RPGWatch Forums - Elden Ring

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Elden Ring - Review Roundup

Reviews have been released, and they look ridiculously positive.

Wccf Tech: 10

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Elden Ring is not only the best action RPG developed by From Software but one of the best open-world titles ever made. A masterclass of game design, Elden Ring isn't just a game but an epic dark fantasy journey that no one will be able to forget for a very long time.

Pros: Masterfully crafted world and lore. Excellent open-world design that grants players the freedom to do things at their own pace. Intricate dungeon design
Deep combat and customization possibilities. Improved accessibility, with tutorials providing information on central mechanics

Cons: Minor, yet noticeable, stuttering on PC. No support for framerates above 60 FPS and ultrawide resolutions.

COG: 98 (reviewed on PS5)

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Elden Ring is an awe-inspiring achievement. Both a summary and bold step forward, it fuses FromSoftware's best and most effective ideas with an endlessly engaging open world. Its combat is the most refined of the series, challenging yet accessible to new players. Elden Ring includes an incredible amount of quality content. More importantly, it offers a captivating, polished experience fraught with danger and filled with beauty.

The Good: Incredibly satisfying combat. Immense, beautiful world. Refined mechanics. Fluid control and movement. More user friendly than past Souls games.

The Bad: Some critical path mechanics unclear. A few uninspired enemies and areas. Minor visual glitches. Story might be too opaque for some.

RPG Fan:

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It's the best Dark Souls game to date.

Pros: A true sense of place, open world weaves seamlessly into Dark Souls design, options.

Cons: Coming back to old places to find secrets can feel Goomba stompy, graphical issues (will eventually end).

PC Invasion: 10

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Elden Ring is a spectacle and a marvel to behold. Although there are some issues, the overall experience remains deeply engaging. It's one of the best open-world games I have ever played.

VGC: 5

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Elden Ring is a fantastic game that can still deliver the unmatched thrill of defeating a tough boss after an hours-long battle. Those who worship at the church of Souls-like will find a game that's basically everything they ever wanted.

Pros: Incredible world. Thrilling combat. Unimpeachable art direction. Some of the series best ever boss fights.

Cons: Occasional technical issues. The graphics are a slightly dated.

RPG Site: 9

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After having finished my first playthrough of Elden Ring. I immediately want to play it again. I have never experienced that with an open-world game before - usually, I find myself thankful such behemoth games are over. FromSoftware has managed to nimbly incorporate its deliberate and challenging action RPG gameplay into an open world with a huge sense of freedom. The fact that they accomplished this feat without compromising on difficulty or narrative is a true marvel. Managing to also avoid almost all of the pitfalls of conventional open-world design is a step beyond even that. Even if you're fatigued over the familiar trappings of dark fantasy soulslike games in particular, Elden Ring is a masterful refinement of the formula that is the current zenith of its form - and it deserves glowing recognition.

PCGamesN: 10

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A supercut of FromSoft's very best work, transported to a totally new space. Elden Ring is not only a masterpiece by its developer's lofty standards, but in packing so much density into the Lands Between, it lights the path ahead for open-world games in general.

GameSpot: 10

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In a genre that has become wrought with bloated and over-designed games, Elden Ring is defiantly contrarian in almost every way. Its commitment to design by subtraction and to placing the responsibility of charting a path through its world entirely on the player makes it stand head and shoulders above other open-world titles. Elden Ring takes the shards of what came before and forges them into something that will go down in history as one of the all-time greats: a triumph in design and creativity, and an open-world game that distinguishes itself for what it doesn't do as much as what it does.

The Good: Exploration and discovery that's driven entirely by the player. Stunning world design that blends a new open-world with the classic enclosed Soulsborne-style locations. Challenging combat that is both rewarding and thrilling. A visually stunning world that is diverse and memorable. A compelling, layered, and multi-faceted story that demands to be analyzed and unpacked.

The Bad: Still, at its core, a difficult game designed for a specific kind of person with little in the way of approachability options.

More information.

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that we may have gotten two of the top 5 or so best open world games of all time within a week of each other.

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Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061673079)

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that we may have gotten two of the top 5 or so best open world games of all time within a week of each other.

The other being the patched version of Cyberpunk? :P

For Elden Ring, I really wish there was a demo or something. I'm not enough certain this "Soul like" sort of gameplay is for me but I would certainly love to try it.

Yes, maybe it's uncomfortably close for Elex II. We should see the reviews very soon.

The general expectation is much lower according to the followers on Steam, about 21 times fewer of them, whereas in the Watch it was the opposite with about 2 to 1.

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Originally Posted by vanedor (Post 1061673081)

No, it's Atelier Sophie 2 ;)

I'm surprised that all reviews are so high, and most of them 10/10. I thought there were more players who didn't like Soul-like games and that it would show in the reviews. I've watched a little bit of gameplay and I would already been annoyed by the combat and its sound effects, but maybe there's a lot to compensate in the story and other game elements, or it's just an overwhelming share of fans.

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Originally Posted by vanedor (Post 1061673081)

For Elden Ring, I really wish there was a demo or something. I'm not enough certain this "Soul like" sort of gameplay is for me but I would certainly love to try it.

All I can tell you is that back in 2014 or so I was sure it wasn't for me, but I tried Dark Souls 2 and fast forwarding to 2022 FROM is my favorite developer and I've played all of their games. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose but 60 bucks. ;)

9 and 10 everywhere, as expected

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Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061673084)

hehe. I might eventually get it but I think I will wait a bit, I would rather risk 30$ than 60!

It's great to see all these excellent reviews, I look forward to giving this one a whirl at some point.

I’m not surprised at all by the high score. From what admittedly small amount I’ve seen and read this will just about be the perfect game for any diehard souls fan. I personally am starving for a proper souls game. All the supposed souls likes don’t hold a candle to a FromSoft experience.

For anyone that doesn’t like souls combat I don’t think you’ll like this game either. Mecahnical’s wise it will be very souls like with some sekiro stealth mixed in. If it replaying areas that you don’t like then you may be in luck as the developers have said there’s many more shrines to save progress so you won’t have a long trek back to your souls if you’re paying attention and finding the shrines.

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Originally Posted by Redglyph (Post 1061673083)

The only soulslike game I've played is Bloodborne, and based on that I'd say you shouldn't expect too much story. It's all about atmosphere, the story is mostly left up to interpretation. Maybe Elden Ring has a bit more of it, but don't expect anything like say, the Witcher games.

I don't mean this as a bad thing, the atmosphere, exploration and combat (if you have the patience) were all masterfully done in Bloodborne, there's just not much traditional storytelling.

Me and my refusal/inability to learn the souls-like's ropes :(

I truly believe the Elden Ring's world design is great but again, if it weren't for the typical souls-like fighting moves…

I haven't played any souls-like game but this looks too good to pass up. I'm going to give this a try because I love a good open-world game.

10/10 = bullshit.

But it does look like an improved Souls-like - and it's something I'm definitely going to check out once they fix the stuttering, add DLSS and exit the classic era when it comes to above 60 FPS gameplay.

It reeks of console-centric, much like the past Souls games - but is a decent frame rate really too much to ask for?

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Originally Posted by Hastar (Post 1061673100)

I haven't played any souls-like game but this looks too good to pass up. I'm going to give this a try because I love a good open-world game.

Don't forget to give us some feedbacks :-)

To be fair and biased myself. :biggrin:

I can honestly say I don't trust professional reviews at all. If it was a 2 I wouldn't care, and at 10 I also don't care. That's just me for die-hard fans kudos enjoy the game.

Looking forward to reading retrospective articles a few years later criticizing what was wrong with the game, but of course that will be long after the honeymoon phase.

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Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061673079)

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that we may have gotten two of the top 5 or so best open world games of all time within a week of each other.

The Metacritic score is 97 atm :[ It will drop but still the highest I have ever seen for an RPG.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanedor (Post 1061673081)

The other being the patched version of Cyberpunk? :P

He means this. Some seem to regard Horizon Zero Dawn as one of the best ARPGs ever and many reviews say that the new game is more polished version of the previous one. In one review, someone compared the difference to the difference between Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Don't know since I do not own a Playstation and never played the first game, but still surprised that the game has been kept out of the front side news here as if it was intentional…

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Originally Posted by largh (Post 1061673129)

Simple this site primarily covers PC RPGs, and Horizon Zero Dawn was a console exclusive game. The game was ported many years after it's release though.

The second game Horizon Forbidden West is also a console game for now at least. Also both have been covered on this site with a few news-bits. So yeah not intentional.

As for me just like Elden Ring I'm not interested.:biggrin:

These are the games I'm looking forward to playing next month.

Elex 2
Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
Weird West

Those are some big numbers. And yet, I get the exact same vibe as from any previous title in this loose series. Overwrought grimdark. Pretentious difficulty. Fanboy praise. I just can't see the appeal.
And yet, some can, and yay to them, I guess. As Couch stated, as long as there is enough to go around for everyone, that's completely alright.

Uh huh.

"Fanboy praise" - praise for games I don't like.
"deserved praise" - praise for games I do like.