I Don't Like Elden Ring

[DrLitch]

Beating some of the bosses requires preparation and the more work you put in the greater your chances of scoring a victory. Elden Ring can be as hard as you want it to be. Going into a major fight undercooked with a plan to dodge and parry can only take you so far particularly when the said boss is a hit point sponge. Like all RPG's, your preparation and training is basically grinding and exploration. I can see why one may prefer the God of War or the original Demons/Dark Souls format since you are rewarded in regular intervals which is not the case for open world or RPG's with randomization.

I totally get the criticism with Elden Ring which also applies to pretty much every open world title in existence. The difference here is Elden Ring punishes you more for being a lazy explorer or one that holds back on grinding. I look at grinding in an RPG as going to the gym.

As with most things in life, I often find that the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Games with high praise are rarely that good. Games with poor scores are rarely that bad. That doesn't mean you can't trust reviews at all, of course, but I think it's important to take them all in with a general understanding that YMMV.

Absolutely. There is also no substitute for personal taste. Some reviewers could have similar taste to you and you could probably trust them more. There are a few reviewers out there whose taste in RPG's and JRPG's are similar to mine. A recommendation on a game like Atelier Ryza or Ys Monstrum Nox was correlated with me enjoying the games to a similar degree. Whatever the case nobody could possibly be right or wrong here. My top 10 list would probably be all ARPG/JRPG based. A top 100 list by me would be bereft of a single driving, fighting or sports game. To another, my personal video gaming tastes are bizarre. It is all good, it is why we have fun debates

[DaHeckIzDat]

I think my biggest issue is that the game doesn't reward you for learning its mechanics. Specifically the dodge. In Dark Souls, if you dodge an attack you're rewarded by not taking damage from that attack. Despite having its combat ported directly over from Dark Souls, Elden Ring doesn't do that. If you dodge a boss' attack in Elden Ring, the boss spins like a ballerina and hits you anyway. Your reward is only being hit by four attacks instead of five. That's what made Dark Souls fair even though it was still difficult: it played by its own rules. Learn how to dodge, you can avoid damage. Learn the enemy's moves so you can position yourself to take advantage of them, and you can trash any boss like they're made of paper. Elden Ring doesn't want to honor your efforts, it wants to be HARD, so it actively punishes you for using the mechanics that were programmed into it.

[Voor]

I wonder if adding a jump attack means that some other nuances in combat were also changed. It kind of sounds like you were determined to play it just like DS (which makes sense), and it’s differences are throwing you off. But even if that’s not the case, I can relate to liking a more linear approach (even if loose) compared to a total open world.

[Gentlegamer]

I am a Dark Souls fan; and I agree with DHID's criticism.

I could go on a long rant about the many issues, but the most egregious is the combat. The short version is, the enemies are from Bloodborne (fast, aggressive, combo attacks), and the player is stuck using Dark Souls (relatively slow, non-combo-able) attacks and movement. There is a large disconnect between enemy move set and behavior and the core capability of the player's mechanics. And practically every enemy is designed to roll catch the player, not just by delaying attacks, but by doing 180 spins even in the middle of their attack animations, like they are Jedi with perfect reflexes guided by the Force.

Encounter and enemy design is made to be as annoying and "meta" against the player as possible.

Elden Ring is essentially Dark Souls II 2.

[DaHeckIzDat]

In Dark Souls, double-bosses like Ornstein and Smough were meticulously designed to make sure both enemies complimented each other. Ornstein was fast and used light attacks, while Smough was slow and used heavy attacks (and even that is just the surface level of how they compliment each other). But Elden Ring just throws two bosses you've already fought into the same arena with no regard to how they actually work together. Like the Misbegotten Warrior and Crucible Knight fight. They don't compliment each other in the slightest, they're just two guys who can hit really hard and sponge a ton of damage.

[Retro STrife]

I had been planning to get this, so I'm following with interest. I've never played a Dark Souls game, though I've bought a few with intentions of playing them - mostly inspired by DaHeck's ravings and positive online reviews. I only plan to play one EVER - just to get a sense for the series - and I had eventually settled on Bloodborne being the right choice. Then along comes Elden Ring to insane review scores and claims that it trumps all that came before.. so Elden Ring became the new choice. Now you guys are making me wonder...

At my current pace, though, we'll be at Elden Ring III before I have to make a real decision.

[Gentlegamer]

Bloodborne is a true masterpiece, play it!

[DrLitch]

Bloodborne is a true masterpiece, play it!

It would be if the frame rate was not a slideshow. A PS5 rerelease would be most welcome because the game certainly has potential.

[Tron]

I think my biggest issue is that the game doesn't reward you for learning its mechanics. Specifically the dodge. In Dark Souls, if you dodge an attack you're rewarded by not taking damage from that attack. Despite having its combat ported directly over from Dark Souls, Elden Ring doesn't do that. If you dodge a boss' attack in Elden Ring, the boss spins like a ballerina and hits you anyway. Your reward is only being hit by four attacks instead of five. That's what made Dark Souls fair even though it was still difficult: it played by its own rules. Learn how to dodge, you can avoid damage. Learn the enemy's moves so you can position yourself to take advantage of them, and you can trash any boss like they're made of paper. Elden Ring doesn't want to honor your efforts, it wants to be HARD, so it actively punishes you for using the mechanics that were programmed into it.

I think this post and gentlegamer’s post following this one tells me what I really needed to know about this game. It is quite clear to me that this game is a big fat “No thanks”. I love these forums because the Critic & you guys tell me what I want to know. I could read all the major reviews & I’ll bet not one of them addresses this critical flaw at all.

I’m also in the same boat as Retro Strife. I’ve been aware of this series and have intended to play it, but never have. I’m a huge fan of Skyrim and was excited to learn that this series was going open world. Now it looks like I’ll have to play one of the earlier releases that are linear & still am unsure which one to start with.

[Gentlegamer]

Now it looks like I’ll have to play one of the earlier releases that are linear & still am unsure which one to start with.

If you have PS3, Demon's Souls (PS5 remake also acceptable). PS4/PS5, Bloodborne. PS3/Xbox 360, Dark Souls (or PS4/PC Dark Souls Remastered)

Any of those are a good choice.