Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree Sounds Like a Mammoth Expansion

Already pre-ordered! Can’t wait to get back into The Lands Between!

Been a while since I played it but 'bigger than Limgrave' and 10 boss fights don't tell me much lol

Edit: read the EG thing, looks good.

If I had a nickel for every time Atlus released a meaty JRGP in 2024 within 24 hours of another company releasing significant JRPG content, I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice (Comes out the same day as SMT V Revengence btw)

N.i.c.e. elen ring shadow of the erdtree does sound like a huge expansion.elden ring is a masterpiece.word up son

"It's also confirmed there'll be a poisoned swamp area in Shadow of the Erdtree, so have fun with that."

Of course there is. I'd almost be disappointed if there wasn't.

Gameplay trailer AND the release date, all into one - color me impressed! And hyped at the same time.
Still have the character with which I platinumed the main game 2 years ago - ready to go!

"...and there'll be an encounter on the same level as Malenia, Blade of Miquella." That sounds worrisome because Malenia had one of the worst designed moves that caused controversy among the community.

@Nepp67 Easy to avoid if you don't panic roll. Distance yourself, let her swing twice, roll towards her and eat the last hit. Worst thing about it is when you die to it she repeats herself, just in case you haven't heard that she's Malenia, Blade of Miquella.

He talked of bloodborne as well, saying another jump in gen would be more suited for a remake of bloodborne, but seems they just want to not give a patch on ps5 for a smooth experience,,it really needs it.

Now that we know the release date, I wonder if I should wait until the supposed PS5 Pro release at the end of 2024 to continue playing Elden Ring and the DLC. The framerate on non-VRR TVs can be choppy (or at least noticeably non-60 FPS) in open areas and I suspect that the added juice PS5 Pro is supposed to have may make a difference in smoothing the framerate out.

@extragood a PS5 pro wont' fix FromSofts faulty engine. It has the same recurring issues its had since ps3, largely because they have used that same engine with modest improvements for over a decade on these titles. Elden Ring isn't pushing visuals beyond ps4 era fidelity by any stretch.

Unless Fromsoft take the time to fix their frame time issues and other recurring poor optimization consequences, it's going to remain more of the same regardless of the hardware.

I think they would really benefit taking all that cash from not paying their employees overtime when deserved, and profits from Elden Ring, to just rebuild an engine that will take them forward for the next decade. Rather than us essentially getting the same game reskinned over and over again in that same aging engine, with the same technical problems following in stride. It just feels like they've really milked that engine for far too long, and reused assets and boss animations between games as well.

Love these games more than any other genre, but we know that they can support much higher fidelity as seen with titles like lies of P, LOTF, and the Demon Souls remake, etc

@KundaliniRising333 100% agree. As much as I love the dark souls games and elden ring they really need to change that engine. I'd be happy if they switched to ue5 to be perfectly honest. I also agree that elden ring on the ps5 is hardly pushing the ps5 at all and it's the engine that's holding it back. Still looks great but it could be so much better.

@DeathlySW I've done it solo already, the problem I have with this move is that it has you doing awkward ways of avoiding it or to not interact with the first move. It's either doing a rotation around Malenia to try to get behind her which is super risky and dodge or roll away as much as you can to not interact with the first move at all. That doesn't feel natural after the many, many, other bosses.

@Northern_munkey Agreed. It has amazing art design and really carries the experience but it's definitely not pushing graphical fidelity at all, which i think is why it's even more an issue that they don't get these games running smoothly, even post launch. They often don't support the game technically post launch at all.

Yah, I agree that ue5 or even decima would be awesome for sure. Both FromSoft and Team Ninja have milked their engines for far too long now. FromSoft has at least improved some additional fidelity and effects within the engine over the years though, but the performance has still remained fubar and that godawful UI has literally not changed since 2008.
I think The Demon Souls Remake really shows that it's developer originated inaction on these fronts. As Bluepoint was able to take that same game code and make it stunning and run better.
Again, I love the art design and atmosphere of these games for sure, but its time to put in the investment to upgrade perf and fidelity.

@Nepp67 I don’t disagree, I still hate it with a passion. Having summons makes it worse because 90% of the time there’s at least one leech and that combined with her likelihood of randomly switching targets is a disaster waiting to happen. Such a strange choice for sure.

@KundaliniRising333 " has amazing art design and really carries the experience but it's definitely not pushing graphical fidelity at all"

Yet ER won Best Art Direction over HFW/GOWR. So it's not really about pushing graphical fidelity when it comes to art style. I mean Okami was so unique and beautiful with its paintbrush stroke style. Everything doesn't have to match PS Studios graphics.

@TheArt No, that's not the point I was trying to make. The point is that there is no limiting excuse to allow recurring technical issues to plague their game engine for over a decade.
I am not saying it needs to push graphical boundaries, nor that such is a measure of a good game. However, these technical issues have followed Fromsoft and their engine across 7 games over the course of 15 years.

As I said its stunning artistically, but performance leaves a great deal to be desired.

A boss as tough as tough as Malenia AND a new poison swamp! I guess my neighbours better get used to hearing me repeatedly screaming and swearing at the TV again!

@KundaliniRising333 Don't forget that From Software release their game on multiple platforms. Each platform has a specific graphics API, it is a pain to develop the same thing while supporting all of these APIs. They are so different, from how they give you access to the low level control of the GPU to simple things like defining a coordinates system (on this topic DirectX is famously the inverse of Vulkan, great...). There is a reason why Horizon is PS only and why Ratchet and Clank was a technical failure on PC. Unreal Engine is also not a magical solution either, look at how EA Sport WRC Rally was a technical failure at launch. Elden Ring is trying to get relatively good everywhere at the same time, so you cannot really take risks and push the boundaries in this context.

@B0udoir the engine is the problem. Ue5 and decima are both far superior engines with far better graphical features and are used over multi platforms as well. Fromsoftware need to change the engine and not the art direction or game play.

@B0udoir "there is a reason why Horizon is PS only." Wasn't horizon released on the PC?