Elden Ring

[DjchunKfunK]

I have steered clear of Radahn because of what people had said about him as a fight, maybe I should just go fight him.

Haven't played much recently, been too busy with Lost Ark, but I plan to play a bunch tomorrow.

[Alex79]

I'm about 70 hours in to this, around level 75 and mainly put most my points in to Dex and Endurance. Trying to level up intelligence now through just to access a few spells. But man, this game is incredible. Every time I go on I'm finding new stuff, even in areas I thought I'd totally cleared. I've only done up to the finger monster manor house so far as far as progressing the 'main story', but aborted that direction for a bit now to head to Caelid and see what going on over there. I can't think of much bad to say about the game; I've loved every modern From game (except Sekiro which I liked enough but never finished), but this just tops the lot of them for me.

Would love to see a similarly large open world set in Bloodborne's style next...

[Hatredsheart]

Beat Margit first try at 79, I deliberately overlevelled as I knew I'd give up on the game if I spent too many hours wiping to him. I'd never have stuck with Dark Souls

[Mantis]

Still plugging away at it, though haven't had much time this last couple of weeks. I'm just polishing off the underground areas (the Lake of Rot is horrible) after doing about half of the Altus Plateau and Mt Gelmir. I reckon there's probably at least another 30+ hours to go for me.

I'm undecided on whether it's the best FromSoftware game, but I do think it is absolutely brilliant.

[Wrathbone]

I left off in the middle of the capital a week ago and while I've been away I started Bloodborne on my dad's PS4. I've been sucked into that now, so I'm torn between finishing off Elden Ring or keeping the momentum with Bloodborne as I'm really enjoying it (and not doing too badly - managed to defeat the Shadows of Yharnam first time yesterday ).

[Mantis]

Some of the late game areas really feel like they are designed just to be a drag more than anything. The Mohgwyn Palace and surrounding area is just pure tedium and there's not much you can do to circumvent it.

I think this game suffers a bit from spreading the content out too widely and repeating bosses by just scaling the number of copies you fight at once too often. I love it, and the world design, but I am starting to get quite worn out from the sheer attrition of doing so many repetitive dungeons and fighting the same things over and over again only with x10 health. Of all the legacy dungeon main areas I don't think any of them have wowed me quite so much as Stormveil castle, everything since then hasn't had quite the same excellence level in terms of design.

Overall I'd say it's definitely one of the best open world games I've ever played but it isn't quite up there in terms of quality alongside other FromSoft titles. Dark Souls, DkS3 and Bloodborne are just that bit better from being more condensed I reckon.

[Wrathbone]

The fucking Fire Giant. Fuck that guy.

Spoiler

I swear he becomes immortal at the end. I've got him down to maybe 10% health a bunch of times and then my hits seem to do absolutely fuck all to him. I'm using Rivers of Blood upgraded to +10 and the Corpse Piler ability tears through him for most of the fight, and then suddenly it seems to stop working against him, even with plenty of FP and stamina in hand. And those fucking fireballs... they're undodgeable as far as I can tell, they stagger and they take more than half my health (and I'm at 40 vigor, which I understand is the soft cap).

This boss needs to get in the bin. Fuck him.

EDIT - Finally got him. I didn't do anything hugely different - it felt more like luck. Worst boss so far.

[Wrathbone]

And I'm finished... kind of. After 20 or so attempts at the final boss (second stage - the first stage is fine) I was getting Fire Giant flashbacks and decided balls to it, then went and watched the endings on youtube like the wretch I am. Everyone seems to be saying that Malenia is the hardest fight in the game (or even in all of Soulsborne), but that only took me about 5 attempts and I didn't think it was that bad. Maybe it just suited my style of play? Aborting without defeating the final boss does at least leave me at a good picking up point for the inevitable DLC, rather than having to go through the whole game again not long after release.

I think I need to watch some explanations of the story too, because while there's very clearly some fascinating things going on and endless loose threads, tying everything together into something coherent is no small feat. I do like that it requires effort to contemplate everything, but I'm also not convinced that this level of vagueness is a good way of telling a story, because it's not so much a case of interpreting characters and events as solving a puzzle where half the pieces are missing.

Overall it's a great game, though, and the sheer number of ways you can play the game and approach combat is mind-boggling. One that I will definitely replay in a few years.

[Mantis]

It definitely has the most complete story in a From game so far. Whilst with the other titles there was a sense that much was open to interpretation and half the pieces of the puzzle were missing, I think the majority of the Elden Ring lore is in there. It's just scattered very widely within the game.

I've been away and not had much of a chance to play lately but overall I'm still holding it in quite high regard. The main areas are consistently good, it's just the repeated side dungeons which are increasingly designed to be more and more annoying which are wearing thin with me a bit. I did the Auriza Hero's Grave dungeon last night and was so exasperated by the end of it I had to just switch off early.

[Wrathbone]

It definitely has the most complete story in a From game so far. Whilst with the other titles there was a sense that much was open to interpretation and half the pieces of the puzzle were missing, I think the majority of the Elden Ring lore is in there. It's just scattered very widely within the game.

I think the difference between a story and lore is the root of the problem I have with it. Elden Ring (and other From games) don't present or tell a story - they scatter lore. There absolutely is a story that can be pieced together with a lot of time and effort, but the game makes no attempt to give it to you as a narrative. A story should not be a puzzle. It can be elusive or interpretive, but when you're forced to spend more time figuring out what on earth is going on rather than considering what the substance of a story means, I'm unconvinced that it's skillful or clever as opposed to simply being obtuse.

I could be wrong though. I can't deny that I'm fascinated by the lore in From's games, and it's little more obtuse than the esoteric weirdness throughout the Elder Scrolls games, which I maintain has some of the most complex, deep and unfairly dismissed stories (and lore ¬_¬) in all of fiction. It's a means of storytelling that only games could achieve as a medium, and for that reason alone I do think it's worth exploring and celebrating.

[Mantis]

The slog of the endgame continues. One of those knights in Castle Sol is so crazily overtuned, it is actually harder than all of the bosses I've faced so far.

The sewers under the city were good though.

[Hatredsheart]

Woohoo!

Spoiler

[Wrathbone]

Wouldn’t you have to complete the game about 6 times to get all the different endings?!

[Hatredsheart]

Wouldn’t you have to complete the game about 6 times to get all the different endings?!

Only 3 count for the 100% completion. After beating the final boss you can save the game and choose your ending. I backed up my save before choosing and replaced the files after each choosing so I only needed to finish the game once.
Good thing too, that final boss was a real ballache.

[Wrathbone]

Fair play, to get 100% achievements a couple of months after release for a game this size and difficulty is impressive!