Elden Ring

[Golden Lily]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs

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official site: https://www.fromsoftware.jp/jp/eldenring/#2
interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/06/...nt-elden-ring/

Yes, this's actually happening. FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin are working together on a new 3rd person action RPG with emphasis on RPG.

We still don't know much (read: pretty much anything) about it, but it seems it wil be heavy on Norse/Celtic mythology and from what I heard FromSoft's most ambitious project yet. RIP Bloodborne 2

It's weird how fast it was announced considering Sekiro is still pretty fresh, but whatever, I'm just happy.

Also, surprisingly it's coming on current gen, I thought it will definitely be new-gen game.

[Frontier]

I'm curious how much Martin contributed to this. I guess coming up with the basics of the lore and mythology, I would imagine.

[Golden Lily]

From interview

Wilkinson: Regarding the collaboration with George R. R. Martin, can you further explain how this collaboration came about and in what role it has served throughout the project?

Miyazaki: I suppose the start of this collaboration came from the fact that I myself am I huge fan of Mr. Martin’s work.

I loved “A Song of Ice and Fire” as well as the “Tuf Voyaging” series, however if I had to pick a favorite I would probably say “Fevre Dream.”

I personally see “Fevre Dream” as a masterpiece among vampire fantasy and had even previously recommended it to all new employees.

Me being such a known fan of Mr. Martin caused our executive business director Eiichi Nakajima to reach out to him with the expectation that we would get turned down.

However, we were then given the rare opportunity to talk one-on-one with Mr. Martin which was an incredibly fun and stimulating experience. It was then that I strongly felt that I wanted to work with Mr. Martin.

I am still unable to put into words how grateful I am to Mr. Martin for agreeing to our offer.

The actual collaboration itself begun with Mr. Martin ever so politely confirming what sorts of themes, ideas as well as many game-related aspects I had envisioned for the game.

This allowed us to have many free and creative conversations regarding the game, in which Mr. Martin later used as a base to write the overarching mythos for the game world itself.

This mythos proved to be full of interesting characters and drama along with a plethora of mystical and mysterious elements as well. It was a wonderful source of stimulus for me and the development staff.

Elden Ring’s world was constructed using this mythos and stimulus as a base. Even I myself find it hard to contain my excitement from time to time. We hope that everyone else is looking forward to the world we have created.

[Kafriel]

Although I am sceptical about the entire theme of this new game, Miyazaki has yet to fail in his ventures. I've enjoyed DS3 and Bloodborne a LOT, and I am a fan of mythology... but his way of telling a story - through bits and pieces scattered around the world - conflicts with Martin's huuuge worldbuilding that ends in a climactic gathering of the story's elements, so I don't quite get just HOW this will be set up.

[Golden Lily]

Miyazaki once said he would like to try directing a game with clear narration such as RDR2 (as in, create story first and not setting and combat). But he said so AFTER he started working on Elden Ring so I don't think it's this game yet.

[Rurik]

Really hoping for this to be as epic as the potential it has of being! in Miyazaki I trust

[Hooves]

Miyazaki & Martin working on a Norse-theme open world? Not sure how comfortable Miyazaki is with that but it's worth checking out.

[Golden Lily]

IGN interview with Miyazaki

Not really much in terms of new information, but I will do my best to summarize this giant:

- he describes Elden Ring as a "natural evolution of Dark Souls", which was inevitable in true open world

- the world will be far more open (not just interconnected like in Dark Souls) and gameplay is accustomed to this kind of environment

- horse-riding confirmed; and it seems there will be some kind of horse-fu

- exploration will be different from previous games (including Sekiro)...I just hope there's a jump button

- Miyazaki said they're aiming to create open-world that would be associated with FromSoft and only them; so don't expect vibrant villages full of NPCs, but dark dungeon-like ruins

- GRRM was responsible to creating mythology of Elden Ring; Miyazaki is keeping him away from the main story as it's far more restrictive than writing books and he didn't want Martin to work with these restrictions

- story won't be linear and, well, story-driven so it seems Martin will have bigger influence here than I thought

- Miyazaki said he and GRRM were both influenced by each other during whole process (which is cool, learning from each other is always nice)

- storytelling through exploration/environmental storytelling will still be present (great, but I hope it won't be just items description)

- I guess it goes without saying, but setting will be western (at the same times, he's saying that it will have different feel than Dark Souls)

-
“Personally, a world that is happy and bright is something that just doesn’t feel realistic to me. It may sound like I have a trauma or something,” he said with a laugh, “but I believe that the world is generally a wasteland that is not kind to us. That’s just the way I see it.”
it's confirmed, everyone dies

- Elden Ring (concept, not game) is like rule or rhythm of the world

[Golden Lily]

Finally, we have gameplay trailer and release date - 21 January 2022.

[Tuor]

I wonder if it's too early for me to put in for vacation time starting Jan 21st? :P

[Golden Lily]

There's more and more info we learn about Elden Ring so I will just limit myself to the most interesting tidbits:

- the story takes place in the Lands Between which are divided into 6 sections, each one being domain of Demigod (main bosses), even if some of them aren't available from the start but there are a lot of different ways to approach each area, beside these 6 sections there's a wide variety of catacombs, castles and fortresses
- there's day/night system and dynamic weather, it's unknown if weather is going to change anything, but it's confirmed that some enemies are going to be more active and difficult depending on time of a day, some are even going to appear only day or night
- the protagonist, called Tarnished, is going to have much more mobility than Souls as they can jump, ride on horse and fall damage is reduced to encourage players in exploring the world
- the combat is going to be expanded even more upon, with far more "build" options, face-on combat is still a matter of course, but there are even alternative options such as summoning spirits of the deceased enemies and use them as allies
- there's a stamina bar, but it has less influence on the player than in Souls
- some weapons, spells and abilities can be purchased from NPCs, but most of them are hidden in the world
- skills return, but unlike previous games they aren't attributed to specific weapon but can be freely attached to a large variety of them, there's around 100 skills in total
- there's stealth - it's pretty basic, but player can crouch, hide in the long grass, sneak on the enemies and backstab them, it can also be used to bypass some area and approach the fights more strategically
- in terms of storytelling, Elden Ring will focus more on characters so it's going to be less abstract
- in terms of difficulty, it's less challenging than Bloodborne and Sekiro
- while Miyazaki said it's difficult to estimate time to finish the game (as in, reach one ending as once again there are multiple of them), but it takes around 30 hours to reach one ending (and that's limiting exploration to minimum and without side quests)
- swamps confirmed...

This honestly sounds like ideal game for me.

[barcode120x]

Game looks super cool, but it's a dark-souls-like genre right? Unfortunately not my type of genre at all sadly.

[Twi]

Preview video is up:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/url

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Kafriel]

Anyone watched the videos from the CNT yet? I've checked out the reviews from Iron Pineapple, Vaati, Sphere Hunter, Ymfah, Max Dood, Arekkz and a let's play from Marz. Everyone seems to agree on a few things:

Spoiler for Experts' impressions:

- This is NOT Dark Souls 3-2 or 4 or 2-2, it's too different to be likened to DS.
- Power stance is back.
- Dungeons = chalice dungeons but with only one floor.
- Spirit summons are OP, but you can only use them in specific areas.
- Spells in general seem OP, but their FP cost is high and you can't recover it easily.
- That weird mechanic of refilling flasks when beating elite mobs is back.
- There are hidden areas, hidden NPCs, hidden everything.
- Weapon skills are very varied but some stick to certain attributes, e.g. a thunder weapon gets thunderbolt, or was it the other way around?
- There are roaming bosses.
- Mounted combat is mostly strong, except against enemies who specialize in knocking you off your mount. It is also necessary against some bosses.
- The maiden follows you around points of Grace (aka bonfires), so you can level up anywhere.
- Spells can be charged for extra efficiency, and miracles get a lot more offensive.
- The open world is full of things to do.
- You can craft all kinds of crazy shit, from sleep arrows and urns to flasks that fill your life and then explode to deal AoE damage, including yourself!
- You won't be eligible for invasions in solo play, unless you choose so.

I'm stoked, pre-ordered it.

[Tratillo]

So I noticed in one clip with the knight that he uses his sword to cast magic. Makes me wonder if there will be an ash of war that let's us use our weapon as a catalyst.


____
https://apix-drive.com/en/blog/events

[Kafriel]

Nearly 100 hours in, as well as what I believe to be 60% of the game!

Spoiler for Impressions!:

- The combat is seriously advanced, the tutorial boss is actually a great teacher for things NOT to do (panic rolling, overblocking, overreaching, not minding your surroundings, etc). Late game area battles really feel like PvP matches.
- Magic, especially INT, is VERY promoted. Tons of spells, ashes of war and gear, as well as reasons to get your INT up to 60+. FTH gets a smaller arsenal, and it spells are harder to obtain, but boy do they hit hard. Classic support is still here.
- Arcane, the new stat of the game, serves a dual purpose: one, to scale with bleeding weapons, and two, to cast and scale with dragon magic (arguably the most powerful school of magic in the game). Bleeding and blood magic, weapons and skills are also heavily promoted.
- The game is enormous. This post cannot convey the sheer enormousness of the Lands between, and not just in distance measured, but content too. The dungeons start out small, but end up as big as a full DLC from the older games (and I ain't talking about Shulva or Ariandel length!)
- It's easily the most immersive title yet, the music really helps with that. It's also the most transparent one with regards to the story; it's still a bit broken up, but NPCs exposit for real this time.
- Some areas feel unfair, to the point of breaking your controller, but the game provides solutions to everything, as long as you're willing to search for them. Summons and craftable items can become VERY powerful.
- On the negative side of things, there's a lot of recycling. Like, DS2 lot.
- I've had two cases of staggering frame drops, one excused by the sheer number of opponents, and one caused by what I think was water physics. Still pretty good for nearly 100h of gameplay.
- Some spells are stupid. There are two elemental sword buffs that last EIGHT SECONDS. Some other spells need balancing (high FP cost for same dmg, slower casts too).
- Overleveling can become an issue. It's honestly too easy to level up, I'm already nearing RL120 with at least 3 big bosses to go.

That's all I can think of for now, surprised this thread hasn't been active, so many people talk about this game. From my experience, it's worth the ratings it got.

[Animelover#1]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Nearly 100 hours in, as well as what I believe to be 60% of the game!

Spoiler for Impressions!:

- The combat is seriously advanced, the tutorial boss is actually a great teacher for things NOT to do (panic rolling, overblocking, overreaching, not minding your surroundings, etc). Late game area battles really feel like PvP matches.
- Magic, especially INT, is VERY promoted. Tons of spells, ashes of war and gear, as well as reasons to get your INT up to 60+. FTH gets a smaller arsenal, and it spells are harder to obtain, but boy do they hit hard. Classic support is still here.
- Arcane, the new stat of the game, serves a dual purpose: one, to scale with bleeding weapons, and two, to cast and scale with dragon magic (arguably the most powerful school of magic in the game). Bleeding and blood magic, weapons and skills are also heavily promoted.
- The game is enormous. This post cannot convey the sheer enormousness of the Lands between, and not just in distance measured, but content too. The dungeons start out small, but end up as big as a full DLC from the older games (and I ain't talking about Shulva or Ariandel length!)
- It's easily the most immersive title yet, the music really helps with that. It's also the most transparent one with regards to the story; it's still a bit broken up, but NPCs exposit for real this time.
- Some areas feel unfair, to the point of breaking your controller, but the game provides solutions to everything, as long as you're willing to search for them. Summons and craftable items can become VERY powerful.
- On the negative side of things, there's a lot of recycling. Like, DS2 lot.
- I've had two cases of staggering frame drops, one excused by the sheer number of opponents, and one caused by what I think was water physics. Still pretty good for nearly 100h of gameplay.
- Some spells are stupid. There are two elemental sword buffs that last EIGHT SECONDS. Some other spells need balancing (high FP cost for same dmg, slower casts too).
- Overleveling can become an issue. It's honestly too easy to level up, I'm already nearing RL120 with at least 3 big bosses to go.

That's all I can think of for now, surprised this thread hasn't been active, so many people talk about this game. From my experience, it's worth the ratings it got.

I'm about 80 hours in, and while this game does so many things right, I've not played it in several weeks now, mostly because of the state of online play. I've always loved pvp in the souls games and it's just... Not fun...

So many op 1 shot and meta builds and gank. It's like all the worst parts of each souls pvp merged into one game. That aside, the actual gameplay is a blast, and as long as you don't care much about pvp this game is definitely worth a play.

[Kafriel]

Currently 180h, near the end of NG (only got the final part to go). PvP is a very mixed bag, because on one hand, I always have someone else playing with me, and although we don't run meta shit, we still pack a lot of damage, so we usually come out on top. OTOH that one spammable blood skill that hits all over the place gets on my nerves, simply because there's next to nothing you can do about it besides run away. For the record, I'm running DEX/FTH with a wide array of weapons: sacred misericorde, eclipse shotel, golden order greatsword, winged scythe, flame art twinned knight swords, giant's red braid, composite bow, longbow, pulley crossbow and Radahn's greatbow.

On the more general side of things, the game is really big, but I commend the devs for adding more keys and flask upgrades than necessary - because finding them ALL is a huge pain. My worst PvE area of the game channels Frozen Outskirts really really bad, as for PvP I'd say any legacy dungeon, as it's very difficult to face elite enemies and keep a mind out for invaders at the same time.

Overall experience: at least 9.5/10, haven't explored NG+ yet.

[zztop]

Elden Ring just got a gag manga adaptation, with art by Tobita Nikiichi (How I Stalked Some Dude with an Exposed Nipple and Stumbled Upon the Zenithian Sword, A Cursed Sword's Daily Life).
https://comic-walker.com/contents/de...3324020000_68/

[scififan]

It seems another Soul adaption is Lies of P[inocchio].