💎 PREMIUM: Id/ltconnor/recommended/ - Complete Album!

I know many will handwave away any criticisms of this game as salt or reply with “git gud,” but as a fan of Fromsoft games since Demon’s Souls, this game has felt like the most punitive and least satisfying of the games. While the setting is undoubtedly beautiful and there is a fascinating story and interesting characters, the design philosophy of this game is especially punishing. To put it mildly, this game feels as if the character has the moveset of Dark Souls 3 (with the additions of Counter guards and jumping attacks) while the enemies have the moveset of Bloodborne foes and the tracking of Sekiro enemies. Foes in this game are more punishing than ever with delayed attacks, enhanced tracking, and better AI. While this works, it feels like a bit too much in some instances. It feels like almost every enemy has some 2880-degree combo spin move, giant Area of Effect explosion, or some mix of both. In addition to these challenging attacks to deal with, enemy attacks are harder to read than ever, with many different combos having the same start-up or coming out incredibly fast. While this may be a product of the performance issues of the PC Port, some enemies feel as if they are fighting with a lag switch even if the game is not dropping frames or otherwise functioning normally. I have had numerous occasions where torrent your trusty steed will suddenly drop dead seemingly out of nowhere or instances where enemy health bars will strangely refill or moments where I will seemingly be ‘dead angled’ by attacks hitting me head-on.

These factors are compounded by the damage enemies can do. It is not uncommon to see some field bosses or more challenging opponents doing 900+ damage in an attack which is a death sentence for numerous characters, especially when these attacks are also fast swinging and usually accompanied by area of effect damage. Simultaneously the game feels very starved when it comes to runes. While numerous rune farming areas have been discovered, it is surprisingly disproportionate regarding difficulty and the number of runes enemies drop. Some of the easiest foes in the game that can easily be stunlocked and killed without difficulty will drop over 1000 runes. Meanwhile, literal giants that can, on occasion, pose a threat drop similar rates of runes. It feels bizarre and unrewarding to see genuinely challenging regular foes drop so few runes instead of the commonly farmed areas.

Speaking of being unrewarding, while this is probably a personal problem, I do not feel accomplished from defeating bosses in this game. I remember the hype of beating Ornstein and Smough, Gehrman, Pontiff Sulyvahn, and Isshin, the Sword Saint. When I power through and defeat a challenging boss in Elden Ring, I feel annoyed. Despite some of these bosses taking all of my skill and ability to beat a boss in Elden Ring, I do not feel the same excitement I did in previous games. I do not feel like I have accomplished something. It just feels frustrating. I am not entirely sure what causes this, but the game does not feel rewarding. Still, I will continue to play, and I will beat it. Perhaps once that is done, I will update my review and give a final score. However, this has been the least enjoyable of the Fromsoft games I have played for now. If you personally enjoy it, that is great and more power to you, but I have found the game unrewarding, annoying, and far more draining than any previous games. Rather than being left with a sense of accomplishment after clearing any milestone in the game, I remain left with a feeling of annoyance as if I have completed a tiresome chore rather than an epic boss battle.

Update: It is a shame I am not playing Salt and Sanctuary, for this review has been a lucrative salt mine.

Update 2: It appears this review has gotten quite a few responses! Welcome! As mentioned before, I will finish this game. Sunk cost fallacy or not, I paid for it, and I am far too deep to refund it now. As of the writing of this update, I am currently a level 90 pure strength build (I abandoned my original level 60 character after feeling like I had hit a wall with a two-handed quality build). At the moment, this character has hit a bit of a wall with Commander Niall. If this information helps with your headcannon about me, you are welcome!

Update 3/Final Thoughts: Now that I have become Elden Lord, I still stand by most of what I have said. While there are moments of the game I genuinely enjoy, bosses such as the Fire Giant and the Godskin Duo are pretty emblematic of this game's boss design and philosophy. Tedious, frustrating, and more of a chore than something that can give actual hype. While there are genuinely great bosses that can get one hyped up and good early open-world design that allows the player to roam around without being walled off, I think many of the bosses feel less like a test of skill and more like a war of attrition, a war that you can lose highly quickly. However, it is a war I ultimately won, a feat that, at the time of this being typed, .8% of players (on steam) have achieved. I abandoned my first character after over 20 hours of gameplay and managed to beat it at level 110 in a little over 34 hours after some experimenting. There are good elements of this game, the world is beautiful, the fashion souls are as great as ever, and the customization has been taken to the next level. At the same time, though, the boss design is, in my opinion, some of the worst it has ever been. Simultaneously, there are many reused bosses and enemies, even for a Fromsoft and/or open-world game. This has always been the case in Fromsoft games, but this goes beyond even the Dark Souls 2 Pursuer level of reuse. There is good here in the game and moments of hype and excitement. However, it feels especially punishing for certain builds and playstyles at the same time. You don't need to "git gud" to beat many of these bosses if you ask me. If you check in on any guide, the answer seems to be most of the time, you simply need to "git bleed" or perhaps "git spells."

Update 4 (seamless co-op mod): Since I first played this game until now, Elden Ring has had several significant patches and quite a few changes (real ones will know the pain of 1.0 Radahn). However, with the advent of mods, especially the seamless co-op mod, the game is substantially more fun. The co-op has been a saving grace of many Souls games, not necessarily because of how it can make things easier but also the fun community shenanigans that can occur. While I still think that, on its own, this is probably the weakest entry in From’s current line-up, the waves of patches that came in have made the game decisively better, and, furthermore, the seamless co-op mod has allowed something genuinely magical to come about. The game is substantially more fun and a lot more wondrous, in my opinion having a constant companion to play it with

FAQ/Q&A:
Did you try to adapt to Elden Ring mechanics?
Yes! I used consumables, the mimic tear ashes (which is borderline mandatory in some bosses), jumping attacks, Torrent, followed the advice of seemingly everyone on the planet and got a bleed weapon, and I even dipped into faith to take a helpful incantation. These items can certainly make certain bosses more manageable especially bleeding. Since we are getting to the point where bosses regularly have over 25,000 HP, max HP damage feels more and more mandatory to make the game feel more playable.

Will you continue to play the game?
I might. I am thinking about maybe playing a character that focuses more on incantations or sorceries. I also desire to help struggling players against bosses I have beaten and be a friendly summon that can hopefully make their game less frustrating. To be honest, this is the only real “grinding” that I enjoy.

No Maidens?
I rushed through the game (from a story standpoint, not an exploration standpoint), so I did sacrifice her to become Elden Lord.

I know many will handwave away any criticisms of this game as salt or reply with “git gud,” but as a fan of Fromsoft games since Demon’s Souls, this game has felt like the most punitive and least satisfying of the games. While the setting is undoubtedly beautiful and there is a fascinating story and interesting characters, the design philosophy of this game is especially punishing. To put it mildly, this game feels as if the character has the moveset of Dark Souls 3 (with the additions of Counter guards and jumping attacks) while the enemies have the moveset of Bloodborne foes and the tracking of Sekiro enemies. Foes in this game are more punishing than ever with delayed attacks, enhanced tracking, and better AI. While this works, it feels like a bit too much in some instances. It feels like almost every enemy has some 2880-degree combo spin move, giant Area of Effect explosion, or some mix of both. In addition to these challenging attacks to deal with, enemy attacks are harder to read than ever, with many different combos having the same start-up or coming out incredibly fast. While this may be a product of the performance issues of the PC Port, some enemies feel as if they are fighting with a lag switch even if the game is not dropping frames or otherwise functioning normally. I have had numerous occasions where torrent your trusty steed will suddenly drop dead seemingly out of nowhere or instances where enemy health bars will strangely refill or moments where I will seemingly be ‘dead angled’ by attacks hitting me head-on. These factors are compounded by the damage enemies can do. It is not uncommon to see some field bosses or more challenging opponents doing 900+ damage in an attack which is a death sentence for numerous characters, especially when these attacks are also fast swinging and usually accompanied by area of effect damage. Simultaneously the game feels very starved when it comes to runes. While numerous rune farming areas have been discovered, it is surprisingly disproportionate regarding difficulty and the number of runes enemies drop. Some of the easiest foes in the game that can easily be stunlocked and killed without difficulty will drop over 1000 runes. Meanwhile, literal giants that can, on occasion, pose a threat drop similar rates of runes. It feels bizarre and unrewarding to see genuinely challenging regular foes drop so few runes instead of the commonly farmed areas. Speaking of being unrewarding, while this is probably a personal problem, I do not feel accomplished from defeating bosses in this game. I remember the hype of beating Ornstein and Smough, Gehrman, Pontiff Sulyvahn, and Isshin, the Sword Saint. When I power through and defeat a challenging boss in Elden Ring, I feel annoyed. Despite some of these bosses taking all of my skill and ability to beat a boss in Elden Ring, I do not feel the same excitement I did in previous games. I do not feel like I have accomplished something. It just feels frustrating. I am not entirely sure what causes this, but the game does not feel rewarding. Still, I will continue to play, and I will beat it. Perhaps once that is done, I will update my review and give a final score. However, this has been the least enjoyable of the Fromsoft games I have played for now. If you personally enjoy it, that is great and more power to you, but I have found the game unrewarding, annoying, and far more draining than any previous games. Rather than being left with a sense of accomplishment after clearing any milestone in the game, I remain left with a feeling of annoyance as if I have completed a tiresome chore rather than an epic boss battle. Update: It is a shame I am not playing Salt and Sanctuary, for this review has been a lucrative salt mine. Update 2: It appears this review has gotten quite a few responses! Welcome! As mentioned before, I will finish this game. Sunk cost fallacy or not, I paid for it, and I am far too deep to refund it now. As of the writing of this update, I am currently a level 90 pure strength build (I abandoned my original level 60 character after feeling like I had hit a wall with a two-handed quality build). At the moment, this character has hit a bit of a wall with Commander Niall. If this information helps with your headcannon about me, you are welcome! Update 3/Final Thoughts: Now that I have become Elden Lord, I still stand by most of what I have said. While there are moments of the game I genuinely enjoy, bosses such as the Fire Giant and the Godskin Duo are pretty emblematic of this game's boss design and philosophy. Tedious, frustrating, and more of a chore than something that can give actual hype. While there are genuinely great bosses that can get one hyped up and good early open-world design that allows the player to roam around without being walled off, I think many of the bosses feel less like a test of skill and more like a war of attrition, a war that you can lose highly quickly. However, it is a war I ultimately won, a feat that, at the time of this being typed, .8% of players (on steam) have achieved. I abandoned my first character after over 20 hours of gameplay and managed to beat it at level 110 in a little over 34 hours after some experimenting. There are good elements of this game, the world is beautiful, the fashion souls are as great as ever, and the customization has been taken to the next level. At the same time, though, the boss design is, in my opinion, some of the worst it has ever been. Simultaneously, there are many reused bosses and enemies, even for a Fromsoft and/or open-world game. This has always been the case in Fromsoft games, but this goes beyond even the Dark Souls 2 Pursuer level of reuse. There is good here in the game and moments of hype and excitement. However, it feels especially punishing for certain builds and playstyles at the same time. You don't need to "git gud" to beat many of these bosses if you ask me. If you check in on any guide, the answer seems to be most of the time, you simply need to "git bleed" or perhaps "git spells." Update 4 (seamless co-op mod): Since I first played this game until now, Elden Ring has had several significant patches and quite a few changes (real ones will know the pain of 1.0 Radahn). However, with the advent of mods, especially the seamless co-op mod, the game is substantially more fun. The co-op has been a saving grace of many Souls games, not necessarily because of how it can make things easier but also the fun community shenanigans that can occur. While I still think that, on its own, this is probably the weakest entry in From’s current line-up, the waves of patches that came in have made the game decisively better, and, furthermore, the seamless co-op mod has allowed something genuinely magical to come about. The game is substantially more fun and a lot more wondrous, in my opinion having a constant companion to play it with FAQ/Q&A: Did you try to adapt to Elden Ring mechanics? Yes! I used consumables, the mimic tear ashes (which is borderline mandatory in some bosses), jumping attacks, Torrent, followed the advice of seemingly everyone on the planet and got a bleed weapon, and I even dipped into faith to take a helpful incantation. These items can certainly make certain bosses more manageable especially bleeding. Since we are getting to the point where bosses regularly have over 25,000 HP, max HP damage feels more and more mandatory to make the game feel more playable. Will you continue to play the game? I might. I am thinking about maybe playing a character that focuses more on incantations or sorceries. I also desire to help struggling players against bosses I have beaten and be a friendly summon that can hopefully make their game less frustrating. To be honest, this is the only real “grinding” that I enjoy. No Maidens? [spoiler] I rushed through the game (from a story standpoint, not an exploration standpoint), so I did sacrifice her to become Elden Lord. [/spoiler]