Elden Ring (George RR Martin and From Software)

PM won't like this. He doesn't like the combat in Souls games (if I remember correctly) and previous games didn't give you clear objectives which they didn't like.

They'll complain about the game and Retro will add a few words of wisdom. Then there'll be some back and forth. Then tempers will flare and someone will say Ace Combat is rubbish and then all hell will break loose as per usual with Souls games and the PM and Retro engagements.

Basically twins :) Also, so glad i decided to follow up on Ranni's quest although i had to Google to find Selen, did i miss info on her whereabouts or supposed to find her from exploring?

Mimic still does incredible work, still my go-to. Has great health and copies your weapons so if you have a decent build, you now have two. They only really nerfed his endless FP as he had a tendency to spam huge magic attacks a lot. He still uses whatever spells you have, but just less so.

Before that I'd been using Banished Knight Oleg, who is very tanky and great for pulling aggro. Only got them to +3 before I started saving my flowers to upgrade Mimic once I got it. Haven't used many of the others.

Had to laugh when he first disappeared, where's he gone??? Ooohhhh

Also had to laugh when I saw 'Patches has been summoned'... 'Patches has died'. Yeah, good effort P.

Do the summons make up the warrior npc's you've come across already or set bunch? Epic battle nonetheless.

So I’m 6 hours into it. Apart from looking at guides how do you know which was to go or the different quests ? I stumbled on one to clear a castle but I’m a bit lost beyond that

Look at the map and you'll see a general direction pointing out of the sites of graces.

I wasn't a souls fan until Bloodborne sat me down and explained why I was wrong.

Ya I know. Kinda want to beat him. Got him below 50% health and he changed up his attacks which caught me off guard. I’ll go south for a while and see what I find. I need a wet stone knife to do ashes of war. So hopefully I’ll come across one

I don't think the game wants me to like it.

Looks well. Not blown away by the graphics (PS5) but I am playing in performance mode, but I think I expected better. It feels quicker than previous Souls games I've played. And the horse is pretty good, limited use I've had of it. I did beat one "boss", some thing in a cave, killed me the first time, ran away like a biatch the second time until i figured fhe strong stabby let's me get an extra hit before running away again. Playing Vanguard. Anyway, killed him via that method.

Went exploring because the giant thingy when you walk into that castle type base near the start, yeah, I won't win. Found another cave, rats, killed them, opened a chest and transported to some silicate mine or something. I look at the enemy and I die basically. Not a hope of getting out of there because there's also ones up on inaccessible ledges shooting stuff at me, and I've no ranged attacks. So I used the stone thingy to go back to the last grace, but it keeps loading me into the mine and I die as soon as I'm seen. Which is more or less straight away.

Yeah, this game isn't for me. I've given it 3 hours so far and don't feel like I've done much. Yes, short time but at what point should one stop if they're not enjoying it. The lack of direction is a big issue, but I knew that coming in. Only figured out how to level up when I randomly rested at one point.

I knew it wouldn't be for me, but at least I can say I've tried it. Don't think I'll go back to it because I'm not getting out of that mine, and I'm not starting again. Not crapping on the game, I'm delighted people are loving it. But I can bow out now knowing I tried. Just not for me.

3hrs is not even scratching the surface in this game. But hey, you don't like, that's all good. I was ready to not like it too, but I gave it more time and now I'm hooked - still lost half the time, still dying a LOT, think it's the first game in a long time that dying just makes me more determined!

Not seen it on ps5 but even on my mediocre PC set up the game is glorious looking. Playing it at 1440p all high settings, a couple maxed, turned off junk like motion blur that just annoy me and slow things down, but the game is clean AF - despite the odd jitter here and there it's running very smooth for me.

It's kind of extraordinary bad luck that you found one of the very few trap chests in the game. I found it maybe 15-20 hours into the game and was still destroyed in a hit or two. I pretty much just ran out, got on my horse and headed east back to Limgrave, only stopping at any Site Of Grace I could find to use as a checkpoint. I don't think you can fast travel out, even from the next site of grace. Think you need to just make a run from the cave, then just horsey-up and get back to Limgrave.

But that's not representative of the game as a whole. When you level up and return there later, it's a standard enough experience (although unsettling as the enemies there are f*cking disgusting).

It's one of the very few "traps" as such in the game (though made me wary of opening chests for about the next 40 hours, I only found one other like it but I was actually able to dodge out of it).

The entire game is risk v reward. That goes down to everything, including opening treasure chests. Everything is a risk. It's why as useless and pointless as the messages by other players are, even just seeing a few in front of a chest means they're worth reading to see if it's a trap or not.

As for the graphics/performance, yeah it's definitely a step back from Bluepoint's excellent remake of Demons Souls, though the sheer scale of what FromSoftware have done with this game is astounding.

If the game isn't for you, it isn't for you, and that's fine. I would just reiterate though that the fact you found probably the biggest trap in the game within 3 hours when you were already on the fence about the game, is such incredible bad luck that it's pretty funny.

Like above, such bad luck you found that chest. I found it early as well and it was basically LEG IT! Finally made it out of the cave and was such wtf where am i and just kept legging it. Took me a long time to remember i could just fast travel back to safety. If you do want to give it another go, i suggest taking a main road South, i think you have to travel east a bit first. Optional area down there but good starting point. Also, just curious, did you manage to do the tutorial on the very first area? Lot of new (and vet) players missed it. A ghost tells you to jump down a hole but a lot of people just open the main door to Limgrave.

Personally, I have a couple of other games I really want to play like Cyber Punk and GTA Online next gen (yeah both controversial games but i really want to spend time with them) but even if I'm getting repeatedly killed in this and think yeah, good point to play something else, i just can't bring myself to it. Usually with big open world games like this, i like to mix in other games in case i get burnt out (usually from side quests, repetitive gameplay mechanics, etc,) but with this, every minute has been a joy, even the minutes where i verbally said **** this game, I'm gonna uninstall it, as there's always progress, meaningful loot, new areas, etc in every direction. I even want to buy Gran Turismo really bad but don't think I'll even start it with Elden Ring on my plate so happy to keep plugging away at this. Really is an incredible feat of game development (except that it plays better on a PS4 than it does on PS5 but I'm having so much fun, i don't care).

Stormveil Castle is huge. So many nooks and crannies that I'm gonna miss.

Was that in a cave on the edge of the weeping peninsula? I just killed that bear, if you have the jellyfish summon it's useful for that fight, stay close to him and he finds it harder to hit you.

Siofra River is just bad. I am straight up not enjoying this area at all.