Granted, there is way more positives and negatives to talk about. Like how ER handled the weapon system way better than BotW. Or how the some areas are just for show/an event/quest and otherwise empty. I wanted to make a rather short video and still ended up with half an hour haha. All in all, if you aren't sure (also consdering everyone talking about how hard/unbeatable/unfun it is and such) just give it a try. It is sooo absolutely worth it. Hope you enjoyed this video :)
Just wait till you get to the DLC, i wasnt sure i was gonna enjoy it cos of people saying its so hard, but so far its well fun and im not getting my ass handed to me as much as i thought i would. Gravity is still a bitch hahaha. Ummmm NPCs have names on the map, for me at least
I played through the DLC already and loved it! I think I also mentioned it in the video. It improved quite a few issues that the base game had and feels like an entire sequel :D It also had its own issues here and there, but overall? Fantastic really. And wasn't thaaaat hard to beat. Only exception being the final boss lol
@@SparksOpus Check out the Carbot animations vid "Margit is easy" if you want an absolute howl of a laugh. Addresses the enemy raising their sword but holding it while you instinctively spam roll lol
Shadow of the Erdtree showed me that the developers were listening to the criticism for NPC quests every NPC was either at a location of interest or was somewhere on the path you were required to go in a side room they would even give you a map
@@GreatWhiteElf he literally tells you where he's going and then you use the nectar until it does something then you talk to him beat his invasion and talk to him again it's not that complicated and it's all contained to the area he even tells you to not take the nectar which is an obvious hint that you should keep doing it once you get there it will take no thought to figure it out
the real answer to "what I'm supposed to do" is you play online, and read the mesages of other players or see their deaths, is one of the funniest and more innovative things I have seen on a game
I disagree big time with the thought around 20:30 Maps telling you how much there is to find and even where you can find it just sucks the fun out of exploring. At that point, its's not an adventure, you tick boxes in a list for completion's sake and not for exploration's sake. Developpers have gotten so scared of people missing stuff everything gets highlighted but the counterpart is that nothing feels rewarding to find. It completely sucks the mystery out of a map. To me it's also a fast way to burn out on game. When I'm enjoying a game, I'll gladly do side content but knowing how much there is to do will push me into being completionist and turn a game I enjoy into one that bores me.
Yeah, the thing that makes Elden Ring's exploration work so well is the fact it doesn't tell you where things are. It respects the player's intelligence and relies on your natural curiosity.
Kinda true on both parts. Idfk why this debate always devolves to both extremes. It doesn't have to be like Ubisoft holding your hand through box-ticking, but then again the reliance on Fextralife is not it either. In my humble opinion, Lies of P struck the perfect balance.
I get this feeling that people didn't exactly understood what I meant by that. I don't want to get everything "spoiled" in a way. Have a billion markers on the map or whatever. But the fact that I can talk to an NPC, get a quest without even realising, and maybe a day or two later completely forget about it or what has been said... it is unfortunate imo. Just another point in the menu that tells me to whom I've spoken to and what they said. Like a notebook. And what it could possibly mean. My problem is, that you're getting absolutely nothing. You would miss out, without even realsing. I think that isn't handled well. Respectfully, some quest require you to travel to such a random place on the map, that I personally would've never found. Some people pretend like the map is as big as limgrave alone, but the world is so much bigger in every way. Even with "exploring a lot", I probably would miss quite a few of them. I don't know why some people get so pissed off about it in the comments :/
@@SparksOpus many of us Old Heads use pen and paper, making notes. Others miss a lot, try to do better in NG+. Then there's the Lesson of Just Letting Go.
How far you can jump depends on how many m is from the destination.. A consistent rule of thumb is if you jump down from more than 10m, you die But one thing to note is that the “m” is not “Meter” but “Miyazaki”. The unit varies from place to place according to Miyazaki
Brilliant review! I do agree with most of your points and I'm so happy you ended up enjoying this game so much! (Funny to see me and Magma just casually chatting there in the corner 😂)
ELDEN RING IS MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME ! . It made me love video games again. Since then beat sekiro, lies of p, hogwarts legacy, armor core 6 , dragons dogma 2 and more. My favorite combat is sekiro then lies of P. Next up is black myth wukong so looking forward to that game this Monday .
I agree that this game should've had some minimum way to guide quests. A dialog recap alone would've been so much help. I'm fine with no quest markers but in 2024, you shouldn't have to make notes out of the game in order to track your quests. That's so 1990. However, IMO the map of the main game was great, one of the best game maps. Again, it would've been desirable to be able to place annotated markers, but on the whole it worked very well, and actually did show characters after you met them. Most of the time. SOTE's added verticality with no way to switch between layers as you could in the main game made its map much less useful, but the main game's map worked well. I also agree about the jumping sequences. I play offline on PC so I could actually save scum within jumping sequences by manually copying save files. Imagine how much time that takes, and how annoying it is to have to go out of the game proper, but I did it nonetheless now and then because it was better than dying at the sixth and last part of a jumping sequence for the 10th time and having to do half the dungeon again for the 11th time. The Caelid Divine Tower was probably the worst offender, and the Belurat Goal from SotE. On the whole, though, Elden Ring is indeed a masterpiece, and like you, I'm very glad I went out of my comfort zone to play it. It was a very, very memorable experience.
I think the only times that bosses feel unfair is when you're fighting giant bosses and the camera just refuses to show you what's happening sometimes. It's mainly a problem at melee range. I think in general just being able to zoom the camera out a little bit would make a lot of fights more enjoyable for me. Also, if you're not playing as a buffed up defensive tanky kind of character you can die ridiculously fast sometimes in the late game. I don't remember having so much issues with nearly instant death in Bloodborne or Lies of P, the only others of this style of game I've played. Late game Elden Ring bosses just deal so much damage sometimes. I wouldn't call it unfair, but it does mean that more 'glass cannon' builds might be in for a rougher time than they expect. Oh, and I agree with that criticism you gave about the stun punisher thing not always working properly for some reason. I swear, the amount of times I've tried standing directly in front of a stunned boss and tried to punish them only to do a regular attack instead. I do try to wait a moment before doing it, and it usually works, but sometimes it just won't happen. I adore the world of this game, it gorgeous and great to explore. The only thing the switch Zelda games really have over Elden Rings world is how you traverse it. In Elden Ring all you're only options are riding Torrent or walking, whereas in BotW or TotK Link has more traversal options and the world is more interactive. And honestly, I don't mind the vagueness of NPC quests really. It just means that I often find new things in subsequent playthroughs which can really help keep things fresh. Though I will say, I ended up skipping like, half the steps in Ranni's questline on my first playthrough which did make it feel kind of off, but whatever. As for the map not showing you a whole lot, I really love that, actually. A bit of mystery makes exploring feel more rewarding and exciting.
6:08 your character's drip is immaculate 10:16 i can only imagine the subconscious roleplay and identity of your character with those cape, turtle shield and lionel's helm you should definitely try dark souls games in order, that series is like elden ring on its own
You can also open all of those hidden doors with Margit's or Mohg's shackle. Yes I know this isn't mentioned anywhere. And you can also use the shackles to "hit" those flame pillars from a safe distance. Also no way to know this.
ive been playing fromsoft for a while, but remember thinking i could never play a super hard game like dark souls... when i finally tried ds1... i was obsessed, not only with that game, but with everything they came out with... i love their worlds and their storytelling... i do love a challenging game, but it is not my main focus, what makes fromsoft so great is the perfect balance (imho) between difficulty, world building, exploration, story telling, lore... just overall peaking my interest People complain/joke about having to read item descriptions to get the story, but to me it feels like, i get enough of the lore and story without it, but in a way that makes me curious about learning more about something and therefore might check item descriptions to get that itch scratched... i just love it... hollow knight to me does the same, world building and storytelling wise. also the same feeling of being tossed into a strange new world, not knowing what is going on, but slowly puzzling it together... love the hell out of these kinds of experiences
Elden ring is just one of those experiences that are so unique but so different for each player, depending on you intelligence or endurance stat, you can play 2 different games and get somewhat the same experience, if you know what i mean.
I wonder what a crossover game between the xenoblade guys and fromsoft would look like. Master of storytelling and lively, immersive worlds + Master of subversive storytelling and lorebuilding and dying, immersive worlds.
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's all downhill from Elden Ring, I truly don't believe gaming can get any better than this. The only way Elden Ring could get any better than it already is is if FromSoft would finally do away with the whole "dying world" trope. I really want Elden Ring in an alive universe with lots of friendly towns filled with NPCs that don't want to kill you on sight. A more robust crafting system where you can create your own equipment - not just consumable items - would be really nice as well. As a third, pretty unreasonable thing, I also think it would be kind of cool if you could build your own house/settlement in Elden Ring. Just something totally extra that has no real impact on the rest of the game, you know?
meeting npcs with quests and never meeting them again is part of the experience. I accidentally killed a dude in dlc and regretted it later but proceeded with a quest of another character and it made for some unique outcome. someone will find quest A on their own and someone will miss it but get closer to completing quest B on their own and it's alright because the focus of the game is combat
19:30 you won't belive it. There is a guy who sues fromsoft for making content hard to access :D the easy to miss content is exactly what makes open world open world, imo. Fall damage is a real indeed :D I think it was too hard to design the world with consistent fall damage and with natural "can't go there" barriers. The inconsistent fall damage is still much better than invisible walls and loading screens.
Damn, really? Though tbh, there are a lot of crazy people in this world haha I'm not suprised at all :D And yes, I'll take that over invinsible walls and such any day!
@@SparksOpus That one is actually a genuine weirdo. He is convinced that the entire gaming industry is hiding secret sequels inside their games and that concept art of cut content proves the existence of those secret areas, and he wants to sue Bandai Namco so they are forced to reveal how to access the secret Elden Ring 2. I would say therapy would have been cheaper.
@@SparksOpus > Damn, really? Though tbh, there are a lot of crazy people in this world haha I see your chat helped you quite a bit with finding things out. Just an assumption - if you would play w/o chat help missing things like quests would feel different, probably better. There is a difference between knowing that you can find 110$ under a carpet and finding 100$ randomly, and than suddenly learning that there was another 10$, if you'd like to look better. And souls-like exploration is based on this difference.
Great review, I also think that it's one of the greatest games period. One thing I did afterwards was beat DS3 +dlc no summons. I recommend trying, you likely won't like the game overall as much but sister friede and gael fights make it all worth it.
If you like slow and methodical combat, boss fights, a immersive world, i think you should also look into the Monster Hunter series (for example Monster Hunter World).
I love that you figure it out what I told you on the first Elden Ring Stream that this was the best non-Zelda Zelda game out there, it follow every-absolutelly-thing Zelda imagine itself, but it make it maturer and harder. Also, did have you tried Genshin Impact? another incredible non-Zelda Zelda but more anime and gacha centric instead
@@WildspeakerYT I have actually. Just for a few hours, but still... it straight up copy-pastes some things from BotW lmao. Though the rather excessive gacha is turning me off quite a bit. Free ingame gacha like in XC2 is one thing, but like the one in GI... idk man.
@@SparksOpusGenshin's similarity to Breath of the Wild is very superficial, honestly. It basically starts and ends with the movement/traversal and general environment design, and is most noticable in the first couple areas. If you like world-building, exploration, and character development, it's one of the best games out right now IMO. As far as the gatcha goes, outside of a couple of specific things there just isn't anything that necessitates it. My wife and I have been playing it together for four years, spent absolutely NOTHING, and can easily clear everything except the very hardest "end-game" content (we can still do it, just miss the very last tier of rewards). The biggest temptation is just as a collector; because the characters have interesting personalities, stories and designs, I WANT to get all of them, but it isn't really feasible, and FAR from required. The biggest problem with GI or any live-service game over a regular game is just that for best results, you have to play them daily. If you can't commit to spending around an hour a day with them, at least a few days a week, you're better served playing traditional games.
when elden ring came out I loved it to bits, I spend around 20 hours just exploring the first zoen and the first dungeon was some of the most fun I've had with a souls game, but when I got to the second zone I just didn't like it anymore, I didn't get it at the time but after finishing DS1 after 8 years of failed atempts I fell in love with that game and it's level design, and elden ring(at least from my experience with stormveil castle) does have that, but the open world and cryts just bloat the experience too much. I might give elden ring another chance soon, but skiping the crypts this time and see if my opinion changes, but honestly I just wish From stopped doing demon souls clones and started diversing their games more cause sekiro is my favorite from them by far(probably because it's basically a zelda game lol)
This is funny. Excactly the same franchises, Xenoblade and Fromsoft‘s Dark Fantasy Titels are my Most beloved Games that are the reason why I still Play Video Games.
I love Zelda. Thas what i grew up with. I never tried Dark Souls until someone told me "its like Zelda for adults" . . . So i started paying more attention. Played then all now, DS1, DS3, BB, SSDT, AC6, ER and just about any souls like. Annnd i havent played Zelda since. Btw. The Surge Lies of P Kena: Bridge of Spirits Are my 3 favorite kinda souls like.
I just finished my 1st playthrough following a boss guide because me being distracted by everything in this game every 3 secs, I will not finish the game If I hadn't followed a boss guide. Finished(?) the game, loved every second of it, now I'm preparing myself for Journey 2, collecting all armors, ashes, spells etc. (I know there are missable one's gonna get them on journey 2)
you almost made me cry when you praised the enemy variety. this game gets a lot of criticism for reusing enemies but I think the variety is amazing too!
Really? I mean, yeah... some get reused. But considering how massive the game is and how often it happened? It really is not bad at all. Sometimes people complain for the sake of complaining.
@@SparksOpusthat’s my problem whenever someone brings up reuse enemy as a hard criticism for ER. They list a whole lot of reused enemies as if 80% open world games out there can only dream of having half of that variety
Watching this video was a weird experience. Almost all the things you list as positives are the exact things that made Elden Ring disappointing to most of the older FROMSOFTWARE fans, while the stuff you view as negatives are the very reason some others like this game. I'll go over then quickly and explain why they soured or improved the experience for others. Positives: Weapon variety - I'll admit this first one is more of a personal criticism (though I'm not the only one who feels this way), but I feel while ER has the most weapons out of any of FROM's games, it fails to feel varied because a few options (like Rivers of Blood and Moonveil) outclass the rest by so much. Enemy variety - This is one of the most criticized aspects of the game. Enemy variety here is by far the poorest it's ever been in a FROM game. The enemy count is slightly above double that of Dark Souls 1, stretched over a million times more area. Moreover it has the least unique bosses of any of their games despite being the largest. Out of it's 170-230 or so boss fights only 9 are unique, one of them being an NPC. Compare that to Dark Souls 3, which had one repeat boss with an altered moveset or BloodBorne, which only had 1 in the main game as well. Delayed attacks - Another feature that garnered a lot of criticism. To fans of the series, this felt like FROM trying their hardest to up the difficulty and resorting to tricking the player and deliberately making attacks non-intuitive to dodge. This felt like a step back in the fairness of combat since it wasn't really present in previous games. Moreover, it feels really artificial with how it breaks the game logic, having bosses ignore gravity to blatantly catch the player trying to make sense of their moves. Everything has phases - This one is more divisive, some fans like it, others not. Those who don't like it complain that giving everything phases makes them less special. Makes them feel more like a mandatory second part that every enemy is going to have instead of a cool surprise every now and then, like how it used to be. Story & lore - This was praised, but many prefer the stories of the previous games. Negatives: Lack of quest log - I and many others dislike quest logs and similar gamey UX elements because they break immersion and serve as a constant reminder that you're playing a game. Many were either relieved or pleasantly surprised by Elden Ring's approach. Illusory walls - Present since even before Demon's Souls, these have been a mainstay of FROM games and serve to hide some cool content off the main path. This makes it all the more rewarding to find. The game doesn't just guide you by the hand to see everything the devs created. It feels much more natural. Map - Some overlap with the quest design. Elden Ring forces you to work for exploration, making it more rewarding. You can obviously prefer it otherwise, but for many people, this is a strength, not a drawback. Similar to how older Assassin's Creed games reuired you to be mindful of environment to climb efficiently, where newer games kind of do all the work for you. Previous FROM games didn't have a map at all and some go as far as to say that even Elden Ring is better without it. Closing words: I hope this doesn't come off pretentious, but I think a lot of your praises for Elden Ring might come from just never having played a FROM game before and, in a way, having lower standards than legacy fans in a sense. I'm glad you liked Elden Ring (despite all I just said I like it too, just less than their other games) and if it helped you get into this style of games, great! I also encourage you to go back and play the other games, and I hope that they continue to impress you and clear the bar that Elden Ring has now set for you. The order in which you play these games often does influence what you appreciate most in them and thus will influence your enjoyment of the games you play after the first, so you might still end up disagreeing with everything I said in this comment, but I doubt you'll have a bad time at the very least.
Hey, I appreciate the well thought through comment! :) It was an interesting read and a great insight. Granted, I find it more than unfortunate how negative some comments were towards... what is essentially just my opinion here lol Considering also me praising the game for the most part. Dark Souls is absolutely on my list now! And as I mentioned in the video, their other titles like Armored Core for example. I'd like to experience more FS games going forward and be also excited for new releases :D Once again, every person is different. And if people loved it that way? That's great! It would be boring if everyone liked and disliked the same things. But nowadays quite a few people get so easily offended online... over simply different opinions. Even more so related to something like videogames. Which should lead to fun discussions, if anything. That's what it's all about, no? So yeah, thank you for the comment! :)
Yeah... heavily disagree on your weapon variety stance. Moonveil and Rivers of Blood absolutely do not outclass the other katanas. The Uchikatana and the Narakiba are literally better in almost every way, but it's not by so much so that other katanas are useless. Hand of Melania, star lined sword, sword of night, and meteoric ore blade and pretty much every other katana in the game are also very good and more than viable. As well as literally all of the great katanas. Weapon variety in Elden Ring is fantastic if you actually understand the weapons in the game. There are so many different, extremely strong builds.
Hahaha I adored the first few hours of ER release because every single region had ghosts of people rolling into walls to see if there was something behind. Finding things as a community is cool and all but that should be what, 10% of the content? FromSoft really nailed that in previous games cus it was linear and everyone always went to the Firelink shrine after talking to them. This is not the case in ER, there's literally almost no reason to go to the roundtable after a few hours of gameplay
The game is Dark Fantasy genre. Based on Berserk anime really together with the other games. That anime and Overlord is a crazy good show to watch if you'r into dark fantasy. Don't underestimate Overlord just cuz Berserk was first
Dark Souls 2 is the one about dying to a lot of BS, it’s one of the reasons people dislike it. That and the hitboxes and that Miyazaki didn’t really work in on that one. I still like parts of it but if you want to play a game that’s actually unfair try that one 🙂 You got it absolutely right though, the other games are challenging not hard. You need to stick through it in the beginning and be willing to learn from your mistakes. And they make Elden Ring as easy or as hard as you want, you just need to be willing to explore and you can use summons and lots of other things to make things fun for your playstyle, the amount of freedom is amazing. Also that’s a good observation about some things feeling like an older game, use a pen and paper, it’s what we used to do.
People that say fromsoft games are unnecessarily hard don’t understand them. They have been conditioned by years of hand-holding and mindless gaming. They are the type of person that needs a waypoint to show them where to go. You can’t listen to them, because they will never understand fromsoft games.
Ohh fk damm mann. You looks like a real man for passion. I love so much from japan. Dark Souls, and the Heavy Metal Music I'minto fused with oriental instruments from Japan. Yo. One Piece is the best story for you ever man. I swear. After hearing you talk here.
What, the map is bad??? Best map ever, the mini game itself, you always have to study where the path leads, but once you figure out what is up and what is down on the map then it is such a satisfaction when you manage to reach your destination on frist try😊 Really, you can learn the way map works, the collors of the terrain shows you the latitude, the heigh, also there is always the cave, and the cave is the lowest point of the certain area. The map is fenomenal!
Good video, my man. But your point about the map interest me. I LOVE how ER presents its maps. Just like..well..a map, plain and simple. It urges the player to explore what's there. Some weird shit on the map? Want to know? Just GO THERE! And I've grown to dislike a map that screams "THERE IS A BOSS RIGHT HERE THAT YOU HAVE NOT KILL", or a glorified checklists like all ubisoft map, or even xenoblade map to some extent. But hey, its just my opinion, and its okay to have different opinion. After all, if everyone have same taste, the world will be a boring place.
@@ivrgn1720 Thanks, glad to hear :) The map in Future Redeemed doesn't exactly tell you everything. It shows what the areas hold, yes. Bosses, treasures, hidden areas and such are still to be found by you and you alone. You know that they exist anyways, because those are kinda expected in Xenoblade games anyway. Nothing gets "spoiled" really or thrown into your direction. Quests get only marked with a ? on a map, and gets added to a questlog to look it up later. Idk, I really like it this way. Some people pretend like there's a billion symbols on the map, which makes it unbearable to look at it. But I think that this is a complete over exaggeration.
20:32 this is a joke right, you don't actually prefer that map over Elden Rings map? When I see stuff like that I lose all interest in the game, just a horrible mess off "look here". Not knowing adds so much to the exploration IMO.
12:20 Coolest bosses in your entire life? HMPH! Go play someting better like Bloodborne and Dark souls 3 and we will talk later my friend. You still haven't experienced peak soulsbourne
The map is excellent, how dare you! You certainly are spoiled, because the ER map requires you to use your brain more. Look closely and you can tell what is a cliff, a church, a cave, a big tree etc. and then YOU have to use your eyes and brain to actually get there, and ONLY when you get there does the map tell you exactly what it is. I hate being told where to go, and I hate being hand fed the easiest way to get there. The fact that quests are so vague is neither a plus or a minus, BUT it encourages exploration and cooperation with other people, whether it is messages on the ground, summoning a cooperator, talking to your friends or some strangers online (like you did with chat). It is this unique way of approaching quest design, worldbuilding, lore etc. that made the community as strong and tight as it is, better than any other community I've been in. And yes, as you can see, we be toxic, but we're not THAT bad.
I was waiting for these comments! I'm sure there are many more and probably worse to come :D But my point 110% stands. Both for the map and how quests are handled. And I'm far from the only person who also thinks that way, but you do you ofc.
@@SparksOpus Yea, it's you and the new blood that keep complaining about it, but past games didn't even have a map, so we, the old blood, are gonna continue to gatekeep it, lest it becomes a crappy soulless ubisoft game.
I guess people also weren't lying about you "fans". Any kind of criticism towards FS being some sort of unforgivable herecy. Though tbh, it's unfortunately the same with Zelda too. Always has been. If you're that "old", you could've been way more mature about it. Just because things have been bad, doesn't mean it has to stay like that/added with obvious flaws. A improved map and a questlog doesn't instantly turns it into a "soulless ubisoft game". What an absolute weird take man...
@@SparksOpus For a game to be fun, it needs to be engaging, and for that to happen, you sometimes need to force the player to engage. My take has nothing to do with maturity, but with how the game works. Change one thing and you can ruin everything else. How about regenerating health? A simple change, but it would destroy the experience. I shouldn't expect a tourist to understand what makes the game good.
Granted, there is way more positives and negatives to talk about. Like how ER handled the weapon system way better than BotW. Or how the some areas are just for show/an event/quest and otherwise empty. I wanted to make a rather short video and still ended up with half an hour haha.
All in all, if you aren't sure (also consdering everyone talking about how hard/unbeatable/unfun it is and such) just give it a try. It is sooo absolutely worth it.
Hope you enjoyed this video :)
Just wait till you get to the DLC, i wasnt sure i was gonna enjoy it cos of people saying its so hard, but so far its well fun and im not getting my ass handed to me as much as i thought i would. Gravity is still a bitch hahaha. Ummmm NPCs have names on the map, for me at least
I played through the DLC already and loved it! I think I also mentioned it in the video.
It improved quite a few issues that the base game had and feels like an entire sequel :D It also had its own issues here and there, but overall? Fantastic really. And wasn't thaaaat hard to beat. Only exception being the final boss lol
@@SparksOpus Check out the Carbot animations vid "Margit is easy" if you want an absolute howl of a laugh. Addresses the enemy raising their sword but holding it while you instinctively spam roll lol
Shadow of the Erdtree showed me that the developers were listening to the criticism for NPC quests every NPC was either at a location of interest or was somewhere on the path you were required to go in a side room they would even give you a map
SOTE did indeed improve quite a few things and showed that they care and listen. Love to see it :)
Tholier's questline though.... oof
@@GreatWhiteElf he literally tells you where he's going and then you use the nectar until it does something then you talk to him beat his invasion and talk to him again it's not that complicated and it's all contained to the area he even tells you to not take the nectar which is an obvious hint that you should keep doing it once you get there it will take no thought to figure it out
@@animeproblem1070 who would ever think to kill themselves 4 times with the nectar? That's just not something average players are going to figure out.
@@GreatWhiteElf ah yes because the game telling you that something is gonna happen if you keep inbibing the nectar wasn't a big enough hint
the real answer to "what I'm supposed to do" is you play online, and read the mesages of other players or see their deaths, is one of the funniest and more innovative things I have seen on a game
no you just go to something cool in the distance
The best deaths are in the lake of rot, right before the grand cloister site of grace. I go there and lol endlessly
0-16m fall = no damage. 16-19.9m = some damage. 20m+ = death
Keep 100 rainbow stones on you. Very easy to test.
I disagree big time with the thought around 20:30
Maps telling you how much there is to find and even where you can find it just sucks the fun out of exploring. At that point, its's not an adventure, you tick boxes in a list for completion's sake and not for exploration's sake. Developpers have gotten so scared of people missing stuff everything gets highlighted but the counterpart is that nothing feels rewarding to find. It completely sucks the mystery out of a map.
To me it's also a fast way to burn out on game. When I'm enjoying a game, I'll gladly do side content but knowing how much there is to do will push me into being completionist and turn a game I enjoy into one that bores me.
Yeah, the thing that makes Elden Ring's exploration work so well is the fact it doesn't tell you where things are. It respects the player's intelligence and relies on your natural curiosity.
Kinda true on both parts.
Idfk why this debate always devolves to both extremes. It doesn't have to be like Ubisoft holding your hand through box-ticking, but then again the reliance on Fextralife is not it either.
In my humble opinion, Lies of P struck the perfect balance.
i just want a journal that tells me the last thing npcs said to me
I get this feeling that people didn't exactly understood what I meant by that. I don't want to get everything "spoiled" in a way. Have a billion markers on the map or whatever. But the fact that I can talk to an NPC, get a quest without even realising, and maybe a day or two later completely forget about it or what has been said... it is unfortunate imo. Just another point in the menu that tells me to whom I've spoken to and what they said. Like a notebook. And what it could possibly mean.
My problem is, that you're getting absolutely nothing. You would miss out, without even realsing. I think that isn't handled well. Respectfully, some quest require you to travel to such a random place on the map, that I personally would've never found. Some people pretend like the map is as big as limgrave alone, but the world is so much bigger in every way. Even with "exploring a lot", I probably would miss quite a few of them. I don't know why some people get so pissed off about it in the comments :/
@@SparksOpus many of us Old Heads use pen and paper, making notes. Others miss a lot, try to do better in NG+. Then there's the Lesson of Just Letting Go.
Elden rings map exists solely for you to go: "Hey, whats that?" And explore the shit out of it
How far you can jump depends on how many m is from the destination..
A consistent rule of thumb is if you jump down from more than 10m, you die
But one thing to note is that the “m” is not “Meter” but “Miyazaki”.
The unit varies from place to place according to Miyazaki
that dastardly mister zaki
Brilliant review! I do agree with most of your points and I'm so happy you ended up enjoying this game so much! (Funny to see me and Magma just casually chatting there in the corner 😂)
Lmao nice to see you here as well buddy 🤣🤣🤣
ELDEN RING IS MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME ! . It made me love video games again. Since then beat sekiro, lies of p, hogwarts legacy, armor core 6 , dragons dogma 2 and more. My favorite combat is sekiro then lies of P. Next up is black myth wukong so looking forward to that game this Monday .
I agree that this game should've had some minimum way to guide quests. A dialog recap alone would've been so much help. I'm fine with no quest markers but in 2024, you shouldn't have to make notes out of the game in order to track your quests. That's so 1990. However, IMO the map of the main game was great, one of the best game maps. Again, it would've been desirable to be able to place annotated markers, but on the whole it worked very well, and actually did show characters after you met them. Most of the time. SOTE's added verticality with no way to switch between layers as you could in the main game made its map much less useful, but the main game's map worked well.
I also agree about the jumping sequences. I play offline on PC so I could actually save scum within jumping sequences by manually copying save files. Imagine how much time that takes, and how annoying it is to have to go out of the game proper, but I did it nonetheless now and then because it was better than dying at the sixth and last part of a jumping sequence for the 10th time and having to do half the dungeon again for the 11th time. The Caelid Divine Tower was probably the worst offender, and the Belurat Goal from SotE.
On the whole, though, Elden Ring is indeed a masterpiece, and like you, I'm very glad I went out of my comfort zone to play it. It was a very, very memorable experience.
I think the only times that bosses feel unfair is when you're fighting giant bosses and the camera just refuses to show you what's happening sometimes. It's mainly a problem at melee range. I think in general just being able to zoom the camera out a little bit would make a lot of fights more enjoyable for me.
Also, if you're not playing as a buffed up defensive tanky kind of character you can die ridiculously fast sometimes in the late game. I don't remember having so much issues with nearly instant death in Bloodborne or Lies of P, the only others of this style of game I've played. Late game Elden Ring bosses just deal so much damage sometimes. I wouldn't call it unfair, but it does mean that more 'glass cannon' builds might be in for a rougher time than they expect.
Oh, and I agree with that criticism you gave about the stun punisher thing not always working properly for some reason. I swear, the amount of times I've tried standing directly in front of a stunned boss and tried to punish them only to do a regular attack instead. I do try to wait a moment before doing it, and it usually works, but sometimes it just won't happen.
I adore the world of this game, it gorgeous and great to explore. The only thing the switch Zelda games really have over Elden Rings world is how you traverse it. In Elden Ring all you're only options are riding Torrent or walking, whereas in BotW or TotK Link has more traversal options and the world is more interactive.
And honestly, I don't mind the vagueness of NPC quests really. It just means that I often find new things in subsequent playthroughs which can really help keep things fresh. Though I will say, I ended up skipping like, half the steps in Ranni's questline on my first playthrough which did make it feel kind of off, but whatever. As for the map not showing you a whole lot, I really love that, actually. A bit of mystery makes exploring feel more rewarding and exciting.
6:08 your character's drip is immaculate 10:16 i can only imagine the subconscious roleplay and identity of your character with those cape, turtle shield and lionel's helm
you should definitely try dark souls games in order, that series is like elden ring on its own
Appreciate all the comments! Thank you :)
2:08 solo no diff, absolute cinema, i've seen enough, i'm satisfied
You cooked bro , totally agree even the issues you brought up , you missed few others but overall well thought amd genuine essay
Glad to hear that, thank you! :)
You can also open all of those hidden doors with Margit's or Mohg's shackle. Yes I know this isn't mentioned anywhere. And you can also use the shackles to "hit" those flame pillars from a safe distance. Also no way to know this.
ive been playing fromsoft for a while, but remember thinking i could never play a super hard game like dark souls... when i finally tried ds1... i was obsessed, not only with that game, but with everything they came out with... i love their worlds and their storytelling... i do love a challenging game, but it is not my main focus, what makes fromsoft so great is the perfect balance (imho) between difficulty, world building, exploration, story telling, lore... just overall peaking my interest
People complain/joke about having to read item descriptions to get the story, but to me it feels like, i get enough of the lore and story without it, but in a way that makes me curious about learning more about something and therefore might check item descriptions to get that itch scratched... i just love it... hollow knight to me does the same, world building and storytelling wise. also the same feeling of being tossed into a strange new world, not knowing what is going on, but slowly puzzling it together... love the hell out of these kinds of experiences
Elden ring is just one of those experiences that are so unique but so different for each player, depending on you intelligence or endurance stat, you can play 2 different games and get somewhat the same experience, if you know what i mean.
I wonder what a crossover game between the xenoblade guys and fromsoft would look like.
Master of storytelling and lively, immersive worlds + Master of subversive storytelling and lorebuilding and dying, immersive worlds.
@@iceneko9170 I was wondering the same thing actually. It would be peak, I'm sure.
the intro was unironically very originally put in this video essay
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's all downhill from Elden Ring, I truly don't believe gaming can get any better than this. The only way Elden Ring could get any better than it already is is if FromSoft would finally do away with the whole "dying world" trope. I really want Elden Ring in an alive universe with lots of friendly towns filled with NPCs that don't want to kill you on sight. A more robust crafting system where you can create your own equipment - not just consumable items - would be really nice as well. As a third, pretty unreasonable thing, I also think it would be kind of cool if you could build your own house/settlement in Elden Ring. Just something totally extra that has no real impact on the rest of the game, you know?
Not that I necessarily want them to do away with that concept, but I think it would be cool to see such a concept as you’re describing from them.
So basically Skyrim?
isn't that just skyrim?
@@ru832k7ji3 skyrim has dogshit combat
meeting npcs with quests and never meeting them again is part of the experience. I accidentally killed a dude in dlc and regretted it later but proceeded with a quest of another character and it made for some unique outcome. someone will find quest A on their own and someone will miss it but get closer to completing quest B on their own and it's alright because the focus of the game is combat
19:30 you won't belive it. There is a guy who sues fromsoft for making content hard to access :D
the easy to miss content is exactly what makes open world open world, imo.
Fall damage is a real indeed :D I think it was too hard to design the world with consistent fall damage and with natural "can't go there" barriers. The inconsistent fall damage is still much better than invisible walls and loading screens.
Damn, really? Though tbh, there are a lot of crazy people in this world haha
I'm not suprised at all :D
And yes, I'll take that over invinsible walls and such any day!
@@SparksOpus That one is actually a genuine weirdo. He is convinced that the entire gaming industry is hiding secret sequels inside their games and that concept art of cut content proves the existence of those secret areas, and he wants to sue Bandai Namco so they are forced to reveal how to access the secret Elden Ring 2. I would say therapy would have been cheaper.
@@SparksOpus
> Damn, really? Though tbh, there are a lot of crazy people in this world haha
I see your chat helped you quite a bit with finding things out. Just an assumption - if you would play w/o chat help missing things like quests would feel different, probably better. There is a difference between knowing that you can find 110$ under a carpet and finding 100$ randomly, and than suddenly learning that there was another 10$, if you'd like to look better.
And souls-like exploration is based on this difference.
As a long time souls veteran, I always feel like the difficulty is way too exaggerated, to the point that it chases people who would love them away.
Great review, I also think that it's one of the greatest games period. One thing I did afterwards was beat DS3 +dlc no summons. I recommend trying, you likely won't like the game overall as much but sister friede and gael fights make it all worth it.
If you like slow and methodical combat, boss fights, a immersive world, i think you should also look into the Monster Hunter series (for example Monster Hunter World).
I love that you figure it out what I told you on the first Elden Ring Stream that this was the best non-Zelda Zelda game out there, it follow every-absolutelly-thing Zelda imagine itself, but it make it maturer and harder.
Also, did have you tried Genshin Impact? another incredible non-Zelda Zelda but more anime and gacha centric instead
@@WildspeakerYT I have actually. Just for a few hours, but still... it straight up copy-pastes some things from BotW lmao. Though the rather excessive gacha is turning me off quite a bit. Free ingame gacha like in XC2 is one thing, but like the one in GI... idk man.
@@SparksOpusGenshin's similarity to Breath of the Wild is very superficial, honestly. It basically starts and ends with the movement/traversal and general environment design, and is most noticable in the first couple areas.
If you like world-building, exploration, and character development, it's one of the best games out right now IMO.
As far as the gatcha goes, outside of a couple of specific things there just isn't anything that necessitates it. My wife and I have been playing it together for four years, spent absolutely NOTHING, and can easily clear everything except the very hardest "end-game" content (we can still do it, just miss the very last tier of rewards).
The biggest temptation is just as a collector; because the characters have interesting personalities, stories and designs, I WANT to get all of them, but it isn't really feasible, and FAR from required.
The biggest problem with GI or any live-service game over a regular game is just that for best results, you have to play them daily.
If you can't commit to spending around an hour a day with them, at least a few days a week, you're better served playing traditional games.
Gacha isn't video games, it's a casino simulator.
Now go try DS3, Bloodborne, and/or Sekiro, lol. HAVE FUN!!!
how come u didn't talk about the drip..it's pretty insane
when elden ring came out I loved it to bits, I spend around 20 hours just exploring the first zoen and the first dungeon was some of the most fun I've had with a souls game, but when I got to the second zone I just didn't like it anymore, I didn't get it at the time but after finishing DS1 after 8 years of failed atempts I fell in love with that game and it's level design, and elden ring(at least from my experience with stormveil castle) does have that, but the open world and cryts just bloat the experience too much.
I might give elden ring another chance soon, but skiping the crypts this time and see if my opinion changes, but honestly I just wish From stopped doing demon souls clones and started diversing their games more cause sekiro is my favorite from them by far(probably because it's basically a zelda game lol)
This is funny. Excactly the same franchises, Xenoblade and Fromsoft‘s Dark Fantasy Titels are my Most beloved Games that are the reason why I still Play Video Games.
I love Zelda. Thas what i grew up with. I never tried Dark Souls until someone told me "its like Zelda for adults" . . . So i started paying more attention.
Played then all now, DS1, DS3, BB, SSDT, AC6, ER and just about any souls like. Annnd i havent played Zelda since.
Btw.
The Surge
Lies of P
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Are my 3 favorite kinda souls like.
Nice Batman beyond reference
I just finished my 1st playthrough following a boss guide because me being distracted by everything in this game every 3 secs, I will not finish the game If I hadn't followed a boss guide. Finished(?) the game, loved every second of it, now I'm preparing myself for Journey 2, collecting all armors, ashes, spells etc. (I know there are missable one's gonna get them on journey 2)
you almost made me cry when you praised the enemy variety. this game gets a lot of criticism for reusing enemies but I think the variety is amazing too!
Really? I mean, yeah... some get reused. But considering how massive the game is and how often it happened? It really is not bad at all. Sometimes people complain for the sake of complaining.
@@SparksOpusthat’s my problem whenever someone brings up reuse enemy as a hard criticism for ER. They list a whole lot of reused enemies as if 80% open world games out there can only dream of having half of that variety
if you bumble thru the beginning with personality people will absolutely watch
Watching this video was a weird experience. Almost all the things you list as positives are the exact things that made Elden Ring disappointing to most of the older FROMSOFTWARE fans, while the stuff you view as negatives are the very reason some others like this game. I'll go over then quickly and explain why they soured or improved the experience for others.
Positives:
Weapon variety - I'll admit this first one is more of a personal criticism (though I'm not the only one who feels this way), but I feel while ER has the most weapons out of any of FROM's games, it fails to feel varied because a few options (like Rivers of Blood and Moonveil) outclass the rest by so much.
Enemy variety - This is one of the most criticized aspects of the game. Enemy variety here is by far the poorest it's ever been in a FROM game. The enemy count is slightly above double that of Dark Souls 1, stretched over a million times more area. Moreover it has the least unique bosses of any of their games despite being the largest. Out of it's 170-230 or so boss fights only 9 are unique, one of them being an NPC. Compare that to Dark Souls 3, which had one repeat boss with an altered moveset or BloodBorne, which only had 1 in the main game as well.
Delayed attacks - Another feature that garnered a lot of criticism. To fans of the series, this felt like FROM trying their hardest to up the difficulty and resorting to tricking the player and deliberately making attacks non-intuitive to dodge. This felt like a step back in the fairness of combat since it wasn't really present in previous games. Moreover, it feels really artificial with how it breaks the game logic, having bosses ignore gravity to blatantly catch the player trying to make sense of their moves.
Everything has phases - This one is more divisive, some fans like it, others not. Those who don't like it complain that giving everything phases makes them less special. Makes them feel more like a mandatory second part that every enemy is going to have instead of a cool surprise every now and then, like how it used to be.
Story & lore - This was praised, but many prefer the stories of the previous games.
Negatives:
Lack of quest log - I and many others dislike quest logs and similar gamey UX elements because they break immersion and serve as a constant reminder that you're playing a game. Many were either relieved or pleasantly surprised by Elden Ring's approach.
Illusory walls - Present since even before Demon's Souls, these have been a mainstay of FROM games and serve to hide some cool content off the main path. This makes it all the more rewarding to find. The game doesn't just guide you by the hand to see everything the devs created. It feels much more natural.
Map - Some overlap with the quest design. Elden Ring forces you to work for exploration, making it more rewarding. You can obviously prefer it otherwise, but for many people, this is a strength, not a drawback. Similar to how older Assassin's Creed games reuired you to be mindful of environment to climb efficiently, where newer games kind of do all the work for you. Previous FROM games didn't have a map at all and some go as far as to say that even Elden Ring is better without it.
Closing words:
I hope this doesn't come off pretentious, but I think a lot of your praises for Elden Ring might come from just never having played a FROM game before and, in a way, having lower standards than legacy fans in a sense. I'm glad you liked Elden Ring (despite all I just said I like it too, just less than their other games) and if it helped you get into this style of games, great! I also encourage you to go back and play the other games, and I hope that they continue to impress you and clear the bar that Elden Ring has now set for you. The order in which you play these games often does influence what you appreciate most in them and thus will influence your enjoyment of the games you play after the first, so you might still end up disagreeing with everything I said in this comment, but I doubt you'll have a bad time at the very least.
Hey, I appreciate the well thought through comment! :)
It was an interesting read and a great insight. Granted, I find it more than unfortunate how negative some comments were towards... what is essentially just my opinion here lol
Considering also me praising the game for the most part. Dark Souls is absolutely on my list now! And as I mentioned in the video, their other titles like Armored Core for example. I'd like to experience more FS games going forward and be also excited for new releases :D
Once again, every person is different. And if people loved it that way? That's great! It would be boring if everyone liked and disliked the same things. But nowadays quite a few people get so easily offended online... over simply different opinions. Even more so related to something like videogames. Which should lead to fun discussions, if anything. That's what it's all about, no?
So yeah, thank you for the comment! :)
Yeah... heavily disagree on your weapon variety stance.
Moonveil and Rivers of Blood absolutely do not outclass the other katanas. The Uchikatana and the Narakiba are literally better in almost every way, but it's not by so much so that other katanas are useless. Hand of Melania, star lined sword, sword of night, and meteoric ore blade and pretty much every other katana in the game are also very good and more than viable. As well as literally all of the great katanas.
Weapon variety in Elden Ring is fantastic if you actually understand the weapons in the game. There are so many different, extremely strong builds.
"Learn and get better" - sounds like a good game to me. Also, life.
Hahaha I adored the first few hours of ER release because every single region had ghosts of people rolling into walls to see if there was something behind.
Finding things as a community is cool and all but that should be what, 10% of the content? FromSoft really nailed that in previous games cus it was linear and everyone always went to the Firelink shrine after talking to them.
This is not the case in ER, there's literally almost no reason to go to the roundtable after a few hours of gameplay
The game is Dark Fantasy genre. Based on Berserk anime really together with the other games. That anime and Overlord is a crazy good show to watch if you'r into dark fantasy. Don't underestimate Overlord just cuz Berserk was first
oh theyre made in japan and then adaped ti anime ofc
No, it's high fantasy. Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3 and BloodBorne were dark fantasy.
@@comradecatbug5289 yeah but you get what I mean even if u wanna argue
Dark Souls 2 is the one about dying to a lot of BS, it’s one of the reasons people dislike it. That and the hitboxes and that Miyazaki didn’t really work in on that one.
I still like parts of it but if you want to play a game that’s actually unfair try that one 🙂
You got it absolutely right though, the other games are challenging not hard. You need to stick through it in the beginning and be willing to learn from your mistakes. And they make Elden Ring as easy or as hard as you want, you just need to be willing to explore and you can use summons and lots of other things to make things fun for your playstyle, the amount of freedom is amazing.
Also that’s a good observation about some things feeling like an older game, use a pen and paper, it’s what we used to do.
People that say fromsoft games are unnecessarily hard don’t understand them. They have been conditioned by years of hand-holding and mindless gaming. They are the type of person that needs a waypoint to show them where to go. You can’t listen to them, because they will never understand fromsoft games.
Great video, made me want to check out xenoblade
I think One Piece for me has left me with the strongest feelings of any media I have consumed yet.
Ohh fk damm mann. You looks like a real man for passion. I love so much from japan. Dark Souls, and the Heavy Metal Music I'minto fused with oriental instruments from Japan.
Yo. One Piece is the best story for you ever man. I swear. After hearing you talk here.
do you have your playthough on youtube?
Yes, most of them are unlisted, but you can find the entire playthrough in a playlist on the channel :)
What, the map is bad??? Best map ever, the mini game itself, you always have to study where the path leads, but once you figure out what is up and what is down on the map then it is such a satisfaction when you manage to reach your destination on frist try😊 Really, you can learn the way map works, the collors of the terrain shows you the latitude, the heigh, also there is always the cave, and the cave is the lowest point of the certain area. The map is fenomenal!
Good video, my man. But your point about the map interest me.
I LOVE how ER presents its maps. Just like..well..a map, plain and simple. It urges the player to explore what's there. Some weird shit on the map? Want to know? Just GO THERE! And I've grown to dislike a map that screams "THERE IS A BOSS RIGHT HERE THAT YOU HAVE NOT KILL", or a glorified checklists like all ubisoft map, or even xenoblade map to some extent.
But hey, its just my opinion, and its okay to have different opinion. After all, if everyone have same taste, the world will be a boring place.
@@ivrgn1720 Thanks, glad to hear :) The map in Future Redeemed doesn't exactly tell you everything. It shows what the areas hold, yes. Bosses, treasures, hidden areas and such are still to be found by you and you alone. You know that they exist anyways, because those are kinda expected in Xenoblade games anyway. Nothing gets "spoiled" really or thrown into your direction. Quests get only marked with a ? on a map, and gets added to a questlog to look it up later. Idk, I really like it this way. Some people pretend like there's a billion symbols on the map, which makes it unbearable to look at it. But I think that this is a complete over exaggeration.
@@SparksOpus cheers, my man.
there is a game mechanic to fix npc questlines that you've messed up, including if they die or get aggro'd against you bro
20:32 this is a joke right, you don't actually prefer that map over Elden Rings map?
When I see stuff like that I lose all interest in the game, just a horrible mess off "look here".
Not knowing adds so much to the exploration IMO.
12:20 Coolest bosses in your entire life? HMPH! Go play someting better like Bloodborne and Dark souls 3 and we will talk later my friend. You still haven't experienced peak soulsbourne
Your opening with summon, cr😮nge
when you said the map was trash i forgot everything you said before that and gave you a thumbs down. you know nothing jon snow
You interacted in every way possible, so I gotta thank you for that :)
The map is excellent, how dare you! You certainly are spoiled, because the ER map requires you to use your brain more. Look closely and you can tell what is a cliff, a church, a cave, a big tree etc. and then YOU have to use your eyes and brain to actually get there, and ONLY when you get there does the map tell you exactly what it is. I hate being told where to go, and I hate being hand fed the easiest way to get there.
The fact that quests are so vague is neither a plus or a minus, BUT it encourages exploration and cooperation with other people, whether it is messages on the ground, summoning a cooperator, talking to your friends or some strangers online (like you did with chat). It is this unique way of approaching quest design, worldbuilding, lore etc. that made the community as strong and tight as it is, better than any other community I've been in. And yes, as you can see, we be toxic, but we're not THAT bad.
I was waiting for these comments! I'm sure there are many more and probably worse to come :D
But my point 110% stands. Both for the map and how quests are handled. And I'm far from the only person who also thinks that way, but you do you ofc.
@@SparksOpus Yea, it's you and the new blood that keep complaining about it, but past games didn't even have a map, so we, the old blood, are gonna continue to gatekeep it, lest it becomes a crappy soulless ubisoft game.
I guess people also weren't lying about you "fans". Any kind of criticism towards FS being some sort of unforgivable herecy. Though tbh, it's unfortunately the same with Zelda too. Always has been.
If you're that "old", you could've been way more mature about it. Just because things have been bad, doesn't mean it has to stay like that/added with obvious flaws. A improved map and a questlog doesn't instantly turns it into a "soulless ubisoft game".
What an absolute weird take man...
@@SparksOpus soulsbros are annoying, great video
@@SparksOpus For a game to be fun, it needs to be engaging, and for that to happen, you sometimes need to force the player to engage. My take has nothing to do with maturity, but with how the game works. Change one thing and you can ruin everything else. How about regenerating health? A simple change, but it would destroy the experience. I shouldn't expect a tourist to understand what makes the game good.