Elden Ring has hit practically all 9's and 10's from the mainstream gaming media for reviews. Don't need to read reviews to be on the hype train but boy I feel great. The performance issues with DigitalFoundry not getting the ability to say the peripherals of the game on all the consoles was a bit worrisome but From Software is already putting forth a Day 1 patch so am hoping this game runs smooth. This is my most hyped game of the year, cannot wait.

EDIT: Good call Big Pete with this getting it's own thread, going to post like a madmen about this game most likely. Won't be alone. :lol:

Let's give Elden Ring it's own thread since it'll likely be the GotY and it sounds like the type of game where everyone is going to have a different experience.

They had me at double jumping horse.

Seriously from the clips I've seen it looks like open world done right. A huge world with plenty of points of interest but each zone is well crafted and requires you to master the mechanics and explore the level instead of just monotonous gameplay cycles.

I'm not planning on buying it on launch, but it won't be too long until I pick it up.

I tend to play games years, if not decades, after they are released, but I might pick this one up. It looks tremendous and I can play along with PW, although I doubt I'll be able to put in the kind of hours Blindy and Big Pete put in.

Sometimes I think Blindy plays games more than 24 hours a day.

The only time I managed to beat a game before Blindy was Persona 5 and I damn near lost my mind doing so.

He makes the kid in the Wizard look like a chump.

Game is getting insane rave reviews. Very curious about how open the game actually is. Usually opened ended games have constrained designs where you can do whatever you want, but the game CLEARLY wants you to do things in a certain order. Also curious how worth it the exploration is.

Reviewers not being objective and pointing out weaknesses as is the norm in modern day game reviews. IGN said some of the difficulty in the fights is simple execution of mechanics over an extended period of time and the whole open world design is gated by the paths to the landmarks you see not be as open as they appear with indirect routes often needed to be located.

That said they also said that the boss fights that are difficult can be skipped and returned to later with better gear if you lack the skill to do them at a weaker level. Which makes this the most accessible From Game yet, if you cannot beat a boss you may be able to put it off and come back later, which is so not the norm for them. Then again, we need to see how people play this to see how branching the paths through the game are in reality. Miyazaki is a master at giving the illusion of freedom while forcing a path. Sounds like he still had a path in mind but just removed a lot of the hard walls so you CAN do things in any order, but is may not be advisable to deviate. Will know tomorrow.

Happy Hobs gonna have a fun time learning to no hit another Souls game for the God Run.

Feb 23, 2022 17:08:35 GMT Emperor said:

I tend to play games years, if not decades, after they are released, but I might pick this one up. It looks tremendous and I can play along with PW, although I doubt I'll be able to put in the kind of hours Blindy and Big Pete put in.

Sometimes I think Blindy plays games more than 24 hours a day.

Ha! I used to play so much more back when I was unemployed years ago, workforce life is kicking my ass big time though. Basically, my commute is 7AM-7PM so I can only play from 8PM onward after dinner etc. Given I get up super early, I am limited to like 2-3 hours nightly if I can even get up for it(Yesterday for example, I just browsed through NXT 2.0 while relaxing). Weekends are where I make my killing and the holidays that we're off as well. I try and play easier to digest games, when I was unemployed and had more free time on my hands, I would prioritize JRPGs....now it's not so easy. Still doing a slowburn of Shin Megami Tensei V which I have owned since November!  

Feb 23, 2022 12:37:16 GMT -5 Big Pete said:

The only time I managed to beat a game before Blindy was Persona 5 and I damn near lost my mind doing so.



He makes the kid in the Wizard look like a chump.

Yeah I got caught up with so much while playing Persona 5, I remember you left me in the dust there. Same with some of the Last of Us/Last Of Us II players, both games for whatever reason, I took a mini hiatus before completing them.

Feb 23, 2022 17:55:04 GMT c said:

That said they also said that the boss fights that are difficult can be skipped and returned to later with better gear if you lack the skill to do them at a weaker level. Which makes this the most accessible From Game yet, if you cannot beat a boss you may be able to put it off and come back later, which is so not the norm for them. Then again, we need to see how people play this to see how branching the paths through the game are in reality. Miyazaki is a master at giving the illusion of freedom while forcing a path. Sounds like he still had a path in mind but just removed a lot of the hard walls so you CAN do things in any order, but is may not be advisable to deviate. Will know tomorrow.

Happy Hobs gonna have a fun time learning to no hit another Souls game for the God Run.

Very Demons Souls in that regard, you had the 5 areas that you can teleport to and if you got stuck up at one, you had other alternatives. The other games had side content too like optional bosses and areas to explore.

I'm curious how much navigation or handholding FROM Software will do when it comes to pointing out where to go. Will there be a *gasp* map in one of their games?! There will be pure Armageddon if they actually put waypoints and a map amongst the Soulsbourne community. It's considered sacrilege to include hints like that in these games. 

Feb 23, 2022 18:48:01 GMT Blindy said:

Feb 23, 2022 17:08:35 GMT Emperor said:

I tend to play games years, if not decades, after they are released, but I might pick this one up. It looks tremendous and I can play along with PW, although I doubt I'll be able to put in the kind of hours Blindy and Big Pete put in.

Sometimes I think Blindy plays games more than 24 hours a day.

Ha! I used to play so much more back when I was unemployed years ago, workforce life is kicking my ass big time though. Basically, my commute is 7AM-7PM so I can only play from 8PM onward after dinner etc. Given I get up super early, I am limited to like 2-3 hours nightly if I can even get up for it(Yesterday for example, I just browsed through NXT 2.0 while relaxing). Weekends are where I make my killing and the holidays that we're off as well. I try and play easier to digest games, when I was unemployed and had more free time on my hands, I would prioritize JRPGs....now it's not so easy. Still doing a slowburn of Shin Megami Tensei V which I have owned since November!  

Feb 23, 2022 12:37:16 GMT -5 Big Pete said:

The only time I managed to beat a game before Blindy was Persona 5 and I damn near lost my mind doing so.



He makes the kid in the Wizard look like a chump.

Yeah I got caught up with so much while playing Persona 5, I remember you left me in the dust there. Same with some of the Last of Us/Last Of Us II players, both games for whatever reason, I took a mini hiatus before completing them.

Tell me about it, I'm still stuck in the first open world area of TLoU2. I got too caught up in that sonar ability you can use through accessibility functions and before I made any real progress I got hooked on CyberPunk.

I was going through our history and for some background, you completely smoked me on Nioh. You beat that in about a week, whereas since it was my first Soulsbourne-like I got stuck on various bosses and didn't complete it until right around the launch of Breath of the Wild. Then Persona 5 came out, and for background, it took me three months to beat Persona 4, with Persona 5 I beat it in 12 days and did three playthroughs of it within six weeks. Did you see The Completionist's video where he had a mental breakdown trying to unlock the harem cutscene? Jirard can't measure up with the real undisputed completionist.

Also while you weren't aware, we were also racing in Nioh 2 and I smoked you.

So let the ledger stand

Big Pete: 2

Blindy: 43

I've never played any of the previous From games. Should I expect this to be crushingly difficult like Dark Souls and Bloodborne are supposed to be?

Well I was wrong, game is totally open world from what I am seeing on twitch. Can just pick a direction and go.

Boss fights are on par with Dark Souls for sure. They are both easier and harder. They are harder on a bass level, but you can gear up and return to bosses to drop them quickly if you wish. They are not balanced around where you are in the story like they were in the other souls games, but more balanced independently. If you never played a souls game, there is a high learning curve in learning how to kill bosses as you need to fight defensively, dodging attacks, and attacking when you get an opening.

I had zero interest in this but planned on watching others play it.  It is far, far better than I expected it to be an improves on the souls formula in every way it appears.  

Was trying to get Lua to do her first playthrough on the dance pad but she was like no dawg.  She is loving it and is a hardcore souls fans.  

Feb 24, 2022 18:05:27 GMT Emperor said:

I've never played any of the previous From games. Should I expect this to be crushingly difficult like Dark Souls and Bloodborne are supposed to be?

They are some very difficult games, but it all comes down to reflexes and pattern recognition. Really are games you master more than just beat, you're not gonna sleepwalk your way through combat, button mashing equals death.  But once you get the feel for them, it's not unmanageable difficulty. Really is a style that takes time to click, I didn't get the genre until Bloodborne, now it's one of my favorite.

Weird, I thought you were the one who got me into the Demon Souls OG on the old PW boards. Remember we had a long thread for it when it came out and I got it caused everyone was having fun and got destroyed so bad I just gave up. Ended up playing it years later and beating it.

Bloodbourne is a 10/10 game for sure.  So good.  Elden Ring looks close to BB but BB has the better theme and story.

Played Elden Ring for maybe 30 minutes, just created my character and explored a tiny bit and I'm already a little confused.

Looks like this is some kind of multiverse game where I can see ghosts of other people if they are in the same area and they can leave messages. That's...interesting I guess.

What are bloodstains?

Guess this is obvious to people who have played these games before. I am the 1% who has not.

Feb 27, 2022 22:29:05 GMT Emperor said:

Played Elden Ring for maybe 30 minutes, just created my character and explored a tiny bit and I'm already a little confused.

Looks like this is some kind of multiverse game where I can see ghosts of other people if they are in the same area and they can leave messages. That's...interesting I guess.

What are bloodstains?

Guess this is obvious to people who have played these games before. I am the 1% who has not.

Bloodstain stains are places were a lot of people die and can leave tips or traps for the next person. And they can be very confusing with the little direction they give you.

Feb 27, 2022 22:29:05 GMT Emperor said:

Played Elden Ring for maybe 30 minutes, just created my character and explored a tiny bit and I'm already a little confused.

Looks like this is some kind of multiverse game where I can see ghosts of other people if they are in the same area and they can leave messages. That's...interesting I guess.

What are bloodstains?

Guess this is obvious to people who have played these games before. I am the 1% who has not.

X-Zero nailed it, bloodstains show how a person died so if you see loads of them, it means a tough enemy/boss is in the vicinity. I would stress focusing on the tutorial area and really learn the basics, there is a lot of stuff this game or any FROM Software game does not tell you so I stress reading the menus. Take note that most items have a limit so excluding healing or the horseriding item or your weapons, be careful of what you use. The only item you should periodically be using when you get a chance to is the RUNES which are EXP in this game. Speaking of that, be careful of how much you hold on, this game has the infamous "You die, you must get your dropped experience or else if you die again, you forever lose it" so I would play it super safe and not carry too much when exploring through. 

Thus far, no weapons have broken for me or have been in risk of breaking which is a godsend all things considered. 


By all means Emperor , ask any questions. This being your 1st Soulsbourne game means this will be a rough go but it's a sensational game. I am 20 hours in and have taken down about 15 or so bosses, there is just so much optional stuff. I barely have gone through the 1st mandatory area, I have been sidetracked by so much and explored so much of the area. South is pretty much finished including the major boss there, the East is overleveled by me but I still took down a boss there that I probably should not have, I took down 3 of the 1vs1 super miniboss showdowns and have done like 10 or so caves that are all optional. Yes this game does repeat so much and I get very heavy Chalice Dungeons of Bloodborne levels of inspiration but for the most part, this game has been great. 

ONE THING I WILL SAY that if your playing on a controller, it was a borderline game changer switching the button configuration of making TRIANGLE to Crouch/sneak and R3(PS5 controller) as the prompt button. The game has it the other way around, and given R3 also represents moving & running in a game, often during a boss fight when I am pacing around trying to bait a boss move, I found myself crouching and getting dicked over because I put myself in that position. It's been pure night and day since I made the switch, no clue why FROM Software set it up like that.

I rolled with the starter battle axe for 90% of the game up until I got enough DEXTERITY to carry the blood creating Uchigatana which I put +6 crafting into and it has been quick, rangey and has been outright deadly for me thus far. Been such an upgrade. That's another thing Emperor, try and focus on leveling up HEALTH/VITALITY & ENDURANCE. The other one, whether its STRENGTH or DEXTERITY or MAGIC or FAITH all depends on the build your trying to do. I am going STRENGTH build as I always do. 

From loves to put stuff on that move button. Remember in Dark Souls 2 when it was to jump?

And yeah Souls games tell you fuck all. Basically for builds you find a weapon you like the feel of, get the base stats to use it, and the endurance to not run out of stamina while doing so, then look to see what stats it scales off of. Will say a letter next to some of the stat. From there your damage is that stat.

If you want to use magic you need to do magic or faith for damage and intelligence for spell slots.

Finally there should be diminishing returns. Not sure if they are in this game, but old souls games had soft caps around 20, where then you get a lesser benefit for increasing. So generally you hit your soft cap on damage then do vitality or the opposite.

You get invincibility frames when you roll, and most defense in the game is rolling through attacks. While it takes a lot of timing, blocking and parrying is super, super strong as well, particular in builds that great extra damage for parries.

All that said, the classic noob build to learn a souls game is man with big stick. Get a club or great club, then just dump into strength, endurance and vitality. Generally is effective as clubs tend to knock stuff down or stun stuff and have great strength scaling.

Margit the Fell Omen kicked my ass for a good while, just so fucking fast and versatile. Has set ups that he can launch into 2-3 different ways, and can recover from missing and launch into the next before you even finish a single hit. Played hours and accomplished fuck all, got the horsey boss, and Margit, a few upgrades, and that's about it.

Keyboard + mouse vs controller is the first decision I have to make.

Controller is the preference, but if I'm playing a game with a ton of different button inputs then I lean towards keyboard. Especially just coming off Witcher 2 which has some similarities in the combat system. I played that whole game with KB + M and it was good.

That said, I did spend the first hour of actual Elden Ring gameplay with a controller. I went to the beach, found a pitch black cave, some messages said "fire" to light it up but I didn't know how to do that so I just ran around and killed monsters in the dark. Stumbled on a boss room with two big fuckers and lots of little fuckers and got annihilated.

Had no idea runes were exp, I assumed they were currency, so that kinda sucks.

Also I'm useless with the controller. Too many damn inputs, and switching between shield and whatever other item I have to cast a healing spell is annoying. Probably just a learning curve thing.

Might switch back to KB+M and see if combat is any better there. I have 30 minutes of gameplay left until I can no longer get a Steam refund which I am kinda considering.

Feb 28, 2022 10:04:09 GMT Emperor said:

Keyboard + mouse vs controller is the first decision I have to make.

Controller is the preference, but if I'm playing a game with a ton of different button inputs then I lean towards keyboard. Especially just coming off Witcher 2 which has some similarities in the combat system. I played that whole game with KB + M and it was good.

That said, I did spend the first hour of actual Elden Ring gameplay with a controller. I went to the beach, found a pitch black cave, some messages said "fire" to light it up but I didn't know how to do that so I just ran around and killed monsters in the dark. Stumbled on a boss room with two big fuckers and lots of little fuckers and got annihilated.

Had no idea runes were exp, I assumed they were currency, so that kinda sucks.

Also I'm useless with the controller. Too many damn inputs, and switching between shield and whatever other item I have to cast a healing spell is annoying. Probably just a learning curve thing.

Might switch back to KB+M and see if combat is any better there. I have 30 minutes of gameplay left until I can no longer get a Steam refund which I am kinda considering.

Runes are both experience and currency, it's how you level your character, plus buy and upgrade items. Everything runs through the Runes.

I'm 3 hours in and I have defeated nothing of significance.

Gave up on the Coastal Cave and headed back to the starting area. I noticed a big giant grisly motherfucker with a sword strapped to his back. I fought him. It was amazing. A battle for the ages. I used all my healing resources, managed to whittle him down to one hit from death, and he killed me.

After that I fought him five or six times with nowhere near as much success. I can barely get him down to half HP. Guess that first battle must have been beginner's luck. But at least I know there's a fight in this game I can maybe win. That's the most optimistic I can ever feel playing a From game.

I've returned to keyboard + mouse and finding it much easier than controller. My Witcher training remains strong. This is all a learning experience for me as I've yet to fully memorise the keyboard controls but I'm getting there. In fact only on the last battle did I realise I could lock on to him :lol:

In the first battle, where I nearly won, I managed to stun him by striking him in the head (normally I can only hit the legs because he's so massive) and scoring a ton of damage. I've not been able to recreate that.

Think I'm finally getting the feel of the world, took a decent chunk out today, everything in the first area aside from Godrick (who's still kicking my ass), and decent part of the chunk just to the north. So far settled on the greatsword and a strength build with bog standard fireballs as support. Got life and strength to 20, stamina just under.

Also, a tip if anyone who hasn't started yet (or hasn't figured it out), this is definitely more forgiving in areas than Souls, you can take a decent fall and take no damage (I was surprised the first long fall that only hit me for half stamina), and your stamina refills much faster. So don't approach every situation like Souls. Bosses though, they're not forgiving, they sprinkle in some push overs here and there, but the big 'uns are absolute beasts (both figuratively and literally).

Adam Cole going hard at this game.  Hilarious how hard he nerds out about this.  Playing it now on the AEW Games stream with Uno. 

One thing is for sure, this game is an absolute hit From and shows the next evolution of Souls games.

I managed to kill the giant grisly motherfucker with the sword. After my previous struggles it only took me two attempts.

Then I found the smithy area/shop. Spent 1500 runes on chain armour that is arguably worse than my default armor, but I equipped it anyway. Killed some random soldiers hanging around. Entered a cave and got slaughtered by a pack of wolves several times.

I'm struggling to decide if this game is actually fun or just a painful slog with sprinkles of fun thrown in. How long should I devote to playing this, hoping to "get gud", when I may in fact always be terrible?

Finished another chunk, holy hell, the game is just massive, so much map I haven't even touched yet. Right before quitting time I decided I'd give a go to Godrick since it'd been a while, and promptly grafted his mouth to my ass, as I dropped him pretty easy after not being able to even dent him when last we met. See what tomorrow holds.

What starts to break my mind is seeing how big the map is, and knowing there is still an underground map almost equally as large. I am not playing it, but watching others play it and it looks great. One streamer I follow is going with a mage build and looks like pure mages are still very, very strong once you get leveled.

Mar 2, 2022 20:28:45 GMT Emperor said:

I managed to kill the giant grisly motherfucker with the sword. After my previous struggles it only took me two attempts.

Then I found the smithy area/shop. Spent 1500 runes on chain armour that is arguably worse than my default armor, but I equipped it anyway. Killed some random soldiers hanging around. Entered a cave and got slaughtered by a pack of wolves several times.

I'm struggling to decide if this game is actually fun or just a painful slog with sprinkles of fun thrown in. How long should I devote to playing this, hoping to "get gud", when I may in fact always be terrible?

Armor for the most part in these games is useless.  It really only determines if say 2 or 3 hits will kill you.  Basically you are either still alive or dead, and most bosses hit so hard, you will need to heal after every attack that lands anyway.  Most people just wear fashion armor, or elemental armor for some bosses.

Best tip since it is possible in this, is to simply not do any bosses right now if you can avoid them.  Level up as much possible and explore to find better gear.  Then take on the bosses when you have stuff that feels more powerful and you have much higher max health.

For bosses, taking them on is a dance basically.  You roll through their attacks then poke them once or twice.  Then roll some more and wait for a spot where you can hit them again.  Then fuck up, get hit, flask back to health, frantically roll around in panic, then get the rhythm back.  As your first souls game shit will seem impossible, but this one at least gives you the ability to ignore bosses and find more powerful crap elsewhere and return to kick their asses later.


It will also do you wonders to learn how to parry.  Many never learn it, but if you can parry, the game becomes much easier.

Nearly five hours in and I'm still learning basic controls. Hold the dodge button down to run. Nice. I was in Stormfoot Catacombs trying to get past these flame traps. Basically a mad dash and duck in an alcove before the flames kill you. I succeeded once on normal movement speed, but requires millisecond timing. I thought to myself, "I know From games are meant to be hard, but would they really put a platforming trap this precise?". Then I watched a video and their character moved so much faster than mine. I thought to myself, "Do I just have a really slow character?" Then I worked out how to run.

In that same dungeon I killed my first boss. Erdtree Burial Watchdog. A frustrating challenge, even when I learned his movements and was able to dodge more often than not, still pretty hard. That's what this game is all about, it seems.

After that I finally reached the part where you discover Melina, get the horse, and gain the ability to level up. I'm too much of a sucker for going off the beaten track.

Still don't have a fucking clue how to parry, try as I might it seems impossible. I've found a bunch of soldiers in some ruins, might give it a go on them.

Awesome!!! First boss kill is a big deal.

Shit just saw parrying is Sekiro style not Souls style. Def more complicated and may not be worth it.

One thing that may help you out a lot is to learn to fight from horseback, using a long weapons like a polearm. Gives you speed and a great long range attack. Most bosses in the overworld you can fight on horseback and this tactic I seen people wreck them with.

One of the first skills you want to level after meeting the requirements for the weapon you want to use is vigar to 20. To give you survivability. Soft cap is 40, so do not go above 40 on it, but points in vigor give you more life. Good early goal is stamina to what feels good with your weapon, then vigar to 20, then weapon scaling stat to 20. Now the game is open to you, you can just fuck around, explore and level up.

Also keep an eye out for a ranged weapon. May need to use something ranged here or there.

Did another chunk, I really think you're meant to head south at the start, or, at least, that's the best direction to go. Doing a couple other chunks already, I walked right through that whole area to Castle Morne, including dropping the boss first try in less than 10 hits. Gave a great sword too, which happens to be a greatsword, once I get one more strength for 40 I'll drop 4 into Dex and that could be what I stick with outside of crystal caves (where blade weapons are deflected).

Mar 4, 2022 1:51:26 GMT c said:

One thing that may help you out a lot is to learn to fight from horseback, using a long weapons like a polearm. Gives you speed and a great long range attack. Most bosses in the overworld you can fight on horseback and this tactic I seen people wreck them with.

Currently haven't found any new weapons at all. Plenty of armour, no new weapons.

Mar 4, 2022 1:51:26 GMT c said:

One of the first skills you want to level after meeting the requirements for the weapon you want to use is vigar to 20. To give you survivability. Soft cap is 40, so do not go above 40 on it, but points in vigor give you more life. Good early goal is stamina to what feels good with your weapon, then vigar to 20, then weapon scaling stat to 20. Now the game is open to you, you can just fuck around, explore and level up.

I put my first level into Strength. Why? Because I felt like it. Hitting hard is good. However some of the new armour I found is great but gives me a heavy load so might go Endurance to pump up my carrying ability.

Only ranged I have at the moment is throwing knives.