This game isn't "hard", it's crappy

[dontu_worry]

Your character is slow, slow, slow and spends about 80% of it's time either being stunned, miissing attacks due to nonfunctioning hitboxes, or taking about a half hour to execute a simple one-handed normal attack, heal, or move 2 feet. Also, delay in every action (No, not "DoJe hApPunZ on Kee reLeasE"). Even after release, there is quite a delay before anything happens. If this is the startup part of the animation, its a bad design and. Enemies beyond the merest field enemies have infinite stamina and are quite difficult to stagger, comparted to the player. The design, artwork and depth and breadth of the world is incredible. It never crashes, but the core gameplay mechanics are just bad. Apparently lacking any other way to raise the bar on this latest offering, From seeming to decided to just hobble the player and make the bosses faster, with very vast instant movements and lengthy, uninterruptible combos. I can so the dual crucible knights solo, I have killed the first tree sentinel at level one with the wretch's first club, so I can play a little at least, but it's a shame the great aspects of the game are riding on a broken, frustrating engine.

[Darth Invader]

You lost me at a half-hour to execute a simple one-handed attack...

Keep on keepin' on though, skeleton.

[Janthis]

The player has stayed almost the same since Dark Souls 1, while the enemies now have Sekiro or Bloodborne mobility. That's the main issue, to me at least, that the game no longer feels 'fair'.

[Apekatt]

Truly understand your pain. I went from Sekiro to Elden and that screwed me up cause I felt like I could react to the bosses but my character couldn't. Being so used to instant actions when pressing buttons, the delay really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ me up on a lot of bosses (looking at you Morgott). I would be really interested in a sort of souls like game where the dodging is instant when you press the button. Fromsoft could do it with Sekiro so....why not again??

[Kyren]

Yeah I agree, it isnt a matter of DIFFICULTY. It just feels wrong overall.
I prefer games that are hard because of timing, skill, aim, knowing movements of the enemy. And sure elden ring has those things but it is unbelievably poorly executed and thats where they lose me.

[Humpenstilzchen]

How did noone mention the unbearably cheap aoe spam of bosses after each of their attacks?

[an entire Roman legion]

in other news: different people enjoy different things!

[Kyren]

Originally posted by Albob:

in other news: different people enjoy different things!

i'd enjoy my $90 back too

[An Irate Walrus]

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

The player has stayed almost the same since Dark Souls 1, while the enemies now have Sekiro or Bloodborne mobility. That's the main issue, to me at least, that the game no longer feels 'fair'.

We don't agree on much, but I feel like this is a reasonable assessment of where the imbalance seems to be coming from in combat. It's still manageable (obviously; many of us have put Malenia in the dirt a number of times and in several configurations), but it feels like there are two competing design philosophies at play, and they're in contention with one another in a way that isn't beneficial to the player.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Sekiro, even if the Owl still gives me serious trouble every time (I always get twitchy in that fight for some reason), but the player character is set up for those fights in a way that makes them feel competitive. ER is...less so, depending on build

[Flyin' High]

I always feel weird when I see threads like this
to me personally dark souls 3 was the game where it felt like my enemies had way more mobility than I did or were faster or whatever, while in Elden Ring it actually felt more in-tune with the player

[an entire Roman legion]

Originally posted by Kyren:

Originally posted by Albob:

in other news: different people enjoy different things!

i'd enjoy my $90 back too

I really dont care

[Lord Bob]

Originally posted by An Irate Walrus:

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

The player has stayed almost the same since Dark Souls 1, while the enemies now have Sekiro or Bloodborne mobility. That's the main issue, to me at least, that the game no longer feels 'fair'.

but it feels like there are two competing design philosophies at play, and they're in contention with one another in a way that isn't beneficial to the player.

Agreed. I've read this sentiment a couple of times now, but it never really stuck with me. In my opinion enemies were fast, and faster compared to other souls titles, but fighting them still felt like a fair (as in satisfying) challenge to me.

That is until I fought phase two PCR. And not because the boss was too hard, but because it felt like it was designed for an entirely different game. Still can't really wrap my head around it, to be honest.

[Nxce]

Originally posted by Kyren:

Originally posted by Albob:

in other news: different people enjoy different things!

i'd enjoy my $90 back too

Sucks to be you lmao, worth full price.

[Kyren]

Originally posted by drunk driver:

Originally posted by Kyren:

i'd enjoy my $90 back too

Sucks to be you lmao, worth full price.

No, I like the game but I was saying the persons point doesnt make sense. "People enjoy different things!" Yeah but we still dropped $90 in the endgame, and if we didnt like it we should have a right to atleast talk about it. I personally am enjoying the game, with a mild dislike for the combat.

[An Irate Walrus]

Originally posted by Lord Bob:

Originally posted by An Irate Walrus:

but it feels like there are two competing design philosophies at play, and they're in contention with one another in a way that isn't beneficial to the player.

Agreed. I've read this sentiment a couple of times now, but it never really stuck with me. In my opinion enemies were fast, and faster compared to other souls titles, but fighting them still felt like a fair (as in satisfying) challenge to me.

That is until I fought phase two PCR. And not because the boss was too hard, but because it felt like it was designed for an entirely different game. Still can't really wrap my head around it, to be honest.

Yeah, PCR ph2 is definitely the most extreme example of what I'm perceiving as divergent design philosophies for bosses and player movement/capabilities. Everything up to that point was manageable with some adjustments to approach; if you try to play ER like you played Demon's Souls, you're in for a bad time, and that's as it should be.

But PCR, the Dancing Lion, and Golden Hippo--while I've beaten them all--were significantly less enjoyable as fights not because they were too hard, but rather because they all felt roughly like limiting the player to boxing rules while the boss got the full range of MMA plus a couple of hits of speed to go with it.

[an entire Roman legion]

Originally posted by Kyren:

Yeah but we still dropped $90 in the endgame

thats your and only your problem wtf