pjquinones747: Did Elden Ring Ruin RPGs?

pjquinones747 02.27.23	I'm on my fourth new character currently running a dex build with godskin peeler. Plans for the evening got cancelled so i'm elden that ring tonight.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	No, Dark Souls 1 ruined rpg’s. Elden ring ruined open world games.
pjquinones747 02.27.23	Fair assessment. As a gamer who didn't get good at a souls game until Elden Ring, i cannot relate because i think i lack the skill to be truly good at any other souls game ive tried so far. That fact intrigues me because although the formulas for each fromsoft game since kings field have been very similar on the surface, elden ring has turned out to be drastically easier/different for all of its various reasons.
pjquinones747 02.27.23	mind you i've tried demon souls (og and remake), dark souls 1, bloodborne, and sekiro. nioh 2 as well but thats not a fromsoft, just similar formula.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	If you’ve beat Elden ring you can beat any dark souls game! Elden ring is much harder than ds1 in particular imo if you aren’t using summons
Vinnymcscoop 02.27.23	If you beat Elden Ring, you can beat every game (If it's combat related).
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Except sekiro if you’re me
PotsyTater 02.27.23	FUCK ishiin
PotsyTater 02.27.23	That being said I gave up earlier than I usually would because i was not having fun fighting him
loveisamixtape 02.27.23	dude yes. elden ring ruined a lot of games for me. still ridiculous that it’s that good
pjquinones747 02.27.23	order of difficulty based on my experiences: sekiro - fuck this game. its almost entirely related on parry mechanics which I AM THE WORST AT. im sure its an incredible adventure with dazzling challenges BUT I SUCK TOO HARD MY FRIENDS dark souls 1 - stuck in the first area after the tutorial because each goddamned skeleton in that first area hits like fucking radagon and has as much health as elden beast nioh 2 - first miniboss hands my ass to me every time bloodborne - this one isnt too hard, just got stuck on the second boss the last time i really gave it my all. missing that jump button hard tho demon souls - this one i just need to pick back up and try again. i have a feeling this may be the next one i break through with.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	The trick to sekiro if you suck at parrying is to just play it like a souls game. It takes a long time but it’s possible. Just kite and stab forever lol
PotsyTater 02.27.23	DS1 is the easiest fromsoft game imo it just takes your first run to get used to the clunkiness. I’m on like ng+7 lol.
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	the sekiro charged stab is the name of the game along with ichimonji yh i think nioh 2 (on NG) is the easiest of any of them on replays (as long as you stay at a sensible level, which i found so easy i never consciously worried about it), but jfc the levels of masochism the NG+ cycles enable you to subject yourself to if you go too far too fast are something else
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I only played nioh 1 but I enjoyed it but it was too long and I stopped eventually
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that it was all different maps
PotsyTater 02.27.23	The sound that the little shrine spirits make is so soothing lmao
Mort. 02.27.23	'The trick to sekiro if you suck at parrying is to just play it like a souls game. It takes a long time but it’s possible. Just kite and stab forever lol' yep fastest easiest sprint in the game makes it easy as fuck to circle people and chip away when you need to otherwise stand still and only ever deflect, jump, step back, and do simple r1s, completely ignore the prosthetics. make it a pure rhythm game
Mort. 02.27.23	only soulsborne i havent played is demon souls, looking forward to getting a ps5 one day and playing that big boy remaster
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Do people really consider the FromSoft games RPGs? That really isn't the thrust of them - they're combat games...
SteakByrnes 02.27.23	"dark souls 1 - stuck in the first area after the tutorial because each goddamned skeleton in that first area hits like fucking radagon and has as much health as elden beast" brother if you're talking about the ones right outside firelink on the way to the catacombs you're meant to go the opposite way up the stairs first lol, go try again bro!
JayEnder 02.27.23	Sekiro... that was an experience. FUCK Ishiin [2] you know, he wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to fight Genichiro EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And idk how people can beat him with parrying, his posture recovers almost instantly. Took me like 3 hours but I finally got him with the umbrella and projected force method. Fucking brutal game. Oh, and Miyazaki can burn in hell for the Snake Eyes mini boss in the poison pool section.
Mort. 02.27.23	'Do people really consider the FromSoft games RPGs? That really isn't the thrust of them - they're combat games...' lol of course theyre rpgs. combat is an essential part of the vast majority of rpgs
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	the thought of anyone playing DS2 as a combat game and not an RPG makes me want to physically weep "The sound that the little shrine spirits make is so soothing lmao" omg yes, gimme 10hrs of that shit on yt. nioh 2 is worth a check if you find a bunch of hrs to kill - everything good about the first one, but more versatility, more variety more creative (and just smarter) level design and, um more bigness (heck)
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ you know, he wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to fight Genichiro EVERY. SINGLE. TIME” Exactly. This is why I said fuck it.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I genuinely dislike this style of game, though. I don't find nearly any videogame combat system to be particularly engaging, and the FromSoft games (including Elden Ring) are definitely no real exception - granted, I know I'm probably giving them more flak than they deserve because of how lauded the combat is. There is a LOT of wait - spam dive/roll - spam attack sequence - wait - repeat and that thrust has never been engaging for me no matter the gratification of a difficult victory. Aesthetically, they are cool - they look nice and have great details. And I think a lot of the engagement/physics with enemy entities is clunky because of it (compare that to something like the Shadow or Mordor games where nearly every interaction snaps you to your enemy for a sense of cohesion - not that it is better, just the different approach). This is a lesser complaint to the general dislike of the format.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I have 2 downloaded so I will eventually!
RogueNine 02.27.23	In short no because I'm sure there are RPGs in the future that I will like more than ER.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	There is nothing less gigachad than not thinking that fromsoft ruined gaming
botb 02.27.23	Not at all, it’s one of the best open world action rpgs ever though for sure
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	"lol of course theyre rpgs. combat is an essential part of the vast majority of rpgs" Sure, but (and I feel like such a fucking neckbeard making this comment) being essential and being the entire thrust of the game is totally different. Your role in the world is to fuck up bosses with combat...
FadedSun 02.27.23	No. Elden Ring is just an extension of the Souls gameplay in an open world. When you're in legacy dungeons you're playing old school Souls anyway. It's a great game, but it didn't ruin other games for me. @Pitchfork, if you're spamming roll you're going to die. When you see that from the other side, you can see what I mean haha. Panic spam rolling is basically ensured death.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	@FadedSun I'm being facetious by saying spamming, sorry that wasn't more obvious!
pjquinones747 02.27.23	"In short no because I'm sure there are RPGs in the future that I will like more than ER." i sure hope so but boy does ER have them all beat to shit right now.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I actually have a dismissive joke with my friends that they aren't role-playing games... they're roll-playing games! Just not my kind of game :)
Purpl3Spartan 02.27.23	No, a near flawless game tho
botb 02.27.23	I’m still a huge JRPG and tactical RPG nerd so there’s enough sub-subgenres to keep me busy long into the future
pjquinones747 02.27.23	RPGs are such a wide genre that the answer has to be no when it comes to games that're very different. The point that was made about it ruining OPEN WORLD games might be true at least for me given how much they simplified it in the right ways. My biggest gripe with open worlds has always been the dialogue and story-building. Soooo many are so dense and overweighted it makes it such a task to even get through all the dialogue so i can..you know.. PLAY THE GAME. And don't even get me started on the dialogue mechanics themselves because that alone has ruined some games for me. It also should go without saying that i'm a relatively picky gamer lol.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Understandable - I think the biggest thing with the FromSoft games is that they they are created in a way that may as well not have a story (other than for added flare)... The open world is beautiful and creative but the story is so veiled, non-descript, and inconsequential to the actual playing of the game that is makes the "role" that is being played such a weird thing to talk about. I guess I am equally as picky, though.
pjquinones747 02.27.23	Yeah Fromsoft games let the story take a backseat so the gamer can focus on the gameplay itself, whereas lots of gamers prefer to get invested in a story. That's never been the focus for me with video games so our preferences are making a big difference here.
Sinternet 02.27.23	great game, doesn't hold a candle to rpg classics though
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Am I safe to then assume that you are a fan of the big Nintendo franchises as well?
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I don’t agree that story telling takes a backseat in fromsoft games, I think their lorecrafting is absolutely next level it’s just that the way it is presented to the player is very unconventional.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	@sint name rpgs you think it doesn’t hold a candle to please
Sinternet 02.27.23	fallout 1, 2 and new vegas planescape torment arcanum vampire the masquerade the final fantasy game i played as a kid which i forget which one it is that one slapped disco elysium like idk its surely in the top-tier of like fantasy rpgs but there's about a billion other (better) types of rpg out there
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Firmly disagree about all the ones there that I’ve played. I can’t name five games of any genre better than Elden ring let alone a billion rpgs lmao Back to fromsoft I kind of agree with the entire notion that that combat is the primary focus I think that really detracts from the fact that those games would be nothing without their one of a kind atmosphere and lorecrafting
nol 02.27.23	I prefer Arrrrr PG’s aka the pirate kind
nol 02.27.23	i don’t think fromsoft has made one of those tho so weird complaint
botb 02.27.23	I think they’ve found something that works for them storytelling wise that you can play and enjoy the game even if you aren’t getting sucked into the lore, but if you do there’s a lot to dig into. It kind of reminds me of horror games giving you the story via journals and voice memos, it’s cliche and done to death but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it
Gmork89 02.27.23	It's pretty much ruined open world RPGs for me yeah, everything feels so artificial and predictable compared to it now. Hogwarts, God of War, Horizon, definitely would have been better if I hadn't played Elden Ring first. Knowing what every sidequest and collectable and upgrade etc is going to be, having puzzles spoiled by side characters, paths showing you directly where to go (turning this off isnt an option usually because the worlds are not designed for finding objectives on your own in most cases), it all just feels like following a trail and checking boxes. I really hope a lot of Devs push for more Elden Ring type freedom and exploration in their games. Elden Ring really gave me similar feelings to Link to the Past for example, where you stumble upon things with unique upgrades or rewards, things you can totally miss, you can do most quests out of order, I feel like this type of design was ideal and developers strayed away from it, then Elden Ring brought it back and now its glaringly obvious when I play anything else.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	They way from soft does it is a lot better and more unique than horror game notebooks. The cryptic interactions with npc’s and spaces is a big part of that. Everything is just really beautifully understated and intriguing
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Most games these days have entire characters dedicated to just being walking exposition machines, I don’t appreciate that kind of story telling. I like some mystery and intrigue. I think about fromsofts stories a lot more than most other games because being cryptic kind of demands that since nothing is really face value
pjquinones747 02.27.23	@sin all those games are vastly different so it kinda goes along with my point. ER cant really be accurately compared to almost any of those given how differently they play while still technically all being RPGs.
Willie 02.27.23	I haven't played it yet, but I've heard the story is kind of lacking. I need a good story to get into RPGs, so I don't know if I'd like it more than the Mass Effect Trilogy or The Witcher 3, the Horizon games, or even the Dragon Age games... even if the mechanics are better.
pizzamachine 02.27.23	RPGs were stale ages before Elden Ring
pjquinones747 02.27.23	@Gmork you nailed it. those are all things i didnt know in games and being spoonfed totally ruins the experience.
Sinternet 02.27.23	kinda proves my point though no? it can't ruin rpgs when that term is as broad as something like 'electronic music'? if you want to isolate it down to fantasy-action rpgs then sure you could make a case, but all of those offer completely different values (and ones which i prefer)
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Comprehensive list of games of any genre that are better than Elden ring: Dark Souls 1 … Probably a couple Zelda games
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	"I think that really detracts from the fact that those games would be nothing without their one of a kind atmosphere and lorecrafting" Atmosphere, yes. Lorecrafting, not really... The story DOES take a backseat - it may not take a backseat with respect to your enjoyment of it, but it is very obviously not necessary to the thrust of the games. I do not think it is facetious to say that most interactions with lore and story are "that is cool and cryptic and that adds ambience to the game... learning more is not going to serve me much in fucking up these bosses so I am going to go back to fucking up these bosses knowing that there is cryptic shit in the world which makes it mysterious - cool"
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Nope those games would not be what they are without the lorecrafting sorry. Just because something is understated doesn’t mean it is not essential. This is an essential component of what makes fromsoft games great.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Maybe not to you, I think that is fair. Though, I think a huge majority of the playerbase who prop up these games as GOAT-level couldn't actually be bothered with any cohesive understanding of the story that was gathered via playing the game, nor would a lack of cohesion with the story or lore play any factor into their enjoyment of the game because the combat, difficulty, and design aesthetic, are the facets of value.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	All things considered, I am not someone who thinks the Fromsoft games are great - though, I too would say that the parts of the games that appeal to me the most are the lore stuffs.
Trebor. 02.27.23	Open world copy paste objective RPGs sucked already anyway so no, it just made them seem even worse
PotsyTater 02.27.23	You don’t need to have a comprehensive understanding of something to be immersed in it. Point in case: Twin Peaks Anyone who thinks from soft games would be just as great without the particular atmosphere, music, tone, lorecrafting and world building style and only is there for the combat is entirely missing the point of the games. In fact, until bloodborne the combat in fromsofts games was kinda endearingly shit
Gmork89 02.27.23	Yeah the combat isnt really what keeps me going, typically I dread the next miserable boss fight haha, its the exploration and world that keeps me going. @trebor, exactly, now they are just about unbearable for me.
Storm In A Teacup 02.27.23	The newest RPG release I've played is Dragon Age Inquisition. So Elden Ring has not ruined RPGs for me. I got Dark Souls 1 for free I think if I ever have time I could try that out.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	@gmork Exactly, and that exact feeling of dread is such a quintessential fromsoft experience too
Gmork89 02.27.23	DA:Inquisition was the writing on the wall for me with endless map markers and collectathons, that game took my soul trying to do everything. I couldnt even finish 100% of Ragnarok and I probably only have 2 hours left to get everything, tired of grinding dumb shit that some developer was like "oh we need 60 of these ill just paste one here, here, here, oh collect 6 flowers sure hmmm one here one here" just lazy and a giant waste of time.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I am not someone who thinks the fromsoft games are great, so I don't think I'm missing the point. I don't think you need to have a comprehensive understanding - but a COHESIVE understanding seems important if one is to think that the story is good (not that you don't have that - you obviously do... though, most players don't have that or even care to have it, yet they still adore the games). We may be talking past each other, though, because I think you gather much more from those games than the bulk of the fans do.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I don’t think anyone has a cohesive understanding of twin peaks the return and everyone still thinks it’s one of the greatest things ever televised. And bloodborne is inspired by stories about things that are literally beyond human comprehension… it’s fun to make sense of it, but I think feeling bewildered by it is part of the charm / experience
nol 02.27.23	“Hogwarts, God of War, Horizon, definitely would have been better if I hadn't played Elden Ring first.” I’ve seen enough of God of War and Horizon to know they were a stale RPG experience way before Elden Ring. Good games don’t ruin other good games, they reveal which games you thought were good actually weren’t amazing all along.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Also pre Elden ring fromsoft fandom was still relatively niche. As someone who has actively been engaged with the community for some years I really don’t feel like I have much more of an understanding than the average fan
nol 02.27.23	not that the Modern god of wars or horizon are bad games by any means.. but the stat building and ability trees and weapon types and various other rpg related mechanics are very standard.
Gmork89 02.27.23	I look back in hindsight and remember enjoying certain games at the time because I hadn't played anything that did it different or better yet, I dont look back and discredit something I actually enjoyed while I was playing it. Some games set a bar though and new expectations for what you play after. But yeah, should have known better for Horizon and GoW but they were definitely all the worse coming off of Elden Ring. The first Horizon I couldnt even finish, I remember Gow 2018 being really fun though at the time.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Fromsoft games didn’t acquire its dedicated fanbase because people were like “wow rolling in circles around fatty and poking him in the butt 5000x is the best gameplay experience I’ve ever had”
nol 02.27.23	My brother said all new Sony games are lowkey the same game and obviously that’s an exaggeration but I get it
Demon of the Fall 02.27.23	Nah, there’s an easy solution to this… Don’t play it
nol 02.27.23	as in ps4-ps5 era
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	See, I think that Twin Peaks is also not great...
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	you're walking directly into 5post territory
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Well you are in a minority on that And I think it’s a bit preposterous that you’re saying that as someone who is not a fromsoft fan the most attractive aspect is the lore but you think that people that actually are fans don’t care about it lmao
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	“Fromsoft games didn’t acquire its dedicated fanbase because people were like “wow rolling in circles around fatty and poking him in the butt 5000x is the best gameplay experience I’ve ever had”“ I don’t think this is too far off, though (obviously not with your verbiage LOL). The combat and the difficulty are the things that I have gathered as the main attraction of the games.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I wish you could see the amount of ridiculous theory crafting that r/eldenring did over as much as a two second title card before the game was released Trust me The fandom cares Deeply
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Well I think the lore and the world to explore is the coolest part but that’s because I find the combat to be almost entirely unenjoyable for my sensibilities. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I think the lore is anything other than something that is cool and tacked on to difficult combat games that are deliberately obtuse and entirely i reliant on the storytelling therein
MillionDead 02.27.23	I don't think that very many noteworthy RPGs have been coming out tbh. Elden Ring's incredible but it's an entirely different experience to something like Kingdom Come: Deliverence or Dragon Age: Origins. To answer the question, no. I welcome the day that something else comes along and excels at its own thing while still being an RPG.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Ok that’s cool but thinking you as someone who is not at all a fromsoft fan knows what fromsoft fandom appreciates about the games is a pretty weird hill to die on
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ I don’t think this is too far off, though (obviously not with your verbiage LOL). The combat and the difficulty are the things that I have gathered as the main attraction of the games.” Not really, like I said the combat was not great in the early days and most fromsoft fans will admit that. Difficult was AN aspect of appeal, sure, but a gross oversimplification of the overall appreciation. Again, I really don’t think you have any point of reference whatsoever and I’m becoming more and more sure of that the longer this conversation goes on.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	If combat and difficulty were the two biggest and most important points of intrigue to the fandom, dark souls 1 would not be so coveted and ds2 would not be treated with so much disdain
Gmork89 02.27.23	Baldurs Gate 3 is the hero we need.
pjquinones747 02.27.23	i've played the BG3 early access a bunch and its ridiculously difficult just like all other Larian studios titles. i wanna play these true-to-form DND games but theres a reason DND is supposed to be played table top.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I think my point of reference is someone who plays games, is on the internet, and talks about stuff like this all the time… i think the only difference is that these games have never been in the group of games that I really love. Obviously fans have a deep appreciation for the lore and story - but my time with the games,conversations, and observations, the thing that is so obviously at the forefront of importance is the combat.
Gmork89 02.27.23	I love Original Sin 2, it was really only super hard at first for me, then you realize that starting battles over is fine and trying new things, you start to learn the systems better and then it becomes a lot more manageable, OS2 is probably my second favorite RPG of the decade behind Elden Ring. Honestly I have never played DnD so I wouldn't know about the comparison other than rolls for attacks landing and stuff, but that was never apparent in the actual gameplay to me.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Ok well I think as someone who plays games, is on the internet and has been interacting directly with the fandom for years, that your argument is BUST Maybe combat is at the forefront for the new generation of fans that have been ushered in by the likes of Elden ring but for people who have been playing since demon souls you’re just simply wrong that that is any kind of consensus.
MiloRuggles 02.27.23	My favorite thing about souls games is level design and the subsequent exploring it offers, plus the tension that ramps up the longer you live due to inventory management/mistakes being punished. Combat is pretty fun, but only the main appeal in Sekiro for me. Elden Ring just kinda gorgeous
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Tellem
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Inside looking out, that may be true - I will tell you that from the outside looking in you are the first person who I have ever spoke to who doesn’t have combat/difficulty-gratification at the top of the list of reasons to play these games. The story and lore have never even been number two on that list (the aesthetic and visual design are nearly always the secondary pillar in my conversations).
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I think Milo’s point is sorta my point as well. People are playing the game to fight cool shit and run around big ass maps that look cool. Combat is obviously an oversimplification of the core gameplay loop.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ think Milo’s point is sorta my point as well” LMAO
PotsyTater 02.27.23	If your argument fails, just change it
pjquinones747 02.27.23	"If your argument fails, just change it" worked for me
PotsyTater 02.27.23	You’re trying to change my argument too, which has always been that lorecrafting has been one of many essential aspects to the whole, not the crown pillar of it Milo brought up several other good ones and you diminished and oversimplified them to suit your own point
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	"the aesthetic and visual design are nearly always the secondary pillar in my conversations" lmfao just because you don't feel a need to place these things in a meaningful world-building context doesn't mean the people you're pigeonholing feel the same
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Wait what? My whole point is that people can and do play these games and dont touch or value story and lore aspects. Milo likes to explore and thinks the design of the levels as well as the core gameplay loop of trial/error through death - I think this is not the baying of the story or lore of the game. He can correct my interpretation and how that folds into my point, but that is indeed my point. Again, me saying “combat” is obviously reductive, but that is indeed the backbone of said core gameplay loop.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	He’s gonna say your point is his point
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Your argument wasn’t what is the backbone of the gameplay loop fam, it was that the combat and difficulty were the most important and defining characteristics of what the entire fandom gravitates to the series for
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	can safely say that combat was absolutely at the bottom of things that drew me in when i picked up the original dark souls. only reason i ground away at it long enough to work out how to use a shield properly (and henceforth play like a total coward for literal months) was the lore and world intrigue. the level design was obvs a plus, the what's-around-the-next-corner intrigue was above all internally world-driven rather than externally design-driven. having spent over a decade close in the loop with these games, this is about as far from a unique experience as i can imagine
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	But Johnny the aesthetic and visual design can exist without any tangible reference to the story - and very obviously do for many players that love the aesthetic and visual design but don’t care to explore nearly any of the lore!
pjquinones747 02.27.23	i will say this argument has gone beyond my ability/patience to include myself (especially since my shift is up in 10 and i only really participate here during my boring work hours) but i have to thank SteakByrnes for inspiring me to try DS1 again. im pretty sure i scoured the opening area pretty well but im notorious for missing shit so maybe there's hope for this game yet.
Mort. 02.27.23	i just like dark fantasy and making big axe go swoooooosh
PotsyTater 02.27.23	You can play literally any game and button mash through the story does that mean that because all games can be played without engaging with the story and lore aspects that they are never important or essential to the overall vibe
Storm In A Teacup 02.27.23	@gmork I definitely agree with you. I completed the story but Holy shit you could spend 10 hours doing map quests that do nothing for no reward and no game play even and it's just awful. People complain about DA2 removing so much of DA1 but then DA3 tries to quadruple or more DA1 but added in like you said 60 bullshits. DA2 > DA3
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ can safely say that combat was absolutely at the bottom of things that drew me in when i picked up the original dark souls. only reason i ground away at it long enough to work out how to use a shield properly (and henceforth play like a total coward for literal months) was the lore and world intrigue. the level design was obvs a plus, the what's-around-the-next-corner intrigue was above all internally world-driven rather than externally design-driven. having spent over a decade close in the loop with these games, this is about as far from a unique experience as i can imagine” Amen brother
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	May not have articulated it super well, but my argument is that people so often play these games with no care for lore - and that leads me to believe that the lore is not the thrust of the games. We may even disagree as to what constitutes “lore” and “world-building”
Mort. 02.27.23	elden ring 10/10 dark souls 10/10 sekiro 9/10 bloodborne 9/10 dark souls 3 8/10 dark souls 2 depending on my mood 4-6/10
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	The bulk of the people I have engaged with who love the Fromsoft stuff love the way it looks and the fucking up of cool bosses over and over - so seeing you guys so invested in lore is genuinely a new experience for me to hear
Mort. 02.27.23	the lore/looks/vibes/bosses are all so intertwined that i find it a bit pointless to split hairs like this basically, old ruins with big swordmen cool, armour cool, wolf with big sword cool, mysterious catacombs cool
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	"But Johnny the aesthetic and visual design can exist without any tangible reference to the story" people have been pigheadedly taking things out of context since the dawn of time yes
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ people so often play these games with no care for lore” No “ We may even disagree as to what constitutes “lore” and “world-building”” The lord and world-building in from soft games are inextricably linked which is no small part why it’s such a unique way of story telling. The world building is literally a huge portion of how you experience and learn about the lore.
Mort. 02.27.23	agree and agree
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“the lore/looks/vibes/bosses are all so intertwined that i find it a bit pointless to split hairs like this” This
Purpl3Spartan 02.27.23	I’m just glad we’re debating about the things that actually matter for once
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I understand that they’re linked… but again the story and delivery therein is so obtuse that people just enjoy cool levels and bosses in much more of a vacuum than you’re suggesting. Again, every conversation I’ve ever had other than here has been “everything is really cool and I’m sure there’s a story there but discovering it was not important enough for me to stop blasting bosses”. On nearly every lore YouTube video there is always a confluence of comments like, “how did you even find out any of this, I didn’t think the game was even telling a story”.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	“I’m just glad we’re debating about the things that actually matter for once“ Ha! Yes yes yes go off king
Larkinhill 02.27.23	I’m that way with Witcher 3. Nothing can top it for me. Just bought Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I’ve heard it’s very very fucking good.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	“ that people just enjoy cool levels and bosses in much more of a vacuum than you’re suggesting.” And I’m assuring you that you are wrong and grossly over generalizing what was up until recent years a dedicated and niche fandom and that it’s ridiculous that you think you would know the first thing about it as someone who doesn’t even like the games
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Witcher 3 dope af. I’ll admit, though, that I’ve been sorta “off” on fantasy games for a bit. Had some wind in my sails on a Skyrim playthrough a few months ago on SteamDeck, but just couldn’t get excited about sword and magic shit. Comes and goes in waves, y’know?
Mort. 02.27.23	'Just bought Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I’ve heard it’s very very fucking good.' ive heard the complete opposite
PotsyTater 02.27.23	It’s like if I proceeded to argue with you about what people like about btbam
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Witcher 3 sucks
Purpl3Spartan 02.27.23	Lmao
Mort. 02.27.23	'It’s like if I proceeded to argue with you about what people like about btbam' lmao i feel the same
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I’m confused as to what me not liking the games has to do with it. And it may well be the case that the loving of the games and deep involvement in niche vocal online communities for the niche game could cause an over generalization in the other direction…
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	Pots that’s such a non-argument. I would never think that you not liking an artist would preclude you from gauging why people who like that artist actually like that artist.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	And I would not think that me liking that artist gives me some unique insight into that zeitgeist - shit, if anything it would probably make me biased towards my own sensibilities about that artist
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Not preclude, but bring into question the authority I’ll tell you right now I bet you’d fuckin know better than me why anyone would like that shit band
Mort. 02.27.23	my god who cares who cares who cares who cares there must be better to do with your time like writing the review for the random album game
JohnnyoftheWell 02.27.23	jfc yes we are sitting here bollocks is being chatted there is no fucking Gidge review sort this shit out
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	hehehe I have actually ben drafting during this whole thread :) liked it more than I thought I would. But hey hey its just videogame bants... there's always time for that
Shemson 02.27.23	I have little to no idea wtf really happened in my playthrough of Elden Ring. My girl Ranni rocked up after I defeated the Elden Beast and ushered in dark times if I recall. Even without nearly enough understanding, the exploring, scenery, puzzle solving and side quests made it possibly my favourite game ever. I maybe enjoyed Witcher 3 a little bit more because it had all that except less mystery and more fun. Just started Sekiro yesterday because it was half price in Microsoft store so got GOTY edition for £30
PotsyTater 02.27.23	can we move on and talk about how the number one thing Witcher 3 fans like about the game is smugglers cache hunting. I will die on this hill. Everything else is cursory.
Storm In A Teacup 02.27.23	I guess it's an rts but a game I have spent the last two years on is a game I consider almost rpgish and that is Stellaris. Boy howdy give me 15 hours to sit there and do nothing I'll build a 30 fleets and win a couple wars over two decades while planning 1,000 years into the future
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I'm assuming that nearly everyone here is NOT excited for Starfield...
Dewinged 02.27.23	"No, Dark Souls 1 ruined rpg’s." I came to say this but actually it ruined gaming in general for me. Can't enjoy anything else to the same degree.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Yeah straight up I feel you
Shemson 02.27.23	Honestly the number one thing about Witcher was the story and the open world ability to do whatever you wanted at your own pace. It was already outstanding storytelling and then the two dlcs dropped and made it unbeatable for me. Elden Ring a close second though.
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	New Vegas for me...
PotsyTater 02.27.23	No it’s the smugglers cache’s Source: I hate that game so I would know
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	mf g'damn if it weren't in the effort of comedy, I would be more bothered by the disingenuous shade
Zig 02.27.23	Dark Souls1 ruined video games.
Shemson 02.27.23	Number one is Botchling/Lubberkin
PotsyTater 02.27.23	Lmao sorry pitchfork this is your legacy now
PitchforkArms 02.27.23	I'll live with it... I would expect the sputters to form the defense brigade for fromsoft :)
ConcubinaryCode 02.27.23	Ruined is a strong word. It is however an artistic statement with a ton of effort (and a lot of suffering based on the workers input) in a world where games are usually created as a time sink to pour money into so it stands out amongst the crowd. It wasn't the first and it most likely won't be the last but it is a standout title in the world of video games and it's special for that.
PotsyTater 02.27.23	I think ruined is honestly too soft of a word to describe what fromsoft games have done to gaming for me
Drifter 02.27.23	sekiro so hard. i couldn't beat the gorilla and gave up
MyColdShoulder 02.27.23	Elden Ring is a great game but I wouldn't even consider it to be the best effort from them. Definitely didn't ruin other games for me either. But I'm very happy From Software broke mainstream and are making the success they deserve
Dewinged 02.27.23	Same as Pots. "Ruined" is as accurate as it gets but it gets worse, to the point that i keep coming back to fromsoft games, start a new playthrough because I don't feel like playing anything else, get stuck in whatever McBuff Boss cause I'm trying to beat it with a laddle and then cuddle myself in misery and despair. And then the next day I'd do it all over again.
ConcubinaryCode 02.27.23	I've heard quite a few people detailing how dark souls made people give a fuck about gaming after stopping for years. It's always cool when a game comes out and resonates with people, just a shame they're so few and far between. I can probably count the amount of games I truly give a shit about as being something more than just something to play. I just platinumed gow ragnarok and it was a very solid experience but if you don't like the combat or care about the characters there won't be a lot to offer someone. Very few games have the cultural force dark souls does.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Lmao dewi And yeah dark souls did exactly that for me. Years prior a friend of mine got me to play ds1 a bit to show me how HARD it was and I HATED it. Many years later another friend reintroduced me to it through ds2 and showed me more of the world and and atmospheric side of things and I decided to give it a go. Didn’t play video games at all any more at that time. Got hooked and played every fromsoft game at least once now, and have played ds1 probably like 7 times, I have the same thing happen where I try something else and just go “it’s no dark souls” and just play 1 again. But so it’s a blessing and a curse because it got me back into gaming but it also gave me impossible expectations for games and a very short attention span for anything that is not dark souls.
nol 02.28.23	this thread makes me want to hate elden ring but it’s probably tight
nol 02.28.23	guys pots is playing fire emblem right now laugh at him
MiloRuggles 02.28.23	Wow, that took off. The aesthetic is intrinsically linked to the lore, and even if somebody doesn't nerd out in the fine details of the story half the "lore" or "story" is discovering and exploring the world. Up next: are speed runners real people? More after this Oh, and as for the thesis statement driving this thread- no.
Dewinged 02.28.23	Also the Majula theme is my hungover theme.
nol 02.28.23	haha it’s the weeb game!
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Dude that’s by far the least weeby of the two weeb games I’m playing rn
RogueNine 02.28.23	Nothing ever really gets ruined, there's plenty more stuff out there. And better too.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	No there’s nothing better and everything else is trash now
Dewinged 02.28.23	That's the whole damn point. The eternal cycle. The Age of Fire, perpetuated because of you, bonzo nerds.
MyColdShoulder 02.28.23	yeah dewi the majula theme is so soothing, prob my favorite hub theme. Just pure bliss
MyColdShoulder 02.28.23	Pots whats the other weeb game
RogueNine 02.28.23	Lol
zaruyache 02.28.23	there's very little actual role playing and character choice that affects the story in ER so i'd say no. the combat and exploration are a terrific combination, but if I want actual roleplaying there are plenty of others for that.
Dewinged 02.28.23	Not true. I role played a shipwrecked survivor and started walking with only rags and no weapons from the south tip of the Weeping Peninsula with the goal being the Fire Giant, and I mean literally walking. After 45 minutes I passed out.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Imagine the sheer amount of copium you’d have to inhale to convince yourself that there are others
JohnnyoftheWell 02.28.23	there's a huge world and a load of funky fuckgarments and you can do whatever you like and summon whatever pokemon you like and beating up peaceful denizens of the huge_world has consequences and forgiveness is expensive and 85% of everything is optional any failure to roleplay is entirely on u
brainmelter 02.28.23	i don’t have anything significant to add this conversation but: I’m nearly 400 hours in and I JUST found a new area at the bottom of the haligtree near a large body of water and found a nice physical absorption talisman. i love that
zaruyache 02.28.23	my criticism is more that ER relies more on roleplay more through combat and character builds rather than more traditional RPG elements like character dialogue. "you can do lots of things" isn't RPGing, even if the open-ended nature of soulslike games allows you to add roleplaying on your own. and these games have always been much more action games with role-playing elements attached rather than true RPGs anyway.
zaruyache 02.28.23	I found a new area yesterday as well, since I apparently never bothered killing the virgin duo in mt gelmir.
asanisimasa 02.28.23	godskin peeler is dope
kodama 02.28.23	Elden Ring is just another dark souls game, it's not going to ruin rpgs. There's a lot more that can be done in the rpg genre than a dark world and difficulty.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	No there can’t
Storm In A Teacup 02.28.23	Lol
zaruyache 02.28.23	and then they'll make another game like this and pots will say the same thing again
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Well yeah duh bozo each new fromsoft game ruins gaming forever say more of the obvious
Demon of the Fall 02.28.23	I do sometimes wish I wasn’t so lazy / bad at games, especially those that require combat / actual human-level reactions 😄 Interesting hearing all the discussion about the lore because honestly that’s what draws me in, I really wanted to play this for those reasons even though I know it’ll kick my ass. I was hoping the open-world was more forgiving. Maybe it is. I’ve asked this before but not sure there was a clear answer… can you purposefully over-level if you’re struggling? Just avoid harder areas etc.
Ecnalzen 02.28.23	You can, but every time you level up your character, the cost increases a crap ton and it takes a loooong time the higher up you get. There's some decent farming places but man, it was such a chore to level up when it costs 140,000 plus runes for just 1 point (I forget what I was up to). I suck at these games tho, so it didn't matter what I did, and I got stuck towards the end and kinda gave up
Sinternet 02.28.23	i do wish i liked the fromsoft style more because the world design is really good but man i cannot vibe with the combat
neekafat 02.28.23	RPGs have been shit for a while until Elden Ring
Ecnalzen 02.28.23	Samesies I am trying out Sekiro now to see if I am just not a fromsoft kinda guy or not, and while it does have a different vibe than the typical souls combat, it still be pre dang hard
Ectier 02.28.23	Basically Elden ring was a wake up call to what RPG's and triple A games should be. You know a complete gaming experience that is fairly polished and finished. Without any live service bullshit. Its like when the witcher 3 dropped and its DLC dropped(blood and wine is insane content wise) and it reminds people that oh yeah most companies have really been phoning it in. Divinity Orignal sin 2 is a great rpg as well, and Baldurs gate 3 is shaping up to be great. I buily my gaming PC and basically worked out: Modern games fucking suck, but hey at least my modded skyrims insanely pretty and tweaked to my liking
JayEnder 02.28.23	Gonna be honest here, I loved Sekiro. I mean it's a really fucking hard game, and throws a ton of unfair bullshit at you, but for some reason it didn't make me rage nearly as much as Elden Ring and Bloodborne did. Once you get the deflection timing down and learn some cool strats (loaded spear for the Guardian Ape for example) it really is a great game. Funny enough I haven't played any of the Souls games yet. Beat the 3 non Souls From games but not the Souls games themselves lol
Ectier 02.28.23	Also Froms running ouy of "Tough but Fair" ways on their games. Elden ring has some of their most bullshit things. Malenia (first game thing to nearly make me actually break shit) is a recycled scrapped Sekiro dlc boss. Sekiros fucking brutal and itlll either click for you or you will get railed
Purpl3Spartan 02.28.23	"I'm assuming that nearly everyone here is NOT excited for Starfield..." You are correct yeah
Ectier 02.28.23	Dlc has just been announced "Shadows of the erdtree"
Dewinged 02.28.23	Just saw it and lost my shit. Guess I'll download it again and start TRAINING.
Cimnele 02.28.23	don't think I like triple A gaming all that much. i wanna live in weird worlds made by a handful of devs and I don't care if the game's short or amateurish. elden ring seems amazing but it can't ruin, eg, ultima 5 for me, cos they exist at different extremes and one can't replace teh other
Cimnele 02.28.23	edit: contemp big dragon age-ish rpgs ruin themselves by themselves. lol. i hate voice-acted interparty gossip in games, it's always torture and never reveals anything except which comics the writers read
kodama 02.28.23	> Basically Elden ring was a wake up call to what RPG's and triple A games should be. Modern triple A games should artificially disallow ultrawide displays and have shader caching stutter? Huh, I must be out of touch.
SpiritCrusher2 02.28.23	Dark Souls kinda ruined other 3rd person action games for me, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of other genres really. I actually have a problem with Elden Ring too, the first playthrough is absolutely incredible (with a bit disappointing late game IMO), but I don't find it as replayable as other Fromsoft games. I'd rather play DS1, DS3 or Bloodborne for the millionth time tbh
JohnnyoftheWell 02.28.23	"I don't find it as replayable as other Fromsoft games. I'd rather play DS1, DS3 or Bloodborne for the millionth time tbh" I was firmly in agreement with this tbh in that I was far keener to repeat the same journey in those than the one I'd just finished in ER, but there are just so damn many different builds and (esp) early game strategies (+roleplay opportinites) in ER that it shook that impression off quicksharp. Play it the opposite of your first run! Shit's great craic
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I think it’s pretty self explanatory why Elden Ring ng+ isn’t as fun as their older games. As an open world game there’s just too much checklisting compared to the other ones. IMO the best way to play NG+ Elden Ring is to pretty much just make it a boss gauntlet
pjquinones747 02.28.23	damn last i checked there was like 95 comments here and i am responsible for like 10 of them hahaha. glad i started a fun thread. also DLC FINALLY FUCKING ANNOUNCED THANK GOD im on my like, 4th new character and may be on 5 by the time it actually drops lol
Sinternet 02.28.23	seen a lot of people playing the randomiser mod to keep it fresh, i recall the same mod for the other souls game was very popular
PitchforkArms 02.28.23	Thank you for hostin, PJ haha This whole conversation thread has made me rethink and consider giving ER a try, but I am worried that the core mechanics are still not going to be enough of my type of thing to make any of the cooler aspects really worth it for me.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I wish I didn’t start ng+ til after dlc tbh
Tundra 02.28.23	"FUCK ishiin" lol ur bad
Mort. 02.28.23	looool yeah same. pretty sure ive got 2 different save files and theyre in ng++ and ng+.
ToSmokMuzyki 02.28.23	did I ruin your mom? Oh, I did Sorry guess so
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Pain. Hopefully the bosses in it aren’t scaled as terribly as Melina in ng+
twlight 02.28.23	Ngl I made it all the way through sekiro to ishinn sword saint and gave up after probably losing 100 times. Felt like a real puss but just couldn't do it. I do want to play through the game again eventually and will get my vengeance. It was brutal getting that far and not beating the game. Feels bad man
Mort. 02.28.23	the way to beat ishin sword saint when your noob is to get to the final stage (if you cant do this all i can say is get good by blocking countering eg basics because the first stages are pretty easy) and then spend ages with your finger down on the sprint button only attacking to do the reverse lighting move and the couple of moves that give you one free hit. then run away gain. sprint around the whole map like a lil cryy baby
Mort. 02.28.23	its the way i beat him and im not ashamed. theres also a couple of moves that are punishable but i cant remember off the top of my head. i just remember circling to my right (his left) and getting free hits in on specific tells
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I saw that strategy and I just wasn’t interested in spending 3 hours fighting a boss that was alrwady unenjoyable to begin with
pjquinones747 02.28.23	y'all just perfectly described why me buying sekiro was an unfortunate waste of funds. stellar game for those with the gall, i'm sure, but i am not one of them. that boss fight sounds like the furthest thing from fun.
twlight 02.28.23	Sekiro is a masterpiece once you get the combat down. But yeah that last boss fight is just ridiculous. Felt like they didn't want you to beat their game
Mort. 02.28.23	'I saw that strategy and I just wasn’t interested in spending 3 hours fighting a boss that was alrwady unenjoyable to begin with' takes me about 5-10 minutes to do the final stage, 15-20 for the whole fight. still an incredibly long boss fight i agree. i am not good at sekiro.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Aesthetically ishiin is probably the best fromsoft final boss. It’s between that and Gehrman / Moon Presence. But in terms of actually being fun it’s probably my least favourite.
twlight 02.28.23	New elden ring expansion just got announced. Shadow of the Erdtree
nol 02.28.23	damn everyone on sputnik blows their load over a game one day and the game gets an expansion the next, happy for you all lol
Pon 02.28.23	We're gonna have to fight Miquella aren't we? And he's canonically more powerful than Malenia 👀
nol 02.28.23	I’m looking to get an Xbox and this will be one of the first games I try, tho I’ve never played a souls game and don’t really play action/open world games much in general so I’m going to be very bad
Sinternet 02.28.23	"damn everyone on sputnik blows their load over a game one day and the game gets an expansion the next, happy for you all lol" anyone wanna jerk off about how good new vegas is so we can get a sequel?
PotsyTater 02.28.23	All the fallout games are mid
SteakByrnes 02.28.23	yea pots agreed lol I never got anything from any of them
Pon 02.28.23	@nol Jealous that you get to experience Souls for the first time. If you intend on playing the other games I might recommend starting with DS Remastered as going back from the mechanical refinement of the later games can be jarring. Either way hope you enjoy them.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Fallout games have like GTA 3 tier gunplay and then they were like let’s slap VATs on it so no one notices
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I could see how someone would like fallout if they played ocarina of time and were like “I want a next gen open world game where the whole thing looks like gerudo desert”
Sinternet 02.28.23	i can tell you now no one is out here playing fallout for the gameplay
PotsyTater 02.28.23	As someone that doesn’t like the game I can assure you that the number one feature that fallout fans enjoy about fallout is the gameplay
PotsyTater 02.28.23	@pitchforkarms
PotsyTater 02.28.23	In all serious tho my biggest problem with fallout games is that the stories and quests are all so shit and boring that I can’t help myself from just shooting every npc I come across in the face and eventually I just break the game by accident and can’t progress
Sinternet 02.28.23	i cant begin to unpack how bad that take is but uh lol to the first one
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Ooo radiation zombies ooo bunker oooooo sarcasm
twlight 02.28.23	I really enjoy the exploration/world and loot of the fallout games.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Honestly not a fan of scavenging for garbage personally and I do love exploration but the maps are so damn barren it just doesn’t keep me going
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I do like exploration with the purpose of finding and murdering sarcastic npc’s tho
warlordfun 02.28.23	most rpg games are trash nowadays so no. Elden Ring is an rpg game done right
Sinternet 02.28.23	of course a murder everybody run is also fun i get it :) especially slaughtering all those boomer assholes
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I’ve only played 3, new Vegas, and 4 ftr, I don’t believe I finished any of them and they all blur together
twlight 02.28.23	I loved 4 but mostly because I hadn't gamed in years and it was the first game I played on the PS4 so I was blown away. Story in 4 was awful tho
Mort. 02.28.23	love new vegas, think 3 and 4 are very mid, would love to try 1 and 2 would generally love to play a lot of classic rpgs. thinking of getting a pc or maybe a steam deck to play some old ones plus crpgs i cant get on playstation
Mort. 02.28.23	have pathfinder: wotr on my ps4 havent played it yet tho, havent been gaming much.
widowslaugh123 02.28.23	Dark souls 1 is basically a flawed masterpiece and quickly became a top 5 game for me. I got into late and only beat it like 6 months ago or something but since then I’ve beat it like 5 times lol. It’s only just now slowing down for me but I still have elden ring and sekiro and dark souls 2 to beat so I’m stoked
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Id try New Vegas again. That was the one that I hard-locked myself out of progression by shooting too many npc’s in the face. I don’t know how it’s possible but I killed an essential npc and broke the game. So that one I actually got the least far into. I think I beat or near beat 3 and I have only played like half of 4. But since Vegas is so coveted I’d give it another shot and do my best to refrain from being a sociopath this time.
pjquinones747 02.28.23	Fallout is conflicting to me. You can't get good at them nearly the same way as their Elder Scrolls titles for obvious reasons and for those reasons i've never beaten a Fallout game lol. But just like someone said above, the exploration and loot make for a really fun experience on their own.
Drifter 02.28.23	pretty sure you can kill everyone in new vegas
Mort. 02.28.23	'pretty sure you can kill everyone in new vegas' cant kill kids and i think the rest depends on difficulty
PotsyTater 02.28.23	That hardly seems fair how am I supposed to figure out who is essential to the story when I’m button spamming through the dialogue so I can get to the part where I blow their brains out faster
Sinternet 02.28.23	"I’ve only played 3, new Vegas, and 4 ftr, I don’t believe I finished any of them and they all blur together" new vegas is the only one of those thats better than mid and it's because it's not a bethesda developed one. def try 1 and 2 out if you get the chance, isometric 90s rpgs are obviously rather dated these days but the world-building, story and dialogue of the first two are still s-tier "pretty sure you can kill everyone in new vegas" yep as mort says just kids you can't kill, companions in non-hardcore mode too but hardcore mode is a different story "Fallout is conflicting to me. You can't get good at them nearly the same way as their Elder Scrolls titles for obvious reasons and for those reasons i've never beaten a Fallout game lol. " you can def cheese fallout games which i do most of the time because its too fun, just play a sneak + hunting rifle + crits build. oneshots nearly all enemies in the game when undetected
Mort. 02.28.23	'That hardly seems fair how am I supposed to figure out who is essential to the story when I’m button spamming through the dialogue so I can get to the part where I blow their brains out faster' dunno man, cant have your cake and eat it i guess
PotsyTater 02.28.23	The irony of American companies not letting you kill fictional kids in video games considering… well… you know
Mort. 02.28.23	i love that disco elysium lets you point a gun at a kid but basically just makes it a game over lol
Mort. 02.28.23	cuno doesnt fucking care
pjquinones747 02.28.23	"you can def cheese fallout games which i do most of the time because its too fun, just play a sneak + hunting rifle + crits build. oneshots nearly all enemies in the game when undetected" ok i never tried this which blows my mind now that im thinking it because i played the fuck out of the skyrim and oblivion equivalents of this lol
Mort. 02.28.23	god i love rpgs and just want to play all of them but i need a fucking pc and money goddamn goddamn
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I don’t want to play any of them, they’re all ruined
PotsyTater 02.28.23	So what makes new vegas better than the other two cuz from what I played it seemed like more of the same
GhandhiLion 02.28.23	What about the first two fallout video games? They were pre fo3 so they might be good.
twlight 02.28.23	Pots have you played mass effect trilogy?
Mort. 02.28.23	i played the mass effect trilogy recently. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts would never play it again but i enjoyed it for what it is. number 1 has some fucking dreadful gameplay tho. 3 is confused about whether it wants to be an rpg or action shooter (took away some choices in a way that annoyed me. ashley got all fucked up and shepard was in hospital sad about her. but id literally always been mean to her) me2 is the strongest
twlight 02.28.23	Yeah I played through the legendary edition recently and loved it. Probably the best sci Fi game Ive played. I got really fucking peeved that you couldn't holster your weapon in me3. You could in me2 and they took the option away for whatever reason. Ruins immersion
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Yeah I’ve played the trilogy in full and partially andromeda I liked the trilogy andromeda sucked
JohnnyoftheWell 02.28.23	pots twinpeaks discourse me in the wisteria lodge thread mm
twlight 02.28.23	I got probably 15 mins into Andromeda and shut that shit off. Terrible. Glad I got it for like $10
PotsyTater 02.28.23	Same it wasn’t worth a dollar more
PitchforkArms 02.28.23	I am sputnik's resident Fallout stan and was directly @'d by Pots, so I'm honored :) But yeah no one gives a f*** about the gunplay in fallout LOL (other than maybe 4). I think the real draw for those games isn't even the direct narrative story, but more the all-encompassing lore/story that you're living in, the interactions of that world with the pre-war world, and then how you can impact that. Pots, you may actually think New Vegas is cool just based on the scope of the spiderwebbing characters, factions, etc, and how that spans both forward and backwards in time and the character's unique placement in the development of those stories. It's cool.
PitchforkArms 02.28.23	I think that the "story and quests are shit" complaint isn't without merit - it's never bothered me too much, though, because all of the questing in the game (to me) is a means to an end of discovering cool bits of the fallout universe which, for whatever reason, resonates with me
JayEnder 02.28.23	New Vegas has the most interesting characters/dialogue in any game ever, idc what anyone says. I mean just listen to any interaction with Mr. House/Caesar/Joshua Graham and you'll see why it's so highly revered. So much depth, and not to mention some of the finest voice acting ever recorded. I feel bad for people who can't get immersed in New Vegas's story. Sure the gunplay is stiff and the game runs like shit but man it has so much personality. The first two Fallout games also have really interesting dialogue, but 3 and 4 are indeed mid.
PotsyTater 02.28.23	I guess I’d have to refrain from killing them to experience said scope of spiderwebbing characters and factions, which doesn’t sound very fun to me
PitchforkArms 02.28.23	To each their own on that front, dude! Jay I agree with you on your NV analysis, but I think the reason it works so well is because of the larger meta-world/lore that Fallout has built is so cool and interesting and expansive. That game is rules in isolation, but you add all of the extraneous lore that it draws from (and also creates in itself) and it puts it over the top for me. That's one of the reasons I go to bat for the Bethesda titles more than most - they may have a different (and often lesser) approach to the discrete character/dialogue writing, but the uniqueness of the universe laid over top of the many merging trails of lore (pre-war, current time, future (the desires of the characters within the world) always leads me to have a great time playing.
Mort. 02.28.23	yeah new vegas is awfully glitchy and the gunplay is sorta awful factions are the most interesting part of that game
MyColdShoulder 02.28.23	Bethesda truly makes some of the worst combat designs in video games, that's for sure
combustion07 02.28.23	Apparently I really need to try this game. Never got real into the Dark Souls games just purely out of frustration but I also never really dedicated myself to getting good at them either tbh. Love the overall design of them though. Will give this a shot soon
PotsyTater 02.28.23	No guys the gunplay is your favourite part, my one friend said so
combustion07 02.28.23	Fallout 3 might be my favorite modern video game. New Vegas was great too but I've always preferred 3 out of the ones I've played. Haven't gotten to try the first two though. Fallout 4 was a step down imo but still pretty cool all around.
ConcubinaryCode 02.28.23	New Vegas is basically just fo3s gameplay in the desert with the difference being better characters, quests, dialog, and perks making it easier to role-play as opposed to fo3s perks where most the perks were lame stat increases. It's also balanced a bit better so enemies aren't trivial by endgame. The old world blues dlc is also very fun. The game is a very absurdist world but the characters play completely straight so it's interesting to see how dynamics play out in the world and you feel like you have an actual hand in shaping the world around you.
PitchforkArms 03.01.23	Pots still firing shots - uncharitable on both premises, but funny nonetheless
PotsyTater 03.01.23	You guys have made me decide to pick fallout 4 back up, only because it’s the only one I own currently. Let’s see if I can break that game by killing too many npc’s too
KnickFurey 03.01.23	Kek, no. Not even the best FromSoft game.
SpiritCrusher2 03.01.23	Regarding that Isshin convo: I find that boss to be one of the top 3 FromSoft bosses, and probably the most fun to fight. It is really hard, but it's fair. Demon of Hatred was MUCH harder for me, and not really fun at all
Mort. 03.01.23	yeah demon of hatred spanked me for a long time
Demon of the Fall 03.01.23	I've played the Fallout series to death by this point and yeah, the gunplay is terrible outside of 4 (where it still isn't the main 'draw'). NV is one of those weird games I love unconditionally despite all the obvious technical flaws. The factions / interactions / overall world-building is all tops. Yeah, some of the actual quest content isn't exactly incredible (most RPGs seem to suffer with similar flaws in terms of quest variety though), but there you go. I just love the lore and setting as people said ^ there.
Thranth 03.01.23	Whats the best part about dark souls? The level design What does Elden Ring NOT have? Level design.... GENIUS
PotsyTater 03.01.23	You can just bait demon of hatred off the cliff he’s a stupid idiot
JayEnder 03.01.23	Yeah I cheesed Demon of Hatred with the suicide glitch. No regrets.
BaselineOOO 03.01.23	Heroes of Might and Magic III sh!ts all over Elden Ring. The crappy low IQ lore certainly doesn't help.
twlight 03.01.23	Demon of hatred was basically a Bloodborne boss thrown in sekiro. Awesome design but fuck that
JayEnder 03.01.23	He was like the Laurence of Sekiro. And Laurence was the only Bloodborne boss I never beat.
PotsyTater 03.01.23	Laurence is daddy
nol 03.01.23	is bloodborne a good place to start? It’s the only one I currently own
nol 03.01.23	I’ve watched bloodborne being played probably more than any of you have played it lol
PotsyTater 03.01.23	I don’t know if it’s the BEST place to start but it’s certainly an acceptable place to start
nol 03.01.23	I kinda want to get dark souls remastered instead
PotsyTater 03.01.23	That would be the best place to start imo
PotsyTater 03.01.23	Starting with bloodborne is like if you started Zelda with twilight princess Starting with ds1 is like starting with ocarina of time And the remaster is very good
nol 03.01.23	watching my roommate play bloodborne was pretty boring but he sucks ass at video games so that’s probably why
PotsyTater 03.01.23	Watching people play fromsoft games is only really fun when they are fighting bosses
twlight 03.01.23	Bloodborne is a perfect place to start...stand alone game and their best imo
PotsyTater 03.01.23	I think starting with bloodborne would make playing dark souls afterwards a very clunky and jarring experience Even going from ds2 to ds1 was a difficult transition. Doing the remaster would certainly help with that but still.
Mongi123 03.01.23	What a stupid tread with some absolutely terrible takes in here. So it's Elden Ring's fault that other like minded or open world games aren't as good. Honestly just sounds like a YOU problem.
nol 03.01.23	Pokémon XD Gale of Darkness ruined rpgs for me personally
nol 03.01.23	character development has never been the same
ConcubinaryCode 03.01.23	Remember when Skyrim was the pinaccle for rpgs and now it's (and bethesda in general kinda) legacy is as the butt of jokes?
PotsyTater 03.01.23	Lmao mongi is triggered af
zaruyache 03.02.23	there's microtransactions, battlepasses, and then there's re-releasing skyrim for a decade, the bethesda way. skyrim would've been so much better had they managed to make the combat not ass, a dark souls combat mod kinda fixes it tho.
MillionDead 03.02.23	I don't think Elder Scrolls games should have DS combat tbh. Like there are so many ways to have not ass combat that aren't being Dark Souls. But I guess third person games have been going for Souls combat like they went for Arkham combat. I wish people were willing to go their own way a little bit more, but I can get why that'd be scary for developers with money and sales on the line and all that. I think Skyrim was always overrated tbh, even if I was obsessed with it when it first dropped. Like the Elder Scrolls lore is something really special, but the writing in Skyrim doesn't do the lore justice. Plus the amount of shallow, repeat radiant quests and dime a dozen dungeons is just mindnumbing. I remember when I got the same Foresworn sword for the 2nd or 3rd time, I just put the game down and never really went back cause it brought home how much I was just wasting time with it lol
outliers 03.02.23	yeah skyrims writing is pathetic and even more so given the fact a group of modders were able to write a superior story in Enderal.
Dewinged 03.02.23	Oh man but Skyrim was the real role playing shit. I absolutely lost my mind in 2011 with that game. Combat was bad, writing was bad, but fucking hell it was a fun game to play.
Nomos2 03.02.23	Just returned to Elden Ring after like an 8 month break. How has it only gotten better with age? I didn't complete it yet. 135 hours into my first playthrough. I keep returning to areas I've spend dozens of hours in and keep finding new caves and secrets and bosses. How is this even possible? Elden Ring is maybe the best video game I have played in my 32 years. I can't wait for the DLC.
twlight 03.02.23	i beat the game with bloodhound blade. then got about 80% through 2nd play through with a mage build and just stopped. that was on xbox series s. now im really itching to play the game again, thinking of buying the game again for ps5 for the upgrade in visuals and going through it again with an arcane build to prep for the expansion. elden ring is a god damn masterpiece. i was walking through denver today as the snow fell and heard some people talking on their porch about elden ring. this game is legendary
Nomos2 03.02.23	The visuals are nuts! I can't believe how good it looks on my PC even without ultrawide support. I keep trying to take screenshots for friends but they never do the thing in motion justice. I used Bloodhound too and it's Ash of War and abused it for a lot of the game, but now am having a lot of fun with Mohg's trident and its OP cheese AOE, especially with a maxed Mimic Tear. Such a blast. Prob not doing a second playthrough so I'm seeing every single thing I can in one go. I'm like level 160 already hahaha. Just beat the Fire Giant and holy fuck that was epic.
twlight 03.02.23	that's awesome dude. Bloodhounds fang is a blast. i get it's OP but that speacial move with the double combo is so smooth. yeah this game is a work of art. the design is inspiring. im starting to dive into the lore a bit more too, it's way over my head but very interesting. love to see the complaints that ER has no story when really it has one of the most intricate stories if you dig enough.
pjquinones747 03.02.23	i'm stuck on the motherfucking goddamn godskin duo again
zaruyache 03.03.23	have you tried sending them to sleepytown
Colton 03.03.23	stopped playing last year and never got to the duo. the way people describe that fight, coupled with the fact that the quality of the game was going downhill in the last third of it, makes me not even wanna finish it but maybe I will now that the DLC is coming out
zaruyache 03.03.23	eh the snow zone is a snow zone, but the boss of the snow zone is great. the zone with the duo is another decaying castle-thing but it's also fine.
nol 03.03.23	well I just bought an Xbox so I’ll be getting elden ring and trying it out this week. Hyped.
PotsyTater 03.03.23	Unless ur doing no summons I don’t see what’s so bad about godskin duo. Even without, there’s plenty of stuff in the arena to insert between you and one of the two. Anyways, on the subject of builds, I powerstance ghizas wheel and golems halberd. It’s a blast.
Colton 03.03.23	i don't use summons I use R1 and circle
PotsyTater 03.03.23	Well in that case you’re just gonna have to git gud as they say
zaruyache 03.03.23	the hitboxes are improved so you can still walk under a guy's swing more often than you'd expect.
Willie 03.03.23	Started Elden Ring this morning. Made it about 2 hours into it. Just got to the chick that lets me level up. Died plenty in-between.
Nomos2 03.03.23	I'm so jealous you're just starting Willie, enjoy. Boss battles, and so the entire -Souls series, are anxiety-inducing in theory. I spent years playing games that had no boss battles because time sensitive twitchy mechanics stress me out. Never played a prior Souls game, never will. Elden Ring is simply the best RPG ever made and the best open world ever made and now, personally, my favorite world lore ever made. Guys I'm 140 hours in as of my quitting time last night. Lately I've been looking for what look like gaps in the map without Sites of Grace, and, lo and behold, I KEEP FINDING NEW CONTENT. When will this game end? I never want it to. I have never in my life gotten this much play time out of a single game playthrough, especially given the sheer amount of things I keep discovering. It's truly mindboggling.
Nomos2 03.03.23	SPOILERS PROBABLY Like, I think "lets go sight-see where I killed Rykard, Gelmir was neat but I rushed through it". I come back to this throne room, and see Taneth is there, I give her a slap and get the boss fight of that Crucible Knight that previously guarded her. I decided to try out those Leyndell Sewers I caught a peek at 8 months ago, thinking I saw most of them. I did not. I spent 4 more hours down there and finishing the Dungeater stuff. I pop back to Gelmir and realize there's a Minor Erdtree there...that I haven't found yet on the map? Google how to get there and realize there's another Ulcerated Tree Spirit I didn't kill. And a watch tower (like the Caelid one) I didn't climb. Then I realize....there's a whole lower/westernmost section to Mt. Gelmir with another little Fort with a Talisman up top. The other day I think "huh I saw all of Liurnia right? I traveled in a loop around Raya Lucaria!". Nope. I've found like 3 more caves/catacombs. Liurnia is so dense with stuff to climb and look at. Found two more Tibia Mariners in the past few days too. Which reminded me of Gurranq, who I forgot about since last May, the last time I played. I stared long and hard at him, and now he's given some clues. I know exactly who Gurranq is and I can't believe it took me this long to realize. I'm even popping back to Caelid, realizing in my utter terror at the region in the past, I ran by things and missed them. Like the path guarded by the giant golems that leads to a huge building guarded by the GIANT pot, but he has 3 extremely tough player-randomized Invaders to protect him. Not since my adolescence has a game captured my imagination with awe like this. The DLC announcement has me positively giddy. Pretty sure we're time-jumping and seeing some proto-Erdtree stuff if the art is accurate (or Erd Tree vs Deathroot but it looks too compact for that). So, the original Great Tree in the time of the Crucible, being taken over by the outer god alien parasite that is the Greater Will. Which seems right because the "woman" in the picture isn't a woman at all, but definitely Miquella pre-Haligtree pre-Mohg.
Nomos2 03.03.23	Just swapped from Mohg's Cheese Trident over to Rivers of Blood because, also, I keep wandering and triggering Invasions I'd missed all this time. So, using Rivers of Blood with White Mask Varre's titular mask, along with a Talisman for increased attack power when Bleed procs nearby, as well as a a Talisman for increased attack power from successive hits, plus this thing's Ash of War means bosses are dying super fast with these cuts. But also I just found the One Eyed Shield LOL. The one with the face like the Fire Giant's chest that is literally just a short-range mortar canon. So, take that and use the Talisman from said Fort in Mt. Gelmir I just discovered for increased Fire damage, and the mortars take out most enemies in one hit, and bosses can be cheesed easily when a Mimic Tear +10 is tanking your boss while you shoot fire from the sidelines. Holy fuck I love this game.
Willie 03.03.23	Just read all your posts, and while I believe they're spoilers, I don't think they spoil anything for anyone that just started the game... at least for me personally, just about every other word of that was a WTF are they talking about moment, lol.
Nomos2 03.03.23	Mmmmmmm it's wonderful, savor it, squeeze out every drop of enjoyment you can get in this moment of confusion -- the delicious Not-Knowing that means you have so much fresh things to discover for the first time, and, mostly, recoil in horror at while panic-dodge-rolling away. If you haven't already pre-spoiled the events of the game, or bosses, or the map itself, don't pls. Also don't feel obliged to be able to kill what's in front of you -- running away is the usual solution at the start of the game, until you're better equipped. My best advice, because it gave me the singular most enjoyable gaming experience of my life so far, has been to just wander. Poke around. Every nook and cranny has things. Almost ALL of the storytelling in the game is environmental, then hidden in Item descriptions in the menu while inspecting things. Once you've played a few hours, maybe dip your toes in the YouTube videos of VaatiVidya, who makes well-researched and well-spoken lore videos with excellent visuals to better-explain either specific or broad elements of the world. And once you start leaning more and more about the world's story, it gets even more intriguing and feels even more immersively-designed. No other games these days reward exploration like they should. Open world games are just re-used assets and recycled encounters and wide open but uninteresting/bare spaces. And while you'll get shades of that in Elden Ring, it's the least-egregious I've ever seen in an open world, making it ridiculously addicting to explore. So many of your play sessions will be logging-in, getting distracted/curious, and wandering, then an hour later you're sweating and shaking and have a dank new sword and forgot you were initially trying to follow the main story's path. In a game where you can almost literally go and stand ANYWHERE you can see in the distance....that's how people like me get to 100+ hours without even beating the final boss yet haha.
Willie 03.03.23	Descriptions like this is what made me buy into the hype. I don't like the Souls games. I tried Nioh 2 and made it half way before quitting.... but everyone kept saying Elden Ring was different.
pjquinones747 03.03.23	"have you tried sending them to sleepytown" i was lazy about getting the sword of st trina but this eventually worked. still took me like a dozen tries the mfers
pjquinones747 03.03.23	damn Nomos sounds like you may even be more stoked than me to play the DLC lol. and yeah i spent about 150 or so easily before getting radagon/EB. i know a guy who did damn near every little thing possible before bothering with a lot of major bosses.
Willie 03.03.23	That's usually how I approach open world games. I do all the side stuff first (unless I need to do a main quest for some sort of required item or gear) and then I just blow through the main story at the end.
Nomos2 03.03.23	Then Elden Ring is for you! Lots of the big bosses are even optional. The sites of grace and their golden tendrils point you in the rough direction you're supposed to take and along the way you'll fight some required bosses, but you can miss a lot. Not wanting to miss lots, I'd vaguely follow the path of grace, but if something ever looked like a boss arena or like a bottleneck into a story continuation, I'd mark it on the map, do a 180, and see what else I could find. The way it's designed is perfect because, while doing this, you'll find enemies or bosses that feel too intimidating and might steer you away from their vicinity, but that allows you to come back days/weeks later and go "oh yeah! I forgot about that!" and discover "new" content that you're confident enough to tackle. I think by making the world as big, dense, and consistently dangerous and surprising as it is, they've made a world whose intimidation is alluring. I am addicted to feeling in danger because I don't know what's going to happen next, and while it's usually peril, the design of the creatures and of the world is so bizarre and beautiful that you can't help but throw yourself into its jaws. These are all opposite to modern game design with a World Map showing you everything to collect and everywher to go. You lose the mystery that way. Doesn't help that most open world games also then wear their Gameplay Loops on their sleeve, further destroying any sense of wonder or mystery, until you're painfully aware that you're playing a video game. As someone who codes game logic and 3D models and makes shaders and textures and sound, I just don't get immersed at all in games much anymore because the gamification sticks out like a sore thumb because I know precisely how games are made. I've seen behind the veil and can't go back. Elden Ring is the first game in many many years where this didn't happen, and hasn't happened, after almost a year of off and on playing, and that makes me extreeeeeemely passionate about it and how it makes me feel.
pjquinones747 03.03.23	Nomos this is why i decided against going into game dev (on top not having NEARLY enough focus) bc id be worried id start to lose enjoyment in games
Nomos2 03.03.23	Haha it's an inevitability once you know enough about a subject. I went to film school too so...I...don't really watch many movies anymore since all I can do is criticize or guess how certain effects were achieved and what software was used. IT'S A CURSE!
pjquinones747 03.03.23	yep its the curse of having a critical mind and relevant expertise! haha. this site very nearly ruined music for me before it came my mecca for it
Nomos2 03.03.23	Thankfully music is the one I haven't ruined yet! Knowing music theory isn't quite enough to tarnish the listening experience. If I composed or could play music, that would be a different story.
Ragnavius 03.03.23	Troll list. Reported
pjquinones747 03.03.23	sorry for making you feel things Ragna not everyone can comprehend Elden Ring's greatness. @Nomos that ability does vastly change things but fortunately has not ruined it for me either!
Willie 03.03.23	--Thankfully music is the one I haven't ruined yet! -- @Nomos: Then don't start reviewing music. If you get too far into it, it rewires the way you listen to music. It'll start to suck the joy and 'innocence' from it. You'll start quantifying everything and trying to figure where an album stands in a discography and genre. You'll start nitpicking things that you never would have cared about before reviewing. How many classic albums have little character flaws, but they're still considered classics? Lots of them. It's hard to get that pure joy and have any chance of considering something a classic if you go into it looking to dissect it. /Rant
pjquinones747 03.03.23	Preach, Will
Nomos2 03.03.23	Haha yup that's why I never tried to review here. I still overanalyze lots of elements and let that affect my enjoyment, but if I had to review, I'd have to break down songs to such a degree that music would become homework as a struggle to find things to say constructively.
twlight 03.03.23	Will with the wisdom
twlight 03.03.23	also, what day-one dark soul fans use summons in ER, come on bruh!
zaruyache 03.04.23	"i was lazy about getting the sword of st trina" I was actually thinking sleep pots but now that I think of it the sword was how I actually cheesed them the first time anyway. Second time I just summoned some NPC and that was enough of a distraction to separate and conquer easily. There's also sleep arrows.
Ragnavius 03.04.23	This game was too easy.
twlight 03.04.23	Malenia Blade of Miquella was not easy, dog
Nomos2 03.05.23	oof I pulled the trigger and lit the flame and for to Farum Azula. It's kicking my ass even though I'm overleveled. Fuck those four winged dragons and fuck those beastmen.
zaruyache 03.05.23	oh so you haven't got to the birds yet
ToSmokMuzyki 03.05.23	ugh can u plz crtl delete me from this thread merci beau cul
PotsyTater 03.05.23	So many words
DocSportello 03.05.23	this game SUCKS
zaruyache 03.06.23	dark souls 2 was way better agreed m/
zakalwe 03.06.23	I started afresh with this and thought fuck it I’ll do a strength build just to be rid of the thing. Absolutely whizzed through with summons and just twatting everything with the morne greatsword or whatever it is and that bull armour. The slag who turns into a flower was impressive. Did the Welsh bint with the big hat ending. 8/10 game.
Mort. 03.06.23	rofl wesh bint with big hat ending yeah doing big unga bunga sword with summons makes you fly through this game i used the bloodhound sword and just jump attacked and poise broke everything
zakalwe 03.06.23	It really does. I was the sorcerer build before hand and as great as it is fuck me did I struggle towards the end. I think they’ve patched it since I binned it off. Made the ingredients for the summonsing thing a lot more obtainable. Plus the map has improved massively.
Demon of the Fall 03.06.23	Elden Ring has an 'easy mode'? Nomos is single-handedly 're-selling' me the idea of this game, just when I thought no-one could possibly fanboy harder, in comes another one to usurp the previous lot. I'll be terrible so the fact some builds make the game significantly easier is welcome, as is the possibility of avoiding major bosses for much of the game (especially early on).
anarchistfish 03.06.23	That's how I felt after Mass Effect tbh
pjquinones747 03.06.23	"Elden Ring has an 'easy mode'?" yes if A. you are using PC and are willing to use mods B. you are a fromsoft nerd who plays the game with self-derived limitations and by using every item the game offers you to be successful instead of said limitations you consider the game to be "easy mode". ER offers a multitude of different things you can use (summons, buffs, weapons) that make the game a lot more palatable and i use all of them because thats the way the game was made! more power to those who create extra challenges for themselves but my enjoyment looks a bit more simple haha
Nomos2 03.06.23	There's more birds?! Just beat the Godskin Duo @ Farum but really not looking forward to the rest, I miss calling Torrent in a panic, I've been spoiled by too many hours of gameplay in the open world as of late. Then I finally explored Mt. Gelmir, as much as it can be explored, and I missed a whole section all over again! Just found the Hermit's village place on the southern cliff, the one that has a Magma Wyrm boss, then Alexender the Pot after (I missed him! it's been like 8 months! that's where he went! I guess now after this step I'll see him soon in Farum Azula for a duel and Alexander's Shard talisman, which is going to really buff my cheese One Eyed Shield fire attack) then Rune Bear partway through, then some sort of Beast-Person boss that I cheesed from the roof. Spicy little area for sure. Fuck Rune Bears. Why can a Rune Bear run just as fast as our mounted running speed? Absolutely anxiety inducing lmao. Then I google Mt. Gelmir Hero's Grave, trying to remember what loot I got from there, only to realize I NOPED right out and never beat it, so that was fun last night, figuring out the Chariots and dying over and over and getting two (!) cool armor sets out of that one. -- Try it Demon! I was sold on the Summons. If there were no Spirit Ashes in the game to summon, I would have quit long ago. Being able to ring your bell and call in an upgraded Spirit Ash to help you makes all the difference in the world. Gatekeepers would call that the "easy mode" but really the whole thing is difficult and any tool is a good tool to finish the game. They won't always pull all the heat off you so they don't feel like cheating.
Shemson 03.06.23	I loved Elden Ring so much I started Sekiro a couple of weeks ago… It is much, much harder imo and feels far less rewarding so far …yes I know I need to git gud
zakalwe 03.06.23	Sekiro is a trudge. I will give it another go but I don’t think there was anything within the entire game I found enjoyable.
ArteNovecento 03.06.23	The exploration was 11/10 but fighting the actual enemies wasn't any fun. I miss the more methodical combat of the early DS games. Being able to deflect attacks like in Sekiro, or having the agility I had in Bloodborne, would have made the game more fun for me for sure.
zaruyache 03.07.23	that's one reason why I'm excited to see what the game becomes in like five years once the DLCs are done and people have built rework mods.
Purpl3Spartan 03.07.23	honestly I might be naturally better at sekiro than I am at elden ring lol
MiloRuggles 03.07.23	>also, what day-one dark soul fans use summons in ER, come on bruh! bruh i am done with soulsbornebosstimepatternrecogntion+ and embraced the shit out of summons. it's been a nice point of difference for me in playing this one because their games (stares very intently at DS3) inevitably turn into bossrun bullshit that i can't be assed with, particularly when the game takes over 100 hours if you actually want to take your time and explore everything
MiloRuggles 03.07.23	also nice to feel powerful for once when i'm playing a game that qualifies quite thoroughly as fantasy
PotsyTater 03.07.23	I forced myself on my first runs to beat each previous fromsoft game with no summons but in Elden ring the mechanic has so much more emphasis to the point that summoning is literally a part of the story and some bosses are specifically built to be fought that way. In Elden ring I just summoned when I wasn’t having fun anymore. Too old to force myself to repeat a difficult boss to the point of tedium for niche fandom clout now.
Colton 03.07.23	I will never summon because it's non interactive and therefore defeats the purpose of a video game
Demon of the Fall 03.07.23	non interactive? Yeah, maybe if you only play heavily action-orientated games where every press of a button is actively engaging the enemy. In fact you may not want to EVER use magic, in any way whatsoever. What a strange argument. stick to fighters then definitely stay away from any strategy or turn-based RPG, lol
ArteNovecento 03.07.23	Also "Golden Reaching Roots" by Vindkaldr is such an Elden Ring song and I'm surprised it came out before the game.
nol 03.07.23	just booted up elden ring for the first time on my new Xbox. lessssssgoooo
Nomos2 03.08.23	yaaaaaaaaaaaas
Nomos2 03.08.23	omg so I just swapped my build after having issues in Farum Azula. Why have I been neglecting Radahn's greatswords?! I've had it for a year now and never equipped it. Just leveled it up to +9 (where TF is another Somber Dragon Smithing Stone?!) and was able to start melting cleanrot knights and beastmen with its Ash of War. Then I saw my old buddy Alexander the Pot and got his Talisman for increasing weapon ability damage and I'm doing bonkers damage now. The most powerful I've ever felt in the game! Soooo much fun. Maybe I will do New Game +, just to play with these swords.
pjquinones747 03.08.23	@Nomos if i'm right the somberstone miner's ballbearing 5(?) that unlocks somber stone 9 is also in farum azula. its underneath the beside the great bridge site of grace or something like that. fextra that shit
Nomos2 03.08.23	Cool thanks I'll try find it! I'm one of those people who obsessively checks every single route before advancing so I'm sure I'll find it. But then again this game is so so so so good at hiding things in plain site that you think you've already combed over.
DocSportello 03.08.23	I hate the godskin dip
pjquinones747 03.08.23	someone explain a dip to me cuz the context i get from that is as it pertains to builds but doesnt make sense in that context
nol 03.08.23	well I’m terrible at this game
nol 03.08.23	I’m a samurai so what do I do to not suck
DocSportello 03.08.23	E x p l o r e
nol 03.08.23	plz share with me broken techniques I am not interested in the purist souls experience at least not yet
DocSportello 03.08.23	Lol I can’t teach you how to play souls but as someone who really disliked souls until it clicked literally my best advice is to find enemies you can kill reliably, just practice on shit. Find a weapon that works for you, swap weapons relentlessly, look at items that drop as loot and equip armor etc. Use shields. Practice guarding and punishing single weak enemies that bonk against you. Hit r1 or r2 (I literally can’t remember) right after an enemy hits you and you do a special attack, it’s almost always good. Good luck
PotsyTater 03.08.23	@nol level up
nol 03.08.23	yeah I just want to rush into hard enemies but I know I gotta practice first. I feel like I would “dislike” souls games at first if I played them in a vacuum, but I’m very aware this series is made to be difficult, so I’m not gonna let it get to me. Even if it’s not for me I won’t hold it against this game, it’s difficulty seems like it’s trademark.
nol 03.08.23	what stats should I focus on when I level up. I don’t know what anything does lol
PotsyTater 03.08.23	You could also try an easier starter build. Don’t let the elitists get to you. You are allowed to use a shield and a long stick… you coward
PotsyTater 03.08.23	Look up Elden ring stat soft caps and follow those depending on your build. Your probably gonna want to level up vigor and endurance pretty quick, and then if ur gonna stick with katana I believe most katanas are dex scaling but you might want to check that cuz I don’t use katanas. They might need some strength too.
DocSportello 03.08.23	Level vig to 20 immediately
DocSportello 03.08.23	Or 30 why not. Ignore other stats and learn to play the game within those limits, it’ll make you have to figure out how you wanna distribute stats later down the road
neekafat 03.08.23	Elden Ring is the first innovative rpg in like 10 years
zaruyache 03.09.23	you need more VIG in this game than previous ones bc it's so much longer, so you definitely want to pump the VIG. "Radahn's greatswords" I started an unga bunga character and have been using the Ruins Greatsword since its art is deliciously busted in pve.
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	For all the souls people here. Wo Long is a super solid, more pure action entry into the space. Fast paced with a lot of aggression required for lots of Parries and quick reaction for fatal blows.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	I’ll get wo long when I get a ps5. I’ll get a ps5 when they become obtainable with low effort (ie I can just go to the store and buy one off the shelf)
zaruyache 03.09.23	I've seen them at walmarts before now, it's getting there.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	It will be soon, I can feel it. I actually see they are available on Canadian Amazon right now for regular price and if we hadn’t just spent $5000 on an all inclusive vacation for the end of March I’d probably pull the trigger right now lol. I’m so tempted.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Anyone who has the ps5 already have any opinions on the digi vs physical edition? I was gonna go digi because I’m too lazy to go to the store and buy physical games anymore anyways. I always download. And the disc version is fugly.
DocSportello 03.09.23	Yeah there were 2 at my local Walmart the other day
DocSportello 03.09.23	Potsy good move, I got the disc version and hardly use it, regret it even
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	And it's cheaper. I have no use for a disc drive unless you have some old blu-rays you want to watch on occasion
Colton 03.09.23	"Elden Ring is the first innovative rpg in like 10 years" what is actually innovative about Elden Ring? it is well made, nails the open world aspect, and has great boss fights but I can't think of anything it does that's actually new or unique
DocSportello 03.09.23	Colton just go argue with yourself lmao
Colton 03.09.23	i like how i go out of my way to say positive things about the game but fromsoft fans are still so sensitive that they get offended lmao. literally anything other than "fromsoft games are the only good games in the world" is inflammatory
Colton 03.09.23	I really don't see how it's innovative at all, in fact there's almost an old school charm to these types of games and how straightforward they are, and that's part of the appeal
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Elden Ring is just the point where dark souls went mainstream. I enjoyed it thoroughly and probably will for quite some time, but it's just really an expansion of the well established formula with a couple of approachability measures thrown in
DocSportello 03.09.23	You aren’t trying to bait a conversation about this game. You’re trying to bait a conversation about the nature of originality, which is silly — plus you’re being reactive in ways that suggest you’re not genuinely in the conversation but just trying to stir the pot. Yes there are annoying FS apologists but applying that generalization as you whine over how someone just won’t take your bait ain’t the best look either. Not new or unique
Colton 03.09.23	dog neekafat literally said it's the first innovative rpg in 10 years and I simply asked what is innovative about it. I was clearly trying to have a discussion, you're just angry because I didn't instantly agree with someone's praise for the game, despite me praising it overall and saying it's a great game "You’re trying to bait a conversation about the nature of originality" I'm directly responding to neekafat's comment "you’re being reactive in ways that suggest you’re not genuinely in the conversation but just trying to stir the pot" I asked what is innovative about it and you said "go argue with yourself lmao" you are clearly the one being reactive. actual certified bozo
PotsyTater 03.09.23	@watchitexplode I sold all my remaining dvds and blue rays when when I moved and the bulk of them years before that so I honestly don’t have a thing to feed it! The only loss will be the few ps4 titles I own physically… the only three of which I’d be interested in playing on ps5 being bloodborne, ds3 and ghost of Tsushima…
Colton 03.09.23	Tsushima is kinda fun but it's basically the same exact mission over and over again... there's essentially just 4 enemies in the entire game that you fight endlessly and the combat feels very tedious because of the stance system. I've seen people praise it but all it does is make the gameplay less fluid imo. there's also 0 likeable or entertaining characters and the story itself is very average. I got it for $35 and still feel like it wasn't really worth it. I don't think any of the common criticisms people throw toward big AAA open world games like Assassin's Creed or Horizon wouldn't also apply to Tsushima
DocSportello 03.09.23	Colton because if you argue with yourself long enough given the data you have you will figure out what makes it innovative. Maybe. If given long enough
Colton 03.09.23	or maybe Elden Ring can still be a great game without being innovative
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Yeah, you could purchase all of those digitally at the next decent sale for 40 bucks tops. Some people get bent out of shape about not actually owning the games if you don't have them physically. But if Microsoft goes under in my digital collection disappears, I feel like I will have larger things to worry about than playing games
PotsyTater 03.09.23	True dat I hope in a few months when I go for it there will be a different bundle cuz I’m not very interested in gow ragnarok tbh
PotsyTater 03.09.23	I actually liked the last one but something about the artificial difficulty scaling in the later parts of the game just bugged me. It was just the same enemies as the beginning except like 20x more tedious and time consuming to take down. Made me lose interest.
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Dude all PlayStation exclusives are 11 out of 10. You know this?
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	I miss 15 hour adventures with original characters and a semi-interesting story
DocSportello 03.09.23	Ragnarok good story I guess but I did not have a fun time. Only notable ps5 exclusives that didn’t feel like catered bullshit to me were Returnal, Astro’s Playroom, and Deathloop
PotsyTater 03.09.23	I did really like horizon zero dawn id fucks with the new one
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	I'd be down to try. Returnal my boy just got a PS5. I haven't touched anything on the platform since PS3
DocSportello 03.09.23	Returnal fucks u should play it
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Returnal looks cool will do What ever happened to that Pinocchio souls like lol
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	I'm all about the high skill games with drip feed progress
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Pinocchio souls is sometime later this year
zaruyache 03.09.23	bleak faith forsaken: friday star wars souls: late april pinocchio souls: august tbd flintlock lords of the fallen remnant 2 abyss world soulssouls 2023
PotsyTater 03.09.23	What a time to be alive
zaruyache 03.09.23	we can do our italian simulator just in time for september's No Man's Sky 2: Star Field Boogaloo
Nomos2 03.09.23	what a day! I finished Farum Azula, beat Maliketh on my fourth try, explored all of Ashen Leyndell, beat Gideon, beat Horah Loux, and just got SMASHED by the Elden Beast and so gave up for the day. I can't believe I still have a few nightmare main boss battles to go on top of the whole Haligtree experience.
zaruyache 03.09.23	How'd you like those horah loux POWER BOMBS
pjquinones747 03.09.23	returnal is punishing in the same way sekiro is. requires advanced skills to even surpass the initial phases of the game and i need more hand holding than that lol
Willie 03.09.23	Trying to do that first castle and getting my ass kicked in the courtyard over and over. Finally decided to get out of there and do some wandering. That's why Elden Ring is better than the other Souls games for the masses. I can stop banging my head against the wall and come back later.
pjquinones747 03.09.23	SO TRUE. i get stuck on any other fromsoft game and immediately get discouraged, with elden ring i just go do something else.
Willie 03.09.23	Exactly. That's why I eventually quit Nioh 2 (that and the reused environments). I was stuck at the half way point of the game for a few weeks, and I just couldn't even entertain the idea of grinding through previous levels to be able to progress (and I clearly didn't have it in me to just "git gud"). For me, Nioh 2 ended with my character realizing she was outclassed and outmatched, so she just settled in her hut with all her little spirit animals to wait out the end.
pjquinones747 03.09.23	lol love that. retcon the end to match the incomplete task! i need to do that more often with all my unfinished games lmao im the worst about that
Willie 03.09.23	I hate not completing games, so if I don't finish it for real and I can't wrap it up in my own mind somehow, it will eat away at me. I even put her in her hut, and switched to her 'favorite' animal before ending for the final time.
Nomos2 03.09.23	SPOILERS WILLIE, DO NOT READ Hahaha Horah was a fucking INTENSE fight. The pre-boss cutscenes in this game are excellent at making me mumble "oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck" as they fade into gameplay, but his animations during the second half of the fight had me squealing and panic-rolling haha. I got the Parry item for Maliketh's fight but ended up panic-fighting him and mistiming every parry and still beating him?! Elden Beast though -- NOPE. Guess I'll keep playing and over-level myself before coming back and trying that again. Not a big fan of the size of that arena nor the size of his AOEs * END OF WILLIE SPOILERS * Yes Willie! That was some of the most enjoyable part of the game for me. Seeing the looming Stormveil castle from many spots in Limgrave, and feeling a foreboding doom about having to approach it inevitably. But, you got it -- just walk away. You would be flabbergasted to know how much content you can discover and how much you can level up without ever passing the castle onto the next zone. Explore, get punished, find loot, level up, increase your own skills and timing, learn to block (my weakest point, I'm a panic player), then come back. Stormveil was a blast to stress through while hunting for Sites of Grace. Keep updating us with your thoughts!
DocSportello 03.09.23	"You would be flabbergasted to know how much content you can discover and how much you can level up without ever passing the castle onto the next zone" lol ordinarily yes but anyone who's been reading this thread probably knows from your play by plays that it's pretty vast and awesome ;)
PotsyTater 03.09.23	“ hate not completing games, so if I don't finish it for real and I can't wrap it up in my own mind somehow, it will eat away at me.” I used to be like this too, but I realized that forcing myself to finish a game just for the sake of finishing it kind of defeated the entire point of video games which is to have fun… so I’ve put some work into relaxing that compulsion, and have maybe over compensated in the opposite direction a bit too much because now I drop games TOO fast lol.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	“ the courtyard over and over. Finally decided to get out of there and do some wandering. That's why Elden Ring is better than the other Souls games for the masses. I can stop banging my head against the wall and come back later.” Tbf you can do this in the other dark souls games too, just not to the same extent. Half the fun of going in blind on those games is learning the natural progression by going to various areas and seeing if you get absolutely stomped lol. That’s a good sign ur in the wrong place.
DocSportello 03.09.23	"I’ve put some work into relaxing that compulsion, and have maybe over compensated in the opposite direction a bit too much because now I drop games TOO fast lol" man I also have this 'problem.' I blame myself principally but also ps premium
pjquinones747 03.09.23	it's so hard to explain (beyond some sort of cocktail of mental illnesses not excluding ADHD and autism) but i constantly have a rotating cast of games ive usually not finished (with rare exception to elden ring) that i'm always playing. it's eternal entertainment because of the times when i DO reach something very new and exciting and then i get reinvigorated and sometimes even gasp FINISH THE GAME! what a concept
Willie 03.09.23	I have a huge backlog of games because of PS Premium, Gamepass, and an overindulgence in Steam Summer / Winter sales. I really need to get better at knowing when to just move on from a game. I'll keep dropping Elden Ring progress in here as long as the thread is active.
pjquinones747 03.09.23	sounds like we have that whole backlog in common lol gamers have an overwhelming wealth of games to play nowadays and its hilarious that so many stick to a small handful
PotsyTater 03.09.23	The backlog pain is real. I’ve accumulated so many games that when it comes time to choose a new one I have choice paralysis and suddenly they all look terrible and I want nothing to do with them lmao.
DocSportello 03.09.23	"gamers have an overwhelming wealth of games to play nowadays and its hilarious that so many stick to a small handful" Hilarious yes but also idk at a certain point I feel like an irrational creature just flitting from game to game, there's a mad rhythm to it that's lost its appeal to me or straight degraded the quality of my experience in any game context, suddenly games show cracks before they should and the immersion's fucked. I suppose I cling to a few good games expressly bc that internalized familiarity allows me to approach a nice new game every once in a while with a clean imagination
pjquinones747 03.09.23	oh i totally feel you. i do the same a lot of days. i think its in our nature to just pick a few to stick to and adventure away from that in varying degrees depending on personality.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	I mean the list title says it all
Willie 03.09.23	--The backlog pain is real. I’ve accumulated so many games that when it comes time to choose a new one I have choice paralysis and suddenly they all look terrible and I want nothing to do with them lmao. -- That's me. When it comes time to choose a new game, part of me just wants to go replay something old that I know I already like. I just played F.E.A.R. again for the first time in forever. I love that game. It was like $1.99 on sale last winter. I still play the entire Mass Effect trilogy once a year. I've been doing it since there was a trilogy to play. I moved over to the Legendary edition when it was released. I'm actually probably going to hit it again after Elden Ring.
Nomos2 03.09.23	Wow does it still hold up? So ME1 was something I fell head over heels in love with in 2007, absolutely obsessed. 2 was fantastic. 3 was great but something felt missing. I never, ever replayed them since their original release. I tried to play Andromeda because a buddy of mine worked on it ((plays and looks like shit, but he made sure it SOUNDED excellent lol)). The deluge of modern games made me not think about going back. You just reminded me a remaster existed! This is a very tempting purchase. Next paycheque maybe...
pjquinones747 03.09.23	After Elden Ring, the incredibly dense dialogue of Bioware RPGs turns me off more often than not. I absolutely LOVED dragon age when each of those games came out and beat all 3 multiple times but nowadays (when my PC versions aren't lagging too much to run Origins and 2) it's harder to get deep into those games without losing my fire to play them in the midst of all the dialogue I have to get through. Elden Ring has really changed my preferences.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	That’s a delicate balance because for me overly dense dialogue in games REALLY interrupts the flow for me and eventually I find it hard to care and start skipping stuff. Especially when it’s presented in that static way you engage with npc’s in rpg’s. If I wanted to just watch tonnes of dialogue to ingest the narrative I’d just watch tv or a movie, that’s not what I’m here for. But you still want a good story. You just want it to be delivered differently in a video game than in a movie or tv show and that can be tricky. Elden ring does a great job of that.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	It’s better in games that use high effort cut scenes but games like Skyrim or Witcher 3 where it’s just fuckin npcs standing there making shitty hand gestures and blabbing on for forty minutes it just fuckin kills my soul
pjquinones747 03.09.23	I think that's one thing Fromsoft has always been nailing. Minimal NPC interruption unless you're going to receive something absolutely pivotal or reach a game-changing moment.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Definitely
DocSportello 03.09.23	Death Stranding is the only narrative-heavy game I can seem to tolerate in the wake of my terminal souls addiction lol
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Also the irony of the game with the most minimal npc dialogue being the one where the npcs often actually have unique dialogue for several interactions instead of just repeating the same shit every time you talk to them
Willie 03.09.23	I'd say the Mass Effect trilogy still holds up, provided you get the Legendary edition. They made quite a bit of quality of life updates to the games (especially the first game) and it looks/runs way better. Plus, honestly, I use some quality-of-life mods, too, in order to skip mini games, one shot the planet mining, remove fuel requirements, etc so that I can just focus on the game and the story. Would I ever play the original versions again? No. Would I play the Legendary edition without those mods? No. Still, I would definitely recommend it.
Nomos2 03.09.23	that's true, our NPC interactions are usually important and memorable and it makes the conversations seem vital. I wonder if I'd get bored now watching Mass Effect's heavy dialogue sections (the whole game) since, since 2007, the narrative quality of games has skyrocketed along with our TV/movie offerings. Back then Mass Effect felt revolutionary but it might just be tedious to me. Oh well, worth a shot, maybe I'll just torrent it.
DocSportello 03.09.23	From's trademark narrative minimalism really can't be praised enough imo – almost no degree of flashy dialogue is going to trigger the overwhelming sense of personal guilt, cosmic terror, and human viciousness I feel myself implicated in...all from watching a great pot shatter leaving me alone on a bridge in a twisted place I brought to life
pjquinones747 03.09.23	I've never tried modding a bioware rpg. sounds fun but also out of the question for dragon age given how much those games bug out for me. it sucks so much because at least origins ive been pining for another runthrough of. guess i continue to pray for a rerelease
PotsyTater 03.09.23	At least with mass effect the you were encouraged to pay attention by having actually meaningful choices regarding actually interesting characters which was pretty big for the time. Andromeda on the other hand…. Also Witcher 3 dialogue, holy fuck. Geralt is basically what Xavier Renegade Angel is a parody of. Everything that comes out of his stupid fucking mouth is so bad it make me genuinely wonder if the game is just one giant parody.
DocSportello 03.09.23	Geralt just wanna be Columbo
PotsyTater 03.09.23	“ From's trademark narrative minimalism really can't be praised enough imo – almost no degree of flashy dialogue is going to trigger the overwhelming sense of personal guilt, cosmic terror, and human viciousness I feel myself implicated in...all from watching a great pot shatter leaving me alone on a bridge in a twisted place I brought to life” Amen. Fromsoft presents more immersion through one guy sitting by a bonfire who had like 9 lines of dialogue total what most games can’t do with 23 cutscenes and 500 lines of dialogue
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Fromsoft narrative minimalism is so good that an npc simply moving locations has more weight than the death of a main character in most games lol
Nomos2 03.09.23	I took a break and did the Ordina Lutirgial Town puzzle, which was ass without the stats necessary for the Sentry's Torch. Just got to the Haligree. Fuck this place, that is all. Who designed this shit lol I keep getting sniped for massive dmg :(
PotsyTater 03.09.23	TAKE IT LIKE A MAN
pjquinones747 03.09.23	Ordina is easy, Nomos. The secret? just run real fast.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Simply run for your life
Willie 03.09.23	--I've never tried modding a bioware rpg. sounds fun but also out of the question for dragon age given how much those games bug out for me. -- Nexus Mods' Dragon Age Origins page has a stand-alone mod loader for it. That makes it super simple to use. Best mod? The bug fix mod.
Nomos2 03.09.23	Sure enough, I unequipped a lot and booked it down those fucking tree branches. Took like 20 runs but I got all the loot and hit the lower Site of Grace. This place is....going to be fun lol.
pjquinones747 03.09.23	@Willie sometimes the simplest solutions lie right under my nose lmao gotta try this
PotsyTater 03.09.23	@nomos don’t worry you’re through the worst of it now Lol sike
Nomos2 03.09.23	Fuck the Haligtree. All my homies hate the Haligtree
pjquinones747 03.09.23	I actually really enjoy the Haligtree a lot lol
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Yeah haligtree is really memorable, I definitely don’t hate it. But I don’t really hate any fromsoft areas, even the most maligned appeal to me in a “love to hate it” kinda way.
PotsyTater 03.09.23	Like that one infamous tree branch in blighttown? You know the one. Iconic.
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Just completed an insanity run of Mass effect 2 last week. Still great but not as wonderful as my memories of it. I felt burdened by half the characters loyalty missions. The female characters in particular felt kind of tropey and gross. Wish I would have had Willie's mods. Might have enjoyed it more
Willie 03.09.23	Legendary Edition or regular? There's only Tali and Miranda missions; right? I'm guessing you're thinking about Miranda's mission, but I don't know why.
Nomos2 03.09.23	more like haligpee ((audible dabbing))
Nomos2 03.09.23	ok so I got to the second Site of Grace after the load-in one. It's like Rivendell on bath salts, I do love the visuals (and the rare glimpse into that landmass outside of the Lands Between). Cheesing Starscourge's Greatswords with the right talismen fight-to-fight is making this bearable, especially with large groups of enemies. Actually I refuse to feel bad for using cheese mechanics, that's what the game was made for. Spirit Summons included lol.
DocSportello 03.09.23	guess it's time for me to finally do a rl1 run huh
Nomos2 03.09.23	I'd rather die to be honest, that's skill
pjquinones747 03.09.23	im dumb whats rl1
DocSportello 03.09.23	Rune/soul level 1 — no leveling up
Nomos2 03.09.23	Rune Level 1 -- they never ever spend Runes to level up. JYNX
pjquinones747 03.09.23	oh man i do NOT have the patience hahaha
WatchItExplode 03.09.23	Willie - doing the legendary edition decided I might as well go for a full insanity trilogy playthrough. They were all pretty surface level females. Miranda is genetically and aesthetically superior but struggling for self-worth. Jack is damaged goods and a wild beast that can be tamed by a man's attention. And then Samara... Samara is an aging stripper on the hunt for her supposedly sexually deviant daughter to kill her. That one in particular is a bit much. I decided to rock the good old fashioned power imbalance and romanced Kelly lol. Also learned for the first time that she will feed your fish if you do this.
Willie 03.09.23	Holy shit. It's definitely time for another play through. How did I forget about all the other female loyalty quests? I guess probably because I don't use any of them on my squad (I don't use Miranda either for the most part, but she's pretty much the most prominent character on 2 after the player character). I like to use Garrus, Tali, and Liara whenever possible across all three games. Liara gets swapped for Miranda in the beginning of two until I can get Legion. I played an insanity play-through back in the original trilogy, and once was enough. Now I just play normal and enjoy the story. I never thought about those particular back stories in that way before. I've never thought about them at all, really. I've wasted tons of hours on the over-arching reaper lore. Male or female, I almost always romance Liara. Ha ha. You didn't know she'll feed your fish? That's the best part about her.
Willie 03.09.23	If you think about it, Jacob and Zaheed are pretty surface level males, too. Kasumi is a bad ass though.
WatchItExplode 03.10.23	I've played the first game several times over the years but I hadn't replayed two until the past several weeks. It was just a lot different than my memory. Will have to see what happens when I get around to part 3 but honestly the first game is still my favorite. People tell me my taste is suspect though because I loved Andromeda
Willie 03.10.23	I didn't love Andromeda, but I liked it. I've played it through to the end three different times since its release. My favorite is three because of the DLC where you just hang out with your teammates, and the Leviathan DLC, and getting a Prothean. It just ties everything up so well. Someone else said if you look at the entirety of three as the ending of the Mass Effect story and not just the end of 3, it's takes a lot of the sting out of the final few minutes.
WatchItExplode 03.10.23	It's been quite a few years now but I remember being very satisfied with the ending of three
Nomos2 03.10.23	someone just tried to fight me at a gas station and this adrenaline is pissing me off hold me
zakalwe 03.10.23	Recently replayed the Mass Effect trilogy and it’s still great. Thought I’d do Jack a turn on this playthrough.
PotsyTater 03.10.23	Take it out on Malenia
Nomos2 03.10.23	so last night I got DEEEEEEP into Haligtree. I changed my mind. It's fucking gorgeous. Hard, but fun. Cleanrot Knights in abundance. TWO Erdtree Avatar bosses wandering around, ready to snipe you with holy magic? The Cheese was strong in that hell run last night but I got p close to where I think Malenia is. Had a blast running around rooftops and savoring seeing the very last of the "new" content I'll ever see in the game....until we get DLC :) Also: fuck those blue colored construct dudes who are super lanky and have Dora the Explorer haircuts who try to pogo-stick you with spears. I barely do any damage to them when my current Ass of War is 1-hitting other guys. I'm just running away from them for now. Got to that lower part with scarlet rot and now I'm amping myself up to fight the Ulcerated Tree Spirit. Reeeeawaally don't want to but I was told I needed to for Millicent's questline.
PotsyTater 03.10.23	You will soon be graced by the presence of Thrush Mommy Malenia
Nomos2 03.10.23	Mmmmmm Waterfowl Dance me mommy
pjquinones747 03.10.23	Nomos that is the best Ulcerated Tree Spirit fight in the game. that little rot swamp makes it so challenging and i love those fights in general because theyre usually easy but that one is more challenging. I'm glad you've seen the light about Haligtree because the whole thing is THE most fun challenge in the game so far imo. Leyndell is up there too
Nomos2 03.10.23	I'll research a good talisman/weapon combo for that one. Will be hard to cheese since I'm an Unga Bunga build without much range, short of standing back and using the One Eyed Shield mortar canon. But yeah, for too many hours in the endgame I was just exploiring on horseback and able to run away from a lot of scenarios. Haligree/Ephael is making me plan and be careful again, and I'm as stressed as I was my first time going to Stormveil underleveled. It's bittersweet though...160 hours on this save and I'm almost done. It's like reading the last few pages of the longest book you've ever read. I don't want it to end! I guess I might have some fun on a NG+, but it just won't be the same without the sense of discovery that permeated the entire experience. What a fucking game man. I always hype-up games during their opening hours and fall deep into a Honeymoon period before falling off the tracks days later. I've never played anything like this, that has been living up to the hype every single moment for this long. I'm going to remember this experience the rest of my life. I just wish I knew LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE who played it IRL. Every single gamer friend of mine got mad at it for its difficulty and walked away after barely touching Limgrave. I want to shake them and scream YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET.
pjquinones747 03.10.23	have you done volcano manor? theres an easy cheese option via that route that should make that fight (and practically every single other fight) a cinch if you're desperate to get that milly questline wrapped up
pjquinones747 03.10.23	and i feel you on the wishing it wont end.. lol im maybe 6 months removed from finishing that first save and ive already started and finished 2 other saves of 60+ hours and have two others totalling in another 30-40 hours. to say this game has impacted me would be an understatement
Nomos2 03.10.23	Nice that's good to know it doesn't get stale right away. Actually, I'm like a full year removed now from playing the intro to the game, so it might be fun to see what those opening bosses and Radahn are like again. Yeah I did volcano manor a loooooong time ago and just came back recently to pick it clean. But I might have missed this -- what's the cheese via Volcano Manor? Or, do you mean the questline specifically for it? Item I should check if I have?
pjquinones747 03.10.23	Yes if you have the Blasphemous Blade (you'd get it with Rykard's rememberance) upgrade that shit to +10 immediately, spec to main Faith, upgrade a seal to +25 (i'd recommend clawmark's or godslayer's), get Golden Vow or Flame, Grant Me Strength, get the Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear for your Physick Flask, and then spam the L2 on every single boss you meet after using those buffs and whether or not you even use a mimic tear you should be able to get most bosses in just a few hits as long as your Faith is at 60
pjquinones747 03.10.23	i guess whether not thats "easy cheese" depends on how many of these items you already have but 160 hours in i'd think you probably have some of them. golden vow is available as a standalone incantation, standalone ash of war, AND comes with the golden halberd you get from the first optional boss in the game
WatchItExplode 03.10.23	I'm currently doing a bow and claw run. It is super fun!
Nomos2 03.10.23	Fuck yah dude, nothing is an easy cheese when we plan for it and collect items for it, that's no different than any other buildcrafting. I do have the blade! I thought about it, but have never ever used much Faith as I've never ever played a caster in this game nor used many buffs. Just my Flask of Mixed Physick and whatever Ash of War I spam. So if it looks like I'm reeeaaally not having a good time with the remaining bosses ( I totally forgot about Placidusax beneath Farum Azula since I was TPd away after fighting Maliketh), then I will follow your advice and respec and go ham with that sword, especially since I just collected some Anient Dragon Somber Smithing Stones from Haligtree, so I've got some upgrades to spare. Looks like that's the blade that people use at the Palace Approach Ledge Road to get EZ runes! Wow Bow & claw would be a difficuly and intimate run. Good luck!
pjquinones747 03.10.23	haha it was easy cheese for me but thats the thing, its all about what you choose to explore on any given run. i already had those items on this particular character when it came time for me to respec into that build so it came naturally. sounds like you may have to go digging for a couple things. guides make it easy but you seem to me like the type who likes to run around and find it for yourself
WatchItExplode 03.10.23	Naw, Serpent bow and serpent arrows tox things to hell then I get close and bleed em out. I have been surprised how well the combo works. I am super squishy though. If something gets a hold of me I'm dead
Nomos2 03.10.23	High risk/high reward is the type of playstyle I've shied away from, chiefly leveling Vig and making sure I can get the shit kicked out of me and still have room for error, but your playstyle actually sounds like a lot of fun! I'm just so death-adverse in this game. I mean, as much as you can be in a game where you die hundreds of times beating it.
Nomos2 03.10.23	totally pj, I've actually found a shocking number of things in my first run given I've been seeking out every single part of the map and prying away their secrets. I might have everything I need minus the respec, guess I'll see. Radahn's swords spec'd right are doing silly damage and their AOE is fantastic on both adds and bosses but the time needed to get both the roar AND the sword slam out is intense. So on bosses where I need more range and mobility, the Blashphemous Blade might be just what I need.
pjquinones747 03.10.23	and its L2 comes out pretty darn fast for how broken it is. BB will unlock all sorts of potential for your second playthrough. washing away enemies on torrential downpours of self-healing fire damage is very, very satisfying. especially when you can mix in some fun faith spells in between. ive tried to make INT builds my favorite cuz i love the aesthetics of all the INT weapons and spells but faith is just so OP and fun
Nomos2 03.10.23	cool thanks! I'm stoked to try that soon
pjquinones747 03.10.23	be sure to come back and drop a comment on the results! lol
DocSportello 03.11.23	ugh my playstation's starting to get really hot within minutes of use. hopefully just an accumulation of dust and cat hair and a deep clean away from not seeming like at death's door
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I hope so too Doc that it's nothing too serious and just needs a blow out (when that happened on the fat PS3s it got real worrisome) As for Elden Ring I don't play these souls games guess they are just too hardcore and stressful for me. There are a lot of other action rpgs and of course turn based rpgs out there. So no I definitely wouldn't say they ruined rpgs hah
DocSportello 03.11.23	Yeah folks are real fast and loose with genre terms bc it's fun to do that but you're right. the truth is more that elden ring locked in its creators' claim to a very difficult niche genre of their own design and for a minor but significant percentage of the gaming population it was so fun they've never recovered, I'm one of them lol
PotsyTater 03.11.23	My ps4 gets hot as fuck didn’t realize this was a problem lol
Colton 03.11.23	how do you guys find Elden Ring on ps4? I found it borderline unplayable and I've never cared much about frame rate at all. I remember this one part with a bunch of wolves where they were like 5 frames per second. might differ from console to console though
Colton 03.11.23	I also remember RDR2 making my ps4 sound like a plane taking off but I never had any performance issues
DocSportello 03.11.23	I mean I have used the fuck out of this machine, probably clocked hundreds of hours just streaming 48-hr bob ross loops alone. maybe it's just showing its age. already removed the plates and put them back on and there wasn't that much buildup tbh. think I'll hold off on actually dismantling it for now, not much I can do really, game on
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	Well the fat PS3s were known actually to yellow light of death (not as common as the Xbox 360s red ring) but still common enough that it made headlines. It was because they used a lead free solder thermal paste that would melt away and screw up the cpu (I am not very technical but simply the PS3 would not boot up). Happened to mine actually after a very long time but I also should have kept the air vents clearer too. They were clogged with dust. My PS4 runs louder for certain games. I think it was the Caligula Effect 2 and that one was a digital download so it made little sense but I don't know of PS4s going to shit though sure it can happen.
PotsyTater 03.11.23	I’ve heard other people having problems with Elden Ring on ps4 but I just have the base ps4 and had no problems. Loading screens were a bit long but nothing crazy. That’s about it. Mine gets loud as fuck too for certain games. I don’t take great care of it tho, i don’t plan on keeping it around much longer
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I still have the base PS4 I never wanted a Pro. I wouldn't think running Elden Ring on a base Ps4 is ideal; I mean sheesh we all know about what happened with Cyberpunk on old technology. I didn't mean to be all over the place with just Playstation discussions. I mostly wanted to say hey, Elden Ring seems magical, but yeah don't tell me there aren't other rpgs worth playing anymore ;P
PotsyTater 03.11.23	I thought that it would run for shit on the ps4 too and originally wasn’t going to even play it until I got a ps5. But on Reddit I saw people talking about how it was one of the last games developed for the ps4 and that it was running fine for them and I said fuck it. I’ve had much bigger issues with other games. Xcom 2 was basically unplayable on ps4.
Purpl3Spartan 03.11.23	I’ve been stuck on Mohg for too long kill me
DocSportello 03.11.23	Same with godskin duo like weeks
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	That's cool Potsy. I briefly watched a irl friend play Elden Ring on a PS5 but I know more about older dark souls from old youtube "friends." Funny shit, but I am sooo not patient anymore and I never liked parrying and perfect timing so it's like yeah these games aren't for me.
PotsyTater 03.11.23	Oh bruh I can’t parry for shit lol thankfully there are options for different play styles that you don’t need to be doing that
zaruyache 03.11.23	you don't need to know how to parry in any game except Sekiro, and you can brute-force your way through that without parrying if you really want to as well.
DocSportello 03.11.23	yeah parrying is totally optional and never really a first line approach to combat in elden ring. mage builds are super op and fun
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	Yeah my parrying comment was more towards Dark Souls. I heard Sekiro was the hardest of them all.
DocSportello 03.11.23	I'm not a game historian but I've played a lot of games and I'd venture to say Sekiro's potentially the hardest game of all time
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	There are different kinds of difficulty, Ghosts n Goblins on the NES is fuckin' hard but it gets into that cheap too much on the screen oldschool start from the beginning of the game difficulty when you run out of lives and other oddities. Whereas Sekiro may be more of that yea you can retry that boss again, but he has patterns and stuff you have to learn and memorize and mistakes are extremely costly. I know Dark Souls has that bonfire system and losing souls, tbh I really don't know much about Sekiro.
zaruyache 03.11.23	nah 1994 lion king super NES is the hardest game
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I never played that, but yeah zaru is right. I remember that game being low key difficult through word of the internet. 7th Saga for the SNES (only the North American version) is extremely difficult and you can essentially soft lock yourself too if you saved improperly or get a bad draw so to speak. It's a jrpg by the way. The original wasn't as difficult actually, but one of the extreme difficulties was caused by a programming mistype when ported to North America. I typed too much about the 7th Saga hah but yeah some rpgs can't be just beat by training, that game will waste you.
DocSportello 03.11.23	upon reflection bomberman 64: the second attack is the hardest game I've ever played
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I don't have an opinion on that one, but anyone remember Bomberman Zero? The xbox gritty bondage looking like reboot of a old lovable franchise. They really did a number on Bomberman there.
PotsyTater 03.11.23	The Bomberman 64 games were soooo sick Also I hadn’t heard of Bomberman zero but I just seen the cover and wtf is this real?
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	Yea totally real, apparently Bomberman had to be near M rated game at some point. It was an odd choice. There was a first person mode too I think.
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I never played it, but it just seemed ridiculous. Might be cool as a historical piece, but who wanted that?
PotsyTater 03.11.23	I just read on the wiki that one criticism of the game was that the “first person mode” was played “in third person” 😂😂😂😂
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	Probably right also Metacritic is mostly stupid but it stands at a 34!!!!WTG!!!!!!
PotsyTater 03.11.23	It is on a wiki page of the worst video games of all time lol
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I don't know if it's that bad. It may play ok? But just the idea is like why Bomberman. I get maybe it's too cutesy, but still these bondage robots wasn't the right call.
DocSportello 03.11.23	Getting Mandela effect vibes from this wiki page
PunkerBlast 03.11.23	I didn't research it a lot at this moment, but just someone said Bomberman and was wondering if anyone remember this release, it was on the 360. A well known system.
Nomos2 03.11.23	" for a minor but significant percentage of the gaming population it was so fun they've never recovered, I'm one of them lol" hahaha same here yeah bomberman on n64 was fucking hard but I loved those games. So PJ, I am now built for Blasphemous Blade and so far it's so op to use hahaha. I'll do a test run on Radagon tonight.
Cygnatti 03.11.23	Bomberman 64 was sick can confirm. Never played Elden Ring or any game like it but I’m excited to finally try it down the line.
DDDeftoneDDD 03.11.23	Couldn't pass the first bits. Not my particular style of (dying) game either and its a bit ugly in the beggining. Will give it another shot soon. So far Witcher 3 ruined my rpg experiences. Eheh
Nomos2 03.11.23	Woooo killed Malenia and Placidusax! The latter had such an epic arena and moveset, omg. Maybe the most intimidating boss to stumble upon. Elden Beast though...still have some practice to do. Give er another shot DDD, it's not my usual cup of tea either but once it gets its hooks you in, they're there for a while.
zaruyache 03.11.23	what do you mean it's ugly Limgrave is gorgeous
DDDeftoneDDD 03.11.23	I know it is. I saw gorgeous bits. Okay lemme just handle the divorce and maybe then!
Willie 03.12.23	I finally made it through the courtyard of the first castle after dying multiple times. I made it about another 100 yards and then started dying over-and-over to the main boss. Eventually, I took the other turn away from the boss and found some NPC girl willing to fight with me. We went back and won the fight. That's why this damn game is addicting. It always feels like you're one more turn or level or dodge away from succeeding.
Purpl3Spartan 03.12.23	Finally beat Mohg :]
DocSportello 03.12.23	I'm so happy for you Willie : )
DocSportello 03.12.23	And you too Spartan!
PotsyTater 03.12.23	Witcher 3 sucks
PotsyTater 03.12.23	“ found some NPC girl willing to fight with me. We went back and won the fight. That's why this damn game is addicting. It always feels like you're one more turn or level or dodge away from succeeding” Yes my dude
Nomos2 03.12.23	Nice job Willie and Purple! Rarely in ER will you feel like you're hitting a wall for long...there's always an alternate route or a Summon or a boss weakness or just plain old leaving and leveling up your health bar and coming back later. So I just beat Elden Ring after 166 hours lmao. What a wild ride that was. Blasphemous Blade with the fire boosting spell and the fire boosting talisman and Shard of Alexander were the trick to massive damage. I can't believe it's over. Took a few steps into NG+ and it just feels a bit odd. Maybe it's time for a long break before I come back for the DLC.
unclereich 03.12.23	Red dead sucks ass
DocSportello 03.12.23	it's a clunker
unclereich 03.12.23	All style no substance
MiloRuggles 03.12.23	On the final boss now and wish it had wide enough windows to allow me to just lay Comet of Azur into it until it melts. Beautiful design on the beast tho, wew
Colton 03.12.23	Red Dead does some things better than any other game to ever exist but it's undeniably repetitive and limited in its gameplay
zaruyache 03.13.23	they really needed to add some lockpicking minigames to give rdr2 gameplay that modern depth ye
twlight 03.13.23	To answer the question, Yes. I'm over video games at this point. And if I play one, it will be elden ring again and the expansion coming soon. Oh yeah and re4 remake. Then I'm done.
zaruyache 03.13.23	Jedi More Fallen-er Order comes out next month tho how DARE you
PotsyTater 03.13.23	I liked red dead 2 a lot despite the fact that controlling Arthur felt like puppeteering a drunken bum
PotsyTater 03.13.23	Lol Jedi More Fallen-er Order
twlight 03.13.23	I'll maybe play that new star wars game when it's $10 on PS5. No way I'm paying full $70 price for that fallen game
PotsyTater 03.13.23	But you can make your lightsaber pink
twlight 03.13.23	Wait what? Ok. $90 pre order, I'm in
DocSportello 03.13.23	can't wait to equip my re4 pre-order bonus tiny-chicken charm on the attache case!
PotsyTater 03.13.23	I don’t know why one of these dumb bozo Jedi’s don’t just make an ultraviolet lightsaber like imagine how advantageous it would be for your foes to not be able to see your weapon. I’d make it like four sided, they would have no idea what to do and also I would lose a limb very quickly but it’s Star Wars so I’d get a cool new cyborg one
twlight 03.13.23	I'm really wondering if Re4 remake will actually be better? Part of the charm of the original is the rough edges, the darkness, the bad audio quality which adds to the creepiness. Idk if they can emulate it.... Although I am excited.
DocSportello 03.13.23	You can parry with the knife now
twlight 03.13.23	Is that just a quick time event? Definitely not a seller for me. And I hear they changed the voice of the merchant which was such an iconic part of the og
DocSportello 03.13.23	I’m definitely interested in playing it and it looks promising but I’ll prob wait until it’s way down from launch price
PotsyTater 03.13.23	I’m still just waiting for village to be on sale for like 20 bucks
PitchforkArms 03.13.23	I go on vacation for 5 days and this thing gets ANOTHER 300 comments. King shit
pjquinones747 03.13.23	@Pitchfork i was just about to say the same! I'm just here to update that i'm using a build with the sacred relic sword and it is absolutely slapping. happy monday my fellow sputnikers.
Shemson 03.13.23	Village was pretty good Pots but they lost the plot towards the end and made it a crappy action game like they keep doing Much like RE7 the first half was good with some truly scary moments (the section in the house with the doll scared the hell out of me) I preordered RE4 but I’m not a super fan of the original, to me it was when the series went downhill and relied on shootouts more than atmosphere Also, this thread inspired my second Elden Ring playthrough so I’m not sure I’ll get straight on it because ER ruined all other games 🤣
PotsyTater 03.13.23	Lol yeah they always lose the plot towards the end. That’s ok tho, that’s why I’ll buy it on steep sale.
PitchforkArms 03.13.23	RE is so strange to me. I could not play the first one because of the jank - truly was unbearable for me - so I categorically never got interested (even as the series got less janky). Though, as these remakes/remasters have been coming out over the last 5 years, my dudes and I will do weekend playthroughs (where I just watch usually) and it's loads of fun. Nothing groundbreaking as far as the games go, but fun.
PotsyTater 03.13.23	That’s how I got into it too. Never cared about the old games much but I got the re2 remake on sale during Covid and it was so fun. So I played 7 and 4 after that and now working backwards I can appreciate the old games more
PitchforkArms 03.13.23	I can definitely vibe with that. I still think 1 is just too clunky to have an iota of interest from myself
PotsyTater 03.13.23	Haven’t tried that one yet meself
Shemson 03.13.23	Once you get over the clunky-ness I think the original 4 (that’s 1-3 and Code Veronica X) are the best games with almost unmatched atmosphere I say almost unmatched because Silent Hill 2 is unbeatable
pjquinones747 03.15.23	may this thread never die
MiloRuggles 03.15.23	Silent Hill 2 is indeed goated Just finished SIGNALIS and it is a worthy sci-fi tribute and has good puzzles, would recommend
PunkerBlast 03.16.23	I helped talk about un-relelated games too. I never played Silent Hill it was probably too scary at the time but I do play horror themed games just in different ways. I mean the Shin Megami Tensei umbrella of games is based on a lot of themes. Also they had a really annoying name once. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army. Imagine going to Gamestop (they still do exist and saying all that). When I bought the second one I was like hey I pre-ordered Devil Summoner 2.
Nomos2 03.17.23	SH2 is the reason I went nuts turning a Raspberry Pi into an emulation beast with faux old TD distortions and filters. Fuck me that was fun to replay. It got its hook in my too...I ended up spending a few months making a SH2 clone in Unity3D because I loved the jittery rendering inaccuracies on PSX and how it made horror games look. Mmmmm time to hop back in.
protokute 03.17.23	Definitely go for the re 1 remake, they just improved on every aspect of the PS1 og. One of the most atmospheric games out there. And cmon guys the tank controls aren't that bad, get over it
DocSportello 03.17.23	re4 remake with an early 10 from ign hmm
Nomos2 03.17.23	Whoooah RE 1 remake, like the early 2000's GameCube one, or is there a new official remake? RE2 remake was one of the best horror experiences I've ever had, Re3 remake less so, but it's been quite sometime since I did RE1. Tank controls are cozy in a kind of restrictive, nostalgic sense for some reason.
protokute 03.17.23	the gamecube one, but's there a remaster for the xbox 360/ps3 and pc right on about the tank controls
PitchforkArms 03.17.23	I didn't even know there was a RE1 remake... Is it still as much of a clunky fixed-cam unintuitive mess as the OG?
protokute 03.17.23	yes, it has fixed camera, but it's not clunky nor unintuitive. give your frontal cortex some training and i'm sure you can do it
protokute 03.17.23	wishing i had a better gpu for the re4 remake.....
PitchforkArms 03.17.23	I played through RE1 and (at the recommendation of a friend) gone back and tried - and it still feels horrendously bad. Especially with the amount of mundane backtracking and non-tense wandering that takes place in the game. I've heard the "the fixed camera angle adds to the vibe and only gives you the information that it wants to" and I think - yeah, sure, but man oh man that applies to about 10% of the actual playing of the game.
DocSportello 03.17.23	also rem4ke launches without mercenaries mode, another reason to wait a month or three
Nomos2 03.17.23	RE4 looking tempting, especially since I should be able to crank the graphics on my 3070. Not a cheap card but it's been making me very happy for a few years now. Looked into this REmake a lot less than the others, but it's looking more enticing than I thought it would, given all the upgrades.
pjquinones747 03.23.23	one more thread revival attempt to keep me busy during dead hours at work
Nomos2 03.24.23	ugghhhhh I just uninstalled the thing and then they released the new update. downloaded, made sure Raytracing was enabled, and loaded into....a crash to desktop. Now it's looking like just about everyone is having performance issues if they aren't crashing because of it. The game looked gorgeous already so I'm not surprised to see the RT, when it does work, barely makes a difference. But it's disappointing that they released it in such a state.
DocSportello 03.24.23	after at least 1.5 months finally beat godskin duo (solo, no spirit ash) with horribly underleveled character based on my dumb sweet cat
Nomos2 03.24.23	holy shit lol good work They only took me 6-7 tries but that was with a +10 Mimic and some serious pillar-hugging. No way was I soloing them when they're respawning bosses and there's two of them. Faaack
pjquinones747 03.24.23	"after at least 1.5 months finally beat godskin duo (solo, no spirit ash) with horribly underleveled character based on my dumb sweet cat" good f'in job Doc, wow. i can only beat them easily with my most broken character currently and thats using summons and all sorts of buffs
PitchforkArms 03.24.23	mostly unrelated but my buds and I do videogame playthroughs on saturdays before we watch MMA, and this last saturday we were finishing Metal Gear Solid 2. I don't really like those games so a budd and I decided to take a little bit of psylli fungi and I ended up taking way way too much (just wanted to get giggly) and fell into an experiential hole - was glued to the floor, de-personalization, disassociation, all of that deeply deeply scary and profound shit.... either way, back to the video games - the end of that game was taking place and I was eyes closed in the opposite corner of the room just being swung by the audio (the creepy "Arsenal's Guts" track was playing and homeboy president was short-circuiting (I learned that after I came back to... in my experience some way way wilder shit was happening)). What a time. video games are fun. Funny mushrooms are not to be toyed with. Be safe and have fun. ily
DocSportello 03.24.23	to be fair, it probably only took 6-7 hours of total playtime on the duo . . . would turn on the game, get crushed, turn it off. honestly the fact that it felt like such a wall was probably good for me, kept me from turning on my ps. now that I've really sunk some time into learning that fight think it's fantastic, maybe their best duo boss since O&S
Nomos2 03.24.23	man I haven't done mushrooms in a long time, but I'm ready to soon. MGS2 would be super cool....to watch someone play whose a fan. I love the aesthetic and everything about it but I tried to play it recently and I was so bad at it and kept dying and couldn't get the controls down.
pjquinones747 03.24.23	@Pitchfork this makes me wanna eat a lot of mushrooms and play bloodborne but i feel im a bit too cerebral about my psychadelics to have any sort of profound experience
Nomos2 03.24.23	Like too much in your own head about it to fall into a meaningful experience?
pjquinones747 03.24.23	precisely
Shemson 03.24.23	I’ve just paused my NG to try out RE4 remake but Elden Ring is firmly my favourite game ever now. I missed Mohg on my first playthrough, tried to avoid looking up what to do before reaching the end and missed his place completely so just did him before Leyndell on my second run. Wow what a place that was! The farming zone is useful, the triple assassin invaders, the multiple blood zombies, the darkest cave in the game with things jumping out at random times and then the boss battle showed me the MF kidnapped Miquella! I was wondering why I didn’t meet him at his Haligtree!!! Will 100% jump back into ER and get a second ending and then probably play it a third time. I got the Ranni ending first time, next I want standard Elden Lord and then I’m gonna do the frenzied fire!
Nomos2 03.24.23	Yes I'm soooo glad I googled Mogh so I wouldn't miss that whole gnarly zone. Sweaty place but it gave me a good many runes. That sucks PJ! It's so subjective. I guess I'm in my head enough as it is already, and mushrooms DO sent you far into your own head, but it's up to you: fight or try guide the experience yourself, and you might overthink, worry, become anxious. Surrender to every feeling and it goes smoothly, no matter how traumatic. It's always a bit of give and take for me -- never just a goofy fun trip, like acid does for me. Mushrooms, like em or not, for some people will always be an inward journey that's fruitful but not very comfortable. Then my buddy introduced me to acid and I haven't looked back. More consistent wild visuals, less anxiety, no gut rot.
PitchforkArms 03.25.23	@Nomos & PJ , the bigget problem, though, is that I wasn't even able to try and fight or guide myself - just got floored. Sounds like such a dumb druggie thing to say, but in those moments I was feeling the weirdest, purest, and most non-temporal emotions and feelings ever; couldn't tell what was going on because I couldn't keep my eyes open. I wouldn't loved to play or watch the the game but I was totally inert and nothing I was seeing or hearing made any sense or felt like something that even existed. Was SUPER strange and a the beginning slope upwards was a bit anxiety inducing. I would normally try and take just enough to be able to slug beers and think everything is funny and interesting, not go full universe-oneness ego-death nonsense. I love watching other people do video games or sports with a little chemical help. PJ, specifically, if you think you'd be too in your head, I think trepidation is probably merited... but the profundity doesn't have to not be cerebral (also, the ability to thing something profound is happening can only be fought off until a certain dosage - at some point, you're gonna lose all context of everything)
PotsyTater 03.25.23	@nomos that is where the best rune farming spot in the game is too. There is the bonfire at the top of the cliff after you fight like 14 frog people. Spawn there and there is a certain spot on the cliff where you can shoot the crow in the swamp from and it will aggro him off the cliff. Use all your bonus rune items etc and you fetch a shitload of souls very quickly by doing this and resting repeatedly. There are certain builds that maximize this even further by being able to kill all the frog guys at once in one attack lol.
zaruyache 03.25.23	the sword from the final boss lets you insta-kill all the sleeping albinaurics at once, but otherwise I think the bird is always faster. I've got the Ruins Greatsword and it can kill quite a few of them but probably not enough to be better.
Groundking 03.25.23	How can it ruin rpgs when it's not even the best From Soft game? SMH The open world utterly ruins the game imo, too much repetitive shit and not enough of the good stuff that makes From games special (the intricate connected level design)
PotsyTater 03.26.23	@zaru I mean I assumed you would ideally do both not one or the other
zaruyache 03.26.23	one-shotting all the sleepy bois gives so many more runes it's not worth it to walk over to the bird instead of just going back and immediately resting imo. you get like 30K+ from the albinaurics, turn around, rest, repeat
Colton 03.26.23	when does the dlc come out
zaruyache 03.26.23	prob like six months after armored core or slightly before that the thing people are going on is FS called it an "expansion" and not a DLC like they usually do, which could imply it's actually gonna be bigger than normal.
Willie 03.27.23	Made it to the capital a few days back. It's a beast. Definitely the hardest place I've been so far. Too many narrow streets and high level enemies. I'm slowly making it through, but damn...
pjquinones747 03.27.23	i've finally reached a point of elden ring where its solo entertainment value (until DLC drops later this year) has dwindled. in lieu of that i have FINALLY picked up and gotten on a roll with bloodborne which has been very rewarding. i miss my jump button but i would highly recommend any of you who havent already played it.
Willie 03.27.23	I'll be moving to Atomic Heart after Elden Ring. It's free on Gamepass and it's supposedly a Bioshock clone, which is fine with me.
pjquinones747 03.27.23	i loved bioshock infinite but could never get nearly as far with the others. probably a consequence of getting to them too late.
MiloRuggles 03.28.23	Controversial opinion #873465: all From games (except maybe Sekiro) are too long, and Elden Ring is the longest. Make of this what you will
Mort. 03.28.23	dark souls 1 is short as hell if you know where youre going
pjquinones747 03.28.23	yeah without being a speedrunner you can even finish elden ring in under like 10 hours if you know where to go lol
MiloRuggles 03.28.23	Yeah but I play these games a mere one time with the intention of exploring not rushing through
MiloRuggles 03.28.23	(that being said I've done DS1 about 4 times)
pjquinones747 03.05.24	I forgot how hard this thread went. DLC time is coming soon so lets bring it back.
PitchforkArms 03.06.24	Did you do mushrooms yet?
MO 03.06.24	"in lieu of that i have FINALLY picked up and gotten on a roll with bloodborne which has been very rewarding" best fromsoft game by a mile
pjquinones747 03.06.24	@pitchfork did we discuss this or are you doing a bit lol i've done shrooms they're chill
zakalwe 03.06.24	Always a good opportunity to say Sekiro is fucking shite
pjquinones747 03.06.24	Is this statement because you couldn't beat it or have you contrived this conclusion somehow otherwise?
protokute 03.06.24	Still not being able to play Bloodborne yet, unfortunately. Sekiro was the one I had the most fun with from the series, rewarding and satisfying combat and difficulty, and nice atmopsphere. Been playing Lies of P recently, and I'm really liking it, and I might say it's more engaging than other Souls games I've played, it's also very atmospheric and beautiful, and it's only a shame the story and some characters aren't nearly as good as the world they built around them.
zakalwe 03.06.24	Sekiro No levelling up No weapons No fashion souls No sense of achievement whatsoever when defeating bosses No otherworldly mass sense of lore No intrinsic links to the wider world map ‘Ganky’ controls Absolutely fuck all replay-ability Hard as fuck until you ‘get gud’ Mob shite Boss shite NPC shite Shite items No decent discoveries to be had Complete detachment from the playable character Shite voice overs It’s just joyless shite. 4/10
protokute 03.06.24	okay then...
zakalwe 03.06.24	You know it’s true
Wildcardbitchesss 03.06.24	Zak I literally love Sekiro, like Bloodborne, but don’t particularly care for any of the souls games or Elden Ring. I really tried with Elden Ring, I put about 10 hours into it but the combat just never clicked for me, much like the Souls series. I want to like it so much but I just can’t get into it.
zakalwe 03.07.24	Dark Souls - The greatest game of all time, an absolute masterpiece with essential dlc Bloodborne - A superlative take on the magic from formula. Amazing replay value, possibly the best lore and essential dlc Dark Souls III - An incredible follow up to the gaming perfection of DS1. Amazing enemies, bosses and areas. Essential dlc Elden Ring - Accomplished and a full gaming experience although not without its flaws namely too long, too finicky with some npc quests and Torrent can fuck off. Sekiro - Listed above. Shite. Dark Souls II - Drab. The biggest disappointment in gaming history. Never played Demon Souls but it looks decent.
Mort. 03.07.24	'No levelling up No weapons' literally has levelling up, literally has weapons (the prosthetics are all weapons, just because you still also use the sword doesnt make them not weapons lol) No sense of achievement whatsoever when defeating bosses' - this is on you '‘Ganky’ controls' - what?? lol its got some of the simplest controls 'Absolutely fuck all replay-ability' - literally like 4 different ending and considering most people dont get good for quite a while just complete nonsense Hard as fuck until you ‘get gud’ Mob shite Boss shite NPC shite Shite items No decent discoveries to be had' lol what. are you just salty because you suck?
JohnnyoftheWell 03.07.24	a brief history of zakposting says yes, very much so
Demon of the Fall 03.07.24	I've tried playing Bloodbourne. The aesthetics / setting / whatever are enticing for sure. I lasted maybe 3 or 4 hours of minor frustrations before abandoning it entirely Patience threshold = zero Elden Ring appeals to me even more so, in theory. I imagine similar frustrations would occur though, despite it being open world
zakalwe 03.07.24	Levelling up but not as we know it and the form it took was shite Prosthetics with firecrackers or that bullet proof umbrella thing. Shite. Bloodhound Fang it ain’t. The bosses are a trade off of dodging, parrying and hitting them what seemed about 48 trillion times while not getting hit twice. Shite. Absolutely no satisfaction from them at all. A dulled experience. The controls for the rope swing thing were a tad off and jumping up onto walls and roofs could be absolutely laughable. Shite. The replayability comes from the enjoyment of trying out different builds and revisiting the world. Sekiro had none of that. Shite. All the items in Sekiro were shite. Ceramic pots, gobstoppers or whatever the fuck they were to boost whatever the fuck it was. Total shite.
JohnnyoftheWell 03.07.24	"hitting them what seemed about 48 trillion times" lol, aka the last recourse of someone who never figured out how to play the game properly case closed next game plz
zakalwe 03.07.24	Nah I did the parrying, whatsit counter thing and all the rest of it.
Mort. 03.07.24	really just sounds like you couldnt adapt, which considering the washed up old man persona youve cultivated here is pretty apt
Demon of the Fall 03.07.24	"persona"
JohnnyoftheWell 03.07.24	zak invented jazz??
Scheumke 03.07.24	Started replaying Sekiro last week and man I have 180 degrees the opposite. Love every second of it after three ER playthroughs. The combat is so satisfying, the bosses are all memorable and tough as nails until it clicks again. There's no other fromsoft game that makes me feel such accomplishment as a gamer. Because of the lack of character progression, It's not that my character has gotten stronger to the point of overpowering/overleveling everything as in ER or some of DS, but I've gotten better at the game which made the difference. Nothing better than that feeling man.
zakalwe 03.07.24	I played through Sekiro twice upto the final boss, did all the relevant weird npc quests and all the bosses but just got absolutely burnt out by it. I don’t recall enjoying one moment of it on either playthrough. Had less than four attempts of the final boss on both playthroughs and just could not be arsed by it. I was completely disengaged from it on both playthroughs. The water temple area or whatever it was was quite nice and that was literally all I took from the entire thing. Elden Ring was a good return to form.
Gyromania 03.07.24	Elden ring did not ruin RPGs lmfao. It is a top 3 rpg for me, but that’s a ridiculously stupid claim. Disco Elysium, Baldur’s Gate 3, Witcher 3, etc., there are loads of worthwhile RPGs
Gyromania 03.07.24	Sekiro is From’s best game tbh. It’s one of those games that requires a lot of you tho. The investment is great but if you practice practice practice, it is for sure one of the most rewarding gaming experiences possible. My first playthrough I fucking despised it because I was a total noob. It wasn’t until my third playthrough when I came back to it a year later and rly took my time learning every boss in the boss rush mode that it became a genre masterpiece for me
Wildcardbitchesss 03.07.24	“Zak invented jazz??” lmfao Maybe I’ll give Elden Ring another shot. @Demon The first few hours of Bloodborne are brutal, once you get past Father Gascoigne (IIRC, it’s been a few years since I’ve played it) the game opens up a bit and you’ll have a better understanding of the mechanics and world as a whole. You should definitely give it another shot because I think that it’s really the perfect blend of traditional souls gameplay and the more aggressive playstyle you need in Sekiro
JohnnyoftheWell 03.07.24	I'd played every other game in the series at the time and ragequit Bloodborne shortly after Gascoigne (who I molotov'd with impunity) on my first playthrough lol, combination of farming heals and aggro playstyle that I sucked at (am a reformed turtler) was horrible at the time best game in the series + the playstyle it fosters is the best one, but
PitchforkArms 03.07.24	@PJ, it was mentioned in the thread above and I remember you saying you were being trepidatious about the good ol hallucinogens lol
pjquinones747 03.07.24	@Pitchfork hmm maybe that was in reference to my "meh" feelings about them. I've tried most but they don't appeal all that much. Just spicier weed.
DocSportello 03.07.24	been maintaining my present ‘orange cat’ character (modeled after my sweet stupid boi) at rl84 (the ideal holding-pattern level imo) for the past scans thread year — prob shouldn’t have done maliketh but whatever, Gideon can wait for me to finish dlc, in the meantime just scooping up talismans and cookbooks but mostly playin Helldivers 2
pjquinones747 03.07.24	I wish Helldivers 2 ran more smoothly on my PC. Makes me wish i bought it on PS5 instead.
AnimalForce1 03.07.24	I just hope there's an Xbox port of Helldivers 2 in the future. Game looks so much fun, but my computer's a potato laptop
JayEnder 03.07.24	I would rather kick myself in the nuts repeatedly than play Sekiro ever again. Finally getting into the Souls games (which funny enough are the only From games I haven't played yet) and 1 is a masterpiece so far. I got cursed right before Blighttown and almost restarted the whole game bc I thought I was fucked lol. Thank God for Purging Stones bc it would be beyond evil to play the entire game with half health until Londo.
JayEnder 03.07.24	Also what's the deal with 2? Why does everyone hate it so much?
protokute 03.07.24	it's my favorite
Scheumke 03.09.24	It plays clunkier and has a quantity over quality vibe but that doesn't make it bad at all. Was the last game I played from them, only did it last year and was expecting a terrible mess but it was still a great game tbh, just not on par with thw others for me.
Gyromania 03.09.24	“I would rather kick myself in the nuts repeatedly than play Sekiro ever again.” Skill issue
Gyromania 03.09.24	2 is awful simply for tying iframes to an upgradeable stat. Incredibly stupid balancing decision. Also the boss fights and exploration are pretty garbage. Weakest From game
protokute 03.09.24	I guess it's probably my favorite because it was the first I played, and the one I was more invested in. I liked the variety of scenarios, but it definitely feels bloated by the end.
Purpl3Spartan 03.10.24	Lies of p needs more love Also the answer to the list is still no
Scheumke 03.12.24	Lies of P is easily the best non fromsoft soulslike. I heard they're making a dlc so I'm super excited for that! Still have to play Lords of the Fallen. I have it, but keep replaying ER and Sekiro at the moment. Will get to it at some point.
protokute 03.12.24	lies of p was amazing indeed, just finished it last friday