What was your experience with Elden Ring? I'd love to know. There's no discussion of Invasions in this video as I honestly didn't enjoy getting slapped around 1v3. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Use POGDOWNWARD16 for up to 16 FREE MEALS + 3 surprise gifts across 6 HelloFresh Boxes, plus free shipping at strms.net/DownwardHelloFresh #Ad #HelloFreshPics TIMESTAMPS 0:01 Introduction 0:23 Part 1: World Design 11:35 Advertisement 12:39 End of Advertisement 19:37 Part 2: Balance, Bosses & Combat 29:50 Conclusion
It was great. But way too long, underwhelming soundtrack with a few exceptions (Radagon, Godrick just to name a few) and terribly balanced once you reach Mountaintops. Other than that, 10/10
You mention at one point during you time with the volcano manor, but if you decide to join them you do get a different ending, so I would say it is a different ending? Or at least does have an major effect in my opinion
I am 73 and just still enjoy gaming. What I like most about Elden Ring is how accessible it is to all play styles. You can use summons or you can go it solo 100%. You can totally immerse yourself totally offline or you can put up with invasions. I am at the last boss and it has been a totally enjoyable experience for me. Last time I noticed, I had 300 plus hours in the game and no regrets. Not sure I will do a game+ but certainly will do any DLCs if/as they come out.
That's really cool. And honestly kinda impressive. I feel like my reflexes at your age wouldn't be good enough for this game lol. Keep on gaming my friend!
Dude. As a longtime from software veteran, this game blew my mind. i had the frame of mind, that a game like this should not work. "Dark souls meets open world? 2 conflicting elements, im worried now", i was thinking, but it turns out i was SO WRONG. This game is bafflingly good. I was at around 160 hours by the time i beat the fire giant, and i was like, wow, what a shitty final boss. And then BAM. i find the Haligtree dungeon, and wrap up millicents questline, cementing her as my fav From npc. I found the crumbling faraam azula, and i realized that you can hit left or right on the d pad at the rold lift to select a different medallion key. Then the ash capital, and while im exploring that, i found the sewers. Then the found the area under the sewers. Then a secret area. Then a secret area below that. Then a secret area below the secret area thats part of the secret area. Took 260 hours to complete the game. I explored everywhere, and checked every nook and cranny. And im still finding shit i missed. Damn, elden ring is something else.
What a game. Most jaw dropping moments in terms of scale. - I held off Leyndell thinking it would be the end. Discovering that this was just a gateway on the map was amazing. - Thinking Nokrom and Siofra River was everything underground then stumbling across Nokstella, Lake of Rot into Astel. Just out of this world
I was talking with a buddy, I said... if there wasn't everything on the internet already... particularly utube, this would be a ten year game and you would never figure everything out. For 60 bucks, hands down the best game so far in '22 and for me the best game on next Gen consoles to date. And probably for a long time to come.
@@stevejeffrey11 crossing my fingers :) good Zelda is good for everyone. I'm hoping for a more alive world this time (I mean cities and stuff if that's to vague), but I'm sure it will be good either way. After Elden Ring and BOTW, I could really use a nice happy city in a game.
@@johncook9392 ocarina will always be the goat lol. Even it’s Z targeting system was the precursor to the lock on you see in games now like elden ring . It’s crazy how innovative that game was
U put it perfectly. After 150 hours in, in NG+3. I want to stop, because each additional play through is me just trying to recapture the feeling that I was playing one of the best games ever made I had on my first play through. I felt almost depressed when I finished, knowing the journey was over. But what a journey. Well done From.
I quit mid way through new game plus... I am now replaying it a year later and its much better.. Having the map unveiled ruins it for me. Even on this replay ive forgotten enough to where the magic from exploration is back. Not like the 1st time obviously but still amazing. I recommend replaying after a year or 2 later
I am over 220 hours. No playthroughs, no hints, exploring everything on my own. Finding paths on my own, builds on my own. My map is packed with dungeons, towers, buildings, ruins. This is the most rewarding game I have ever played. For sure in my top 3 ever. Mass Effect level of excellence. I am still finding new areas lol.
@@smailmilak I ended up having to look up a couple of things to finish quests etc, but I stuck to doing it on my own for 98% of the time. Totally worth it. Felt like TRUE discovery and adventuring. I am doing my 2nd playthrough now.
@@chicken29843 You found the areas past Stormveil boring?, The Academy in Liurnia, Carrion Manor, the Albinauric village, you found Leyndell Capital boring, the sewers, Nokkron? To each their own I guess, but I cannot possibly understand how you found that boring. Maybe you like shooters more, or battle royals, but to me Elden Ring is not boring at all. 2nd playthrough right now. Still finding hidden passages I never saw, secret areas I never saw.
One point you absolutely nailed was at the end, when you said you felt empty and didn't want to keep playing after you've done and tried everything in your first playthrough. I suspected that I might feel the same so I stuck to my original build for the whole game and only respecced twice or so to make tiny adjustments. Now (after about 200 hours) I'm done with my first playthrough and I still feel motivated to have a go at it again but with a completely different setup, different weapons and all.
I made sure I collected every spell and incantation before starting NG+. So while my first playthrough was a pure str build with a bit of faith for incantation buffs. My second build is going to be focusing on faith/arcane stats with dragon cult, dragon communion, death blight and aspects of the crucible incantations (Yes I collected every memory stone and I've used up all 10 of my spell slots). Since most of these were spells you get in the end game, doing an entire playthrough from the beginning with them is INSANE amount of fun. But yes, the feeling of discovery, wonder and awe from the first playthrough will never be replicated and that's something I will always cherish no matter how many additional playthroughs I might do.
I had the pleasure of playing Elden Ring as my very first Fromsoft title and it blew my mind apart. I had always avoided Fromsoft games in the past because they looked "too dark and gloomy" and the comments about their difficulty level put me off from even trying. I am humble enough to know my own limitations in gaming and didn't fancy dying a hundred times to a boss. However, Elden Ring, with its amazing scenery and much brighter surroundings and assurances from other reviewers that it was much more newbie friendly made me take the plunge and I have never regretted it. I am nearly 200 hours played and like you, I took the time to explore so many places and nook and cranny. I am in the late game now (killed Fire giant, in Mogh Palace now), and the difficulty is truly there. I am probably a much better gamer now to Fromsoft type bosses and can probably handle the steep rise in difficulty (except maybe Malenia), but the experience up till now has been nothing short of amazing and I agree with everything you said. This is the first complete review where I enjoyed watching from start to end. Because while it acknowledges there will be some short comings, it also addresses that these are the result of trying to balance and present such a massive open world game and fill it with interesting stuff to do and bosses to fight. Its such a massive undertaking I am amazed Fromsoft managed to pull it off. This game has already taken up close to 200 hours of my time and yet I am not even at the end. There are far too many titles out there that could have taken an average gamer like me ten to twenty hours to finish and put down and never look at again. For a title like Elden Ring enable me to get ten times the kind of true enjoyment (and I had far more fun playing this game then I did on many many other games) than I did playing other titles speaks of how much loves they poured into this game. And how other titles just try and sqeeze "barely enough" content into their game to call it done. In conclusion, Awesome almost poetic like review. I will be listening to it more than once! Because I agree with everything you said, and enjoy watching and listening to a fellow gamer gush so poetically about the exact same things I enjoyed as I was playing through this game. Your review has truly done Elden Ring justice!
I completely agree with your sentiment here. I don't have anyone in real life to talk to about this so I will definitely be watching this video multiple times. This game has saved me from a true loneliness
The moments that stick out the most to me? My jaw was on the floor when the serpent turned its back and revealed Rykard's face. Radahn's meteor attack is a huge spectacle, and the best transition to the next phase in a boss fight. Morgott staining the thrones with his cursed blood, and the shame and anger he has for doing it. Realizing the Fire Giant is the very last of his kind, surrounded by the corpses of his kin. That and the sacrifice of his own flesh to become an avatar of his god. And Godfrey, deciding to fight in earnest, slaughtering his own animal companion and tossing his axe away, only to bust out some insane wrestling moves.
my personal fav moments were thinking i fnished exploring the entirety of limgrave only to stumble onto siofra river well and realising that there's an entire underground layer to the map. or when i got teleported to the lyndell divine bridge and realised how massive the world was. or when i kept thinking i hit the bottom of lyndell, only to find another massive area behind it.
My play through was 120 hours - I explored every region and beat every Demigod before facing the final boss. BotW was my favorite game of all time, but Elden Ring's taken the crown. Its truly the greatest Open World game ever made, and will be remembered as a benchmark in gaming history.
One of the most perfect imperfect adventures a game took me on. Its like playing Zelda Ocarina of Time for grown ups 20 years later or being a central character of a LotR/GoT story 180 hours in, 20/10 would recommend
When Zelda Breath of the Wild borrowed from Dark Souls, Miyazaki vowed to return the favor, it seems. The opening and the waypoint beacons gave me the most bittersweet BotW flashbacks.
I'm 100 hours in and still love exploring this world...you never know what's around the corner...I'm still finding new things all the time.....its one of those games that calls to you when your working or doing your house hold chores to sit down and play just one more hour.
I finished my first playthrough at 125 hours. Absolute joy to play. On second playthrough and still discovering new things. Deffo in my top 10 best games of all time
@@jamesandthemgiantcheeks2798 he's a nightmare. I found attacking hos final form from behind, worked best. And I had put on as much holy protection as I could. Took many a try
Legit this is the fantasy game I've been waiting for my whole life, it's fresh yet familiar, absolutely the most imaginative and mind bending fun I've experienced since I was gaming as a kid. That feeling of wonder and adventure yet also the challenges to overcome!! That feeling of being able to dive into a mythological world. As Randy once said in South Park "Out here I'm a simple geologist, but IN HERE...I am FALCORN defender of the Alliance."😂 legit Elden Ring is an absolute masterpiece🌌
I remember playing "tennis" on the Atari. I remember beating Sonic on the master system 2, I remember playing starwing on the SNES and first seeing the open world of Mario 64 and the feel of my N64 box Christmas morning mid 1990s and a Christmas or so later I remember seeing the fields of Hyrule for the first time wide open before me in The Ocarina of Time...Elden Ring now sits fondly in this bank of memories of iconic gaming moments. It is truly wonderful.
Goonies, the Zeldas, Kid Icarus, Battle of Okympus, Faxanadu, FF7, Chrono Trigger, Metroids, Symphony of the Night, Shadowrun, Ninja Gaiden, the Marios. So many memories, and Elden Ring is now my crown jewel.
Same here first games I ever remember was when my brother friend brought over his Atari. We got a pong console much to my brothers chagrin. I remember playing space invaders on holiday. Then the nes. I got into games with ocarina in 98 again. It’s been amazing to see how far they’re got
Yep I hit that soon after Godrick on NG+. My character is so powerful now that I am wiping the floor with everything. I have no interest to explore as I have already been through every cave in my first 110 hour playthrough and beaten every boss. I wanted to get different endings but I don't think I have it in me to play through again.
Hard to hold this against the game considering that by the time you get to that particular point of your journey, you'd be well into new game +3 in DS 1 through 3.
Never been an fan of the linear way of Souls game. I am now an Elden Ring Chad Enjoyer. This is. An. Epic. Game. Period. Take it from an guy who didn’t find the games fun enough or time investing enough to git guud. Elden Ring is close to an perfect game at our current day n age. Play it, you will enjoy it if you like games.
I am there now and I was like - this branch area is a joke. Then I got to the actual legacy dungeon and the place is a joke. Absolutely ridiculous. But I love it! Area is beautiful and the lay out of OP enemies makes for an exciting run!
I was exploring an area today that I had not unlocked the map for. Just happened upon a dungeon and found the head covering that I was wanting for the rest of my playthrough behind an illusory wall. It's moments such as this one that makes me love this game. It rewards me for my actions just as much as it punishes me for my mistakes.
I just started playing this game & it’s intimidating the eff outta me. Unlike other games where goons or soldier character seem like they are just trying to slow you down in this one it’s like they wanna make sure you are DEAD! Not even just by outnumbering you. An individual knight attacks like he’s going for broke & not taking any chances. The thought of collecting a lot of runes knowing I might loose them forever is gonna take me time to get use to.
I had unrealistic expectations of this game before it was released and there was absolutely no way it could live up to them, everybody knew that. Right? It exceeded them in almost every way. This game is the first game in a long way that made me feel like a kid again. The sense of wonderment, the joy in exploring and finding out stuff and those big ahhhh moments when something clicks and you piece together a connection between people or a side quest. The epic, often cinematic fights. The quirky characters. The weapons. The world. The art. The music. Turtle pope. I've spouted a lot of words and not a single one of them can do this game justice. If this isn't game of the year then either it will have been straight up robbed, or we are in for some serious fucking treats as far as gaming goes.
God of War: Ragnarok, if it's anything similar to its predecessor, will give ANY game this year a run for their money, for GOTY (Elden Ring included). Elden Ring is a masterpiece, though, for sure.
@@DemiurgicalDissolution wait was the last god of war that good? I played up to god of war 3 and none of those could possibly compare to something like elden ring, not even in the same universe of gaming imo.
I just camr here to say, I am 43 years old, I have been playing games since 80's, I started with Commodore 64 and Amiga and Atari and Colicovison which mybfather had bought for himself when I wasn't born yet I think. Anyways, I have played so many games, I am an old fart who still enjoys playing games. I couldn't care less what others think about that btw. To make a long story short, Elden Ring is the greatest game what I have played in whole my life. Everything about the game is just perfect, so for me, it is the greatest game ever.
@@therealexquisiteexistentia4743 played a lot of co op/invasions and some afk time plus was my first souls game so took me a while to learn the ropes 😂
I best the game, did NG+, took a few months off, started a fresh character, missed my old character, started NG++ and have fallen in love with the game all over again. This game is definitely one of the best of all time.
Downward Thrust, keep em coming man. This is by far the most impassioned review of Elden Ring on UA-cam. You nailed my exact sentiments of this game. I am over 120 hrs into this game and I've only now started to tackle Raya Lucaria Acedemy. I'm easily distracted by the shiny object in the distance or a path that doesn't lead straight. From Software has created a game that isn't linear, similar to real life. I am allowed to explore and get challenges done at my own pace and either reap or sow the actions of my decisions. I am allowed to make this game (life) as difficult or easy as I see fit. The bar has been set very high for all games after this.
I played through the game for almost a month. That's 30 days. I was constant because I wanted to make Guides, so being "there" ASAP was of paramount importance. That being said, it rarely felt like I was burning out. Near the 130 hours mark I hit the final fight, beat the boss and returned to the overworld before going into NG+. I still haven't started that. Still finding stuff. Now that I am not pressed for time, I can appreciate the design even more. One piece of friendly advice: Don't rush. Not one bit. Never allow yourself to be "tired" for playing too much. Treasure the experience. We're not gonna get another one like this for a long time.
Its so good it doesn't warrant more than 1 play through. Its an experience that I think many wouldn't want to change so people leave it at 1 play through. It's so long and full and rewarding it satisfies by the end unlike so many other games. I will be very disappointed if Elden ring doesn't clean up all the awards as nothing is going to be as good as it this year (Especially not overrated of war). It's got pretty much everything. Its accessible through it's huge variety and choice, its difficulty is debatable its just challenging which is something that most games dont offer. I genuinely don't see how people cannot think this game is nothing but superb and I'm not even a huge souls fan but this was as close to perfect gaming as it gets.
the best thing about elden ring is: when u figured out the chore game mechanics and somehow remembered how to reach certain items and spots and know how to progress in story lines: Than this game even shines more. After this: great replayability is granted. But it will take its time to memorise things and to know which dungeon is worth for later playthroughs in the beginning :)
Same experience here. Massive area after massive area. Just the sense of real exploration and discovering secrets on your own. I'm so used to games telling me "turn back" or having a kill wall. I absolutely love that the exploration let's you do exactly that. There are a lot of great things I could say about it but you've pretty much nailed it in this video.
Elden Ring is a masterpiece. My only gripe with it is the use of certain bosses more than once or twice. I haven't gotten bored with Elden Ring since I bought it and I'm about to be on NG+2. With other games that have come out the past 5 years or so (RDR2 and Sekiro excluded) I could play for a few hours at a time every other day because I'd lose interest. But once I get on Elden Ring, my hands are glued to the controller and I play all damn day. First game to do that to me in a while and to me that's what counts the most. Having fun. And it's a shit ton of fun. It's highway robbery if Elden Ring doesn't win GOTY
I rather play red dead redemption 2 amazing.story then elden ring any day red dead kept me hooked the entire time I was like damn okay one more I just Wana see what happens next
@@firelord4662 Elden ring is one of the very first open world games that actually implemented interwoven world design, So many diverging pathways , Zelda BOTW did the same but it relied on open ended zones you can cover in any order rather than implementing interwoven world design , world of Elden ring is not exactly open but its like massive scale dungeon There are optional ways to get to underground locations like Deeproot depths , Ainsel river , Subterranean Shunning Grounds or biomes like Atlus plateau can be reached via 4 ways , it has hidden regions within hidden regions & most of the quality content is optional hell majority of the game is optional like Limgrave, luirnia , Caelid and altus can be ignored entirely , You need to kill two shardbearers to get into Lyeyndell between Godrick/Rennala/Rykard/Radahn/Mohg If you want a narrative driven experience play RDR2 but that does not mean narrative driven is the only genre games should belong to
Things that positively stand out in elden ring for me are the sheer size and the insane amount of different stuff in there. It's not the same recycled enemies everywhere with different bulletspunge metrics, but they all look and move differently. Same with the loot. There is so much weird loot that it is baffling how they managed to put so much in. This creates a constant feeling of the world feeling alive.
I’ve never played a fromsoft game in my life, but I can sit and watch the lore of these games for hours. That says a lot about how much care goes into these games.
Elden Ring was my first from software game. Once finishing it, I begged for more. It made me understand how much I have missed. A week later, bought Dark Souls 3. Finished it in a few days, again filled up with the feeling that I wanted more, even more than the feeling after finishing Elden Ring. Damn, I am now at Dark Souls 2, I cant stop. This genre is my FOAT.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 at almost 400 hours... This time with no HUD! I also made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
This is the only Souls game from FromSoftware I’ve played besides Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I’m usually pretty thorough when playing games I really enjoy… Sekiro with the longest “good” ending took me around 100 hours. In Elden Ring I’ve been extremely thorough, trying to find everything…camps, dungeons, secrets, bosses, etc…before I’ve really moved onto exploring the next large area. Last night I finished Leyndell Capital City and finally moved to the snowy mountain area. However previously, I have also fully completed (to the best of my knowledge) Limgrave, Liurnia, Caelid, Mt. Gelmir (minus Rykard because I still have an assignment in mountains from lady Tanith), Altus Plateau, Capital Outskirts, and all underground areas including Ranni’s and Fia’s quest. I say all this to explain my playtime… just getting to the snowy Forbidden Lands I have just passed 200 hours. I realize I might Be slower than most. Anyways I wanted to say that after all of that, in any other open world game I would be burnt out well before now and have to take a break (for example AC Valhalla)…but this game is so different and so interesting that I’m instead exactly the opposite…. I can’t get enough and haven’t touched another game (outside D2 when playing with friends) since I started it. With the mountains, Halig tree, and Mohgwyn palace remaining… I still have a good chunk of the game left. This game breaks the formula in my opinion for an open world game so well that I can honestly say it’s the best open world games I’ve ever played and probably will be for a long time. Loved the critique!
@@danilod.carvalho7525 Bloodborne IMO is FromSoft's Magnum Opus. Elden Ring had too many problems late game, especially copy-paste level design and enemies.
Overall, I think Sekiro and bloodborne are the best studio games. However, Dark Souls 1 and 3 are an incredibly rewarding experience that I also highly recommend.
I'm about 140 hours in, looked in every single possible location so far for treasure, caves, catacombs and every other possible secret, and I still haven't started the Mountaintop region yet, and it doesn't feel like a chore when doing so. Without doubt one of the best games I've ever played.
I've been exploring and living the experience for more than 200 hours, I'm pretty sure I'm about to beat it and I can tell you this is probably the best game I've played to this day, it's simply amazing.
Man, it's been less than a month since I finished Elden Ring and I just wish I could forget it all play it all over again. So many cool and unforgettable moments like Godrick's phase 2 cutscene, fighting Radahn, Ranni's questline, beating Malenia after hours of trying, and all of the Radagon and Elden Beast fight. My favourite Fromsoft game and likely my favourite game of all time!
Elden Ring has been added to the open-world hall of fame alongside, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Knights of the Old Republic, Red Dead Redemption 1&2, The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Ghost of Tsushima and others than I'm sure people will tell me. Elden Ring is truly a masterpiece and if this is the new template for FromSoftware's Soulslikes then I'm guessing they're only going to get better from here cause they are one of the only true examples of game development studios learning from their mistakes.
@@kosmickosm771 I have already finished my first playthrough of Elden Ring. Honestly i'm rather dissapointed with open world ( big but rather empty), sites of grace placement (too close to each other) and copy/paste enemies/bosses.
I remember just looking around in liurna after having a blast in stormveil and being amazed that the atmosphere, colours and landscape only got better. Everything is a freaking painting, it looks so clean. I'm 23 and played maaaany singleplayer games and haven't been this impressed since the witcher 3
Demon Souls has been brutal but it forces me to figure out, all solo. Not even a fan of 3rd person games but Miyazaki has just created such amazing adventures. Can’t wait to try out Eldin Ring as it looks great. Not being that skilled, the ability to grind XP/power is a major bonus.
Mygod the amount of "areas" you could explore blew my mind. It was soooo humongous and instead of getting defeated by the sheer amount of obstacles ahead of me, I was just becoming more and more excited... excited for the NPCs I'd meet, new spells, new weapons/armors, and new lore.
Probably good thing that you didn't do another playthrough, keeps the "pristine" feeling of your first experience intact. I did a second playthrough immidiately after my first one, both times doing every dungeon, killing every boss.. During the second playthrough you will really notice how many things are wrong with the game.. Still, i absolutely love the game, with faults and all.. Joseph Anderson's review said it best: its a shattered masterpiece.. hopefully the sequel will be closer to perfect
That happens with every Soulsborne. Your first playthrough feels like a hole, the second and third start to show the weaknesses. The other games are even more flawed than ER.
Took me about 170 hours to finish my first playthrough and the game is an absolute masterpiece. I'm about 30 hours into a second playthrough now on a new character. Following a 100% checklist with the intent of fully completing the game and having at least one of every single item, spell, and piece of gear in the game. Dispite having 200 hours into the game so far, I'm still obsessed.
Beating the twin gargoyles fight was my most memorable boss encounter. Others were cooler, but the dodges just clicked for me, like it did for Nameless King in DS3.
This was beautiful and i agree with every point you made here. 100% relatable to everyone has finished this game feeling a sense of fulfillment and emptiness at the same time unable to describe it in words. Well done friend
Just started my second playthrough with my son and starting from the very beginning instead of NG+ is much better, imo. I chose a completely different class this time and the game is just as fun as it was during the initial playthrough.
its been around 170 days since i stop playing the game .... around 350 hours , completing ng3 , doing solo run with no spirit summon, doing 1 minute malenia run , doing solo fist only astral run, uploading them to youtube cause i thought i did something different from the usual.... this game is amazing....it is definitely on the same tier where i would put deus ex 1, bioshock 1 ,half life 2 , witcher 3 , and then i try to think why so....then it makes sense.....no monetisation involve, full games with immersion where you dunno the day has gone by , and everything about the game is beautiful ....perfect but not yet perfect ? ..Elden Ring is the definitely our goty and probably the closest how half life change the fps genre and how deus ex and bioshock change the fps rpg genre ....its the reason people will start playing souls game
Elden Ring is one of my favorite games of all time. Its flaws feel almost meaningless because they felt very uncommon with the reuse of bosses/enemies being the only major thing bothering me. I would still give this game a 10/10 despite the tiny things because the overwhelming enjoyment I got from this game is almost unparalleled. I made a list of pros and cons after I was done and here they are: -Too much reused content (biggest complaint, almost all of mountaintop of Giants and the Haligtree is reused) -Post Leyndell was weaker than the rest of the game(Mountaintop, Mogh's Palace, Beginning and Last part of Haligtree) except for Farum Azula -Some build balancing issues(rivers of blood for example) -Crafting feels kinda underwhelming -Some enemies are annoying (rune bears, revenants, lobsters, kindred of Rot) -Subterranean grounds and first part of Haligtree sucks -Some attacks kinda suck (ground shaker from Rykard 1st phase, waterfowl dance from Melania, star attack from Elden Beast, Giant Gravity attack from Caelid Falling star Beast) -It's hard to keep track of NPCs and too easy to accidentally fail questlines -future playthroughs probably won't be as good (same thing happened with Breath of the Wild for me) -sometimes lag, not too big a problem -Some Spammy Enemies/Bosses (Alecto) -No bosses lived up to bosses like Friede, Gael, Artorias, or Maria for me -Catacombs are too samey -Horse is almost useless for combat late game because it gets knocked so easily -Fall damage isn't as proportional as other games, so it's hard to tell what will kill you -Some of the best areas in the series (Leyndell, Farum Azula, Stormveil, Nokrom, Raya Lucaria, Linuria, Nokstella, Volcano Manor, Caria Manor, Middle part of Haligtree) -Shit tons of build variety -Lots of really cool enemies like many of the knights and giants -Sense of exploration is almost unparalleled, lots of really cool moments(Going down the elevator to Siofra, Teleporter Chest to Caelid, making predictions about future bosses(especially the last few), seeing future areas through teleporters like Farum Azula, discovering puzzle towers, discovering the underground areas, uncovering secrets, finding out Radagon is Marika then seeing him as the final boss using the hammer attack in the intro and blasting the main theme, Finding a way to get to Nokrom and the cliff in Linuria, finding out Godfrey is Hourah Loux, Entering Altus and Linuria for the first time, getting to see the Erdtree on fire, seeing the Erdtree the entire game and finally being able to go inside it, seeing the size of Stormveil for the first time, finding Bell Bearing Hunter/the fact there are bosses at night, figuring out the regal ancestor puzzle, finding the Valient Gargoyles when my friend thought he explored all of Nokrom, finding out the beast man was a major boss, that one area inverting, discovering the divine towers, finding the loading screen areas, seeing what was under the smaller trees for the first time, realizing that paintings corresponded to real locations) -One of the most consistently good boss lineups with me liking every single remembrance boss and hating very few bosses -One of the prettiest games I have ever played. I have stopped and taken screenshots at multiple points -I love being able to recover estus from clearing enemies -Guard Counters, Jump attacks, and Ashes of War are great additions/expansions -My first playthrough felt really balanced with very few difficulty spikes or extremely easy areas -Most NPC invasions were fun -Least frustrating Fromsoft game -Best hitboxes in the series -Lots of Great Side quests/characters -Great open world that feels like a game in itself -Lots of good duo bosses(Valient Gargoyles, Crucible Knights, Godskin Duo) -Rewards were really good for the most part -Lots of fun weapons with a variety of abilities and customization -Cool ideas and concepts like the focus on the Stars, Trees, Magic, and Scarlet Rot -Story is engaging and it was cool learning bits and pieces of the lore -I like how the map only reveals terrain and is are located in the middle of areas -I love how the horse controls and the big jumpads -No durability/infinite inventory space -Vanishing Hud -Infinite Stamina out of combat -Pouch system is so useful -Plenty of opportunities to respec
This review was perfectly made and people who are considering this game will undoubtedly want to play it with this I have played all the souls games and was baffled by the structure, unlimited things to do, beauty and much more. We don’t deserve Elden Ring we’ve been spoiled, for me this game has truly lifted my hope in story games and gaming in general a lot of people complain about gaming being boring these days but this game truly changed it all and shows that there’s so much more to come into the gaming world later in life and we should be so thankful for this masterpiece to ever come out
@@austinlamonge4741seikro is the only souls game I haven't beaten.. Ive tried twice but it just doesn't grip me like the others. Eventually I will push through and I'm sure I'll love it. I never made it too far in
I think my favourite part of this game is that even after my 300 hours playing it I can still discover new things about it. Especially about the map size like wow after new game plus two I decided I really wanted to find everything so I looked up where the prince of death staff was and I think my brain imploded when I realized there was yet ANOTHER giant underground area that I just hadn't discovered yet.
I also struggled with motivation to start a new character after my first play through, I believe it’s because of how lonnnng it takes to get out of limgrave and the lakes area to get to the mid/late game. I desperately want to go straight to the end and fight the end game bosses, its the same with the other souls games but also like the other souls games it takes a long time to get to the end game even if you run through everything as soon as possible
You should try new game+. My second playtrough was so much fun. Being overpowered and fucking everything up. I just rushed through the Main Bosses in like 4 Hours.(My First playthroug lastet for 145h.)Than I started a new Charakter because i missed the challange.
Loved your take on the game, I think you captured really well what makes Elden Ring such a brilliant game, and what it did to evolve the open-world and the Souls formula respectively. It's one of the best gaming experiences I've had and I can't stop thinking about it still. Thank you for making a video on it, it is great!
The first view of Limgrave after the tutorial area and the elevator ride from the Mistwood to Siofra River… mind blowing. Haven’t had this feeling towards a game since TBC WOW release. Once in a decade kind of game imo.
@@jaybeam1466 how is it nonsense though? It’s true, elden ring is a lot better game than a lot of modern games other than stuff like the god of war series and the other souls games
You’ve summarised exactly how I feel about the game, including the ‘doneness’ after one or two runs. However, I recently came back to the game after an 8-month break and found myself enjoying it almost as much as before. Putting it down for a while then coming back definitely helps.
I can relate to your feeling of doneness you describe in your conclusion section. I have over 340 hours on my 1st playthrough, just about done the snow area about to enter the haligtree and know there is the floating area I got to see a taste of from the four belfries one teleporter. I have searched every nook and cranny and have genuinely enjoyed this game and have been amazed at how well Fromsoft has done on their first open world. It is hands down the best one I have ever done. For me being a completionist and wanting to search and collect everything I expected this game to burn me out before half way in like almost all other open world games have. Yet I still even after 340 hours in my first playthrough am still not bored though I have a feeling that when I complete Elden Ring I am not gonna be in a hurry to start another journey right away. It is just so massive it takes alot out of you over time even if you do enjoy it. I look forward to playing more Elden Ring playthroughs but I probably will take a break from it when I finish my first playthrough. Excellent review and I agree with alot of what you said. As far as difficulty and scaling I think most of us are aware that its basically impossible to perfectly balance this kind of open world game.
Best Review Ever. You liked it, I get it, I understand, deeply. More deeply here is what I feel... What makes this review and your perspective stand out for me is your engagement. You poetically express your sense of wonder, challenge, and even frustration in a way that anyone who has played this game for a significant time can relate to. I have never seriously played a souls game before. For me, with Elden Ring, the challenge was secondary at the start. The sense of majesty, wonder, and discovery drew me in. The accomplishment of those challenges has forever tarnished my Soul.
I played through it twice back to back different builds. 200 hours. It's a masterpiece, the best game ever made ever. It's kind of like if took DarkSouls and Morrowind by Bethesda and spliced it together. I think if they want to top it next time they should create a couple large cities, and some small towns populated like Oblivion, and Skyrim with NPC's going about on a 24 hour schedule to really finalize the creation of an virtual world. Elden Ring for me is my first Souls game. I played Bloodborne for about 6 hours over two days but found it too confusing and difficult. Day 1 in Elden Ring i met Margit and he two shot me over and over. So I gave up on him, I cleared all the caves, catacombs and monsters I could find in Limgrave. Day three I went back and he kicked my ass still even though I got him very close to death twice. I gave up on Margit, then I went to Liurnia and I defeated Renalla. Day four I came back to Margit and I defeated him. It was one of the greatest moments of exaltation in my gaming career and i've gamed since Space Invaders in the 1970's. On Day 2 I hit that trap in the Limgrave Lake and ended up in Caelid where I died about 20 times trying to figure out how to escape the Tunnel. After I defeated Margit and Renalla I went after Radahn. Again it took me four days and over 50 deaths before I beat Radahn. Beating Radahn was again an enormous joyous experience. Elden Ring's free open world and beautiful level design always drew me forward to see the next Ruin, the next Cave, the next Catacomb, the next group of monsters, the next shiny item even if it was white and being guarded by a monster, to search the ledges of cliffs, to challenge every monster, to talk to every NPC, and I kept going and going and going. And then came the UA-cam Tutorials every day I'd watch several to see what other people had discovered or new items to go search for, new quests to take on. One UA-camr released a Ranni's Quest guide and it took me a full week to finish it, after watching a simple 15 minute video on how to get the Darkmoon Greatsword. And at Godrey The First Elden Lord I learned I could put my finger down, and help people with boss fights, so every major boss I fought I put my finger down and helped dozens of people bring down the worst baddies in the game. I must have done the Astel fight over 100 times slowly learning to master the intricacies of that crazy fight. And on my second play through with my sorcery build I could not beat Milania and it was driving me crazy, so I summoned Players to help me and after another 20 tries with random players I finally had beat all the major bosses in the game. Morrowind was the last game where upon finishing it I was this pleased with the journey. Morrowind told you nothing, and everything was a discovery. You were always engaged as you tried to determine your place in the world, where you were on the map, what roads lead to what cities, and that's what Elden Ring does so well. It engages your mind always, you can't just autopilot this game, You need to learn it, to memorize it, to be engaged at all times. In Elden Ring if you turn off your brain and you aren't present in the game you can die any second, any encounter. My biggest Pet Peeve with Elden ring is the Sniper enemies with unlimited range, and a very short casting time between each projectile. Masterpiece, best game ever made ever. Better than God of War 4, GTA 5, Zelda BOTW, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption 2, Witcher 3.
Well spoken, Sir! At this point, I do not even know where the end might be with From Soft... I was extremely cautious with the hype beforehand, what with the previous entries each and all being my favourite game(s) in decades...but as you say, basically nothing was lost in translation. The aesthetics, the feel of it all...craftsmanship of the highest order.
Nothing was lost in translation? Boss quality was absolutely atrocious in this game! Half of the bosses in DS3 are better than every single boss in this game!
Fantastic review, one of the few that fairly evaluates the endgame and acknowledges the staggeringly difficult balancing act required from From Software. You have accurately identified challenges connected to designing game of this scope. There is no other game that comes even close to doing this much this good so consistently. Not even close. That's why this game is 10/10, not because it's perfect(it isn't), it's because it's this great and this fun while maintaining enormous scope, depth and size. I also loved the short shout out to hit boxes, far too few people give game credit in this regard, along with acknowledgment of top notch level design.
Hi, great review. Very personal and poetic. I am at my 2nd playthrough building a stagger-heavy machine, strength build with full on armor. It is great playing with shields and high poise... But the best thing about this playthrough is the fact that I am able to appreciate all the environmental story-telling. I am telling you, almost every part of the map tells a story. I can also pay attention to the lore. And a huge recommendation: Play without the horse as much as you can. There are certain bosses and areas that are best on horseback, but dude - going on foot as much as you can is the best thing. Give it a try, you will not regret it. Have a nice day
@@revfunk8823 yeah, I do think the late game bosses are designed assuming the players will use summons, with that said, the mimic is still hella broken, and 600 hp is actually very cheap.
difficulty is optional, they really nailed it well. I play pure meele, other people play with summons or magic, it's as an RPG should, as you want it to be. 10/10
I used mimic only once in the game, even though I upgraded him to +10. Just to beat one particular beatch. The answer is simple: if mimic's power dilutes your experience, drop it. That simple.
"Why not?" absolutely summarizes this game and I adore it for that. To anyone who is watching this video and hasn't played Elden Ring, I beg you, please go ahead and play the game, and please, try to play with as little previous knowledge as possible. This isn't just a fanboy praising the game, I really think Elden Ring is one of the best games ever made, and I think that, if you go first and read guides on how to clear stuff, where to find things, best builds, etc. you will be robbing yourself of a huge chunk of the experience. Play it, go at your own pace, explore, use whichever tools and weapons you find and enjoy your first playthrough to the max. I'm on a fourth playthrough now, and I'm surprised that I'm still finding things I had never seen.
I have never immersed myself so much into a video-game, it’s story, gameplay, characters, mysteries, open world mechanics, bosses, all memorable and rich in design, truly a love letter for all of us. A game so good is unreal.
One thing i think gets looked over a lot in Elden Ring: The feeling of chunking a bosses health bar is just so satisfying. I haven't played Elden Ring in a few months, I'm trying to forget as much as possible before I play it again, but seeing some of these enemies just make me want to him them lmao
I feel the same as you. I'm stuck on Maliketh and started to explore more thoroughly. I missed so much content. I found melena and she's for sure the hardest boss. I started looking up content because I'm already 130 hours in. I'm going back and finishing the catacombs and finishing quests I missed. By the time, I decide to go forward and beat the game, I won't have any desire to play anymore. I'd be over 150+ into it and I'd feel accomplished. I'm already looking forward to the DLC and I haven't even beaten the game lol.
I literally did that with about 150 hours in lol and now I'm already playing a new character. I was planning to be done with it after completion but nope
3 playthroughs, currently on my 4th on my original (since release) character level 656 BEAST! For a total 640+ hrs. Recently started a NEW character for the upcoming DLC to NOT be op. for its release! That's so far ANOTHER 50 hrs. I have a legitimate addiction to this masterpiece FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME to me, friggin game!!😅😅😅I regret nothing, I still get shit done and work my ass off but, at 47, I don't give a shit, I LOVE this fuckin flawed but amazing piece of work!!🤘💀🤘
Biggest cope I've ever read. 150 hours and there was nothing left to do in the game. You can do literally every quest, try every build, and full clear the map in that time. There is nothing to do...
I’m 240 hours in. I’ve played and loved every soulsbourne game to date. Elden ring is no exception. If I was to review this game when I’m finished I would imagine it would be very similar to this amazingly done review! I couldn’t agree more with every point you made and the downfalls it has. I just can’t believe how big this game is and that even after all these hours I still don’t want it to end!?! Awesome video!
Dude, I cracked up so hard when you were slinging arrows at the perfumer down by the gazebo in Lyndell (8:27). When the Lion Guardian, you know the one that's from around the corner, up the stairs, past the fence to the right, around the corner to the left and behind the fountain thing, yea, that Lion Guardian is down there jumping back and forth like Austin Powers trying to turn the utility cart around.. I laughed because I couldn't tell you how many times that god damn thing has chased me into and got stuck in that same exact area... Amazing. Glad I'm not the only one.
Anyone who claims a game is for everyone is exaggerating. It's never true. Elden Ring simply has appealed to the most players of all FromSoft games. A shame id didn't for you. Hope you find other great gems this year though. ^^
@@orlando5789 I was playing Bloodborne before ER. I went back after playing some ER and thought it felt much better. Sekiro is really fun if you install an easy mod.
As to your points on balancing; if you farmed levels, that should be rewarded, not balanced against. What was the farming effort & time for if not to trivialize the boss?
This praise is exagerrated. The enemies and bosses are broken. That is a HUGE FAILURE when considering those are the most important part of soulsbornering games.
I finished my strength build at 110 hours, around level 120. As a long time souls fan, Elden Ring absolutely surpassed my expectations, and they were quite high. I decided against starting NG+ as I’m sure there’re bosses I’ve missed. Ended up creating a dual katana dex build and have been having a blast again. I’ve been using this character to help other players defeat the first few bosses. While I understand your sentiment for invasions, it is absolutely worth giving it a go for a while. Some of the experiences are hilarious and create even more replay ability, and the feeling of besting 2v1 or even 3v1 is blissful. I’ve even ran into cooperators/hosts who wait their turn while you take on the other, often times with a respectful bow which harkens back to the soul of past games (see what I did there?). This game is indeed an absolute masterpiece, and will certainly keep me engaged for months to come.
Elden Ring i.e. Dark Souls 3 with horse, copy paste enemies, boring empty open world, and broken overpowered ashes of war carefully crafted by From Software to cater to the mindless masses who are blind sheep that cannot see how Miyazaki is just a one trick pony who can only make the same ffing game over and over again.
If I was asked to attribute the perfect description of this Elden Ring Impression, it would be simple. IMYO as close to the pinnacle of a PC Game Impression speedrun as one can get. It is brilliant, no word misplaced, no description lacking every line poetic and articulate. This is why UA-cam is amazing. You gained a subscriber. Peace.
Ohh not another "masterpiece" 😅. This word has been so overused in gaming to the point it doesn't mean anything anymore. Elden ring might be my least favourite game from FS. After the infatuation period has gone, this game has far too many problem to be called a masterpiece.
@@randomguy6679 Honestly Sekiro and BB come much closer to what i would consider a "masterpiece" although flawed in their own ways.. Elden ring is far far from that.
Its not, its boring and grindy. Its aimed at mmo and soulslike kiddies that can spend 40 hours grinding for 0.01% drop change loot just to beat some reused boss. No story, weak characters, bland world, just juck. Too bad I cant refund it.
Huge fart noise. That's all I heard. This is the worst souls game to date. Bigger isn't better. Y'all trippin and ten years from now you'll all start to realize you were just obsessed with your shiny new toy that maybe wasn't as awesome as you thought it was.
Elden Ring has set a precedent for every other game here on out. Every open world game will be compared to this. The vastness of this world the sense of discovery it's truly immense. Not only is this a very important title but also probably one of the greatest high fantasy works ever.
I feel the same way about ng+. My first playthrough was completely blind, all discovery, and took my roughly 195 hours. I also used different builds and looked in every nook and cranny. It was such a heavy experience I wasn't in the mood to start all over immediately. It was just such an undertaking. I know ill play it again and again over the coming years, but its kinda like playing the entire souls series in one go. It was just enough
@@king_alonne3707 No, Im the guy who can recognize this game tried to eat the entire plate, and ended up spitting up a bunch of garbage, and pooping out a few golden eggs.
@@PoorEdward congrats ! you are just clueless if not a desperate toxic fan. this games stomps at tons of open-world games or action RPGs, while still encourage a good adventure and story. this is the result of years of hard working in games industry, all that without inculding additional content or major changes in the future. your statement sounds almost fimilar to the gaming industry nowdays, with few golden eggs just like Elden Ring. now that Elden Ring is goty, you only fall flat on your face. cry twice about it.
I’ve never played online in a from software game. I never understood the mechanics of invading and it doesn’t really park my fancy to have other people in my world. I think going to help people with bosses is awesome, I might try that once I finish my play 3rd through. Love this game!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
What was your experience with Elden Ring? I'd love to know. There's no discussion of Invasions in this video as I honestly didn't enjoy getting slapped around 1v3. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:01 Introduction
0:23 Part 1: World Design
11:35 Advertisement
12:39 End of Advertisement
19:37 Part 2: Balance, Bosses & Combat
29:50 Conclusion
It was great. But way too long, underwhelming soundtrack with a few exceptions (Radagon, Godrick just to name a few) and terribly balanced once you reach Mountaintops. Other than that, 10/10
I can completely understand you about "feeling done" I have put about 300ish hours.
I liked the shift in atmosphere immediately when it goes dark, plus bosses who spawn only in night time 🗿
You mention at one point during you time with the volcano manor, but if you decide to join them you do get a different ending, so I would say it is a different ending? Or at least does have an major effect in my opinion
you can easily deal with the hands by setting them on fire. You also get a fun animation.
I am 73 and just still enjoy gaming. What I like most about Elden Ring is how accessible it is to all play styles. You can use summons or you can go it solo 100%. You can totally immerse yourself totally offline or you can put up with invasions. I am at the last boss and it has been a totally enjoyable experience for me. Last time I noticed, I had 300 plus hours in the game and no regrets. Not sure I will do a game+ but certainly will do any DLCs if/as they come out.
You are goals! I hope I get to keep playing stuff as time goes on. Glad life didn't get in the way for you!
Lol, okay Mr 73..I'm 82 and I'm still playing it. Can anyone top that?
@@joarddelagarza5779 I mean there’s no reason to think the guy is lying. Don’t be so cynical
@@joarddelagarza5779 Older people can like gaming too dude. What's your problem?
That's really cool. And honestly kinda impressive. I feel like my reflexes at your age wouldn't be good enough for this game lol. Keep on gaming my friend!
This game is simply incredible, the fact that this was made in the same time as a PoS like BF2042 speaks volumes to how the industry is.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Wdym?
@@geoffschnoogs6888 nice joke
Bf2042 is a lot better now!
@@andyscoming4919 still a piece of shit, especially comparing it to BF 2142 we had
Dude. As a longtime from software veteran, this game blew my mind. i had the frame of mind, that a game like this should not work. "Dark souls meets open world? 2 conflicting elements, im worried now", i was thinking, but it turns out i was SO WRONG. This game is bafflingly good. I was at around 160 hours by the time i beat the fire giant, and i was like, wow, what a shitty final boss. And then BAM. i find the Haligtree dungeon, and wrap up millicents questline, cementing her as my fav From npc. I found the crumbling faraam azula, and i realized that you can hit left or right on the d pad at the rold lift to select a different medallion key. Then the ash capital, and while im exploring that, i found the sewers. Then the found the area under the sewers. Then a secret area. Then a secret area below that. Then a secret area below the secret area thats part of the secret area. Took 260 hours to complete the game. I explored everywhere, and checked every nook and cranny. And im still finding shit i missed. Damn, elden ring is something else.
Amen bro
Couldn't have said it better myself
@@TruTube.1. why i hear the circus theme song while reading your coment?
@@TruTube.1. there's enough hate in this world, stop this.
@@BBQcheese ranni's questline is the goat, even better than kafei and anju's questline from majora's mask.
What a game. Most jaw dropping moments in terms of scale.
- I held off Leyndell thinking it would be the end. Discovering that this was just a gateway on the map was amazing.
- Thinking Nokrom and Siofra River was everything underground then stumbling across Nokstella, Lake of Rot into Astel. Just out of this world
Don't forget the underground area below the erdtree
@@bob7150and mohgwyn palace
I'm in Leyndell currently, but the only large underground area I managed to find so far was Sofria River, I wanna find all the other ones
@@apictureoffunction they're all pretty connected, keep exploring or google it
I was talking with a buddy, I said... if there wasn't everything on the internet already... particularly utube, this would be a ten year game and you would never figure everything out. For 60 bucks, hands down the best game so far in '22 and for me the best game on next Gen consoles to date. And probably for a long time to come.
until botw 2 maybe
@@stevejeffrey11 crossing my fingers :) good Zelda is good for everyone.
I'm hoping for a more alive world this time (I mean cities and stuff if that's to vague), but I'm sure it will be good either way.
After Elden Ring and BOTW, I could really use a nice happy city in a game.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing! ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Ocarina of Time might be the only game better than Elden Ring in an all time best list!
@@johncook9392 ocarina will always be the goat lol. Even it’s Z targeting system was the precursor to the lock on you see in games now like elden ring . It’s crazy how innovative that game was
U put it perfectly. After 150 hours in, in NG+3. I want to stop, because each additional play through is me just trying to recapture the feeling that I was playing one of the best games ever made I had on my first play through. I felt almost depressed when I finished, knowing the journey was over. But what a journey. Well done From.
I quit mid way through new game plus... I am now replaying it a year later and its much better.. Having the map unveiled ruins it for me. Even on this replay ive forgotten enough to where the magic from exploration is back. Not like the 1st time obviously but still amazing. I recommend replaying after a year or 2 later
I am over 220 hours. No playthroughs, no hints, exploring everything on my own. Finding paths on my own, builds on my own. My map is packed with dungeons, towers, buildings, ruins. This is the most rewarding game I have ever played. For sure in my top 3 ever. Mass Effect level of excellence. I am still finding new areas lol.
I made a mistake by using yt when I was stuck, and many secrets I have found on yt.
I will replay it next year, maybe with a DLC.
@@smailmilak I ended up having to look up a couple of things to finish quests etc, but I stuck to doing it on my own for 98% of the time. Totally worth it. Felt like TRUE discovery and adventuring. I am doing my 2nd playthrough now.
good luck lol
@Blacksmith SOG tell me you didn't play Elden ring without telling me
@@chicken29843 You found the areas past Stormveil boring?, The Academy in Liurnia, Carrion Manor, the Albinauric village, you found Leyndell Capital boring, the sewers, Nokkron? To each their own I guess, but I cannot possibly understand how you found that boring. Maybe you like shooters more, or battle royals, but to me Elden Ring is not boring at all. 2nd playthrough right now. Still finding hidden passages I never saw, secret areas I never saw.
One point you absolutely nailed was at the end, when you said you felt empty and didn't want to keep playing after you've done and tried everything in your first playthrough.
I suspected that I might feel the same so I stuck to my original build for the whole game and only respecced twice or so to make tiny adjustments.
Now (after about 200 hours) I'm done with my first playthrough and I still feel motivated to have a go at it again but with a completely different setup, different weapons and all.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing! ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Same 💪
I made sure I collected every spell and incantation before starting NG+. So while my first playthrough was a pure str build with a bit of faith for incantation buffs. My second build is going to be focusing on faith/arcane stats with dragon cult, dragon communion, death blight and aspects of the crucible incantations (Yes I collected every memory stone and I've used up all 10 of my spell slots). Since most of these were spells you get in the end game, doing an entire playthrough from the beginning with them is INSANE amount of fun.
But yes, the feeling of discovery, wonder and awe from the first playthrough will never be replicated and that's something I will always cherish no matter how many additional playthroughs I might do.
I had the pleasure of playing Elden Ring as my very first Fromsoft title and it blew my mind apart. I had always avoided Fromsoft games in the past because they looked "too dark and gloomy" and the comments about their difficulty level put me off from even trying. I am humble enough to know my own limitations in gaming and didn't fancy dying a hundred times to a boss. However, Elden Ring, with its amazing scenery and much brighter surroundings and assurances from other reviewers that it was much more newbie friendly made me take the plunge and I have never regretted it. I am nearly 200 hours played and like you, I took the time to explore so many places and nook and cranny. I am in the late game now (killed Fire giant, in Mogh Palace now), and the difficulty is truly there. I am probably a much better gamer now to Fromsoft type bosses and can probably handle the steep rise in difficulty (except maybe Malenia), but the experience up till now has been nothing short of amazing and I agree with everything you said. This is the first complete review where I enjoyed watching from start to end. Because while it acknowledges there will be some short comings, it also addresses that these are the result of trying to balance and present such a massive open world game and fill it with interesting stuff to do and bosses to fight. Its such a massive undertaking I am amazed Fromsoft managed to pull it off. This game has already taken up close to 200 hours of my time and yet I am not even at the end. There are far too many titles out there that could have taken an average gamer like me ten to twenty hours to finish and put down and never look at again. For a title like Elden Ring enable me to get ten times the kind of true enjoyment (and I had far more fun playing this game then I did on many many other games) than I did playing other titles speaks of how much loves they poured into this game. And how other titles just try and sqeeze "barely enough" content into their game to call it done. In conclusion, Awesome almost poetic like review. I will be listening to it more than once! Because I agree with everything you said, and enjoy watching and listening to a fellow gamer gush so poetically about the exact same things I enjoyed as I was playing through this game. Your review has truly done Elden Ring justice!
I completely agree with your sentiment here. I don't have anyone in real life to talk to about this so I will definitely be watching this video multiple times. This game has saved me from a true loneliness
The only logical step now after beating Elden Ring is to Dark Souls 3. Another phenomenal game 🙏
@@Equites279 yes, indeed...
Completely agree 💯
@@Equites279 ds3 was so fucking good lol that was my first souls game and it hooked me hard
The moments that stick out the most to me?
My jaw was on the floor when the serpent turned its back and revealed Rykard's face.
Radahn's meteor attack is a huge spectacle, and the best transition to the next phase in a boss fight.
Morgott staining the thrones with his cursed blood, and the shame and anger he has for doing it.
Realizing the Fire Giant is the very last of his kind, surrounded by the corpses of his kin. That and the sacrifice of his own flesh to become an avatar of his god.
And Godfrey, deciding to fight in earnest, slaughtering his own animal companion and tossing his axe away, only to bust out some insane wrestling moves.
In other words... not really much!
Renella’s boss battle was incredible too
@@ryanblanchard2508 the second phase was
my personal fav moments were thinking i fnished exploring the entirety of limgrave only to stumble onto siofra river well and realising that there's an entire underground layer to the map. or when i got teleported to the lyndell divine bridge and realised how massive the world was. or when i kept thinking i hit the bottom of lyndell, only to find another massive area behind it.
My play through was 120 hours - I explored every region and beat every Demigod before facing the final boss. BotW was my favorite game of all time, but Elden Ring's taken the crown. Its truly the greatest Open World game ever made, and will be remembered as a benchmark in gaming history.
I love both game but I think elden ring take the crown for me.
Yeah Skyrim was always my #1....this MIGHT top it. One thing Skyrim didn't have was the need to grind.
Im more of a story guy but im enjoying this shit just as much as witcher 3 surprisingly
@@jgsource552 yeah, it's just this good
For me w3, ER and Botw is my top 3.
One of the most perfect imperfect adventures a game took me on.
Its like playing Zelda Ocarina of Time for grown ups 20 years later or being a central character of a LotR/GoT story
180 hours in, 20/10 would recommend
Yeah, I agree about the OoT comparison, how you wrote it is how I’ve described it to friends!
When Zelda Breath of the Wild borrowed from Dark Souls, Miyazaki vowed to return the favor, it seems. The opening and the waypoint beacons gave me the most bittersweet BotW flashbacks.
Ocarina of Time might be the only game that can top Elden Ring as best of all time!
@@johncook9392
Chrono Trigger
@@johncook9392 Mother 3/Earthbound
I'm 100 hours in and still love exploring this world...you never know what's around the corner...I'm still finding new things all the time.....its one of those games that calls to you when your working or doing your house hold chores to sit down and play just one more hour.
I got 124 and barely beat rahdan
I finished my first playthrough at 125 hours. Absolute joy to play. On second playthrough and still discovering new things. Deffo in my top 10 best games of all time
I'm thinking about playing this again when I finish....I rarely play games over but it's just that good...not sure though cause my backlog is calling
I'm at 174 hours and am stuck on the last boss
@@jamesandthemgiantcheeks2798 he's a nightmare. I found attacking hos final form from behind, worked best. And I had put on as much holy protection as I could.
Took many a try
Legit this is the fantasy game I've been waiting for my whole life, it's fresh yet familiar, absolutely the most imaginative and mind bending fun I've experienced since I was gaming as a kid. That feeling of wonder and adventure yet also the challenges to overcome!! That feeling of being able to dive into a mythological world. As Randy once said in South Park "Out here I'm a simple geologist, but IN HERE...I am FALCORN defender of the Alliance."😂 legit Elden Ring is an absolute masterpiece🌌
I remember playing "tennis" on the Atari. I remember beating Sonic on the master system 2, I remember playing starwing on the SNES and first seeing the open world of Mario 64 and the feel of my N64 box Christmas morning mid 1990s and a Christmas or so later I remember seeing the fields of Hyrule for the first time wide open before me in The Ocarina of Time...Elden Ring now sits fondly in this bank of memories of iconic gaming moments. It is truly wonderful.
Lmao I remember tennis on the Atari. On the back of the box: "...looks, sounds and plays like the real thing"
Goonies, the Zeldas, Kid Icarus, Battle of Okympus, Faxanadu, FF7, Chrono Trigger, Metroids, Symphony of the Night, Shadowrun, Ninja Gaiden, the Marios. So many memories, and Elden Ring is now my crown jewel.
Same here first games I ever remember was when my brother friend brought over his Atari. We got a pong console much to my brothers chagrin. I remember playing space invaders on holiday. Then the nes. I got into games with ocarina in 98 again. It’s been amazing to see how far they’re got
I think a lot of players have perceived that feeling of "completeness" right at the beginning of the NG+.
I felt really sad when I noticed that.
Yep I hit that soon after Godrick on NG+. My character is so powerful now that I am wiping the floor with everything. I have no interest to explore as I have already been through every cave in my first 110 hour playthrough and beaten every boss. I wanted to get different endings but I don't think I have it in me to play through again.
Hard to hold this against the game considering that by the time you get to that particular point of your journey, you'd be well into new game +3 in DS 1 through 3.
@@JustFun-ho6qy absolutely nothing against the game. To get a solid 100+ hours of quality content out of a game is incredible.
It's why I started a second character when I hit Leyndell and I'm already planning a third character.
Never been an fan of the linear way of Souls game.
I am now an Elden Ring Chad Enjoyer. This is. An. Epic. Game. Period.
Take it from an guy who didn’t find the games fun enough or time investing enough to git guud. Elden Ring is close to an perfect game at our current day n age. Play it, you will enjoy it if you like games.
Haligtree was my favourite. It reminded me the most of Dark Souls. It makes sense to have an optional zone be that hard.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
But think of the games urinalists :...(
@@Six_Gorillion lol poor IGN
wait, the couldn't beat soldier of godrick
I am there now and I was like - this branch area is a joke. Then I got to the actual legacy dungeon and the place is a joke. Absolutely ridiculous. But I love it! Area is beautiful and the lay out of OP enemies makes for an exciting run!
@@russellelton5098 In all fairness, I took like an hour to beat soldier of godrick, but I learnt how to git gud
I was exploring an area today that I had not unlocked the map for. Just happened upon a dungeon and found the head covering that I was wanting for the rest of my playthrough behind an illusory wall. It's moments such as this one that makes me love this game. It rewards me for my actions just as much as it punishes me for my mistakes.
I know exactly which place you're talking about ahaha, I hope you kept looking because there's even more cool loot down there
I just started playing this game & it’s intimidating the eff outta me. Unlike other games where goons or soldier character seem like they are just trying to slow you down in this one it’s like they wanna make sure you are DEAD! Not even just by outnumbering you. An individual knight attacks like he’s going for broke & not taking any chances. The thought of collecting a lot of runes knowing I might loose them forever is gonna take me time to get use to.
I had unrealistic expectations of this game before it was released and there was absolutely no way it could live up to them, everybody knew that. Right?
It exceeded them in almost every way. This game is the first game in a long way that made me feel like a kid again. The sense of wonderment, the joy in exploring and finding out stuff and those big ahhhh moments when something clicks and you piece together a connection between people or a side quest. The epic, often cinematic fights. The quirky characters. The weapons. The world. The art. The music. Turtle pope.
I've spouted a lot of words and not a single one of them can do this game justice. If this isn't game of the year then either it will have been straight up robbed, or we are in for some serious fucking treats as far as gaming goes.
God of War: Ragnarok, if it's anything similar to its predecessor, will give ANY game this year a run for their money, for GOTY (Elden Ring included). Elden Ring is a masterpiece, though, for sure.
@@DemiurgicalDissolution oh yeah good shout. It's another game I have massively unrealistic expectations for. I can't wait to play that too
Exactly, there's so many new games that fail to impress, this is an amazing experience.
@@DemiurgicalDissolution wtf, god of war was worse than the ps3 and prior era ones. Last of us meets Kratos. Yawn.
@@DemiurgicalDissolution wait was the last god of war that good? I played up to god of war 3 and none of those could possibly compare to something like elden ring, not even in the same universe of gaming imo.
I just camr here to say, I am 43 years old, I have been playing games since 80's, I started with Commodore 64 and Amiga and Atari and Colicovison which mybfather had bought for himself when I wasn't born yet I think. Anyways, I have played so many games, I am an old fart who still enjoys playing games. I couldn't care less what others think about that btw.
To make a long story short, Elden Ring is the greatest game what I have played in whole my life. Everything about the game is just perfect, so for me, it is the greatest game ever.
Just hit 200 hours and started journey 2, its a blast going through and destroying the bosses that gave you so much trouble on the first playthrough 😂
How did you spend 200 hours on one play through? I did everything in 115 hours and felt like I was going slowly
@@therealexquisiteexistentia4743 played a lot of co op/invasions and some afk time plus was my first souls game so took me a while to learn the ropes 😂
200 hours and just at 2nd playthrough I'm 200 hours in too but at 4th playthrough wow
i’m playing through ng+ just so i can get back at those invisible assassins. this time i WONT sell the damn torches !!
@@therealexquisiteexistentia4743 Took a lot of time farming souls, errr, runes, to buy titanites, oh, I meant smithing stones...
I best the game, did NG+, took a few months off, started a fresh character, missed my old character, started NG++ and have fallen in love with the game all over again. This game is definitely one of the best of all time.
Downward Thrust, keep em coming man. This is by far the most impassioned review of Elden Ring on UA-cam. You nailed my exact sentiments of this game. I am over 120 hrs into this game and I've only now started to tackle Raya Lucaria Acedemy. I'm easily distracted by the shiny object in the distance or a path that doesn't lead straight.
From Software has created a game that isn't linear, similar to real life. I am allowed to explore and get challenges done at my own pace and either reap or sow the actions of my decisions. I am allowed to make this game (life) as difficult or easy as I see fit.
The bar has been set very high for all games after this.
120 hours and only at Raya Lucaria?
How can I delete this info from my brain?
+1
Lmao you are fucked 120 hours and only like 20 hours into the game
Bro how is that possible ? Did you Explore the whole map before doing the dungeons??
Thanks my guy glad you enjoyed it
I played through the game for almost a month. That's 30 days. I was constant because I wanted to make Guides, so being "there" ASAP was of paramount importance. That being said, it rarely felt like I was burning out. Near the 130 hours mark I hit the final fight, beat the boss and returned to the overworld before going into NG+. I still haven't started that. Still finding stuff. Now that I am not pressed for time, I can appreciate the design even more. One piece of friendly advice: Don't rush. Not one bit. Never allow yourself to be "tired" for playing too much. Treasure the experience. We're not gonna get another one like this for a long time.
game sucks tho
I think I’m almost 150 hours in between my 2 builds now. Easily my favourite from soft game to date
ewww how
@@hyakugameanime pfp btw
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing! ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Number 2 for me, behind bloodborne
Its so good it doesn't warrant more than 1 play through. Its an experience that I think many wouldn't want to change so people leave it at 1 play through. It's so long and full and rewarding it satisfies by the end unlike so many other games. I will be very disappointed if Elden ring doesn't clean up all the awards as nothing is going to be as good as it this year (Especially not overrated of war). It's got pretty much everything. Its accessible through it's huge variety and choice, its difficulty is debatable its just challenging which is something that most games dont offer. I genuinely don't see how people cannot think this game is nothing but superb and I'm not even a huge souls fan but this was as close to perfect gaming as it gets.
Starting new runs in elden ring is tedious. There's like 2 hours of horse riding and there's only like 6 actual levels.
the best thing about elden ring is: when u figured out the chore game mechanics and somehow remembered how to reach certain items and spots and know how to progress in story lines: Than this game even shines more. After this: great replayability is granted. But it will take its time to memorise things and to know which dungeon is worth for later playthroughs in the beginning :)
Same experience here. Massive area after massive area. Just the sense of real exploration and discovering secrets on your own. I'm so used to games telling me "turn back" or having a kill wall. I absolutely love that the exploration let's you do exactly that. There are a lot of great things I could say about it but you've pretty much nailed it in this video.
Elden Ring is a masterpiece. My only gripe with it is the use of certain bosses more than once or twice. I haven't gotten bored with Elden Ring since I bought it and I'm about to be on NG+2. With other games that have come out the past 5 years or so (RDR2 and Sekiro excluded) I could play for a few hours at a time every other day because I'd lose interest. But once I get on Elden Ring, my hands are glued to the controller and I play all damn day. First game to do that to me in a while and to me that's what counts the most. Having fun. And it's a shit ton of fun. It's highway robbery if Elden Ring doesn't win GOTY
I rather play red dead redemption 2 amazing.story then elden ring any day red dead kept me hooked the entire time I was like damn okay one more I just Wana see what happens next
@@firelord4662 Elden ring is one of the very first open world games that actually implemented interwoven world design, So many diverging pathways ,
Zelda BOTW did the same but it relied on open ended zones you can cover in any order rather than implementing interwoven world design , world of Elden ring is not exactly open but its like massive scale dungeon
There are optional ways to get to underground locations like Deeproot depths , Ainsel river , Subterranean Shunning Grounds or biomes like Atlus plateau can be reached via 4 ways , it has hidden regions within hidden regions & most of the quality content is optional
hell majority of the game is optional like Limgrave, luirnia , Caelid and altus can be ignored entirely , You need to kill two shardbearers to get into Lyeyndell between Godrick/Rennala/Rykard/Radahn/Mohg
If you want a narrative driven experience play RDR2 but that does not mean narrative driven is the only genre games should belong to
Things that positively stand out in elden ring for me are the sheer size and the insane amount of different stuff in there. It's not the same recycled enemies everywhere with different bulletspunge metrics, but they all look and move differently. Same with the loot. There is so much weird loot that it is baffling how they managed to put so much in. This creates a constant feeling of the world feeling alive.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
There were multiple instances of rehashed enemies especially in dungeons.
I’ve never played a fromsoft game in my life, but I can sit and watch the lore of these games for hours. That says a lot about how much care goes into these games.
Give ER a try!
Elden Ring was my first from software game. Once finishing it, I begged for more. It made me understand how much I have missed. A week later, bought Dark Souls 3. Finished it in a few days, again filled up with the feeling that I wanted more, even more than the feeling after finishing Elden Ring. Damn, I am now at Dark Souls 2, I cant stop. This genre is my FOAT.
First playthrough, 339 hours. I loved every second of it…
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 at almost 400 hours... This time with no HUD! I also made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Solid
How did your first play through possibly take that long. You must have gotten rekt by melania and radahn
@@mikerzisu9508 Nah, very thorough playthrough completing nearly everything I could. Exploring every little inch and taking my time.
@@mikerzisu9508 dude was afraid to be born anew.
This is the only Souls game from FromSoftware I’ve played besides Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I’m usually pretty thorough when playing games I really enjoy… Sekiro with the longest “good” ending took me around 100 hours.
In Elden Ring I’ve been extremely thorough, trying to find everything…camps, dungeons, secrets, bosses, etc…before I’ve really moved onto exploring the next large area.
Last night I finished Leyndell Capital City and finally moved to the snowy mountain area. However previously, I have also fully completed (to the best of my knowledge) Limgrave, Liurnia, Caelid, Mt. Gelmir (minus Rykard because I still have an assignment in mountains from lady Tanith), Altus Plateau, Capital Outskirts, and all underground areas including Ranni’s and Fia’s quest.
I say all this to explain my playtime… just getting to the snowy Forbidden Lands I have just passed 200 hours. I realize I might Be slower than most.
Anyways I wanted to say that after all of that, in any other open world game I would be burnt out well before now and have to take a break (for example AC Valhalla)…but this game is so different and so interesting that I’m instead exactly the opposite…. I can’t get enough and haven’t touched another game (outside D2 when playing with friends) since I started it. With the mountains, Halig tree, and Mohgwyn palace remaining… I still have a good chunk of the game left.
This game breaks the formula in my opinion for an open world game so well that I can honestly say it’s the best open world games I’ve ever played and probably will be for a long time.
Loved the critique!
You need to play Bloodborn, best FromSoftware Story Yet.
@@danilod.carvalho7525 Bloodborne IMO is FromSoft's Magnum Opus. Elden Ring had too many problems late game, especially copy-paste level design and enemies.
Overall, I think Sekiro and bloodborne are the best studio games. However, Dark Souls 1 and 3 are an incredibly rewarding experience that I also highly recommend.
I'm about 140 hours in, looked in every single possible location so far for treasure, caves, catacombs and every other possible secret, and I still haven't started the Mountaintop region yet, and it doesn't feel like a chore when doing so. Without doubt one of the best games I've ever played.
I've been exploring and living the experience for more than 200 hours, I'm pretty sure I'm about to beat it and I can tell you this is probably the best game I've played to this day, it's simply amazing.
6:08 yes, but defeating a difficult boss only to be rewarded with a leaf I can find on the ground sucks pretty bad.
Elden ring is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you fromsoftware.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Amen! :)
Man, it's been less than a month since I finished Elden Ring and I just wish I could forget it all play it all over again. So many cool and unforgettable moments like Godrick's phase 2 cutscene, fighting Radahn, Ranni's questline, beating Malenia after hours of trying, and all of the Radagon and Elden Beast fight. My favourite Fromsoft game and likely my favourite game of all time!
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Elden Ring has been added to the open-world hall of fame alongside, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Knights of the Old Republic, Red Dead Redemption 1&2, The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Ghost of Tsushima and others than I'm sure people will tell me. Elden Ring is truly a masterpiece and if this is the new template for FromSoftware's Soulslikes then I'm guessing they're only going to get better from here cause they are one of the only true examples of game development studios learning from their mistakes.
What is so innovative in Elden Ring open world? Where is this "new standard" for future open world games to follow?
@@helloScuffed play the game and you'll understand
@@kosmickosm771 This is the most compelling argument i have ever seen...
@@helloScuffed thank you very much im assuming i convinced you to play the game
@@kosmickosm771 I have already finished my first playthrough of Elden Ring. Honestly i'm rather dissapointed with open world ( big but rather empty), sites of grace placement (too close to each other) and copy/paste enemies/bosses.
I remember just looking around in liurna after having a blast in stormveil and being amazed that the atmosphere, colours and landscape only got better. Everything is a freaking painting, it looks so clean. I'm 23 and played maaaany singleplayer games and haven't been this impressed since the witcher 3
Demon Souls has been brutal but it forces me to figure out, all solo. Not even a fan of 3rd person games but Miyazaki has just created such amazing adventures. Can’t wait to try out Eldin Ring as it looks great. Not being that skilled, the ability to grind XP/power is a major bonus.
Mygod the amount of "areas" you could explore blew my mind. It was soooo humongous and instead of getting defeated by the sheer amount of obstacles ahead of me, I was just becoming more and more excited... excited for the NPCs I'd meet, new spells, new weapons/armors, and new lore.
Besides limgrave Nd mistwoods, lake or lurnia.. everywhere else burn my eyes and have monotonous colors. Caelid is the worst.
Probably good thing that you didn't do another playthrough, keeps the "pristine" feeling of your first experience intact.
I did a second playthrough immidiately after my first one, both times doing every dungeon, killing every boss..
During the second playthrough you will really notice how many things are wrong with the game..
Still, i absolutely love the game, with faults and all.. Joseph Anderson's review said it best: its a shattered masterpiece.. hopefully the sequel will be closer to perfect
the game i regret replaying the most was bb. it also shows how much is wrong with that game. far more wrong in that game than elden tbh.
I think this guy said it the best
That happens with every Soulsborne. Your first playthrough feels like a hole, the second and third start to show the weaknesses. The other games are even more flawed than ER.
Took me about 170 hours to finish my first playthrough and the game is an absolute masterpiece. I'm about 30 hours into a second playthrough now on a new character. Following a 100% checklist with the intent of fully completing the game and having at least one of every single item, spell, and piece of gear in the game. Dispite having 200 hours into the game so far, I'm still obsessed.
Beating the twin gargoyles fight was my most memorable boss encounter. Others were cooler, but the dodges just clicked for me, like it did for Nameless King in DS3.
This was beautiful and i agree with every point you made here. 100% relatable to everyone has finished this game feeling a sense of fulfillment and emptiness at the same time unable to describe it in words. Well done friend
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
Just started my second playthrough with my son and starting from the very beginning instead of NG+ is much better, imo. I chose a completely different class this time and the game is just as fun as it was during the initial playthrough.
Completely agree, sir! Starting from scratch is the best approach.
its been around 170 days since i stop playing the game .... around 350 hours , completing ng3 , doing solo run with no spirit summon, doing 1 minute malenia run , doing solo fist only astral run, uploading them to youtube cause i thought i did something different from the usual.... this game is amazing....it is definitely on the same tier where i would put deus ex 1, bioshock 1 ,half life 2 , witcher 3 , and then i try to think why so....then it makes sense.....no monetisation involve, full games with immersion where you dunno the day has gone by , and everything about the game is beautiful ....perfect but not yet perfect ? ..Elden Ring is the definitely our goty and probably the closest how half life change the fps genre and how deus ex and bioshock change the fps rpg genre ....its the reason people will start playing souls game
Elden Ring is one of my favorite games of all time. Its flaws feel almost meaningless because they felt very uncommon with the reuse of bosses/enemies being the only major thing bothering me. I would still give this game a 10/10 despite the tiny things because the overwhelming enjoyment I got from this game is almost unparalleled. I made a list of pros and cons after I was done and here they are:
-Too much reused content (biggest complaint, almost all of mountaintop of Giants and the Haligtree is reused)
-Post Leyndell was weaker than the rest of the game(Mountaintop, Mogh's Palace, Beginning and Last part of Haligtree) except for Farum Azula
-Some build balancing issues(rivers of blood for example)
-Crafting feels kinda underwhelming
-Some enemies are annoying (rune bears, revenants, lobsters, kindred of Rot)
-Subterranean grounds and first part of Haligtree sucks
-Some attacks kinda suck (ground shaker from Rykard 1st phase, waterfowl dance from Melania, star attack from Elden Beast, Giant Gravity attack from Caelid Falling star Beast)
-It's hard to keep track of NPCs and too easy to accidentally fail questlines
-future playthroughs probably won't be as good (same thing happened with Breath of the Wild for me)
-sometimes lag, not too big a problem
-Some Spammy Enemies/Bosses (Alecto)
-No bosses lived up to bosses like Friede, Gael, Artorias, or Maria for me
-Catacombs are too samey
-Horse is almost useless for combat late game because it gets knocked so easily
-Fall damage isn't as proportional as other games, so it's hard to tell what will kill you
-Some of the best areas in the series (Leyndell, Farum Azula, Stormveil, Nokrom, Raya Lucaria, Linuria, Nokstella, Volcano Manor, Caria Manor, Middle part of Haligtree)
-Shit tons of build variety
-Lots of really cool enemies like many of the knights and giants
-Sense of exploration is almost unparalleled, lots of really cool moments(Going down the elevator to Siofra, Teleporter Chest to Caelid, making predictions about future bosses(especially the last few), seeing future areas through teleporters like Farum Azula, discovering puzzle towers, discovering the underground areas, uncovering secrets, finding out Radagon is Marika then seeing him as the final boss using the hammer attack in the intro and blasting the main theme, Finding a way to get to Nokrom and the cliff in Linuria, finding out Godfrey is Hourah Loux, Entering Altus and Linuria for the first time, getting to see the Erdtree on fire, seeing the Erdtree the entire game and finally being able to go inside it, seeing the size of Stormveil for the first time, finding Bell Bearing Hunter/the fact there are bosses at night, figuring out the regal ancestor puzzle, finding the Valient Gargoyles when my friend thought he explored all of Nokrom, finding out the beast man was a major boss, that one area inverting, discovering the divine towers, finding the loading screen areas, seeing what was under the smaller trees for the first time, realizing that paintings corresponded to real locations)
-One of the most consistently good boss lineups with me liking every single remembrance boss and hating very few bosses
-One of the prettiest games I have ever played. I have stopped and taken screenshots at multiple points
-I love being able to recover estus from clearing enemies
-Guard Counters, Jump attacks, and Ashes of War are great additions/expansions
-My first playthrough felt really balanced with very few difficulty spikes or extremely easy areas
-Most NPC invasions were fun
-Least frustrating Fromsoft game
-Best hitboxes in the series
-Lots of Great Side quests/characters
-Great open world that feels like a game in itself
-Lots of good duo bosses(Valient Gargoyles, Crucible Knights, Godskin Duo)
-Rewards were really good for the most part
-Lots of fun weapons with a variety of abilities and customization
-Cool ideas and concepts like the focus on the Stars, Trees, Magic, and Scarlet Rot
-Story is engaging and it was cool learning bits and pieces of the lore
-I like how the map only reveals terrain and is are located in the middle of areas
-I love how the horse controls and the big jumpads
-No durability/infinite inventory space
-Vanishing Hud
-Infinite Stamina out of combat
-Pouch system is so useful
-Plenty of opportunities to respec
With those complaints there is no way it can be a 10.
@@chasejackson7248 wrong
@@chasejackson7248 a game can have flaws and still be a 10, because 10 doesn't necessarily mean perfect
Reusing bosses is perfectly okay with me. Programming unique bosses for every single encounter? Game wouldn't be out until 2023.
This review was perfectly made and people who are considering this game will undoubtedly want to play it with this I have played all the souls games and was baffled by the structure, unlimited things to do, beauty and much more. We don’t deserve Elden Ring we’ve been spoiled, for me this game has truly lifted my hope in story games and gaming in general a lot of people complain about gaming being boring these days but this game truly changed it all and shows that there’s so much more to come into the gaming world later in life and we should be so thankful for this masterpiece to ever come out
For me personally, this is the best game of all time. Never had so much fun and such immersive experience playing a game.
Sekiro took it for me nothing beats that in my opinion and I played all the souls games except Bloodborne
@@austinlamonge4741idk I found sekiros combat kinda boring.
@@austinlamonge4741seikro is the only souls game I haven't beaten.. Ive tried twice but it just doesn't grip me like the others. Eventually I will push through and I'm sure I'll love it. I never made it too far in
I think my favourite part of this game is that even after my 300 hours playing it I can still discover new things about it. Especially about the map size like wow after new game plus two I decided I really wanted to find everything so I looked up where the prince of death staff was and I think my brain imploded when I realized there was yet ANOTHER giant underground area that I just hadn't discovered yet.
I also struggled with motivation to start a new character after my first play through, I believe it’s because of how lonnnng it takes to get out of limgrave and the lakes area to get to the mid/late game. I desperately want to go straight to the end and fight the end game bosses, its the same with the other souls games but also like the other souls games it takes a long time to get to the end game even if you run through everything as soon as possible
You should try new game+. My second playtrough was so much fun. Being overpowered and fucking everything up. I just rushed through the Main Bosses in like 4 Hours.(My First playthroug lastet for 145h.)Than I started a new Charakter because i missed the challange.
Codyko rolling in his chair 11:09
Loved your take on the game, I think you captured really well what makes Elden Ring such a brilliant game, and what it did to evolve the open-world and the Souls formula respectively. It's one of the best gaming experiences I've had and I can't stop thinking about it still. Thank you for making a video on it, it is great!
Thanks for watching
The first view of Limgrave after the tutorial area and the elevator ride from the Mistwood to Siofra River… mind blowing. Haven’t had this feeling towards a game since TBC WOW release. Once in a decade kind of game imo.
It’s funny how elden ring is nowhere near perfect, yet it’s so much closer to perfect than most modern games that it *feels* perfect.
Absolute nonsense.
@@jaybeam1466 how is it nonsense though? It’s true, elden ring is a lot better game than a lot of modern games other than stuff like the god of war series and the other souls games
You’ve summarised exactly how I feel about the game, including the ‘doneness’ after one or two runs. However, I recently came back to the game after an 8-month break and found myself enjoying it almost as much as before. Putting it down for a while then coming back definitely helps.
This video was a absolute pleasure to watch. Thank you Downward Thrust!
The Volcano Manor music is so sinister. It really suits the areas perfectly. The Deep strings tell you that something here is evil.
Elden Ring is one of the games released this year.
It definitely it is one of the games released this year
I can relate to your feeling of doneness you describe in your conclusion section. I have over 340 hours on my 1st playthrough, just about done the snow area about to enter the haligtree and know there is the floating area I got to see a taste of from the four belfries one teleporter. I have searched every nook and cranny and have genuinely enjoyed this game and have been amazed at how well Fromsoft has done on their first open world. It is hands down the best one I have ever done. For me being a completionist and wanting to search and collect everything I expected this game to burn me out before half way in like almost all other open world games have. Yet I still even after 340 hours in my first playthrough am still not bored though I have a feeling that when I complete Elden Ring I am not gonna be in a hurry to start another journey right away. It is just so massive it takes alot out of you over time even if you do enjoy it. I look forward to playing more Elden Ring playthroughs but I probably will take a break from it when I finish my first playthrough. Excellent review and I agree with alot of what you said. As far as difficulty and scaling I think most of us are aware that its basically impossible to perfectly balance this kind of open world game.
Amazing review, this game made me feel like i was playing games for the first time again.
Yeah it's like a 1990's game in a modern skin, its rare to get challenging while being fun games these days.
Best Review Ever. You liked it, I get it, I understand, deeply. More deeply here is what I feel...
What makes this review and your perspective stand out for me is your engagement. You poetically express your sense of wonder, challenge, and even frustration in a way that anyone who has played this game for a significant time can relate to. I have never seriously played a souls game before. For me, with Elden Ring, the challenge was secondary at the start. The sense of majesty, wonder, and discovery drew me in. The accomplishment of those challenges has forever tarnished my Soul.
I played through it twice back to back different builds. 200 hours. It's a masterpiece, the best game ever made ever. It's kind of like if took DarkSouls and Morrowind by Bethesda and spliced it together. I think if they want to top it next time they should create a couple large cities, and some small towns populated like Oblivion, and Skyrim with NPC's going about on a 24 hour schedule to really finalize the creation of an virtual world. Elden Ring for me is my first Souls game. I played Bloodborne for about 6 hours over two days but found it too confusing and difficult. Day 1 in Elden Ring i met Margit and he two shot me over and over. So I gave up on him, I cleared all the caves, catacombs and monsters I could find in Limgrave. Day three I went back and he kicked my ass still even though I got him very close to death twice. I gave up on Margit, then I went to Liurnia and I defeated Renalla. Day four I came back to Margit and I defeated him. It was one of the greatest moments of exaltation in my gaming career and i've gamed since Space Invaders in the 1970's. On Day 2 I hit that trap in the Limgrave Lake and ended up in Caelid where I died about 20 times trying to figure out how to escape the Tunnel. After I defeated Margit and Renalla I went after Radahn. Again it took me four days and over 50 deaths before I beat Radahn. Beating Radahn was again an enormous joyous experience.
Elden Ring's free open world and beautiful level design always drew me forward to see the next Ruin, the next Cave, the next Catacomb, the next group of monsters, the next shiny item even if it was white and being guarded by a monster, to search the ledges of cliffs, to challenge every monster, to talk to every NPC, and I kept going and going and going.
And then came the UA-cam Tutorials every day I'd watch several to see what other people had discovered or new items to go search for, new quests to take on. One UA-camr released a Ranni's Quest guide and it took me a full week to finish it, after watching a simple 15 minute video on how to get the Darkmoon Greatsword.
And at Godrey The First Elden Lord I learned I could put my finger down, and help people with boss fights, so every major boss I fought I put my finger down and helped dozens of people bring down the worst baddies in the game. I must have done the Astel fight over 100 times slowly learning to master the intricacies of that crazy fight. And on my second play through with my sorcery build I could not beat Milania and it was driving me crazy, so I summoned Players to help me and after another 20 tries with random players I finally had beat all the major bosses in the game.
Morrowind was the last game where upon finishing it I was this pleased with the journey. Morrowind told you nothing, and everything was a discovery. You were always engaged as you tried to determine your place in the world, where you were on the map, what roads lead to what cities, and that's what Elden Ring does so well. It engages your mind always, you can't just autopilot this game, You need to learn it, to memorize it, to be engaged at all times. In Elden Ring if you turn off your brain and you aren't present in the game you can die any second, any encounter.
My biggest Pet Peeve with Elden ring is the Sniper enemies with unlimited range, and a very short casting time between each projectile.
Masterpiece, best game ever made ever. Better than God of War 4, GTA 5, Zelda BOTW, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption 2, Witcher 3.
Well spoken, Sir! At this point, I do not even know where the end might be with From Soft... I was extremely cautious with the hype beforehand, what with the previous entries each and all being my favourite game(s) in decades...but as you say, basically nothing was lost in translation. The aesthetics, the feel of it all...craftsmanship of the highest order.
Nothing was lost in translation? Boss quality was absolutely atrocious in this game! Half of the bosses in DS3 are better than every single boss in this game!
Fantastic review, one of the few that fairly evaluates the endgame and acknowledges the staggeringly difficult balancing act required from From Software. You have accurately identified challenges connected to designing game of this scope. There is no other game that comes even close to doing this much this good so consistently. Not even close. That's why this game is 10/10, not because it's perfect(it isn't), it's because it's this great and this fun while maintaining enormous scope, depth and size.
I also loved the short shout out to hit boxes, far too few people give game credit in this regard, along with acknowledgment of top notch level design.
Hi,
great review. Very personal and poetic.
I am at my 2nd playthrough building a stagger-heavy machine, strength build with full on armor. It is great playing with shields and high poise... But the best thing about this playthrough is the fact that I am able to appreciate all the environmental story-telling. I am telling you, almost every part of the map tells a story. I can also pay attention to the lore.
And a huge recommendation: Play without the horse as much as you can.
There are certain bosses and areas that are best on horseback, but dude - going on foot as much as you can is the best thing. Give it a try, you will not regret it.
Have a nice day
The summons definitely break the balance of the game, especially the mimic, that’s the easy mode right there
100% interestingly enough though, it's CLEARLY how we were intended to play
@@revfunk8823 yeah, I do think the late game bosses are designed assuming the players will use summons, with that said, the mimic is still hella broken, and 600 hp is actually very cheap.
difficulty is optional, they really nailed it well. I play pure meele, other people play with summons or magic, it's as an RPG should, as you want it to be. 10/10
I used mimic only once in the game, even though I upgraded him to +10. Just to beat one particular beatch.
The answer is simple: if mimic's power dilutes your experience, drop it. That simple.
Agreed! This is my first souls game and I beat Journey 3 with no HUD and made a thing ua-cam.com/video/nXkbFsmDcT8/v-deo.html
"Why not?" absolutely summarizes this game and I adore it for that. To anyone who is watching this video and hasn't played Elden Ring, I beg you, please go ahead and play the game, and please, try to play with as little previous knowledge as possible.
This isn't just a fanboy praising the game, I really think Elden Ring is one of the best games ever made, and I think that, if you go first and read guides on how to clear stuff, where to find things, best builds, etc. you will be robbing yourself of a huge chunk of the experience. Play it, go at your own pace, explore, use whichever tools and weapons you find and enjoy your first playthrough to the max.
I'm on a fourth playthrough now, and I'm surprised that I'm still finding things I had never seen.
I have never immersed myself so much into a video-game, it’s story, gameplay, characters, mysteries, open world mechanics, bosses, all memorable and rich in design, truly a love letter for all of us. A game so good is unreal.
One thing i think gets looked over a lot in Elden Ring: The feeling of chunking a bosses health bar is just so satisfying. I haven't played Elden Ring in a few months, I'm trying to forget as much as possible before I play it again, but seeing some of these enemies just make me want to him them lmao
It’s a good game, but the hype will die down.
I feel the same as you. I'm stuck on Maliketh and started to explore more thoroughly. I missed so much content. I found melena and she's for sure the hardest boss. I started looking up content because I'm already 130 hours in. I'm going back and finishing the catacombs and finishing quests I missed. By the time, I decide to go forward and beat the game, I won't have any desire to play anymore. I'd be over 150+ into it and I'd feel accomplished. I'm already looking forward to the DLC and I haven't even beaten the game lol.
I literally did that with about 150 hours in lol and now I'm already playing a new character. I was planning to be done with it after completion but nope
Melenia is by all means NOT the hardest boss. If there wasn't a rock made for cheesing right next to Alecto, Alecto would be the hardest boss.
3 playthroughs, currently on my 4th on my original (since release) character level 656 BEAST! For a total 640+ hrs. Recently started a NEW character for the upcoming DLC to NOT be op. for its release! That's so far ANOTHER 50 hrs. I have a legitimate addiction to this masterpiece FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME to me, friggin game!!😅😅😅I regret nothing, I still get shit done and work my ass off but, at 47, I don't give a shit, I LOVE this fuckin flawed but amazing piece of work!!🤘💀🤘
Biggest cope I've ever read. 150 hours and there was nothing left to do in the game. You can do literally every quest, try every build, and full clear the map in that time.
There is nothing to do...
I’m 240 hours in. I’ve played and loved every soulsbourne game to date. Elden ring is no exception. If I was to review this game when I’m finished I would imagine it would be very similar to this amazingly done review! I couldn’t agree more with every point you made and the downfalls it has. I just can’t believe how big this game is and that even after all these hours I still don’t want it to end!?! Awesome video!
for me its my favourite game since witcher 3
Dude, I cracked up so hard when you were slinging arrows at the perfumer down by the gazebo in Lyndell (8:27). When the Lion Guardian, you know the one that's from around the corner, up the stairs, past the fence to the right, around the corner to the left and behind the fountain thing, yea, that Lion Guardian is down there jumping back and forth like Austin Powers trying to turn the utility cart around.. I laughed because I couldn't tell you how many times that god damn thing has chased me into and got stuck in that same exact area... Amazing. Glad I'm not the only one.
I feel wrong for not liking this game. So many videos said this is the Fromsoft game for everyone! It's not for me.
So do I. Everyone says it's the best Fromsoft game but I had tons more fun playing Bloodborne, Sekiro and DS2.
Anyone who claims a game is for everyone is exaggerating. It's never true. Elden Ring simply has appealed to the most players of all FromSoft games. A shame id didn't for you. Hope you find other great gems this year though. ^^
@@orlando5789 I was playing Bloodborne before ER. I went back after playing some ER and thought it felt much better. Sekiro is really fun if you install an easy mod.
@@GiygasStarman I finally picked up breath of the wild
Nothing wrong with not liking a game, no game is made for everyone
As to your points on balancing; if you farmed levels, that should be rewarded, not balanced against. What was the farming effort & time for if not to trivialize the boss?
This praise is exagerrated. The enemies and bosses are broken. That is a HUGE FAILURE when considering those are the most important part of soulsbornering games.
I finished my strength build at 110 hours, around level 120. As a long time souls fan, Elden Ring absolutely surpassed my expectations, and they were quite high. I decided against starting NG+ as I’m sure there’re bosses I’ve missed. Ended up creating a dual katana dex build and have been having a blast again. I’ve been using this character to help other players defeat the first few bosses. While I understand your sentiment for invasions, it is absolutely worth giving it a go for a while. Some of the experiences are hilarious and create even more replay ability, and the feeling of besting 2v1 or even 3v1 is blissful. I’ve even ran into cooperators/hosts who wait their turn while you take on the other, often times with a respectful bow which harkens back to the soul of past games (see what I did there?). This game is indeed an absolute masterpiece, and will certainly keep me engaged for months to come.
Elden Ring i.e. Dark Souls 3 with horse, copy paste enemies, boring empty open world, and broken overpowered ashes of war carefully crafted by From Software to cater to the mindless masses who are blind sheep that cannot see how Miyazaki is just a one trick pony who can only make the same ffing game over and over again.
If I was asked to attribute the perfect description of this Elden Ring Impression, it would be simple. IMYO as close to the pinnacle of a PC Game Impression speedrun as one can get. It is brilliant, no word misplaced, no description lacking every line poetic and articulate. This is why UA-cam is amazing. You gained a subscriber. Peace.
Ohh not another "masterpiece" 😅. This word has been so overused in gaming to the point it doesn't mean anything anymore. Elden ring might be my least favourite game from FS. After the infatuation period has gone, this game has far too many problem to be called a masterpiece.
Like what?
And theres no game you would consider a masterpiece?
@@randomguy6679 Honestly Sekiro and BB come much closer to what i would consider a "masterpiece" although flawed in their own ways.. Elden ring is far far from that.
@@philip47478 its a masterpiece for some people bro, stop feeling attacked from opinions lmfao
1 year later and I still cant believe we got this game.
Its not, stop being a shill. Its 7.5/10 at best.
Finally someone who is realistic
this is definitely a deranged response
I'm on my third playthrough...over 350hrs total...still having fun.
Its not, its boring and grindy. Its aimed at mmo and soulslike kiddies that can spend 40 hours grinding for 0.01% drop change loot just to beat some reused boss. No story, weak characters, bland world, just juck. Too bad I cant refund it.
Filtered
Elden Ring is the best game that was ever made for me. I`m 49 and I like to play in Elden Ring so much.....
Huge fart noise. That's all I heard. This is the worst souls game to date. Bigger isn't better. Y'all trippin and ten years from now you'll all start to realize you were just obsessed with your shiny new toy that maybe wasn't as awesome as you thought it was.
Ds2 is still the worst souls game
Elden Ring has set a precedent for every other game here on out. Every open world game will be compared to this. The vastness of this world the sense of discovery it's truly immense. Not only is this a very important title but also probably one of the greatest high fantasy works ever.
still not the best game ever
I feel the same way about ng+. My first playthrough was completely blind, all discovery, and took my roughly 195 hours. I also used different builds and looked in every nook and cranny. It was such a heavy experience I wasn't in the mood to start all over immediately. It was just such an undertaking. I know ill play it again and again over the coming years, but its kinda like playing the entire souls series in one go. It was just enough
Unironically a bad game and a failure to the souls series
cant believe this is the uncommon attitude towards the game
I bet that you are the same guy who kept disliking Sekiro. cry about it, no BB2, no DS4.
@@king_alonne3707 No, Im the guy who can recognize this game tried to eat the entire plate, and ended up spitting up a bunch of garbage, and pooping out a few golden eggs.
@@PoorEdward
congrats ! you are just clueless if not a desperate toxic fan. this games stomps at tons of open-world games or action RPGs, while still encourage a good adventure and story. this is the result of years of hard working in games industry, all that without inculding additional content or major changes in the future. your statement sounds almost fimilar to the gaming industry nowdays, with few golden eggs just like Elden Ring.
now that Elden Ring is goty, you only fall flat on your face. cry twice about it.
@@PoorEdward what?
I’ve never played online in a from software game. I never understood the mechanics of invading and it doesn’t really park my fancy to have other people in my world. I think going to help people with bosses is awesome, I might try that once I finish my play 3rd through. Love this game!