Abyssal Woods is proof Torrent ruins areas

[Space Dust]

The tension went from 3 to 10 the moment Torrent was removed while in the Abyssal Woods. That horse is the reason the DLC has such empty and boring environments.

[Toast]

Messaggio originale di Persona Au Gratin:

Messaggio originale di Cacomistle:

I think the only other form of tension the abyssal woods have is the guys who insta kill you,

THAT'S THE THING! They really don't. Like, the game says "It's over if they see you" and you can actually escape them. I know because I've done it, I kept rolling, Madness triggered twice but I didn't die and then I just found tree roots and put those between them and me and they eventually dropped aggression. It's a cute area, but it doesn't go whole hog and it's just... tepid. And frankly, I'm kind of glad for it because I think the game is slathered with difficult stuff at my expense, it's just not moody or impressive the way people really try to sell it.

Don’t forget to parry them, and take their talisman

[Persona Au Gratin]

Messaggio originale di Toast:

Messaggio originale di Persona Au Gratin:

THAT'S THE THING! They really don't. Like, the game says "It's over if they see you" and you can actually escape them. I know because I've done it, I kept rolling, Madness triggered twice but I didn't die and then I just found tree roots and put those between them and me and they eventually dropped aggression. It's a cute area, but it doesn't go whole hog and it's just... tepid. And frankly, I'm kind of glad for it because I think the game is slathered with difficult stuff at my expense, it's just not moody or impressive the way people really try to sell it.

Don’t forget to parry them, and take their talisman

I saw that, honestly I'm just sitting here doing coop with random summons. I actually went and killed Midir solo and it's found itself on a "to-do list."

[Joeycentral]

Exploration would be better if you had flying mounts in the DLC.

[Toast]

Messaggio originale di Joeycentral:

Exploration would be better if you had flying mounts in the DLC.

Nah, flying makes a huge world very small. That’s with any game. Tales of Symphonia is a good example. Would take roughly 10-15 minutes traveling to a destination across the map, on foot. Once you get the ability to fly, travel time shortens down to a few minutes.

Now if From wanted to give us boats, so we could go check out those markers on the world map. That would be pretty cool.

[Star in a pond]

The game would absolutely be better without Torrent (if the world was designed around player just walking), it's true. The more I use Torrent, the more I'm sure of it.

That said, I still really like the DLC map, much more so than map of the base game, just wish they didn't repeat their mistakes with empty space. I wonder if we'll ever get immaculate DS1 level design.

[Zoid13]

my first play-through in 2022 i basically ran everywhere exploring everything on foot and killing everything i saw only ever calling torrent out to try jump up some cliff or across a large gap.
but yeh i agree that torrent makes ti too easy to just run past everything in the world.

[prnellom0922]

Messaggio originale di JaPhiSo:

Torrent is the reason why Elden Ring is tolerable. Without it the game would be one of the worst games out there!

Facts! empty areas with a herd of sheep, 3 warthogs, a giant or two, and a Death Rite Bird that catches you off-guard. That's Elden Ring in a nutshell.

[Fenix]

Messaggio originale di scambammer:

I'm new. I find that horse to be extremely awkward and I still haven't figured out yet why I constantly accidentally jump off of it while I am trying to joust. I've played 54 of my 55 hrs on foot

Using a controller? L3, the couch button, also dismounts you.

[phosTR]

Calling some areas empty (because they are) i can understand, but saying this DLC has boring areas/places? Really? c'mon

[Julmara]

theres almost nothing dangerous in there other than
*them*
and those i did just ignore with talismans
they got me once and never again

[zab]

yes I hate torrent, he shows everything wrong with this game

[speds👃]

The woods was just the dollar store demon souls / ds3 prison guards. in a big open area where they are easily avoided. Wasn't intense at all

[Knavenformed]

Messaggio originale di Star in a pond:

The game would absolutely be better without Torrent (if the world was designed around player just walking), it's true. The more I use Torrent, the more I'm sure of it.

That said, I still really like the DLC map, much more so than map of the base game, just wish they didn't repeat their mistakes with empty space. I wonder if we'll ever get immaculate DS1 level design.

Yeah by now if I'm able to use Torrent I am just simply not fighting anything that's not a notable opponent, for example the little ruined town that has the Outer God Amulet, straight up skipped with Torrent acrobatics.

In the DLC I'm already meta-level so I don't even need the runes
Fighting the Gargoyle birds and whatever else is fun, but completely pointless if I'm on my Honse

[BingusDingus]

I don't see how not having torrent ruins anything in that regard, you can just run past what little enemies there're. You've never needed torrent to get by enemies.

The abyssal woods is probably the worst example you could give, there's next to nothing there, there's only 3 of those instant kill gimmick enemies and the rest are trash mobs sprinkled extremely far between. The world being empty is not the fault of having a horse, that's just rushed and lazy game design, the base game had enemies everywhere and lots of curated encounters.