10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb
10 Yrs♥✓#
The Golden Order has been broken. Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between. In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree, has been shattered. Marika's offspring, demigods all, claimed the shards of the Elden Ring known as the Great Runes, and the mad taint of their newfound strength triggered a war: The Shattering. A war that meant abandonment by the Greater Will. And now the guidance of grace will be brought to the Tarnished who were spurned by the grace of gold and exiled from the Lands Between. Ye dead who yet live, your grace long lost, follow the path to the Lands Between beyond the foggy sea to stand before the Elden Ring. And become the Elden Lord.
6 Yrs✓#
squadcar
6 Yrs✓#
A game of the month that's a new release and I actually will be playing during that month? Whoo boy. Okay. Hell yeah.
Should we create a HLTB password to use so we can distinguish our summon signs and messages from others? (If you use group password in the settings it'll assign whatever password you put there to a color and other messages and signs made with that password show up with that color difference)
Should we create a HLTB password to use so we can distinguish our summon signs and messages from others? (If you use group password in the settings it'll assign whatever password you put there to a color and other messages and signs made with that password show up with that color difference)
9 Yrs♥$✓#
Yeah, it's very rare (if not the first time) that a brand new release is voted as GotM.
6 Yrs✓#
squadcar6 Yrs✓#
Proof of this game's transcendence!
3 Yrs♥✓#
Calbon
3 Yrs♥✓#
I just posted on my Blog about what my experience so far has been like 20 hours in. I will be giving updates and talking about game quite a bit here in the future so stay tuned.
4 Yrs✓#
PepperSprayer
4 Yrs✓#
I’m about 28 hours in rn and I’m having a blast
10 Yrs♥✓#
knalb10 Yrs♥✓#
Just had my first playthrough:
Chose vagabond and reached the Church with the first merchant
So far this feels closer to Dark Souls then bloodborne. Very defensive feeling gameplay so far. From the looks of things though magic plays a much bigger role in this game so we'll wait and see what the game will bring the longer into the game I get. Interestingly at least to me the tutorial is now optional in this game and you can easily skip it if you wish. Still need to get use to Y instead of A for item pick up though but the added jump and crouch buttons are nice new introductions
Chose vagabond and reached the Church with the first merchant
So far this feels closer to Dark Souls then bloodborne. Very defensive feeling gameplay so far. From the looks of things though magic plays a much bigger role in this game so we'll wait and see what the game will bring the longer into the game I get. Interestingly at least to me the tutorial is now optional in this game and you can easily skip it if you wish. Still need to get use to Y instead of A for item pick up though but the added jump and crouch buttons are nice new introductions
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE
6 Yrs♥$✓#
This is my first game in this genre and I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I'm 6h13m in. Haven't achieved much yet though.
I have a question. Maybe someone here can help me?
I have set the game to offline. I don't like multiplayer and I hate the hundreds of messages other players leave all over the place. Spoiler-much? I don't want to know where secrets are and it destroys all immersion. That's why I set the game to offline. Even now there are very few message left though. I thought in the beginning that those must be set by the game, not other players. But just now I was invaded (and killed) which I assume was done by another human player and should be not possible if the game is set to offline. What am I missing here? Is that a bug or did I make some mistake there?
P.S. I have set passwords
P.p.s nevermind, I should have googled it first. NPCs apparently can invade you too.
I have a question. Maybe someone here can help me?
I have set the game to offline. I don't like multiplayer and I hate the hundreds of messages other players leave all over the place. Spoiler-much? I don't want to know where secrets are and it destroys all immersion. That's why I set the game to offline. Even now there are very few message left though. I thought in the beginning that those must be set by the game, not other players. But just now I was invaded (and killed) which I assume was done by another human player and should be not possible if the game is set to offline. What am I missing here? Is that a bug or did I make some mistake there?
P.S. I have set passwords
P.p.s nevermind, I should have googled it first. NPCs apparently can invade you too.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
How's the PC version? Been hearing it's shall we say problematic. So yeah, how's it running on your ends and how beefy are your computers?
3 Yrs♥✓#
domido
3 Yrs♥✓#
I think I'm addicted to this game. When I sleep I dream about strategies to tackle a certain area.
This game had everything going against it for me:
* I've never played a From Soft game, even though I think they're gorgeous. The difficulty scares me off.
* I don't necessarily like open world games, because I never know where to go and I hate stumbling upon something I shouldn't have.
However, this game really clicks for me!
I've been playing for 24 hours. I picked the prisoner class, because I want to go for a Dex/Int build. Turns out that the distance with the occasional close combat is perfect for me.
In those 24 hours, I have explored every bit of the map of West Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. I just run around to see what I can find, but I also pull up the map to mark areas that look different. If I enter a cave I'm not ready for Rune Bear!, I'll give it a tag to return later. In this way I've cleared those two areas. I still have to defeat the Tree guy on the horse and the dragon, I think I'll try them after exploring East Limgrave.
I've heard reviewers say that it's not satisfying to go through the optional dungeons and fight hard bosses, because the loot you find is often useless because of the build you choose to go for. It doesn't feel that way to me. I almost never find anything that fits my Dex/Int build, but it's so satisfying beating the optional bosses that that's where the pleasure is for me.
Castle Morne was fun (and only a little bit hard). I explored the whole castle but only beat the boss after beating the first "main game" boss.
The first "main game" boss Margit was a tough nut to crack for me. I enjoyed learning his patterns though. I'm also learning how to dodge and hold up my shield, because frantic dodging like I'm doing in Horizon Zero Dawn and other similar games does not work here. You have to time it right, or you'll definitely be hit. The next boss Godrick has attacks that are even trickier to dodge, but the joy is in learning to do so. I can't believe I'm saying this.
The only area I kind of cheesed is Stormveil Castle. If you're having trouble there like I had: my tip is to use the rooftops. There's a really hard bit with two knights, which I couldn't get past. The roof tops allow you to progress without having to beat them. I will, however, go back to the castle to explore it in full, because I have a lot of unfinished business there.
This game feels like a cardio exercise for my heart, because it's beating like crazy when I get passed difficult encounters or when I'm a hair away from beating a boss, but it's so satisfying. Next up, I'll explore East Limgrave a little bit more and then I'll progress to the next area of the game to see what's waiting for me there.
I'm looking forward to checking this thread and people's experiences with the game. I'm also curious to hear how it relates to other From Soft games, because I'm definitely getting the itch to play the others after this one.
This game had everything going against it for me:
* I've never played a From Soft game, even though I think they're gorgeous. The difficulty scares me off.
* I don't necessarily like open world games, because I never know where to go and I hate stumbling upon something I shouldn't have.
However, this game really clicks for me!
I've been playing for 24 hours. I picked the prisoner class, because I want to go for a Dex/Int build. Turns out that the distance with the occasional close combat is perfect for me.
In those 24 hours, I have explored every bit of the map of West Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. I just run around to see what I can find, but I also pull up the map to mark areas that look different. If I enter a cave I'm not ready for Rune Bear!, I'll give it a tag to return later. In this way I've cleared those two areas. I still have to defeat the Tree guy on the horse and the dragon, I think I'll try them after exploring East Limgrave.
I've heard reviewers say that it's not satisfying to go through the optional dungeons and fight hard bosses, because the loot you find is often useless because of the build you choose to go for. It doesn't feel that way to me. I almost never find anything that fits my Dex/Int build, but it's so satisfying beating the optional bosses that that's where the pleasure is for me.
Castle Morne was fun (and only a little bit hard). I explored the whole castle but only beat the boss after beating the first "main game" boss.
The first "main game" boss Margit was a tough nut to crack for me. I enjoyed learning his patterns though. I'm also learning how to dodge and hold up my shield, because frantic dodging like I'm doing in Horizon Zero Dawn and other similar games does not work here. You have to time it right, or you'll definitely be hit. The next boss Godrick has attacks that are even trickier to dodge, but the joy is in learning to do so. I can't believe I'm saying this.
The only area I kind of cheesed is Stormveil Castle. If you're having trouble there like I had: my tip is to use the rooftops. There's a really hard bit with two knights, which I couldn't get past. The roof tops allow you to progress without having to beat them. I will, however, go back to the castle to explore it in full, because I have a lot of unfinished business there.
This game feels like a cardio exercise for my heart, because it's beating like crazy when I get passed difficult encounters or when I'm a hair away from beating a boss, but it's so satisfying. Next up, I'll explore East Limgrave a little bit more and then I'll progress to the next area of the game to see what's waiting for me there.
I'm looking forward to checking this thread and people's experiences with the game. I'm also curious to hear how it relates to other From Soft games, because I'm definitely getting the itch to play the others after this one.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
I don't remember any instance of this happening before but Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was voted GOTM for January 2020 (1.5 months after release). That might have been the closest case till now.
6 Yrs✓#
squadcar6 Yrs✓#
I have not felt this amount of wanderlust (or just desire to explore areas) since Morrowind. Not even New Vegas fully comes close to Morrowind but Elden Ring really does. Between areas that have content that isn't just a checklist, areas that are beautiful or exciting, things that make you go Ohhhh ahhhhh but then realize you probably should come back later.
I think I've finally explore all of what Limgrave + Weeping Peninsula has to offer besides that one massive, massive dungeon thing. I'll have to come check it out again soon. I'm in Liurnia of the Lakes and the boss at the Academy is very tough. I probably need to go explore and level up some more. I might even head East and see what that area is like more instead.
About 26-28 hours on this character. Making sure you don't miss something will make this game pretty long I'm guessing.
I think I've finally explore all of what Limgrave + Weeping Peninsula has to offer besides that one massive, massive dungeon thing. I'll have to come check it out again soon. I'm in Liurnia of the Lakes and the boss at the Academy is very tough. I probably need to go explore and level up some more. I might even head East and see what that area is like more instead.
About 26-28 hours on this character. Making sure you don't miss something will make this game pretty long I'm guessing.
8 Yrs♥$✓#
schiemann
8 Yrs♥$✓#
No problems on my end, 36 hours in so far. I haven't tried playing on ultra as the game set the graphics to high as default.
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz
16GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
And also running on Windows 11 with SSD.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros
4 Yrs♥$✓#
No problems here. Got 1 game crash, my FPS fluctuates from 40 to 60 a lot on medium, but I got no stuttering.
Ryzen 5 4600H
Geforce GTX 1650
2x16GB RAM
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros4 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm currently level 78 at 46 hours of gameplay. I think I'm more than halfway through, but there's a good chunk of the map still unexplored. The game is huge. There's so much to talk about it, where do I start...
There's a little bit from every game. You can see how Elden Ring is a culmination of everything that From Software learned developing Souls games (over a decade now). You can even see the Sekiro influences on some enemy designs, jumping, and stealth mechanics.
Everything feels handcrafted. On most open-world games is not too long until you realize the 'cookie cutter' approach of the world, while here it's the other way around, you have to put some effort to notice things that are 'copy pasted'. While there is some samey stuff, they are really minimal (like shopkeepers and some mini-dungeons designs).
Everything feels polished. Art style, music, menus, voice acting, level design, hitboxes, combat animation, draw distance, npc and enemy designs...
No mindless checklist. I'm rarely following points on the map, and when I do it's a marker that I've put it myself. At this point, I thought that this was an obvious lesson from Breath of the Wild, but Elden Ring deserves all the praise here because it seems the only major open-world game learning that.
Lots of combat options. I'm getting all sorts of ideas for builds on my second playthrough, everything coming pretty naturally as I get new weapons and learn not-so-obvious mechanics (as opposed to just reading something on Reddit). While replaying a Souls game with a new build is already a tradition, here it feels more exciting than never with so many options.
Making souls not niche anymore. I think Elden Ring is reaching mainstream in a different way when compared to the other From Software games. It's not just one of 'those souls games' anymore, it's a huge polished open-world game, more approachable than ever, with an impossibly high Metacritic score. I believe this will be the first Souls game for a lot of folks, and I can already see some game journalists that would normally ignore From Software games having to deal with the phenomenon that Elden Ring became.
Every frame is a painting. It's hard to take a bad screenshot.
There's a little bit from every game. You can see how Elden Ring is a culmination of everything that From Software learned developing Souls games (over a decade now). You can even see the Sekiro influences on some enemy designs, jumping, and stealth mechanics.
Everything feels handcrafted. On most open-world games is not too long until you realize the 'cookie cutter' approach of the world, while here it's the other way around, you have to put some effort to notice things that are 'copy pasted'. While there is some samey stuff, they are really minimal (like shopkeepers and some mini-dungeons designs).
Everything feels polished. Art style, music, menus, voice acting, level design, hitboxes, combat animation, draw distance, npc and enemy designs...
No mindless checklist. I'm rarely following points on the map, and when I do it's a marker that I've put it myself. At this point, I thought that this was an obvious lesson from Breath of the Wild, but Elden Ring deserves all the praise here because it seems the only major open-world game learning that.
Lots of combat options. I'm getting all sorts of ideas for builds on my second playthrough, everything coming pretty naturally as I get new weapons and learn not-so-obvious mechanics (as opposed to just reading something on Reddit). While replaying a Souls game with a new build is already a tradition, here it feels more exciting than never with so many options.
Making souls not niche anymore. I think Elden Ring is reaching mainstream in a different way when compared to the other From Software games. It's not just one of 'those souls games' anymore, it's a huge polished open-world game, more approachable than ever, with an impossibly high Metacritic score. I believe this will be the first Souls game for a lot of folks, and I can already see some game journalists that would normally ignore From Software games having to deal with the phenomenon that Elden Ring became.
Every frame is a painting. It's hard to take a bad screenshot.
6 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE6 Yrs♥$✓#
I play Elden Ring on PC and haven't found any issues so far (almost 8h in). Although I have to say that I can't see the difference between frame rates. Whenever I look at YouTube videos that compare 30 and 60 frames per second I literally see zero difference. I might just be too old or have too bad eyes. So not really the best person to give feedback on the frame rate. But the game hasn't crashed yet, I haven't seen any bugs, I haven't experienced any frame rate drops.
My PC: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor, 3600 Mhz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, 16 GB RAM, SSD, Windows 10
6 Yrs✓#
squadcar6 Yrs✓#
To be fair, the difference in 30 and 60 isn't a ton really to someone who isn't used to spotting those differences and the frame drop is more like it goes from 60 to 0 (or 1) to 5 to 30 to 55 very quickly before it fixes. Over the course of a few seconds. You will most definitely notice that. It happens to me in the open world far more than anywhere else. The only place it consistently happened was with the horseback boss at the very beginning of the game.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros4 Yrs♥$✓#
Live action trailer and New Yorker article, Elden Ring is getting into mainstream alright. This is probably the biggest Bandai Namco release ever.
7 Yrs✓#
Optim
7 Yrs✓#
It was kind of bad at the start, first couple of hours stutters would happen every 5 minutes or so, but now its literal hours until I get a stutter, like a small frame drop once per a 5 hour playthrough. I think something at the start is fucked up. I do have a pretty beefy PC, a 3070ti with a 10900k, but my friend who games on a GTX 1070 and an i7 8700k is experiencing the same thing I am.
3 Yrs♥✓#
Calbon3 Yrs♥✓#
The last few days I have been checking out the Liurnia of the Lake section. The first thing I have noticed was how much I dislike some of the new enemies in this area. For instance there are the giant lobster/prawn guys who are funny on paper, but are just awful to fight alone, but worse when they often group together. I also really dislike these royal revenant like enemies that I have come across, and they potentially are some of my least favorite enemies in the series. One shot combos that you get caught in like 50% of the time are not fun to deal with, along with teleportation and nasty poison attacks. I'm also not a big fan of the bog section of the level. As of right now I have ventured across the bog part completely and I just really did not like it. Swamp sections are just not my favorite in these game, and it is really no different in this game besides it being so large. It was also relatively empty and bland so that did not really help. The upper parts on the main land are pretty cool for what I have explored, so that is at least cool. Though I have barely scratched the surface of Liurnia of the Lake's map, I plan on visiting Raya Lucaria Academy whenever I pick the game up next.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros4 Yrs♥$✓#
Kinda of a warning:
There is a section at the east of the map, it's a different biome with a strong red color. I felt underpowered but I've fought through it anyway (almost everything there, it's a big chunk of the world map). A couple of bosses gave me trouble, but I could handle it.
Now heading to the west, the game is a cakewalk, I'm ridiculously overpowered. I can just roll and attack mindlessly now, even on bosses.
There is a section at the east of the map, it's a different biome with a strong red color. I felt underpowered but I've fought through it anyway (almost everything there, it's a big chunk of the world map). A couple of bosses gave me trouble, but I could handle it.
Now heading to the west, the game is a cakewalk, I'm ridiculously overpowered. I can just roll and attack mindlessly now, even on bosses.
4 Yrs♥$✓#
churros4 Yrs♥$✓#
(edit: sorry double posted!)
6 Yrs✓#
squadcar6 Yrs✓#
I have beaten the main boss of Liurnia of the Lake area but I feel I've not nearly explored the area enough. I might go back to the East with the Caelid region before going through the lake areas more. Then I'm not sure what to do. Also I can't figure out how to use the Great Rune from the Lake area...
3 Yrs♥✓#
domido3 Yrs♥✓#
I'm now 35 hours in I'm level 47 dex/int build and I've explored a lot of Liurnia. Not all yet though because there are sections that are really hard. I'm trying not to beat my head against a wall fighting knights because I'm just not good at them yet. I'm learning to parry though, so that should save me a lot of frustration in the future.
I've made it through the academy and I beat Radagon, a beautifully designed beast. A tough fight but with enough magic and the Kaiden Sellward summons really helped me.
I'm now stuck at the next boss fight with Rennala. The first phase is easy, but I'm having a tough time dodging magic in the next phase. I'm trying out a new weapon though. I picked up the Ice Rind Hatchet with a cool skill, which has helped me take down knights. I'm now looking forward to going back to areas I couldn't beat before with my new hatchet. I'll level up a bit and then I'll face the boss again.
This game is still so much fun! It's so well designed and even when you're stuck there something new to find to potentially help you out! This weekend I'm hoping to beat this current boss and to make my way to the next one, but let's see how that goes.
I've made it through the academy and I beat Radagon, a beautifully designed beast. A tough fight but with enough magic and the Kaiden Sellward summons really helped me.
I'm now stuck at the next boss fight with Rennala. The first phase is easy, but I'm having a tough time dodging magic in the next phase. I'm trying out a new weapon though. I picked up the Ice Rind Hatchet with a cool skill, which has helped me take down knights. I'm now looking forward to going back to areas I couldn't beat before with my new hatchet. I'll level up a bit and then I'll face the boss again.
This game is still so much fun! It's so well designed and even when you're stuck there something new to find to potentially help you out! This weekend I'm hoping to beat this current boss and to make my way to the next one, but let's see how that goes.
8 Yrs♥$✓#
schiemann8 Yrs♥$✓#
On my last gaming session I finally got to face Hoarah Loux, 55ish hours in, level 117. I was able to kill almost all of the optional bosses so far, but I still feel underpowered for some reason. I know I have to farm some more materials to get my ashes to +10 before finishing the game, so that's probably what I'm aiming for today. And I haven't even finished the game and I'm already thinking of making another character with a different build. God, I love this game.