Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

!

Yeah! Just go into settings and there should be separate volume sliders for music and sound fx.

I never had a PS3 so it was interesting to come to the Demon's Souls remake after playing all the other games. Some of the levels, one bonfire and all, seem monstrously punishing compared to later stuff, but the bosses don't really have any capacity to surprise when you've been through all the more developed, multi-stage/gimmicky ones from later games

I beat most of them in one try so far

Didn't get a network test code :(

Tons of info & videos out there today from people who have early access. I'm trying to avoid spoilers for the most part, except for stuff about the mechanics.

Standing poise (instead of Dark Souls 3-style hyperarmor) = in (not sure how I feel about this)
Powerstancing (ie you can equip two weapons of the same type and get a different dual-wielding moveset) = in
Mixing your own combo potions that can make you explode = sure why not
Solo hosts can't be invaded unless they use a few items = ok, fine
Invaders get a compass to see what direction the host is = sick
Invaders also get an item to quickly vanish from the host's world and reappear nearby = oh my god

It really does seem like a blend of all their games plus a bunch of new stuff, can't wait.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzFR5HsPcng

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

Yeah I just watched it (at 2x speed) and felt similarly. Happy my beloved lance made the top 10. Wtf are Raptor's Talons? I mean I had them but never thought to use them

Continuing to enjoy my second real playthrough, even though I'm back in the sewers and still don't remember my way around (eventually I caved and looked on youtube, and they sure do a good job of hiding the correct tunnel, it's dastardly).

Doing better at invasions too. Most people just spam their crazy damage move (whether that's a weapon art, spell, or bleed weapon), so my current philosophy is not to rush in, get a few pokes in so they're not at full health (but not yet compelled to heal), and wait for the right moment to unleash my crazy damage move. It's not as fun as DS3 where I could just get in there and react on the fly, that gets you killed instantly in ER (or at least you're rolling the dice on whether your poise + crazy damage move beats theirs).

nobody knows their way around those sewers

i don’t think i ever properly got to the bottom on my first play through. i’m on a second now and will give it a go.

Well, I beat Mohg on my new character after nearly a week of re-learning all the timings, so vanilla strength halberd guy is ready for the dlc. At first phase 2 once again felt impossible, and now I'll almost miss fighting him over and over again. Stockholm syndrome for boss movesets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD1saF3RCxU

Noice. I'm trying to think, if I have my end-game OP guy still sitting in virtual purgatory, where I left him (her?), where should I go first to remind myself how to play this game and ready myself for the DLC?

Running through Elphael would be a proper endgame training course.

@ Jordan, a thrilling video. A message appraisal saved your life! I think I was always kinda over-powered by the time I made it to Mohg and so I never really basked in the beauty of his moveset. What a sublimely designed boss he is

Ha, that message appraisal was when I knew it was the run (although I was pretty high health already - but ended at zero flasks, so who knows). It's more exciting to be just good enough, I mean it would be boring to never take a hit.

Watching some other videos I realized that the one explosion move that got me more than any other -- you just cannot roll into it, seemingly, you need to run around him or get a lot of distance (which maybe is not possible if you're right in his face).

Was pleasantly surprised to find that my older brother, who has always admired the FromSoft games and has attempted every one from Dark Souls 1 forward but has given up in frustration and resignation each time with “I don’t think I’m good enough at video games to do this”, for some reason recently got a fire under his ass and willed himself to sit down and beat Elden Ring.

Which he did. Then he went on to beat Bloodborne. Then Dark Souls 1. Then Dark Souls 3. Then back to Elden Ring to get a character ready for the DLC. Been texting with him throughout and it sounds like he’s wrecking shit now and absolutely stoked that he finally cracked it. #1 obsessed super fan.

There’s a wealth of context surrounding the dude’s mental health and what he’s going through right now that I won’t get into. But he confided that just being able to accomplish this one dumb thing has helped him in an outsized way. Been a shelter for him.

So yeah. Pretty rad. Video games can be good for you.

That's brilliant! I love that

Also: ELDEN RING!!!

I went back through my playthroughs saved across PS5 and PS4 versions. I currently have:

- A Lvl 250(ish) NG playthrough where I've speed run through to the Elden Beast to get the platinum, but with very few sites of grace lit and a minimal amount of sidequests (likely including Mohg)
- The start of another playthrough Lvl 250 where I was fed up and started knocking off random NPCs including Kale and Turtle Pope. A celestial absolution seems to do nothing to bring them back
- My current playthrough where I've done about half the game but still not killed Mohg

So I'm wondering exactly how much of the game I'll need to have done to get the full expansion experience. What if, for example, Kale turns up in the expansion and I've killed him?

I wish I had answers for you but if you killed Kale and the Pope there are no answers for you

Luckily I didn't do it in my latest playthrough

Lol. DL, I would be shocked if the DLC involved NPCs from the main game, they've never done that before to my knowledge. Once you get in, it should be a fresh experience that's the same for everyone. I think the main thing is getting all the bell bearings so that you can buy upgrade materials for the sick new weapons.

In my playthrough I've reached Maliketh, the boss I was most dreading (because he's so fast, and seems ideally suited for dex builds). On my strength build I can only catch him with R1s, but that's fine. It's coming along though, I need to re-learn what to do in phase 2.

I got to properly do the Godskin Duo boss for the first time, since on my original playthrough they both died instantly from the bleed glitch. So that was a blast. I don't know why people say they're "badly designed", the skinny one is much less aggressive than say Ornstein, and they give you breaks like a) they share one life bar b) they have shorter individual life bars so you get windows where you only have to fight one, even if they eventually resummon the other one. Idk I liked it.

maybe i did the right thing by murdering EVERYONE then, haha.

i would love it if the DLC integrated elements of the main game though. it's criminal they cut Kale's quest as it's got some of the most affecting stuff in there and explains everything about the Great Caravan and the plight of the merchants

Funny, I never had too much trouble with Maliketh or Godskin Duo. Do you use summons / tears?

Placidusax though... I was stuck on him FOREVER; and also, weirdly, the mounted knight guarding the entrance to Maliketh - I died to him more than the boss!

Do you use summons / tears?

Never. :) No slight to those who do, it just doesn't feel satisfying when I do, like I haven't really engaged with the mechanics of the fight.

the mounted knight guarding the entrance to Maliketh - I died to him more than the boss!

Oh yeah he's famously tough. So, I *did* summon someone on him this time around, just because I remember fighting him solo the first time and I didn't feel like doing it again.

i don't ever summon (although I caved on the Malenia fight), but I used Mimic Tear for the majority of my first playthrough. I couldn't imagine beating Elden Beast without some sort of tear

i summoned for godskin duo and we had an *absolute blast*. tag teamed effectively, just about saving each other in the nick of time, both getting right to the end of our health as we finally nailed the last one. was a lot of fun. lots of jumping around at the end.

Oh and i formally challenge all bad elden rings to a contest to see how slowly we can beat this game

Ha you are ON. I will see you back here in 2025.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, April 6, 2022 9:22 AM

I would like to propose I might win this, because it is now 2024 and I am still yet to get a game any further than Farum Azula.