A FALSE Image: Elden Ring, Souls Games, Accessibility, & Community
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The Target audience of this video are people who have not purchased or played Elden Ring due to the oppressive atmosphere surrounding the game and it's community; a TL;DW for this video is pretty simple: The memes are just memes, the game is the most accessible in the series to date, you should play it. That is the point and purpose of the video. Everything else is just me having fun discussing random things.
Although I’ve completed Demon Souls and Dark Souls 1-3, Elden Ring is the first Fromsoft Action JPRG that I’ve looked at and said: “Yes, I’ll play that again.'' That's very high honors for a series that I am quite frankly not a fan of. Let’s discuss why that is, but first, let’s discuss the community surrounding Souls Games and why they are misunderstood by the public.
People who’ve never played a Souls Game likely never intend to play one due to bad memes fostered by the community without intending to ruin it for others, but do so anyway because of how Toxic the community as a whole appears, despite most of that being jokey memes, which is extra ironic since the memes that keep people from buying these games are making fun of the toxic people in the first place. None of it is any individual's fault. But I have absolutely interacted with people who gave the series a pass for these reasons, and that's that type of person this video is for.
![ลองสั่งของจากแอพ temu ถูกจริงหรอ?? ( part : 1/2 ) [โกงไหมครับ ep.89 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RTcZSQTiDZw/mqdefault.jpg)
![[ TEASER ] เงาะป่า - วงL.กฮ. | TMG RECORD](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M4ObdFfcPww/mqdefault.jpg)
*All the background footage was Live-Streamed at www.twitch.tv/zhakaron
*The Target audience of this video are people who have not purchased or played Elden Ring due to the oppressive atmosphere surrounding the game and it's community; a TL;DW for this video is pretty simple: The memes are just memes, the game is the most accessible in the series to date, you should play it. That is the point and purpose of the video. Everything else is just me having fun discussing random things.
hey dude im smoking weed 🗿
Shhhh, let the scrubs believe we're all pro gamers and not just trolling.
twitter.com/DUSKdev/status/1517235731210637313
I love their games but even I can say they have problems. What separates this from other titles is how fromsoft handles bugs. They are actually game mechanics for the players to use dark souls 3 is a good example the developers made the bugs harder to do by having certain items have certain abilities….. so at that point bugs in souls games are well just magic at this point and that’s how I see bugs in those games anyway.
Thanks. Just that comment tells me all I need to know to go play it, but the video itself was astute as ever. Also, props for scriptwriting so well that you managed to allude to conveyance without explicitly mentioning it. Joking aside, you continue to make a very valuable point about the increasing issue of consumers lacking a healthy autonomy and identity independent of their zealous passion for a product or brand loyalty. Always a pleasure, Zaric.
As a long time FromSoft fan since the King’s Field days and sweaty try hard, I agree with pretty much everything you said. A lot of what makes these games so fantastic to me is that there’s no right or wrong way to play them. You’re given so much freedom to play in whatever manner you enjoy. Saying the only “right” way to play Dark Souls is SL1, naked, club only or whatever is like saying the only “right” way to play an Elder Scrolls game is as a Khajiit Acrobat that only fights using Illusion magic. It’s complete nonsense.
Diversity of - sometimes frankly insane - approaches is part of what makes these so much fun.
maybe a part of it is a misuse of terminology to express intent. maybe people think “right” is the right way to explain it, but they’re real sense is the POSSIBILITY to experience it in a particular way. That there is this specific experience that can be gotten from this particular way of doing things and thats what they want to express.
a qualitatively different experience. of course that means you can also get different experiences from it that “better” and “worse” are often too broad of a term to fully describe, but that doesnt mean you cannot compare experiences. as not all experiences are equal. There is a degree of truth in that particular ways of doing things impart a generally more extreme sense then others.
but there is nuance to it. there is a certain experience that gives something thats harder to find in others and people cloister around that thing and become abrasive because of it. not that its totally justified, but its not totally unjustified either.
@@Artsificial restriction also causes a lot of fun too. necessity is the mother of invention, so you can kind of understand why some people get an instinctual response if someone hasnt learned to parry or something to open up a fundementally different way to play. Like I dont use social media much, but I remember feeling really disappointed when one of the summons off screen killed radhan when I was going to summon another summon.
And that was a personal feeling of “missing out”. And there have been other times where you feel you are or someone else is “missing out on the experience”, by doing something in another way. like not playing soldier with the rocket jump in TF2. its like 2nd hand FOMO.
I think thats a good way to put it. Of course, it can be excessive and turn mostly negative and corrupted like whats mentioned here, but I dont think the impulse is essentially wrong either just like its not necessarily correct.
the sense of 2nd hand Fear of Missing out, or people not “getting it”.
"You’re given so much freedom to play in whatever manner you enjoy"
I literally can't wrap my mind around this being used to discuss fromsoft games. You're really not free to play any way you want.
what really sucks is that the coop is so limited. I just wanted to get my friend together and go exploring but the fact I had to desummon them every time I wanted to start a dungeon was just awful
I hated that too. This would've been the perfect game to just do a Borderlands style Co-op system. What also sucks is you can't summon a partner in a zone you've beaten nor can they invite you. If you defeat Godrick and your partner didn't, your partner has to defeat him before you can summon or be summoned. I had to learn that the hard way.
@@TheGravityShifter That's.. not true? Someone who hasn't beaten an area should be able to summon you, regardless of whether you have beaten it yourself.
@@revenant097 If it's not true, then it must be an isolated situation for me and my friend since it never worked unless we both finished the corresponding zone. This only happened with like main story bosses. The required ones. I think it's dependent on how many Great Runes you have but I'm not 100% sure.
@@TheGravityShifter it might be that the person who defeated the boss is using their furled finger beyond the fog point. They wouldn't see this because they've already defeated the boss. The person who hasn't defeated the boss should call them in at a site of grace to avoid confusion. Using passwords helps me sometimes. I also hate how this co op system works but it's not hard to work around it once you figure it out.
@@wizard5731 I've done all that you mentioned and it only worked when me and my friend killed the same boss.
And yeah I'm sure it is. If there's a will, there's a way if it's possible.
Using an open world to gain resources to make risky delves into dangerous dungeons.... Sounds like DnD. I think it may be my favorite way of setting up openworld games. Ever since I played daggerfall, it's been hard to enjoy dungeons in other games.
Zaric>"I'm not a fromsoft 'fan'"
Also Zaric> perfectly explains dark souls lore
Doesnt mean he necessarily likes the game 😵💫
"Kamehamehaaaaaaa!" - Dark Vader from Star Track
There’s also the Weeping Peninsula aside from Stormhill and Limgrave proper to the south although you could just label it as part of Limgrave. It’s highly rewarding for players who explore throughly because alot of good weapons can be found there such as the nighrider flail, angel scythe and claymore. It also has two locations where you can get tears to upgrade your crimson flasks
Just by me going “that giant castle looks scary. I’m not going in there” I went through all of limgrave and the weeping peninsula and all the way up to Liurnua of the Lakes by walking around the castle on a ledge… I was exploring The school of Raya Lucaria before even seeing a real game boss meanwhile my friends on discord were pulling their hair out while getting spanked by Margitt and Godrick. I was having a blast exploring.
It actually has three Sacred Tears for your flask, so it's definitely worth exploring the whole area before going to Margit and Godrick.
@@LorisTheUntethered oh crap you’re right!
Yeah you're supposed to go towards Weeping Peninsula first and Leonine is the first major boss you should fight before going into Stormveil Castle
I'm liking the hell out of this video to increase the likelihood of getting more uploads of this sort.
You liked it once bro, calm down
@@BEASTALMIGHTY88
I put all of my feelings into that one like.
@@BEASTALMIGHTY88 who says he has just one account
Ironically the "try hard sweatiness" was what prevented me from looking into Dark Souls, but got me to playing Elden Ring.
All the guys in my DnD group would talk about Elden Ring and how they are trying to beat Boss X at level 1. And the more they talked about it, the more it became apparent to me, that you could simply overlevel your character.
And since I quite enjoyed grinding in MMORPGs, I didn't think grindiness was an issue. Everybody always told me, that you need good reflexes and how hard the bosses are, so I never had any interest.
Then I got told, "oh no, you can play as a heavy armor paladin in Elden Ring, you can play a mage or a cleric, a rogue or an archer, you can play as a sword and board fighter". That's why Elden Ring was my first souls like game. Because I finally got told what the games are actually about, instead of all the try hard memes.
I learned you can just have so much health or damage that getting hit by a boss doesn't matter that much.
And once I learned I could just kill a dragon for enough souls to go from level 1 to 60+ in an instant, I was even more interested. Because then grinding "trash mobs" became a breeze.
And it really doesn't feel much like grinding. I would just walk around, explore and take in the amazing scenery, moving into harder and harder regions.
And dying in a game never was an issue for me. It took me 50 hours to first beat the Gungeon, than another 20 to complete a characters past. I have 150+ hours in Noita and I never got further than the vault. I died over and over again to the bosses in Terraria.
But I was always told, that in Souls Games you would die against the lowest of enemies over and over again, unless you memorized all the attack patterns and always dodged frame-perfect and how they are only for the most hardcore of gamers.
Now I just treat Elden Ring as another RPG, where the game just doesn't tell me what level a region is. And without level scaling. And it's some of the most fun I had with an RPG in recent time. Mostly because CP2077 turned out to just be a looter shooter and not the promised RPG.
The more I see this discourse, the more I feel that it's less about the infamous vocal minority™ ruining everything (despite that element also existing) and more like all the common teachings, cautionary stories and jokes about obliviousness experiencing flanderization to the point it doesn't even resemble itself anymore. 'Prepare To Die' turns from "Prepare to accept death and setbacks as a part of the process, not as a failure" into "Hehe, dying is the point, Dumbass!" and such. That second to last paragraph is patently false, but if you squint right, you can easily see the idea that those things mentioned are actually incentivized to do in these games for progress, unlike so many of the games during the advent of DeS and DS1.
What's most intriguing to me is how those things get such a drastic mistranslation over time, as nothing I've personally really seen (I've discussed the games with many personal friends from total beginners to challenge runners) has ever started to convey these things at all. Well, outside that "1337 Gamurz pro" faffery, which is frankly demoralizing to see anywhere.
@qwormuli That's the point, and I touch on that in the video about how the memes look from an outsider's point of view. The number of people who seriously express the toxic sentiments are a tiny subset of people so small it wouldn't be worth remarking about, you'd just say "Lol that guy was an asshole" and move on with your day. It's the perpetuation of jokey memes that mock that tiny, tiny subset of people is what creates a foreboding atmosphere for folks looking to get into the series.
To which I get all kinds of stupid responses like: "They don't exist" or "12 million sales says you are wrong" as if those individuals experiences are invalided by the existence of people who pay play enjoy the game.
This isn't a problem you can draft and execute a solution to, other than to do what this video does in the first place: tell those people "They are just memes dude, the game is good, you should play it."
@@qwormuli77 Sorry, I can't quite follow you. That was exactly my point.
The Soul-games were always misrepresented to me, that's why I never investigated further. I enjoy somewhat hard games, but the way Dark Souls was always described to me by friends it sounded like it would take hours just to beat your first rat. And even I'm not that masochistic. I don't mind struggling against a hard enemy, but struggling against every enemy just doesn't sound like fun to me.
My first boyfriend was one of these #1337Gamerzz who would #360N0SC0PE #MLG in Halo and all these other shooters. He got me into playing League of Legends, so when I went to university I ended up in a group of people who would "definetly be Master, if they didn't always get bad teammates". And so I ended up in a group of informatics students, which was mostly guys and me and one or two other girls. And those were the guys, where dick measuring was mostly done by "1v1 me scrub". To me it was always hilarious, but it was (and to some extend still is) your typical try hard sweatiness. I play DnD with three of them and before every session they would go on and on about how they beat Boss X with a level 1 character in Elden Ring. Which was the first time I heard about levels in a souls game. Just to reiterate, how little I knew about Dark Souls.
So I asked some questions about Elden Ring and figured out, that I had a completely wrong impression. Before I simply never cared about finding out. It just never was described like a fun game to me. Especially because if a tryhard dies, it's microstutters, high ping, cheap or overpowered game mechanics. Oh and of course: cheaters and hackers.
And even then I asked another friend, who encouraged me to try it. Mostly because he wanted to chuckle at my pathetic attempts at Margit. Just like he watched me playing the entire SC2 campaign, just to chuckle at me failing missions (he only afterwards showed me that he was a Protoss Grandmaster).
Now that's not your average story, for sure, but that never was my point. I just wanted to share my personal experience to add some anecdotal evidence.
The tryhards discouraged me from looking into the Souls series. And even if I would have looked into it, as Zaric pointed out in his video, I would have seen all the in joke memes and assumed that they are an actual representation of the game. Actually now that I think about it, I've seen the Dork Souls series on TH-cam and thought it was about how the tryhards are right.
Oh and just to point out it's not a gender thing, it's not only guys who are tryhards. My best friend is a female RB6 Siege tryhard and probably one of the worst ones.
And I was the unbeaten queen of 1v1s in our League of Legends group when I quit playing. Still by far the worst player though.
@@ayumikuro3768 You can do the same in Dark Souls 1. Iam a bad player, i cant kill noone in online mode. But Dark Souls you can go in places, pick up itens and get stronger. The hard part about dark souls is to know where you have to go.
@@ayumikuro3768 Oh no, I was just expanding on your point with my own experiences and thought processes about it. I agree with almost 100% of your points (even with that "patently false" -part I meant the asserted idea, not your point) there.
Lol, even your story about finding souls games pretty much parallels mine back when DS1 was brand new. A classmate back in middle/high school told me about the games and gave the impression that it was pretty much a modern full length _Nintendo hard_ game with permadeath for everything but your game progress and full of softlocks from gear deletion. My first thoughts about the game were along the lines of "what kind of psychopath would want to play a game like that?". That actually led to me getting into the game, as I wanted to see if people really were that insane.
But even back then, when the series was much more niche, mainly the only kind of stuff flying around was the usual clout chasing bs from people running the game through only to brag to people they've done it. The weirdest thing is that people still do this a lot, despite the (fortunate) massive downshift of people bragging about completing Dark Souls/Elden Ring.
As a long time Elder Scrolls player being criticized for overexploring sounds so funny :D It just shows how some hardcore Darks Souls players are not in touch with open world games :D
The Caelid final dungeon, redmane castle, returns to normal after killing Radahn and speaking with the festival announcer.
Yes, I think that's the only "missable" content you can go back to before finishing the game.
It does, I was surprised to hear him say that the state of the castle prior to the festival is removed permanently if you progress too far without going there first. I triggered the festival first because I got the medallion and rode the lift up to Altus just to check it out a bit (unaware of the consequences) before heading to Caria Manor and initiating Ranni's quest line, so in my case my first visit to Redmane Castle was specifically to progress Ranni's questline by attending the festival. But after finishing I immediately went back inside and spoke with Jerren and after resting at a grace site the castle repopulated and I was able to get the Flamberge, the Ruins Greatsword by fighting the dual bosses, the two lion guardians, &c. Also, progressing Sellen's questline would similarly have you return here to speak with Jerren, so there is an actual reason to go back there that you wouldn't have otherwise until getting to Mt. Gelmir and speaking with Primeval Sorcerer Azure.
Although, one of the many problem with dark souls games and souls like games including Elden Ring with multi-player wise is hackers.
Never seen a hacker on console. And it's mainly a console game(s)
@@wrath8542 That used to be true, until Xbox 360 Jtag and or RGH existed (by hacking and or modding the console) as well with the PS3 jailbreak.
COD games especially with Black Ops 2 had been on the worst receiving end of the said hacks. Since Activision is notoriously known to never made/update their anti-cheat engine.
@@killertruth186 yeah I didn't think about older consoles. But that's true with all old online games.
@@wrath8542 Yeah, hacking problem in general is much more complicated than people realized.
Been invaded by hackers. Less dangerous than actually good pvpers because how aggressive and cocky they get. FALL for gravity every time
I've never thought about the difference between story and story-telling. Very interesting.
you never heard of the word "lore" before ?
Lore is an element of Worldbuilding, and Worldbuilding is an element of Story. Storytelling is how that story is conveyed to you, the reader/viewer/player, and in an interactive medium like a Video Game, the storytelling can change depending on how you approach the game.
My approach was so much in conflict with what many perceive as the _"intended path forward"_ that it actually ended up revealing some flaws. I was teleported to Caelid at the start and got way too many levels early by exploring that area. I missed the Stormveil main gate because I thought I was being smart trying to find a back entrance. I accidentally got to Altus through a mine. I struggled with a badly upgraded weapon because I only had tier 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 stones. Finally I explored the southern peninsula, way overleveled, and found tier 2 stones, instantly becoming an order of magnitude more powerful due to getting access to all those other upgrades while already overleveled. So, I think that the game world pretends to facilitate a free approach, but it employs a linear equipment upgrade progression path with resources distributed in only specific areas based on their supposed difficulty.
Same. I naturally explore an area like a drunk. stalking around the field in a random path. Anything i see a path, i dont think "Lets go down it" i think "Lets go around it" because i am basically trained to always look for secrets. Anything i think im going the right way, i go the opposite. I evenually found the big sleeping dragon. after killing it it gives you a *Huge* jump in runes, Even more if you use a gold foot. by the time i fought margit i could basically crush em.
I played the game the same way. It is just plain a flaw that it is that easy to get overleveled when their open-world clearly has an intended progression yet little signposting, literal traps that teleport you to high-level areas from low-level ones, and absolutely no scaling.
@@alexlindstrom9971 I'm not sure I'd go that far. My approach is an edge case and I doubt many players would approach the game in quite this fashion. My overleveling was quickly... over when my previous struggles were balanced with newfound ease, and later I was appropriate power level again. I just don't appreciate when all other aspects of design are open except one, and that one aspect holds back everything like a dam that shouldn't have been built and made everyone get temporarily wet and uncomfortable when it burst.
The weapon upgrade material progression bugged me as well. It's my least favorite part of elden ring. I think it should have been made more even, so low level materials would still appear in high level areas but obviously also with high level materials too.
I wandered into Caelid before doing the castle. That was fun. When I finally went back to the castle I dumpstered the place.
I killed Radahn and Rennalla before Godrick
I forgot Godrick existed.
@@liondovegm Bro, how? It surprises me how people manage to end up in End Game content before even fighting the first boss. Because, you have to go out of your way to take the secret path around the castle to get to Ranni to progress her story enough to even fight Radahn. Tbh, I wish I knew about that alternate path before I fought Godrick, lol
The secret path isn't that secret. One of my friends was just exploring and found it naturally.
@@Zhakaron I was told the duelist finger was to the right of the castle
Next thing I find is thop selling sorceress and a spellscroll and off to adventure I go.
@@Zhakaron Same; once they patched in the NPC icons on the map it becomes even more obvious. I saw the finger reader icon and went to speak with her before heading into Stormveil for the first time, went to check what the item was at the edge of the broken bridge, and clearly saw an area to jump to as I approached. I ended up following it out of curiosity, ended up in Liurnia of the Lakes and grabbed the grace site thinking to unlock it before heading back, and ended up getting taken to Roundtable without ever stepping foot in the castle; I had not even faced Margit nor explored Stormhill other than to speak to Roderika, and she was there in Roundtable. Luckily I unlocked her spirit tuning quest and so when I finally got around to exploring Stormveil, I was able to get her hood but I missed out on the interaction you could have with her after exploring the castle but before going to Roundtable Hold. I also missed Nepheli Loux in the castle; I'm not sure if this is because I'd rested at Roundtable Hold after speaking with Gideon Ofnir before entering Stormveil, or if I just genuinely missed her; I thought I'd searched thoroughly, but I never saw her and at the time didn't know to look for her, so her summon wasn't available before facing Godrick. I'd found Rogier, killed the Ulcerated Tree Spirit and watched the vision, and cleared every hidden section I encountered, but she wasn't there and just appeared at Roundtable afterwards, so I never got the Arsenal Charm which as a Strength / Faith build definitely disappointed me. Ultimately it doesn't much matter as I'd since gotten the +1 and the Great Jar's Arsenal but it certainly would have helped in the beginning.
Hold on Zaric, I enjoy a lot of your content, but I'm noticing in your gameplay that you're using a lot of fast weapons, please don't tell me that you *actually* leveled up dex.
First 8 levels from the Bandit Camp were DEX to bring it to 18 which is the req for both the Fail and the Moonveil. From there it's 40 VIG to not get one shot by mid-late game, INT to 23 to use Moonveil, then hard INT for the rest of the play-through with some sprinkling of STR/END for heavy armor and MND for spell-casting. And suddenly you are level 150 wondering what happened throwing energy beams at Demigods.
@@Zhakaron it's a common saying in the souls community. It's based off of the Giant Dad meme from Dark Souls 1.
Play how you want and I'm looking forward to your stream.
Lol, this Dex meme is exactly what Zaric is talking about. Dex is powerful but the meme is it’s “weak” because you’re not strong thus Giant Dad hiding the fact he had to put 2 in it to wield the mighty Zweihander.
@@ausrick7 Exactly this and it was the perfect time to use it since he mentioned it.
Okay, that Metal Wolf Chaos intro is the single most amazing thing I've ever seen. Holy hell.
About Rhythm games: Dark Souls 3s bosses litteraly all work with the same "beat"&rythm wich is also reflected by their soundtrack and the reason why the dancer usually messes people up is because it has a different rythm than what you have been trained for and the track for that fight is just kinda friggin weird.
I like that you bring up the dancer. The first time I made it there (playing blind) the way she moved and the sound design with that sort of distant slow motion… I just stood there and was mesmerized. I got flattened and didn’t even move it was like I was hypnotized or in a trance.
Oh my! I had asked him on his discord if he was planning to make a video related to elden ring like couple weeks ago, he said no but here we are! All hail king Zaric.
I purposely use summons and magic. What are they gonna do kick me off I can do what I want lol and the fact it pisses off the no lives is the cherry on top
laught at you and remind you you are playing in ez mode if you talk about
I'm glad someone is touching on this because I'm a huge fan of the series and I felt hesitant about souls back when I first got into it in like 2013 because I didn't quite understand that people were meming/gatekeeping so hard. The landscape of the community has stayed relatively the same, just that there is a LOT more people in the community than back then. The important thing to take from this comment is that you should never take people on the internet's opinions or memes so seriously.
Elden Ring is the most accessible title in the franchise despite what the memes might say, and is a great start for any newcomer who is interested in this style of game. If you are someone who's been on the fence about it but you enjoy games like open world games and or action RPGs, especially with strong character customization and depth of combat, then I feel like you'll like it. But that's my subjective opinion.
One thing to note though, there are a number of things that the game won't tell you because many of these elements are designed to be learned organically or are just outright optional, but the learning curve is steep at first in a lot of cases.
However like Zaric is saying you can essentially control the difficulty and the learning curve of the game with how you build your character.
True, if you're rushing major bosses and not taking any time to just go "ooh shiny" and wander off somewhere for a bit you're gonna have a bad time unless you're doing it on purpose. Honesty the memes are a great way to keep some people away since if they cannot get it's people memeing online and think it's hyper serious, they're not gonna have a good time.
Maybe keeping the casuals at bay isn't a bad thing?
Elden ring is my least favorite FromSoft game, and my reason is somewhere between how toxic the community is, and how aware aware of this toxicity I've become
16:00. Yeah I'm always shocked that anybody even thinks about "cheating" in single player games. You even see that attitude in Skyrim boards. So much in the gaming community still dates back to arcades. I feel we should be talking about "finishing" games not "beating" them.
I see both sides of that. I don't see why anybody should have a problem with cheating or cheesing in single player endeavors, but I also see some people refusing to acknowledge that fact (both about others cheesing/cheating and the act of doing it) and lashing out in a shame reaction when confronted by it. Value statements about these things are a natural right for all and for any discussion to happen about this (and there is worthwhile discussion in it, I assure you) both sides need to get their feelings and thoughts to align, because dissonance is a biatch and ruins all that. There are two related videos by a dude going by Ratatoskr about cheesing, that I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone even remotely interested.
For example, I absolutely cheesed each and every Ulcerated Tree Spirit in ER after the first three or four I killed legit and that's a fact. No harm done about it. Nobody can tell me plinking an enemy outside it's range over a five minute period isn't cheese, but nobody can authoritatively tell me to stop. Outside of patching it out of the game, of course.
I think it's part of the whole tryhard mentality. Like it doesn't count if you beat an NES game on an emulator, you're only allowed to do it on an actual system in one sitting for it to count as you "actually" beating it. Expecting every single person to beat a game only in a one specific way because "I" think they should is asinine.
Every time I watch a Zaric video: "And I think to myself... what a wonderful world!"
Long time souls (and Daggerfall) fan. I always liken Souls games to a mountain to be climbed. What’s important is that you keep trying and don’t give up, and make it to the top. Don’t you dare go hollow. “Don’t give up, Skeleton!” … but you can take a lot of paths and trails to get to the top. Even climb with a group, have a tour guide of the people who have gone before giving you a hand up (blood stains, messages, summons) … then when we are all on the top we can share our stories and experiences… and I can drink too much and end the night sobbing uncontrollably about why Gwyn’s most famous knight, fights you with just one hand, and why it’s broken is so sad, and why Sif has to fight you because he doesn’t want you to suffer his master’s fate.
literally where is this toxic community hanging out at. been playing since demon's souls as a kid so im legitimately wondering.
That's the point, it's piratically non existent. There isn't any real gatekeeping and toxicity besides a 1 in a hundred asshole you can ignore, but the meme culture surrounding the Souls Community creates a foreboding illusion of toxicity that stops some people from buying the games, THINKING that the community is gatekeeping, when for the most part they are making fun of that one in a hundred asshole. The chances of a new player encountering said asshole are basically none.
@@Zhakaron now i see
reddit
Just look up "bloodhound step" or "Rivers of Blood" on the wiki and scroll down to the comments section.
...Also, have you never seen someone make disparaging gestures after killing you in an invasion?
Actually no , after the Festival in Radahns Castle , the Dungeon gets reset and the Duo Boss reappears. But iirc you also need to have completed Sellens questline , because there is a NPC in Radahns Castle you will need to talk to for that quest.
After that is done , the Dungeon goes back to normal.
What do you mean by NG+ is backed in ? NG+ is entirely optional , after the credits you get asked but have the option to select continue the journey , so you can still further explore . Whenever youre ready , you can rest at the Roundtable Hold Grace and select start journey 2
You're correct, howveer the castle will reset regardless of Sellen's questline; I first went to Redmane to progress Ranni's questline and immediately afterwards went back and spoke with Jerren, rested at the grace beyond the broken bridge and when I took the waypoint back into the castle the boss fog was there and I was able to clear everything right away. I didn't get around to initiating Sellen's quest line until after finding Azure in Mt. Gelmir long after I'd gotten the Ruins Greatsword and Flamberge &c.
oh interesting , good to know
leave it to zaric to dig up some weird shit from the past that i have never heard of that is somehow dumb and genius at the same time
but yeah glad to see that you're enjoying elden ring
I always loved DS series for its magic system. Nothing feels as cool as pressing a button and seeing boss health bar drop by half, you don't get that feeling in many games.
Some would call me dirty casul and i guess they would be right, but who cares?
nahh, that's your right to cheese bosses, in ds1 I still hate fighting the mini bosses like the wounded demons that cast those electric projectiles. so I've always stocked up on arrows n bombs on all my chars just to kill them without getting in melee range, (the 2nd encounter is so cramped I always get killed when I get in range, by the grapple it does with the spear slamming yer corpse on the ground repeatedly)
have you never played oblivion or morrowind?
@@ghostface5559 in oblivion fully maxed out mage can put something heavy on alt and c key and completely clear dungeons without a scratch while in Morrowind due to r3tarded spell chance formula The only way to cast spells More expensive than150 reliably is through abusing alchemy.
Nothing like dark souls
OMG I LOVE YOU, YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE CALLING THE OPEN WORLD MEDIOCRE
I WAS GOING CRAZY
As someone who plays these games as single player dungeoncrawlers I completely agree with you. I think one of the main reason for the toxic attitude is people who are not used to rpgs in general and expect everyone to be like them and enjoy only action games. Souls games are pretty easy action games compared to stuff like ninja gaiden and they see restricting themselves to be the only way to enjoy them as action games.
Missed seeing your content on my recommended. Glad you're covering this
I don't remember how I did it but on launch day I actually skipped the castle entirely and went straight to Liurnia of the lakes. Because of following what I saw as the most logical route I thought that the castle was just something you went past and then could only enter later on in the game.
Eventually I googled it, came back and did the castle. It wasn't too easy or anything though because I was playing as STR/FTH build which is the worst faith build you can make and the bosses were resistant to the damage type. I've just got a tradition of starting all souls games with that build because it's how I played Demon's souls 13 years ago.
I think another issue with the Souls series back then was the fact it can be very frustrating having to take the "Loser's Walk" a lot. I only played Elden Ring and Bloodborne but the latter definitely had its Loser's Walk moments. One of the few games in my life where I'd take week or month long breaks just so I can have the will to try again.
Meanwhile in ER, I just ran right back to the mist cuz most Sites of Graces and Stakes were just right there or I'd run off elsewhere until I was better equipped.
Pffft logarious
Nice insights bro. Hope to see more vids like these on the channel.
"Prepare to die" did this same harm that "catch them all" to pokemon.
Moral of the story, don't listen marketing stuff.
Your opinion on Dragon´s Dogma? I think it´s one of the most underrated Open World RPGs ever.
*action game, I love Dragon's Dogma to death but let's not lie about what it is.
I do hope we get a sequel someday.
Ive been Playing DD recently and its fun as hell, I dont understand why its so underrated, especially since its got a better combat system than dark souls. Can't wait for 2
Maybe I'm just being weird: but listening to this without looking at the video makes me feel like idubbbz is describing Elden Ring to me.
Got into your channel last week for Daggerfall, I feel like I’ve been missing out this entire time. This channel is wonderful and this is coming from a tryhard Souls fan!
Spot on about a fanbase being so diehard about a franchise that it puts outsiders off. It's the same with music. You hear fans of music say, "X is soooo good when you're high!" and I can imagine for a non-partaker that hearing that, it makes you not want to check them out, because you don't get high ever. The irony that they want their favourite product to be the best thing on the world and praised by everyone, but yet they also destroy the view of the product and gatekeep it from outsiders.
Speaking of difficulty modulation, one thing I like to do is kill Elder Dragon Greyoll right at the start of each new play through of Elden Ring. Using a bleed weapon and a gold pickled foot, you can easily kill the dragon and net yourself almost 100k runes at the start of the game for around 20+ levels. It makes the early game more enjoyable for me since I’m able to establish the build I want to use much earlier than I would be able to otherwise. Trying to do a bleed build from the very start of the game would be way less enjoyable if I didn’t have those extra levels to invest into arcane
Oh no I agree about Soulslikes being rhythm games - I've been thinking that for a while now. That and turn-based combat games are card games, mechanically speaking. You have a finite number of options to choose from, an infinite amount of time to choose, and you go back and forth between opponents.
For the most part I like Elden Ring, the only issue I have is the balance, because I prefer to play the game how it is for the first time. And by balance I mean the two weapon jump attack that leaves everything far behind when it comes to damage, ease of use, downsides and overall usability - there's even a bloody talisman to boost it further. I am not one to be bothered with "how to play" a game, but when one option vastly exceeds others, it just leaves a bad aftertaste. Still, game's a game - I only wish more companies made games that are easy to mod. TES, Fallout are fun to me even without mods, but mods is where the games at.
Good to see you back. I recently just bought Elden Ring so this is perfect
Coop sucks in Elden Ring. Jumping through so many hoops for it feels more like doing taxes than playing a game.
Really enjoyed this. I haven't tried getting into a FromSoftware Game since I've been in school and tried the original Dark Souls on PS3. I distinctly remember never leveling up from the start of the game to gargoyle fight and then dropping the game in frustration. Only years later I actually understood, that you could level up and fight new gear in the game. Now, many years later, I've been contemplating giving it another go. This actually helped furthering my intention to giving these games another shot in the near future.
Also quite excited to see the one about ESO.
I thoroughly recommend. I'd also advice not buying into the whole "brickwall you beat your head against" metaphor Yahzees and the likes helped popularize. Actively learning thinking and taking things slow really lessen the repetition, especially in the earlier games.
i would add that i feel it is indeed a rhythm game, mixed with semi-turnbased tactics. Its funny people would get mad that the game does actually have elements of other games, like rhythm games.
bro cod is a rhythm game u move and attack so true
Welcome aboard to the magic that is the Soulsbourne games and build making. That’s one of the reasons I always return for more.
This is so true, I played every souls game, did multiple "challenge" runs but the reason I play these games is not for the "challenging" content but for the amazing exploration of a meticulously crafted world and it's funny having people that only played Elden Ring by leveling up and using most of the game mechanics minus summons try to tell me I didn't beat the game or my experience was invalid because I used the spirits and a bleed build(also I did everything blind while they were using guides and wikis but I guess using third party tools is fine)...
I would love to talk about this game but the loud minority kinda ruins every discussions, it's pretty sad you can't criticize this game without people harassing you because you hold the "wrong" opinion.
You can get invaded solo, its an item called the taunters tongue acquired by fighter the invader in roundtable hold. It kind of opens the pool of invasions like you said while hallowed
That doesn't count as they require active effort to use. Only a small percentage of players opt to use it because they didn't give it merit sufficient to encourage the general player-base to use them.
@@Zhakaron yeah, they should have made is an active status line the blue invasions, where it is just enabled, but for reds. Interesting point
I've been in "dark souls community" eversince ds came out on pc, and I heard rumors about toxic community, but I never seen anyone being toxic.
I've seen two outlets for that. First is second hand embellishment from the receiving side getting signal boosted into the de facto message. That, and players getting into the games doing hard 180 pivots and laying "git goods" everywhere and such without understanding the meaning any of that. Another is players in the community getting defensive about the points they have been prodded about now for over a decade, like the same trite easy mode argument. Sometimes these two intersect and ends up with people shouting past each other without discussion or progress. What I haven't seen is a newer player expressing difficulties about a part of the game and an old hand going something else than "me too, once upon time" or a variation of such.
What I don't really buy into is some of this discourse about gatekeeping, people actually trying to prevent others from playing (certain styles and such notwithstanding , certainly) and such. I've seen it for some communities, but not really DS, even from the start of the last decade. But I might also be sheltered from the worst, dunno.
@@qwormuli77 ngl your writing style is so elaborate that I didn't understand most of the comment, sorry
I started playing the games when DS1 came out and I've seen plenty of friendly, helpful people. I've also seen the toxic minority players who try to shame people for playing the games a certain way. I saw it again just the other day when browsing a topic about Malenia funnily enough. But for me those players are definitely a minority. I assume the fact that you haven't seen them is actually the point that Zaric was making.
The most rhythm "souls" game is definitely sekiro, also the "do not die" design of DS2 coupled with mostly slow and many enemies on an area forced a slow and generally defensive playstyle, another thing hated by many about DS2 compared to DS. Also about "easy mode": e.g. DS3 has roll spamming and practically a cheat "hidden body" spell that removes most of difficulty of carefully fighting enemies and moving through areas.
The reason I never finished Souls 1-3 was just because I was told the whole reason I was dying was skill issue and that you just need to play naked and dodge every attack.This game seems way more open, while still having some difficulty.
Lol, I have a problem with 39% of Skyrim and I've spent time helping to repair mods, much less sinking years into the game itself.
...Well, this seems like an appropriate place to vent a little.
Obviously, I have played Elden RIng and been kinda obsessed with it, I admit, XD but this really resonates with me.
Even though I have never been part of any community of something I liked in the past, watching them from a far, there was always something I and them shared.
Red Dead Redemption 2, the community shared my enthusiasm for horses and mounted combat.
Sonic Generations, the community shared my enjoyment of "modern" Sonic more than "classic" Sonic.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, a fair amount of it enjoys the mounted combat.
Dragon Age: Origins, I and the community practically shared everything.
Even freaking My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic when I was a tween girl, before the show became poorly-written by inadequate lore-gorging writers, the community shared my creativity with various headcanons and such.
Even Witcher 3, whose gameplay I dislike because of that poorly-designed mount system and overly complex menu, but its music is freaking awesome! Steel for Humans is such a badarse combat song!
The Elden Ring community seems to be the most alienating and antagonistically-tribalistic-about-it community I've ever watched, right next to the Ponytoddler of Tsushima: Closed-Minded Pigheaded Developers with a Phobia of Mounted Combat Island community.
Nobody else explores the gameplay outside the box and "meta".
Nobody else creates their own stories and headcanons about their characters.
Nobody else seems to find 99% of the combat music in it uninteresting, nor enjoy the giant open world, not even those little insignificant common grounds.
Nobody else feels like a badarse playing as mighty warriors, battlemages, mages, paladins, pyromancers etc. who rule the battlefield, it's quite the opposite, everybody's deprecating themselves and others, and protesting "tHiS wEApOn is oP PLZ NARF!!1", in single-player by the way.
But the worst is that nobody else seems to share my enthusiasm for Torrent and mounted combat. Torrent's practically been forgotten!
Nobody else seems to want fully viable mounted combat without that stupid and buggy mounted posture system that gets broken by enemy hits.
I've seen a few who do, and heard of more, but they actually seem to be a niche, and I can't tell that what I've head wasn't a lie.
Is it too soon to decide that getting into Elden RIng was a mistake, if I'm never going to get the viable mounted combat that I want, because this game's developers have turned out to be shallow and only cater to the majority?
Eh, at least Crimson Desert will come out, and that one looks like it's not being developed by closed-minded pigheads with a phobia of mounted combat.
I'll have something in common with another community again.
"Man, I want to play that game again", me with Blasphemous. There's something zen like about that gameplay.
Every time I hear Emil talk I need to pop some indigestion tablets.
How is the observation that the Souls games are "rhythm games" (IMO, as a die hard Souls fan, an astute observation) offensive to Souls fans?
I donno, you'll find one of them in this very comment section if you look hard enough.
I am not a souls "fan". I tried Dark Souls 3 a bit...very briefly and just didn't get into it. I went into Elden Ring unsure if I would like it or if I had just wasted another $60. I am now 40 hours into the game and progress is slow but each site of grace I discover, each boss I put down feels rewarding. The game rewards you for exploration and perserverance. Even if some of the bosses can feel cheap at times or have hitboxes that make you say "What the...how the...****" I literally had a grafted Scion hit me through a wall even though I was on the other side. There is some jank in there to be sure. And some things are needlessly convoluted. I have enjoyed my time though otherwise. I would like perhaps a quest tracking system or at least a compendium/bestiary in the game with lore.
Also a lot of your thoughts on the community could be said about ardent defenders of BotW too.
Love the video! What you said was really poignant and definitely provides some relief in and amongst a very trying community at times.
This video was worth the wait
15:50 Perfect description of the hardcore souls- fanbase! Thank you!
Immaculately well put, what I like about FromSoft's approach to these games is that yes they are pretty punishing but regardless of this 'unbeatable' image they have they are fair. They encourage different playstyles and methods of progression and just have a really solid rhythm to them. The whole 'right way to play' and 'git gud' mentality has and always will be tiresome and not at all supported by the actual game itself.
Remember, if anyone ever tells you that "you didn't really beat the game hurr hurr" because you chose to play it in a way that doesn't align itself with THEIR preferred playstyle, always tell them, "No, the credits still rolled." Never gets old.
There’s a lot wrong with elden ring and I agree with you. I think it’s the most accessible of the souls games in terms of movement mechanics and open world gameplay. If you get stuck in a spot, leave and go somewhere else until you can figure it out. The movement is much more polished and easier than previous souls games. As far as coop goes I’m pretty disappointed you can’t group up and play through the whole thing together
Wait? I thought it was a common know fact in the DS community that it's a rhythm game. I don't think I've ever heard someone in the community dispute it. They usually say it to dunk on "journalists" who say it's too hard.
something i feel the need to mention as a sort of PSA; in Dark Souls 2 you can actually reverse the negativity of death. there are a few pieces of equipment that actually make you STRONGER after you die. So if youve had difficulties with dark souls 2, thats one way you can turn the game against itself.
As someone who's never played a souls game, but seen plenty of gameplay, it looks kind of clunky, grindy, repetitious and devoid of a story/narrative (As I've understood, there is a story, but it's told through items or something?).
I don't get the hype.
The real toxicity comes not from the community but from game journos who bitch and moan about the game being too hard, innacessible and exclusionary and from noob youtubers (like Red bandana gaming, Quantum TV, and their ilk) who need to git gud but instead they shit on the game and criticize it because they suck at it. The so called "oppressive atmosphere" comes from people who are outside of the community, people who refuse to understand that games like Elden Ring are supposed to be hard because being challenging is part of their identity, people who want to change the game to appeal to their sensibilities. Also, if an "oppressive atmosphere" is all it takes to deter you from playing the game, then you didn't really want to play the game in the first place.
the moment I knew fromsoft fans were off the rails was when I saw that meme comparing fromsoft UI to other open world games. There are many things you can say about the souls games but it seems wild to claim they have dramatically better UI than everyone else. But that's also spawned another dumb conversation where people seem to have gotten it into their head that the thing that makes elden ring good is that there are no map markers and quest trackers, as opposed to the fact the world of elden ring just has a lot of cool stuff in it to explore and a lot of open world games just don't. its like people are attributing the good to the wrong things and then get mad at you when you criticise those things. elden ring isn't good because I can't keep track of my quests and don't have an easy way of finding stuff, its great because I can wander into the world and find a giant lobster. So when I complain about the menus I get a bunch of pushback because wacky fromsoft fans seem to have forgotten that they don't like the menus either
Yay, the fanboyism is strong with this game.
Here I want to mod Skyrims ui/Hud to mimic dark souls
@@RicoOCHO85 you are modding skyrims HUD to look like dark souls, ain't nobody trying to make the menus look like dark souls are they?
Dude, this is so true. Like I get not having an objective marker and all, but come on, not even a journal just to record conversations with NPCs? How are you supposed to remember what some character said 40 hours back? I literally had to keep a physical notebook by my side and write things down which was so stupid. Then i just said fk it and used my screen capture button on my PS5 controller whenever I spoke to an NPC. Having a record of previous conversations isn't hand holding at all.
It's just saving you time and lots of ink and paper. A game that did this so well was Legend of Grimrock. You had a old school mode, where you map out the dungeon using pen and paper, and you had the computer mode, where the computer generates a graph paper map for you.
Lol yeah I saw that happen a lot on youtube and on reddit.
It's easier for people to say no map/quest markers = good and having map/quest markers = bad when comparing ER to other open world games. Some Fromsoft fans are perhaps comparing the games that way instead of looking at each game in detail while comparing all the pros and cons. It's a lazy way of comparing ER to other open world games. It also ignores the possibility that map/quest markers might actually be beneficial for some open world games but not for others as they aren't all the same. In an open world where there isn't much to see or do like in Mafia 2 for example some players might find it useful to have map/quest markers.
I also agree about the UI thing as well.
I actually like the comparison of Souls-like games to rhythm games. It's pretty apt. They're just more violent rhythm games.
Outright saying that you're antagonistic and saying you'd be the one ruining a harmonious society is incredibly based and I love it.
Hello sir, you make really good videos, keep going!! 🙂
I didn't finish Elden Ring. Although I felt I got my money's worth, it didn't grip me in the same way Dark Souls did. For me, it felt too diluted. I'm not unhappy with Elden Ring specifically, but with the direction FromSoft is likely to head from here. It probably won't happen (due to Elden Ring's success) but I'd love to see them do a 180 and make something more streamlined like Sekiro.
most souls fans went through the campaign with friends and summons, so don't feel upset when some mouth breather says "git gud" not knowing it's a joke and not a legit reply.
Margit is actualky hilarious because he's the only boss in the game that does not rely on some type of mechanic and is your typical "dodge roll, git gud" boss fight. Malenia (the title chick and others are very much different from one anither with gimmicks and stuff).
But Margit is designed to be the progress-blocker, but he's also a gatekeeper everywhere he shows up in some form. He shows up right after a gate in the Altus Plateau and he guards the Elden Throne. After you die, he says: "Put these foolish ambitions to rest." This is open to speculation, but I think this boss could be a refelection of the the git gud community as whole like myself (I'll admit I am like that as well). But you can skip him entirely through the secret passage, or retreat around, or pretty much one-shot cheese the bastard. He is quite frankly insane, but I think this boss is an allegory against the elitist mindset in my opinion. He wears only a cloth and uses only a little bit of magic, everything else is melee. But in a unique twist, they give you an npc summon as well as allow you to use your own summons. You have the rest of the world to go in and beat the guy with. But I thought it was neat that they put this specific dodge-oriented, only really uses melee with magic for specific occasions right in front of a gate to the rest of the game. Shows you how much From Software really pays attention.
The first Souls game I’ve experienced is Dark Souls 1. I haven’t beaten it as of yet seeing as I’m not too familiar with it. :)
I’ve been playing Elden Ring more actually and I love it. Maybe familiarizing myself with those mechanics will help me get more familiar with DS 1-3 easily.
Regarding Caelid, when I decided to simply explore the area(for over a week I’ve just been trying to get all the maps I can and I’m still short a few maps), I looked around and thought that area is seriously creepy lol. Never even considered the difficulty until I took one look at those giant somewhat demonic looking crows and the giant dogs with exceptionally short front legs. :D
Finally beat Margit a few days ago and I’m still slowly exploring Stormveil Castle. Furthermore, I’m trying to level up so I can use some of the cool weapons I found.
I’ve come across quite a few people within the DS community that are a mixed bag(some are the one who would simply say “git gud” (which doesn’t bother me cause I interpreted that as a summary of what needs to be done and I’m used to meme culture.) and others who would explain how the games work. I also, to some degree, learned certain things combat wise through certain mods I use for my Skyrim playthroughs.
Long story short, I’m looking forward to beating every Souls game, Elden Ring included, available and I hope that Bloodborne will be officially ported to PC at some point(I don’t wish to purchase a PlayStation for just two games or so.) during my lifetime. :D
Everything about ER is to set a player up to do what they wish with the tools both given and found. Time and again you are shown that if something or somewhere is too difficult.. go do something else and come back later. With so much to do and see with a new presentation of a Souls formula it is astonishing to see some trying to impart their "correct" way of playing onto another.
My stance? You want to play a Wretch wielding that old dirty club you start with and beat the game at level 1? Go for it. You want to grind runes to outlevel content? Go for it. You want to cheese every boss you possibly can? Go for it. It's your game. You bought it. You make your own fun with the money you spent. People will try to tell you otherwise but it is clearly none of their business on how you play your game.
90% of the people who complain about elden ring literally just mashed story and lost to margit immedately and said the game sucks
so crazy hearing about grinding the way"things used to be" ive played many RPG's one for example is ruby/emerald weapon in FF7 , my characters where maxed out with ultimate weapons, i didnt beat them until i went back to my basics and switched things around. Elden ring, before radagon i used 3-4 buffs and the mixed phykick and heavy as shit armour- i had played literally cosplaying as rodricka most of the game. After getting my ass handed to me i switched back to my red hood and noble garbs , went back to the basic weapons and the ushikatana( unequipped my moonviel )....beat the game . i applaud anyone who deos the level one challenge, but throwing out the basics of not only dark souls games , but RPG's, die, comeback later - sometimes not overpowered just more experienced at the system
I don't really know about this. Then again I haven't played anything passed Skyrim...So I guess I'll listen.
One thing that pisses me off about this community da souls community and just the image of dark souls. Is that it's a very hard game lol. I would like some of these people going back to the 80s and figure out what a hard game is lol.
Thansk for the vid, great as always
I mean I pretty much agree on all points. What I'd like is that I came to same conclusions about some products being art and some "just games". I also believe it's just my personal take on all of my favorite ones and not everyone will share it and god oh god do I have some critique for all of them. It's all tied to fanboing kinda too and I ain't kid anymore to do it. And Elden ring is clever piece of art that deserves it's success and sensible souls fans will appreciate the extra freedom instead of bitching about it.
i'm very excited for the eso video
You make a lot of great points but Sekiro IS a flawless diamond.
Joking aside (although I'm not really joking), this is an excellent analysis of the game design in Elden Ring
I like Dark Souls combat *because* it's a rhythm game. I honestly wish more action oriented games were like that.
Skyrim: 30gb
My Mods: 200gb
I can feel the pent up rage from people as you say that the open world is mediocre at best lmao
30:09 Man, I've rarely agreed with something so much. I'm really not sure why I play these games, because doing so genuinely stresses me the hell out. Every new enemy I stumbled upon while playing Sekiro, I was just thinking "oh god, please just die, please just let me one hit you with the ninja sneak attack." But of course, all of the toughest enemies in that game are brutal boss fights where stealth doesn't do much, if anything for you lol.
Meh, ash summons break the overwhelming majority of boss ai. No amount of reddit cope will change my mind. I hate how half the dungeons in ER reward me with ash summons. Feels cheap and the game is easily broken with a jellyfish summon.
"burning them as effigties"
MY HUMANITY IS RESTORED!
Presuming you played the PC port, what did you think of it technically-did it run well? At launch people were having invisible NPCs and all sorts of issues. Do you think it's _done,_ or is it another AAA let-the-players-betatest type of launch? 🤔 With all the community-level meme reviews, and people who obviously prefer consoles, I've found this hard to gauge, personally. With videos like this, I'm almost back to fence-sitting again instead of basically deciding to wait indefinitely for all the hype and vitriol to diminish-it's not like there's nothing else to play.
Due to how DXVK and Steam Linux handle shaders, the Proton version of Elden Ring has a pre-compiled shader cache, where as the Windows version has to compile them on demand thus causing lag spikes. You'll notice the longer someone plays in Windows, the less it lags, where as it dosn't really lag at all in Linux. Otherwise, same bugs, same crashes, same game. Also cutscenes stutter for everyone the first time.
The way I see it Elden Ring is the easiest and offers the most power to the player. Past games are harder and offer you a fraction of the power Elden Ring does. They keep the game a challenge even when you have great gear unlike ER which is trivial to a veteran using average gear. I say those who want to play a souls like should give Elden ring a try and graduate to real souls games If they are confident enough. Just be aware you won't have nearly as easy a time is my only warning. Git gud and you will do just fine... Or winp out and blame the game, choice is up to you XD.
your post is displaying that thing he craps all over in the video KEKW
I don't mind a difficult game - I've completed Abe's Exodus quite a few times - but to me, the "Souls" games go a bit too far at times. I've played Elden Ring. Didn't like it that much. I find the movement a bit too clunky for my tastes. To those who do, more power to you. The first game I played with dodge mechanics was Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver. You'd lock on the target and then press X plus directional button to dodge. Worked fine most of the time. But Raziel didn't take ten days to swing a sword once. On the other hand, though, I appreciate the effort Let Me Solo Her put into defeating Melania without taking a single hit. 200+ losses until he memorized every single one of her attacks. That's dedication.
This is about as accurate and objective of an appraisal as you will ever get on Youube.
Wonderful video as always mr zhakaron
I don't think you'll actually get this comment but could you upload the Elden ring vods to TH-cam? They aren't appearing on twitch for me.
I've always approached these games from the perspective of "how does this game stand up as an exclusively single player experience" not because i think summoning is "cheating" or an inferior playstyle but rather from the standpoint that that co-op experience is not universally available, especially for me as I've frequently had to make due in offline mode, either from owning on console without having that consoles premium service or the servers for the older games being simply gone, and that one day even elden rings servers will in fact go down for good and it will have to be judged for how it plays without co-op, and while spirit ashes are a functional stopgap to loss of co-op it is not a full solution, sure maybe the mimic tear can cheese melania but its pretty dumb and isn't going to help against some encounters and its an incredible time sink to expect a player to find every spirit ash to cover every eventuality.
I could honestly go on for hours about specific encounters or minuet balance problems. I've had my greivences with the series in general over the years, mostly from a mechanical perspective of "this works, this doesn't work" and i've been exposed to that yawping hive mind in minor doses up till elden ring where it seems to have grown and infected more and more people as discussion of these games ends in even the most otherwise sensible of company to be "gitgud" arguments.
I think the lesson dark souls 2 teaches with it's hallow mechanic is that your hp isn't actually that important. There are very few things that can instakill you at full hollow with 6 vigor, and you can easily dodge the attacks that do instakill you even with 86 agility so long as you have a little bit of patience and caution. Plus you have estus to correct for any mistakes you do make, and increasing your defense and max hp don't greatly raise the amount of mistakes you can make. So much like with dark souls 1, you should just play the game at full hollow and not worry about humanity too much.