Does this game feel... alive?

[Dementia5 認知症]

Like some, I am looking for that next open world RPG fix. Can someone tell me how the game "feels"? I see there are some threads about unfinished NPC quests but I am addressing more the fact whether the Lands Between are "empty" or not.

I grew up under the sign of Skyrim (Morrowind really. Actually Darklands) so I enjoy the rich environment that ER seems to offer. The art direction is wonderful, an improvement over the Dark Souls series in fact. To that point, I realize there is a lot of revenant tropes, seeing as how the player is looking to get back to life and all so I imagine there are some limits to character development.

Just managing expectations; I know I won't be building a house :) By playing Dark Souls I have a pretty good idea what it means to play an "action" RPG but I always gravitate to immersion, so I am wondering what's inside the package, what layers are underneath.

[Dairadh]

It feels beautiful, with a wonderful atmosphere. But alive ? No.

There are only a few NPC, they don't move (or they teleport to another spot when game is loading) and they don't interact with each other.

There is no "role" playing in ER, it's almost exlusively action-oriented.

[**DeiRowtag]

the game is not empty at all, there are tons of stuff to explore and to kill, yet if you want NPC everywhere and life going on like a skyrim city, it won't be the case. almost everything is hostile in this game so you will for sure have plenty to kill.

[MisterRed]

A lot of lore is hidden in item descriptions and hyper vague dialogue, so overall, it may not appeal to you unless you're a lore hunter. Also, I feel a staple of these games is the feeling of death, or impending death of a world. Theres very few sane beings, most things attack you on sight, sort of like a dark fantasy apocalypse. The world feels dead because thats all you really cause

[Amereth]

i would say dark soul style is the fps of the rpg genre. It is an Action game with rpg elements on top.

the world will feel more dead than alive at first. You really need to look at all the small details to actually see the world for what it was when it was alive.


You won't find many npc doing their on things and creating events that make the world alive.

[Babushka Dog Player]

99.9% of NPCs that you will encounter are enemies, you'll never hear random enemies talk to eachother and there are no cities that has a lot of friendly NPCs you can interact with. the weather is 9 times out of 10 rainy or windy with no sunlight, game feels extremely depressing to play and basically the entire playthrough is doom and gloom.

also going out into the open world and exploring yourself will most likely literally break questlines that you have already started or havent even discovered yet.

honestly, playing this game makes me legit depressed irl

[vamirez]

Love the open world personally and find it to be very atmospheric and immersive, with lots of stuff to do.

However, no good comparison to Elder Scrolls except for the strong exploration focus, i.e. there are no people living their normal lives or anything, and there are only a few quests in that sense. The world has basically ended a long time ago. Imagine if in Dark Souls you could just access the open world outside.

My suggestion, really - look into 1-2 hours of a let's play, just see what it's like. Won't spoil much for a game this size. Some suggestions: First 1-2 episodes - ChristopherOdd, Keith Ballard, MentalFox (last one is the most casual guy I'd say - which I don't mean in a bad sense).

[BassChamber]

No, unfortunately its the opposite. It feels empty an dead, like if something terrible happened time ago and all that is left is few sick people wandering around. But the enviroments are terrific and the monsters design is top notch.

NPCs and quests are crap. Convoluted and annoying, you will need a guide to complete them, if you want to take the hassle.

[Tikus Tycoon]

Originally posted by Babushka Dog Player:

99.9% of NPCs that you will encounter are enemies, you'll never hear random enemies talk to eachother and there are no cities that has a lot of friendly NPCs you can interact with. the weather is 9 times out of 10 rainy or windy with no sunlight, game feels extremely depressing to play and basically the entire playthrough is doom and gloom.

also going out into the open world and exploring yourself will most likely literally break questlines that you have already started or havent even discovered yet.

honestly, playing this game makes me legit depressed irl

All soulsgames are like this 😛, but i just love the gameplay, i never follow lores, not interested.

[OrangeGills]

Even when you're playing singleplayer, you see remnants of other players' presence. Messages they leave. The occasional ghost of another playing going about the game. Bloodstains where others died, and you can view their deaths through the bloodstains. Enemies with glowing eyes, signifying they caused a death.

While game world NPCs dont feel "alive", the game itself feels like a community undertaking, and you don't feel alone on your adventure even if you're playing singleplayer.

[vamirez]

Originally posted by OrangeGills:

Even when you're playing singleplayer, you see remnants of other players' presence. Messages they leave. The occasional ghost of another playing going about the game. Bloodstains where others died, and you can view their deaths through the bloodstains. Enemies with glowing eyes, signifying they caused a death.

While game world NPCs dont feel "alive", the game itself feels like a community undertaking, and you don't feel alone on your adventure even if you're playing singleplayer.

I personally find online mode un-immersive and always play offline. Depending on what you like/want, that may improve the game's atmo.

[Dementia5 認知症]

OP here.

Well, 12 responses in as many minutes is testimony that the Elden Ring community is alive, LOL

Thankfully, as someone pointed out, I AM a lore hunter and am very much intrigued by what appears to be the "uncovering" of life (or maybe enven a culture?) in a barren realm. That sounds good.

I also get the depression IRL angle, and I suspect that is all part of the mood. The gloom and doom of gameplay is something that other games have attempted (e.g. Oblivion) but this looks to be the real deal.

I admit I would have liked to have more NPC interaction. I won't be visiting any taverns here but I suppose I can always go to Whiterun for that.

Any other pluses to put out there? What does it accomplish that other RPGs have attempted but missed the mark?

[fauxpas]

The answer is no, the game world is beautiful, full, and fun, but it is very static and very much "dead".


Same with quests and choices, they don't really matter and aren't really referenced.

[RobAlca]

u better go on witcher 3

[Bricky strong]

To me, the game's the BEST game out and been out for decades. I don't get any the ''stutter'' ever but now the game runs really sweet with online function, (for me). The graphics are excellent, the gameplay is the best, the sound is excellent. Its a hard game that requires skill or brains and both and you'll do very well.
I can barley say enough for how good this game is, but thats me, and I'm better at games than average and my PC runs the game excellent.

[Dairadh]

In my opinion, it doesn't accomplish anything new. But it does some things reaaally well (the atmosphere is just perfect, combat is cool, boss are impressive and some of them are really tough, you can create a LOT of builds depending of your stats/weapons/armor/talismans/sorcery/incantation, the open world feeling is there, you can go pretty much anywhere you see and that's very nice).