Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

all sounds cool. I have no problem with spoilers, because not only will I forget by the time I get it, I can't play any of these games without walkthrough help anyway lol.

i have the same problem/gift with forgetting everything! really comes in handy on very rare occasions

Just finished that video and have some thoughts. One, I've never played Dark Souls II because I've ... well, I guess I just skipped it, but I've heard mixed things (and there are essentially two versions of it, for that matter). But it is interesting that some of its elements have made their way to other games, despite its reputation as a disappointment. For example, as I understand it your health can be halved in DS2, and a similar mechanic was brought into Sekiro. And according to this video, power stances from DS2 have made their way to this one, too. Second, I've never used magic in any of these games, because choosing magic is like choosing an entirely different, novel way to play the game, and if you're only going to play it once I'm not sure magic is the way to do it. But maybe it is in this game, because magic looks super cool. Third, I really hope this plays well on PS4 (and other last generation systems), but I have a bad feeling between it being open world and generally newer than the past several From games it might really benefit from the speed and power of newer systems. That's one advantage of (as this video points out) From never being on the tech vanguard, because it means the games generally don't *need* next gen tech to run. (I know Demon's Souls is PS5 exclusive, but those that have played it, do you think it could run on a PS4?)

Anyway, I can already tell there are going to be a lot of funny videos generated by this game.

Oh, also, looks like you don't take fall damage when you jump, which would have been a very perverse thing for From to do, so I'm glad they didn't do it! Or at least, maybe there are height restrictions/allowances? And I like how there is environmental damage that can be done by at least bosses, which I know was in "Sekiro," though I can't recall if it was introduced there.

Demon's Souls is quite a tech showcase, it wouldn't have been able to run at that framerate on ps4, and some of the lighting/particle effects look like they would have been a big stretch too

I like Dark Souls 2 to some degree, some dispiritingly shit world design like the infamous Earthen Peak Elevator Jaunt travesty aside. It's like a difficult 3rd album that isn't among the classics but fits a certain mood when you happen to want it. I found the DLC far too much of a grim slog though

Elden Ring looks unreasonably good, can't wait

This game looks fun, and by early accounts the open world design is supposed to be good, but I can't help but wonder whether the openness actually adds much to the Souls formula. The main draw of the world design in DS1 (admittedly the only one of these I've played) was for me, its labyrinthine density. Eldenringland just looks kinda vast and drab to me.

i was moderately interested in this game, but after watching some of those videos posted above i am now EAGERLY ANTICIPATING. my only problem is i don't have a system for it, and i was leaning toward getting a steam deck rather than a ps5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DWTt37khU

Fwiw, both videos note the difficulty of the first mandatory boss.

i showed the game a friend of mine who really likes dark souls, and he seemed to be a bit disappointed at first. i think he was thinking of it as a souls-like game, which, it is in some ways of course, very much so. but just being open world and adding jumping completely changes it. it reminds me of GTAIII or breath of the wild in terms of how those games were a departure from the games they built on

Souls-like.

And something else I was thinking about, given From's propensity for hidden walls/loot/enemies/NPCs/entire levels and/or alternate endgames, I wonder what that portends for an open world game? Gonna be a lot of OCD dudes slashing at every bush, rock or piece of foliage, looking for secret stuff, a la the first Zelda.

To be honest the open world part isn't particularly compelling to me. I do like the idea of all the new handcrafted zones that are the equivalent of large Dark souls areas, and a whole bunch of new build options and mechanics (and invasions, of course).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEypd23I0pQ

here's footage of the PS4 version - it seems like it runs without any serious issues or significant visual downgrades. i got into the network test on PS4 so i'll see how it is in a few hours from now.

i'm not at all concerned about the open world, all the footage of the network test has made it very clear that it's avoiding all the common open world pitfalls (repetitive content, big for the sake of being big, etc.) & is very dense with unique content. there are at least 10 bosses in the network test area alone (which is estimated to be around 1/12 of the full game's map). it's a big change, sure, but i don't think anywhere near as radical a shift as say GTA3 or BOTW were - the core gameplay is still very much the same despite the change in environmental scale.

For example, as I understand it your health can be halved in DS2, and a similar mechanic was brought into Sekiro.

DS2's max health decreasing on death (in increments down to a min of 50%) was more of an iteration on Demon's Souls' mechanic where you lost half your max health when you were in 'soul form' opposed to 'human form', which happened upon dying while human. in both cases, the game was generally balanced around the halved max health, with more than that being a bonus, but it was still kinda presented as a punishment. i think both were intended to give the player another incentive to go into human form, which enabled being invaded as well as summoning other players as well as removing the max health penalty. DS3 improved upon this by having embers, which worked the same way in enabling multiplayer, provide a bonus to your max health instead.

there wasn't any sort of max health restriction upon death mechanic in Sekiro though, and there doesn't seem to be in Elden Ring either.

DS2 is one of the weaker souls games but it's still worth playing. the issues with it are largely that the encounter design isn't quite as tight, the world design is clumsier & it rarely reaches the same sorts of high-point boss fights as the best of the series. i'd still put it above Demon's Souls at least.

i may be a minority opinion here, but i don't worry at all about whether something can run well enough on a certain machine. i can count the number of times i have been bothered by the framerate/slowdown of a game on one hand. i think part of it is that i came to gaming age playing games like LIFE FORCE. the slowdown was part of the game. the bug became the feature. aiming for this perfect-smooth framerate ideal is understandable but also kind of disappointing. it's just different, i guess

blighttown was pretty miserable at times in the original console versions of ds1 due to all the slowdown. it's certainly something to be concerned about & can make experiences much worse. with cross-gen games like this, it does happen sometimes that the last-gen versions are significantly inferior due to cutting corners trying to get the game to run on hardware they weren't focusing on, but that thankfully doesn't seem to be the case here at all.

IDK I think having a smooth frame rate is critical for a game like this where you have to time movements precisely. And while 60 is nice, 30 is perfectly good as long as it stays consistent. I played DS1 on Switch and it runs great!

As a relatively recent returner to games, I've learned my lesson the hard way. When I got "Doom" for the Switch it kinda ran like shit, even after a few updates. The slowdowns definitely affected game play in such a fast paced game, and even things like jumping were impacted. Like, you would run at a couple of spots (even with no enemies) and suddenly things would slow down, right before you pressed jump, and you would fall to your death. But tbf, "Doom" is almost uniquely busy and fast paced, and yeah, I can't think of another game off the top of my head with issues like that.

That said, I sort of suspect at least some of my problems with "Sekiro" were related to the frame rate. Usually I don't notice/care, but that game was all about timing, and while it could have been me (I mean, for sure it was me), it's also possible it was just that much trickier for me at 30fps than it would have been at 60.

there wasn't any sort of max health restriction upon death mechanic in Sekiro though

Oh, I just meant the mechanic that makes you lose half your souls or whatever. And gives everybody dragonrot. There's a cost of dying, which I found irritating since these games are built around dying over and over again. DS1 and DS3 don't have that cost, and Bloodborne gives you a shot to get some echoes back, too.

I never minded slow downs either, it's like slo mo at a dramatic moment.

Glad the PS4 version runs well, I never cared about graphics but had to admit that 60fps is really nice after playing the DS1 remaster and now DS3 on PS5. But I played all of the other games at 30fps for hundreds of hours and had a great time, so it's definitely not essential.

very positive impressions

https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-may-just-reinvent-the-open-world-genre-1848093261

I look forward to suddenly earning souls from some NPC that dies fighting enemies on the other side of the map.

I keep wondering if I should give the other From games a shot? I just got incredibly fed up with BB but maybe having a shield would make me feel better? (Probably not.)

On the one hand having experience in one of these games helps with all of them since they have some basics in common, but on the other hand, ER looks to be the most user-friendly of them all (from little things like the menus and upgrade systems, to how the combat system seems to align with what you see onscreen in a more intuitive way, rather than having to look up online how combos/poise/parries/etc work...that's mostly for pvp though).

Generally speaking though Dark Souls 1 and 2 are slower paced, while the combat in Bloodborne is faster (and DS3 is somewhere in-between).

Shields in these games are mostly there to taunt you and weigh you down.

i have played defense heavy builds to some advantage in these games on occasion; it's a preferred method. it makes me shit at pvp tho!

I haven't used a shield in DS3 since my first playthrough, but I might use one for ER! For one thing, there's a shield weapon art (or "ash of war" I guess) that acts as both a normal parry AND can parry spells (and turn them into little magic swords you send back):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BBLmt_DI50

In the pvp world, there's been a lot of talk of the big changes from Dark Souls 3, particularly:

-No guaranteed combos, ie hitting someone once doesn't necessarily mean you can hit them again if they decide to roll out of it. In DS3, most small and medium weapons had a guaranteed 2-hit combo on normal attacks, with a shorter stun window after that so the other person could get away.

-Backstabs are de-emphasized, and no one's sure if they're "working as intended" or not. Basically the backstab doesn't work if the other person isn't perfectly aligned with your character, or possibly if they're in any kind of animation. In DS3, it would work as long as the other person wasn't moving away from you, meaning that you could sneakily backstab someone if they were in a long animation (like after swinging a large weapon, or casting a healing spell). I enjoyed that system, but it makes sense that From is trying to smooth over elements that looked or felt weird to anyone not super versed in the mechanics.

I'm all for the changes if they make the pvp more intuitive and appealing to people. Although I hope there are some good unparryable attacks to use when someone keeps throwing out parries, since that still seems strong, and in DS3 you could run around behind them, use a kick, etc.

This looks really good. I mean, it's very Soulsy and sometimes these things can feel like Scategories. Just replace bonfire with lamp; souls with blood echoes etc...
But I'm down with this. It looks a lot more open and less fiendishly claustro than Bloodborne. I also like how you can actually jump. There also seem to be a few more NPCs about the place, so it's got more of a Witchery vibe to it. Yeah looking forward to it

This is gonna own me isn't it.

There has been much Oroboro watching in our household this past month

just bought the lil baby xbox series s in a chip-shortage panic, just in case they disappear again before this comes out

I also got the lil' baby Xbox, the first Microsoft console I've ever had! Personally, I think it's great as an affordable, stand-alone Game Pass machine

are they readily available?

though frankly i don't think i can hang with that joystick

got one at a gamestop on myrtle ave, looked like there were tons

https://kotaku.com/the-elden-ring-community-is-now-arguing-over-horse-crot-1848315650

They should split the difference between Dark Souls and Red Dead Redemption and make horse genitalia prominent, dynamic and a stat. Because you know there would be hundreds of level one players who will put every single soul into horse dick.

Counterpoint, you should have a separate character creation menu for your horse, complete with gender and appearance sliders

Why not both! Customizable horse would be next level From. Hell, you should be able to *play* as a horse, that would be rad.

If they did have horse dick, what stat would it scale with

Luck

girth

all horse dicks aside, i am really fucking hyped to play this game

I'm medium hyped! I literally beat Gael for the first time today yay

I cannot wait. I may have said this but the weekend it comes out I'm going to be in Florida playing a gig and visiting my folks, and it's going to be tough avoiding spoilers!

Josh is always worried about the horse parts

Haha, I actually never worried about my horse (named My Horse) in RDR2 ever! Nor did I ever notice its gender or genitals, come to think of it. Maybe I should have paid closer attention?

Wait, there were horses in Breath of the Wild, weren't they? I don't think I ever used a horse, except the one or two times a fight required it.

yes there were horses, and yes we had a many post discussion about it

Shows what an impression they made. All I remember is that they offered me no benefit so I stabled them. Where they remain, virtually, to this very day.

https://blog.playstation.com/2022/01/28/an-interview-with-fromsoftwares-hidetaka-miyazki/

It's funny how some weapons are very Nightreign-coded for me now -- I never used the Death's Poker in ER, but am now extremely familiar with it through NR.

On to Mountaintops of the Giants. Just beat Commander Niall in Castle Sol. Mountaintops gets a bad rap compared to some of the other biomes, and yeah I see why. It's a big white space (followed by another even whiter space in the form of the Consecrated Snowfield).

But again I've been surprised by how much I've enjoyed it. There are still lots of little hidden parts to explore. And for anyone wondering if they're overleveled, the enemies get MUCH tougher and smarter. Especially at Castle Sol, which is only a small fort but again full of tough-to-find items and tricksy enemies

Enjoying the DLC so far. Yet to find any new weapons as effective for a Strength / Dex build as bonking things with my trusty Axe of Godrick though.

iirc DLC encourages you to try out DEX builds, which are underrepresented in the base game

Will most likely be revisiting the DLC once I'm done with this run. I was so-so about it on first playthrough but hoping to be pleasantly turned around on it this time. By nature, these games merit replays seeing as almost all elements of the story are only explained in hindsight. Generally speaking I have no idea what is going on until I play through again

Fought Mohg the other night. Shame the Mohgwyn Palace / blood zone is so under-baked as it's a fun fight that took me a good few tries, even with a summon to help me.

Decided to pop my head into the Scadu-realm for a bit and I have to say my heart sank when I emerged from that little passage. For all that really quite stunning vista first represents, the reality feels so much more hollow and gamey - much more like a sandbox than when one arrives on the First Step in the base game. I don't know how to describe it.

I think it's the fact I'm presented with just this big wide open plain with no real direction to run in. With Limgrave you can go in different directions, yes. But at least it seems to be funnelling you towards a goal. The DLC just presents you with this big flat plateau with various landmarks on the horizon and field bosses peppered over it. Pick a cardinal direction and run there until you hit something.

Much was made about the DLC's use of a Y axis - you can be really high up on a ledge and see a load of stuff happening below. But this is largely illusory. Rather than an intricate network of cliffs, landbridges and tunnels, it's more like a bunch of large interlocking tectonic plates set at various angles. You're essentially running around a bunch of enormous dinner plates with stuff strewn around the edges of them.

As someone who loves finding loot, the DLC doesn't scratch that itch half as well as any of the other games. Item placement feels liberal and randomised. So often I feel I should be following a little hidden path around a cliff edge or along a wall only to find... nothing... not even a crafting item. Meanwhile one might find an important item just lying around in the middle of one of the many great open fields, with nothing special around it to give it a bit of environmental significance.

I'm not mad on how the various NPCs and their quests are introduced either. The NPCs in the base game feel like they belong in the world, living independently from you. You stumble into them while they're in the middle of some sort of personal dilemma, and it only becomes apparent WHY they figure into the main story as you progress their quests. Think about Boc, Hyetta, Irina, Millicent. That, or you get the impression they're manipulating you into a web of half-truths (Ranni, Varre).

With the DLC, from the get-go Needle Knight Leda introduces the DLC like some sort of D&D Dungeon Master, in a "Are you ready to take on an exciting challenge, gameplayer?" type of way. When you meet Ansbach, he also just introduces himself upfront in a "I am Ansbach and this is my quest, and this is why I am important to you" type of way. Apropos of nothing, he gives you a very gamey fetchquest to perform: "Find the six crosses of Miquella scattered around the map and report back to me" - guhhhhhh really?

Overall the DLC isn't great at dispelling the idea that you are in a computer game. Picking up power-ups rather than accumulating runes to level-up doesn't help either: Why should I even bother fighting enemies at all if that's the case?

And the only "gamey" thing that made sense in the base game - acquiring trophies and achievements - doesn't exist here. So why should I bother exploring the whole map? Especially as there are so many big open plains full of dead ends? The base game rewards playing like a Roomba - exploring every inch of the map to find hidden items and legendary weapons. Without this, you're just largely wasting your time: You could spend 30 minutes exploring a huge open field only to find it's a landlocked area serving to funnel you on to the next landlocked area.

I'll probably still play through the DLC. I hope to be pleasantly turned-around on it. But my memory is that, despite some wonderful setpieces, there were some really dull parts, the flow and timing of the quests was stilted, and the exploration kind of sucked

Yeah - the DLC definitely lacks some of the cohesion and tightness of the base game. There's locations even more sparsely populated than the entry point! It shines when it falls back to classic hallmarks like tight, interwoven dungeons (Shadow Keep, Enir-Ilim), locations with heavy and dark themes/vibes (Bonny Village, Abyssal Woods) and either insanely epic or breathlessly beautiful boss fights (Bayle, Midra, Mother of Fingers). Implied narratives are more compelling than most of the NPCs for sure. Places like Bonny Village, Midra's Manse, et al really are amazing to take in. The sparks are there! But it indeed starts slow. I didn't feel really "into it" until I got to the Shadow Keep.

It feels disjointed and an expression of unrealized ambition at times - like they wanted this to be that much more rich and full of depth and detail, but had to pull back without altering the physical map, so it is what it is.

That said there's unique locations like the Ruins of Rauh which is a well designed dungeon that requires the use of Torrent to navigate, or the Fissure Depths, which is a fun expression of that "Y axis".

To use a musical analogy, the main game feels like an extremely well produced concept album (a bit front loaded, but still) that hits the spot end to end. The DLC feels like a companion piece of leftover songs that don't quite work as cohesively together but still contain some all time bangers.

I very much enjoyed after all is said and done.

Agree with all that, although I'm cool on Ruins of Ruah. Shadow Keep was pretty great and at points gave me the same special feeling as Stormveil

All I really remember about the dlc is the boss fights, which are up there with some of the best in the game iirc. Some of the forge dungeons were decent too I think? But I respect your opinion as an ER slow run connoisseur.

I was actually pretty disappointed by most of the forge dungeons actually! Felt they were too short, easy or lacking.

The Catacombs on the other hand felt extremely large, overly challenging and more in depth. I still have yet to complete a few of them, actually. So much inconsistency across the DLC in this regard!

oh boy I really am anticipating the new boards edit feature. Pretend I never typed the word "actually" above. FML

The catacombs were fantastic, yes. Not enough of them though

I was struggling and struggling with the Fire Giant. Switched weapons to the Dark Moon Greatsword and OMG it MEEEELLLLTTEEED him. Barely got into the second phase before he totally died. I actually feel a bit disappointed.

I wish there were a way to replay old bosses. Usually I'm so keen to get on with the quest, or carrying loads of gems I don't want to lose, so I'll use every trick in the book (summons etc) to beat them as quickly as possible. But it does mean I don't really get to learn their moves, or experiment with different methods. I guess that's what NG is for.

The new items available with the Tarnished Edition are fun. There's an NPC invader with an outfit that's a very obvious tribute to DSII character Lucatiel. You get this weapon that lets you take on enemies like a bull-fighter. It's a lot of fun. Plus - yay, Goth Torrent!

I've heard the Tarnished Edition buffs parries? They supposedly now have the same frame count as the Carian Retaliation: 12. I enjoyed using that spell for a brief bit, but if it's that much easier to parry I'd be keen to try it out again and use it as an actual counter on the regular.

I'm not really all that great at parrying. I can do it with low level enemies, then once I get to a certain level my ripostes seem to miss all the time

I was getting quite good at them in Bloodborne and DS3 though