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PC is da way! Also having a good eye for angles and lighting certainly helps haha
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Big fan of open world games but can’t personally see the the hype behind Elden Ring, perhaps someone can enlighten me?
- Thread starter Multievolution
- Start date
PC is da way! Also having a good eye for angles and lighting certainly helps haha
Tbh, you're probably ruining the experience by watching a streamer play the game.
I'd say the biggest draw of the game is discovery through exploration, and the surprise of what you're going to find and the awe-inspiring vistas. Once you already know what do expect, it probably just feels like heavily padded Dark Souls.
I'd say the biggest draw of the game is discovery through exploration, and the surprise of what you're going to find and the awe-inspiring vistas. Once you already know what do expect, it probably just feels like heavily padded Dark Souls.
Yes, this. One of the biggest appeals of FROM games is the feeling of genuine discovery that almost no other games have.
The sense of adventure and discovery is probably only matched by games like Breath of the Wild and Elder Scrolls, so that's probably one of the biggest factors leading to it's success and popularity. The dungeons and castles and what not are standard Souls fare, but the overworld is pretty fresh from From.
Im pretty sure its their first with a non-scripted time of day and weather system, packs of animals running around or being herded, destructible trees and structures everywhere (id say area music but Sekiro did this). Its not the most interactive compared to BOTW, but their earlier games were almost entirely static in comparison. Its a large jump in some ways and they continue to prove me wrong every time the sound of a new game is too different or weird.
For me I'm so-so on open worlds (tend to prefer linear games), and thought I'd fallen off souls games as I loved Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, but couldn't get into DS1, DS2 or the Demon's Souls remake when I tried to play them after those games.
I'm 91+ hours into Elden Ring and having a fantastic time. While I don't think the open world is amazing in and of itself, it's great for the series as it's made it more feasible and fun to stay a bit overlevled and have less problems with most fights vs. other souls games I've had. Also, the Souls formula makes exploring the open world more rewarding for me as the difficulty makes finding most everything rewarding. Even if an area ends with a weapon or armor that doesn't fit my build, I probably found some upgrade stones or flowers along the way, got a bunch of runes to put toward gaining another level etc. That makes me want to poke around more than I usually do in open world games where most of the time I'm just following paths to side quest and main quest objectives and not doing much actual exploring as that's not my bag if there's not meaningful rewards for doing so.
I'm 91+ hours into Elden Ring and having a fantastic time. While I don't think the open world is amazing in and of itself, it's great for the series as it's made it more feasible and fun to stay a bit overlevled and have less problems with most fights vs. other souls games I've had. Also, the Souls formula makes exploring the open world more rewarding for me as the difficulty makes finding most everything rewarding. Even if an area ends with a weapon or armor that doesn't fit my build, I probably found some upgrade stones or flowers along the way, got a bunch of runes to put toward gaining another level etc. That makes me want to poke around more than I usually do in open world games where most of the time I'm just following paths to side quest and main quest objectives and not doing much actual exploring as that's not my bag if there's not meaningful rewards for doing so.
The scale and detail of visible distant objects (i.e. you can spot the glow of an item from like a mile away) is impressive, traversal is fun, but the individual side dungeons definitely get tiresome.
If you don't see why then it's not grabbing you like you thought. No one here needs to enlighten you when there are countless reviews and YouTube videos that you can watch for better context. My suggestion is to start there and not here.
People saying "it's not doing anything new", I have to ask: is there any other game that has as much verticality in the open world itself? Like the entire journey in the underground is something I've never seen on that kind of scale, ever. And there's multiple ways to reach it, too. My mind was blown when I discovered completely randomly that you could reach Deeproot Depths from the Frenzy capital sewer basement.
"I quit Fallout New Vegas after dying 50 times to the Deathclaws"
Go to Stormveil Castle haha
Yeah I agree, the world feels really great to explore and be a part of. They really nailed it.
I read the plot of a famous novel on Wikipedia; I don't see what's so great about it?
For me this game is more of the culmination of what From has been doing all along. I've had my frustrations with it and even almost walked away a couple times, but there are a few things that I think are incredible.
- Sense of scale. I can't think of another game that touches this one as far as sense of scale. It reminds me of playing Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for the first time.
- Art direction/design. The character/enemy design and especially the environments in Elden Ring look unbelievably cool. I heard it described as "post-apocalyptic heaven" and I think it's a great description.
- Sense of mystery. Elden Ring feels like there is something new and strange around every corner, and it feels like it's on you to find it. It's such a rare thing with games that it's special when it happens. Contrast it with Horizon holding your hand every step of the way, or Assassin's Creed or whatever putting everything of interest on your map, and the latter games just feel really shallow in comparison.
For me this game is more of the culmination of what From has been doing all along. I've had my frustrations with it and even almost walked away a couple times, but there are a few things that I think are incredible.
- Sense of scale. I can't think of another game that touches this one as far as sense of scale. It reminds me of playing Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for the first time.
- Art direction/design. The character/enemy design and especially the environments in Elden Ring look unbelievably cool. I heard it described as "post-apocalyptic heaven" and I think it's a great description.
- Sense of mystery. Elden Ring feels like there is something new and strange around every corner, and it feels like it's on you to find it. It's such a rare thing with games that it's special when it happens. Contrast it with Horizon holding your hand every step of the way, or Assassin's Creed or whatever putting everything of interest on your map, and the latter games just feel really shallow in comparison.
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People like it more as a gigantic Souls game than as a Rockstar/Ubisoft open world. It does some open world things really well, IMO, like easy travel with Torrent and making the world hostile and mysterious instead of immediately overloading the player with tasks and activities, but it doesn't reinvent the wheel.
This has been precisely my takeaway as well.
I think Elden Ring is a fantastic game, but what can other developers take away from it? It isn't doing anything revolutionary; it just has strong core mechanics paired with a massive amount of unique content/assets.
There's no secret sauce here. It's just From doing what From does on a massive scale.
I can't believe people are seriously saying "play the game" unironically. It's $60. Why would anyone just up and buy a game they're not even sure about?
Anyway it's got an incredibly satisfying sense of exploration, discovery, and freedom, a gorgeous and oppressive world, horrifying enemy design, and satisfying gameplay with tons of weapons and tons of builds you can make. But you're saying the art style and gameplay doesn't appeal to you so you probably won't like it. Just watch a review and if that doesn't convince you then don't buy it. Not much else to say.
Anyway it's got an incredibly satisfying sense of exploration, discovery, and freedom, a gorgeous and oppressive world, horrifying enemy design, and satisfying gameplay with tons of weapons and tons of builds you can make. But you're saying the art style and gameplay doesn't appeal to you so you probably won't like it. Just watch a review and if that doesn't convince you then don't buy it. Not much else to say.
What is revolutionary is that it focuses on actual game essense,it has a huge open world with every corner hiding an interesting reward instead of endless collectibles,quest with shopping list and handguiding arrows and markers.
In a sense,this is revolutionary in 2022 and that is the sad part of our days...
It's most standout use of its world are the world state shifts.
now there's a new button on my map for underground, then I created a giant hole in the ground leading to an ancient city, the capitol disappeared into dust, now the world is burning and there's nobody left at the roundtable.
Except there is secret sauce here. It's the same secret sauce as Breath of the Wild. An overwhelming majority of open world games are just large & open for the sake of creating a sense of scale. Players are guided by handholding, extremely specific quests, markers, and almost no regard for environment and visual stimuli in front of them. It's extremely difficult to pull off an open world design that lures a player to follow their curiosity and to then reward that curiosity not with just usable items, but with stunning vistas, expansive sub-areas, and even more intriguing things to explore. It's extremely difficult to design something that allows the players to explore and to have that exploration be worthwhile. It's a rare occurrence and it's why Elden Ring is being celebrated.
I think this nails a lot of what I've been enjoying about it.
Society™ doesn't want you to know this super cool trick, but we as people have the power to return items for a refund* if they are not satisified
*in most cases
But how much of this people not turning off the handholding and how much of it is the game not being designed without the handholding in mind?
OP. imagine the tight, combat focused gameplay and unique and outstanding art direction and dungeon exploration of Dark Souls.
Now plop that into a less rail-roaded open world filled with secrets and twice the content of any souls game.
Now plop that into a less rail-roaded open world filled with secrets and twice the content of any souls game.
This.
Watching (passive series of images) isn't the same as playing (active mental mapping and decisionmaking - what Elden Ring shines at).
Huh? Elden Ring is one of the only ones designed from the ground-up with no handholding. The only other similar games we have include Outer Wilds.
How much you get juiced by Elden Ring's open world does depend a lot on whether you like the art design and themes the locations are built on. Because the big selling point, compared to most open world games, is a meticulous attention to detail and hand-built stuff covering every square inch of the game world. Every time you turn a corner, it feels at least, as if you see another scene, sight-line, or vista, that is composed like piece of classical fantasy art.
Even if there isn't something mechanically fresh to discover in every corner, the game feels as if you're discovering something new. Technically, you are - a new mood, perspective on the world, or feeling. If you like the setting, it's really moody.
Even if there isn't something mechanically fresh to discover in every corner, the game feels as if you're discovering something new. Technically, you are - a new mood, perspective on the world, or feeling. If you like the setting, it's really moody.
Remember in Dark Souls one when you'd go go from the Firelink Shrine to the Undead Burg through the sewers and then find yourself back to the Firelink and it blew your mind? Now imagine that in an even bigger world.
I remember there was a video that talked about this and actually tried playing with guidance turned off in several open-world games. I think the only one that passed the test at the time was The Witcher 3, where NPCs would actually tell you about landmarks and such to look for, whereas others were more reliant on the user using points of interest markers on their map or in-game navigation. I think in many cases, games are designed where the handholding is the preferred way to go about it. I'm playing Horizon Forbidden West, and even with guided mode options turned off, I still feel like I'm just beelining it towards the next thing on the map vs. exploring/discovering organically.
The game reminds me a lot of BotW, which is a game I did not get at first. The first hour or two felt similar where I did not feel like I was having fun, but then it "clicked". After that it has been nonstop fun even when I die to the same boss like 20x before I beat it. I compare this with other games where it starts out fun but gets old quickly. I would happily trade a few hours of slog for 50-100 hours of exploration and combat bliss.
For my part, I don't agree. I think very few of the corners hide actually interesting rewards; very little of what you find will be relevant to your actual character, and often the best/only think you'll get from items is a sentence or two of lore (and most of that is very generic and not elucidating to the story and world).
For me, the combat and exploration experience is the reward (As it always has been with From). Rounding a corner and saying, "What the hell is that?" is where the game shines.
Not having a laundry list isn't the common way things are done today, but if anything it's a return to a more retro style of game design, and something we've seen from games like BotW already in recent history.
The recent history you mention is one game 5 years ago and it was praised for the exact same reason as ER.
So in fact games like these are outliers and praiseworthy of such critical acclaim
Hard disagree, personally I think it's the best open world of any game in at least the last decade.
Watching doesn't equate to playing. If you have the means, try it for yourself. Initially it didn't grab me, but once you get Torrent, the world really opens up. It's the shear amount of exploration that makes it both amazing and daunting. If you stick with it, I think you might be surprised at how much you like it.
I mean, just because you're playing a highly specialized character doesn't mean the game isn't rewarding. That's your decision to play the game that way. If you're out here with a Strength build then they aren't going to tailor the loot drops to you. There have been many numerous times in my playthrough where I get an item that wouldn't work in my current build and I think to myself huh that sounds neat, maybe I'll respec for that. Or I can use it in NG+.
ER is without a doubt one of the most rewarding open world games. There are interesting rewards littered throughout the map in nooks and crannies most people won't even think to look. Your curiosity is frequently rewarded in this game.
No open world game has yet to so consistently reward exploration and engage the player on this level for THIS long.
I'm 140 hours in and about halfway through the game.
The last open world game that had this level of pull was Skyrim, which I played for 275 hours.
Breath of the Wild was great, but its lack of enemy variety couldn't sustain its size, and the repetition of shrines and other gameplay elements sank in after about 50-70 hours.
Elden Ring has some repetition, but I've not been so intoxicated and engaged with an open world since Skyrim. This game is absolutely incredible.
Eldren Ring, as of now, is #2 on my top 10 list, and even if the final 3rd falls apart or whatever, that will not drop its placement. I've already had more joy and memories from this game that could fill 100 lesser games.
It is a masterwork from a studio at the top of their game.
I'm 140 hours in and about halfway through the game.
The last open world game that had this level of pull was Skyrim, which I played for 275 hours.
Breath of the Wild was great, but its lack of enemy variety couldn't sustain its size, and the repetition of shrines and other gameplay elements sank in after about 50-70 hours.
Elden Ring has some repetition, but I've not been so intoxicated and engaged with an open world since Skyrim. This game is absolutely incredible.
Eldren Ring, as of now, is #2 on my top 10 list, and even if the final 3rd falls apart or whatever, that will not drop its placement. I've already had more joy and memories from this game that could fill 100 lesser games.
It is a masterwork from a studio at the top of their game.
I asked myself "how the fuck is this game STILL going" in a positive way at like 4-5 different points. It just keeps going and going and continues to stun with one unique location after another.
This is solid advice - it's such a great adventure, when you play it.
Elden Ring really needs a Navi companion that tells you "jeez louise tarnsihed, i dont think you can defeat this enemy right now, it would be better if you tried to get around it"
because this though love from From gets lost in some players
Yep, same. I've lost count at the number of times I've just shaken my head and taken a screenshot in awe of what I was seeing or doing. It's a sublime experience. And I adore every fucking minute of it.