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Elden Ring is finally real

Issun said:
Is anyone else playing this on PC?
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I am, because my most powerful consoles are a PS3 and a Switch.

Apparently it runs relatively roughly compared to consoles at the moment, even with the release day patch. Most of the examples of it running poorly aren't things I think I would even notice, but it definitely does seem to have occasional extremely noticeable hangs where it freezes for a second or a even few seconds and then catches up (content warning: Twitch streamer affectations), which could definitely kill you if you're unlucky enough to encounter in a boss fight or tough encounter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1496839144298930177
 
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Kind of leaning toward starting with a Wretch now because I realized I have no idea what to build toward anyway.

The main benefit of a class is usually to make the opening area a little easier and to lock in your dump stats, but I've played enough of these now not to worry too much about opening area difficulty and don't know what my dump stats should be.

So maybe the benefit of having high enough stats in everything to dabble a bit at the start is better. Hmm.
 
I was settled on Bandit, but now I'm leaning toward Wretch too. It gives the broadest possible amount of builds, and all of the stuff you find early on will be useful. The spells and equipment all look great, so maybe I'll end up doing some sort of quality/red mage thing where I dip into a bit of everything.
 
I'm personally tired of the somewhat prevalent notion of using the initial playthrough of these games as a platform for sampling and experimenting with things in playing a generalist. That's probably more interesting if you're fundamentally unsure of where to take a character/want to see as much as possible as one character, but none of these have stopped at one playthrough for me and this game is just a variation on more of the same--the learning period doesn't exist anymore as far as the shared fabric of design. I want to hyperspecialize from the start, exclude myself from parts of the game in so doing, and leave what I ignore for subsequent playthroughs to contend with.

It's likely I'll just create a look for a character and then allow that visual association to push me toward a play approach, anyway.
 
I don't have as much time for games as I used to, especially ones on the TV. This is supposed to be an especially long Souls game, and it has a lot of updates and nuance to the spells and weapons. I'll eventually start putting more points into some stat or other, but it makes sense for me to try a lot of stuff out.

I do love super specialized builds (I did an all bow Dark Souls run, and a bunch of weird DS2 builds), so I don't think you can go wrong there either.
 
Behemoth said:
Gah, I've been hesitating to pay scalper prices for a PS5, but the FOMO is real on this one. I've bounced off of three of the four soulsbourne games that I've played, but the remaining one is a top five game for me. And the comparisons that this one is getting to another of my top five games isn't helping either. It's a high risk/high reward proposition.
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This is exactly my position, but as was said, buy the PS4 version and when (if?) you eventually find a PS5, it includes that. I'm pretty sure (???) your save carries over too, so it should be a fairly seamless transition.

Someone please tell me if I'm wrong about the saves carrying over though.
 
From this site:

PS4 version saves can be transferred to PS5 while the opposite cannot be done, if you started playing on PlayStation 4 and then continue on PlayStation 5 by transferring the save, the latter can no longer be used on the older generation platform. On the Xbox family console instead there are no limits and you can transfer saves to Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox One S, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S without hassle and with full Cross-Save support between generations.

It is not possible to import saves on consoles of different familiesFor example, if you start playing on Xbox Series X you will not be able to transfer your progress to PS5. PlayStation saves only work on Sony consoles and the same goes for Xbox savegames, which are not compatible with PS4, PS4 PRO and PS5. Console saves cannot be imported to PC and vice versa.
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Awesome, thanks! So yeah, Behemoth, start on PS4 and migrate later. We were looking at scalper prices too, but 1. ridiculous markup and 2. scalpers are fucking scum and I just couldn't do it in the end.


Build-wise, the thing for me is, I feel like I basically know how each class plays, since I've played the series, so I kind of have an idea of what I'm getting into... but that also means that every class has its appeals to me. I want to play any and all of them! (I know that the starting class doesn't really matter so much, but I'm using them as shorthand for the build I eventually go towards.)

But, thinking back... I usually like playing in medium-heavy armor, with a shield, and some magic. My first DS1 and DS3 runs both started as Strength pyromancers, and DS2 was as a cleric. And now I realize that pyromancy has been folded into incantations... Actually, yeah, it's definitely the confessor for me to start off with. I think my next builds will likely be samurai and/or prisoner (or following those lines). Of course, that all depends on the stuff I find. Maybe I find something too cool not to use and change everything up? (God I hope there's a respec option in this one too.)

Important build questions for me to feel out as I go forward:
1. How effective is armor in this game, on a scale of DS1 to Bloodborne, at actually protecting you?
2. How effective are shields?

If the armor is on the "fashion souls" Bloodborne side and doesn't make a huge difference in protection (or exists more in specialized niches to switch around, also like BB) and/or if the shields are flimsy or too stamina-expensive, I might end up ditching them for something else.

3. How has magic changed - what are we looking at in the way of new spells and variety?


...Wait, none of this matters because I'll almost certainly be doing 2 playthroughs at the very least and probably 3-4, if history is any indicator. So I'll be getting to cover most of that ground anyway. Whee!
 
Thanks for input, everyone. Very helpful! Now I'm watching comparison videos and trying to decide how much an extra 15 frames and more grass matter to me.
 
When picking a Souls character starting class, you have to ask yourself, "which one looks neat"

Cuz it ultimately doesn't matter. You can find all the gear, and the stat spread makes a difference in a min-max way but not really in a major foundational way. Pick a character, it doesn't matter, everything is fine
 
It's wonderful. I am in awe. This is The One. I just did a boss fight so exhilarating that I'm physically shaking. I feel like I've just taken MDMA or something. I can't believe how good this is and I am not exaggerating. It is the absolute consumnation of From's ambition. It plays like Fighting Fantasy gamebooks looked in my head as a child.
 
The game sure is pretty. Fought the intro boss (died), then fought another boss I'm not supposed to fight yet (died). Combat feels good though.

The framerate issues are definitely real on PC. This setup manages to balance graphics with performance, but there's still some stuttering here and there. I guess we'll just have to deal until From fixes it.
 
Piece of advice for anyone playing this for the first time, and this isn't a spoiler. There's a little tutorial at the start of the game - an optional one, flagged up as such.

Don't do it. Walk right past. It won't teach you anything you don't already know, and it's a weird, banal little longeur that's between you and one of the most breathtaking moments I've ever experienced in a video game. Seriously, just walk past that tutorial if you have played a From game before.
 
Alixsar said:
When picking a Souls character starting class, you have to ask yourself, "which one looks neat"

Cuz it ultimately doesn't matter. You can find all the gear, and the stat spread makes a difference in a min-max way but not really in a major foundational way. Pick a character, it doesn't matter, everything is fine
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You’re not wrong, and for whatever reason a lot of people have been talking about starting classes with this game. But, I do think it has a bit of influence on the start of the game. As a wretch, I won’t have any low stats, so everything is equally appealing. It’s only a couple of levels, but I feel like I’d be more likely to try stuff out.
 
I gotta admit that argument for wretch makes a lot of sense. I just... I don't like starting naked. It's always struck me as a bit much. It's weird, I know. I think the classes are more a shorthand for talking about the kind of build you want to try out, which has always been one of my favorite parts of the series, putting together lots of different cool builds. The starting classes are basically all we know about that right now, and it's also the first thing we do (however minor it ultimately is and always has been), and also anticipation is off the charts. It's a little silly in the big picture, but right now it makes sense to me!

Also I can't wait to feel like I just took MDMA.
 
I went with Samurai. I read nothing about this game prior to diving in so I have no clue if there are any real pros or cons, but it had the highest total stamina + strength + dexterity, aka the stats I'll put points into if this is anything like Dark Souls (and it certainly seems like it is).
 
Turns out I needed to update my Nvidia driver. Now it runs almost as smooth as butter (there's still drops here and there but not nearly as bad).
 
Don't look if you don't want to see like... a page in the character creation interface. And I guess some cleavage.

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The working backstory is that they were imprisoned for being too goth and/or smouldering--either one works. The ultimate romantic buffoon.
 
Paul le Fou said:
I gotta admit that argument for wretch makes a lot of sense. I just... I don't like starting naked.
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Yeah, that is a downside. I’m trying to think of the longest time to finding armor in the Souls games and I don’t think it’s super long.
 
Taking a quick beer and pizza break so I figured I'd drop in to say this game is freaking amazing. I haven't fought a boss yet (well Tree Sentinel but that's gone about as well as expected at this point) but I did fight a giant and madhair is right, it feels like From has boiled down the lessons they learned from the combat of their previous games and made something special. Another hour or two tonight but I'm starting to get tired. Fortunately I was able to take tomorrow off of work so I can play all day.
 
A bunch of friends of mine are playing on PC and having massive frame rate and screen tearing issues, for whatever that's worth. I'm playing on PS5 and it's going fine, some minor frame rate inconsistency but whatever. I was originally gonna go Samurai cuz dex/pure weapon playstyle is typical for me on a first character, but I made an audible and went with Prisoner and did what I usually do on a second playthrough (rapier/wizard) instead. Also I have to work tomorrow and SHOULD be in bed but Elden Ring was too good. I can tell I'm gonna lose A LOT of time to this game
 
Ended up making a Hero and critical pathing it for a bit to unlock as many basic systems as possible so I can go back and do some real exploring with a better idea about how I want to spend my runes when I have the time for a more relaxed play session.

Becksworth said:
I watched part of Giant Bomb's quick look on it. One point of criticism is arguably From Software's brand of obtuseness combined with an open world structure can lead to some core game mechanics like crafting and leveling up easily getting missed for HOURS.
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In practice, I think the game avoids this problem by putting all of the basic mechanics on the critical path for like the first ~30 minutes of the game. and spelling them out to you with detailed tool tips. Opening up the hub world is slightly more obscure than in DS3, but not horribly so, and you can level up before that happens so I think it's fine.

More detailed instructions if anyone else just want to open all the basics up: Just follow golden lines of grace and rest at every site of grace, some will have cutscenes. After you die to (or beat, I guess) the first story boss, rest at a site of grace again and you'll get one more cutscene unlocking one more fairly major basic system (maybe this was automatic after dying to the first story boss? I forget). You can skip most of the encounters with stealth or the horse and just open all the core mechanics up first very quickly, if anyone else wants to and/or is concerned about that.

Two tricker but in my opinion not all that tricky to unlock core systems that are right in the middle of the critical path but maybe easier to overlook.

(1) At some point after you get the horse, go back to the site of grace where you meet the first vendor. There will be a cutscene unlocking spirit summons. (This happened at night for me, not sure if it needs to be at night, my guess is the cutscene forces the timeshift, rather than being triggered by it.) For me, I think this was very natural, but I can see how you could miss it.

(2) When you reach the first big enemy camp, go down a set of stairs that are kind of but not all that hidden. You'll unlock the system that allows you to assign ashes of war to your weapons. (Maybe you can get it other places as well, but you definitely get it here.) This would probably be the easiest to overlook of the basic systems, if this item isn't available elsewhere. Still, it's right on the critical path and rewards you for exploring the area instead of walking around it.

I think that accounts for all the new systems that were advertised and everything typically available by about this point in a From game.
 
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Alixsar said:
A bunch of friends of mine are playing on PC and having massive frame rate and screen tearing issues, for whatever that's worth.
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I'm not very performance sensitive and wondered if it might be terrible after reading some online reactions and seeing some clips of the worst of it but so far it's been great for me (Ryzen 3600, 3070).

Maybe it will get worse in later areas or have longer play sessions or leave the critical path, though...
 
My GPU is pretty ancient (a GTX 970 from 2014), so I'm playing on medium settings, but it's been pretty stable for me. The framerate hovers in the 55-60 region most of the time, with occasionally drops into the mid 40s in areas with dense foliage.
 
So one of my friends who has an older rig (5ish years) switched to Low settings and said that it's better now, but my other friend who has a like 2ish year old PC is saying it's basically unplayable. Another friend who upgrades like basically yearly is saying it's great so...YMMV, I guess!

I do think the intro is kinda funny; it's like "Hey here's 13,000 proper nouns. Okay you're a dead guy. GOOD LUCK!" I was into it, because in a reductivist way that's EVERY Souls intro, but also kinda chuckling during it. Especially when after naming a bunch of events the opening narration guy ends it by just...saying names with absolutely no context whatsoever. Not like THESE ARE THE 4 LORDS and then saying names. He's just like "EVERYTHING SUCKS AND IS BAD!!! Steve! Sally! Michael! AND COLLETTE!!!!!!!" Uh, okay those are definitely names! Thank you for...names!

Also I don't wanna go to work I wanna stab crusty guys with my rapier =(
 
Alixsar said:
I do think the intro is kinda funny; it's like "Hey here's 13,000 proper nouns. Okay you're a dead guy. GOOD LUCK!" I was into it, because in a reductivist way that's EVERY Souls intro, but also kinda chuckling during it. Especially when after naming a bunch of events the opening narration guy ends it by just...saying names with absolutely no context whatsoever. Not like THESE ARE THE 4 LORDS and then saying names. He's just like "EVERYTHING SUCKS AND IS BAD!!! Steve! Sally! Michael! AND COLLETTE!!!!!!!" Uh, okay those are definitely names! Thank you for...names!
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It's very funny. I think From's work generally has a nice, sideways sense of humour whenever they feel up to it, and instances like this walk the line between the po-faced affect the marketing especially leans in on and the wonky excesses of their house style. In any case, I appreciated the straightforward concept art + renders showcase over narration, akin to Demon's. The big money CG cinematics Dark Souls has traditionally employed don't really do much for me.
 
I was able to play for about 40 minutes before work. I ended up going bandit because I really didn't want to play as a guy running around in his underwear after all. Ah well. I'll put a few levels into my low stats early on and it'll all balance out.

So far, based on my super early impressions, I really love being able to duck down and stealth around. It reminds me a lot of Skyrim, which makes perfect sense but wasn't something I thought of while watching previews. Other than that, I like being able to pick up whatever I want (watching streams/previews where people ignored glowing things was really annoying). Most of my playtime was running from place to place, so next time I'll have to spend more time exploring. I'm looking forward to drawing soldiers out of camps one by one with my bow.

The PS4 version seems fine. It's a bit smoother than Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, and about the same as Bloodborne. I'm sure it would be super annoying if the game was actually hanging up or crashing, but I really don't care about framerate otherwise. It's a system I have and the game runs on it so that's great.
 
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