Elden Ring - February 2022 (PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES S/X)

[Blitzkrug]

Reviews are through the roof.

Lots of credible sources comparing it's open world gameplay/exploration to Breath of the Wild in terms of having interesting shit to do.

Considering how they're also claiming it's a bit more accessible than the usual Fromsoft games I think I might bite on it.

(I'm sure I could beat the other souls games, I've just never sat down to give them an honest try)

 

[JimmyApples]

Reviews are through the roof.

Lots of credible sources comparing it's open world gameplay/exploration to Breath of the Wild in terms of having interesting shit to do.

Considering how they're also claiming it's a bit more accessible than the usual Fromsoft games I think I might bite on it.

(I'm sure I could beat the other souls games, I've just never sat down to give them an honest try)

Some reviewers are saying it’s the best game they’ve ever played

 

[Oogie Boogie]

Reviews are through the roof.

Lots of credible sources comparing it's open world gameplay/exploration to Breath of the Wild in terms of having interesting shit to do.

Considering how they're also claiming it's a bit more accessible than the usual Fromsoft games I think I might bite on it.

(I'm sure I could beat the other souls games, I've just never sat down to give them an honest try)

Same things that I am seeing. They are in love with this game.
My copy won't arrive until Friday, but I know people are able to play tomorrow I believe if they bought it digitally (unless I am mistaken but that seems to be the case?)

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Cannot wait to play this Thursday night. This may be the first time that I'm jealous I'm not an Xbox guy so that I could immigrate to New Zealand for a day.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Same things that I am seeing. They are in love with this game.
My copy won't arrive until Friday, but I know people are able to play tomorrow I believe if they bought it digitally (unless I am mistaken but that seems to be the case?)

For Xbox you can yeah. Around those parts we like to call it "taking a trip to New Zealand" lol.

All you do is change your console region to a location where the game is out and you can play it. It's considered an exploit in a way but Microsoft also doesn't seem to care since they're still getting money from sales and it really isn't hurting anyone.

I've done it for a few games.

 

[TJ21]

Have never played a single game in this series before, but I've been waiting on this one for a hot minute now and am ready to get absolutely bodied in my initial playthrough. Reviews are extremely encouraging. I usually wait a few days for games just to gauge how the bugs and whatnot are, but not since TLOU 2 have I been this close to going Day 1 for a game. Can't wait!

 

[Blitzkrug]

I'm curious to see how hard is hard. Souls games have a notiorious rep but I feel like it's nothing that cant be conquered with a little bit of time and patience.

I don't mind hard games. Dumped a shitload of time into the newer monster hunter games. Returnal was hard according to people and I beat that relatively easily. Sifu I couldn't hang with because it plays like a fighting game and I've always sucked at fighting games.

The only hard game I can legit say I have no shot of beating is Sekiro. Though my buddy is a big fromsoft guy and didn't much care for it so maybe it's just too different of a playstyle.

 

[aleshemsky83]

I'm in such a big Elden ring blackout that I consider even saying it's good a spoiler.

 

[Beau Knows]

I'm curious to see how hard is hard. Souls games have a notiorious rep but I feel like it's nothing that cant be conquered with a little bit of time and patience.

I don't mind hard games. Dumped a shitload of time into the newer monster hunter games. Returnal was hard according to people and I beat that relatively easily. Sifu I couldn't hang with because it plays like a fighting game and I've always sucked at fighting games.

The only hard game I can legit say I have no shot of beating is Sekiro. Though my buddy is a big fromsoft guy and didn't much care for it so maybe it's just too different of a playstyle.

This one is apparently the easiest and most approachable one yet, and since it's open world you can't really get stuck like in the other games.

These games are tougher than most AAA games that want to make sure every player gets through everything they've created, but it's really nothing crazy and there's always options like summoning other players for help.

I think a lot of the reputation for difficulty comes from the first Dark Souls game's lack of guidance. It had game mechanics that weren't explained and it expected the player to figure them out as well as where to go on their own (or through online collaboration). Each game since has given the player more and more information to make sure they understand the game's systems and where they should go, to the point where you shouldn't need to look online for anything except for some of the games deepest secrets.

*with the exception of Sekiro which I also found extremely tough, since it's more of a straight up action game than an rpg

 

[TheDoldrums]

Goddamn these reviews...I'm going to FOMO into this thing day 1 after previously not having much interest lol

 

[Kcb12345]

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Having not played previous titles does anyone know how summoning works in regards to who can join you? Is it friends only or can anyone help? If you don’t have any friends with the game I’m just wondering how quickly a stranger would join your game and help. Like within minutes or like 45 minutes later you’re still waiting.

 

[Beau Knows]

Having not played previous titles does anyone know how summoning works in regards to who can join you? Is it friends only or can anyone help? If you don’t have any friends with the game I’m just wondering how quickly a stranger would join your game and help. Like within minutes or like 45 minutes later you’re still waiting.

You can find signs from anyone on the ground near boss fights and other popular areas, as soon as you interact with one they'll immediately join your game and get kicked out when either of you die or kill the boss. You don't enter matchmaking or anything like that, you'll either see signs or you won't, but you shouldn't have any problem finding them.

You can also unlock NPC summons to use, though they probably won't be as helpful.

 

[robertmac43]

Love seeing the reviews come in! The gaming industry needed a big hitter!

 

[syz]

Having not played previous titles does anyone know how summoning works in regards to who can join you? Is it friends only or can anyone help? If you don’t have any friends with the game I’m just wondering how quickly a stranger would join your game and help. Like within minutes or like 45 minutes later you’re still waiting.

It's been a while and I've never used them very often but I remember being able to set a password for the summon features, at least in Bloodborne (and Nioh, but that's a different developer.) Dunno how it'll work in Elden Ring though; possible they've streamlined things a bit more by this point.

 

[Jovavic]

Looks like there's a beginning tutorial dungeon for us noobs. I got enough to play now that it'll last till it's on sale.

 

[Tw1ster]

Pleasantly surprised at how high it’s scoring. I’m used to my hype letting me down

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Pleasantly surprised at how high it’s scoring. I’m used to my hype letting me down

For real. I haven't disliked anything From has done since the OG demon's souls (yes, I even liked DS2 ... a lot actually) so I wasn't worried about not liking this game. Although all of the BOTW comparisons that are being thrown around does give me pause because I found that game completely and utterly boring. But I have full faith and trust in Michael Zaki. Can't wait to play tomorrow.

 

[pistolpete11]

I'm a little nervous, actually. I've heard a lot of stuff like "massive open world". "Exploration". "Crafting". I've seen a lot of footage of riding a horse. Being FromSoft, I have no doubt it will be better thought out and done with more purpose than most (if not all) open world games, but it's a lot of stuff that I don't particularly like in games. I like FromSoft is willing to take chances, but I don't know this one will hit the nail on the head for me.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

I'm a little nervous, actually. I've heard a lot of stuff like "massive open world". "Exploration". "Crafting". I've seen a lot of footage of riding a horse. Being FromSoft, I have no doubt it will be better thought out and done with more purpose than most (if not all) open world games, but it's a lot of stuff that I don't particularly like in games. I like FromSoft is willing to take chances, but I don't know this one will hit the nail on the head for me.

Same. Open world games genuinely turn me off, but I've read a bunch of reviews from people that state they didn't experience the typical open world burnout they get from other games. So I'm still hyped

 

[542365]

Horizon has my attention at the moment, but I'll definitely get around to playing this. Seems almost universally loved, which is pretty rare in gaming.

 

[Tw1ster]

I love open world games , so long as they are unique. A lot of them are generic worlds with maps littered with question marks and exclamation points with no real substance. I didn’t expect to love Breath of the Wild as much as I did, but the sheer scope and mystery of the world with out having a set mission is what set it apart for me. From what I’ve concluded from the Elden Ring reviews is that it’s literally Dark Souls plopped down in a huge mysterious open world that doesn’t hold your hand. I can see that not appealing to everyone, but to me it sounds like my dream game

 

[TheDoldrums]

Same. Open world games genuinely turn me off, but I've read a bunch of reviews from people that state they didn't experience the typical open world burnout they get from other games. So I'm still hyped

imo a lot of that burnout comes from checklists of things to do, people feel obligated to complete them. I know if I love a game I'll do every quest in the log or whatever. But there's nothing like that in this game from what I can understand. Some reviewers have even mentioned taking manual notes IRL to keep track of things they see or "quests" which seem more like long winding secrets to uncover more than some generic "go here and kill x"

 

[pistolpete11]

Same. Open world games genuinely turn me off, but I've read a bunch of reviews from people that state they didn't experience the typical open world burnout they get from other games. So I'm still hyped

I'm still going to play it, but I'm going in with less than "nearly universal 10/10 reviews" expectations.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Elden Ring performance: what to expect on PS5, Series X/S and PC

Looks like performance isn't exactly great on console