Yeah, Elden Ring is Game of the Year

This is definitely a hot take.
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Thank you to Andrew Huntly for helping proofread some things.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - The World to Explore
09:43 - Mixing Gameplay Up
15:45 - A Commitment to Amaze
23:27 - Conclusion
24:37 - Credits and Questions
26:43 - Cubita lava!
the least maiden-less game of 2022
#eldenring #gamereview #powerpak

[@PowerPakGames]

I know what to do about the bodies now, don't worry. Elden Ring is great and I don't know what else I can add to that. Next video before the end of the year. Hopefully.

[@justsomenumpty]

It's *our* game of the year, buddy

[@xTheNameisEthan]

I think when I first got Godrick to his 2nd phase and he grafted the dragon onto his arm and said "forefathers one and all, bear witness!" and my jaw was on the floor as I got one shot by the fire, that's when I was like yeah this is fucking game of the year and it's not gonna be close

[@globox123456789]

I just love how FromSoft absolutely nailed the open world aspect with their first try. Most devs just use Ubisoft's formula (old faithful lol) like Ghostwire Tokyo, to compare it to another Japanese developer which gets always tedious after a short while.

[@--Cat--]

I haven't fallen so deeply in love with the npcs of a video game since Dragon Age Inquisition. And that's saying something, it's my favorite game of all time. Blaidd, Ranni, and Alexander are the obvious choices. But Fia, Dialos, D, Sir Gideon Offnir, Kenneth Haight, and Nepheli all are characters that I grew to care about. The absolute rage I felt when D killed Fia, the despair at Dialos's death, the pride in Nepheli rising to lordom, and the shock of Sellen's fate are emotions *no* game has ever made me feel. The main bosses exemplify this. Each cutscene shows exactly who this person is, how much of a badass they are, their motivations, and how hard it is going to be to fight this legendary figure. The Radahn fight is a great example, but it's not the best one in my opinion. Godfrey, Morgott, and Rennala's second phase are some of my favorite scenes in fiction. "I've Given thee courtesy enough. Now I fight as Hoarah Loux! Warrior!" "Have it write upon thy meager grave. Felled by King Morgott, Last of all Kings." "Foul trespasser. Send word far and wide.Of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth."

[@Morden97]

I like that you mentioned the map, that's a truly brilliant part of the game.

[@Cra-b]

For me a acurate description of Elden Ring would be an playable book, into everywhere you look seems like there is a detail they put effort onto.

[@_nenju]

Except I like to reread books

[@fang4223]

I remember my first runthrough, for the first time in recent memory I was actually using map markers. "Oh, this is a good mushroom farming location." "They drop the smithing stones I need here." "Lots of fawna for crafting mats here." I cannot, off the top of my head, ever think of a time where I felt compelled to do that. To me, it just goes show how real the world can feel. If I had to give a complaint, it's this: wolves don't hunt the goats and hares. There's no true ecosystem when that could of easily been put in, even if that's ripe for farming abuse.

[@RunEscaqe3]

Radahn together with Placidusax was definitely my favorite boss moments of the game, I still think that they should make Radahn way harder as a boss fight.

[@matgougeon3087]

It was before they patched it a week or two after release.

[@RunEscaqe3]

@@matgougeon3087 Yes, he was decently hard on release, but even at that point, his HP was considerably low compared to any of the end game bosses, and he was never even the toughest boss in Caelid.

[@irathil]

There is a big debate if Elden Ring has actually revolutionary open world. And I agree with you, that it has. People usually don't see, that it's not just "hiding markers" (which is something I'd love to be at least singular checkbox in most open world), but Its about giving player best tools for him to explore (proper geological map - not the skyrim one, sites of grace vaguely guiding you, way in which zones are connected, so you don't accidently wander into hell without realisation) AND at the same time scattering its content in a logical, aligned with terrain geometry so player can find stuff following ravines, hills or climbing the mountains. Also height differences and general 'framing' of points of interest (raya lucaria after exiting stormveil), allow player to have reference points (stormveil castle visible from whole limgrave, erdtree visible from everywhere). You can get lost, while not being lost at the same time. You still have fast travel, but you have to be careful with exploration, as death is not meaningless. Only other open world game, when I had so much fun exploring was subnautica.

[@savevsdeath]

The most hype fight to me was oddly enough.... Commander O'Neil I get pumped every time I hear RALLY..... BRAVE KNIGHTS!

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

O'Neill is incredibly underrated. Sends his knights, and goes all "Fine, I'll do it by myself." Also his moveset is something you'll see in an anime.

[@BoRice82]

I have Bloodborne and Sekiro. I just can't get anywhere in those two. In Elden Ring, I kicked rocks, came back 2 months later, and kicked ass

[@kerianhalcyon2769]

My only disappointment in the spirit system is that it's tied to singleplayer experiences. It would have been amazing being an invader with a summoner build, or having you and a buddy summon a mimic tear together and go full gank squad on a boss together. It would have been incredibly broken and require some strict balancing to accomplish, but it could have been a lot of fun.

[@fakename5805]

The Radahn nerf was reverted only about a week after it happened.

[@PerpetualDaydreamer]

It might be an obvious choice, but the game has clearly earned that spot. Plus it's interesting to hear a well-articulated explanation behind that. Good vid~

[@OZZY-mp9sc]

The game is my GOTY as well but man I wish we could've had combat elements from sekiro in elden ring especially with the bosses being as fast as they are

[@flamingmanure]

nah thats a different game entirely. besides, elden ring enemies are no where near as aggressive as sekiros nor do they attack anywhere near as frequently. for cryin out loud half the enemies in elden ring half such long windups you can drink tea in between, alot of them you can strafe around them and hit their back before they even start theactual swing XD the difference in elden ring in comparison to the non sekiro games is that spamming R1/dodge with half assed dodge direction doesnt fly, the bosses in this game beat that into me. if i was just pressing R1 a few times and backing off rinse and repeat, then i was gonna have a bad time. all ground shockwave attacks can be attacked through, same with all tail attacks and low attacks, dont believe me? watch a couple of vids on youtube showcasing it, i do wish they added the THUMP sound effect when you should jump through a certain attack like sekiro, but i digress. ashes of war are actually important to posture break, and dodge direction and positioning is now a requirement, unlike the non sekiro games. you can mostly get away with the typical backwards dodge in older games, not anymore though. tbh, im glad fromsoft are decreasing environmental difficulty wlike falls and long boss/bonfire runs like in bb and ds1, and since ds3, theyve been concentrating the difficulty in bosses and enemies, so theyve been actively countering souls veteran instinct with each game. you can kiss the old souls of just pressing R1 a few times and backing off for 40 hours goodbye, and as much as i loved that, this shit is on another league. ER combat has a different "click" that we all go through when u play a new souls game. took me a long time to even like sekiro, now its one of my fav of all time and my second favorite fromsoft game after ER.

[@AnthonyDoesYouTube]

Skill issue

[@OZZY-mp9sc]

@@AnthonyDoesKZbin Watchu mean skill issue I'm on NG +7 Just meant that the game would've been funner with Sekiro combat elements

[@flamingmanure]

a brit that loves bb the most? well color me surprised XD all jokes aside im glad ER introduced me to the souls franchise, overall ER is may fav by far, followed by sekiro which is the tightest most fluid and focused fromsoft has ever been, and then ds3 and bb are tied, then ds1. will be playing demons and ds2 soon though as i gotta ps5! cant wait to see armored core too. its a good time to be a fromsoft fan thats for sure.

[@ogroberts]

I put more hours into Elden Ring than every other game this year combined, including GOW:R. I agree Elden Ring is GOTY. GOW:R might deserve an Emmy or Oscar tho'.

[@mc_zittrer8793]

I remember just meandering about Limgrave, drinking in the scenery and learning how to fight. Dusk fell on the bridge as I was bullying some brigands, then all of a sudden I see a massive health bar unroll itself at the bottom of the screen. Night Cavalry.....I wonder who that is. Homie apparated right behind me and scared the pants right off me! I've had many strange and wonderous encounters since, but that was my first real opening impression to all the things I would come to love about Elden Ring.

[@aaron8342]

wait, dwarf fortress actually looks like a game now?

[@SickKitty-IsDead]

After going through Paks library of content i skipped this video a few times because ive heard so much about elden ring already but this review still gave me fresh perspectives on some of the finer details of the game amazing video!

[@apolonier11]

General Starscourge Radahn isn't a road block tho. He's *optional.*

[@queertitan]

I do wish they left the sites of grace icons on the map after you new game+.

[@YaeLisa]

GORE is a pretty good game, but not GOTY material (that would be the very first Gungrave if it was released this year). For me it would be Signalis.

[@rynnziolkowski4642]

My first playthrough i know exactly what he means, i was always terrified but also excited as i slowly made my my through the lands between. And because its a fromsoft game, i spent a massive 240 hours trying to scour each individual grain of dirt

[@Overonator]

The world in Forspoken is it like Horizon or Elden Ring?

[@Iijjccbb]

I remember when I first faced godrick and I got to the second phase I was stunned just long enough to get hit but i reacted fast enough that I was still able to beat him on the first try. But prepatch radahn is still one of my crowning achievements.

[@DarthNopspin]

I made the mistake to look at trailers and the demo. Now I know to spoil myself was a big mistake and won't do this with the DLC.

[@netherprince1813]

im on my 4th runthrough of elden ring and watching this made me smile about it all over again. it is a SPECTACLE

[@prestongarvey4259]

Caelid is Ohio, or Brazil, maybe California...

[@Cra-b]

its all of the three at once.

[@prestongarvey4259]

@@Cra-b thank you Sun Tzu, your wisdom had enlightened me

[@Cra-b]

@@prestongarvey4259 you're welcome Preston.

[@apophis7712]

It's Texas

[@xBINARYGODx]

Sorry, buy ER is not the entry that breaks the DeS/DS thing out from the niche.

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

I think DS3 did it first more than anything, made a massive crack in the wall. Elden Ring finished the job however.

[@NateYet]

I found radahn funny. I killed him alright my first time round. And even in one attempt my second. But my third go at him I struggled for a day

[@Szanth]

Aw shit I saw the footage of the icons on the Forbidden West map and I was like "fuck yeah" Hype for that to come to PC

[@noodlepooddood3329]

Genuinely curious, how on earth was dying light 2’s world “stale” I love that world and game even more than the original.

[@cako666]

I'm ashamed to admit that I did use the mimic tear for Malenia and Elden Beast. And it's not like if someone else did it I think they are casuals or some dumb shit like that. But I do feel like it is a bit too broken and I have a strict rule of no player summons, so it felt kind of cheaty under my context

[@Cyberaser]

There is so much love in this review, nearly as much as I love Elden Ring. It's my game of life time currently. I was so sad when I finished it off.

[@Floralsickness]

I Fucking love your content!

[@MohidPvE]

Game of the decade

[@AdamNiezurawski]

It's much more like FEZ than The Witness at that specific moment. ;)

[@IllyasArt]

Help, I am stuck in a room where I must binge your entire channel, so that I can get out!

[@china_is_asshole]

Awesome... I don't have an online connection for my ps5 so hopefully he'll be pre-nerfed👌

[@mosshivenetwork117]

Ring of the year.

[@oneannoyingwhiteguy]

I wish I could see the appeal of these games. I bought elden ring, played 30 minutes of it. Realized I didn’t like it and have not been able to get into it ever again. Something similar happened with dark souls 3.

[@queertitan]

Elden Ring does feel special

[@ferdinand349]

Can torrent fly like the sunwing.

[@meowlnight1]

Was a bit sloggy for me.

[@friend4596]

The only thing stopping radahn from being one of fromsofts best bosses is gameplay Its the one thing which keeps him below gael, ludwig, freide etc

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

More like his gimped HP

[@friend4596]

​@@supersbbrawl4ever I'm talking regardless of hp which really just depends on how prepared you are and when you approach the boss. Radahn's gameplay isn't great you can get below his legs and keep chopping for ages on most attacks which makes him trivial

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

@@friend4596 At the same time Radahn severely punishes mistakes. Though they did gimp his hitboxes with patches.

[@towermoss]

Dwarf Fortress is GOTY every year.

[@ectothermic]

Only thing I don't like about this game is how many dungeons there are and how little they actually give of value. You made a point early in the video about copy-pasting and how Elden RIng isn't like other games because it's not copy-pasted. All the dungeons are and they don't have rewards most of the time, the argument that they don't expect you to finish them isn't really good either, because that's time that was taken away from overworld encounters feeling as carefully crafted as in Dark Souls 3, which was a lot more linear but also a lot more carefully measured.

[@Sharpman34]

Great video bud. I've personally watched a ton of elden ring essays, and this is top tier. Nice

[@patavinity1262]

The way the player character always carries his sword on his shoulder is very, very annoying and stupid.

[@jonahulichny9874]

Why? Why does that detail piss you off so much.

[@cyphermasq7870]

I guess my biggest gripe about Elden ring is that the message, theme and implications of the world feel so much less.... impactful and meaningful. It feels a lot more explicitly like Nihilistic misery porn compared to the patches of brightness in the Dark Souls games.

[@Darkmatter-oh8kz]

If you enjoy souls games, I highly recommend the monster hunter franchise.

[@ni9274]

Not really, monster hunter will not be very interesting for people who like the lore, the exploration and the level design. It’s more for people who like the bosses and the combat.

[@Gojobutblaxk2312]

IMO I can’t get into Elden Ring cuz it’s kinda annoying and time consuming but overall without all the grinding It’s the Greatest game I’ve played :D Edit:started elden ring enjoyed it a lot and grinding isn’t too bad waiting for dlc!

[@sillyom7071]

No one asked. WE love grinding.

[@Gojobutblaxk2312]

@@sillyom7071 ok

[@VladDascaliuc]

@@sillyom7071 No one asked either.

[@SomeUnkindledAsh]

Time consuming? That's a really odd gripe. All games are time consuming. It's kinda the point

[@VladDascaliuc]

@@SomeUnkindledAsh Implying that all games value your time equally and that there aren't games that take more time than others.

[@RYYGE]

agreed and 5 min ago nice

[@Markm8]

Eh game suxs compared to ruber duck sim

[@St0rmTheGates]

I'm sad that Elden Ring was so successful. I think its one of the worst soulslike games, and yet its commericial success means we are never getting a Dark Souls or a Sekiro ever again. Open world maps allow for exploration, but destroy difficulty balance and story flow. The combat in the game was unbalanced. The bosses get copied and pasted so many times. The little shrine dungeons have nowhere near the appeal of a well-constructed map that both feels lived in and loops back on itself in a satisying way, a la Dark Souls 1. I wont deny that Elden Ring is better than other AAA open world games, but thats a low bar. Thats like a grown man saying "Yeah, but im stronger than those 8 year olds".

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

On the other hand, the legacy dungeons are by far and away From's best level designs, the build variety is comfortably the best, the freedom to explore means that you can come back to fight when you feel ready for it and the fact that you can skip so much in subsequent playthroughs. Elden Ring's flexibility is totally unmatched, the lore is the best Fromsoft has ever done and for all of the repeated bosses, there are still so many good to excellent ones.

[@VladDascaliuc]

While the game is neat and it has a lot of good stuff in it, it still has A LOT of very bad design choices and it worries me that it getting GOTY will mean that they will double down on them rather than fixing what needs to be fixed.

[@Upsetkiller456]

Elden Ring *was* my GOTY but then... *S I G N A L I S*

[@h4m078]

I got borde of elden ring in 14 hours

[@ni9274]

Ok,

[@TheSlothDamon]

Probably because you're so smooth brained you can't even spell "bored"

[@jonahulichny9874]

Why?

[@wyattml1641]

This game rightfully deserves game of the year! But, the fact that they did not give it the award for best music. Is a sin on all of humanity! And was a moment that made the game awards feel like the Oscars.

[@finnie4394]

GoW Ragnarok is my goty

[@BoRice82]

Bammas complain cuz they never played cuphead.

[@Dornpunzel]

Elden Ring underwhelmed me and i could not force myself to continue playing it. World is too big and boring to me. Prefered Dark Souls over it any day.

[@friend4596]

Think ers world is hit or miss and just depends on if it clicks that perfect pace a player wants Fromsoft games being too hands free while good also leads to very different experiences i personally didnt really get into er much till after limgrave and weeping and thought that part of the game was good but nothing crazy. But I see the take that the game is very front loaded and limgrave and weeping are the best areas very often. And after playing the game over and over I can kinda see it. I still think theyre boring areas tho visually and conceptually I loved every area from liurnia to the end pretty much and specially altus, constantly found new non repeated stuff to explore and fight Er has the most mechanically complex boss roster and can be the hardest (which it was for me) if you arent using summons or getting very overpowered. So I enjoyed that part aswell, personally think its way better than any non dlc ds3 content, and I think ds1 offers so much a different and unique experience to itself id rather not compare it Sekiro and bb are still probably my favorite because elden ring is less fun on replays

[@Niberspace]

It's GotY sure, but that's what's so sad, that the best thing the games industry can muster is a hack & slash. Imagine if the greatest movie of all times was "Dude where's my car?", that's how sad the industry is.

[@ahmadkhairul337]

Movies and video game are so fundamentally different that it makes no sense to equate them with each other. This line of thought is what created games like TLoU or GoW. Nothing sad about a game that tris to utilize the medium to it's full potential winning the GoTY. What's sad is people thinking animated movie like GoW or TLoU is the pinnacle of the medium when they're literally just copying what movies do without utilizing the difference convention that video games can.

[@roelani]

Tell me you didn't watch his review without telling me you didn't watch his review (or play the game hfdghd). I dunno where you got "hack & slash" bro, that might be the stupidest thing I've heard all month, and it's the first of june.

[@TheOrian34]

What's so sad is your inability to know what hack & slash is, and what ER is.

[@cozzb1938]

You've never played a hack and slash in your life and it shows.

[@yy-oi6kj]

dude! i hate horizon

[@kaiseramadeus233]

So why do these countries bring in new North Korean diplomats? What diplomacy is going on with North Korea that diplomats are needed

[@nemtudom5074]

It bothers me that Elden Ring is the weakest Souls game by far, and yet its still MILES better than anything any other AAA company put out. The only game that even comes close is God of War, and Elden Ring is still better than that, while being weaker than any other souls game (DS2 not included, for obvious reasons)

[@friend4596]

Er has much better level design areas and bosses with more complex movesets and a lot more consistently engaging than ds3 imo Ds3 was way too easy the early game was way too boring the areas and level design (my biggest issue with the game) were a huge step down from ds1. The dlc SAVED ds3 for me I dont think er is the weakest I think purely going off of mechanics and level design a good arguement can be made for it to be the best I just prefer sekiro and bb over it because they have specific things they do much better than er

[@olenhol2przez4]

Nah. Dakrsouls 4 is not interesting for me. After 40 min of combat I refunded it

[@friend4596]

Shows the extent of your attention span and critical thinking But yea the combat mechanics can feel samey but the diversity of it makes up for it and no the game does not feel like dark souls 4 In hindsight I kinda wish it did because I enjoy that aesthetic way more than what er has

[@jonahulichny9874]

Why wasn’t it interesting.

[@johnnymo4000]

I think Elden Ring is one of the worst of the souls games down with DS2. Its a good game but not one of the better ones.

[@jonahulichny9874]

Why?

[@supersbbrawl4ever]

Hard disagree, it's the best out of the bunch

[@danieladamczyk4024]

Elden ring isn't my game of the year.

[@mandrakeblake-tw1uv]

I wanted to play the game, but the graphics look horrible, bland and stale.

[@jonahulichny9874]

How, the color palette looks kinda vibrant going off the video.

[@mandrakeblake-tw1uv]

@@jonahulichny9874 How? The graphics look dull tbh, they look dark and unpolished.

[@jonahulichny9874]

@@mandrakeblake-tw1uv let me ask a similar question, how does it look unpolished? The game often uses bright colors, most notably on the enemies, the golden light from the golden tree in the background is very prominent. Far from being dull. And as for the graphics, that flatly isn’t true. Where does it look dark and unpolished, because I do not see it.

[@mandrakeblake-tw1uv]

@@jonahulichny9874 Seeing the graphics again, and comparing them to the Horizon : Forbidden West, I can see way too much difference. You were right on them looking polished, but at the same time, they look way too bland. The golden trees themselves look not so bright, they look just, dull. They don't seem to pop out, the enviroment doesn't seem to trully be alive. Comparing to games such as GOW:R, where the colors are mostly comprised of gray and white on Midgard, the developers actually seemed to take effort to make the enviroment compelling. And this is even more so in Asgard and Vanaheim. Unlike ER whose places look unshaded and stale. I may have eyesight problems, or I may just not get this whole "Graphics look cool." , but whenever I see the game, the graphics look stale. I'm not saying graphics define a game, but ER is more story and gameplay driven rather than graphics driven,

[@clarencegutsy7309]

@@mandrakeblake-tw1uv ER has a way better aesthetic direction than that shitty dad game.

[@whackman47]

I found his game really boring.

[@kusovia1148]

Other than Destiny which is good simply because it’s exactly like dark souls. All the lore told through item descriptions, created a new genre or sub-genre and has perfect gameplay and mechanics. Honestly, from soft and Bungie are the only developers I preorder from. Also fuck 343 for murdering their magnum opus.