Elden Ring Catch-all

farley3k wrote:

I won't keep fighting about it

Well I am excited!

One thing I did notice on a second watch was that, at one point, in a cathedral type area, the play character crouched as if sneaking. It could have been part of a different animation and I got the wrong impression but it’d be interesting if you could take out enemies Sekiro ‘sneaky ninja’ style.

I also noticed something important on a rewatch… the horse does a double jump in the dragon fight

Higgledy wrote:

One thing I did notice on a second watch was that, at one point, in a cathedral type area, the play character crouched as if sneaking. It could have been part of a different animation and I got the wrong impression but it’d be interesting if you could take out enemies Sekiro ‘sneaky ninja’ style.

It wouldn't completely surprise me. I always felt Dark Souls 3 had a bit of Bloodborne DNA, it might follow that Dark Souls 4... excuse me, Elden Ring... would have some Sekiro DNA.

farley3k wrote:

It is Dark Souls 4 as far as looks.

And there is nothing in that which I can guarantee is actual gameplay and not cinematic. It looks pretty but felt disappointing at the same time.

I share your disappointment, farley3k. After Bloodborne (which I played) and Sekiro (which I didn't), this looks like a retreat to their comfort zone by From Software. I don't doubt that this is sensible from a commercial point of view, but creatively it looks a bit... er... hollow.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved Demons Souls and Dark Souls, but Dark Souls 2 felt very 'phoned in'. In lieu of fresh ideas, it felt like they just threw in more of everything. More tricks. More traps. More enemies. More bosses with more phases of attacks. (As I said on another thread. Demons Souls had 18 bosses. Dark Souls had about 21. Dark Souls 2 had 32!!)

The other disappointment for me is George RR Martin's involvement. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I didn't really see any sign of it in the trailer. Granted, he's spreading himself pretty thin at the moment (as he busily fails to finish Game of Thrones). But the trailer just looked like another bog standard Souls game. Indeed, the cynic in me wonders whether From are simply using his name to smuggle Dark Souls 4 past a gullible public.

I'm sure many other gamers will be ecstatic at the thought of more of the same. But - for me - it's trailers like this that contribute to my current jadedness with gaming in general. 12 years after playing Demons Souls, From Software appears to be inviting me to play Demons Souls again... this time with a horse.

Elden Ring is definitely more similar to Dark souls that I was expecting (pretty sure most folks will have picked up on that) but there are a lot of new elements and probably many we don’t know about yet. I’ve also learnt to trust From even when they appear to be headed in the wrong direction. I hated most things about Bloodborne in concept but when it came to actually playing the game it was soon evident how phenomenal it was (I’ve yet to play Sekiro and suspect it will be beyond my skill level.) From get it right way more often than they get it wrong and when they do it’s incredible.

Obviously you’re a bit burnt out on the Dark Souls formula but, I suspect, if you’re last Dark Souls had been 3 instead of 2 you might be a little more optimistic. DS2 is an outlier. DS3 can be accused of being ‘more of the same’ but no one could call that game phoned in.

Higgledy wrote:

One thing I did notice on a second watch was that, at one point, in a cathedral type area, the play character crouched as if sneaking. It could have been part of a different animation and I got the wrong impression but it’d be interesting if you could take out enemies Sekiro ‘sneaky ninja’ style.

The website for Elden Ring talks about the ability to "pick off enemies one-by-one using stealth", so it does seem to be an option.

https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-r...

People are saying this looks like Dark Souls 4, but what struck me the most is how much it feels like Dark Souls, thematically. Your character is a "Tarnished", which appears to be some form of undead, and you have "arisen" to fight many fearsome foes and become a "champion". There is talk of "an unending curse".

I'm excited about the game, and more of the same is fine with me, but I'm surprised there is so little that seems original at this point.

You're probably right about giving From Software the benefit of the doubt. As you say, most of their games are very good indeed. (And, if I remember correctly, Dark Souls 2 was the one that wasn't helmed by Miyazaki, who was off doing Bloodborne.)

And, with Bloodborne and Sekiro, they've demonstrated that they're more than a one-trick pony. For the record though, I am very clear that Sekiro is beyond both my skill and my patience.

And on that matter, my one hope is that Elden Ring supports a variety of play-styles. Specifically, my preferred play-style which is old, slow and probably a bit pissed. I am not the same gamer who played Demons Souls more than a decade ago. That's not to say that I want options to change the difficulty. Rather I'd like the game to allow me to cheese the bosses if I find them too hard! (Let it be entered into the record that I was the guy that plinked the Tower Knight and the Adjudicator with Soul Arrow having failed to beat them in straight combat. Let it also be entered into the record that I didn't even attempt to fight Old King Allant; I just crept up behind him and 'whacked' him with Poison Cloud.)

detroit20 wrote:

And on that matter, my one hope is that Elden Ring supports a variety of play-styles. Specifically, my preferred play-style which is old, slow and probably a bit pissed. I am not the same gamer who played Demons Souls more than a decade ago. That's not to say that I want options to change the difficulty. Rather I'd like the game to allow me to cheese the bosses if I find them too hard!

I am the same way, Detroit. What I loved about the original Dark Souls is that there is a strong element of "player-controlled difficulty". It can be very hard... or you can roflstomp the game as a sorcerer or a pyro if you know where to go and what to do. Or abuse mechanics and AI to cheese your way through half the areas and bosses in the game.

With each new release, though, From have leaned more and more into this idea that "we make games that are balls-hard", and if you don't have the patience or skill to git gud, you're out of luck. I didn't even bother trying Sekiro for exactly this reason. I knew I wouldn't enjoy it.

Thanks for that link, Tasty Pudding.

It'll be interesting to see that they mean by "by stealth". Do they mean that a stealth build and playthrough is possible, Metal Gear Solid-style? Or do they mean that you can do some sneak attacks in some circumstances? The two are very different. Demons Souls offered stealth of a sort via the Thief's Ring

But what really struck me about the Elden Ring website was that - with a few tweaks - it could have been describing any of the Souls games (that I've played). Particularly Dark Souls 1.

Bah! Despite my best efforts, Higgledy and Tasty Pudding have basically talked me in to buying this Day 1...

EDIT to respond to Tasty Pudding

With each new release, though, From have leaned more and more into this idea that "we make games that are balls-hard", and if you don't have the patience or skill to git gud, you're out of luck. I didn't even bother trying Sekiro for exactly this reason. I knew I wouldn't enjoy it.

This is my feeling too. They've begun to remind me of those restaurants in Man vs Food which deliberately made their food challenges impossible, almost as a matter of pride.

For me, the rot set in with Dark Souls 2 when they removed the ability of players to farm enemies endlessly. (Let it also be entered into the record that I spent two weeks mercilessly abusing Darkroot Garden in Dark Souls 1.)

I think most of the Dark Souls comparisons are coming from a superficial glimpse at the Western European fantasy style. They've already done that for four games, and while Bloodborne's Victorian-but-not-actually era aesthetic and focus on werewolves, snakes, and blue glob things with some Lovecraft allowed them to branch out a bit, it was still clearly From's art team. Sekiro was focused on Japan and thus managed to get a greatly different aesthetic. But now we're back to Western European fantasy, and it turns out there's not a lot of room to grow when you're make your fifth game with a distinctive approach to monster design in such a setting.

That said, I still feel like there's a lot to raise my eyebrow and get me curious. The first was the horse running across the landscape itself, which called to mind Ocarina of Time of all things. Rather than think about a recent open-world game like Ghost of Tsushima, I was reminded of riding Epona across Hyrule. As Dyni noted, the horse does some sort of rocket jump or whatnot during the fight with the dragon. Horse combat itself is a major change to how From's games have played, as you're constantly moving during fights on horse. You're not going to stay still and be cautious, waiting to dodge. You're going to be running forward and swinging your blade. I'm curious to know more about how it'll work.

Additionally, there's more demonstrated emphasis on dodging in the trailer, as I mentioned previously, rather than blocking with a shield. Shields are present, but how useful are they? I feel like the shield is far more useful in Dark Souls than the rolling dodge, but perhaps that's more my lack of experience with the series. Then you have moments like the 1:34 mark where a dude leaps off his horse to strike, and then it cuts to a different attack where he swipes upward into a backflip that moves him away from the enemy. This is distinctly unlike Dark Souls and Bloodborne to me. Perhaps, again, I haven't played enough of the series, but that seems like something more out of Sekiro.

And honestly, even if we go back to the superficial elements... Dark Souls and Bloodborne both feel like dead worlds, or at least evil worlds. When I look at this trailer again, something about the world of Elden Ring feels more... alive. I don't know how else to put it, but though you see ruins across the land, it doesn't feel like a dead world. Something about it feels more heroic.

What I know, though, is that From is willing to experiment and match mechanics to the themes and ideas of the game. In Bloodborne, you're a Hunter, and you've got the Old Blood flowing in your veins. You hunt beasts, but in doing so are you, yourself, a beast? You're a killing machine. That is your purpose, and it is reflected in your transforming weaponry. Lost some health? Jam some more blood in your leg like an adrenaline shot or some other drug. Or better yet, if you get hit, then hit back like a cornered animal. Yeah, you might do this in a panic and it might lead you to die, or you can cut into your foe and feed off their blood to restore your own. There's a lot of common philosophy carrying over – enemies respawn when you die/visit the Hunter's dream, enemies are very difficult, have to study attack patterns and be careful not to get overwhelmed, check your corners, etc. – but the more intricate and in-depth mechanics are informed by the setting, the kind of character you're playing as, and potential lore themes they wish to convey through playstyle.

I checked out of Sekiro quite early, but it's pretty obvious they took the concept of an undead ninja in a different direction than Dark Souls.

So when I watch this trailer... I mean, sure, I can see the Dark Souls 4 comparisons, but if that's all you see then you're clearly not looking hard enough, nor do you trust From enough.

EDIT: Reading the Bandai Namco page's description of the backstory, two things come to mind: this game being inspired by concepts of Valhalla or the afterlife, and/or Das Rheingold, or a fusion of the ideas combined. I feel like that's already stepping away from their typical sort of thematic influence, even if the hero character is given some distinction to explain their constantly respawning within the universe.

detroit20 wrote:

And on that matter, my one hope is that Elden Ring supports a variety of play-styles. Specifically, my preferred play-style which is old, slow and probably a bit pissed. I am not the same gamer who played Demons Souls more than a decade ago. That's not to say that I want options to change the difficulty. Rather I'd like the game to allow me to cheese the bosses if I find them too hard! (Let it be entered into the record that I was the guy that plinked the Tower Knight and the Adjudicator with Soul Arrow having failed to beat them in straight combat. Let it also be entered into the record that I didn't even attempt to fight Old King Allant; I just crept up behind him and 'whacked' him with Poison Cloud.)

I’m definitely up for a bit of cheesing or, more likely, jolly co-operation of I’m finding a boss too hard or just don’t like the fight. I find I’ll stick with a boss fight long enough to learn and overcome it if I’m having fun but if the fight annoys or frustrates me (Rom the vacuous bloody spider) I’d rather get through it and move on to parts of the game and other boss fights I will enjoy.

6 Big takeaways from Elden Ring's epic gameplay trailer

No exactly earth shattering but a nice read if you are wanting more discussion about the game.

Love the visuals - looking forward to having someone carry me through this while I sit back and cast!

WizardM0de wrote:

Love the visuals - looking forward to having someone carry me through this while I sit back and cast!

I'm you're huckleberry - make sure you get it on Xbox.

Higgledy wrote:

I’m definitely up for a bit of cheesing or, more likely, jolly co-operation of I’m finding a boss too hard or just don’t like the fight. I find I’ll stick with a boss fight long enough to learn and overcome it if I’m having fun but if the fight annoys or frustrates me (Rom the vacuous bloody spider) I’d rather get through it and move on to parts of the game and other boss fights I will enjoy.

Yep. The absence of the crutch that is summoning was the main reason I didn't buy Sekiro. I couldn't bear the thought of getting hopeless stuck on a difficult early boss.

One of my favourite gaming memories of getting 'towed' round the world 2-1 in Demons Souls by a blue phantom in my New Game+. He or she basically ran ahead of me mowing everything down. I felt like a kid trying to keep up with a long-striding father. I got invaded and there was a moment where both our characters looked at each other, then we ran pell mell back to entrance to fight off the black phantom. Which we did. We then beat the Armoured Spider. My co-op partner then bowed and disappeared, and I have never felt so grateful in my entire history of gaming. (If you're out there, Riyorisa, again... Thank you.)

detroit20 wrote:

The other disappointment for me is George RR Martin's involvement. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I didn't really see any sign of it in the trailer. Granted, he's spreading himself pretty thin at the moment (as he busily fails to finish Game of Thrones). But the trailer just looked like another bog standard Souls game. Indeed, the cynic in me wonders whether From are simply using his name to smuggle Dark Souls 4 past a gullible public.

A Game of Thrones was finished in 1996.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Dark Souls 4: The Elden Ring

WizardM0de wrote:

Love the visuals - looking forward to having someone carry me through this while I sit back and cast!

This is not the way. You're much to close to the action doing that. I sit further back and fire arrows...

The closer to Dark Souls the better. So my hype level has intensified.

detroit20 wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:

Love the visuals - looking forward to having someone carry me through this while I sit back and cast!

This is not the way. You're much to close to the action doing that. I sit further back and fire arrows...

I knew I was still doing it wrong somehow!

Fedaykin98 wrote:
WizardM0de wrote:

Love the visuals - looking forward to having someone carry me through this while I sit back and cast!

I'm you're huckleberry - make sure you get it on Xbox. ;)

Negative Ghost Rider, the Xbox pattern is full (it's officially my kids' machine now, though I'm good for sessions here and there sometime). Make sure you land a PS5 sometime this year.

I need to grab Sekiro on Playstaion, I have it on PC and got pretty far before going hollow. I need to try again. Once you get it it's great but it's no Bloodborne.

Until From does me wrong the way JJ Abrams has done StarWars I'll keep going after that brass (Elden) ring. Geez one day they actually might make the best Berserk game ever. Rather than just write fanfic of it.

The heavens still haven't granted me a PS5 - I wonder if there's any chance at all of crossplay for this. That would be awesome! But since From runs way behind technologically (while running way ahead with design), I'm not expecting it.

Hobear wrote:

I need to grab Sekiro on Playstaion, I have it on PC and got pretty far before going hollow. I need to try again. Once you get it it's great but it's no Bloodborne.

I’m going to buy Sekiro once I get a PS5 and see how far I get.

Bought Sekiro on PS4 recently, played it on PC originally. I was also going to wait for PS5... but yeah, that doesn't seems like an option.

It is the weakest of their modern games imo, but it is still great. Too difficult for my taste, especially the last few bosses, but the world and the exploration is among their best. It kinda has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as Bloodborne (also one of their weaker games imo), with the difficulty as the biggest difference.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

The heavens still haven't granted me a PS5 - I wonder if there's any chance at all of crossplay for this. That would be awesome! But since From runs way behind technologically (while running way ahead with design), I'm not expecting it.

From what came out of the Apple v Epic case, only if Bandai Namco or From feel like paying Sony money for it.

Vaatividya has some very smart insights into the trailer.

I was waiting for him to do a breakdown. He dug deeper into press releases and websites than I did, so he pieced a bunch of stuff together I wouldn't have. His comparison to the ambition of the Tarnished compared to the undead of Dark Souls clinging onto humanity lends itself to what I was saying with comparisons to Bloodborne, where the nature of your character and themes of the story influence the game's mechanics. I have a feeling the Tarnished may feel more empowered, just as the Hunter of Bloodborne does.

However, I haven't played that far into Dark Souls 3. I beat the "tutorial" boss and got a bit further, far enough along to pass the dude that becomes a big giant snakish mutant thing on the rooftop and send me into a panic, but not far enough to recognize how many animations were taken from Dark Souls 3 and used in this gameplay. The swing-to-a-backflip ability was evidently one of those, so while it looks distinctly not Dark Souls to me, it only goes to show how little experience I have with those games.

https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-r...

Interview with Miyazaki.

Tons of new Elden Ring details have surfaced since the trailer released. IGN posted a great interview with Miyazaki where talks about the world, systems, mechanics, and George R.R. Martin's involvement. They also posted this:

I'm just going to steal some bullet points from Nibel on Twitter because these details are coming from multiple sources:

Interview with FROM Software's Hidetaka Miyazaki

- six major areas that function as distinct dungeons, ruled by demigod characters (you don't have to follow an order)
- hub confirmed
- catacombs, castles, fortresses, mini dungeons etc.

From the Famitsu interview with Miyazaki

- confident that Elden Ring will arrive on its release date
- character creator
- multiple endings
- much higher degree of freedom than before
- optional bosses
- Battle arts from DS3 return but are not fixed to a weapon (~100 techniques)

More from Miyazaki on Elden Ring

- Spirits can be collected and equipped apparently (summons)
- different types of spirits (use them for assaults, as decoy, for defense etc)
- Spirits can be improved apparently
- There are also rather useless spirits with other traits
- multiplayer support during exploration on the open fields (but you are not able to ride your horses in multiplayer apparently)
- ER is more "manageable" due to the many different options the player has but there are still many tough enemies
- fall damage is low to keep explorers motivated
- there is a world map
- the actual dungeons do not have a map
- crafting system with materials
- Miyazaki guesses playtime is maybe at 30 hours "without too many side trips"
- asynchrous multiplayer elements return; you can apparently set up groups (with friends for example) and give their messages/dead bodies etc. higher priority (keyword system, no limit on group size)

And a quote from Miyazaki from the end of the IGN interview:

IGN: I think that wraps up all my questions. Thank you so much.

HM: I hope it was OK. This is actually our first interview for Elden Ring, so we really appreciate your time. In a single interview, it's very hard to go into a great deal of detail and to answer all of your questions. I imagine there's a lot that's difficult to imagine, difficult to grasp, but as far as I'm concerned, after my 10 years or so of directing games, this really feels like a culmination of everything that I've enjoyed about game development and everything I've brought to this point. I really, really hope that as a fan of the games, you'll enjoy it.

On behalf of the whole team at From, this is a compilation of everyone's passion here and everyone's dedication, so we just were really enthusiastic about this project and we can't wait for people to play it.

That trailer got me excited, but now?
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/4kltZNt.gif)

My body is ready to die.