Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

I would disagree. I never played Souls until Bloodborne where I spent upwards of 15 hours in the Central Yharnam area getting my ass handed to me. I rage quit several times. Came back to the game a few months later and seemed to have digested what the game was about.

The game is poor about teaching you how it expects you to play. Which is much less like a beat em up or other third person RPG's like say, God of War, where you play very similarly but don't have resource management to deal with. So when the average player comes in playing like any other third person action game from the past 10+ years you just get punished for it.

Once you figure that part out and play how it expects you to play. Which is dodge or block and enemies are stuck in attack animations same as you are so it's all about timing and resource management its much more manageable. Then the other souls games generally follow this principle. Outside of Sekiro due to its deflecting/blade clashing style which is way different even if its the same in spirit.

Play enough of them and you know what to expect. Most bosses have a gimmick or have various ways to trivialize them.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to play a game where I beat bosses consistently in the first few times no matter how talented I thought I was. That makes for a quick and easy game.

Personally, the atmosphere is what sucks me in. Yeah you have to learn the bosses and memorize the maps and open up short cuts - game doesn't hand hold, but once you get it down, you will become a huge fan.

OU Ariakas said:

For those who played the open beta: was it as hard or harder than Bloodborne? It just seems to me that this setting and the tie to George Martin is an attempt at trying to broaden the appeal of FromSoft games into the medium hardcore players. I admit that I hated DS1 for the first hour I played it but became a convert quickly; maybe this one is at least easier at the beginning to encourage more play from "casuals"?

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It's the "easiest" Souls game, at least in the initial area's. The magic systems can almost trivialize some of the general mobbing, but the bosses still pack a punch and are fairly difficult (well, at least from what's been made available). I suspect the other area's of the world will be a jump in difficulty but so far the beginning is really accessible and I felt like they were maybe trying to lean into that so that every tom dick and jane can get into the game without rage quitting an hour in.

I was initially kind of annoyed at the strength of some of the spells and overall difficulty level seemingly a bit lower but I've come around - being a much more open game world alleviates some of the ball breaking as well until the boss rooms. After getting time with it, I am about as hyped as I was pre-Cyberpunk for this. I think they're going to deliver.... not long to go now.

I died to Vicar Amelia probably 40 times. No joke. But I one shot the Blood Starved Beast that Soygen got his shit pushed in by 40 times.

Your mileage varies!

Many bosses are also skippable in DS games. People don't recognize that either.

Crone said:

I do understand the points being made here, and the comparison to Savage/Mythic raiding in an MMO makes perfect sense. I played multiple hours into the Dark Souls 2 remaster or GOTY edition that had all the DLC and better graphics I want to say on PS4? I think some of the rage was targeted towards the terrible save points.

And again, to each their own. A game lets me beat a boss after 2-3 tries max, and I move on to further the story? That's perfectly fine to me. An "easy" game doesn't make a bad game.

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Elden Ring is, at least initially much more "n00b" friendly than other entries. A lot of the open world is either skippable or allows you freedom to set up your attack/plans etc. If you enjoyed BOTW, open world games and or action games I think this new title will make a terrific entry point into the "style" of game. In fact, I'd bet my house that a bunch of people who never bothered with the style of game previously (due to actual or perceived difficulty) will play Elden Ring and eventually become so enamored they go back and play others.

The best, of course, being Bloodborne. I am just sitting here waiting on an enhanced version of that game....

Definitely.

The open world nature of this game will make shortcuts and skippable bosses a lot more clear. Along with the ability to escape. New players will be much more inclined to enjoy it. It's going to be Breath of the Wild but with harder bossfights.

Crone said:

I do understand the points being made here, and the comparison to Savage/Mythic raiding in an MMO makes perfect sense. I played multiple hours into the Dark Souls 2 remaster or GOTY edition that had all the DLC and better graphics I want to say on PS4? I think some of the rage was targeted towards the terrible save points.

And again, to each their own. A game lets me beat a boss after 2-3 tries max, and I move on to further the story? That's perfectly fine to me. An "easy" game doesn't make a bad game.

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git gud fgt

The verticality of Sekiro really did a lot to make the game seem easier and more open.