game. Sekiro is a polished, very well balanced linear experience with comparatively little variety for player choices, but it doesn't need variety, everything is designed with with that lack of player choice in mind, meaning that with a few exceptions, every boss just has a set difficulty, and you can either beat them, or you can't. There isn't 100 ways to make it easier like there is in the Souls games, or Elden Ring. And the level design is also more linear and polished, with important items hidden for the player to find, like you said. So please don't feel bad, or let other people make you feel bad, for not enjoying the "variety" style of game as much as the "curated" style of game.
Sorry for making that so long, I just wanted to share my thoughts in a more comprehensive manner. I'm excited to see your next video!
P. S. My favorite line of dialogue in the game is a tie between, "The fallen leaves tell a story", and "I know... in my bones... A Tarnished cannot become a Lord. Not even you. A man cannot kill a god..."
Good comment
Morgott's actor also played Cassius at the Globe a couple years ago (it's on video) and he did a great job, too.
Glad I stumbled across the channel while looking for critiques. Your complaints mirror most of mine, and this comes from a person who has put hundreds of hours into most souls games. You points about fun in the end are what sticks with me most. I have many friends who have avoided these games due to their notorious challenge. When this one released and they talked about how accessible it would be, I was so excited that I thought I could get them in. After a week, and recognizing the weird balance I realized they would be so annoyed. I told them not to worry about it. I’m all for accessibility. I think people should be able to enjoy games in any way they feel they can. I love these games and I want others to love them as much as me and for them to grow. I want some company to outdo fromsoft at their own design. Maybe push fromsoft a little bit. Thanks for the phenomenal critique. I subscribed. I can’t wait for more.
I don't think I really agree with your criticism on the rewards. In botw, the fact that you would get either shrines or korok seeds and basically nothing else completely discouraged me from exploration because wherever I'd look I knew exactly what it is I'd find.
Exploring in Elden ring felt way more satisfying because I'd find unique places with unique challenges, and most often a unique reward that would make me rethink if I should equip it, Respec to use it, or just keep it for NG+/for the sake of collecting.
Additionally, the fact that every reward had lore text attached made not a single reward useless. I loved it.
Edit: forgot to say, other than that, cool video! I'm fine with people dunking on the game a little, I'm in this camp too, I feel the game's balancing could have really used some more work.
Edit:Oh also the misbegotten and crucible knight are actually SUPER related in lore, they're both spawns of the primordial Crucible, so it completely makes sense to fight them together. At redmane castle, though?...
I agree most with your criticisms about the story losing focus. It's ironic that Farum Azula was scattered and crumbling because that's where the plot falls apart as well. I was shocked by the amount of exposition during parts of the game (Ranni's doll and Turtle Pope were dropping lore like Rowa Fruit,) but it was necessary because the story is more complicated than past Souls games. It would have been really easy to add a few lines of dialog explaining why we need the Death Rune. As cool as that level is, I wish it was DLC. It would've been much tighter to be warped to the Ashen Capital immediately after the burning sequence. The endings in Sekiro were so satisfying. I don't think any of the endings in Elden Ring are satisfying; particularly after 4x the amount of time invested. I love that they incorporated the stealth and vertical elements of Sekiro, but I wish they had also implemented more of its story emphasis and drive.
My first Elden Ring playthrough was around 200 hours and after three weeks away from it, I'm still not sure how I feel. The size of the game is probably double my lofty expectations. I love the way the edges of the map expand as you explore. There were so many moments when my jaw dropped upon finding yet another area to explore. The first hundred hours was spent in awe of the massive artistic achievement. The environment blew away anything I had played before, but then something strange happened: I started taking it for granted. It set the bar so high for the scope of future games, but once that bar was set, it became normal and I started to get fatigued. I wanted it to be over, but I had invested so much time that I didn't want to miss anything, so I kept dredging the map for more secrets. The game could've been half as big and still win GOTY hands down. I would rather be left wanting more than hoping a game is almost over for the last twenty hours; particularly with a series known for its replayability.
The question I've been asking myself is whether I prefer a more tailored experience over the freedom of an open world. I think I'm leaning toward the former. Dark Souls is still my favorite. For me, it has the right balance of feeling open and focused at the same time.
Godskin apostle (solo) is my favourite Dark Souls boss. Does that make any sense? I had such a joy fighting him deep down in the Caelid Tower (the first time I encountered him) inside that dark, tight room. Learning his attacks, avoiding his pimp cane, laughing my head off whenever he showed his elastic prowess. I did, in fact, enjoyed many moments of this game, but I also did hate some of them. Sometimes, it felt bad, it felt wrong. This game hits and misses, for sure, but due to its gigantic size, it hits many times, so it misses many others, which left me with a big head scratch "Did I enjoy this game?" I'm still not quite sure, but moments like the fight with the Godskin apostle (and many other bosses, aspect that I enjoy the most) did left me with moments that I will cherish for a long time. Flawed, but memorable. I suppose I just have to pick the right memories.
Crafted for alex too and online for ppl to join me and some scarlet heals and some buffs lol... I used alot of the crafting kit trying to find buffs to use against malenia.
I mean, I don't really agree with most of the complaints and this was my first souls game. It was refreshing to find a game that didn't hold my hand and an open world game that was interesting and well built.
I agree with most of your points, especially about exploration feeling unsatisfying and things feeling kind of random, at least in comparison to the high standard set by previous games.
I went back to DS3 a bit to compare and it's a huge difference I think. What struck me is that that game is basically all my favorite parts of Elden Ring (tightly designed legacy dungeons, fun and unique bosses, a world in which the placement of every item and enemy feels fitting and like it has narrative significance in some way, etc) and none of my least favorite ones (giant areas that are a slog to run through, inconsistent balancing, lack of rewards, hard to get enough runes to be at the right level, copy pasted feel of dungeons/enemies etc).
And that's how all of the previous games were except DS2 maybe. My favorite moment in all of Elden Ring was probably going through Stormveil and finally having a proper Fromsoft level to get through with different paths and dense design. I even called it my favorite level in any souls game at the time (tho I've only played DS1 and 3), because the jumping added a whole nother dimension and you can go on roofs etc. But then I was done and was like "ok, how do i get to the next legacy dungeon?", cause I was absolutely sick of catacombs and the overworld already. Ranni's questline was a real highlight too, there were many great things but I just hated how much filler there was in between.
Funnily enough, I really enjoyed the Subterranean Shunning Grounds actually, since it felt like a good old Dark Souls level with all the shortcuts and interconnectedness and all that. It's really mostly a divide of legacy dungeons and open world stuff for me that delineates the good and the bad, tho stuff like Redmane Castle was underwhelming because of its emptiness. I just feel like they just didn't have enough time for a game of that scope and their whole way of doing things doesn't work super well for such a huge game. One thing I would've liked is for weapons to all come pre-upgraded to the level of that area, like in Code Vein e.g.. It would've incentivized trying out different weapons, and if Larval Tears were farmable it would also encourage playing around with different builds more (though you do get quite a few). And yeah, I hated getting crafting materials, I'm already someone who never uses consumables cause it makes me anxious about running out of a finite resource, so if it's not easily farmable I'll never use it anyway. Some things were great new additions tho, like ashes of war, jumping, sneaking, and power stancing (well some of those existed in Sekiro and DS2 but you get the point).
Another problem is that while I love how much is optional and how much you can sequence break, you're so disincentivized because you might break questlines and the areas are all scaled for different levels you should be at (especially in Vigor). I wish the level progression was a bit flatter, enemies did less damage and questlines were not as easy to mess up by sequence breaking, which would encourage players to really do things out of sync. And the problem is also that the fact that most bosses are optional, beating them doesn't feel like progress. I was constantly asking myself "why did I even bother with this", while in e.g. DS1 or DS3 almost every boss rewards you with a new area or a key item like the Transposing Kiln. It feels like you made progress through the game and you get a bunch of useful stuff in the unlocked area.
Amazing review, agree with most things. General hate in community regarding choose of weapons/ashes of war/spells is deeply tied to the terrible balance of the game. Like you said, in Elden Ring you need to find correct balance yourself, or else you are going to either destroy everything, or get killed easily. Many people really emphasize Dark Souls fights, which sadly can only be fully experienced with non Op melee weapons, so people can feel like another person just "cheesed" boss. Oh, and I guess this is somewhat tied to the pvp,where one player can easily two-shot people with certain weapons/spells.
Well, you already know my opinion and all. So I'll just leave a comment so more of the people could see the video.
Can't wait to read a lot of different opinions!
The only thing I disliked was late game balancing and boss design (mechanically). They were more frustrating than fun.
Malenia, absolutely incredible, only to have it ruined by one move that feels like complete fake difficulty. I know it's dodgeable, even at close range and that would be fine, if the rest of the fight was equally difficult. But right now, you're just praying for RNG so she doesn't use the waterfowl dance, because the rest of the fight is a lot easier.
Fire Giant, 11/10 visually, mechanically very much not fun. Good thing I have to hit his legs so I can enjoy all the visuals of his moves... oh... wait.
Maliketh. This one I love mechanically (my favorite, actually), but the balacing is completely messed up. 60-70% HP even at 50 VIG and tank armor, all while reducing your max HP. Take a look at Artorias from DS1, the only time he'd chunk you for 60%+ HP, is when you failed to cancel his power-up. That's good boss design and makes for a fair duel.
Elden Beast, holy fuck. 20/10 visually, lore wise it's epic, but mechanically... I legit think they forgot to enable Torrent for this fight. As someone who used excusively melee, chasing the boss aroud the room 75% of the time is NOT fun. Also, borderline unavoidable Elden Stars move, all while he can still use his other moves. Again, why is Torrent not summonable?!
Minor stuff like Radagon's teleport doing damage in 2nd phase. FromSoft, you designed Lothric&Lorian. That was fun, nearly unpredictable instant damage isn't.
I also agree with your points about reused enemies to an extent, but I there are lore explanations for most of them. I know that's like a bandaid fix, but hey, at least they thought about it. As far as exploration and rewards go, I don't mind the rewards being useless. That why you explore, sometimes it's good for your build, sometimes it's bad. Kinda like gambling.
Otherwise I appreciate you pointing out the things you disliked, respectable, espescially as a smaller channel.
I love Elden Ring but it’s the only souls game where the difficulty is straight bs at times. I love a good challenge but I found some parts hella unfair and annoying.
If you saw the list of items that are found in dungeons or corners of the world outside the main story path, it would stagger you just how many amazing pieces of loot will only be found by those who explore (or those who look up guides).
Your sense that the rewards for exploring are meagre is in total conflict with reality. I don't dispute that you feel it. I simply am pointing out that your opinion is based on shoddy sensibilities.
I think that your points are valid, my personal favorite parts of the game were the visuals and the music especially, I definitely played magic because it was cool and pretty
This is the only criticism of Elden Ring I fully agree with. Every part. The exploration was more fun for me because I enjoyed the dungeon variation. There was a dungeon which gave me deja vu, there was a dungeon that made me think I was insane because it kept repeating nearly identically. Stuff like that kept me interested in exploring. I just wish the balance had been better.
17:00 Target lock-on in ER has issues, but it isn't bad and I haven't had many issues with it myself. So this feels like an exaggeration. It's certainly not any worse than in the other games. Lock-on is the worst in DS2. As for input drops, all of their games do this. Again, it doesn't happen any more in ER than in the other games. Though, it arguably does happen more in sekiro, which isn't really a souls game, but still.
You hit pretty much every negative point I noticed during the game. The exploration is a chore, and I'm just not a fan of giant "open world" games. The emptiness, the repeating and respawning mobs... FromSoft has always done best with curated and cozy "branching tree" worlds, that give you some option of where to go, but still keep you on a mostly linear path. It makes the challenges seem more do-or-die, and a smaller world allows everything in it to have more importance, both in terms of gameplay and the lore of the story. Anyway, great video!
On crafting materials: in my first playthrough I barely touched them. I wish they were more impactful in the case of buffs or more necessary in the case of restorative items, but considering that you only need to rest at a grace when you're in the open, or boss fights are usually over too quick in one way or the other in my playstyle (glass cannon), crafted items didn't seem worth the time. That said, I did utilize crafting a lot in other playthroughs, especially my bow-only run.
Found your channel because of Sekiro and really enjoying this video. This is exactly the kind of critique that helps me decide whether I want to play or not.
Thank you for focusing on quality and honesty.
Most memorable line??? Thats easy;
"I am malenia....blade of miquella"
Yeah my biggest issue with the game is the side quests, in a world this large it’s just impossible to have to at times guess where an npc is
First lines i remember
-I am Malenia, Blade of Miquella
-Togethaaa we will devooour the very Gooods
-nihil Nihiil NIIHIIL
My favorite line was rykards: Now we can devour the gods together
Loved the video! Thanks for sharing despite expecting backlash. I 100% agree that having fun is all that matters and loved that there's so many avenues towards fun in ER (even if some of them are obscure or obtuse)
Maybe I'm just a fromsoft fan boy but I always assume enemies are placed deliberately and just them being there has lore implications. For example I think the crows and dogs in the mountains are there to feed on the giant corpses everywhere and the trolls are trying to shoo them away.
Also the misbegotten and the crucible knights both share their connection to the primordial crucible. I'm not sure why the leonine misbegotten have a connection to legendary greatswords but that may be why they're present in both castle morne and redmane castle
It's nice to see a fair and balanced layout of criticisms for the game. I also am fairly mixed on Elden Ring. I think I love it just because it's a Fromsoft game and I've been playing them for a very long time and it's a very exciting game for the most part, but it's hard not to see that the game has quite a lot of flaws and I found myself quite frustrated with a lot of design choices. I said before release that no matter how good Elden Ring is, I don't think it will overthrow Sekiro from my top spot because of the return to a familiar formula they've used for 4 games. Not only is that true but it didn't really come close either. I still find a lot of enjoyment in it though and I think it's a great game, but wow sometimes I just asked myself "what was the point of this part of the game" or "why am I fighting this guy again?" or "do I really want to do this area?".
good morning my favourite RUclipsr. excelent video as always. have a nice day ❤
Have a great one too! (´｡• ω •｡`)
I don't really get the "poor exploration rewards" criticism. There are a lot of strong talismans as dungeon rewards, and if you skip too many mines or catacombs, you'll find yourself lacking Smithing Stones and Gloveworts and not be able to upgrade your gear. Several dungeons also contain key items. Holy pots, sleep pots, fire pots and lightning pots are all also great against specific bosses, so crafting materials, recipe books and cracked pots are all relevant items. Sure, not everything is relevant to every build, but that's an unreasonable expectation in a game with multiple endings, multiple classes and multiple specialisations within classes.
Many of your sentiments mirror my own, and even the stuff I don't agree with I think you presented well. I didn't have a problem with the enemy placement, usually I thought it made sense and managed to make areas that had no actual unique assets still feel a little different, like how certain tunnels had different factions leading the mining operations, to the point where on the Weeping Peninsula the Misbegotten are actually the ones in charge of mining, showing just how much they've taken over the region. With the example you used specifically, I figured the crows and dogs are on Flame Peak because they're the birds and dogs of the giants originally, gone feral now that their masters save one have been killed, and the hands are their because they might actually be the hands of the giants enchanted by the Golden Order and/or the people of Liurnia.
I unfortunately have to agree that there's a lot of toxicity in the community surrounding this game, and it's particularly a shame because fans telling people to "git gud" gives From a pass to be less thoughtful in how they challenge the player. Some of the bosses toward the end of the game are super aggressive, have massive AoE attacks that can hit you an arbitrary number of times, the ability to easily stun the player even in high-poise armor with their basic attacks, can quickly escape all the way across the room when attacked at close-range, attack with long combos that have to be dodged entirely because they can quickly break your guard, and can take down even a well-armored, 60 vigor character in a few hits. There were a few bosses in DS3 that had this problem too, but it's even worse in Elden Ring in some ways. These bosses would be tuned fine for Bloodborne or Sekiro, but with Elden Ring's defensive options you pretty much have to use sorceries, bleed/frost, or Spirit Ashes to have any fun, if you try to just fight them mano e mano with a melee weapon it just becomes an excercise in tedium or masochism. But because of the culture surrounding the difficulty in From games, any criticism of that will be responded to with accusations that you're playing the game wrong in some way. I like that From games are challenging, but sometimes they aren't challenging in a fun or satisfying way, and criticizing those instances is necessary feedback they should hear.
Nice review! It's so refreshing to see someone talk about making friends with NPCs, how pretty spells are, the feeling of security when you have a spirit summon. Those emotional bits are one of the main reasons I play these souls games, it's nice to see someone actually talk about them. Your critique of the game design, balancing, exploration, etc were all on point too. Thanks!
Fair criticism for the most part, very similar to Joseph Anderson's, in a couple ways that I disagree with too. I think universally useful rewards would be boring - upgrade material nr. 14 at the end of a dungeon means I probably regret spending time on it unless the dungeon itself was exceptional. Strong item for a different build or a situational spirit summon means I have one more option going onwards - including in other playthroughs. And, perhaps more importantly, that item will have a description with some interesting lore.
My main issue thought the game was imbalance, mostly things I tried feeling OP (didn't make the game easy because of enemy damage being very high too) but also some unfittingly too easy or too strong bosses (cemetery shade getting one shot by dragon breath vs three putrid crystallians being pretty much unbeatable without summons). For context I played a faith build trying out all incantations (except golden order), but also doing a lot of melee (mostly Treespear and medium shield, some other faith weapons). Spent 180 hours on first playthrough, did almost everything, finished at level 165.
One more point: the fact that I love something doesn't mean that I want more people to enjoy it. It means that I want to continue to enjoy it, and if that means gatekeeping then I shall gatekeep. Works for loved ones, works for hobbies. If the next Fromsoftware game would be popular but not for me because of them going further with changes that I didn't like in their last game, but that made it more popular - then I don't want them to make those changes in the first place. Thankfully the most egregious thing like this in Elden RIng is spirit summons messing with balance, and it's honestly not that bad. Fromsoftware have enough artistic integrity for me to be quite secure in their future, the only reason I could care about how many people play their games is the possibility that their popularity will prompt other studios to improve.
For quotes, "Feel free to go off and die in a ditch somewhere" was a strong start.
Some of the trends we see with the bosses in this game are actually present in Sekiro as well. There's like 4 Juzou the Drunkard fights, Lone Shadows that show up as bosses also being used as regular enemies, the Guardian Ape shows up again but ganks you with another enemy, that Seven Spears dude at the end that gets paired up with a general, etc. I actually like Sekiro over Elden Ring, but I feel like these things are an even bigger problem in it, since it's not a huge open world game that they're scrambling to fill up with minibosses everywhere and had a new combat system different from the Souls series. Still, like in Sekiro, I do enjoy most of these fights in ER since I just view them as more of an encounter to punctuate the end of each dungeon instead of a big eventful boss fight like the rememberance bosses. Reusing important bosses like Astel, Ancestor Spirit and even Godrick is where ER really dropped the ball imo though.
I don't get how you didn't find equipment you liked while exploring, one of my playthroughs so far was also intelligence focused and I got a lot of cool int scaling weapons and spells I wanted to use (not to mention all the different armor sets that I like wearing for fashion 😅). Also, not like it's a big deal, but the Crucible Knight and the Misbegotten are both related to the crucible of primordial life, so they do actually have a lore reason for being together like that, which is funny considering how random they seem as a pair.
Anyway, I really liked this review and you said a lot of things I agreed with. I love this game as I do the other modern FromSoftware titles, but they do have their flaws and it's important to point them out like this. I'm happy I found your channel from this video and I'm interested to watch all your other content on From's work. 😊
For me, when I'm exploring around the world, I don't care much about the reward a dungeon gives me. But I do agree that most caves and mini-dungeons are essentially the same, and very few of them are actually intricate or fun. m
I am not defending Godskin Duo, but Apostoles and Nobles are all placed in locations relevant to eithr being against the current gods, or related to death. Volcano Manor being an obvious example of the former, along the experiments and torture taking place there. The Noble on Liurnia's Tower after Ranni's brand. One protecting the relic sword of the Queen, etc. Of all the things to criticize about godskins, randomness isn't one. They're going after Death, not guarding Maliketh, you are but a rival. It's still a bad fight.
I do dislike both snow areas. The Fields have the Albinauric riders as unique enemies, but that's about it. The enemies in them are haphazard, and from someone who fights everything that moves, the only ones not worth engaging. I absolutely agree with that.
Farum Azula, killing a god, was set up slowly and in a scattered manner. But yeah. That's part of the flaws that have remained in the series for over a decade, but yeah. I see how it can be missed.
Balance is indeed all over the place, and some areas do seem to, internally, have sections for different level ranges. Its their first open world game so I can somewhat excuse how over the place it is, but it remains a flaw ultimately.
I don't agree that Astel being more than once creature as something bad. If you found Wings of Astel then you at least fought 2 of its larval versions. This extends to the Fallingstars, they are beings of the stars. Not even a god like the Elden Beast is a unique animal, exemplified by the multiple Erd Trees you see in the final arena. Hell, take a closer look at the Ulcerated Tree Spirits and tell me they don't share similaritis to it in its apendages and powers. Their non-rot mutated versions even use golden fire. It's just a different star than those Astel. I like that in the stars and the void there are these beings with powers that are similar to that of the Elden Beast.
I think that bosses are inconsistent quality wise, unlike those in BB, DS3, and Sekiro, as these games' bosses hardly drop of spike too much from an average of quality. But I've also seen many people play and complain about the bosses, and they're just not engaging with the game differently from Dark Souls, because even though this game is unfortunately tiedto the ironically stagnant Soulsborne formula (and it does feel like a regression after Sekiro), it still introduced changes and iterations on its systems, and provides much more granularity in moment to moment gameplay, which is something BB and DS3 are sorely lacking, and I also think set a bad precedent. I like that bosses punish usual "cheese" or easy way out strategies that work in previous games, but now they mostly don't let you smell their asses until you win. I enjoyed most Rememberance bosses. I do think Malenia's first Waterfowl attack needs a slight tweak to be fun. Maria isn't a hard battle, but it is fun, and that single attackmakes Malenia lose a lot in the fun department when you're afraid she's gonna pull it and you'll be unable to react fast enough. I do find most complaints with other bosses' mechanics usually nonsensical or irrelevant. I have thus far played as a magic/dex, fai/dex, and Str characters, and I really don't agree fundamentally with most complains.
I have expressed already that the Soulsborne formula is stagnant, and even though ER is the best they've done with it in my eyes, I don't wanna see this formula again unless it's significantly tweaked. There are items like the stone to parry Maliketh or the omen Shackles that in Sekiro would require one input to use. But in this game you have to pray you don't drop an input while accessing your items, but in this you have to switch from Crimson flaskunto a new item. And that's if you don't have more items you use. And not even the quick item menu alleviates this because it also requires more inputs.
i'm kinda surprised you didn't mention that malformed stars are literaly just astel again just scaled down a little. So not only is the bossfight repeated in a random cave in the lower mountaintops, he'S also hanging around in some random perfumer cave in leyndell as well as some other places.
I needed one last video before I went to bed. It's super late now, but watching this video all the way through was worth it. I burned myself out massively on the game after spending three days doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and playing Elden Ring (that was genuinely not an exaggeration; 55 of those 72 hours were on Elden Ring). The game had just come out at the time, and I was in the phase where I found it to be the immaculate gaming experience, and found myself never stepping back to check whether or not it really was, which is a thing I always pride myself on doing. This video was really what I needed. Thanks.
I'm in the middle of Elden Ring. I want to love it like I did Dark Souls III and Sekiro. I just...can't, mainly for the same reasons you didn't enjoy the open-world and quest line elements. Overall, the game is a well made, technical achievement due to its size. But I don't think FromSoftware have mastered their first open-world attempt.
I was excited when they spoke about Elden Ring being a culmination of everything they’ve learned so far. I was so ready to have combat as good as Sekiro, but alas, they were developed side by side and by different teams. I really hope Sekiro 2 is more of Sekiro, which remains my favorite Fromsoft game, with some Elden Ring tier voice acting to boot.
Roderika was my favorite character, but Sir Gideon has the best lines; “...namby-pamby Tarnished...”, etc.
I understand your complaint about the random dungeons to explore getting slightly tedious and repetitive, it would of been nice to see more variety, but I think your base premise is just wrong. If you are going into the dungeons just to get runes for leveling then yeah, you're just wasting your time because you can grind those out other places much faster if you need them. But the lackluster amount of runes for clearing a dungeon and it's boss(es) is because that isn't what they are meant for. Some are meant to have large amounts of smithing stones to help upgrade your weapons, some hide key items you need for quests, but the main reason for hunting down and clearing the dungeons is for the loot. Not everything is going to be top tier or work with your specific play style, but some of the best weapons in the game, and this includes weapons gotten from boss remembrances, are hidden in these dungeons. Without going into an extensive list, moonveil is dropped in a dungeon that can be attempted rather early in the game but has been considered either the best or among the best weapons in the game since the game came out. So if you're looking at dungeons as just places to grind then I agree with you, it's not worth exploring, but, respectfully, I think you missed the entire point of them.
And a side note about those skeletons in the video you said wouldn't die, they have a glowing white kind of aura that normal skeletons don't have pointing to them being slightly different. It's because they are being summoned by a different enemy. If you go around the corner there is a slightly mage looking guy standing there and if you kill him then all of the skeletons he is summoning die with him. So it shows you to look for this other guy instead of endlessly fighting the skeletons any time you see that glowing stuff with an enemy.
The overall loot system is unfortunately a disaster.
I picked Wretch, because I wanted to try a bit of everything and make the early game harder (otherwise I could have picked the obviously more powerful Samurai whose stat distribution and arsenal simply humiliates the rest of the starting classes), thinking soon into the game I would pick up some attires and weapons to play around with, as per usual is these games: I only managed to find a full Armor Set on a corpse at last after completing half of the map, otherwise I only had pieces dropped by enemies or those sold by merchants (Kalé didn't even used to sell the Chainmail in 1.0).
For weapons, it wasn't so tragical thanks to the chests in ruins and carriages, but it wasn't unusual for the more interesting ones to require decent investments in non-physical stats, which were hard to justify early on because my numerous adventures against Mini-Bosses rewarded me with barely more Runes than killing a couple of Trolls: it's absurd how the first Crucible Knight in the Gaol and Margit are pretty much equal in power gameplay-wise (I'd even say the Fell Omen is weaker because Bleed-users can capitalize on his slower attacks and recovery), but the former drops a misery of 3100 Runes and the latter 15000.
This problems also carries over to regular mobs, as I see no reason to fight an HP-inflated Rune Bear for 410 Runes, when breaking a couple of shining skulls yield the same reward. Need Beast Blood? I'll get it from the smaller variants, if I even need it and this is a big IF as the majority of enemy drops are entirely forgettable.
Before release, some were worried the world would end-up massive but mostly empty as it happens with open world games, but now I wish it would be devoid of life, as a lot of repeated enemies like the large Miranda Flowers are just hit-sponges that sucks out your playing time: it takes a special kind of effort to make me skip even the most tedious of enemy encounter, but at a certain point I simply started mounting Torrent and mashing the grab button to loot everything and move on to the next area.
This problem also transferred to dungeons turning them in a marathon for Stones (btw, the regular Smithing Stones are absurdely rare as Item Drop compared to the Sombering variants which are aplenty between random drops, scarab rewards and merchant trade) or Flowers and then straight to the (re-used) Boss; the fact that even the normal foes there are copied and pasted from DS3 just adds insult to injury, as now I have no combat exploration to do even.
There are more cookbooks than useful items to craft in itself and a lot just unlock one or two consumable anyway, the most valuable are pretty much all at the start or sold by a not-so-hidden Nomadic Merchant, of which there are way so many to justify the overbearing numbers of Golden Runes as map loot (which just feels impersonal at best and lazy at worst), but at this point I would ask: why not getting rid of these non-characters and move their stock on the actual area as rewards?
During my whole playthrough I felt like the game was punishing me for exploring, not even BB in its more compacted experience was so stingy.
I strongly agree with a lot of the points. Although I did enjoy the rewards from dungeons, mostly because they'd have cool lore, they'd be items I'm interested in for a second playthrough or I'd just enjoy some of the more unique dungeons, I can still see your perspective though. They should have had less dungeons to compensate for the lack of bosses to fill them.
“I think classic souls formula that was left untouched in Elden Ring pairs quite poorly with the notion of open world”
I could not agree more. I love this game but I don’t see myself doing nearly as many repeat playthroughs as the earlier games specifically because I don’t want to ride the horse all over the place finding map pieces again. That and the Fire Giant (and every boss that comes after him).
I thought the fire giant was pretty good. The bosses afterwards were incredible imo but it’s tiring having to fight difficult bosses back to back.
Very refreshing video! I feel the same way about the rewards, balancing, and the way quests were handled. I have trouble coming to the conclusion on whether I thought it was a great game or not, I had a lot of fun with some parts while others left me totally burned out and/or frustrated.
I also really wish they’d sized down the game. Its sheer scale is impressive but the game didn’t have enough bosses or dungeon layouts to justify that size and the rewards for completing those dungeons were also lacking. You can really start feeling the issue in later areas where a lot of enemies end up getting recycled in weird places but it DID lead to an amazing moment in the mountaintops where a land octopus fought a magma wyrm alongside me and ended up saving me.
I think the game is a huge achievement that the developers + everyone else who worked on it should be very proud of but it’s also a really rocky start for Fromsoft’s jump into open world exploration.
Its funny yoj say malenia wouldve made a dope sekiro boss;
The start of the fight, she dashes at you, similar to how isshin does his cloud walk...
..that water fowl dance is worse than spiral cloud passage from sekiro...
...she also has prosthetic limbs like sekiro...
She indeed is the hot topic...
This video alone kind of worked like an anchor to this channel didn't it? It was growing in a good pace then it happened and everything went south.
"Memorable" is a fun way to describe that line lol.
Jokes aside, my personal favorite moment has to be either Maliketh asking you why you want Death so much, or Godfrey going "Too bad I showed up too, now you're fucked"
My experience has been close to yours. I find myself enjoying just exploring, following tutorials, collecting, battleing. I am not a pvp'r. The only thing that would have made it more fun for me, is being able to play with my husband without the current hassel's of multiplayer.
It would be so disappointing if they did scrap a Tomoe dlc and recycle it into Elden ring. But I suppose there's always the chance waterfowl dance actually came before sekiro and the recycling was the other way around since Elden ring has been in development for ages.
Ma'am, I felt the same about Bloodborne. I played for the story! How funny is that? Elden Ring's lore was the most transparent and the least exciting for me, though not because it was easy to suss out. This game gravely disappointed me because it returned to the very slow gait found in Dark Souls, so the gameplay was not entirely enjoyable for me. I may have fallen in love with the extremely quick dash mechanic in Bloodborne, and i consider the lore in previous games to be more enthralling, but this game is a masterpiece, even if it is far from perfect.
Regarding the open world, if the world is so open you're running out of creativity and filling the dungeons with the same bosses and enemies that players have killed many times before, then the world doesn't need to be that large. Quality > quantity. However... I did find myself gazing at the beautiful vistas and thinking to myself, "How can I ever go back [to Bloodborne, Dark Souls III]?" I guess I did love the freedom I was afforded.
I dread the suspicion I have that Miyazaki's fire is fading... Elden Ring is just a bigger, less wonderful Dark Souls.
My most memorable quote was: "We... we are all forsaken."
It is obvious, that if you want to play right in Souls games you should play with closed eyes and without electricity at home. Jokes aside, cool video as always, hope to try game myself after the exams.
Any chance to compare the translation from the original Demons Souls?
I'm not planning on it. I have little to no knowledge on Demon's Souls, I haven't played it and I am not really interested, as of now.
"I am Malenia. Blade of--"
I see what you did, there. XD
Well I am like 35 hrs in the game but also have kinda mixed feelings (mostly neg). The feelings I got from ds2 and ds3 is missing here.
I’m doing my first play through now. I agree with most of your points on the negatives I had to skip around your vid cause of spoilers though. I don’t know if you touched on the multiplayer but that’s my biggest gripe. The pvp has been awesome as a daoc player. These online worlds really feel like single player mmos
Playing as a mage is weird. A lot of the times you can steamroll everything, but then sometimes you're stuck in a small room with an enemy that can close the distance instantly and you're completely fked.
Anyway, I like many things about the game, but there's a bunch of issues that ultimately made me not enjoy the game as much as dark souls 1. I think you've mentioned most of the things I disliked about the game. One thing I will say though: to me the best reward is the exploration itself. If a dungeon is a maze, figuring it out is far more rewarding than anything they could give me at the end. With the possible exception of more exploration.
Yeah balance is dog ass. I think the game is amazing but if there was more stuff that was just actually good then it'd be fine. Like 80% of weapons are just bad. At least that's how I felt. My first playthrough I went for the moonlight greatsword but all of the endgame bosses were just so bulky that I couldn't do anything.
That's strange, I felt the moonlight GS was way OP. I actually gave it up when I went to Ng+ because I felt it made the game too easy. Did you have your stats setup right for its scaling?
Literally every weapon pretty much is useable in this game lol especially with ashes of war
It's pretty much the exact opposite, almost everything you touch feels too strong. More of a case of weapons being overpowered to varying degrees, and a couple classes being underwhelming (even then with exceptions).
While i agree that a leonine misbegotten and a crucible knight as the boss of redmane castle, one of the "so exciting legacy dungeons", does feel random and disappointing, i do think the pairing itself makes sense, thematically at least. Both enemy types are expressions of the crucible of life. And i think that that link is very deliberately displayed thru their similar moveset and general design. That duo bosswould fit right-in in a crucible themed area, tho it would still be a pretty shit fight.
Oh no, my brain...
You are pretty bang on about everything... But I'm still enjoying the game a hell of a lot. A few hard truths and a few bitter pulls to swallow, but good and fair points made. I had to pause and be like 'do I hate hate Elden Ring now?' but no I don't. But it's Dark Souls 2-2... Dark Souls 2 is an incredible game, but it's the worst souls game...
#iloveeldenring
Glad to see more of this take, while I do agree with those who say things like ashes and magic rob the game of its "intended experience", I think that it is entirely Fromsoft's fault. It isn't the fault of a player if the game never works to even hint at what sort of experience it is trying to convey. More than any other Soulsbornekiroring title, Elden Ring feels like no effort went into balancing it, both players and boss fights.
Overall it was really jarring just how dramatically the game's quality fell off after Liurnia and the underground sections - like you mention, that one region alone has more memorable and important places, places that felt like real, well-crafted experiences, than Altus, Caelid, Gelmir, and the mountains combined. It and Limgrave also feel like the only regions where enemies are placed where they are supposed to belong, before every mini boss (and most main bosses) have started to repeat ad-nauseum, and where you're least likely to pick up things like Comet Azur, or for me, Moonveil, which begin to trivialize otherwise engaging encounters.
All this is really just to say that I agree with just about everything you have to say on the game, from the jarring, meaningless feel of Farum Azula, to how the whole thing still managed to be staggeringly beautiful. Thanks for one of the better, more honest and well thought-out reviews I've read.
I also found myself skipping the more miscellaneous dungeons as well, I think I like Bloodborne more still and maybe Dark Souls 1
I realy love elden ring and the souls series as a whole and tho I don't agree for alot of it I like your review because I. Life we have to criticize things we have to especially criticize the things we love the most
The title honestly hits my feelings about this game exactly.
I liked most of the open world exploration but dungeons and caves are definitely a miss. I barely ever visit them, only for upgrade mats, in the playthroughs after my first. They're stale and boring, an imp waiting around almost every corner to hit you the exact moment you go around it... great design! I actually appreciate the chariot dungeons because they bring in at least something unique, or the one where the enemies are invincible until walking into the light circle.
When it comes to the balance, until endgame I honestly didn't have much of a problem on my first playthrough with my str/fth build and completely clearing out and area before moving to the next. Magic and summons in that regard... well, it is not balanced. Comet azur is probably designed to be OP, though it wouldn't be so much without the infinite FP flask. Despite the game still being tough, it feels like fromsoft wanted to streamline their game a bit for casual players, giving many overpowered options to beat the game (*cough* bleed *cough*). This is also why you see comments that show disdain towards using these things a lot. In previous games you had mostly your skill and only your skill to beat the game. It's quite different this time.
At the same time though, bosses are as tough as they can be. They're incredibly fast, often have little openings and deal large amounts of damage. In hindsight I do like most of them but it was quite frustrating with a slower weapon initially. The only boss I hate, who I think needs some adjustment to her fight, is Malenia. I typed the issues so often I can't be bothered here, but I honestly think she's serious BS, though she could be a great fight with some slight adjustment.
Some normal enemies are also a bit overtuned. The lobsters f.e. hit really hard and even running away, they turn into "your health gone" snipers. The endgame areas are also kind of crazy in that regard.
Ashes of war are probably one of the best things about this game. The sheer amount and diversity of them makes trying new things really fun. I haven't yet, but I am going to eventually make a character specifically for PVP, which is where they'll probably shine even more than in PVE gameplay.
Overall, as someone who has played DS1, DS3 and Sekiro before, Elden Ring left the weakest impression on me. I still like it but there's a lot of things that just sour the experience, especially on subsequent playthroughs.
When it comes to discussion, a lot of Souls fans also say that they don't like a lot of things about ER. Complaints about boss difficulty, duo fights (I haven't ever seen someone like godskin duo) endgame balancing, dungeons etc. are honestly a lot of what I read, especially outside of the accursed place that is twitter. It's mostly people who literally just have no idea what they're doing and don't even try to understand how to play the game who get shit on the most. "This is too hard! Change it to suit me! EASY MODE EASY MODE Q_Q"
Your feeling of randomness and lack of direction is a result of your own inattention to detail. The details and crumbs are all there, you simply weren't paying attention.
In your credit, this game and others by FromSoft are deliberately complex, doling out only crumbs, where other developers provide feasts of exposition. I can certainly appreciate that you don't like the style.
Overall this is a great review of the game. There’s some things i disagree with, like certain enemy/boss placements not making sense when imo they actually do have good reasons and purposes to be there, but besides that i think everything was valid praise/criticism.
Man, I really disagree with your thoughts on the exploration and rewards. Even an item that’s not intended for my build or necessarily very useful felt good to receive after a catacomb or cave. The Glovewart and Smithing Stones scattered throughout are reason enough to explore these places for an in-progress character. I’m sorry the experience soured for you. 😔 I thought it was awesome. Good, thoughtful video
Good analysis, I was quite disappointed aswell since I was expecting something more refreshing and different like Sekiro was, but in the end what we got was open world Dark Souls. Also this game made me realize that I really cant stand open world games anymore. I mean this is definitely one of the best in the genre, but even a large open world like this gets absolutely trashed by any classic Fromsoft linear designed maps. All and all i liked it, loved the lore especially, and the game got some cool moments, but it definitely didnt come on top of my fav games of all time like I was hoping for. Now we gotta see what they do with the next project, Armored Core. I'm not a mecha fan in any way but this time the potential for the same surprise effect sekiro gave me is definitely there, hehe.
Cathartic
Nice one
Now make a lost in translation video! :D
Thank god i found this video, i was beggining to think i went insane!
This video is basically either I’m too lazy to try to understand the Lore so… game = bad or game too hard here and there so also = bad lmao. A lot of your “issues” with the game are really just your fault 🤣 like for example when you mention Fia’s quest line being bugged, it’s not you just have to pass time in game so it progresses so you didn’t have to rest multiple times at the grace.
I wish I could say that your opinion helped me to see the game in a new light, but your perspective is pretty shallow. While I appreciate some of your opinions, most of them seem lacking in nuance. Amusing that you use that word to criticize the community dialog around the game. Nuance inherently looks for alternative ways of viewing the same concept. Your view wasn't nuanced, because you never attempted to consider why or how others might experience the game differently. You simply said "you might have enjoyed it, and that's OK". The one nuanced opinion you had was in observing that others find joy in a challenge, where you do not.
I’m so glad someone finally gave an unbiased opinion about this game. I was so tired about everyone saying how perfect this game and how any other game was trash. I have hundreds of hours in it but I 200% agree with all of the criticism you gave it. I’m got so tired of this community and your video gives me a breath of fresh air.
Unbiased opinion? I'm afraid that's an oxymoron. But you may want to check out Joseph Anderson's video, it's even longer with a similar attitude and criticisms and praises.
@@MeneltirFalmaro Thanks I'll check it out
ты крутая!!
Elden Ring, the greatest story never told…. In game.
The reason rock sling does damage to magic resistant enemies is because gravity magic does physical damage with magic scaling. This makes it an outlier that was created to help mages with fights like these. It might be lifted tossed and guided with magic, but the impact is still physical in nature. As such armor and shields help reduce its damage.
Nah elden ring is perfect