Sure thing. And of course, this is just my opinion, but I’ve played a ton of computer RPGs and this is pretty much the only series that I can’t quite connect with. If someone really liked the mechanics and aesthetic of previous games but the difficulty was too much, then ER might just be the ticket. But if the mechanics themselves are the problem, this is pretty much more of the same as best I can tell.
Haven’t participated in this thread, but I also appreciate you taking a bullet on this one. Like with you it sounded like everything I hate in gaming 
. Maybe even more so, as I very generally tend to shun non-single-player games. But the glowing reviews were tempting since I’m always on the lookout for quality RPG(ish) time-wasters.
But your experience confirms this one is an absolute no-go for me.
I largely agree with Dr.Strangelove. If the mechanics (or thought of the mechanics) in other Souls games have turned you off, I don’t think this game is going to change things for you. And I haven’t really felt the vaunted lore and world-building fans attribute to the series, although I’ll admit that my adventures have been in the starting region and the one southwest of it, over the bridge. I’ll keep playing it through the weekend since I’m not hating it or anything but I’m fairly certain that before too long I’ll get annoyed by something and bounce off because the only thing keeping me interested right now is just the general aesthetics of the world and curiosity.
As a side note (and probably not helping), I’m playing an Astrologer (i.e. Wizard) and it’s… not a ton of fun? Casting with the staff is slow and clunky and I’ve come across numerous melee weapons but the only new staff I’ve found, I had to look up to locate. Add to that that casting uses a finite resource and it’s not exactly fulfilling. I could start over with a new class of course but frankly I’m not invested enough to redo everything in a suit of armor. If someone is planning to play, I’d steer towards the more traditional Hero/Warrior scheme.
I may get some flack for this, but I’ve found this to be an issue with Japanese games in general, at least in comparison with Western titles, which are usually more “committed to the bit”.
I’ll agree with that. FromSoftware is arguably one of the lesser “offenders;” I’ve seen some JRPGs where the screen is just a constant barrage of numbers and symbols and status bars and such. In Western games this shows up in MMOs but less so in single-player games. ER doesn’t have too much of that, but there is still something very gamey feeling about the presentation.
Thanks for the review. I kind of expected that this would be the answer but I was hoping it wasn’t. I’m just not built for Souls-like games. As I mentioned earlier, I do not derive satisfaction from making 20 attempts at one boss. Some do, and that’s fine. For me it is just an exercise in frustration and increases the chance I will break my TV when I throw the controller at it after dying for the umpteenth time. It’s just not for me.
Tree sentinel is the boss I was referring to in my post. I’m playing a vagabond because it’s the “knight” in this game, though the samurai looks awesome.
Vagabond plays how you would expect but has he some significant improvements to the combat, specifically if you block and attack with your shield and immediately press Heavy Attack you will counter with big damage. Parry and riposte still hits for critical damage but for those of us who aren’t fast enough the block/counter system is great. I’m a shield turtle guy and tend to keep my block up too much. Now I feel like I can do that AND so nice damage.
ETA this post was in response to this post.
I have spent 30 minutes watching Markiplier(a youtuber) fight the first “world boss” straight out the door. He is insisting that while some would recommend coming back later and more powered up, he is not a coward and will fight him NOW. It’s called the “Tree Sentinel”.
Very entertaining.
Questions:
- If you chip away at a world boss’ heath meter and run away, will it remember that you chipped him down? Seems like you could hide, heal, and come back.
- What is the “easiest” or most basic class in this game? Vagabond?
I have not played the game myself but I recall reading that the bosses have boss armor which regenerates. You need to keep at them or they buff themselves back up.
Mind you, I may be misremembering.
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Do those Wandering bosses respawn like Lynels do in Breath of the Wild? Do any enemies respawn?
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Dumb question: Is this game constant struggle to the end? Don’t you ever get super strong?
Missed edit…
The game calls it “super armor” and it seems everything has it in some measure:
Even forgetting Elden Ring for the moment, I went and successfully upgraded my PC to 16GB memory, its max capacity.
I’m waiting on buying the game for now. I’m not sure if I can withstand the constant punishing difficulty, but if its price drops to $35 or so, I’ll grab it and see how I do this summer.
I’m stuck at Margit for the moment. I’ve fought him 30+ times? Had him down to like 5% of life and beefed it. First 15 times I fought him I didn’t know that I could summon spirit pets, the Jellyfish will poison him if you keep it alive long enough for it to build up. Ticks off like 9hp a second, but this dude has a lot of HP. Then I tried the wolves and they were really effective but Magrits sweeping attacks kills them too quickly, my DPS is just too low at the moment to get him dead before the wolves die. Then I realized that I could summon an NPC Sorcerer right outside the door to help too. He made a very large difference but I didn’t win yet. I will soon though. Jump attacks greatly reduce enemy poise, which has had a big effect on this fight too.
ETA: Father Gascogne was far far more frustrating and was truly a skill check. I gave up at him multiple times, which I later found out was unfortunate because he was one of the hardest bosses in the game, everything else got easier after him.
He’s a great boss isn’t he? I’ve gone back and co-oped him quite a bit today (with a +7 weapon, mind - don’t know if the matchmaking rules are widely known yet but had no problem getting summoned) to farm the summon and rune things, and it’s been a lot of fun.
Sounds like you have him beat - it was the spirit imps that worked for me. Seemed quite RNG, sometimes they’d get wiped early but if they stayed alive they did good damage.
I finally beat him. Just barely. Ended up needing to upgrade my Longsword to get my damage up. Definitely abuse jump attacks on this game.
I’m at Godrick now. Only fought him a couple times, I think he’ll be easier than Magrid. I am finding that being a pure melee character in ER makes boss fights harder because they all seem to have some sort of AOE type smash move (so far) that is almost impossible to evade when you’re up close.
One tip I will give folks who are thinking about starting this game is don’t be afraid to literally sprint past tough enemies in these dungeons because there’s a chance there is a bonfire nearby and you can save and double back for the kill.
35 hours in, only defeated 2 shardbearers(the term instantly makes me think of the Stormlight Archive!). The game is truly staggering in variety, and there’s so much color in the world!
It’s a beautiful colour palette - amazing looking game. I’ve always liked DS2 pve - game has some well-documented issues, but it was the most visually striking Souls game due to the colours. DS3 was way more of a coherent pve game but had real issues with level samey-ness and everything looking washed out. Feels like its going to be very hard to go back and play either of those now, although time will tell.
Found the permanent red invasion item last night - all praise to Mohg the Luminary. The path to it was signposted, but it needed an item that I then found by complete chance, so I’m pleased with that - let the blood-letting commence.
Invasions are opt-in, apparently, for solo hosts in ER. If you’re on your own you cannot be invaded by another player without specifically enabling it via the taunter’s tongue.
For those playing the game you may find the video below helpful. It has some useful tips and most seem legit game mechanics and not exploits.
So I’ve been studiously avoiding any kind of information about this game, so I could actually play a From title blind for once in my life. For the same reason, I’ve only carefully skimmed this thread.
Is anyone who’s playing and enjoying it willing to give relatively spoiler free guidance on two things:
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My usual build is dex/faith. Does this seem viable and reasonably fun? Are the miracle equivalents varied and interesting?
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I just opened the door to the world, and holy CRAP. Decision paralysis. Without going into detail, what direction should I go first?
Right outside the door is the Faith thingie/respawn point. After you click on it, if you look at your map, you’ll see the map icon for it has a blaze in a certain direction. Following the first couple of those will get you started if you’re looking for a direction to head (not really a spoiler since it’s obvious on the map that it’s saying “Hey, what about this direction?”)
You obviously don’t want to follow them exclusively since there’s a whole world out there but, if you’re looking for a path, they offer one.
Actually, that’s perfect. I’m happy to branch out as the mood takes me, but an initial GO HERE arrow is really useful. I hadn’t noticed that aspect of the map, so thank you!!