My Final Thoughts on Elden Ring Pre-DLC
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- It's been a while since I've talked about Elden Ring. And it feels like a good idea to have one last big video revisiting it before seeing what Shadow of the Erdtree has to offer.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:22 The World
16:09 Build Variety
25:25 Enemies and Bosses
31:38 Story/Lore
35:49 DLC wish list
39:47 Final thoughts
Yo, I just wanted to mention that discussions around this game can get extremely heated extremely fast. While it’s obviously totally cool to disagree with me or other commenters, let’s just to try to keep things somewhat civil.
Elden wrong
@@user-pm7qc5qy9c Unfunny joke that doesn’t even make any sense
@@hhowdy consonance
@@epsilon1372 Who the fuck is this guy?
@@hhowdy ur such a silly goose!
Your first playthrough of Elden Ring is so magical. The exploration, the fights, the reveal of the underworld. So many moments.
Indeed
Except the fact we already knew there would be an underworld pre-launch. The exploration and boss fights are polarizing
@@questionablezoomer764 "weLl ActUAlly". I already know you look like you collect katanas from the mall. Coming down the Siofra elevator was a beautiful reveal.
@@questionablezoomer764 What subreddit do you moderate? R\galleria mall katana?
@@nunchuksteev9811 promotional image of nokstella and the one with the ants tells you otherwise. If you were nearly as hyped as I was, did you not watch the trailers?
I think Elden Ring revived that sense of wonder that videogames used to give a lot of people before. When I started my second playthrough I started noticing the parts of the game that weren’t as good. Still an incredible game. I’ll remember my first playthrough very fondly. This is why I’m so hyped for the DLC. Discovering everything for the first time will be lots of fun. Great video!
Dark Souls did that 11 years prior.
Same, but, on subsequent playthroughs I realized how great the bosses were and I just skip the parts I don't need which are floaty. I currently do challenge runs which are a ton of fun, beat it as rl1, can do a non cheese speed run of about 2 hrs and have almost beat it without dying
@@Hyde_Lawrence I wouldn't say wonder though. DS1 has wonder-like moments, but I wouldn't consider it a game about "wonder" if we're using the same definition. I'd say DS1 revived the feeling of accomplishment and positive struggle in people.
Elden Ring has given people that sense of enjoying the sights of the mountain again.
While DS1 brought back the enjoyment in the hike and reaching the peak.
@@uryenatienza4093 Do you realize that elden ring is just BIG dark souls? Everything elden ring does (besides open world) you got it before in the series in a smaller scale. And i have no intention to undervalue ER, but literally dark souls changed the gaming landscape, you got 1000s of souls-like even before ER was a thing.
@@Hyde_Lawrence yeah ofc, what I'm saying is that what Dark Souls gave is conceptually different to what Elden Ring has given.
Though both games are undeniably similar, they still give relatively different experiences, therefore the "wonder" you get from both is different.
Maybe I phrased my point poorly.
What I'm saying is that the "wonder" Elden Ring gives is fundamentally different from what Dark Souls gives.
For example, the "wonder" you get from fighting Gwyn vs fighting Radagon are completely different.
There are no areas in DS1 that give off the same vibe as Siofra River.
There are no areas in ER that give off the same energy as the Blight Town.
At bare minimum, neither game can fully give of the same vibe as one another.
Overall my point is, calling Elden Ring "big Dark Souls" / saying "Dark Souls did it first" is reductive to both games because both games, for having the same core, are completely different beasts.
It's like saying Bloodborne gave the Sekiro experience first. When it's clear both games are worlds apart, bare minimum islands apart. Obviously this is far more ridiculous compared to what you said, but I think it's conceptually the same thing.
I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong, but maybe that first statement was undercooked. I'll admit, mine was undercooked too.
For me, the replayability issue is not that the game is meaningless or redundant due to its size. It's just so big that restarting new character after new character is daunting. I love making cosplay builds, but the effort it takes to get one completed is enormous in this game. Especially if you need late game or end of quest items.
Fair point
80% of my characters are unfinished cosplay characters for this reason xD though to be fair, I'm fixing the "unfinished" part thanks to motivation from dlc. Different playstyles are fun.
Tbf that’s a damn good problem for a game to have 😂 I completely understand where you’re coming from but I’d say that’s a half compliment to the world and how in depth it is.
Most of the things you want from the DLC are things Miyasaki said will be there.
The Shadow Lands will be more dense, Legacy Dungeons better interwoven with the overworld; we will learn of Marika's history, too.
Ok, the Marika thing I actually didn’t know about, thanks for letting me know
The same thing was said about the main game as well. There’ll be more story, more covenants, more quests … none of which was true. Let’s wait for the thing to be released and then say stuff like this
@@orlando5789No it wasn’t. What Miyazaki said would be in the main game was.
@@orlando5789Covenants were never mentioned, and the story is incredibly intricate and well developed.
@@orlando5789There were literally dozens of side quests. More than any FromSoft game to this date.
I think it's cool Elden Ring tried out the open world format, and I wouldn't mind seeing it in another one of the souls games, but I don't want it to become a regular feature of the games.
I personally think it would be fine to continue as long as they learn from their mistakes and don’t do it every time
imo i think the old formulae is better the open world gets boring after a while
Cant wait to hop into the dlc and fight 100 repeat bosses,cant wait to have 50 tabs open just so i can figure out how to do ome garbage side quest,cant wait explore all the dungeons just to get a bunch of useless crap i womt need😂😂10/10 massa piece greatest dlc in universe
@@_CrimsonBlade Needing so many guides is a skill issue ngl
Greatest game of all time and you OG souls players do strength builds only and don’t want it to be open world
Seems weird to me that literary limits the games potential and fromsoft made its Goat game when they made Elden Ring not those other games
you just summarized all of my thoughts i had in the last two years regarding elden ring lol. great job man! really looking forward to the DLC!
great video, i got halfway in and didnt realize how long id been watching, great pacing 👍
good video, voice and input on things, couldnt agree more! subbed
Hell yeah man. Love this long form stuff keep going, your thoughts are really interesting and engaging
Thanks for the feedback
@@chadofastoraI think it would be interesting to do a speculation video about what From Soft might do next. Include a history of From Soft games before they started the souls genre.
as you already pointed out the ash of war system is also my favorite part of the game. the fact that i can just change a skill on so many weapons including its scaling is so crazy. its so good in fact that i get bored in other games that dont allow me the same freedom.
The video was great, you really had the best talk about the strengths of the game and you didn't exaggerate its weaknesses like some others
Great video while I get my new character ready for dlc. Thanks bro just subscribed 😊
Maliketh is my favorite boss, not just in souls games but of all time. Morgott is a top 5 also. ER absolutely dropped the ball on gank fights. However, for me personally, as someone who's never really been a fan of these types of fights, it doesn't really bother me. Even the really good ones like Demon Princes are much lower for me than others. I've always said that with bosses like Pontiff I would have preferred a P2 1v1 with an expanded moveset rather than a simplified 2v1. All that to say that I agree with your take that ER excels at 1v1 encounters. Honestly, with the way the combat system works with weaving in attacks during boss combos to keep pressure on and maintain posture I'm not sure how well you can even make a duo fight. Fromsoft always finds a way to surprise us though so maybe in the DLC...🤷♂️
I mean it’s possible they could make a good one, but I think we agree that a focus on 1v1s would prob be best
Personally I feel maliketh could be a bit tankier with less damage
@@devinnix9071
Maybe, but I feel his identity is a glass cannon. I love how he felt incredibly overwhelming initially but when you learn to turn his aggression against him the fight feels incredible and even when you're good at it the fight remains tense as a single slip up can end you. Just my opinion though.
Couldn’t have said it better myself & honestly, From software’s gank bosses have more than often been meh, there are a couple of memorable ones for me like Ornstein/Smough (but they’re aging badly) & Twin Demons in Ringed City DLC.
I like the 1v1 fights a million times more, I prefer them over ganks any day of the week.
@@HeyTarnished
O & S are inexcusably terribly imo. They get WAY too much praise from the community. That fight is a janky mess. Demon Princes and Sister Friede P2 are much better examples of good multi fights. Actually, I think DS3 bosses have been surpassed by Sekiro and ER but DS3 is still the best in this regard. It has several multi fights and all of them are pretty good.
That being said, 1v1 battles are just more engaging to me and ER excels at that. Bosses like Maliketh and Morgott are simply unmatched in their quality and relatability imo.
Another banger video man
Personally, my favorite part of ER IS the vastness of the open world. It makes encounters more special, and I just want to keep exploring.
I’m glad to see how your thoughts on the bosses have changed as the community has gotten more and more used to the bosses. They are hard to learn at first but I love fighting them in repeated pkaythroughs and is the main reason I replay the game
I just replayed the game to see if I agree with myself from 2 years ago and I still think even the main bosses are poorly designed by FromSoftware standards, the Dark Souls gameplay it reuses is holding it back
@@questionablezoomer764I’m playing for the first time after beating bloodborne as my first souls game and man, I know bloodborne base game bosses aren’t the greatest but I am just not a fan of all these reused bosses in the game, I swear I’ve fought like 15 tree spirits and death birds for what ? All the story bosses so far pretty good, just beat Morgott and he was lots of fun.. but again that was basically my 3rd time fighting him cause he has 2 holograms 😂even Mohg being the boss I’m most hyped to fight.. I find out he has another random fight somewhere else Wtf
@@Mojj2099 Oh I'm not defending Elden Ring here haha, and I agree with everything you said. It's absurd how overrated Elden Ring is, especially by the veterans which really throws me off. 15 tree spirits, erdtree avatars, deathbirds, watchdogs, etc. is not up to FromSoft standards as I know them from previous games. People defend Elden Ring and is crying about the other games also having reused content, but they missed the part where Elden Ring reuses alot more than those ever did. Mohg is the only S-tier boss in Elden Ring imo. He is amazing in every aspect, whereas the other ones fall short in one or several aspects. Good luck my guy! :D
@@questionablezoomer764 Theres your main issue, you cannot play it like dark souls, you have to engage with the boss in a way the previous games didnt allow you too. The best tip i can give you is stop waiting for openings from the bosses and try to find your own, if you dont do that youre not gonna enjoy them.
@@rodrigonogueira9375 "Stop playing it like Dark Souls". "Stop waiting for openings" and "try to find your own openings" loll aren't these the same thing? This could also be the main issue perhaps people do not like to wait around or finding openings because you just described a rolling dodge simulator. Which is why people like BB and sekiro because there is more player agency while still having to dodge.
Dude your videos are damn great and I was waiting for a critique type video from you,
Really well done.
Thanks
you're my favorite fromsoftware reviewer. please keep making content. i got your notif bell turned on
When it comes to replayability, I think this is the best game of all time. I have watched probably over 100 hours of videos about this game, my first character has 256 hours, my second character I just recently made for the DLC (afro samurai cosplay) I have 60 hours on. Then the other night, I decided to do a full strength/int build, first time I've ever mained magic. Dude. I pull up to church of elleh, go get torrent real quick, decide I want chain mail pants, go back to elleh at night time, and for the first time ever, ranni is just sitting there on a ledge like "what's up dude" I have never in my 500+ hours of consuming elden ring content seen or heard about this happening. My stomach dropped I was like dude what is happening.
Even after countless playthroughs I still find random stuff I didn’t know about
My first playthrough of ER was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had with any form of media. I dreamed about it every waking and sleeping moment for 2 weeks straight.
Any form of media? You must have have not seen much media then, or you have very odd tastes
@@creativeyoutubeaccountname1813"this person has different taste than mines 🤔 but i m the World taste reference 🤔 he must be stupid or ignorant !"
Or they just really loved the game, Elden ring is my favorite art peice of all time so I completely agree with the comment
Ya fax second play through tho just wasn’t as good
@@kadeok8953 my favorite playthrough was the 3rd. I was still discovering new stuff which was very impressive considering how much time I had put into it, and I got good enough to really enjoy all of the boss fights, when you can really play with them and not just beat them it becomes way more fun
There's a shit ton of openings. It's just there's 5 types of openings and only one of which is turn by turns openings/obvious openings/dark souls openings.
Jump heavy openings. Jump over the attack and do a jump hravy
Delayed openings: Attack during windup and dodge.
Superdelayed/position based: Walk/Run into the attack safe zone during windup, you can use windup time + recovery time as openings duration. They are the longest openings by far.
Obvious openings/Turned based.
Created openings: Using the enemies stagger and attacking faster then them from specific positioning at a very specific time of their animation where they don't have hyper armor. or animation whiffing, where you attack at a specific moment from a specific place so that the enemies attack whiff you by a few mm due to the exact animation.
The 5th one is the hardest type, only seen consistently in the most insane types of challenge run, like malenia no hit fist only. It's usually a mix of all the other 4 openings + some special sauce.
It's not really a distinct category.
So 4.5 types of openings.
And yes, recognising attacks super early so you can do the setup takes good reaction time but mostly you need to know the animation increadibly well. Some Ultra instinct martial artist future sight type shit. You need to be able to see the whole animation setup in your head clearly and have really good muscle memory.
And other souls games don't have it as much. Their delayed attacks aren't slow enough to let you attack during windup (or at least its much rarer), and their super delayed attacks tracks more so there's less consistent safe spot.
Also, other souls games have obvious openings be frequent enough that you don't need the other unless you are doing a super challenge run. You can bsat the game with a shit weapon and minimal healing and play aggressively and gets hit in very often and relies on obvious opening 80% of the times. Also, r1 spam is just the brdt thing due to a lack of formal posture system.
So yeah, elden ring is really fucking hard to learn to get good at.
(If you haven't beaten the game underleveled with lighload, and a no bleed/cold longsworrd, with minimal healing, you haven't leanred the games mechanic).
And it's not a from soft elitist message. The boss are just really fucking hard and their ai is a massive puzzle. Without doing the challenge I named above, you can beat a boss with only understanding a very small part of their AI. Most people beat boss by doing a mix of using obvious openings and damage trading. And you won't know hoe much you tely on damage trading until you've done such a challenge. Sometimes, attacking right now can force you to take damage 3 move down the line.
The Boss moveset has so much depth and optimal plays require you to recognise much faster then before, as you need to do something different then reacting and pressing circle.
Waterfowl is the ultimate "you need to react quickly and do a complex setup to activate it." On a hardcore/reset run, it would be bullshit, but sometimes you'll just have to die to it and accept the bad rng.
Because dodging it needs setup. There's a death range where you can't do the point blank dodge, and can't run away either. If there's walls, you might not be able to move to the correct space, or she might not whiff far enough and she'l kill you.
I always play souls game light load longsword. And I try to beat the second run underleveled and using less healings.
But on ER, you can't do that on a first run even with tips unless you are willing to die 500+ times to every boss.
It's a challenge runs that makes you actually learn how to play the game well. It's something I recommend on a 3rd/4th playthrough.
And it's not even that challenging a run.
No heals is harder. No vigor is much harder. And lvl 1 is twice as hard as no heals.
No heals had me dedicate 12-20 hours per boss. (Not godrick lol)
And rl1 club made me need to do the same again.
Draconic Tree sentinel, Radahn, Radagon...
BTW, I recommend doing radagon with a single weak daggers on a squishy character (4 vig no damage resist). Learn to min max the damage you can do on each of his glowing yellow attacks before doddging. It's so much harder then you think, but god does it make you good at delayed openings.
There's like 4 attacks, 2 of which are 2 parters. And So that's 6 attack, with each a different number of attack you can get in before you need to roll.
And then there's also his recovery from these attacks.
So that's 10 windows you need to learn and experiment to find the optimal numbers of hits you can get in.
It also melts him. He's so fucking great.
In ER super delayed attacks have safe spot. Example, margit SD attack, if you are in front of him, do 2 step to the right and he will miss you consistently.
So, you only need to travel as much distance to get to the safe spot.
Whereas in other souls game, you need to travel a munimum "distance" for the attack to miss.
Ik they had no dodge or no dodge/run community in other souls games, but ER is based arround it.
ER also has combo extenders, which you need to learn to bait.
Lots more advanced AI control.
Malekith has stab: LRL and then he'll do a slam with his dagger. If some other player or summons changes the aggro it will fail, but solo, its very consistent. It's his longest and most consistent openings, and is mandatory to get charged heavy in so you can posture break.
It’s insane how much better the combat and mechanics are compared to any other souls title (not including Sekiro obviously). It’s funny how so many ‘veteran’ players chose to shit on the bosses as they are apparently “bad game design” because they can’t recognise the differences in gameplay, and chose to play the bosses like BB or DS3, then try and write them off as poor game design.
@@DanthelegionmasterJoseph Anderson urks me the most because he has a huge fan base of d*ckriders and has gone back on absolutely NOTHING since the release of probably one of the worst souls-related video essays on TH-cam.
Holy shi- that's a massive one 😅
@@Danthelegionmaster 100%.
Great video, I think you made a very even-handed evaluation of the games strengths and weaknesses. In particular, I think you made the best review of the open world I've seen.
My only real criticism is that I wished you talked about the stance break system. It's a big deal because it makes going for your most committal and stamina-consumimg attacks give the highest DPS possible without using spells or skills. But it also enables stunlocking certain boss with high stance-damage setups, so it's not a completely positive addition.
In any case, great video, and I hope to see your videos on Shadow of the Erdtree when it comes out, as well as any other future videos you have planned.
Yeah, that’s definitely one of the biggest aspects I missed in retrospect. It’s funny how many things I’ve already realized I should’ve touched upon. Thanks for the feedback
Honestly, I find the Stance break system pretty much the best way to promote aggression in any Souls Game. It promotes taking risks. Ofc the problem of bosses being trivialised by a particular set-up will always exist, but honestly that has been a problem in almost every game. It will remain a problem in any game with good build variety.
@@aayushdasgupta9754 FR, it gives heavy weapons a utility in a game where they’d otherwise possibly be overshadowed by quick weapons, though it definitely could’ve been tuned back a little
@@chadofastora Honestly, only some weapons need tuning. Specifically Star Fists , Iron Balls, Grafted Dragon, just Fists in general. Colossal R2s are slow enough that you can't just spam them. Some AoWs also need some tuning, like Lions Claw, Giant Hunt etc.
@@aayushdasgupta9754I agree with everything you said. On top of the changes you mentioned, an adjustment I think would eliminate a lot of the abuse is increasing the stance of certain bosses like Elmer and Morgott from 80 to 100, and reducing the stance damage an enemy takes while they are recovering from a critical hit or being knocked down/launched/flattened by half.
I loved the first playthrough. Now i completed and finished ER 6 times and getting better at bosses and trying new weapons is still fun. Great game. 😁
I must be in a minority with you in actually enjoying the repeat mini-boss fights. I like fighting these tough enemies, so it's nice to get to do it multiple times with a few different spins on the experience.
Yeah, for me, if a fight is really good and later on, I get a more complete build with more options to play with, then face that boss again. I'm excited because I get to use my awesome abilities with that same boss I couldn't use before without having to do a ng+
I don't mind when they reuse creatures that aren't supposed to be unique, like Deathbirds, Avatars or Sentinels.
But I don't like reusing main bosses like snow Astel, Goldfrey or Godfroy (Mohg and Margitt are cool tho).
And trashmobs as bosses like the Mumpkinheads, the Nox duo or Sanguine nobles ain't my thing
On repeated playthroughs they feel really really bland and boring. I’ve beaten the game like 5-6 times and I cringe whenever I see another dungeon mini boss that’s just those pumpkinhead bois.
@@unleashedbread6146 I think that NG+ is not kind to Elden Ring. It trivialises alot of it. Even a full restart makes it a bit lame. Half the joy was the exploration.
The first time I played this game it opened my eyes to what a good game is supposed to be and ive probably played it through 20 times and will again for the dlc ,,I feel most things people complain about regarding the world and bosses can be explained in the unbelievable lore of the game and its fantastic environmental story telling so many charactersto talk to and so many brilliant side quests better than alot of whole games ive played ,,it has a feeling that I've never felt playing a game its feel old and like there's a history to the world and that all gose hand in hand with the game play ,,I've never played any souls games except bloodborne so I may not be the best person to listen to ,,but I'd recommend this game to any person whose ever touched a video game
On the topic of dual weapon skills, you can’t forget about the sword of night and flame that uses faith and intelligence. I suppose the “balance” they struck with that sword is the stat requirements. I think if you have to split stats like that, it’s only fair that you have an extra ash of war; one for 1-handing and one for 2. If anything like that is in the DLC, it’ll probably be similar to that.
lots of really good takes here
Elden Ring has the best boss roster for me, I feel like more & more people started to recognize how good they actually are. I hope we get more relentless bosses, more complex combo branchings, and just faster more aggressive action that require more positioning & jumpable AOEs, Messmer is looking to be a great boss that will achieve it all. Great video Chad!
I love the complexity of elden ring bosses, this in itself gives so much replay value to the game. No hitting bosses in this game while remaining as agressive as possible requires a degree of mastery that is exhilarating. I think a lot of people are sleeping on ER' bosses because their punish windows are not as obvious as in other games, but they are definitely here once you take the time to learn. And the process is super fun imo
@@cheeks_of_the_boreal_valley So true, they think bosses having an abundant amount of safe punish windows so they can be exploited is a good boss design lol, I'm so glad From Software keeps evolving bosses with each iteration on their games.
@@HeyTarnished to be fair, i don't think it's either good or bad design, i just think it targets different audiences. I can understand someone being frustrated with a difficult boss, but to me that is a good part of the appeal of fromsoft games. And when you've played and mastered all their previous titles, it just makes sense to amp up the difficulty so the veterans can still experience that rush of defeating a seemingly impossible challenge
@@cheeks_of_the_boreal_valley True I agree, my problem is with that certain loud subset of the Souls community that is so hellbent on trying to blame the game & make it seem like bosses are unfair or unintuitive because they didn’t understand the bosses like Joseph Anderson & some others that made critique pieces about them, they’re so erroneous & factually incorrect that makes you wonder if they understand Souls combat in the 1st place or not, or that they’re just held back by their preconceived notions of Souls combat. But that’s all.
@@HeyTarnishedclown we know hwy you love elden turd because it easy to one shot bosses
One thing of note as to why the same enemies from Caelid appear in the Mountaintops is that there may have been a land bridge between the two areas at one point
I beat this game 3 times and it was a magical experience every time, 200+ hours and my favorite game ever. Really hope the DLC has the same level of quality
I’ve gotten so much hate for saying this before, but for those of us that have played armored core 6 know just how fun playing build variety can be.
There’s this big group of RPG players that say that they don’t want to be able to try all different types of weapons in one playthrough, because it makes the games decisions less meaningful.
After playing AC6 I totally disagree. In my opinion I think future souls games should have a weapon swap garage type system. I don’t want to have to respec my entire build and upgrade 1-25 new weapons I find. Maybe it would unlock after beating the game, this would make it so much more fun to explore the caves because you know you could actually get something cool to experiment with.
Ready for the hate comments btw
Elden Ring is my favorite but one of the things I hope they improve a lot is the random loots, so many times when an enemy will be protecting something only for it to be a Mushroom or something.
I really wish malenia and radahns' difficulties were switched. I can't help but think what radahn would have been if he was the secret hardest boss because in a way even though his lore and build up is sick the fight itself could have been so much more
Unfortunately I think that wouldve been an awful decision considering the regions they are both in. Caelid is like early to midgame territory while Haligtree is way into late game, it just wouldn't feel right progression-wise. Having malenia level difficulty for the radahn boss fight would make him stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of early to mid game experience, especially on first playthroughs which might turn radahn into not the beloved boss he is now.
@@CJ-up7pn makes sense, tbh i wasn't very clear about the implementation. There would need to be severe changes to the game (gameplay and even story wise) to make it work but a man can dream right. I just find radahn to be much more of a fitting character for malenia's difficulty considering his lore. I've never fully understood how a man that can stop celestial bodies with gravity magic can lose to anyone so i'm a bit salty his fight was relatively low level.
@@CJ-up7pn There's also the fact that Radahn is technically, entirely optional. They could easily have just made Caelid the same level as Dragonbarrow, scaled Radahn up, and called it a day. Dragonbarrow literally scaled slightly higher than Farum Azula, yet it's in the Caelid region.
I really like your voice and the way you speak
Thanks
I was personally disappointed by ER after the writing, voice acting, lore, ambience, atmosphere, and overall message in the Souls trilogy. I was hoping for something just as emotionally impactful, but instead got a sort of archaeology dig for a nonsensical timeline of family politics. I like archaeology and all but the game feels like it's trying to hide secrets that aren't really there. Maybe Souls just spoke to me more, I don't know. I'm hoping the more concentrated design and 'darker' atmosphere of the DLC will bring me back to that classic melancholic beauty that so touched my heart with Souls.
Are you really comparing the emotional impact of a trilogy of games with multiple DLCs, to a singular entry that is yet to have its DLC drop? If you took any of the souls games individually in vacuum, they have no where near the same emotional impact as they do as a whole. I’m so glad Fromsoftware is stepping away from the archetype presented multiple times in souls and is doing actually new things in Sekiro and Elden Ring at the same quality.
@@Danthelegionmasterto be fair Elden Ring is basically the size of all the souls games crammed into one continent. I agree with OP commenter, something about the story of the souls games hits emotionally waayyy harder and more memorable than ERs did for me at least.
@@unleashedbread6146 yes of course content wise, but having individual entries to the franchises allows for easier narrative to hone in on certain themes and aspects per respective entry to the franchise, and also boosts them because of the established world. For example, characters like Lorian and Lothric are elevated because of the narrative of the 3rd game, but also, the context the other two games provide. DS1 and DS2 explore what it means to link the fire and how various characters and the world around them are impacted, that impact is why L&L feel so emotional, because you know first hand that linking the fire in the past has solved nothing. If you didn't have that recollection as a player prior, it wouldn't feel as deep. Many characters, plot points and ideas are like this, the heavy emotional impact doesn't just come from the good world design and writing, but the already expanded universe you know.
@@Danthelegionmaster That’s a fair write up and good point. Something against Elden Rings way of storytelling that I’ve considered is that due to it being open world, It came across as more disjointed than it has in other souls games.
For example imagine if you were to write a narrative, but the reader could flip and start from a variety of different chapters and go in any order they desired. For me that’s Elden Ring’s storytelling.
In the Souls games, I feel a strong linear narrative pushing forward with me as I complete one level after another. For example pathing me from sens fortress to anor londo forces me to notice the giant wall and barricade in the mountain right after the iron golem boss. It helps direct my eyes to the fact that They were trying to keep the less desirables out of Anor Londo, and makes the payoff feel awesome when you fly over the cliff.
In elden Ring it’s more like, oh here’s godrick the grafted- if you don’t care about him just run past stormveil and straight to liurnia. Something is lost in that freedom for me. I hope this makes sense.
The problem with ER is really a small part of the community that calls themselves "veterans" who coincidentally whenever a new FromS game comes out, for them the previous ones are better and even more so if we talk about ds1 and bb, it has fans more cringe and annoying from the entire community. The funny thing is that really all souls have almost the same ER problems, such as repeated content or bad bosses, but each one stands out in other aspects and they are all incredible games, that's why any souls game can be your favorite.
I maintain that Demons Souls, and Dark Souls, are the most unique and overall best games in the series (demons souls for starting the genre, and Dark Souls for putting it on the fuckin map) Elden Ring is better than DS3 though, imo, but I do love BloodBorne for being totally unique.
Its true that every game has similar problems. Recycled content n stuff. But elden ring is the most hyped up and the grandest game from software have ever made. Its their flagship game. Its gonna be talked about as a monumental achievement in gaming in a decade. (I think thats from softs aspiration anyway. I hope it does too but who knows) so its weird that problems that have existed since the start still exist. (Btw i actually think recycled content can be really good, but some of it in ER is really bad.)
@@a_fuckin_spacemarine7514 And your opinion is respectable, the problem is the toxic veterans who believe they are always right, but generally do not even have knowledge of their "favorite" souls games. The first souls I played was DeS because I wanted to start the souls saga from the first game. I love DeS and it's still special for being the first, but it's been surpassed by every soul game From has released so far.
@@potatopatch5202 I see where you are coming from, but I think most of the common complains do not stem from this perspective. People seem to hate that ER is just more popular and, because of this, it's actually trash. It's born out of an unreasonable fear that their favourite souls game is not the most beloved by everyone anymore because ER exists, which is so dumb
@@pantarei3446 ya totally agree. I personally love discussing games and im pretty critical of elden ring. But id like to think most of my complaints are constructive and not just cringe asf 'this game is trash, play ds1 instead'
I was pretty removed from the souls series during release of elden ring bc i couldnt play it on launch and was tryna avoid spoilers. Aparently the community was pretty rotten so i never engaged that much in it. Ideally id like to still be able to discuss the game (especially since dlc soon) but also engage in a community that isnt infuriating.
Tldr: idk what my point is anymore. Im procrastinating work lmao
I believe the DLC will completely eliminate the issue of having too much open empty space, as they said, the DLC will be as big as Limgrave (huge underselling if you ask me) but will be a lot more dense and packed with content, easily allowing for 30-80 hours of new gameplay, depending on how thoroughly you want to explore. It is confirmed that they will be reusing some enemies like magma wyrms, I may be the only one but that does not bother me at all, since most of the content will be brand new. As for the main bosses and lore, i believe Elden ring far outclasses other souls games and will likely be the case in the DLC as well
I’ve become such a pro at fighting the mini bosses because they repeat so often, yet have only fought some mainline ones a couple of times…
7 weeks now. Can't wait.
I liked this take, I love Elden ring for the builds and the lore the bosses were fun but yes how many red wolves do we need to fight, the assassins made sense from a lore perspective but some of them were just like this guy again?
I agree with what everyone says about the game. It's amazing blah blah... But I think Soulsborne should be a little more linear: eg. like Bloodborne or Hollow Knight, where you're fairly free, but not so much that it feels directionless. Amazing video Chad!
My only complaint is the limited ability to respec your character. I would like to try more weapons, but I can’t respec that often due to the limited amount of tears
Dam I forgot all about this DLC lol thanks for the reminder 😊
the gank fights were all pretty enjoyable to me because it just seemed they were designed to be used with spirit summons. no real reason in my mind to fight 1v2 if it’s just gonna be annoying. and 2v2 battles are pretty engaging. spirit summons aren’t really cheesing either considering how developed and integrated that component is into the game. they are about as deep as spells.
That’s a totally fair take. The game gives them to you, so it makes sense. I’ve just personally never found using them to be satisfying
@@chadofastora some of the less powerful ones like latenna can be fun. i think they are fun to experiment with. mimic tear is also a good, i dont feel like getting ganked button lol.
The community rocks for elden ring. Some of the fun is following a youtube guide video and then bam no warning a godskin is in your path lol I'll never forget the rage but I look back on that stuff fondly. Waiting for the dlc on Journey 3 at all stats 80 and Journey 1 level 194. Elden Ring will stand as a top 5 for me.
what liurnia is to int builds caelid is to str builds ... volcano manor makes you a gigachad tho(godskin stitcher) and leyndell just makes you feel invincible if you find the right stuff aka fingerprint shield (and maybe lightning stuff)(blood heavy godskin,blood tax, fingerprint shield , +10 mimic .... makes me want to hire someone to keep whispering memento mori in my ear))
Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time the fact that it came out two years ago is wild SOTE is going to be huge man I’m so hyped
I’ve never felt so much confidence behind my hype for something
Ah, i see our opinions have become much more aligned in the year that passed between the making of the previous video i commented on, and this one!
Yep, most of the things that bothered me about the replay value before have felt less and less significant the more I mess around with different builds. I know you mentioned on the other vid that you don’t replay games much, but I def think it’s worth it to go for different play styles, and obviously the upcoming DLC
@@chadofastora yeah, that DLC is the main reason i'm doing a replay now, not something i do very often, but from what i've seen up to this point, it looks very promising
My first play through of Elden Ring was almost magical. After having been out of video games for over a decade, my first play through was so immersive and enthralling. I’m jealous of those that will first play it after the release of the DLC. Best Fromsoft game IMO although they are all great.
Personally, I think the main bosses are all the trophy/achievement ones, so Commander Niall and Elemer of the Briar are 'true' bosses as well. Also, in an interview, he did refer to areas like Shaded Castle and Caria Manor as "minor and medium" legacy dungeons, so they are legacies too; I imagine that the 6 big ones are then the 'major' legacy dungeons.
Also, I think the word 'bullshit' has lately become so convenient and narrow in the community, it's pretty much lost all meaning to me. I pretty much find all of the boss 'gimmicks' fun, great storytelling, and an additional unique element that further distinguishes them, with the occasional exception. Also, if you find they're "rough around the edges", I dare you to go back and fight Bloodborne's boss roster, or even DS3's in a good amount of cases. You'll find inconsistencies and jank out the damn wazoo.
Facts, I also found the word bullshit to loose all meaning.
I have my collection of use of words as well that I dont like .
Take a look.
[Insert any piece of media] is overrated (I dont like It)
"This is vast as an ocean, Deep as a puddle"-Jhon Dark Ring
Bigger/Cooler/Fancier/More complex/Varied doesnt make It better.
Acktually , this was designed for another game and thats why is bad 🤓 -No proof on what he is talking about-
They dropped the ball, Fromsoft got lazy 😓
Veteran here, I was since Kings Field 0 👴
"This is objetively bad Game design"
-Hideo Miyazaki Shigeru Kojima
(doesnt know about Game design)
@@JoseViktor4099hahaha nailed it
I agree that many bosses in previous games weren’t perfectly fair either, I generally just think because Elden Ring’s bosses are so awesome and complex, it’s a little much for new players, even if most people agree nowadays that the hate for them was way overblown. But I still think some things could’ve been done a little better, like giving Malenia a longer windup for waterfowl and stuff
Bloodborne and DS3s boss roster are much more consistent than Elden Rings. I love Elden Ring, but bullshit is exactly the word I would use to describe like half the bosses in this game.
@@crummyclub9344 if we take in account the repeat/reskins/duos fight you find in caves yes, but otherwise i disagree, especially since those are completely optionnal
In bloodborne, bosses like the witches of hemwick, shadows of yarnahm, rom, one reborn, micolash are mandatory and are very weak compared to the roster of mandatory bosses in ER.
Same goes for ds3 with sage, deacons, wolnir, yhorm etc..
They are experimenting with shifted button layouts with the d-pad. If they shifted some keybinds around you could have the d-pad and most of the face buttons for spells/ashes of war. Probably would need some "expertise" system with an ash of war or spell; Using it enough so that you've memorized it so to speak. This is the biggest sign to me to the rumor of their next game being spell casting and magic focused so they can nail down that mechanic
L2, the only face button that shouldn't change is B
I'd love to try a magic build, but I can't forgive Fromsoftware for still insisting in spell swapping for every spell... Why the hell should I have 2 dead buttons when using a staff/talisman in the main hand? We should be able to swap between spell layouts and be able to asign spells to R1, R2 and L1...
Thank you for mentioning the improved magic! One of my favorite things they did with ER is make being a spell caster fun. Every souls game before it had very bland and unengaging magic systems with littel spell variety or interesting animations and effects. ER combat may be the least balanced in the series, but I also think its the most fun largely because of the spells.
im looking forward to the dlc primarily because its my first opportunity as a souls fan to play a game unspoiled. I wouldve loved to learn about Siofra Well naturally, but I wasn't into souls games at the launch day.
Glad you’ll get your first fresh experience 👍
I've said this on other videos, but the glass Canon bosses really kill the game for me. Morgott is literally the midpoint of the game, but I literally kill him in less than two minutes. Same with malekith. The first time I fought him, he was good, but in the later encounters, I killed him really quickly. If you doubled the health of those two main bosses, the game would be much better. Same thing with radagons' wolf. Renalla is a puzzle fight, so that dungeon would have been better if that fight was better.
Yeah, if you took away Maliketh’s health drain and replaced it with double health in the 2nd phase he’d be perfect imo
For me as long as the mechanics are good, that is what matters. While it's annoying that these bosses are under-tuned, you are perfectly capable of gimping your character or challenge running them. But yes, I feel From tried too hard to make these main story encounters 'accessible.'
Love everything, now we just need a futuristic setting because armored core is so sick and from can make a fun shooter.
The irony of the century, when you're talking about how you can use everything you see and proceed to show the Night Maiden with the dagger, the one night weapon that is literally unobtainable, is so funny.
Black flames with the balde who draw HP are so op even against late game bosses who have resistance
if a sequel to ER is made, it DESPERATELY needs more verbs. If you think about the scale of this game compared to dark souls and the fact that the only new thing you can do is jump , it’s pretty wild
I think elden ring could benefit a lot from a boss memory system like sekiro. And maybe even a boss rush mode for new weapons, sorceries, incantations and or some new armour sets. That would allow everyone to play the "big bad" bosses right away. Please fromsoft 🙏
Don't they show Sellen's face in a painting in the lucaria school?
Oh damn, you’re right. I didn’t know about that
All I gotta say is that there are very high expectations for the DLC to finish the story and fill the gaps in the lore. Bc Elden Ring lore is so damn complicated and convoluted. 2 years later and we still can’t agree on some bigger lore beats like Marika’s motivations. Don’t get me wrong I love the story and world of this game but there’s a fine line between “the story is what you make of it” and “these are the facts of the world” and Elden Ring has blurred that line a lot
I love Elden Ring; the atmosphere, the weapons, magic, etc
I really can't for the DLC, and hopefully even by a small bit, fix the community/pvp/invasion problem
playing elden ring the first time is awesome, but after one playthrough I stop playing, I rather play a shorter more to the point game like dark souls 1,3 or sekiro. its not fun wasting time on the horse ride.
All I can say I really want from the DLC is a Sekiro like gauntlet for the bosses in the game (or at least a memories / replay mechanic like it does) otherwise I’m more than happy to say I just want to see what they’re cooking at this point & don’t really have any wants
With inner bosses as well. Could you imagine "Inner Malenia" 😂
I just hope SOTE's OST has most songs on the level of melodic emotiveness found in songs like Fortissax, Mohg and Godskin Duo. Malenia and Radagon's themes were good too but most boss themes otherwise were just generic compared to DS3's OST.
SOTE's story trailer song gives me hope though. that song is already one of the best songs in the game
I think the soundtrack will live up. They always cook in the DLCs
Not going to happen, From clearly blew their load on the DS3 OST and then suddenly stopped caring about game music ever since.
Their current sound team clearly has no clue how to write a compelling orchestral track, and even what little we've heard from the trailers so far, the music just sounds utterly low-effort and generic at points.
Great video. I think that the problem with bosses in ER is that the developers didn’t know how strong the player would be went fighting them. Since you can go to midgame zones from the beginning and have a good build in 30 minutes. Plus, the mechanics at your disposal: summoning, pods, crafting, etc. So, I think that the bosses are over level to compensate these aspects. But it results in bosses doing stupid amount of damage and having infinite stamina in their move sets; this aspect is more evident in late game. That’s why ER bosses feel unfair, unless you have a strong build, or you have five them several times. I agree with you that the game is too big for its own good.
Hopefully the DLC will be more balanced if the attack power mechanic they mentioned is true
@@chadofastora That’s why I’m excited for the dlc, because I think is going to be more balance with the bosses.
Maybe get good at the game
@@Java_94 Honestly, I was expecting the close minded comment of “get good”. Look, if you search in TH-cam “Eldeng ring bosses” many people share my opinion of bosses not being balanced. People that have made challenges and completed the game several times. In my experience I have platined the game and tried different builds. It's just I don't find the bosses to be fun. If you disagree is fine, is your opinion. But at least do the mental exercise of figuring out why or make an argument, instead of making a comment like IGN of why a game is a 7. “Get good” because I don't know what else to say and I don't have an opinion of my own: @Java_94.
@@gustavoayala3521 I platinumed the game and explored everything in 1st playthrough and except malenia no boss is actually hard ur just bad
The lake of rot is imo the best "poison swamp" in any from software game because it really translates to the player how shitty life with scarlet rot is😅
Also the game is big enough that i still havent bothered with the subterranean shunning grounds or gotten the two meanest endings (frenzy and dung) and still find areas i havent seen in 10+ plays
Apart from adjusting to Elden rings punishing balance in the late game, the only thing I was let down by was the music. Coming off of dark souls 3 and bloodborne, Elden ring music is so in the background I can't really remember any bosses themes apart from the Elden beast because it's also the main menu music. But if you ask me to recognize any boss from dark souls 3 or bloodborne I can do with within the first 5 seconds.
Darkeater Midir theme is the most raw theme ever by the way.
I’ve gotten so much flack for saying the same thing. Like can anyone seriously sing me the melody of Renalla, Margit, Elden Beast, Maliketh, etc…. No you can’t- it’s because the music is so much blander than previous games soundtracks.
I challenge anyone who disagrees, pull up the ER soundtrack on spotify and hit shuffle, then tell me what boss fight or area each song is from. You will probably get like 4 out of 25 correct.
In DS3 boy I can tell you nearly ALL of those bosses based on the music.
@@unleashedbread6146Because you have played DS3 so much.
Pretty bad take ngl.
@@unleashedbread6146 Godrick, Ancestor Spirit, Radahn, Godskins, Rykard, Godfrey, Morgott, Mogh, Fortissax, Radagon, Elden Beast.
Radahn, Godskin Duo, Mogh, and Elden Beast straight up have some of the best songs in the franchise. Godrick and Rykard are memorable because of how detuned and gross they sound, Ancestor Spirit just has a really unique song for the series, Godfrey, Morgott, and Fortissax just have a specific part of the song that makes it really memorable, and Radagon's theme is just memorable. And I didn't put it, but Placidussax and Maliketh's themes are so boring, they ironically becomes memorable for how bland they are.
The only really bad boss themes are from the repeating dungeon bosses, and even then, the one that plays for Loretta and the Tree Sentinels has a really good part halfway, which helps it a wee bit. Otherwise, most of the other songs are about on par with the bad songs of the previous games.
@@unleashedbread6146 "In DS3 boy I can tell you nearly ALL of those bosses based on the music."
I can do this in Elden Ring. ER soundtrack is fantastic.
Got my level 150 and 300 ready for dlc and I may start another one at like 225 or something try a new build for the dlc cuz my other 2 builds I’ve been using for a while now
Nice. Once I finish my final video before the DLC I’m getting as many smithing stones as I can
Good video, but at 36:30 you should have cut to the Goddrick cutscene
You can turn the carian study hall upside down?!?!?!?!?!?! How TF did i miss that
2:41 No one talking about the fact that his healthbar fits perfectly with the transition?
What i wish for the dlc is just new riposte animations like in demon souls remake and use martial arts like bone fists
Would be cool if the martial arts weapons they are adding had a riposte animation that’s a kick or something
The bone fists NEED to return in the DLC, one of the best weapons in DS2
My problem with ER is that most of mini dungeons are pointless, with that standard walk forward and fight a "boss" in the end.
The "boss" repetition could've been easly resolved if the dungeons didn't had fogwall and a lifebar in the end, you reach the end, kill a stronger regular enemy, get your reward and leave. No build up to something big that disappoints you imediately.
Another issue is that many of these dungeons missed the opportunity to have a exit elsewhere, there are a few that does that and this is great, connecting areas in, its sad that most of them just have a teleporter in the end.
For me the heroes graves fits very well the formula of reach the end and fight a boss, but the other ones just doesn't
I still love the game and played it multiple times
Minus fighting Maliketh's second phase, every single aspect of the game was phenomenal lol.
Liurnia of the Lakes its my favorite zone.
Limgrave its my second favorite.
Altus Plateau,its also amazing.
Caelid its ok,but I dont realy like spending time in it.
Mountain top of the Giants and the underground are meh,not bad but I dont realy like them.
A desset area would have been nice.
Limgrave is way too big
I'm excited for Elden Ring DLC. It looks like FromSoft is continuing their trend of giving large DLC, but taking their time to make it. Ringed City and even Ashes of Ariandel were superb. I loved how Ashes tied into Ringed City. Though, the devs did let you play either DLC without restrictions, so I was a bit confused the first time because I went to the Ringed City before Ashes.
As for the Demon's Souls remake, I thought it was underwhelming and a waste. Sure, they gave it pretty graphics with redone sounds and soundtrack, but they also didn't fix the problems from the original. This made pvp a nightmare. I avoided it because nearly every invader went for the backstab exploit. They didn't fix the exploit for the pvp boss either. Tons of jerks were exploiting this as the invader to where it wasn't worth doing online. They'd kill me before the fight properly start.
I liked the exploration portion of ER and kind of despise boss fights, just tedious mayhem gatekeepers. So instead of NG+ to fight damage sponges I restart with a new different character. Based on this video there seems no need to play any prior Fromsoft titles. Hopefully the ER DLC opens up for more exploration and adventure.
I think there are many reasons to play the previous games, in fact I think 2 of them are better, but ig if you don’t enjoy the boss fights then it’s probably not the best time investment
I think a potential solution to the multiple AoW thing you mentioned is making them kinda like trick weapons but you can switch between 2 AoW on the fly. To balance this maybe the weapon would have worse scaling
That sounds perfect imo, sacrificing some damage for move variety
So like SoNaF?
I just hope the combat in the DLC has more depth to it than dodge-roll spam, attack, repeat. I wanna see some new offensive and defensive mechanics.
I think the map doesn't need reduction it needs more roaming bosses and mobs to fill out the dead zones
RANDOM. ENCOUNTERS.
I’ve been screaming this since the game released. Turn the open world into a pseudo-MMO with rotating activities that blend PvP and PvE and we’ll be playing this game for the next 20 years.
I spent 5 hours trying to farm the full Duelist set not knowing there was no chest piece.
You can get one for the rotten duelist
Elden Ring succeeds at everything in attempts to do. It’s amazing that ER is designed to be an open world game, but can also be a linear Dark Souls experience if the player is skilled enough.
Now it’s time for elden ring enemy ranking
elden rings upgrading system better get an improvement cause it is actually horrendous for non somber weapons.
Ok that’s fair 😅
Just get the bells so you can get infinite of each smithing stone
@@g2monkig718 still expensive asf and a couple r pretty outta the way
@@g2monkig718 Those help, and I think smithing stones are easier to deal with the more you play, but I also think it’s arguable that some of the bell bearings should’ve been placed a little earlier
@@chadofastora I think they should just be placed in the main legacy dungeons of the same area. Like put the first one in the Academy instead of the crystal mine. Put the second one in Leyndell. Just to trim down the to-do list on new characters
Reusing of bosses imo was the worst part, like we see margit, 2-3 times (with the evergaol), we see Mogh twice, once in Lyndell sewers & then his Palace. Since he was so tough the first time after I got used to his moveset the second fight was literally super easy, 1 attempt cause I could dodge everything except for Nihil. DS1 had good open world. ER perfected that. DS3 has good boss fights, ER took that to the extreme with Malenia & Maliketh. Good game just reusing was a bit annoying
Elden Ring was my first FromSoft game and, as a massive fan of the game, I can say that your analysis of it was very well put together. You did a good job acknowledging both the game’s strengths and its weaknesses in equal measure.
Personally I think the things that the game gets wrong are far, FAR outweighed by the things it gets right. My only two major criticisms of the game are how poorly the Spirit Summons were implemented and the awful gank bosses. A lot of the common criticisms people seem to have with the game, such as the reused bosses and lack of replay value, didn’t really bother me that much.
Can y'all believe that this game was released on not just PS five but PS4 technically meaning this was a PS4 game. You imagine if they made this for next GEN consoles only.
Development started before the PS5 release
You say this but people need to stop caring about graphics and instead at art design which this game has
@@omensoffate that is all I do care about. Dark souls games is all about the art design. But it was just an observation.
I mean the jump between the two isn't particularly massive outside of being able to load things faster with an SSD.
Caelid isn't exactly optional lol Starscourge is there along with one half of the Dectus medallion.
You don’t have to kill Radahn and there is another way to get into altus
@Mental244 yeah but that's not the intention of the game. It's only optional if you happen to find them out of the way areas.
I got to Altus before exploring caelid much on my first play through. Didn’t even need the depths medallion
Omg this video is so underrated
WE
FR
Played bloodborne sekiro and this and I beat sekiro in 80 hr elden in 60 and I sadly didn't beat bloodborne due to PS4 being a fighter jet but I think from playing the prior two then elden ring really was fresh once you get past the go explore literally just tell yourself to go in a random direction instead of following graces and you can have a grand time especially if you understand you can and WILL die in funny ways im on my second play through in ng+ and yes its very open and bland but if you do use the past time cycle there's alot of mini bosses and vast different enemy types and agreed tree spirits can die they just are long rot worms of bullshitery
Im taking a couple of days off work whe the dlc downloads
Same bro
The PC port is still ass even after all this years. Hopefully they do something about it on the DLC patch. (For context, it does not run well on max graphics on a 4080 lol).
Hot take. Elden beast isn’t that bad and is pretty easy if you have enough vigorous to tank elden stars. The spectacle is also really good as well. Elden beast doesn’t run away as much as bosses like plasidusax in my experience.
I think visually and musically Elden beast is one of the best bosses ever. Sometimes I think the fight isn’t that bad, but I really wish I could enjoy it more than I do which is why I’m so annoyed by how much it runs away personally
I get stuck on elden beast every time he’s one of my least favorite, right next to Godfrey (fuck that stomp)
@@ryangonzales7471Elden Beast is REALLY fun if you like holding down sprint for 85 percent of the battle!
Hi there I'm too lazy to make a reddit account so I'll put my own thoughts from my Soulsborne journey here. As of yet, I have played Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and DS1 respectively in that order. Elden Ring is such a beautiful open world game, there's so much in it that I usually always forget where anything is, I also have this weird OCD thing where if I make a new character I HAVE to get everything before NG+. Which made me realize this game, for me, is WAY TOO BIG. Compared to the other two I've played, if you try to get everything meaning all ashes of wars, weapons and armors and spells, its going to get tedious very quickly. Most side bosses are very boring, and if its not slightly associated with the storytelling aspect of the map, the dungeon or boss is just going to feel like it was just randomly placed there to fill space. The only enemy camp that felt good to fight in was the one near Leyndell, there's probably more but this one is the only one I can remember. All in all, Elden Ring is a massive game, filled with beautiful visuals and mostly great level designs, I've already learned not to try to get everything and just take my time building my build, and it actually was very fun. Just play the game casually and not trying to breeze through it.
Next is Bloodborne... its... perfect. Other than the outdated visuals and graphics, I hardly have any complaints about Bloodborne. The level designs in every part of the map is well done, and always fun to traverse, no matter how many times I play this game it never felt tedious or tiring, I've memorized Central Yharnam at this point. The bosses are all unique and different. The healing system in this game isn't really too bad once you know what you're doing. Just get a lot of money, level up, use the remaining money to buy vials, rinse and repeat. Watch out for Blood Starved Beast, she's usually what makes me go broke.
And finally... Dark Souls 1. Its everything as you've heard it is, its very difficult, and as it is an old game the mechanics are very clunky. The visuals of the remake compared to the og is... I personally like the og better. The map... good god. Okay, its very weird, because I absolutely love the beginning... until after beating Quelaag. For some reason the first half of Dark Souls is super fun but when you beat Quelaag and ring the second bell my thoughts are just "*sigh... I have to go through that dumb waterwheel runback, through Sen's Fortress, then through Anor Londo." Its... I dont like these areas very much. Then once you get the Lord Vessel you have to go through the Catacombs and Tomb of the Giants which tbh isnt actually too bad. You can just pray to the gods that a necromancer drops you a skull lantern, which I gotta boast that in my first playthrough they did, or use a light spell. There's also Darkroot Basin, Crystal Cave, and other areas, but I just really don't like going through Blighttown, Sen's Fortress, and Anor Londo. I think its mostly because of how frustratingly restrictive it is that they seal out all other areas before you get the Lordvessel.
edit: I just realized something, the reason why I dislike the later half of the DS1 is because how unopenworldy it feels. I feel like I wouldve enjoyed it more had they added extra areas that connects all Lord Soul Boss areas the the rest of the world. Seethe, Nito, Bed of Chaos all just abruptly end at their boss rooms which is boring af. Anor Londo as well, like wouldn't it be better to have an area that connects it to Firelink instead of just warping out of there? Blighttown's circle back to Firelink is just way too tedious for me. Bloodborne does their map design well and I now remember what area I disliked the most in that game which was Nightmare Frontier, its a clumpy mass of disheveled lands and corpses and ultimately leads to nowhere but the Amygdala bossfight. Whereas all other areas, they connect really well. Central Yharnam to Cathedral Ward, to Old Yharnam after you circle back and branch out to Grand Cathedral and then either Hemwick Charnel Lane which leads to Caingurst or Church of Amygdala which leads to Yahargul or Nightmare Frontier, once defeated Amelia you go to Forbidden woods, then Byrgenwurth, and then to back to Yahar'Gul, where you get to the endgame area The Nightmare of Mensis, and finally finish it off at Mergo's. Yes some parts of the map end abruptly or warp you somewhere else but it never really felt restricting or bs. It felt really well connected.
Solid takes, only part I really disagree with is the hate for Sen’s Fortress and Anor Londo, I think those 2 areas are the best part of Dark Souls 1 aside from the DLC
@@chadofastora thas completely fine! I just have this innate hate for it for some reason, like it really feels like a chore going through all of it.
@@apolloisnotashirt Understandable, it’s definitely one of the most difficult stretches of the game
This DLC has double the developement time of the last Call Of Duty
Make it less than a month baby