Not a Masterpiece

[Wolffe]

Serious discussion thread.
I think on the whole ER is the most accessible & financially successful FromSoft game. It was essentially the Skyrim of the early 2020s, everyone was talking and memeing about it.

However, as a Souls game I think it is a 6/10. My criticisms are mostly around fundamental game design choices rather than individual nitpicks such as "x boss is too hard."

The decision for open world for instance. I do not immediately reject the idea of an open style world, but it's a tricky thing to pull off successfully if one wants to avoid the classic blunders. ER tries its best but any veteran gamer will begin to see cracks in the open world formula after just 25-50hrs of gameplay. Entering a new zone after that becomes less about adventuring and finding out more lore, and more about "i must find ruins and dungeons to obtain loot." Humans are good at recognising patterns and by the time you get to Altus you already know every new zone will have a couple world bosses, a 6-12 cave dungeons, maybe an evergol, some ruins with possible loot chest, mayne a small optional castle, and the zones main castle. It becomes a predictable formula that was not as predictable in previous souls games due to their smaller size and thus more unique (in terms of gameplay) levels.

Another smaller gripe I have is the lack of incentive to try different builds considering gear is so spread out over the game and good gear rare until mid or late game. Also a first time playthru with no walkthrough is pretty much guaranteed to miss a lot of great or even necessary items which unknowingly weakens them in the long run. For example on my current character I am level 90 and i'm still using a sword I obtained at level 8. I'm completely bored of my weapon, build, and armor, but have not changed build due to fear of being weaker than I currently am (faith based barricade greatshield with sacred lordsworn greatsword).

This of course is not to pretend ER doesnt excel in any area. The combat is smooth and satisfying. The level design and art assets are phenomenal. Atmospheric sound is excellent and the music ranges from mediocre to good.

Looking for honest discussion about these points; trolls or get good comments will be ignored.

[Artek [General]]

Hmmm, no, can't refute any of that.
Open world games come with inherent issues, that's just the way it is.

The build woes are slightly questionable, nothing stops you from respecting at Renalla, but for that you'll have to let go off the idea of efficiency and just commit to a build for fun, like respecting into a thematic character. My first char respeced into a Crucible Knight closer to end game, and it was purely an aesthetic decision, not a rational one.

Game's still good though, in a lot of ways, but the minor issues do gnaw at its' ankles ever so slightly, so yeah... 8/10 tops and on some days it feels like a 7.

[Wolffe]

Originally posted by Artek General:

The build woes are slightly questionable, nothing stops you from respecting at Renalla, but for that you'll have to let go off the idea of efficiency and just commit to a build for fun, like respecting into a thematic character.

This is so true. It's a constant struggle to rid oneself of the min/max efficiency mindset. You've inspired me to just jump in and switch it up.

[Nauct]

Open world sucks, but Elden Ring does it better than any other game

[John]

Sometimes a game doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to hit a certain gaming need. Like that annoying itch you have you can't find and no matter where you scratch, it doesn't go away until you hit that spot you didn't realize was the itch. That was Elden Ring for me, i can count the amount of times i had this kind of experience on one hand.
-Final Fantasy 7
-Diablo 2
-Final Fantasy 12
-Skyrim
-Elden Ring

Is this game a masterpiece?, ten outta ten, best game of the century, hundred out of a hundred?... no, not even close. I'd rate it around a 7,5, same as i would put Skyrim at. For me, in a lot of cases, a game's score has nothing to do with replayability or how much fun i have in it. I have games i would rate a 9 out of 10, and i played through them once, 20 hours total game time. And then most of the games i have thousands of hours in are lacking in the scoring department yet i have fun in them for some reason.

[Nauct]

Originally posted by John:

Sometimes a game doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to hit a certain gaming need. Like that annoying itch you have you can't find and no matter where you scratch, it doesn't go away until you hit that spot you didn't realize was the itch. That was Elden Ring for me, i can count the amount of times i had this kind of experience on one hand.
-Final Fantasy 7
-Diablo 2
-Final Fantasy 12
-Skyrim
-Elden Ring

Is this game a masterpiece?, ten outta ten, best game of the century, hundred out of a hundred?... no, not even close. I'd rate it around a 7,5, same as i would put Skyrim at. For me, in a lot of cases, a game's score has nothing to do with replayability or how much fun i have in it. I have games i would rate a 9 out of 10, and i played through them once, 20 hours total game time. And then most of the games i have thousands of hours in are lacking in the scoring department yet i have fun in them for some reason.

Sekiro was like that for me. 10/10 and I only have 100 hours in it

[PoorMichaelScott]

Low effort bait

[echo_ML]

Originally posted by Foamathan:

Serious discussion thread.

https://youtu.be/EAm65VMD_Fc?si=m5FHxCe-psPUX3DH

[vamirez]

Serious answer: Definitely a masterpiece.

A little longer serious answer: People trip over that word, but note that it doesn't mean that every aspect of a thing must be absolutely perfect and/or loved by everyone. I mean, I'll never go to the opera and watch Swanlake unless you threaten me with a weapon, but I won't start a discussion with afficionados attempting to tell them that it's "not that good". There is just no need for that.

Bonus serious answer: Notes in post like "serious answer only bla bla" only serve to cast doubts on the the post itself and to turn people off.

[John Titor]

Originally posted by echo_ML:

Originally posted by Foamathan:

Serious discussion thread.

https://youtu.be/EAm65VMD_Fc?si=m5FHxCe-psPUX3DH

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_asNhzXq72w&pp=ygUXcHJpY2UgcmlnaHQgbG9zaW5nIGhvcm4%3D

[Fineous🔥]

Greetings, OP.

Ok so this is a

Originally posted by Foamathan:

Not a Masterpiece
Serious discussion thread.

Alright, OP. Let me check your profile, just in case you posted already a review about Elden RIng oh my Elden RIng. With that info i will be able to understand your hot-take much better.

Originally posted by Foamathan:

As a player who's finished DS1, DS2, & DS3, I can confidently say Elden Ring is the magnus opus of the souls-like genre. It combines the best from the previous iterations and throws the worst in the trash. The amount of new features and quality of life tweaks are too numerous for a short review.

Suffice to say it looks, plays, and feels the best it's ever been.
Posted 18 December, 2024.

Right......Are you the same person who posted that review? OP? Care to explain what happened to you between december and today? So you completly changed your mind? Dont answer......I have everything i need now.


Thanks for sharing your opinions, OP. Now go and buy Nightreign and Shadow of the Erdtree.

[Phirestar]

I don’t mind the abundance of minor dungeons. I took them for what they were: supplementary content that exists to fill in the gaps between more prominent encounters. I’d argue that having those more simple, more predictable moments is good for pacing, allowing the player a “rest” of sorts from the tougher legacy dungeons and more major boss fights.

For me, a section of a game being poorly designed is far worse than something that merely lacks excitement or novelty in comparison to other parts of that same game. The caves and catacombs are repetitive, sure, but they are still built competently. On their own, when judged in a vacuum, they are well designed, and thus I am fine with them. I’m not nearly as critical of a smithing stone tunnel with the same enemies and another. Crystalian boss as I would be with something like Lost Izalith or the Shrine of Amana, which leave me feeling baffled or frustrated by the design choices made. Now if it were the case that too much of the game’s run time was based solely upon repeated dungeons, that would be a different story, but how much is “too much” is completely subjective to the individual. I feel that the balance is fine from what I’ve seen of the game so far, which is everything up to and including the Altus Plateau that I’m just about done exploring.

To give to FromSoftware credit in this regard, it was their very first attempt at creating an open world game, and I’d say they did extremely well for a first attempt. They had never done this before, so I can accept and expect a certain level of fault due to the lack of experience. I’ve not reached the Shadowlands myself, but I’ve heard from others that apparently they managed to improve the quality of this aspect of the game in the DLC. People have told me there’s less minor dungeons compared to the base game, but with each one there’s a greater degree of nuisance and variety from the others. I’ll be interested to see what that’s like.

I do somewhat agree on the point about the lack of incentive to try different builds. I think the Soulsborne games are a bit of a mixed bag, where they provide the opportunity to respec and rework your build at nearly any time, but don’t provide enough readily-available materials that allow you to upgrade and maintain multiple weapons easily, which I assume is for balancing reasons. As for the “good stuff” being hidden away in later parts of the game, that’s just kind of how RPGs work. They want to hold back the best gear until you’re far into the game in order to enhance that sensation of growth and progression over time. If you could start out with immediate access to endgame spells or melee weapons, what would be the point in having anything else in the game? Why would someone choose to use any other piece of equipment if they could have Malenia’s amour and weapon in Limgrave, you know?

[Senki]

Well... ignoring your review that directly contradicts this entire post for a second, I agree. I wouldn't consider this game a full on masterpiece. It has some big issues in many areas. For me a masterpiece would be a game that I enjoyed completely from start to finish in every single area and ER is not one of those at all.

That being said I'd still say that it's a really good game overall. Especially in the open world genre it's easily one of the best but that's not too hard to accomplish for someone like Fromsoftware. Most open world games have horrible combat and enemy designs so it's like taking candy from a baby.

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Fineous🔥:

Alright, OP. Let me check your profile, just in case you posted already a review about Elden RIng oh my Elden RIng. With that info i will be able to understand your hot-take much better.

Originally posted by Foamathan:

As a player who's finished DS1, DS2, & DS3, I can confidently say Elden Ring is the magnus opus of the souls-like genre. It combines the best from the previous iterations and throws the worst in the trash. The amount of new features and quality of life tweaks are too numerous for a short review.

Suffice to say it looks, plays, and feels the best it's ever been.
Posted 18 December, 2024.

Right......Are you the same person who posted that review? OP? Care to explain what happened to you between december and today? So you completly changed your mind?

You can like something and still be critical of it. I have a positive review of Dark Souls 3 and I can still rot your ears away with complains of bad game design decisions, inaccurate armor, unfinished content and more.
Liking something always tends to eventually hating its' flaws even more.
Like I hate the fact that 2H Twinblades do not continue an R1 combo after an R2, restarting it from scratch with an iffy delay.
Or how short weapons can't hit an Erdtree avatar from the front because of a cavity in their belly.
Or how arrows and bolts still don't track the target like they do when enemies shoot at us.
Or how Large Miranda Flowers are time-sinks made manifest.
Or...
...
You get the gist. These things only become more irritating with every 100 hours clocked in.

[Senki]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by Fineous🔥:

Alright, OP. Let me check your profile, just in case you posted already a review about Elden RIng oh my Elden RIng. With that info i will be able to understand your hot-take much better.




Right......Are you the same person who posted that review? OP? Care to explain what happened to you between december and today? So you completly changed your mind?

You can like something and still be critical of it. I have a positive review of Dark Souls 3 and I can still rot your ears away with complains of bad game design decisions, inaccurate armor, unfinished content and more.
Liking something always tends to eventually hating its' flaws even more.
Like I hate the fact that 2H Twinblades do not continue an R1 combo after an R2, restarting it from scratch with an iffy delay.
Or how short weapons can't hit an Erdtree avatar from the front because of a cavity in their belly.
Or how arrows and bolts still don't track the target like they do when enemies shoot at us.
Or how Large Miranda Flowers are time-sinks made manifest.
Or...
...
You get the gist. These things only become more irritating with every 100 hours clocked in.

ok but he literally says that it's the ''magnus opus of the soulslike genre'' and then calls it a 6/10 souls game in this post lmao

I mean everyone can change their mind on things, I did as well but that review isn't too old.

[John Titor]

Originally posted by Artek General:

You can like something and still be critical of it...

You can also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and clown farm as well. These are all things you can do.