Elden Ring- What do you score it?

[SWard]

Hey folks,

If you've been playing/ are planning to play Elden Ring - I'd love to know what you'd score it and why! Also if any of you have sunk impressive hours into it already.



Stevie

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I've only managed about 12 hours so far, its a Souls game, with open world elements that dont annoy me yet.

I've done a couple of the dungeons around Limgrave, Beast man, Demi human chiefs and whatever the robot dog statue was called. The ashes summons probably make the game more attractive to those who find the grind of running at the bosses too much. Hopefully the ruins will not start to feel all the same as the game moves on, at least with different enemies or some other variety.

Can't score it yet as I'm only at the start, just beat Margit and went into the first castle. But for me to rave about something and give it 10/10 it has to be unique or surprise me in some way. I don't think its going to do that from what Ive heard and what I've played.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I've only managed about 12 hours so far, its a Souls game, with open world elements that dont annoy me yet.

I've done a couple of the dungeons around Limgrave, Beast man, Demi human chiefs and whatever the robot dog statue was called. The ashes summons probably make the game more attractive to those who find the grind of running at the bosses too much. Hopefully the ruins will not start to feel all the same as the game moves on, at least with different enemies or some other variety.

Can't score it yet as I'm only at the start, just beat Margit and went into the first castle. But for me to rave about something and give it 10/10 it has to be unique or surprise me in some way. I don't think its going to do that from what Ive heard and what I've played.

With no mention of performance problems, you must have a beast of a PC? I've read it stutters a lot on all but the highest end hardware (6900 XT, 3090).

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Running it on high settings with no major problems, my rigs not bleeding edge but its higher than recommended specs. Ryzen 5600X/Radeon 5700XT 16GB 3600C16 on an NVME.

It only chugs occasionally, usually when I go somewhere I havent been before maybe streaming some visual stuff in the distance or something, but I've had no slowdowns in fights that have caused any problems. It feels like its chugging on the CPU when it does, had FPS monitor on for a while and 90% of the time its at 60 FPS (game is capped at that) and GPU well below 100% even at ultra settings (minus motion blur and AA low)

I was running it on flat out ultra fine, but then it started raining and the frame rate tanked to what felt like below 30. Changed the settings to mostly high and no problems since. It also doesn't look any different to me either tbh.

Now I just need to find some time to play it, family are all sick including me so maybe not for a while.

 

[Alm]

I'm thinking of getting it, but not played a Souls game before and I don't usually go for notoriously difficult games.

That said I love the aesthetic and open world games so I'm tempted.

 

[DXCHASE]

Since reading PCG's article about the abundance of Berserk-inspired armor/weapons, i kinda want to jump in there just to collect/see them all. I've played souls games in the past and this looks like the next 2 dark souls put together with a mount, so ill probably pick it up when its on sale.

 

[ZedClampet]

With all the hype, I desperately want to play this, but I've bought too many full price releases this year already. Plus I have more than enough to play right now, so I'm going to wait till summer when no one releases games, and I'm bored.

 

[Sarafan]

I haven't played it yet and I'm not fully convinced to Dark Souls formula in a fully open world. I'll probably wait for some sale before I try it. Generally I like the genre, but one of its characteristics was a half-open world and I enjoyed this approach. I'm fully aware that the game receives very high scores in reviews and I even considered buying it for the full price, but finally decided to wait. Maybe I'll have the occasion to play a more polished version this way.

 

[Zloth]

I think I would use mostly classical music, sticking mainly with minor keys. Some of those bosses definitely need some harsh electric guitars, though. It's From software, so all the boss music would have to pull some syncopation out of nowhere to try and throw the player off - or maybe deliberately make the music's beat just a tenth of a second slower than the pace the boss uses for attacks.

Anyway, that's how I would score it.
{Grinning, ducking, running ;}

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I think I would use mostly classical music, sticking mainly with minor keys. Some of those bosses definitely need some harsh electric guitars, though. It's From software, so all the boss music would have to pull some syncopation out of nowhere to try and throw the player off - or maybe deliberately make the music's beat just a tenth of a second slower than the pace the boss uses for attacks.

Anyway, that's how I would score it.
{Grinning, ducking, running ;}

Lol. Somebody had to do it. Why not Zloth?

 

[Frindis]

Some frame drops (they are working on it) and not particularly pleasant to play with a mouse and keyboard are about what I don't like after around 20 hours. Why not just use a controller? Because I'm stubborn that way.

Everything else has so far been amazing. THIS is the game for explorers and such a breed am I! A lot of people were complaining about the mini-boss at the first castle being too hard and while I can understand the feeling of having to lick your wounds, I loved it because it made me have to do what I like the most, exploring the map finding ways to get stronger:

Deep, deeeeeeeeep into the content I went, explored big monuments, large and strange beings both under and over the ground, and tons of deaths after with mindbogglingly amazing moments I found my source of power to defeat Margit, the Fell Omen. I'm not going to spoil it, but in some god-forsaken secret place with putrid stuff that would kill you in a split second, I found an ancient relic of immense power, a power so great that even Margit shook with fear.

So far my score is 10/10.

 

[Sarafan]

Damn, you guys really encourage me to buy the game after all! I like Dark Souls, but I'm not a fanatic of the series. I especially value the atmosphere it. Do you think I'll like Elden Ring? There's quite a lot of games this year that I would like to buy, so I'm not sure whether to go on buying spree so early this year.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm liking it even more as I play it more. The open world is interesting to explore but at the same time you are kind of funneled into areas, feels like they're just bigger carefully designed levels. The horse Torrent works well, and I actually kind of like fighting on him, although I believe some people don't like it as much. When you go on foot into a dungeon or fort area though, it still feels Dark Souls.

I've spent about 18 hours in the first area, probably going to spend a bit more time here too. Dont know if it opens up more later or how the later areas are obviously, but I think I'll be spending a while here to find out.

 

[Frindis]

@Sarafan I'm also not a Dark Souls fanatic, but I have played through DS1/DS2 and found them to be a fantastic experience. If you like exploring new areas, sucking in beautiful vistas, enjoying how your character progress, searching for hidden areas, and like to be challenged, then I do believe you will have a good experience. I will say this though: While I have not gotten far into the game boss wise, the game seems to be more challenging (also what the majority seems to think) than its predecessors and it is not as streamlined meaning you will have to find out more by yourself where to go, how to get stronger and what utilities you can use to combat your own weaknesses. That is basically how I fought the first boss by getting hit by a wall, leveling up a bit more while also finding an item that would make the fight be in my favor.

 

[Zloth]

Some frame drops (they are working on it) and not particularly pleasant to play with a mouse and keyboard are about what I don't like after around 20 hours. Why not just use a controller? Because I'm stubborn that way.

Meanwhile, robot dinosaurs are running amok around future-Denver because Aloy skipped town!?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Sarafan I'm also not a Dark Souls fanatic, but I have played through DS1/DS2 and found them to be a fantastic experience. If you like exploring new areas, sucking in beautiful vistas, enjoying how your character progress, searching for hidden areas, and like to be challenged, then I do believe you will have a good experience. I will say this though: While I have not gotten far into the game boss wise, the game seems to be more challenging (also what the majority seems to think) than its predecessors and it is not as streamlined meaning you will have to find out more by yourself where to go, how to get stronger and what utilities you can use to combat your own weaknesses. That is basically how I fought the first boss by getting hit by a wall, leveling up a bit more while also finding an item that would make the fight be in my favor.

Spoiler: Light spoiler maybe

There's also the ashes summons you get very near the start that can be used at any time, they're really useful for drawing aggro so you can just wail on anything from behind while its distracted. That made Margit much more manageable even at a fairly low level. No idea how viable they are with later bosses

I've read whispers about very tough bosses but trying to stay away from any main boss spoilers. Stormveil Castle was pretty difficult though after Margit, so I went south of the starting area after struggling for a while.

One thing I noticed is that most bosses have different length wind up between attacks, some seem to take a long time and also fake out, and its throwing off my dodge timing much more than I remember happening in any Dark Souls game. Might just have gotten older or be out of practice.

What weapon and build are you going for? I've just realized there's a ton of smithing stones around so I dont necessarily need to limit myself to one weapon to upgrade without grinding a lot.

I've got my usual Great Sword and shield, Leather one for now, using the Lordsworn GS, and I picked up the Hooked blades which are a lot of fun so far to dual wield. All points going into Str, Dex and Vigor.