4 ms·

It was my first game of the genre and holy shit fo I not get it at all. The only aspect I loved was the world visuals/themes/area transitions. Actual gameplay

It was my first game of the genre and holy shit fo I not get it at all. The only aspect I loved was the world visuals/themes/area transitions. Actual gameplay was not really fun for me

extr 4y ago
Same here. I bought it on the strength of the rave reviews and found it incredibly boring. The world has a cool vibe but the gameplay and mechanics are so so clunky. Coming from the latest Zelda game, which was kinda similar (open world, you have a horse) but absolutely 11/10 spectacular in every respect, it felt like a huge step down.
- bmitc 4y ago
  I feel that Elden Ring is a bit too open for a From Software game. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, which I all love but suck at, are all a bit more directional in terms of where you need to go. You can "crawl" an area a bit more, whereas Elden Ring just feels too expansive. I'm often asking "is this where I'm even supposed to be at?". That can be fun in a mystical sort of way, but it makes it hard to even know what I should be working towards. Plus, their RPG elements run deep, and you need to basically live on the forums and wiki to understand how to piece together a build. Winging it is fine, but it usually means you've stunted yourself in some unclear way. This is why I also really like Sekiro, which removed some of that.
- hamsalot 4y ago
  There's a T-shirt with 'I didn't beat dark souls' on the front of it and on the back, "it has a lot of design problems that make it player-unfriendly and difficult to enjoy but the culture surrounding it actively ignores these elements in favor of hyping it up as the hardest video game ever (a title it definitely doesn't have a claim to) and claiming that anyone who takes issue with problems must just be bad at video games in general". The joke is that most peoples first time with a FromSoft game results in them thinking/feeling that the game is bad/boring. I'm not saying you're wrong for not enjoying it, I'm just saying you have a lot of company.
- mths 4y ago
  > the gameplay and mechanics are so so clunky This is a feature though, it's what makes it unique and great. I had the exact same impression when I first tried Demon's Souls as it came out around 2010. I knew the game was supposed to be hard, but it felt hard for no reason, as if they had made it clunky just to mess with you. I ignored the whole souls genre until I finally picked up the remake on the PS5 about a year ago, and it all clicked this time. It's clunky in an effort to be more realistic than many superficially similar games, and that requires you to play it differently too. Your attacks have a wind-up and cool-down period, you got stats preventing you from carrying too much gear and get even clunkier, endurance stopping you from maneuvering like a mad man etc. All these limitations are there to force you to be more strategic with your leveling, equipment, fighting, .. They're very deliberate and not "design problems that make it player-unfriendly". It's not for everyone, but it's a different experience many clearly find rewarding. And honestly, the games aren't even that hard once you grasp these concepts.
  - red-iron-pine 4y ago
    Kinda the same way I feel about some of the survival modes for Skyrim or Fallout. Adds a lot of realism -- "realisim" in a game where you kill dragons -- and changes how you play. Kinda cool, but also long, low, and slow. Lots of just walking... kinda boring.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    >more realistic than many superficially similar games, BS, it's about fake difficulty. If it was about "realism" you could hide from a dragon's attack behind a wall, but in Dark Souls 2 at least the dragons fire goes right through it. Some people crave fake difficulty, as you can see when they were so against adding an "easy" mode, and these games are for them, but making gameplay purposely frustrating is dumb.
    - bluefirebrand 4y ago
      It's not about "fake difficulty" it's about real difficulty. It's about a game that actually expects you to overcome hard things, not just wander through the theme park. There are plenty of other easy mode games out there, people are welcome to play those. I highly respect FromSoft for standing firm that the challenge is the experience they want to deliver and they aren't putting in easy mode. People can complain about it, but that's what FromSoft wants to do with their product and the success shows that it's a very popular choice.

It was my first game of the genre and holy shit fo I not get it at all. The only aspect I loved was the world visuals/themes/area transitions. Actual gameplay was not really fun for me

extr 4y ago

Same here. I bought it on the strength of the rave reviews and found it incredibly boring. The world has a cool vibe but the gameplay and mechanics are so so clunky. Coming from the latest Zelda game, which was kinda similar (open world, you have a horse) but absolutely 11/10 spectacular in every respect, it felt like a huge step down.

bmitc 4y ago
I feel that Elden Ring is a bit too open for a From Software game. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, which I all love but suck at, are all a bit more directional in terms of where you need to go. You can "crawl" an area a bit more, whereas Elden Ring just feels too expansive. I'm often asking "is this where I'm even supposed to be at?". That can be fun in a mystical sort of way, but it makes it hard to even know what I should be working towards. Plus, their RPG elements run deep, and you need to basically live on the forums and wiki to understand how to piece together a build. Winging it is fine, but it usually means you've stunted yourself in some unclear way. This is why I also really like Sekiro, which removed some of that.
hamsalot 4y ago
There's a T-shirt with 'I didn't beat dark souls' on the front of it and on the back, "it has a lot of design problems that make it player-unfriendly and difficult to enjoy but the culture surrounding it actively ignores these elements in favor of hyping it up as the hardest video game ever (a title it definitely doesn't have a claim to) and claiming that anyone who takes issue with problems must just be bad at video games in general". The joke is that most peoples first time with a FromSoft game results in them thinking/feeling that the game is bad/boring. I'm not saying you're wrong for not enjoying it, I'm just saying you have a lot of company.
mths 4y ago
> the gameplay and mechanics are so so clunky This is a feature though, it's what makes it unique and great. I had the exact same impression when I first tried Demon's Souls as it came out around 2010. I knew the game was supposed to be hard, but it felt hard for no reason, as if they had made it clunky just to mess with you. I ignored the whole souls genre until I finally picked up the remake on the PS5 about a year ago, and it all clicked this time. It's clunky in an effort to be more realistic than many superficially similar games, and that requires you to play it differently too. Your attacks have a wind-up and cool-down period, you got stats preventing you from carrying too much gear and get even clunkier, endurance stopping you from maneuvering like a mad man etc. All these limitations are there to force you to be more strategic with your leveling, equipment, fighting, .. They're very deliberate and not "design problems that make it player-unfriendly". It's not for everyone, but it's a different experience many clearly find rewarding. And honestly, the games aren't even that hard once you grasp these concepts.
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  Kinda the same way I feel about some of the survival modes for Skyrim or Fallout. Adds a lot of realism -- "realisim" in a game where you kill dragons -- and changes how you play. Kinda cool, but also long, low, and slow. Lots of just walking... kinda boring.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  >more realistic than many superficially similar games, BS, it's about fake difficulty. If it was about "realism" you could hide from a dragon's attack behind a wall, but in Dark Souls 2 at least the dragons fire goes right through it. Some people crave fake difficulty, as you can see when they were so against adding an "easy" mode, and these games are for them, but making gameplay purposely frustrating is dumb.
  - bluefirebrand 4y ago
    It's not about "fake difficulty" it's about real difficulty. It's about a game that actually expects you to overcome hard things, not just wander through the theme park. There are plenty of other easy mode games out there, people are welcome to play those. I highly respect FromSoft for standing firm that the challenge is the experience they want to deliver and they aren't putting in easy mode. People can complain about it, but that's what FromSoft wants to do with their product and the success shows that it's a very popular choice.