A step backwards?

[Krazy Wallet]

So I've played about 50 hours of ER and am enjoying it. The game looks great, much of it has held true to the souls-style gameplay, and there are some bigger-than-life bosses that need to be killed.

However, after playing so much of it, I find myself not feeling the same sense of achievement after killing bosses. And I think I know the reason why and would be curious if others are having the same experience. My primary grievance is spamming. I don't mind long combos, short tells, or delayed attacks. Those are the elements we are to master, after all. But the spamming attacks and abundance of AOEs has taken out so much of the positioning element of the game. This game feels like it's two giants simply trading blows. AS a result, vitality is a necessary item to level up as you will be getting hit by random crap all the time.

This has lead to frustration. It no longer feels like my mistake when I get hit. The AOEs don't look as such, and there is so much spinning and flailing that it feels like the boss is just a fish out of water (with razor sharp fins). Much of the grace, elegance, and purposefulness of the boss' attacks are gone. Now it's just, if you are in this general area, you'll be blown up.

It's such a shame as Dark Souls 3 was so polished with each boss fight. I could be stuck there for 3 or 4 hours. Yet, each death in DS3 was clearly my mistake. I did not dodge here or I spam-rolled and got caught. In this one, most deaths result from some type of bullcrap factor:

1) enemy plunged down with the sword, but From decided to add a shockwave that does the same damage even though I was nowhere near the sword
2) Boss is spinning through all oblivion where I can no longer see the character due the sporadic movement
3) Random explosions that have no tells, you simply need to know that the phase is changing at that point

Don't get me wrong. I'm still enjoying the game and the challenges that it brings. But compared to all of the other bosses in prior installments, I simply find myself saying, "glad that crap is over!". I never said that in prior installments (except maybe Bed of Chaos). Dodging attacks felt good and purposeful. Just me, or does anyone else feel like From made a game too big and sacrificed a lot of quality for the quantity in regards to the bosses?

[Raubritter]

Yeah pretty much exactly my thoughts. I'm only mid-game and so far none of the bosses have provided me anything close to the enjoyment of the previous games, especially DS3.
In DS3 by the mid-game point you've already defeated Gundyr, Abyss Watchers and Sulyvahn, some of the best bosses in the entire series.

So far in Elden Ring the only bosses that I liked were the Tree Sentinel (♥♥♥♥ his giant AoE stomp though) and Radahn, but I only liked Radahn because I cheesed him with the summons and Loretta's bow, so I could actually enjoy the spectacle and the great music. But obviously since I cheesed him I can't say I really beat him.
I guess Rennala is all right too, at least the first phase is original.

It's weird, everything else is great, they totally nailed the open world on their first try, the new ashes of war system is great, there is good enemy variety etc.

Yet they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up on the single most important thing, bosses. Even though they had mastered it in the previous games.

[Azel]

like for me the Bosses feels like Oversized Bey Blades which suffering on Michael Bay syndrome. quite fun but still kinda tedious to see if most of them do these moves..
not like avoid some cool moves but alot of shockwaves.

[Certified Fentanyl Dealer]

A lot of boss attacks in this game are almost nonsensical in how much ground they cover. I'm guessing they wanted to keep players from just carrying everything they learned in Sekrio over to this game and blasting through it in record time, but it's really not ideal. Especially when you consider how many enemies are simply copy/pasted like the avatars.

[bustamanteverde]

Agreed, some bosses are just mind blowing with their erratic behaviour, aoe swings that hit nearly 360 and up to 5 hit combos. I find melee very punishing to play unlike my mage who can kill Erd tree bosses that my melee could never without being 2 shot.

[Kazouie]

A lot of the time it seems to me they were more concerned with how the boss fight looks, rather than how it feels to be fighting that boss.
And the aesthetics are amazing, but bosses need some cooldown on their skills so it's not just divebomb, flurry, divebomb, flurry...

[Krazy Wallet]

I'm glad to hear it's not just me feeling this way. Perhaps there's a strategy I'm missing (other than "gitting gud"). I even respeced my character to have more vitality which I've never done before haha.

Originally posted by Chromyx:

like for me the Bosses feels like Oversized Bey Blades which suffering on Michael Bay syndrome.

Oh my gosh hahaha, that sums it up perfectly!

[Enderspoons]

Eloquently put. I tried to express this sentiment myself, but I don't think I did a good job in my own post.

[Sono]

i do think the game has an over reliance on area of effect attacks, case in point commander Niall is only scary because of this reason (and the summons but those can be dealt with), if you're not already away from him when he starts the animation for his lightning stomp, then you're going to get hit no matter what, as it catches rolls. This is a problem if you're melee especially with heavier weapons.

[Freak4Leeks]

i am of the opposite opinion personally.

and no hitting a boss feels alot cooler now due to all the insane stuff that happens.

i love the delayed attacks, the aoes, the hype aggressiveness of the bosses, it makes the boss fights an absolute sight and a dance, like sekiro.

[justinhaunts]

Originally posted by Отредактировано:

A lot of boss attacks in this game are almost nonsensical in how much ground they cover. I'm guessing they wanted to keep players from just carrying everything they learned in Sekrio over to this game and blasting through it in record time, but it's really not ideal. Especially when you consider how many enemies are simply copy/pasted like the avatars.

It was crazy when I was helping my friends with some bosses and I got to see the fight from the outside, they literally just teleport forward to in the middle of animations to increase their range. There was way too many tricks like that to make these bosses seem harder. Bosses had way too many i-frames, teleporting in animations to fake greater range, smaller hit boxes on their bodies but larger hit boxes for their weapons, etc.

The game isn't difficult but it feels cheap and lacks what made me and a lot of others fall in love with the Souls series. I will say, I do like that bosses seem to be a lot more varied in their strengths and weaknesses to the point where build switching is very common when tackling a new boss (or you can just over level). Elden Ring has me wanting to go an play through the Dark Souls series again.

[Enderspoons]

Originally posted by Freak4Leeks:

i am of the opposite opinion personally.

and no hitting a boss feels alot cooler now due to all the insane stuff that happens.

i love the delayed attacks, the aoes, the hype aggressiveness of the bosses, it makes the boss fights an absolute sight and a dance, like sekiro.

I imagine what makes Sekiro different though is that it gave you a reliable and consistent fallback to defend yourself against almost any attack at pretty much any time by guarding it. Elden Ring doesn't give you that safety net.
If I had to fight Great Shinobi Owl or Isshin the Sword Saint using Elden Ring's controls, I would probably get frustrated that my character wasn't mechanically able to keep pace with these kinds of bosses.

[Krazy Wallet]

Originally posted by Freak4Leeks:

i am of the opposite opinion personally.

and no hitting a boss feels alot cooler now due to all the insane stuff that happens.

i love the delayed attacks, the aoes, the hype aggressiveness of the bosses, it makes the boss fights an absolute sight and a dance, like sekiro.

That's interesting. I'm sure no hit runs are possible. Perhaps some have even done it already - I haven't watched anything as I'm avoiding spoilers. I find some combos and attacks feel almost unaviodable with melee classes. Did you feel the same or did you find ways to avoid them?

I'm thinking Godrick's tornado windup -weak but hit me most times. And Niall as Sono mentioned:

Originally posted by Sono:

i do think the game has an over reliance on area of effect attacks, case in point commander Niall is only scary because of this reason (and the summons but those can be dealt with), if you're not already away from him when he starts the animation for his lightning stomp, then you're going to get hit no matter what, as it catches rolls. This is a problem if you're melee especially with heavier weapons.

[hemorrhage911]

This isn't Dark Souls and the timing of bosses are simply different. Git gud like you got gud at Dark Souls.

[Lamiaroid]

Forums: Worst game! Hate it! Doesn't work!
Me: *114 hours in, loving every moment, smooth performance, nowhere near done because having too much fun exploring and killing every boss without summons* >.>

[Enderspoons]

What really grinds my gears though is that Elden Ring has significantly worse input lag compared to its predecessors. I was already feeling it with Slave Knight Gael in Ds3 (though that's the only example that comes to mind from the Souls trilogy), but here in Elden Ring I find that I'm getting eaten left and right because my rolls and blocks are coming out way too slow.
If I could dodge as soon as I released the button, this game's difficulty would evaporate at least fourfold for me. But as it stands, even simple bosses like Erdtree Watchdog or Stonedigger Troll give me massive conniptions because of this input lag.