Elden Ring is disappointing

How do you do fellow tarnished? I'm here to talk about a ring.
0:00 Introduction
2:40 Part One - Credit where it's due
8:28 Part Two - "The Revolutionary" Open World
28:31 - Part Three - The "Accessible" Difficulty
1:12:33 Part Four - The "Deep" Story
1:37:52 Conclusion
/ neverknowsbestyoutube

[@someguy3186]

This obsession with “meta” is one of the worst things that happened with games and especially gamers. With competitive multiplayer games, it makes sense. Otherwise, just no.

[@Artemito91sk8]

to this day i dislike every competitive aspect of all games. Even when im playing fucking lol i just do random shit until one team beats the other (Yei to my 35-40% winrate but im actually having fun)

[@MonkeyspankO]

tbh, this is an issue in all game genres, RTS, FPS, etc. People gravitate toward the meta and then nothing else. Make fun of "noobs" and anyone just trying to have a good time. Eventually its just two guys left, checking each move with the meta counter. I guess a certain type of personality finds that fun

[@SnailHatan]

Meta only matters to pvp in this game. Everyone else is just trolling. You don’t understand the real player-base if you think people are actually “obsessed” with meta in Fromsoft games. Streamers aren’t real player-base, they’re entertainers with egos. And they want to look like they’re amazing at every game, so they use the best weapons. I don’t know any real people who care about meta

[@tomguglielmo9805]

Meta isn't a thing in souls games. Nobody can just tank, and tank and tank and tank. It's all about damage. Period.

[@tomguglielmo9805]

@@SnailHatan your very mistaken. You can make 90% of the builds possible in elden ring, and you definitely would NOT casually enjoy the game.... it is definitely partly meta, but meta is a stupid word. It's literally just damage. These games are so ACTUALLY boring and old school, it's amazing this game is called GOTY imo.. the last few years of mediocrity have made THIS possibly GOTY...

[@jamesdudeck231]

"Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game”; therefore, “One of the responsibilities of designers is to protect the player from themselves" Sid Meier and Soren Johnson

[@diamondhamster4320]

"Adapt. Evolve. Change. Overcome." - this famous quote does not have even a mention/sliver of FUN in it.

[@sbes14]

The CIV games are exactly like that though, aren't they? If you've played them enough, you can easily cheese them.

[@neonmoose315]

@@sbes14i agree, as a big civ fan i kinda like the optimization

[@yannaedc5934]

lol dang, that one hit yeah. I'm so happy I like troll builds

[@knowwhatimeme]

This game does NOT suck, ppl do! The ones disappointed with this game are only disappointing themselves lol 😎

[@CKrup]

The input reading was a major problem at launch, it's better now but still a problem. So many enemies and bosses start an attack on the exact same frame that you begin healing. The godskin duo and their single versions would always throw a fireball at you the instant you heal. Ironically giving a little bit of a delay to this input reading actually makes the enemies feel smarter because it feels like a fellow consciousness reacting to your actions in a realistic way, as opposed to a machine making a perfect calculation every single time based off your button presses.

[@sunbleachedangel]

it's still fucking awful and extremely obvious, the boss walks around doing nothing for five seconds while you are standing in place and the millisecond you press the attack input they attack you back, a lot faster of course and deal a lot of damage to you which is essentially unavoidable unless you stand around doing nothing for even longer, waiting for the boss to do fucking anything that isn't reading your inputs (technically it's reading your animations but it makes no difference)

[@dunkawunka2278]

Bosses never actually read your inputs, they read your animations

[@sunbleachedangel]

@@dunkawunka2278 which makes no real difference to the argument

[@dunkawunka2278]

@sunbleachedangel i wasnt trying to invalidate you, im just trying to clear a common misconception

[@sunbleachedangel]

@@dunkawunka2278 fair

[@Domtronic]

What a nice respectful critique. I like your points. I still personally loved the game as is, but I like your opinion and how you made this video.

[@chinesefoodbag953]

respect 👊

[@netweed09]

Yep. On a side note: 17:10 Pinwheel was such an _amazing_ Boss. This is the peak efficient Souls design Elden could only hope to replicate.

[@monkeking_2144]

He just trashed on the game with his feelings

[@luchifare4940]

​@@monkeking_2144 You clearly didn't watch the video then. He didn't "trash" on it, just explained what he found lacking.

[@WokeandProud]

​@@monkeking_2144He didn't he pointed out objective issues with the game on a mechanical lvl.

[@blackestyang7528]

the biggest problem with Elden Ring is the enemies are playing Sekiro while the tarnished are playing Demon Souls

[@Littleandr0idman]

Melania is the most egregious example of this. People often say that the waterfowl dance feels like it was meant to be parried

[@naven3002]

@@Littleandr0idman yeah lol. if theres like an asset leak or something and its revealed shes a reused Sekrio boss i would not be surprised.

[@Kidcrowley]

Nah, the movement feels like ds3 which is good, but yeah, malenia’s waterfowl is crazy and malikeths movement feels like straight out of sekiro

[@athanatos4517]

@@Kidcrowley Elden Ring character is slower than Dark Souls 3 by far

[@gawd6261]

Bro just throw a freeze pot at that hoe when she’s in the air. It cancels the water fowl crap

[@HelmetHair]

"Meta is the enemy of fun" Truthful words. It goes for multiplayer shooters too. Try to play outside how the meta is formed and your teammates get pissed. God forbid you add a little "roleplaying" flavor, or just trying to have some fun.

[@Torencresent]

100% agree, random internet stranger

[@brandogtv9650]

Long gone are the days where games were intended to be fun and not sweaty.

[@epicazeroth]

If you are intentionally playing suboptimally in a team-based competitive game, your teammates are right to be angry at you.

[@elitedonut1089]

You are definitely a Destiny 2 player

[@toastyman111]

You guys aren't understanding what he's saying. Having negative experiences with metagaming in multiplayer games is completely different to the complaint in this video. He's saying the fact that the difficulty in the game is such that is compels people to look up the strongest builds is a problem. You guys are just airing your irrelevant grievances about the time someone flamed you for playing an off meta build in a multiplayer game lol

[@Steril707]

Wow, you are really voicing almost all of my complaints about the game.

[@firstlast9846]

I’ve just started playing so I don’t wanna be too harsh.. but I’ve played BB and DS3 - those are my only introductions to souls games.. I knew going into them - but I sank into the games so easily - from the lore to the gameplay. This just has… no charm? The lore is super cool from what I’ve seen. But I’m spotting enemies from 100 metres away and it just feels off. It hasn’t grabbed me like the others did.

[@questionablezoomer764]

@@firstlast9846 same with me, I'm a longtime FromSoft fan but Elden Ring could've been so much more and unique because they marketed it as such, and the trailers made it look like not just my dream game but many others' as well. Elden Ring is proof that FromSoft are running out of ideas and the unique vision they once had. It's my most disappointing game of all time and definitely the most disappointing in recent years, when what they did was makng just another Dark Souls game with a couple of new mechanics, like all sequels do, but Elden Ring was never supposed to be a sequel to Dark Souls 3, it was supposed to be Elden Ring, but it only did sequel things with the Dark Souls series, the changes that Elden Ring made could've been made in a potential Dark Souls 4 as well. And no, just because it had new lore, is not enough and doesn't justify it being a new IP when Bloodborne and Sekiro were new IPs that also had different lore than Dark Souls, and yet they felt like actual new IPs, unlike Elden RIng. Gameplay is really what separates these games, but Elden Ring didn't bring anything new to the table that a Dark Souls 4 couldn't have done just as well, unlike Bloodborne and Sekiro.

[@firstlast9846]

@questionablezoomer764 - admittedly it has grown on me since writing the previous comment… but it still just doesn’t have whatever it was that pulled me into BB and DS and I can’t put my finger on it. I loved walking around Stormveil Castle cos it felt like FS game - but again - idk it’s beyond aesthetics I just don’t know why this feels off for me.

[@QuantumFishFTW]

​@@questionablezoomer764 your idea of them running out of ideas is the fact they didn't make the same game they make every time?

[@struggler7164]

​@@firstlast9846What's the problem with spotting enemies 100 meters away anyway? That's supposed to be a good thing because of the anticipation.

[@joesizzle10]

Malenia was the first boss in the whole series to make me stop, analyze my life choices, and realize that beating a hard boss in a video game clearly wasn't worth hours upon hours of torment.

[@Frostman411]

I think she took me... 22-23 tries pre patch. And that was using everything at my disposal, Mimic tear, spells, buffs, frostbite. It's only been 1-3 tries on every subsequent playthrough, but they really messed up with that Waterfowl dance. She'd have easily been the hardest boss in the game without that still. I honestly wish they'd used the previous animation without the wild tracking. I think I can count on one hand how many times I've successful dodged all of that attack. She really was the first boss I'd say it wasn't a fair fight. Even for how hard Gael, O&S, and Sister Friede were, I'd still say they were absolutely fair fights. Only boss to push that envelope was Orphan of Kos, who you could just outpower if you grinded bloodgems.

[@joesizzle10]

@@Frostman411 I felt that way with Mohg, the first boss that had a truly unavoidable attack felt like a betrayal after the no hit community was keeping the older games alive

[@BasedHyperborean]

If it took you hours upon hours, that's a you problem big guy

[@joesizzle10]

@@BasedHyperborean using magic is forbidden in this house hold

[@carlotzin56]

skill issue

[@kynlem]

people weren’t making fun of musk’s build because it wasn’t meta, they were making fun of it because it’s idiotic. two nearly identical shields, next to no health, defense reducing talismans, and heavy rolling is a funny combo for such an “intelligent” person to come up with. simple as that. i do really agree with your comments on meta though.

[@user-zb8wb4vi3w]

Musk is nowhere near as intelligent as the dumb masses think he is if you look into his actual history. He's mostly a character that the dumb masses will listen to so they use him to push all sorts of agendas. No different to gates or jobs.

[@Ashephalt]

His build is the closest you can get to “playing the game wrong” tbh as it was pretty obvious he had a fundamental misunderstanding of the mechanics by having two shields equipped and fat rolling lol.

[@blackgoldred]

Or it is so brilliant you can’t even comprehend its genius

[@willsoe]

I mean if anyone else had posted that build they would have just got advice like "don't have 2 shields", it's just the extension of hating musk, so it's a really bad example which shouldn't have been included as an argument imo

[@CarlMakesVideos]

Further, people are kinda just looking for anything to dunk on Musk over. Not that they're wrong, much of the time, and on more important matters than this.

[@gizzad]

"Because F the lands between, I know nothing about this place, and F these people. They mean nothing to me. But a hug, a hug is something I can understand." Epic. My thoughts exactly.

[@blizzybangs]

You gotta check this video! Sick combos Incantations only helpful kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6DSqmuNpb6Fi80

[@ilayohana3150]

same here but i didnt touch fia i just decided i wanted to destroy that world ever since i realised theres magic in this shit

[@sadi5713]

@@ilayohana3150 Muggle Chad

[@Plsrateeight]

@@ilayohana3150 Sounds like a trash that you've always been trashed

[@ilayohana3150]

@@Plsrateeight no!!! You killed my video game npcs!!! 🤓

[@dynamiteandmatches]

I literally wouldn’t have completed a single side quest if I didn’t look up a guide. I tried to play blind I really did and honestly I think I was having more fun blind, but I had this overwhelming feeling that I was missing out on a lot of stuff especially cause I’m using a mage type build. Bruh I literally missed comet in the library because I didn’t check the right book shelf!!! Even while I was playing blind I didn’t consider elden ring as hard as everybody was saying but after I looked up a guide the difficulty shot down even further! It’s a great game and I understand the praise. But this shit just feel like Dark Souls 3+ season of discovery type vibe.

[@Herr_Brechmann]

Thats all on you guys fomo killed the experience for a lot of people. No one understands this game be here in 10 years too. It's about bragging you played it at launch to make yourself seem relevant to strangers.

[@user-bm7mo2ck6r]

That’s the eternal struggle of a souls game. You want to look something up because you are afraid of missing content, but you also don’t want to ruin the fun. It was a little quicker and easier in the linear style of dark souls or bloodborne or sekiro but with Elden ring the world was so massive it takes hours of looking at things online while playing the game if you don’t want to miss quests, and honestly it was exhausting.

[@Hooy-Jaymay]

Other streamers resorted to using meta weapons or meta builds. Jerma resorted to roleplaying a 1950's comedian in the middle of the fight and flashed his ding dong at the end.

[@team2735]

what a psycho. i remember the time he got frenzy flamed by the three fingers and he has never been the same since...

[@JohnGoodFaith]

Best joke of last year for me

[@ELGUAPOIV]

Jermas playthrough was so funny 🤣

[@andros4323]

bro wat

[@RealEvilLordExdeath]

The souls community doesnt care for meta, we just play how we want. Meta first come up qhen all the casual trash joined to play the games

[@GreenSinic]

I greatly enjoy how this became a critique on modern gaming's cancerous wiki spoiler culture.

[@sauceinmyface9302]

I think it'll be hard to go back, and maybe Elden Ring tried too hard to appeal to everybody. Loads of options, but still really hard, but also the traditional souls levelling, stamina, and healing systems. I think the solution is to make different games of about the same difficulty, with significantly different systems.

[@shintruth2716]

Elden Ring is literally the first From Software game I didn't finish, this critique is on point about everything. Elden Ring might be a good game, but an horrible Souls Like. Almost no fights are balanced, way too many copy pasta, and a story that makes no sense. The good things about the game are the scenery and the combat, but since there is so much recycled content, the scenery isn't really that magical, and since almost no fights are balanced, the combat feels secondary to your stats. What the hell From Software. The saddest part of it all, is since Elden Ring made so much money, they'll probably just continue to do more open worlds, and we will never see another traditional souls like from them.

[@poisonated7467]

@@sauceinmyface9302 You don't have to go back, there is a way forward. It's called giving the player less information and making specific information less documentable. It's possible, but no one's doing it. Everything is controllable, it's all a bunch of control systems with inputs and outputs. Which control systems are the most fun? Imo, the ones that give less information while still being deep/complex enough to be discoverable.

[@sauceinmyface9302]

@@poisonated7467 I suppose? Games like Outer Wilds and Tunic are good examples of this, but even then, it's so easy for people to get stuck, look something up, and accidentally see too much.

[@poisonated7467]

@@sauceinmyface9302 True, the basic systems will be the same. That's part of the culture problem in gaming and I don't know how to fix that. Regardless, we should take every step we can to war against it with intelligent design.

[@Invisibleguy-kn7bd]

On the open world point, a big issue is that because most items are only useful for specific builds, it means a lot of the rewards you get for finishing dungeons ends up being useless. I remember playing a DEX/INT Sorcerer build on my first game, and the amount of times I'd get incantations or STR based weapons as a reward for going through a whole dungeon got annoying. If you're not playing a magic build at all, then the sheer number of spells as rewards is also a pain. What ends up happening is on future playthroughs you just look up where the loot you want is, and then go do that dungeon. The open world is also a huge issue wrt normal upgrade materials. Did a club only run recently and literally had to Google where to find enough smithing stones of each level just to get this ONE WEAPON up to +25. Hell, didn't even reach +25 until after beating Godskin duo and getting their miner's bell bc finding enough Smithing stone (8) was becoming a chore. And that was for a single normal weapon. Madness

[@christianbaker3564]

This 100000000x. I know you can change your build but that still requires a hard to find specific item 😂😂.

[@LothlorBass]

I definitely used summons my first playthrough, at least until I was good enough to take down the bosses on my own. I’ve always struggled with fromsoft games, but I love the atmosphere and art style so much that I always find ways to play through them, even if that means using summons

[@BrandonDenny-we1rw]

Dont feel shamed for using summons. Theyre a part of the game design

[@dcgreenspro]

I’ve played since launch. Still a mystery as to dodge rolling. A giant shield and summons are fun to me. And I still get destroyed.

[@SwiFTDBL]

Nothing wrong with summons. Use them your first play thru and then try to not use them the next time!

[@frysebox1]

I have played through every DS game with a 2h weapon, parry shield, melee only and no summons. After Leyndell in Elden Ring however the game starts to cheese you, so this time around I had no qualms about cheesing it back.

[@kilometers6088]

I've always disliked the attitude that summons are a crutch or something to eventually stop using once you're good enough. They're a part of the game. Fromsoft doesn't exactly hold your hand or give you freebies, so it's ok to take what you can get. If you want to play with summons, great. If you don't want to play with summons, also great.

[@kemdom]

For the meta comment: all the streamers I've watched beat Malenia went the same way - - try for hours to beat her solo, learning the moveset to instinct level. - getting so good at it that they get to almost finishing even Phase 2. - getting caught off-guard at the last moment, being infuriated. - summoning Mimic just to beat her on the "first try" - feeling so fcking unfulfilled.

[@fahimtajwaar2521]

That was me in a way too. I remember the first time I fought her, I played the whole game solo and had maybe 30 tries just to beat her first phase. I was playing blind, so when I realised that was only half the fight and I was only just surviving, I decided maybe I’ll use mimic tear so I can get to the second phase quicker and practise it so I’ll learn quicker for the solo kill. Horrible idea, because once Malenia was on half health on the second phase, I realised my mimic tear didn’t need me AT ALL to kill her (pre nerf, didn’t know how op it was). He ended up killing her before she killed me, and it was incredibly unfulfilling. I remember beating myself up for not just closing the app that night before sleeping.

[@mercylavigne]

@@fahimtajwaar2521 You are just bad at the game. Everyone by this point defeated her. Not a hard boss at all.

[@fahimtajwaar2521]

@@mercylavigne brother if you go on my channel I have stored videos beating her on ng+7 and rl1 solo. I have platinumed every fromsoft game in the souls-like genre from demons souls 2008 to now, some twice because they’ve been re-released. I’m allowed to have criticisms of the game, especially considering I have been a long time fan of the franchise. And unfortunately I am not a fan of the balancing around summons, neither of some unfun gameplay mechanics in Malenia’s fight.

[@mercylavigne]

@@fahimtajwaar2521 I never used summons so i don't know anything about them. Malenia is bad designed, yeah, but it's not that hard without Waterfowl Dance. Her moves are pretty predictable, but phase two is pretty annoying for Faith/Strength builds. Elden Ring has no unbalanced fights, really. Some bosses are REALLY FUCKING HARD, but you get used to it. Closest boss to be nigh unfair is Commander Niall.

[@fahimtajwaar2521]

@@mercylavigne for me it’s less about being unfair and more about being challenging to the point of being unfun. Yes I can beat a boss with 15-hit combos that two shot me with 3 second delays on every hit and 5 aoes that have after effects and combos that they can extend from animation reading and then getting ganked, but quite frankly, I don’t have fun doing it. Previous games never had 15-hit combos with 2 second attack windows, or optional extensions, or delays on every hit, and they sure as hell didn’t two shot you with endgame vigor. But Elden Ring takes every measure it can to trick the player and at a point I just get tired of it. Bosses like slave knight Gael might be a pushover compared to Elden ring bosses because they have standard damage and predictable/sight-readable combos, but I find they’re simply more fun because they don’t pull a “sike - you thought” on every move.

[@AbdullahSediqi23]

The size of elden ring does not work with the traditional fromsoftware questing format. At least give us a journal to keep track of things in case we don't play the game continuously. This does not ruin immersion

[@kush6846]

Most of the game was me looking up guides because I had no idea where I was supposed to go, and where certain quest lines were located. It’s not only a world where it’s fun to get lost in, you’ll actually get lost, it became annoying for me.

[@zachkahn3381]

That’s my problem, I recently bought Elden Ring and I don’t want to lose momentum and forget what I have going on

[@titanscar2183]

@@kush6846 bro if you unironically got lost in this game than maybe open world RPG's aren't your forte there's fast traveling, clearly defined paths, etc. you can't get lost in this game in terms of literally being lost

[@rdf274]

or make the character write stuff by hand on his map...I think games that implement their map system this way, making it obvious it's an item the character is carrying, have the perfect idea here.

[@kush6846]

@@titanscar2183 in terms of finding where to go to progress the main story, it wasn’t a problem, but it’s the side quests, certain characters and locations to trigger them that I couldn’t find.

[@shitshow575]

fromsofts next game should basically be leyndell but expanded to a 40 hour experience

[@zeromythosver.]

I too want more Souls but under a different name Leave the open world behind, it was nice for one game

[@shitshow575]

@@zeromythosver.100% agree the open world aspect will never be able to match legacy dungeon style exploration.

[@l3k561]

@@shitshow575 then just go play Dark Souls 3 lmao there's a lot of things you could criticize ER for but for the fact that it's open world is definitely a non-criticism, essentially you wanted something completely different then what they were actively selling to you and getting mad it's not that thing

[@shitshow575]

@@l3k561 the open world is elden rings worst feature. Nice to look at and explore the first time around but gets tedious extremely quickly. The best part of elden ring is the legacy dungeons and the remembrance bosses, not the countless catacombs which are so repetitive they could be mistaken for procedurally generated content with a basic mob given a boss health bar at the end. Give me a handcrafted densely populated interconnected world with 40 hours of gameplay over a 100+ hour bloat fest that is elden ring anyday

[@randorandom9494]

You're right, while playing Dark Souls 1 and 3 I was using weapons that looked and felt nice, like daggers or Farron Greatsword, and enjoyed learning the bosses. In ER I was constantly worried about not leveling vigor enough, chasing after meta, being overleveled or underleveled for bosses etc.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

Thats the price you pay for this very open Design. These are flaws but imo not deal breakers, maybe the next game has a better balance but i think you need to get pointed towards a direction a bit more for a better balance, kinda like it worked in old rpgs like Gothic if that makes sense.

[@j.2512]

it was exactly the opposite for me. ER gives you a lot of options to customize your experience and make it easier or harder if you wish. DS specially doesn't, the second half of Dark Souls is just a slog where you don't even have enough resources to make choices unless you delete the save file and replay the whole game again with prior knowledge

[@newlandpencilnut4754]

What made you do it in this game but not the others? I found myself doing it in Elden Ring less so than I ever did in previous games, I ran medium rolling with the Guts sword simply because it's cool, and I felt that since I had played DS1,3 and Bloodborne, I had the skillset to survive whatever I found the most fun, which was a high risk/reward str build. Forgive me, as I have not watched the full video yet if it's explained there.

[@yume6532]

I also did my first playthrough blind, aside from getting absolutely lost in Lyndell and looking up where to go next to progress the story. I did not get stuck on Malenia because I simply was not able to find the keys to the consecrated snowfield.

[@asundelgun3487]

You're playing the wrong game lol

[@mercylavigne]

Lost in leyndell? Looool u suck

[@zenks5883]

@@asundelgun3487 what does that even supposed to mean?

[@jnewgot]

@@zenks5883 It's probably sarcasm regarding either looking up a guide because of getting lost or someone being snarky over "blind" playing. It could also be that they never found their way to the "secret" area being that it's a secret.

[@josephperera1318]

it is obvious that you are meant to take that main road to the end of the game so i didnt really go of it in my first run which is sad

[@HalikBun]

The "Accessible" Difficulty section mimics my experience of playing alongside a friends. He looked up locations for bosses, and I didn't, and every time I asked him how he did on a boss, his attempts and time were so much lower than mine simply because he was completing bosses in the correct order based on level. I didn't know this, and genuinely thought I was just terrible at the game. lol Still had a blast with it, and wouldn't have wanted to do it differently otherwise. Though part of the reason was because I had eventually found a weapon I really liked the look of and how it fit my character, only to realize it's Art of War it had could stunlock large amount of enemies and bosses at a long range, while doing quite a lot of damage. This was a happenstance find, but I could imagine the later parts of the game being far more difficult without it. Funny enough I didn't see many people with the weapon.

[@angerayne]

Mind sharing which weapon that was? :D

[@HalikBun]

@@angerayne Ruins Greatsword It was most likely more common than I thought, but none of my friends said they got the weapon when I joined them and used it. But as someone that always uses the chunkiest of big weapons, while theming my character around smashing earth and shooting lightning, this weapon was so perfect I would have been sad to find out about it after the fact if I had missed it on my first run. Would have been happy enough with the Starscourge Greatswords, but Ruins is more rough and lightning oriented in its look and ability, so definitely prefer it.

[@darlingxluxii7977]

@@HalikBun ruins great sword is good. One of my equipped load weapons I use is the bastard weapon and the Astel wings. I love using them because they are powerful fun and really pretty to look at.

[@jprec5174]

It is absolutely intended that margit pushes your shit in early on to encourage you to leave and explore south, then go back to stormveil.

[@Bill_Garthright]

@@HalikBun _and genuinely thought I was just terrible at the game._ I _am_ genuinely terrible at games like this. So,... are there difficulty settings which I could set to be very easy? Or should I just forget about this one?

[@chronoplague]

Elden Ring's a tough one for me to put into words. I love the spells and weapons, however, I felt like I couldn't experiment as much, since there are so many stats and resources required to test one out effectively. I love how open the map is, but it feels either too easy or too hard unless you travel a very unintuitive path. I like the little dungeons that dot the land, but fighting ten Erdtree Spirits never feels fun. Its got the neatest character designs, but they all retread the same stories we've been playing for about a decade. Everything I love about it has an asterisk.

[@BrandonDenny-we1rw]

If it was 50% shorter it would be 100% better. There was entirely too many pointless dungeons. It keeps me from playing the game again because I just dont want to explore and I dont want to look up which three dungeons i need of the over 100 useless onea

[@natea4828]

​@BrandonDenny-we1rw thank God none of you run from software.. I played the entire game 10 times with different builds every time and it gives you incredible freedom to do what you want, when you want and how you want and you can never have the same run through twice! It's literally the goat!

[@BrandonDenny-we1rw]

@@natea4828 Entitled ego much? The game was full of pointless dungeons and rewards. Brainless simp all you want I actually want the games to get better over time not worse

[@WillNight777]

@@BrandonDenny-we1rw Sadly I'm having the same opinion. Elden Ring is the first From Software game that I felt unmotivated to play a second time. It's because two reasons: 1) Pointless dungeons and areas; 2) Unbalanced bosses. Everytime I thought about starting a second playthrough, I remember a bunch of dungeons that only gives summons at end, so I'll have to watch videos to avoid and all of that just to fight unbalanced bosses.

[@BrandonDenny-we1rw]

@@WillNight777 Its why Im waiting for the dlc then making a new character and looking up all the exact places and items i need for my build doing the dlc then sadly yeah. Not playing it again because of your 2 points exactly.

[@JarlFrank]

I fundamentally disagree on the problem of balance in the open world. Meeting a boss that's too tough, taking a note to return later, then exploring elsewhere to level up is my favorite thing about the game. I love how the difficulty in each area is completely scrambled - sometimes there's hard, sometimes easy enemies in the same location. That makes it feel less linear and artificial in structure, it makes sense that an area would be home to creatures of different strength levels. And I really enjoy the feeling of hitting a wall, going elsewhere, then coming back and steamrolling enemies that used to pose a problem. It's the quintessential RPG experience.

[@sauceinmyface9302]

The issue is that you dont necessarily have to meet that boss to overlevel it. In this case, if you don't know a location's existence, and then you came after you were meant to, it feels bad to kill everything so easily and get free powerful upgrades. It feels like content you wouldve enjoyed and tested yourself on, if you didn't go another way. You didn't have the information to make an informed judgement here.

[@high.level.noob.]

Well what’s the point of coming back to that boss if you can already beat it and it’s not mandatory to continue the main quest of the game? Just destroying it is so shallow. It’s not about leveling up to over level the boss but to beat the boss with skill. I want a fair fight against a fair opponent. This is why Sekiro is my favorite game in the series.

[@tiagoesteves9583]

i think one of elden ring's problems is that part of the enemy's design is based on sekiro. In sekiro you don't have a stamina bar and with skill and timing you can parry most attacks. In the elden ring you have a stamina, and when an enemy starts a barrage of attacks, you are sure to dodge being hit. Similar how some of bloodborne migrated to dark souls 3, some parts of sekiro came to elden ring, the problem is that in the first case the games had similar mechanics and systems, therefore they were compatible, in the second there are significant differences that make this combination incompatible.

[@dripkingwavelord987]

@J B and it was still better than Elden Fail

[@shrakholog1013]

@J B pretty much the same as all other Fromsoft game, spam rolling.

[@unknwnn7673]

@@shrakholog1013 lol no. spam rolling will kill you every time. It’s the last thing you wanna end up doing in Fromsoft games

[@shrakholog1013]

@@unknwnn7673 spam rolling won't kill you if you time it right. With Elden Ring's bosses that attacks in consecutive succession, the player is forced to roll over and over, until the bosses' stamina depletes. I'm just pointing out to J B that if Sekiro is just spam deflect then all other Fromsoft game is spam roll, meaning it's pointless to compare Sekiro and Souls games from a hater's perspective.

[@MGrey-qb5xz]

holy shit you are right , this means they combined both of their games in the worst way possible.

[@SunlightGwyn]

22:55 That's a fair criticism. There should be lore reasons why these dungeons exist and why the bosses are there. None of the bosses in the Legacy Dungeons should ever be repeated either.

[@timsestito9118]

I feel the opposite. I agree with the criticism about the repeat bosses but saying the amount of dungeons in the world makes it feel like a video game... well yeah we're playing a video game. I have never played a Souls borne game and my friends basically walked me through the early part of the game as I learned how to play the game. I had so much fun going through the different caves & catacombs with my friends. Sure they were repetitive and on a new game plus, I'll probably avoid half of them, but for the average player, they're going to find a quarter or half of these dungeons.

[@adamiadamiadami]

There *are* lore reasons. Elden Ring's "fanbase" is plagued by casual gamers who come from western gaming and don't understand that From Software thinks about everything they put in their games. They just don't spell it out for free as if the casual audience can't be intelligent enough to research and learn their lore.

[@lorenzocassaro3054]

​@@adamiadamiadamiOk. Explain who put the dragon there.

[@someoneinsomewhere8079]

​@@lorenzocassaro3054Magma Wyrms are humans who participated in dragon communion and eventually after overdoing it, ended up turning themselves into that. Everything has a reason dum dum.

[@j.2512]

@@adamiadamiadami if you have to google and read a wiki instead of just playing the game and getting the lore through gameplay then its a failure of the game.

[@richstoehr3247]

I recently finished a "no summons" playthrough of Elden Ring and I enjoyed it for the most part. I used spirit ashes pretty liberally in my first run so I thought it would be interesting to see what changed if I avoided them completely. I was genuinely surprised how different the game was - time and again I would run into a boss that seemed unbeatable initially but by focusing on what I was good at as a player and learning the enemies' tactics I powered through it. Weirdly, by the time I got to the final bosses I had a MUCH easier time of it than I had the first time round. Which is all to say, I get where you're coming from with how the experience of the game changes when you use summons. It's not a different game, exactly, but it's definitely a new feeling while playing it.

[@osirisavra1301]

Facts, first playthrough I was not using a meta build(gizha's wheel) but I was using mimic and latenna and every boss fight was piss easy since you lose aggro very often but now, started a new playthrough without summons and average build and is so much more fun,you actually learn the boss moveset it's crazy.

[@scottfromspace]

I always aim for solo and a big sword, not just in souls games but in most games that will let me I'm always of the mindset that the moment a boss has more than one target, he's twice as easy Be it an npc, a summon, or a multiplayer companion The boss and you in a 1v1 is what I look for; So summons for me, though not changing the game entirely, ruin the experience I'm seeking

[@SaintKines]

The essence of "Guy gud" right here.

[@j.2512]

if i replay it again with magic i'll use no summons, but a pure melee build it really makes some of the larger bosses a gigantic pain in the ass and 10x more tedious

[@brushdogart]

Thank you for asking the question I have been asking since the game was released. "What is my motivation?" No one ever really explains what an Elden Lord actually does or why you would want to be one. Godfrey was a Lord and he was exiled at Marika's whim so it doesn't seem like an Elden Lord is worth much. I agree with you that there doesn't seem to be much reason to even stay in the Lands Between. The place is full of rude nobles who hate Tarnished on sight and crazed undead who kill everything in sight. It seems like there should be an optional ending of just leaving this place and letting them all rot.

[@JoseViktor4099]

There was actually cut content of Godfrey encomending the Tarnished the mission of becoming the Elden Lord. Voice lines of him saying it on a similar fashion as Owl situation. Tarnished are the ones who are with Godfrey after all. Wonder if this was meant to be a flashback or to actually be on the opening.

[@brushdogart]

@@JoseViktor4099 That might have made a better intro. Give us a bit more idea how the heck we got into this mess. It would have been nice to at least have a scheming voice in our ear telling us how wonderful it will be to become Elden Lord.

[@JoseViktor4099]

@@brushdogart Elden Ring opening as a whole is a very weird case. Is the first opening which lacks any animated cinematic on decades, which is weird as we actually seen a very fleshed out cinematic on the story trailer, which makes me think that the intro we got was made fairly late in development ,while an scrapped original starring Godfrey was what were planned. This could be a similar case to Izalith (the reason Izalith was so empty in DS1 is because It was meant to be a poison swamp, and was scrapped end dev) if what I said was completely accurate.

[@RancorousSea]

Yeah but what about that asset-flipped marble wall with a face on it? Great lore, fucking breathtaking.

[@FayN_]

the whole reason tarnished exist is to become elden lord and to try to fix the elden ring govern the land to be a "better" place according to our vision. but that purpose is given by the greater will, so our journey to become elden lord is become a journey to ask a question wether we want it or not. even a couple of NPC always ask us that question or ask our opinion or this matter. like we simply there as a tools to usurp new age and fix marika and previous gods "mistake". . so in a sense, yes we dont have any reason to stay in land between and it become our objective to find one. it similar to dark souls like linking the fire was never our purpose but rather given by gwyn himself. that's why there is so many ending in elden ring with different vision of how we see the game should end. you dont care about land between? choose either ranni ending or flame of chaos. you hate it? you can choose dung eater ending and curse eveything

[@dunhune]

In regards to a map not having a player marker, a really fun mechanic I encountered was in the indie game "Salt." In that game the map is a huge seed-generated world of small islands in a vast ocean. When you start the game, your map is blank except for your starting island and you have to basically make your own map as you go. You have a compass which you use to determine the direction you're going and you have to add islands to your map manually, estimating the distance and direction you've travelled onto the map. It's difficult to gauge how far and what direction you're going so you map is rarely 100% accurate. Its super immersive and tons of fun since you can add different kinds of flags and notes to your map. It really is one of the best exploration games I've played, in terms of travel and navigation.

[@Xnvasxve]

Valheim

[@AC-hj9tv]

@@Xnvasxve DigDug

[@odstbane]

I use a mod and play with no map marker in kongdom come deliverance. It really enhances the immersion. It's nice to still have the map to look up directions to get between towns but you have to navigate there yourself and really do get to know the landscape

[@HoloDust]

Out of somewhat newer open world games, Outward is built on some of the old-school design principles and it also does not have a player marker, so you have to orient yourself by learning its geography. It's really satisfying, especially when played in local coop. Though it does give you a map from the get go, so that is chance missed.

[@roycemainville1744]

Hollowknight has somewhat of that approach as you have to give up a vital charm slot to be able to use it…so you get your marker but with an added deficit

[@reverb508]

I love Elden Ring and I love that you care enough about Elden Ring and FromSoftware that you made a near two-hour critique of it. Thank you for doing what you do!

[@GothJedi]

If you ever get to the point where you’re passionate enough about something, you can’t help but say something. Because yes, some people actually care about things like quality and substance. Funny how that works huh?

[@lyrithvalthier2236]

@@GothJedi some people do, yes, just not neverknowsbest haha. what he really only cares about is how "mainstream-popular" a game is, and if it is, he cynically does everything he can to dig for anything he deems as a flaw to justify his negativity he is so infamous for, in this case, ironically taking the form of unoriginal disappointment he carries on about so often. hilarious for someone so hellbent on being critical of uniqueness.

[@DefMM123]

You sound like a degenerate

[@dylanschmeichel2008]

@@lyrithvalthier2236 critical of uniqueness? What drug are you taking? Elden Ring is the combination of two tropes which have been around for decades, souls combat and shitty Skyrim esc. Open worlds. You’re brain dead.

[@charlesreid9337]

this is the correct thought process. You are indeed allowed to love something and understand why others dont

[@kalsizzle]

Dark Souls 1's world was more dangerous than its enemies and I feel we've lost that in subsequent souls games.

[@MGrey-qb5xz]

It isn't about being dangerous, but engaging and making you be familiar with it. Dark souls 2 is difficult in a tunnel vision way

[@dalytennis]

Dark Souls 1's world was more dangerous than its enemies because it was made 20 years ago. You want Elden Ring's world, the thing you spend most of your time in, to constantly be more dangerous than Malenia, pre-nerf Radhan, Maliketh, etc? Are you a masochist? Who would enjoy that. DS1's world was more dangerous than its enemies because they literally couldn't program monsters to be any bit difficult back then, so they made up for that with random bullshit in the game to give you the illusion of difficulty. Making a surface very small so it's easy to fall off of is not actual difficulty. Making mobs jump out of dark corners in an already dark game is not difficulty. These are examples of pseudo difficulty. Difficulty revolves around monster mechanics, not cheesy bullshit.

[@robertoaltuve4145]

dark souls 2 has the harder area difficulty. And in bosses, well most of them are the easiest and other the hardest for some.

[@kalsizzle]

@@robertoaltuve4145 I recently played DS2 and Elden Ring back to back. I agree DS2 has harder areas but bosses like Darklurker, Sir Alonne, Lud & Zallen are pretty easy compared to something like Radagon / Elden Beast. Still a big DS2 fan though.

[@robertoaltuve4145]

@@kalsizzle Difficulty in bosses can be a lot more subjective than the areas though. I consider Alonne the hardest of from souls games for me. But if you ask me about another "hard" bosses probably can get surprised. At least i do everytime i hear they are super hard.

[@joshuameadows4922]

Waterfowl dance is an objectively broken attack that doesnt work with this games combat. Even the dodge only works if you happen to be at the exact correct distance, or if you're already in an animation. Add on the fact she heals from it, and in NG+ 2 hits and you're basically dead even with 60 vigor and an Ertree tailsman +2

[@Warwipf]

So objectively broken that people can consistently dodge it.

[@joshuameadows4922]

@Warwipf If you have to either watch a KZbin tutorial or spend over half an hour studying a single attack, then yes. Its an overturned attack that borderline requires abusing certain mechanics, and a certain amount of luck since you can't already be in animation when she jumps up.

[@dr.bunchungus2976]

@@Warwipftell me you have a tiny brain without telling me you have a tiny brain.

[@Warwipf]

@@joshuameadows4922 oh no the boss is hard and requires you to learn its move set. :( the boss is actually quite easy if you use everything the game gives you to defeat it (in particular spirit ashes). If you decide to impose a challenge on yourself and play without them then be prepared for... A challenge I guess?

[@MarixEm]

@@Warwipf you learn its moveset either way you dont just stand there and tank hits but waterfowl has no place in elden ring it requires a such specific movement that the game never teaches you about for all of the bosses its always roll or jump at the correct time and to the correct side this move suddenly changes the movement needed to beat this boss just because you can steamroll all of the bosses in the game if you use spirit ashes and broken weapons doesnt change the fact that this boss is unbalanced in a 1vs1 fight against most builds seems like you never actually watched the video to begin with

[@notverybright9825]

Personally, I feel like Sekiro & Bloodborne are the natural successor of Fromsoft's Dark Souls series. Improvements over storytelling, npc quest and dialogues as well as the meat of souls game, the combat from both those games can be seen compared to their Dark Souls era of game design. Whereas Elden Ring felt like a massive step back from their progression. Instead they fall back into their comfort zone of making 'Dark Souls 4' with open world & horse riding. The combat and storytelling part especially felt dumb down compared to their other games.

[@brodericksiz625]

I think that, from a purely gameplay standpoint, Sekiro is the best fromsoft game, but Bloodborne is the best overall experience. Even with the limited healing items (which, honestly, is only a problem briefly in the mid game, since, by the time you get to the endgame, the amount of blood echoes you gain by just playing normally is more than enough to buy enough healing items and still level up if you so choose), even with the chalice dungeons, even with the Mikolash gimmick fight. I love Elden Ring, but I genuinely believe it would have been even better if it had a lesser amount of unique weapons, but each of them has a bigger and more varied moveset, like in Bloodborne, and if it had a visible posture metre, like in Sekiro. And a deflection mechanic. What I love the most about Sekiro is that you are not trying to inflict death by a thousand cuts to your enemies, nor are you creating massive combos of obscure items and mechanics to one-shot them; instead, what you're doing in Sekiro is trying to find an opening to land a decisive hit. That can be done by landing a lesser hit (which in and of itself is not something you can just walk to the boss and do, they can block and deflect you as well), by deflecting their attacks, and by pressuring them. I was into historical fencing for a while, and even practiced it. Because of the mechanics I just mentioned, Sekiro is the only game I tried to this day that creates a rhythm and feel that is similar to an actual sword fight. As much as I love Elden Ring, I wish it had gone that route instead of being open world Dark Souls. Open world Dark Souls is still awesome, though

[@istheworldreal]

This is what i've been telling people about, fromsoft CAN but on elden ring they DON'T. As usual though fromshit fanboy defend this crap like their life's on the line. The combat now is just roll and hit like a caveman and people can't see this shit, literally massive downgrade compared to sekiro, and because of how massively "success" elden ring is it start to creeping on other games trying so hard to copy paste soulshit gameplay instead of trying something new and literally creating a new slop of genre

[@wandereringshadow8658]

I enjoy Elden Ring just because it scratched the itch I've been looking for in a game for a while. I can see how its not some peoples cup of tea, but I enjoyed it personally.

[@ivynbean]

@@istheworldrealsouls games have always been a roll fest what r u talking about

[@gunnellagann]

​@@istheworldrealyeah not too much agreeable when you use terms like soulshit, seems like you're not on the same page of fans that want improvements if you talk like this

[@RockR277]

I do really enjoy this game for the most part, but I am actually worried for the trajectory of future From Soft games. Particularly in the boss design department. And if they decide to do another open world, the balance department.

[@starhammer5247]

They're moving back to mech games like Armoured Core if recent news is anything to go by.

[@MadDragonify]

@@starhammer5247 god I hope so

[@marcusgreen8843]

@@starhammer5247 well after the success of this game it would be idiotic not to make another game similar. Also the money they made from this can help them increase their resources and be able to work on multiple games at once

[@josephbrown9685]

Open world is not the issue. It’s the scope. A smaller world would allow for more uniqueness and better balance. There is no need to have dozens of similar boss battles and similar catacombs. More playtime hours does not necessarily equal more quality hours.

[@phoenixx913]

I know one of their next projects is a new armored core game, then I heard they have another game in the works but I don't think anyone knows what it is. They did say though that they might do an Elden Ring 2 but aren't sure yet.

[@silvianbruno7512]

I made it through a full playthrough of this game about a year ago, started playing again in anticipation of the upcoming DLC, and within a few hours I started a new Bloodborne playthough instead, and this video encapsulates why that is.

[@Ivandsi]

So a year later but the part about Malenia is making me think about how I feel like having the information and some of the mechanics that Sekiro provided (without the instakill for getting a posture break) would have probably gone a long way in making the experience better for every build. As it is in this video, heavy builds tend to have to focus on staggering enemies with jump attacks when a parry of sorts would probably gone a long way to make sure blocking can be used in those build as well and thus other methods of attacks that don't involve cheesing the stagger system as a sort of defense.

[@DeaconBlu35]

Yeah like imagine perfectly partying waterfowl dance

[@Hugsloth]

The way Jerma beat Melania was so perfect. He used the goofiest looking spell in the game, face contorted in a mix of terror and adrenaline, making inhuman noises of anxiety, until FINALLY he beat her second phase and all the tension came out in one exhale, before he suddenly became concerned his fly was open when he jumped up in excitement, and deflated his own moment of victory.

[@x-321e5]

My favorite moment in any jerma stream, only matched by the time he did his dollhouse streams and everyone wanted Ludwig to die

[@yellowsaurus4895]

Certified Mohg Moment

[@MGrey-qb5xz]

you should try other software souls games if you like troll builds

[@holycrusader7829]

He deflated his victory because he thought he showed his dick live on twitch when he jumped

[@lilboydafriend]

jerma fans are even weirder than he is, there's like 2000 of you but you're fucking everywhere

[@dee-jay45]

In many ways a lot of these criticisms mirror what people lament about MMORPGs. How in the "good old days" you were encouraged to explore and experiment, while the modern experience punishes you. I wonder how much of that is really down to the simple evolution of the gaming community.

[@hiscores9282]

The game is pure open ended exploration no check lists or hand holding or side dungeon markers, across a massive landscape, and can be rerouted at players whim. The legacy dungeons are peak complexity and scale in the series, the free form overworld exploration and traditional legacy dungeon crawling are meant to contrast and compliment each other, and they do. Yet some ppl can mistake the forrest for the trees and make 2hr vids where they missed the point lol

[@Quanxi7]

@@JavaSchoolBlues >is aggressive for no reason >refuses to elaborate >leaves

[@Bollibompa]

@@JavaSchoolBlues No, it's pretty much the best counter to the real "dumb take" which is that exploration and experimentation is punished in Elden Ring.

[@studiogimli7645]

@@hiscores9282 but the overworld exploration is really bad compared to the legacy dungeons, if i just want a game with no check lists or handholding i could play ultima 6, the GOAT

[@xx_amongus_xx6987]

@@hiscores9282 Oh yeah, the incredible open world that has open fields with nothing but a random group of enemies just standing there. How cool

[@TwinkyGlitten]

Waterfowl dance belongs in Sekiro. It seems like they just took Spiral Cloud Passage from Sekiro and transplanted it into Elden Ring just to create the ultimate boss. The difference is that the move is blockable in Sekiro. Either way, it does NOT belong in this game where blocking is not emphasized and is not effective against Malenia. Sekiro actually didn't sell very well, although it's an amazing game. Most people get filtered by Sekiro, yet compared with Elden Ring, it is truly 'tough but fair'.

[@facundovera3227]

"and is not effective against Malenia" Cope. "Most people get filtered by Sekiro" Close no one tenth of players got the platinum for Sekiro, same for Elden Ring, you ain't special.

[@microwaveenthusiast7410]

@@facundovera3227get a grip and stfu

[@HitBoxMaster]

@@facundovera3227 The towering intellect of ERfags, ladies and gentlemen lol

[@Gelato41_]

@@facundovera3227 why do you play Dark Souls? Don't you remember what Solare told you? Same thing can be said to you

[@Spongeboobie]

It does bother me that 80% of the item pickups are worthless. Fun game. But I 100% agree with the whole video.

[@silverheart7964]

15:42 I feel like this is a slightly disingenuous argument here. You've kind of ignored the many different castles, caves, dungeons and large Legacy Dungeons like Stormveil, Raya Lucaria, Castle Morne, Redmayne, etc, that DO have the classic FromSoft level design, with enclosed spaces, hiding enemies around corners and using verticality. You also have Leyndell and the Haligtree, which are HUGE areas that are built almost exactly like that, all massive interconnected areas akin to DS1/Bloodborne. It's not like all the game is just open space because of the open world. I'd wager at least half of the game is very much like what you were describing here.

[@eliblanton7698]

did you not watch the rest of the video

[@Yoroiful]

1:36:01 Finally someone who understands it. That's exactly how I felt about it. If you follow the questline, Fia does use you and betray you, but in the end she's one of the few people who offered you any kindness and comfort. Everyone else tells you to go there, do this, do that, but they won't elaborate as to why, and they don't seem to particularly care about what happens to you.

[@Choco____1]

Well, there are a lot of other characters that don't just try to use you and are quite nice. Boc is an example. Same with Millicent, Nepheli, Thops, etc. There are a rather large number of nice people in the lands between so long as you ignore the thousands of enemies that don't have characters.

[@treasurewuji8740]

@@Choco____1 Even when Sellen says: if you cannot become Elden Lord, you will always have a place in the Academy. This is...... Edit: the sad thing is that Nepheli is the only one with a semi good ending provided the player does not burn the lands between.

[@guilhermewagner9707]

I liked her, but when she killed my man D she was just a skank to me.

[@Yoroiful]

@@Choco____1 Boc is a good example, yes, but he's not really connected to any of the runes, and he's not a "waifu'. I found Nepheli annoying, but I really loved Sellen, for example. She's also one of the few caring characters.

[@Yoroiful]

@@treasurewuji8740 or turn her into a doll.

[@mickjager]

Interestingly enough, the Ranni side quest was the only one I managed to complete without a guide. I agree with you on that I prefer the more controlled game design found in the earlier FromSoft titles, but that doesn't mean I didn't love my time with Elden Ring. For me the best part of these games was always exploring the world, hence why Dark Souls 1 is my favourite, and why the open world of Elden Ring was something I enjoyed, even though it brought many issues with it.

[@ozzylepunknown551]

What the dark souls games lacked heavily was Elder Scrolls levels of storytelling and "more realistic level designs" where the enemy placement wouldn't have broken the immersion so oftenly. I also don't mean that the cryptic nature of Dark Souls lore should be removed and changed into an hyper explained/encyclopedic lore that you get to understand right away when i compared it to Elder Scrolls, but it would've been great to at least have more than 2 dialogue options with the NPC's in order to create more interesting questlines with different outcomes that way.

[@Gayhan-]

I don’t believe you

[@slendydie1267]

Yeah but when the world is lifeless with repasted enemies and non unique bosses, reused assets, reused dungeons and ruins. It suddenly it becomes boring. Which is why I had the most fun exploring Raya Lucaria academy. NPCs give you a vague exposition as to what you have to do and you end up missing a quest and you have to replay. Thats intentional bad game design to get you to replay. The same way runbacks are intentional bad game design to make a 15 hour game into a 40 hour game. What makes open world games work is the need and desire to interact with said world. This is nowhere to be found in Elden Ring it has NOTHING to support it being open world. Enemies dont even scale their difficulty is mostly based on where the devs thought the average player would be. This has caused me to play 2 hours, get bored, drop the game for months, watch content on it, get the desire to play again. Rinse and repeat. And I still haven't finished it.

[@ozzylepunknown551]

@@slendydie1267 Elden ring and the other souls games need Skyrim type npc interaction BADLY. It would be a bit more interesting to be able to say more than just "Yes" and "No" during dialogues. The npcs are incredibly minimalistic

[@weskerpawnch]

I only looked up two things and got Ranni's ending my first playthrough, where Blaidd was in Siofra because I was feeling lazy and didn't feel like spending ten minutes to just miss him and look it up anyway, and what the doll did, which was critical to me getting the ending admittedly. It didn't occur to me to use it at that site of grace the teleporter took me, because it had been like 80 hours since I last spoke with Melina at a site of grace. That's a big complaint I have about the game, is it kind of throws obvious waifu characters at you and gives you no reason to form a connection with them. I assumed Melina got lost to do her own business, I didn't realize she was still "travelling with me." And Ranni's ending was not worth it, Bloodborne and Sekiro's different boss fights made different endings worth it. But this is like Dark Souls 3, a game I do love, but the endings are just a bit of flavor with no true meaning.

[@esxivy1944]

Great video, loved it. For me, the greastest moments I had with this game were are based off exploration: -Finding Fia the same way you did down there -Finding the siofra river and seeing the locals do the combined foot stomp while looking to the same direction, as if they were doing a ritual -Finding the whole underground sewers in the capital and learning about how they "cast the bad omens there" Yes I like the combat, but most of the time is the exploration what makes these games so great in my opinion. Yet l also I think the art of making this game difficult was lost. I LOVE the one undead in DS1 that uses a shield in a narrow platform who is beneath the dragon bridge (you know the one, it is that memorable). Its 1 enemy, yet it can be challenging due to the positioning, the type of enemy and all that. People complained about how DS2 ambushes yo with a shit ton of enemies in a unbalanced and artificial difficulty. I find myself thinking the same about elden ring. Quick example, the Fringefolk Hero's Grave (the dungeon you can unlock in the tutorial) has a double ambush with two grafted scion that jump onto you from nowhere even if you try to predict it and look around.

[@comradecatbug5289]

Your points about the emergence of the "meta" has another side effect that hurt my experience with ER. It significantly sours the roleplaying elements. It's frustrating that even though ER has by far more variety of weapons, spells and armor than any of the Dark Souls games I still find it much easier to build a character and commit to an identity even in Dark Souls 1 which has a fraction of the options. ER might have more fun murder tools but what good is it if 90 % of those tools are left in the shadow of the couple of broken ones? In the end, in ER you get to choose whether you want to play the meta and succeed at the cost of immersion or stick to your character and their adventure only to deal with needless difficulty.

[@temmie4980]

the most frustrating part of this video is that everything it said summed up is true and applied to me. well done, and i wholeheartedly agree.

[@believeroflight9888]

but you are literally Sadge . obviously you would be dissapointed.

[@nyleen]

An addition I think is worth mentioning in brief is the enemy AI aggression and input reading has been turned to 11 from the previous title DS3. It is so highly strung and overtuned, on the night of the launch, I found myself playing Input chicken with the enemies. Malenia is the best example of this system at play. I went back through all the Soulsborne games to see which entry was the worst offender and aside from DS3 having a few enemies which make it abundantly clear there's elevated input reading involved (The games particularly put an emphasis on punishing healing), Elden Ring takes this system and makes it egregious. An overly aggressive system like this will cause players to play a certain timid way. It should not be a thing anyone should even notice. Yet here the machine cogs underneath the bright colours and layers of lore are on full display for all to feel.

[@mylonevibe]

u right, but he mentioned this

[@theholypotato7763]

the game doesnt have input reading, youre using wrong terms to describe wrong things

[@Slashco]

@@theholypotato7763Enemies react on the first frame of an animation when you do something, so it's practically the same thing.

[@georgecombii5680]

@@theholypotato7763 The game 100% has input reading. It's also closely related to the fact that beside the animation of light attack of you avatar, all main bosses have attacks that are faster than anything your avatar might do ( like drinking a flask, casting a spell, heavy attack, ash of wars ). They also have long range attacks that are also faster than your animations. So basically your input is read by the enemy AI and then you get punished. It's really obvious against Malenia or Margit.

[@theholypotato7763]

@@georgecombii5680 no, like someone else has pointed out what the bosses do is animation reading

[@davidmurray3542]

Regarding the difficulty balance with an open world, the "classic" RPGs that everyone raves about very much had this problem. Explore off the wrong screen edge in Baldur's Gate? Prepare to get one-shot 🙃

[@Caffffe]

CRPGs had the advantage that the "an enemy being too hard means you need to explore somewhere else" tactic was quite darn effective becauase sheer numbers would get the message across. Souls games are not built like this.

[@fgclash454]

Don’t bring up that trash ass overrated game

[@Ic-gv2eo]

It's honestly funny to me hearing all the people say "I played the game blind too" as if playing a game without looking at a guide is weird. to me if a game needs a guide then it's bad game design

[@evacody1249]

Which is why I like Witcher 3, AC Odyssey, Kingdoms of Amalur and Harizon. I don't need a guide. I can just play the game.

[@yusted1]

I think one issue is that alot of bosses feel like they belong in sekiro with how fast they are. If they were slightly slower and had more varied timing then it would feel better

[@cardmossdn8058]

Every Elden Ring critic parrots this point, but what bosses are you talking about? There’s malenia, yes, but what else?

[@Paulo-ro3ws]

@@cardmossdn8058 I also would like to know, because I have seen this EXACT same comment multiple times and every single time not one person even bothered giving examples.

[@mori7644]

@@Paulo-ro3ws The only other one that comes to mind is Morgott, but even then that’s a stretch.

[@randomlyrapid8996]

@@mori7644 And hell Morgott's my favorite boss. I feel like most of these complaints come from people who use the slowest weapons.

[@mori7644]

@@randomlyrapid8996 I mean if you’re using heavy weapons, you should know that you’re not an anime character swinging that weapon like a straight sword and they still complain.

[@callumbyrne4263]

First boss that ever made me feel I’d built my character wrong…

[@AnimeOtaku56.]

I typically don’t comment but god damn margit beat my ass so hard I had to restart and go from vagabond to samurai.

[@Local_commentor]

@@AnimeOtaku56. lmao I just dual wielded Uchintaga started samurai and picked up the second one and upgraded the bleed dmg really strong

[@OriginalDizzleKing]

@@AnimeOtaku56. Sounds like a skill issue. Margit is definitely the hardest first boss in any souls game but you don't need bleed to beat him.

[@AnimeOtaku56.]

@@OriginalDizzleKing Bro 💀. That’s what I said. There was simply a lack of skill and I switched classes because of it.

[@OriginalDizzleKing]

@@AnimeOtaku56. My bad thought you were implying that the game is unplayable without bleed or something. Seen that take before

[@rodavlasdtgeirke387]

Very good critique. Accurately describes how I felt during my first play through. Playing solo, no summoning, no magic/faith in Elden Ring at launch was straight up NOT a good time. And I've beaten and gotten all the achievements in every Souls game and Bloodborne.

[@thedudeabides3138]

This was a superb essay. A lot of thought and consideration went into is construction, never mind all the editing and narration, thank you for all your hard work. I’d been on the fence for the last year as to whether or not to buy ER, and nagging, intuitive voices inside my head kept telling me I’d find aspects to it all that’d make me sorry I committed. I knew I’d find it beautiful and diverse, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d come away frustrated and mildly disappointed….your essay confirmed those feelings. I’ve moved into an age now where I do not enjoy games that are capable of extreme frustration. One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed The Division 2, Enshrouded and Helldivers 2 is because I’m constantly having pure fun, frustration is not inherent in the design method. FWIW, I’m glad games like ER and the Souls exist, there’s plenty of gamers out there that need and want this type of challenge, I just don’t happen to be one of them. I really enjoyed the depth and consideration of your analysis, already Subbed, but gave you a big fat Like and I’m very much looking forward to so much more from your channel.

[@Metachemist85]

Okay I'm with you for most of this, but it is not a twist at all that the Greater Will is behind the Golden Order. It's painfully and obviously spelled out with the Two Fingers in Roundtable hold. Also the Golden Order isn't corrupt because of the Greater Will, they're corrupt for valuing appearance and strength over the actual guidance of their higher power and teachings

[@ThiefOfNavarre]

I was going to say that. You're ahead of the KZbin curve

[@skeletonmf]

Yeah, it's definitely not a twist. They mention the Greater Will so many times, it's even mentioned in the opening.

[@TheVioletBunny]

I think what he was trying to say was you still aren’t sure what a greater will or golden order even is after finishing the game or even care much about it. The story feels like george rr Martin wrote something and from soft smashed it apart and took pieces of it to make it into a obscure from soft title. In dark souls the story had a cohesive story that made sense is what he was saying with illustrations that are clear, and even more so in sekiro in elden ring it’s so vague to the point you just don’t care about the story and can tell neither did they. It’s a game focused on the game play , all immersion is broken when each dungeon is the same shit over and over and bosses are re-used so many times, and in an open world that contains almost no human life or settlements.

[@mmelo7832]

@@TheVioletBunny That’s not entirely true. Sekiro has one of if not the most concise stories in any Fromsoftware game and it still had a lot of loose ends. It’s their style of story telling. For example, much like the greater will, the divine dragon is never explained fully even though it’s a primary plot point. The only thing we know about his origin is that he “came from the west”. Making the greater powers in your story have very little known about them helps build a sense of scale, it shows that the world portrayed in the game is incredibly vast, but to the overarching narrative it’s just a small part of something much bigger.

[@JonReing]

The game really explores pride. Every story boss struggles with pride and it is the fundamental reason why they all need to go down so that the world can be made anew

[@SaberRiko]

I played blind as a sorcerer, it was my first Fromsoft game. I've had a lot of trouble discussing my time with it with my friends because they mainly did meta bleed or strength builds and the bosses that were hard for me were completely different from them. I actually found Malenia to be one of the easiest bosses in the game, I was well leveled by then and I accidentally bullied her to death with staggering spells, I never even knew she healed on hit until someone told me. Meanwhile Malekith, Placidusax, and even damn Tree Sentinels destroyed me repeatedly. Overall my experience was incomparable to my friends, and I wasn't even able to communicate why because I was doing it blind so I just got accused of lying whenever I tried. Afterall how could I struggle against Tree Sentinels a dozen times but kill Malenia on my second try? I was just poorly fit for both fights in different ways.

[@jackallen6601]

Unrelated but who is that cute anime girl in your pfp? I may watch the show just for her.

[@CelerityGaming]

@@jackallen6601 Riko Sakurauchi from Love Live

[@yellowbelliedslider6719]

What spells did you use? Need some help pls ;-;

[@SaberRiko]

@@yellowbelliedslider6719 First time I used Rock Sling, but I wasted all my flasks because I didn't realize she had a second phase. Second time I mixed rykard's rancor and adula's moonblade, with the former doing most of the work, though the latter has been nerfed since then IIRC. I had effectively about 80 Int and all the quick casting options (except for the staff since it increases cost and I like to open with Ranni's Dark Moon for fun). Make sure you keep your distance, like as far as possible, there's no reason not to with all of those spells except for moonblade which I only used briefly whenever she ended up close enough. Just start rolling away whenever she goes up in the air, she almost always misses if you do (at a good distance). At the time I was also experimenting with adding faith since I'd maxed Int so I had black flame's protection and golden vow on, and flame cleanse me IIRC ready. I can't remember if I actually needed them though so they're probably optional. Also relevant to note I'd invested a lot into endurance for dodges and armor since I had like no vigor, so I had the altered Banished Knight armor on at the time (I needed the best equip talisman for it still though). Edit2: (Should note I only switched spells the second time because I was really tired of throwing rocks at that point in my playthrough, Rock Sling is honestly probably the best bet, as it is in almost every fight sadly, unless it's been nerfed and no one told me. I did hear Rykard's Rancor was buffed though and it's more fun so I still rec that too).

[@ZeroRed78]

@@yellowbelliedslider6719 Try the Night Sorceries like Night Comet and Shard. I avoided them my first playthrough because they cost more FP and have less range than their glintstone counterparts, but the benefit of them is that the NPC don't dodge them which really helps against Mel.

[@alansmith4655]

I just thought the "big open world travel" selling point worked against it. I got so bored riding across the map to the different locations 😂

[@theholypotato7763]

thats why you can fast travel everywhere easily once youve been there

[@Loki-]

1:04:04 this exactly for me... I never looked up anything for ds1-3 and in elden ring, within 15h of trying my best to learn parrying through many varieties of enemies, I looked it up. It turns out it's just really hard... (yes, I knew beforehand not all attacks work) One shield, and the claws, are suggested for it, but I refused to do that because I liked another shield I was using, and it ended up costing me... to not go meta... very exciting.

[@facundovera3227]

This has to be satire, right? In DS parrying is pretty easy, in DS2 parrying is extremely difficult, and in DS3 small shields' parry cepabilities outclass medium shields. In Elden Ring you can use any shield you want if you equip it with some of the better party Ashes of War. You can make all shields equal.

[@Kawaku_M]

“It was the 14th of June, at 7:14 pm when I first met Malenia, blade of Miquella…..and it was the 14th of June at 9:31pm when I first killed Malenia blade of Miquella…….. and it was at 9:32pm that night that I realized something was wrong-“ captures the unique horror every blind player experienced. Amazing video in citing things I hadn’t considered and very well done and was marvelously entertaining living through your eyes you first experience with the game.

[@Amfortas]

Cap

[@WALTAH2000]

@@Amfortas Most well written elden ring apologism

[@szymono862]

When it comes to seeing the big tree instead of having a player marker on the map, that (or lack of map entirely) was actually planned but was scrapped in development. Probably for similar reasons the NPC markers got added post-launch.

[@ArgumentumAdHominem]

With all due respect to the developer, I had no chance of finding Blaidd without knowing he had to be there because of the map pointer. Can I really be rationally expected to churn every rock in a giant open world game to get to the NPCs relevant to the story? Too little hand holding can make the game unplayable. I mean, why have visuals at all, let's make a game where you have to orient on sounds alone - even less hand-holding! Would be a really nice experience actually, but making it open world would go downhill fast.

[@killval849]

@@ArgumentumAdHominem yeah but the organic feeling of discovery just isn't there with waypoints or other distractions, so you've gotta find a healthy medium.

[@ArgumentumAdHominem]

@@killval849 Indeed. I would appreciate a bit more of a nudge towards where to expect things at the beginning of the game, so I don't miss everything. Later one develops a habit, and nudges are unnecessary. I certainly agree that waypoints are too much

[@samgaming3354]

@@ArgumentumAdHominem maybe they shouldnt have pumped the open world full of ubisoft tier slop side content to give the impression the game has more to offer than it really does

[@Modie]

@@killval849 But an organic feeling would also mean you actually TALK to these people instead of just standing there waiting for their monologue to end. You know, simple questions like "Who are you?" "Where do you come from as you seem to be a pot guy?" or "Where are you planning to go?".

[@squidking3554]

Hi man! I know that you probably wont read this comment after a year but I want to tell you that I just finished Elden Ring with an 123 hours run, and at the end I just felt dissapointment, same as you. Its a good game but it could be so more. The open world showed us how hollow this world is.

[@huncho7926]

I agree with most of these points except the difficulty arguments. Not only is malenia entirely optional, but you should've really caught on that Margit was supposed to be returned to. You know it's an open world game unlike anything fromsoft has made before, that alone should've clued you in to come back later.

[@nalidhardstyle8551]

Finally a "too many bosses" criticism i agree with. The fact that it doesn't make canonical sense for these bosses to exist at the end of dungeons is an issue. Maybe in future games they could all have a joint story, like all being knights of a certain king, or all being Skeleton type enemies

[@stuckstepsis6976]

Biggest problem with bosses is that you are fighting legit 90% of them atleast twice most of them 3 or 4 times. Even the legacy dungeon bosses gets reused like margit, mohg and godrick its so disappointing

[@nalidhardstyle8551]

@@stuckstepsis6976 that's the criticism I don't agree with. Smaller bosses being repeated, although not amazing, is better than nothing, and the bigger ones that are normally have lore reasons for it. Also, that's only if you fight every boss. You can't really get mad for an optional repeat boss, because you chose to fight it. Sure, 100% unique bosses would be cool, but isn't reasonable. So instead of complaining about there being multiple of a boss, just enjoy that you get to fight good bosses an extra time

[@kolbywilliams7234]

@@nalidhardstyle8551 I would generally agree except for Astel 2.0. That grab attack is bs, and Astel seems like the kind of enemy that should be unique given that he’s a fallen star who destroyed one of the underground cities. That’s too epic for copy paste with a bs grab move that insta-kills. Really cheapens the og Astel. Godefroy also feels totally out of place. Godrick should be unique as the inheritor of a great rune. Other than those two, I can see an argument that the repeats are not bad as a rule. It could be done better, though.

[@nalidhardstyle8551]

@@kolbywilliams7234 I agree that astel shouldn't be copied, that's definatly one that should be unique. And although yes the repeats could be done better, I'd rather have this than have a game that's half as big

[@daniellarge9690]

Yeah I came to actually love ruins to a degree because its like a 50/50 chance that theres a boss at the bottom of the stairs, or just a treasure chest lol- and when it was just a treasure chest, and not a shitty general enemy with a health bar I was pleased XD

[@GRiznitDShiznit]

The “Are you sure?” when trying to resummon the horse in a fight got me killed so many times. The biggest raging moment I had in the game was trying to resummon the whose right as I was about to kill a hard boss underleveled. Absolute cheap as hell. They shouldn’t ever interrupt your gameplay while fighting. For combat that’s known for being super tight timingwise, the fact that they casually kill you trying to resummon your horse was a horrible idea and I’m surprised they haven’t patched an option to turn the warning off.

[@DarthTitanGaming]

You waste a crimson flask to resummon torrent.

[@BandTrap]

lol just get good son

[@senatorsheevpalpatine3712]

Get better at the game honestly

[@ericstaples7220]

When the enemy is about to attack, don't use a potion, don't use your weapon, don't summon your horse. Wait until you have an opening.

[@jamesbailey6257]

@@ericstaples7220 Ah yes the classic “if you just don’t do the problem the problem doesn’t exist”, I swear ds fans are incapable of taking criticism about balancing or combat lmfao

[@ruthsagers1714]

23:52 has me cackling every time I watch this. “I mean… what exactly is a Godefroy The Grafted?”. It’s not just the words, it’s the disdainful tone of your voice. Good stuff.

[@bertjeeuh569]

Great video, thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. I feel like the open world critique is coming from a perspective that tried to be too stubborn in treating elden ring like dark souls. The first time I started I stubbornly wanted to beat the horseguy, couldn't and after a few tries I tried the castle like you did. Found Morgit, he was indeed obviously way too insane for a first boss so I explored around the castle. When I came across open world bosses that seemed too tough (like horseguy) I'd try to just run past them and see if there was anything beyond them I could do anything with (the game teaches you this early with horseguy but the reason you didn't learn the lesson there is because you were still playing dark souls in your head when you tried beating the stonecowthing). I think you make a lot of great points but only when looking at elden ring through a dark souls lens which I think is unfair. They're inherently different games trying to achieve different things. And to comment on the copy paste nature of the game, most people (60-80%) will never even clear 40% of the game (evident by achievements). To create your game purely to appease to 20-40% of your playerbase is fine but to then criticize things to are specifically not designed for them seems a bit skewed. Either way again, great video and good talking points

[@dusathemaid]

I'm still undecided on how the game is supposed to be played. If we actually go out of our way to level up in order to defeat a blockade (Tree Sentinel) then chances are we'll just be too OP by the time we go back to him. Since the game is open world, there isn't a limitation on how far you can go in order to keep up with the enemies and this led to me basically steamrolling Limgrave and having no problems with Liurnia. Also, it's kinda disingenuous to say we are wrong in critiquing the game purely based on Dark Souls views when the Game still HEAVILY depends on dark souls mechanics in order to function. Again, I'm mainly saying this because Imo From Software still didn't manage to get a good balance between Open World and Soulslike outta this game

[@QuantumFishFTW]

This guy is saying it's a copy and paste while wanting for it to be a copy paste of what fromsoftware does every single game.

[@Nebukanezzer]

The game literally has giant shimmering golden light beams pointing you in the direction of things you can do. Does he just not acknowledge this? The grace just tells you how to progress lmao

[@hulking_presence]

Wut. They're not clearing it precisely because there's too much and too repetitive.

[@teacake_94]

Not a single curse word uttered and yet I feel your pain with Malenia so hard dude. I haven't even played Elden Ring but your account gave me some very unwelcome flashbacks to some of the toughest bosses I've encountered in games.

[@El_Diego86]

Grow some Balls Nancy.

[@levishawback1218]

The question of motivation seemed to be a rather simple one to me. If you look at this game it's tonally more of an adventure than a desperate struggle to end an existential crisis to humanity. If you look at the class descriptions and armor sets, there's two things they all have in common. They all have something to prove and nothing to lose. So they come to the warring kingdom of the hands between in search of glory and a name for themselves. Your goal in this game is not to prepare to die or to ensure a future for humanity. It is to RISE. And to do so, you take out any of the factions that are a threat to the land, such as Godrick and his profane grafting and human experiments or Millenia and her kingdom of rot, and are given the choice to side with any of the factions that will reestablish order with you at it's head. You are even given the option to deny the current order and attempt to forge a new path for mankind or to decide this place isn't worth the trouble, just say fuck it and burn it all. Yeah, it's an intrinsically selfish motivation, but it's also been a major motivation for characters in fantasy roll playing games since at least the creation of dungeons and dragons. I can understand it they doesn't appeal to some people, but to say your character has no reason for what they're doing seems to miss the point.

[@Lehmuska]

Moreover, the opening cinematic explains your motivation quite straightforwardly. to stand before the Elden Ring. And become the Elden Lord. That's it. That's your character's motivation. Why is up to the player. How is up to the choices they make in the game. But the motivation is spelled out in no uncertain terms.

[@fuzzywuzzy843]

Extremely well put!!

[@cerealexperimentsgrain]

just because the motivation is obvious doesn't mean it's a good motivation. like okay... i guess my character just wants to go on an adventure... why though? people don't do things for no reason.

[@levishawback1218]

@@cerealexperimentsgrain Power, glory and wealth are powerful motivators. They're essentially the only reason that people have jobs. This adventure will lead to literally being a ruler of a country. You might not want that, but it seems easy to understand why SOMEONE would want that. And given a lot of the class descriptions it's very likley your protagonist... Isn't necessarily a good person.

[@cerealexperimentsgrain]

@@levishawback1218 that's a fair take actually. just hard to relate to. i guess i relate a lot more to DS1's character motivation of being pushed around by greater forces with little that can be done about it.

[@gaoexkaiser]

I think a large part of the disappointment I found said in the video is because the experience had on Dark Souls and missing the condensed almost linear direction those games had. Which keep in mind I found is a different direction from the direction the experience they wanted to have on Elden Ring. Now it may be harder to be repayable because of how large it is, which can be a flaw and at the same time a new great type of souls-like experience form it. I only see Elden Ring same as the OG Dark Souls 2011 not a a new concept for video games but an almost mastery of the existing game concept, not a reinvention of the wheel but an improvement on the existing concept.

[@arthurdurham]

In Souls you being a seemingly insignificant part of the greater world and story around you is the point while in Elden Ring just feels like you're not playing any of the main characters. Because one of the best aspects of the Souls story imo is that it's a subversion of the usual fantasy tropes, where the big gods and monsters who think they're in charge and in control actually aren't. They are just as vulnerable to the inevitability of the universe as anyone and forging your own path and choices regardless where you start is what matters. But Elden Ring is basically the petty family drama of mythical beings and you're essentially an errand boy or tool. All the inciting incidents and most interesting moments happened before you. Once again that works in Souls bc the point is that none of that mattered as you're at the end of the world regardless or what transpired prior bc regardless of what you choose it will all reset eventually. It was all in service of the theme. Elden Ring just feels more like lore for the sake of lore than to create a compelling or relatable narrative.

[@MGrey-qb5xz]

Yeah elden ring lore just exists cause it has to exist, maybe it has to do with open world but idk, keeps like they lacked vision

[@WokeandProud]

Not all souls need to be exactly the same this isn't even a souls game to begin with its an entirely different tale and if you think the lore is just there because it has to be that's an incredibly terrible take because this game has an awesomely amazing story.

[@j.2512]

elden ring is not a dark souls game

[@arthurdurham]

@@WokeandProud Your character really has little to do narratively but make the ending some godlike entity wants. You're basically on a site seeing tour of the aftermath of implied more interesting things. Why I say it feels tacked on is bc of that and more to give some reason why you're fighting who you are vs it feeling like it matters to you. I don't find the lore amazing at all, kind of meh. And I compare it to souls bc this is very much based of souls in design, combat, and so many aspects. It's essentially open world souls

[@arthurdurham]

@@j.2512 It's open world souls with different names of things. The gameplay is DS3 with more options. It isn't Sekiro or Bloodborne that are completely different in aesthetic, mechanical focus, and the type of lore they are.

[@jairusstrunk94]

Personally I'd rather outlevel a region than have to deal with something like Level scaling. I really hate level scaling. Morrowind had it right and skyrim has it so wrong.

[@sasaki999pro]

Just because one game does a system poorly does not mean another game can't come and improve it, open your minds people.

[@pantonearqm2791]

@@sasaki999pro level scaling was always terrible. It destroys sense of progression and player immersion. There is nothing to be open-minded about.

[@ImortalZeus13]

There's no reason to hate a game mechanic at a fundamental level. You could easily implement a soft level scaling mechanic. Something that would buff weak enemies a little when you're way ahead, and bring down harsh enemies just a bit when you're behind. Level scaling doesn't have to mean "the enemies are always an even match", and you can still maintain hard difficulty while doing it.

[@ImortalZeus13]

@@pantonearqm2791 "it ruins player progression and immersion" Except it literally doesn't have to if it's handled subtlely. You just think that "player scaling" instantly means equalized challenges for every player level, when that's not at all what it means. Nobody would notice or care if it took one less sword swings for a low level character to kill some of the mobs in Caelid

[@vazazell5967]

Skyrim's level scaling holds the entire game together, the fuck are you on? Without it there will be a completely, absolutely different game, a game similar to elden ring's fuckups in fact. Level scaling is the only way to make openworld progression work besides making the open world closed.

[@DeathxStrike18]

Good job defeating Malenia cheater of Miquella, its known now that she cheats by not only ignoring animations to block attacks but even will pull out of a stagger strait into her water fowl to prevent being stagger locked.

[@brojakmate9872]

Filtered

[@Soniichu]

get gud tbh

[@WonderBlubber]

It's not even close to my favorite From game and that's everything to do with the open world choice. It creates so much wasted time and space. Yes some vistas are beautiful, but that was achieved in every Souls game prior too. Most of the time you spend in ER is just holding forward on an analog stick on horseback.

[@TheFunsportler]

While i agree with the criticism regarding the open world you mentioned in your video, something that Elden Rings world does very well is show you landmarks around the area that serve as points of interest. The whole world uses elevation to highlight various elements that you may want to explore and also to create barriers between different areas. So while the open world does fall into the same traps as many others does and i'd ultimately argue that the game would be better off without it, saying that From Software's approach is just simliar to what others have done is a bit too shortsighted for my taste. And regarding the section about Malenia: Yes, the boss is very hard. I feel like From Software wanted to specifically create the hardest challenge yet in their biggest game yet, and thus a fast moving, high damage, self healing menace was conceived in a secret area at the end of the game that is entirely optional. The hardest challenges will inevitably force players to use the most effective strategies as it is impossible to have all ways to play to be equaly good, so yeah, people are going to use similar strats for the boss, especially if they are content creators that have an interest to progress. I myself tried the boss for about 3 hours before i decided to use the mimic tear again. Mind you, i hadn't read about it being the strongest summon or anything, but after finding and trying it out, i realized it was very strong and replaced the trusty viking archer i had used before that. I initially stopped using the summons because i, too, felt that most bosses came unequipped to dealing with them and i broke that rule for Malenia, cause i didn't want to get stuck. I, too, considered Malenia to be a boss that could only be beaten by certain playstyles at the time, but i later watched a blind playthrough by Day9, and he used a shield, spear and heavy armor to beat Malenia with ease, so this assessment does seem faulty to say the least. In that sense i feel like while you mentioned that you tried experimenting, what you actualy described was mostly the normal steps that you'd take for any enemy in a From Software game: Trying to find dodge patters and maybe using a shield when times are desperate (which is mostly what i do, too). I've learned that this hardly qualifies as anything. I can understand not wanting to change weapon, but evidently you didn't try different armour, tried using any spells, other ashes of war, considered summons (not even any random one) or consumables that may aid you, so it seems that there was a bit of stubborness and pride involved in your insistence to play in the way you decided, which of course is totally fine, but in the end it is your choice. Yes, there is elation in beating a hard challenge in a way you envisioned to do it, and using other tools may feel like you cheated yourself, but choosing a harder path when there are other avenues to explore and then claming that the whole journey is "too hard" isn't really fair, is it? Lastly, i have to say this: Waterfowl dance is entirely avoidable using only the normal dodge roll that the game gives you. You can dodge all three instances without taking any damage. No need for specific positioning before the attack or any ashes of war. I am honestly suprised you didn't discover that in 4 hours of attempts, but i'm confident you would have discovered it at some point. The clips shown in the video look like you panic rolled quite a bit during the attack, but they may not represent the full extend of your approaches, so who knows.

[@Soul_Tomato]

The lack of a player marker already exists in numerous games though, granted they are indie games or AA. The most recent one I’ve played that I can think of was Outward which, while not perfect, was only made by 10 people and is damn fine.

[@maxvisser9528]

Outward is great fun, and you can play it Co-op!

[@jak3y3]

"So clearly players get great enjoyment from meta gaming, and I think that's fine. What I don't think is fine is creating a difficulty so high that players who don't want to play this way feel forced to", couldn't have explained it better myself. I love Elden Ring, it's my 2nd most played game on Steam. But I agree with that the difficulty is way too high. In some cases, especially the end game, it felt like they were trying to outdo what they've done before and as a result, Elden Ring is hard for all the wrong reasons. Bloodborne and Sekiro's enemy and boss aggression makes sense to me, because there's design tools around it. In Elden Ring, it feels like there's nothing of the sort. And if there is, it's not communicated to the player very well, if at all.

[@mostafa.hosseini]

it's been almost a year since I watched this video. I remember after playing Elden Ring for the first time I had this unsettling feeling... every one I knew was having fun and praised the game for being "BEST GAME OF FROMSOFTWARE"... but something was not right for me. It was like I'm the only one in the world that not enjoyed Elden Ring the way I was hope for and it seems it was my fault. I love dark souls and one of the reasons is because the experience of playing dark souls helped me in difficult times, in fact I still go back to it when life seems unbearable, and it helps... and I was hoping that biggest and most success full game of fromsoftware surly have the same impact! but it didn't... in fact it had the opposite. I felt "abandoned" and "unheard" by the game and community around me just because I was looking for "Dark Souls" experience, and it made me depressed for a while. Then I found your critique and this video you made. Suddenly every feeling I had about this game was pointing out by a youtube video... It was like some one else speaking my mind. It felt like I was not alone anymore, that I wasn't the problem and these are not just my concerns. it's the third time I watch this video and it might hard to believe but every time by the end of it I couldn't stop my tears, not from sadness but the relive. That's why I'm writing this long and poorly phrased comment... to truly THANK YOU. You may not realize how important this video was to me but helped some one not to go Hollow...❤

[@Loki-]

I told my friend the souls games are perfect as-is and opening it up to picking flowers and cheesing on horse, only to end up in a narrow, area explore with boss at end like souls is the only parts I enjoyed... except ofc the boss problems Never mentions here...

[@RayenMusic94]

Is this satire?

[@cozydog4662]

if you suck in the game just say so

[@microwaveenthusiast7410]

@@cozydog4662get a life and stop fanboying

[@SuperLotus]

Yeah. I watch videos like these to remind myself I'm not crazy. Hearing so many people praise ER actually makes me enjoy the game less in some weird way. And now we get a $40 DLC bc everyone loves the game so much.

[@murray42076]

I agree on the bit about difficulty. If you play a meta build, it’s fairly straightforward & easy. The more you start experimenting & making your own builds, the difficulty jumps up significantly. Still, the hardest game in the series for me was Sekiro. I beat the game once, and started NG+. Now I’ve been stuck on the last boss, for the better part of 3 years. You can’t change weapons in Sekiro for those who haven’t played it. You get one katana that stays with you the entire game. You get skills throughout that can be upgraded, but that’s the only “help” you really receive upgrade wise. In turn it makes for a very very difficult experience, but is single handedly the most rewarding game I’ve ever played. After attempting the last boss 100+ times, when I finally got the W, it was an insane adrenaline rush. I was literally shaking. All in all, Elden Ring is my favorite game ever created, I agree with a lot of the points in this video, it has its apparent downsides. But I don’t think FromSoftware could put out a game that I WILL NOT buy. They’ve all been an absolute joy in their own ways.

[@IIBizzy]

My big hope for Elden Ring was definitely that it would play in a more "alive" world, especially because of the Open World aspect and after Sekiro which seemed to go more in that direction, so I would have hoped for some small villages that are actually inhabited by people with daily routines or something like that. I like Dark Souls but with this new IP I hoped for something more different, not once again a world fallen "from Grace" that is 99% inhabited by some form of undead/hollow people and creatures.

[@jinx5673]

Lmao the majority of the enemies aren’t even what you described, they’re more humans wearing armor or something similar.

[@Jpow5734]

Most of the enemies you fight in this game are just normal people like the knights and scholars they only look undead because they can’t die from natural causes so they are really old.

[@gibbygibbstein7858]

@@jinx5673 Have you ever even played a souls game before elden ring or are you just choking too hard on the games cock? Literally every point he just made is true.

[@jinx5673]

@@gibbygibbstein7858 It’s ok to like men, we don’t judge you. I am objectively correct, most enemies in Elden ring are human.

[@gibbygibbstein7858]

@Jinx And if your braindead ass knew how to read you'd know he called most of the enemies "undead/hollow human"

[@jwilliam6743]

"Disappointed that the lessons Fromsoft is likely to learn from this are the wrong ones" is the exact reason I begrudge the metacritic score and the blind loyalty of Fromsoft git guds. Have fun fighting Melania clones 30 times in the next game.

[@frogglen6350]

Oh no....people like a game....the horror...

[@jwilliam6743]

@@frogglen6350 nothing wrong with liking the game. Elden ring is a great game with a handful of fatal flaws that will become prevalent in future from soft games if no one is willing to point them out. I don't want to deal with waterfowl dance again nor do I want to deal with combos that require my melee only character to have to roll more than five times in varying tempos to finally get a chance to counter attack. My hope is from soft balances things out a little better on their next outing. To quote the video "at what point does hard become too hard"?

[@mentalforceru]

@@jwilliam6743 And this is precisely why Team Ninja is my new friend now. After the 60th hour of Elden ring, i was just... done, while at the same time im clocking almost 180 hours in Nioh 2(with 4 new game+'s and now working my way through the end game content). The reason why is quite simple: The game just gives me more tools to deal with bosses, and many of these tools are usually perfectly viable. It doesn't matter what weapon you use, as long as you practice the core mechanics of the game(which are all crucial compared to the 'Guard counter' that i only ever used once) you will be able to make basically any weapon, or magic style or w/e work. And yes some might feel slower, however if you enjoy it, just play it and you'll be completely fine.

[@Mad.boi_-mcgee]

@@mentalforceru bro people can say all they want about how they'll think Nioh 2 is easy (even though it's literally not going to be in any shape form or way)but when the actual game starts they'll be limping back to Elden ring. Heck people crying about Malenia have no Idea about the creature mission that Team Ninja actually incorporated into the game and named it "The Dragon Clan" fuck Ren and his Old school methods.

[@thisishowitallends9321]

Ya, I can already tell, no one will be enthralled with the sequel. It all will be more of the same and even git guds will git lost. Or if not, their minority will remain the only ones forming a jerk circle around it lol

[@turbografx.16]

i think that the massive amount of options that elden ring gives to a player (crazy amount of weapons to choose, lots of ashes and weapon arts, hundreds of pyro/magic/miracles/etc spells to use) ultimately leads to make a less polished combat in a sense that the bosses have to be challenging enough for any play style. that's why the most appraised games by from software are the ones with less variety in weapons and playstyles like bloodborne and sekiro. i just think that the deficit of Dark Souls games is more evident with the change to open world.

[@guylaub8505]

Normally love your videos, however this has few horrible takes, few the pop to mind. - I don't know how you cound only "9 unique bosses" but anyway, I'm aware of the repeatability of the bosses but it didn't bother me, cause there was a good amount of "original" bosses and a lot of the times the repeating bosses were fun as well. - You specifically said that you checked some stuff for Dark Souls 1 to know where to go. Now imagine starting Dark Souls without a guide and starting to head to the skeletons and kill them all. A lot of us did that, but we figured out, hey this is too hard we probably need to look for something else we wouldn't spend an hour trying to kill a skeleton. I don't understand as someone who played these games before that you couldn't figure out when a boss/area was too hard for you. Why did you spend 1 hour on hard bosses when you know you can explore other options ? Maybe if you would've playing Dark Souls 1 without a guide you would learn that. You could also try 1 hour to defeat Dancer in Dark Souls 3 if you're stubborn/stupid. So I don't get your argument on difficulty, you were stubborn and stupid on your first playthrough for some reason, that's why you had balancing issues. Now there are areas which are easier especially if you explore a lot and outlevel by that, but that's not something you addressed. - Elden Ring has way more secrets from exploring than any other previous From Soft game. I could think of at least 9 "optional" areas that don't require to finish the story. Don't know how you reached Miquella on your first playthrough without looking up a guide, but grats on that. :)

[@kalmarhomar]

Let me tell you a short story. I beat the game in the first week after the release. There was no meta yet, no mimic tear conversation online. I was using the greatsword out of my passion for the weapon. When I found the mimic tear I thought that it was so cool to watch a clone of mine, with the same big ass sword, fighting alongside him like real brothers in arms. After a while and a +9 upgrade I knew that it was overpowered; However, I kept using it because it was just so fun. I told my friends that there's a really cool summon but it's kinda overpowered. It's sad that after a while the only thing mentioned about it is that it's overpowered, feels like poeple forget to have fun with games sometimes... (not to bash the reviewer here, I'm talking about the community)

[@AnaICarnaval]

There are no right or wrong in the matter. These are different playstyles. For example I would never use summon or magic out of priciple, because I like to overcome difficult encounters by myslef. Endgame bosses, though (especially Malenia and Beast) are so poorly designed it feels like devs wanted you to cheese them. Still I didn't and can brag now in social media about how cool and elite gamer I am ;) That's my definition of fun.

[@gabrielnieves3972]

This review reeks of salt

[@RandomGameClips27]

A friend of mine is a hardcore anime weeb and mained Moonveil then Rivers of Blood once he found those katanas ofcourse using mimic tear and we had some phone calls and he was explaining to me laughingly how busted his tactics were yet he told me that there is no right or wrong way to play and that he is allowed to play how he wants. I HARD disagree since you could not only do alot of DPS with one of these 2 OP katanas, you could also posture break very easily. Giving him a wrong picture of how the game actually feels like to play. Mind you it took me about 200h for my 1st playthrough going blind and trying to find everything by my own. I started to play on 2nd week of the release and it took me about idk how many weeks to finish it, maybe 1 month. Once I finished the game, i started to allow myself to go online and look up stuff and read some reddit posts and guides and whatnot. Oh boy i never knew those 2 katanas were so busted before or the Meteorit Beam being able to oneshot bosses. I am so happy to have avoided all of those meta stupid things since i got a legit gaming experience compared to all the fools who looked up stuff day 1 to make the game experience easier.

[@KuonilerariLoufanwald]

@@RandomGameClips27 it sounds like your friend had fun playing a game he enjoys in his own way and you're here shit-talking him about how he's "playing it wrong." Great friend you are.

[@mattkatz5542]

@@RandomGameClips27 I think as long as you both enjoyed the game then there's no issue. You both payed the $60, like everyone else, and seems like you both got your worth out of it. If we were playing a math problem and went about it completely differently but still got the same correct answer, were either of us truly wrong?

[@Overexposed1]

Love the video. Can tell you were fired up at the end of this one. Did my play through blind...until I couldn't. I had a very similar experience. It really breaks immersion having to pull out of the game and go to a guide for help.

[@MaddieRaeGun]

Same. After 80 hrs and just beating Raya Lucaria I said nah, let’s start looking up some things - weapons and spells to try, quest lines to follow. I hated that I had to do that but my experience wouldn’t have been as good without it.

[@brandonman1315]

That’s on you, not the game.

[@gamemaster112ful7]

@@brandonman1315 In this case, that really is on the game.

[@ksar98]

@@brandonman1315 It really is the game

[@crepooscul]

I played Dark Souls 3 like 12 times, and after playing this game for 3-4 hours, all I could say is "can't play it the 13'th time".

[@Kingcobra6699]

For a casual gamer who likes to not play for 1 week and then be able to pick up where I left. That was not possible in ER - not for me at least. That combat was to difficult for just occasional play and of course no guidance as to what to do and where to do it. Even the Art style wasn't to my taste, albeit I acknowledge that it is very good quality, just not my taste.

[@carlositu97]

This is gona be a long one, so I'll start with the TL;DR: I understand all the complains, and I get where they come from. I do not necessarily disagree with them, I just had a whole different experience with this game with a very similar approach to it. And I think that most of the complains are not about the game itself, but about what the mass appeal and internet subculture has done to these kinds of games. Anyways, here's the long version. I just happened to get your "Bad Games" video recomended, liked it, and decided to go through your other videos as I enjoyed your takes. I UTTERLY love Elden Ring, it has been one of the most magical gaming experiences I've ever had, so I wanted to hear your take on it. While I disagree with most of the complains, I understand where they come from. To me, FromSoft games have never been about the difficult bosses, or the insane difficulty they can reach at certain points - (I'm looking at you, Orphan of Kos and Ishin Ashina). They have always been about the insane level of detail, the masterful art direction, the world design and the small stories contained within the mostly similar narratives they all explore. The themes are similar, anyways (Cyclical stories, powerful souls, a corrupt church as you very well pointed out, etcetera). Elden Ring took over my life like few games have achieved before or since. I took a vacation week just to play this game, and I barely did anything besides sleep, play ER and eat. It felt so big the first time. So impossibly big that with every new area I reached, every new piece of map I found, would leave me questioning how much bigger could it be. By the time I was ready to take on Radagon and EB, I had, blindly, stumbled upon almmost every secret of the game except for the second Haligtree Medallion and thus I was kept wondering where the Big Redhead Lady would be. I had 5 out of 6 endings ready except for the Goldmask ending because I lacked the stats to change the statue to reveal the big Radagon/Marika twist. That means that, at some point while exploring Leyndell, I got lost in the sewers. Then I found a dungeon inside, that lead to a boss with a secret wall that lead to a parkour puzzle, and after I had died like 30+ times failing to land the jumps, I decided to strip my armor to reduce fall damage (I was wearing the Crucible set, and I really did not know if that weight affected fall damage, but it did in other games so I just tried). I succeded on my second attempt, found a door and, through sheer luck, was naked at that point so I got branded with the Chaos Flame. To me, that was one of the craziest things I have ever experienced, and not only that, but there was another secret wall down there, that lead to the roots of a tree that lead to Fia and the Death Prince, and it just so happened that I had already progressed rannis quest line, so I actually got to fight Fortisax down there. And my mind was blown to pieces. I think that, sadly, the repetition and blandness of the mostly samey dungeons and caves hurts the game in the long run, but my first 100+ hours with the game, piecing together the story, trying to find who to trust and who not to trust and what the Elden Ring even was, is something that I think no game will ever achieve. It cast a spell on me that, to this day, still makes me feel that childlike wonder. It also adds to my own experience that I'm a massive Berserk fan so I felt like I was playing the best Berserk game ever made, and every little nod made me feel warm and fuzzy while I was still trying to process the fact that Miura was dead and there would be no more Berserk from him, so it helped me move on with a deep wound I had been carrying for almost a year. Anyways, I understand that's my subjective experience, and no two are alike. I think that, for the most part, the longest stretch of the video complains about the "meta" way to play, and what the elements outside of the game - namely the community, which has always been both a source of incredible thoughtfulness and love and one of the most toxic places on the internet, depending where you look. And I agree. The "git gud" part of the community, the "you are not playing the right way" people, they bring down the value of the experience as a whole to a lot of people. I've talked about this game a lot with my friends. while tring to avoid engaging in online dicourse because that usually doesn't get you anywhere and I've dealt with enough trolls in my life to understand that arguing for the sake of arguing is pointless. And all of my friends reached Malenia at some point or another, weather through sheer luck or, like me, with a little help of the wiki to find Albus and get the medallion. And all of them struggled a lot with her - myself included - some of them summoned people, others resorted to the mimic tear and few of them actually went the hard way and solo'd her, but no two builds were the same. I tried all of the approaches, but my victory - at around 3 and a half hours - came in a solo run, understanding that the best defense is sometimes a good offense and stayng on top of her while using pokes, jumps and the AoW on blaidd's weapon to create windows to deal damage and apply frostbite. And it felt great overcoming her, not because of the challenge but because of what it mean to beat such a living legend, decayed and yet magnificent, willing to rot to the ground just to protect her little brother who she didn't even realize had been stolen from her. It was tragic, but necessary. I wept more than I'm willing to admit. I still do when I hear the boss theme. All this is to say that, sadly, the fact that FS games are so consistently good and everyone that jumps in has that "click" on their brains and start loving them with their whole being has hurt them. Anything that gets big enough is bound to have a big portion of the fanbase that will ruin the fun ad joy if you look to hard into the community. And sadly, those voices are the loudest. I do belive this is peak FS, only topped by Bloodborne because that game is so impossibly good in every department that I do not think they will be able to top it, not entirely anyways. Anyways, loved the video. It was well put together, well structured and even if some of the problems you brought up felt more subjective to your experience with it, that's what good gaming criticism is about. And to anyone that loved or hated this game that sat through this entire book of text, I hope you find the piece of media that hit you as deep as this game hit me. I can't wait for SotE next month. Take care of yourselves, be nice to others and drink some water

[@aliteralfart3819]

I LOVE the ending of this video lmao. HUGS MATTER. I played blind and had a good time but my biggest problem was that every boss fight feels like an exercise in brute forcing over actually learning and improving. I ended up using dual pickaxes which ended up being pretty op despite being so off meta. Also I used the Pumpkin head ash once and a while who I loved

[@wordsshackles441]

Get gud

[@whenisdinner2137]

The only thing I think is comparable to what you're feeling with Elden ring is what old Fallout fans must have felt like when Fallout 3 came out and it was basically undeniably more successful than the rest of the series but didn't have the same magic that made the original series and trying to fight the wave of millions of people who only played the new game and only like the series for the new game

[@Dimebag-wx2rs]

@Krinab I played Dark Souls 1 for the first time Dark Souls 3 for the first time, and Elden Ring for the first time all within a year of each other, I can safely say I did not like elden ring and loved the others. What a weird way to brush of valid criticism lol

[@ayachoo]

@@scandalouspanda7489 You project your expirience on everyone so dont talk about being needless and rude

[@CyroTheSpider]

@Krinab You'd think that, but no. I'm also one of those people that played Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 many years after Fallout 3. Same thing with Dark Souls 1, my first playthrough was last year. Today I think Fallout 1 and 2 are a lot better than Fallout 3. Dark Souls 1 also has something that's missing from Elden Ring.

[@TheRealSonicBeats]

@@Dimebag-wx2rs Probably because it plays more like Bloodbourne than a traditional Dark Souls. Bloodbourne and Elden Ring are both my favorite SoulsBourne games because of the pacing of combat. They're very similar but very different games. Elden Ring also is a lot less linear so its easy to get lost while trying to track certain things. I feel like guides help the experience but not if you read it point for point and follow it to a T. I found a great in depth guide that was also able to just be glanced at. After reading the first few things to do in an area, you usually get the jist of everything. I've also been playing since DS2 and things just seem to get better.

[@personman1148]

I didn't grow up with Fromsoft games I've played all of them and while Elden Do g is phenomenal something is missing but I can't pin it. I've enjoyed it more on my Guts build second play through but by the end game it still doesn't feel right.

[@pk6700]

Hi,@NeverKnowsBest, what is a meta build, exactly? Is it a build that is merely OP or does it mean something else?

[@chazzilla8919]

"Meta" refers to a style of play that is popular within the community for being more effective than most other strategies.

[@Ralwor]

Elden Ring introduced me to Dark Souls and I fell in love with both. You're right. I fucking hate that you're right. Its still my favorite game though. The game that introduced me to Dark Souls flawed as it is will always have a special place in my heart. And when I'm fimally done playing it, ill remember it the way I remember Skyrim. Deeply Flawed, but it was still my favorite.

[@kupokinzyt]

I have not finished this video yet (about half-way), but I want to say, by the end of it whether I agree with you or not, you will still be my favorite review/critique channel. I don't follow you because I want you to have the same opinion as mine, I follow you because I enjoy listening to your own opinions, discussing them out into your own words and thoughts. You are my favorite channel by the content you make and I hope you don't get too many dislikes on this video, because someone has a different feeling than you do. I left a thumbs up, thanks for the long video analysis Never.

[@jakestamper1031]

100% this, I don't always agree with Never, but I'm always interested in his take

[@Rob6990]

Let's see if this one gets The Act Man banned

[@Bond95123]

Simp

[@Robert-tl2vg]

Why not watch it before commenting?

[@Agon1stt]

Exactly my thoughts when i saw the notification for this video as well, he is arguably the best critique of games on youtube

[@Clone42]

I have a friend who compulsively reads every wiki and meta resource for every game and implements "best practices." I prefer to play games for the surprises and experimentation. Co-op with him became insufferable, so we haven't bothered in years. The mindset is so radically different that it's not even the same hobby.

[@Phex1]

Holy shit, i have the same kind of person on my MP-Team. "Why are you doing this????" "Its fun!" "BUT IT IS NOT EFFICENT!"

[@thedeegeesaga]

I hate that, and it's sad it happens

[@bukojoetheslapsoils8273]

@@Phex1 Just last week, I was playing PSO2NGS then a person in our guild told the guild chat that he's making a tank build, then here came the "meta players" that are saying playing tank is useless. To make the other member not feel bad, I told him that I, too, use a tank build that is so thicc that I can take 4-6 hits from an Ancient (the strongest enemy in the game) where most players die in 1 or 2 hits. Those meta players then told me that it's stupid because players hit enemies more often than getting hit by enemies. IDK about them but because of my build, I am able to solo Ancients but when they learned that I use a tank build, they immediately think that my DPS is low (it's not the case tho. I still hit harder than others) so they stopped inviting me to join party quests. I'm planning to leave the group once I find a better one to join. I'm playing the game to roleplay and to have fun but "meta players" are just ruining my time. I muted the guild chat so I can play in peace. Fk those guys.

[@AndyWallWasWeak]

someone needs to work in this world, glad there's better candidate than me sounds like the kind of person who will make their boss happy, so maybe should try finding a job instead of playing videogames

[@LJAndrews1986]

Yeah your friend doesn't deserve to play games, imagine being that way, I know I can't. Letting guides and wikis play a game for you before you've played it for yourself is a insult to the devs.

[@DarthErmac503]

It took me 8 hours to beat Malenia. (Around 5 days since I didnt do it in one sitting.) what weapons did I use? i used rivers of blood to beat that B.

[@zbmccarter]

The falling star beast jaw works well in her second phase

[@J_A_P_E]

Another problem I have with ER is the character building system buckles under the weight of the game itself, specifically when it comes to defense and resistances I wish they modified the system to be more liberal with defense stat distribution, or at least break the limits of diminishing returns.. on top of that armor seems to get worse with each successive release

[@Comandate7]

At this point the they should just have it be cosmetic with some minor resistances like Bloodborne.

[@sunbleachedangel]

they really don't want people to do tanky builds it seems, although shields are as good as ever so I guess just slap a Greatshield on a naked character and you're good

[@Herr_Brechmann]

You literally can be so tanky that the final boss cant touch you. This whole comment section is one big cope XD

[@contemporaryconundrums93]

​@@Herr_Brechmann It involves so much grinding and cheesing and meta gaming that it's not really worth it.

[@sunbleachedangel]

@@Herr_Brechmann basically armour sucks, shields good

[@nrask8727]

They punish you in another way when you do go and search out the world. You constantly risk breaking side quests by talking to the wrong people, killing a boss in the wrong order, or even just opening some other quest before you were "supposed" to.

[@dmjr437]

thats why you just replay the game. theres like 7 different endings

[@askmeier359]

@@dmjr437 yeah just replay the entire game smh

[@yidingliu8663]

This. Other issues, especially level gating, I can live with. But this is a big no-no for me. New Vegas has level gating, but you generally don't break quests by doing things in your order. Witcher 3 has level gating, sort of, and you generally don't break quests by doing things in your order. And these are less forgiving examples. Things like BotW, Elder Scrolls/Fallouts, or Ubisoft games are absolutely scared to keep people out of content. Not asking anything to that level, but having quest not broken by doing open-world things in an open-world game, when there are so few quests.

[@naka3339]

@@askmeier359 "ohhh noo the game punish me because if i dont play using a 100% all secrets guide i dont get 100%" lmao retard

[@sakurakiefluvr]

dawg replay the game that’s why it’s good it’s fun to replay bc u can get a different story every time making it entertaining

[@GlassesAndCoffeeMugs]

One problem that I always find myself encountering when starting a new game is that the difficulty at the beginning causes me to resort to using the most OP weapons and gear, which then makes the game too easy. Even if I intentionally go out of my way to NOT use OP spells at the beginning of the game, such as Dragonfire, I will still upgrade weapons to as high as possible as soon as possible which makes the early game a bit of a breeze, at which point I feel like I'm just repeating content with no added challenge.

[@PointlesslyNecessaryConvos]

The beginning difficulty is the only part that is well tuned. The second half of the game is where op items become necessary for most

[@GlassesAndCoffeeMugs]

@@PointlesslyNecessaryConvos I just have a habit of starting with Uchigatana and hitting the mines right off the bat for the smithing stones and a few other places, always shreds bosses until like lvl 40 or so. Maybe it's my fault for doing that and ruining the difficulty though.

[@Gretstarret]

@@GlassesAndCoffeeMugs Well heres your problem. I just started again and using Uchigatana but sticking to the "recommended levels"-guide (for instance, +4 weapon and up to lvl40 @ Godrick) and I've been having an absolute blast. I also switch weapons around a lot due to that capping mechanic and getting way too many smithing stones. But this is nothing new in souls series. All previous games also have been total ezmodes if you went for the easy options. Limit yourself and the challenge stays.

[@amorfati4927]

@@Gretstarret Yeah… I dunno… I’m still on my first play through (I didn’t by the game when it first came out or anything so it’s like it’s taken me 5 months to get where I’m at) because I don’t have a crazy amount of time to play but I never went out of my way to level and honestly haven’t even used my runes unless I’m a couple thousand away from a new level and I don’t trust myself to remember to remember that I didn’t put the elevator back up and I’ll run off the ledge and lose my shit. Not using spells or incantations. Not using bleed really (I sometimes double poleblade and my other one is Elora’s but that’s as far as I go), though I do dip into cold from time to time. Not optimizing weapons and stats and just playing what I want to use (so right now I have dual Magma Blades which honestly didn’t take more than 30 mins to get 2 of them and a Magma Wyrm’s Scalesword). Not using summons or ashes. I’m just not finding this game very difficult. I can’t imagine people pumping their power up and trying to use the most broken weapons and mechanics. It would seem like a snoozefest I could imagine.

[@Afflictamine]

they basically designed the game to force people to respec and try different builds, when in the other souls games you can keep the same playstyle the whole way through. all of the nerfs and buffs they have done supports this as well, they basically just nerfed whatever the speed runners were using for like 5 patches in a row now.

[@henryjones8636]

The only criticism I'd add to this incredible video is that the mounted combat feels quite dull but the encounter design, specifically the general NUMBER of enemies the game throws at you at once, incentivizes the player to use Torrent and pick the enemies off while they can't possibly contend with your speed and maneuverability.

[@escapeeatcake]

The recycled bosses started to annoy me and the last 3 main boss fights are terrible. It's really good for a first run but it feels stale the second time unlike bloodborne and the souls games.

[@tharris3600]

Was anyone actually attacked by blaidd on first sight? I've never even heard of this lol.

[@fontunetheteller410]

Me. Found him on the top of the tower. Didn't know about the snap emote, and after a few times revisiting the ruins, Blaidd was gone. I walked around and he started attacking me.

[@tharris3600]

@@fontunetheteller410 that's super interesting! Lol. I have mixed feelings on this video, but yeah, I think a lot of this game has to do with the good or bad luck that people have when they first go through it. Had no idea blaidd could do this.

[@fontunetheteller410]

@@tharris3600 I totally disagree with this video. Any dark souls 1 fan knows that from the start you can choose to go into the catacombs, but if you do, you'll get ripped to shreds unless you're super skilled. This is called a skill gate. Elden ring moderates it's open world by making sure there are skill gates everywhere. It really is his own fault for going straight to stormveil castle instead of weeping peninsula first. After fighting one boss for an hour you'd think he'd learn. It's all downhill from there, of course you're going to have a bad time with over/under leveling of you IGNORE THE VERY CLEAR SKILL GATES

[@tharris3600]

@@fontunetheteller410 I generally agree with you. I was pretty conscious of trying to find challenges around my level. My only problem was missing southern limgrave and castle morne until later haha...but it was still just a great time. The endgame bosses felt pretty badly balanced, but that really was my primary complaint.

[@user-hj8oh9kh7v]

Me.. and i killed him

[@Dupernerd]

"There's no sense of real danger" sounds very much like the perspective of someone who has finished and fully explored the game. Elden Ring may not have the same oppressive, enclosed level design as other Fromsoft games. But for me at least, the first journey through this game felt very much like exploring a dangerous, hostile world. Each new enemy I encountered posed a new, unknown challenge that threatened to kill me for my ignorance. After some hundred or so hours of exploration, sure, the game feels less scary and dangerous, but I feel the same is just as true for Dark Souls or Sekiro.

[@yaotlzodoxis9893]

As someone who never finished the game, the only parts where I felt in danger were the classic dungeon areas. Any time I was in the huge open world I never feared any enemy because I could just hop on torrent and gtfo. Exception being those damn sniper lobsters.

[@axelnilsson2031]

disagree, did not feel threatened in the open world ever because you have torrent

[@LSK2K]

The guy in the video expects a game to still be challenging to the player after more than 2 playthroughs. I don't hate the guy but that's pretty stupid, really. The first time I played dark souls 3 Gundyr took me around 7 attempts and after 400+ hours in the game I abandoned the game for a year then came back for a deprived playthrough and got him on a first attempt. A game that is constantly being played loses its challenge.

[@basedfemboi9401]

After the 3rd playthrough and after I explored everywhere and killed all the enemy types sure but the first couple of playthroughs were crazy especially since I never played a game like this before

[@ImortalZeus13]

There’s very little danger in the open world especially while on horseback. The only places in the overworld that felt especially dangerous were the few times you’re forcefully teleported to an unusual location with difficult enemies around you.

[@minhv5513]

Part 2 on the open world design really hit the nail on the head as to why I was also disappointed by Elden Ring. I played through largely blind as well. The whole notion of “riding around on Torrent and enjoying how the world looks” resonates with my experience with Elden Ring. I literally fell asleep riding through the lands between lol Sekiro is my favorite FromSoft game because it’s so contained and focused.

[@streunekatze8205]

I'm kind of glad, I'm not the only one feeling that way. I came late into these games, played Dark Souls very late with a friend, than a long time Later Lies of P caught my attention and I absolutely loved it. Done Bloodborne and again, loved it also playyed steelrising (it was okay). My friends all said I would love Elden Ring, now that I started playing it, I just don't feel it, the open world they love isn't for me, and I honestly don't have the time to explore every corner and take so many wrong turns, I'm 24h into the games and I think it is a good game, but not for me, it is not the "souls game" I was hoping for.