Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@Yagami @BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN This is an interesting discussion and you've both nailed my only real problem with Elden Ring. There's no happy medium in terms of the difficulty, it's either batter them with ashes, or struggle for absolutely ages with some of the bosses. I wouldn't think it's a reflection on your skills either - without wanting to boast (but I'm going to anyway) I solo'd the Dark Souls trilogy and managed it all right, with only a handful of massively problematic bosses (hello Manus). Elden Ring is still a great game, but Dark Souls 3 is still my favourite.

@Gremio108 Yeah I solo'd most bosses in Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3 & Bloodborne as well (defo had to summon for Ludwig though). And I also solo'd all the bosses in Demon's Souls (2020) w/ the exception of Penetrator (shout out to my homie, Biorr, for that one!) but admittedly Dark Souls 3 has the hardest bosses.

In terms of overall enjoyment ,I would rank the games as follows:

1)Dark Souls 3
2)Demon's Souls (2020) - w/ a caveat of that being it wouldn't have been half as enjoyable w/out my Dragon Bone Smasher+3 & Curse Weapon to hand for the latter stages of the game.
3)Bloodborne (would be interchangeable w/ 4) if it wasn't for Ludwig's Holy Blade & character's not being able to 'hollow'
4)Dark Souls (only 'cause I don't like the way my character looks when he's hollowed)

(Didn't complete Sekiro or DS2 b/c I didn't find them as enjoyable and Miyazaki specifically said, as I've said elsewhere on here and been rebutted for, but he did say it, that Sekiro wasn't intended to be a Souls game or Soulslike, and DS2 wasn't directed by the legendary Miyazaki-san).

I think I've explained that thoroughly enough, heh heh heh.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Funnily enough my list would probably look very similar to yours, with a couple of differences - I'd probably swap Bloodborne and Demon's Souls around, having replayed them both recently (Demon's Souls is ace and dripping with atmosphere, but feels a bit short when you've played the others) and it sounds like I enjoyed Dark Souls II a lot more than you did lol. So I'd pop that in there somewhere, near the bottom.

How far did you get with DS2? Just wondering because I didn't like it at first either, but it seemed to get better the longer it went on.

As for the Sekiro question, that's an interesting one. It didn't massively click with me and I struggled through it, although the combat and game world were very well-realised. So it wouldn't make my list, although I can see why that would be a controversial view!

@Gremio108 I did No Man's Wharf early, got the Greatsword, and then just decided for whatever reason - i.e enemy placement, enemy types compared to Dark Souls enemies etc. that I didn't like the game, I also did that famous cheese on that early boss that you can manipulate into falling to his death.

I think that was the last boss I beat in the game, the second after the first Giant one.

Also, I'm not sure where I'd place Elden Ring as I haven't completed it yet, but, yeah it could dethrone Dark Souls 3 for me if the sum of it's parts is as good as the polls say, but Idk how many people who've contributed to those polls only really played ER and maybe a bit of Bloodborne/Sekiro and DS3.

And yeah, DS2 does get a lot of hate, presumably a lot of it is unjustified ,and the DLC is widely regarded as top-quality, so if you're gonna get any version of it, I hear SOTFS is def the one to go for - I did get that one, but, as I say, didn't make it to the DLC.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I mean, at least you know DS2 is always there if you fancy another go, it's not going anywhere. I'd agree that the DLC is excellent. Another thing it did well was new game+. New items, different enemy placements, bosses suddenly jumping out at you in random spots, that sort of thing.

I forgot to put Elden Ring in my list, I'd probably put it second behind DS3, that game just resonated with me for some reason.