Elden Ring

It's on my must-play list. Unfortunately, it'll be a while before it drops into my price range, so I'll check back around Christmas time!

I'm on Xbox Game Pass so don't really "buy" any games. But I've loved every Souls game I've played so I was happy to fork out for Eldin Ring

I’m becoming intrigued by it will probably get it from eBay.

The mrs has it, it looks like a less good version of The Witcher 3 from what I've seen so far.

I'm playing.

I think it is very much a souls games in every respect apart from the open-worldness and couple of added features around summoning help.

Overall - so far It's pretty good. Maybe combat seems a bit less exacting (but not by any means easy) than previous souls games. That may be familiarity with the combat mechanics as I've played through all the other souls games. Also the open worldness means, if you are getting hammered, you can leg it off on you horse/cow thing unless in a boss fight or a dungeon.

Put in a good few hours so far. I am enjoying the experience and not had to farm runes/grind levels yet which was sometimes necessary in the other souls games. Cleared a number of the minor bosses, some pretty easily, but think I'm at the point I need to take on the first main boss. I had a couple of attempts earlier but was way underpowered - this will be the first real test.

I've been playing it all week. As a fan of all the souls games beforehand, this is absolutely incredible. If I'm not playing it I'm thinking about it. I've got about 35 hours in it so far and I'm still uncovering new areas, it's insane.

Really enjoying this so far - got it on Monday and trialed a few builds in the first couple of areas to see what I liked

I got my arse handed to me last night by the second main story line boss, so I'm going to have a wander round the bits of Limgrave I've not explored and level up a bit and hopefully find a couple of flask upgrades.

Or it might just cheese the boss with poison or something 😉

Been watching vids by a guy called Jev (typically a COD player) on youtube all week. Some of the bosses look insanely hard.

Never tried a souls game, but might give this a go.

It’s my first Souls game, had a go with a melee and also a sort of sorcerer build as well

Need to actually decide on how I want to proceed.

Eye wateringly difficult! Put about 4 hours in yet and most of that is waiting for my recently dead vagabond to respawn.

Eye wateringly difficult! Put about 4 hours in yet and most of that is waiting for my recently dead vagabond to respawn

Combat is quite tactical and takes some getting use to. It's very much attack, dodge/defend. Learning what works for each enemy type and your character build It was described in a review as almost like turn based combat in real time. Need to be really tactical.

Then again , what do I know. I was just hammered by a major boss again. Need a rethink!

Also you really need to understand the wider gameplay around things like summoning.

It's these intricacies that really put the Souls games right up there

My first souls type game, think I'll do what I usually do which is explore everywhere I can and die a lot but then by sheer volume of exploration you've levelled up a huge amount.

I've made it through Stormveil Castle and beat both bosses. I'm now totally overwhelmed by the vast new area that's opened up. Managed to kill a dragon though!

Anyone playing on pc? I'm super keen to play but heard there's a bunch of stuttering issues on the pc version.

I'm playing on PC - i7 8700k 1080ti 32gb ram with SSDs. Really the only stuttering I got was the Tree Sentinel fight, but that seems to be because it's on the boundary of loading areas. The rest of the game has been wonderfully smooth with all settings maxed out.

Also playing on PC no issues at all that I've noticed at maximum with R5 3600, 2070super, 32gb RAM and game on the nvme. Currently running at 1440p

Very smooth for me, occasional stutter when areas load. i5 12600kf, Vega 64, 32gb ram, nvme ssd.

Enjoying it so far, found Dark Souls 1 frustrating and haven’t played the series since. Killed a giant floating cat last night.

Every time I think I'm getting the hang of it some random encounter kills me in seconds and then it's back to exploration and levelling up.

How much inventory/spell management/crafting do you HAVE to do continue progressing? From some of the walkthroughs I've seen, it appears some people are willing to spend ages on this.

I CBA with it these days - much prefer a hack n slash with a bit of thinking here and there.

I've spent the entire game bashing stuff with my claymore and have not touched crafting or spells or anything and i've been having a blast.

I've basically swapped my weapon for a better version of what I started with and best armour that is light enough for a medium weight.

Done some minor crafting just to see what it does - it's really simple - but not used the stuff I've crafted much so far

Summoning is the main non-core hack/slash/magic bit you really need to get your head around

Otherwise it's all about the tactics...

Well, both your experiences sound similar to what I'm looking for, so that's a positive.

BTW, I've just found this (apparently, little known) tip for sorting one's inventory.

First game to tempt me back to buying a console (other than Switch) since the PS3. Loved Demon’s Souls and the first Dark Souls.

Is there any actual plot/story/world building to this?

I played it for a couple of hours today and found it really dull - there's plenty to kill etc but there's no sense of exploration or discovery.

Compared to the worlds within Skyrim, Witcher or Fallout or whatever it's practically (entirely?) empty.

I can see it getting traded in for the new Horizon Zero Dawn quite quickly.

no sense of exploration or discovery

Can't agree with this whatsoever. There's more sense of exploration and discovery in this game than most others. You get to find things yourself instead of being pointed to it through a quest marker.

The world is more empty because of the setting. You're coming back into a world where the huge events have already happened eons ago and you're dealing with the fallout and picking through the pieces of a dying world.

There's an incredible amount of world building, but with Souls games the story is told through the world, the enemies, the item descriptions. It's more inferring what happened/what is happening and coming to your own conclusions. It's not something that suits everyone but I much prefer it to basically being handheld throughout the whole game being told explicitly what's going on.

Each to their own, personally I think they've failed at the open world aspect of it. Middle of nowhere, random generic guard patrolling an empty patch of forest in daytime with a torch - why? Because they need to put something there and don't have the cohesive narative upon which to hang something which makes sense.

Souls games don't really have a narrative in the traditional RPG sense.

They basically have a setting and the story - such as it is - presents itself through exploration. But a lot of the exploration is totally optional. You could skip massive portions of the game and still "finish" it. The game doesn't really care.

Zelda BOTW was pretty similar but with a bit more flair applied to the sidequests and a bit more hand holding as to what to do next.

Well I found a bargain on EBay today so I’ve order it. Not sure why as I have other games to play first and I bought GTA V for the PS5 too as it’s available at a bargain.

The mrs has it, it looks like a less good version of The Witcher 3 from what I’ve seen so far.

completely different genre of game to be fair. The combat in The Witcher was probably the weakest aspect. Roll, stab, roll, stab even on the hardest setting. It was all about the dialogue and characters. Souls games are pretty much the opposite. All about combat and atmosphere.

They can be pretty divisive. You either love them or don’t understand what all the fuss is about. As per my previous post, very close to buying a console just to play this. Adored Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Not as keen on the sequels and still need to play Bloodbourne and the Samurai one who’s name escapes me.

How much for a PS4 Pro 🤔

Yeah, totally different to Witcher's roll, stab, cast - in Elden Ring you do roll, parry, stab instead. 😉

😂 not really, parry, watch, die, learn, progress if it’s anything like From Softwares other games. Don’t get me wrong I loved The Witcher but they’re not really comparable

Anybody want a copy sent anywhere in the UK with the extra xp points unredeemed? £35 posted.

Eldest is playing it on PC. Had the occasional stutter when it’s loading terrain. The 60fps cap won’t be helping with stuttering.

@duckman Which version? PC, Xbox or PS?

Stunned how good this game is - played a ton of Soulsborne and wasn't that confident that DS meets open world could work, but Miyazaki delivers as always.

Got the first playthrough under the belt and the bosses are the hardest yet in the series. But one particular spirit summon is the most OP tool I've seen in Souls - crutched pretty hard on this for the final boss. It's good design - otherwise the late game would just wall casual players out.

There's an optional late game boss called Melenia that will be a proper project to solo - she's either the greatest fromsoft boss ever, or terrible controller-smashing RNG design, depending on your pov. I did her with the spirit summon and a lucky run, but reckon I could fight her another 50 times and not win. Her weapon art = death.
Probably be a build or a strat that emerges to beat her reliably, but right now she is the Boss of all Bosses imho.

Spacemonkey ps5.

I love how basically evil some of the design elements are.

I was wandering round a new area and heard some singing. I thought this might be a new NPC to interact with so followed the singing. Turns out it was a half bat, half human that grabbed me and insta-killed me with a scream.

Thanks From Software

Spacemonkey ps5.

NP, Xbox would be my preference.

Had a quick couple of hours blast this afternoon. Think I’m going to like this game, it’s good that you can just hope and explore for a bit before jumping back off.

I'm more and more impressed with this game. Its absolutely vast and its just packed with stuff to discover. Approaching 50 hours of playtime and it feels like i've barely scratched the surface I think there are probably months worth of content.

I'm trying to put off buying ER by returning to Horizon Zero Dawn (bloody excellent BTW when you get properly into it) and picking up a copy of the gothic horror classic Bloodborne.

Had another quick blast this am. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, I was invaded when I found a hidden cave and died. Loving it though.

It’s completely won me over as someone who didn’t get on with Dark Souls. Some of it is still very difficult but it’s so open and lets you deal with challenges at your own pace. It’s a huge game but everywhere i go feels unique, even the minor dungeons. There’s none of the filler or copy pasted encounters that pad out so many open world games.

I’m trying to put off buying ER by returning to Horizon Zero Dawn (bloody excellent BTW when you get properly into it) and picking up a copy of the gothic horror classic Bloodborne.

There's a whirligig saw in Elden Ring, as well as a rune which gives you the rally mechanic from BB - very cool.

Goes without saying there's a moonlight greatsword, although it has a slightly different name.

I’ve set multiplayer group password up as Stweden

It means anyone using this will mostly see messages and the likes from others using that password. You can set this in the game by bringing the menu up, multilayer and group password.

Nice one Drac.

I've actually been playing mainly offline. Any ideas if you can still get invaded if you are using a multiplayer password?

Yes you can. The password is to increase the likely hood of joining player using that password. Yup can still be invaded but by NPCs in offline mode too.

If it's like the other Souls games and I think it is - killing invading NPCs makes them available for you to summon for boss fights. It is massively helpful so it's worth fighting those battles. I've used NPC support in the first two main boss fights

I’ve actually been playing mainly offline. Any ideas if you can still get invaded if you are using a multiplayer password?

You can't get invaded by another player if you're solo in this game. Miyazaki caving to the casuls 🙁
Unless you want to be, there's an item you can use to opt-in. npc invasions still happen playing solo (and offline I would assume?)

Nice idea on the stw pswd @Drac. I have a finished character at lvl125 if anyone needs a summon - the pswd will enable it and just downscale my stats.

Defeated my first demi-god last night!

How are folks building their characters.

I've tended in past Souls games to go for Dex or Dex / Strength build and go and hit things in the face with a Katana.

This time I started off down that path but I've split my build between Dex and Int. Magic gives me the option to chip away at bosses before finishing them off. And to thin out crowds of normal enemies, before I wade in and slice them up.

Reached Altus Plateau and the city last night before getting absolutely smashed by TWO Tree Sentinels guarding the entrance!

Big update this morning - a lot of things fixed / balanced, quite an impressive response from Bandai imo.

@richmtb I'm playing dex arc on first go - bleed is very strong in this game so things like katanas are popular at the meta. Some savage bleed weapon arts. The moonveil kat for your dex int build was OP but it got walloped in the update this morning.

Most things work, though, you can play all sorts. Magic is really strong for late game bosses - I find pure mage a bit of a boring style (and it always sucks in pvp) but combined with a good weapon it can make for really good interesting play.
You prob know that you can re-spec a certain number of time using a larval tear consumable, so nothing is set in stone.

I've tried it again, still not for me.

Every aspect of it that's hailed as revolutionary just seems a bit of a rehash of basic gaming staples - it seems people have never come across boss characters whose moves you have to learn for example?

And the collision detection is shit.

The moonveil kat for your dex int build was OP but it got walloped in the update this morning.

Say its not true 🙁

Moonveil Katana is exactly what I'm using. The weapon art is briliant

Too brilliant, rich - it's been nerfed. Might still be decent though.

OP early game put it in the crosshairs (sword of night and flame is the other one that got squashed) - players were picking it up first 5 mins and steam-rolling the game. If it was late game with higher reqs it would be different.

I’m playing it as a bandit so chucking my points into Arcane just now.

I'm playing as a prisoner. I put most of my points into the 3 base attributes Vigor, mind and endurance. As long as I've got enough Dex Str Int to access my weapons I find it more productive to scale weapons through smithing rather that increase skill attributes

Had a bit time to play this week. My god it’s absolutely huge!

I’ve barely scratched a corner of the world and I’ve played for about 10 hours. Still learning loads as not played much since the original Souls game.

That is an awesome vid - guy knows Dark Souls.

Parked this up for the time being - played the pants off it. Plat / 100% is very straightforward to get if you like doing that sort of stuff, you just need to play through the game and you'll naturally pick up what you need. There's no crazy farming or obscure stuff - does need three playthroughs for different endings (tho I did it in two with a cheeky save scrub).

Put the Dad reflexes to the test and nearly soloed all bosses on NG+ - thought the mimic was awesome to get you through NG, but wanted to try them without as it does carry pretty hard. Some great fights were you go from getting absolutely mashed to slowly figuring them out - Godfrey in particular is really strong. Came up short against the final pair, though, and had to mimic - too hard for me right now, would need a really optimal build.

How is everyone feeling with the game with some hours under the belt? I'll be interested to see how it goes longer term. I played Bloodborne through to 100% and never played it again - but if you said that game was a complete masterpiece I wouldn't disagree. Strange how you put some exceptional games down but keep coming back to others that are more flawed.

Well, here’s an alternative version that might appeal to some of you…

https://www.creativebloq.com/news/elden-ring-mods

Finally beat the elden beast and mended the elden ring. 145 hours of gameplay - but I did slightly obsessively complete as much as I could

Hail Elden Lord olddog!

I've been playing this again a fair bit - the update to invade / coop anywhere on the map is really good.

Cheers!

I've dabbled in the multiplayer a bit - mainly co-op stuff. Now I've finished the game once I may explore that aspect a bit more now.

It’s currently reduced to £25 for those who didn’t take the plunge. I’ve not been on in months as the weather has been so good this year.

The Elden Ring DLC is very good - huge amount of content, beautiful map that is cleverly designed for exploration, some hard bosses. Basically more Elden Ring.

Bosses do lack some intangibles imho - after playing the main game plenty they have a great level of challenge but just missing something relative to Bloodborne / DS3. Only Melania really cracks fromsoft ATG boss category.