Elden Ring

Tenshi Eating A Corn Dog! said:
Ashes of Ariandel is a Consecrated Snowfield prototype with no good bosses.
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SOTE follows as a close second. It feels worse than Ashes Of Ariandel if you have DS3 with all DLCs bundled already. Which I got cheap.


Ashes Of Ariandel has a focused story to tell, despite being short. I also enjoy the lore of the vikings and them worshipping a tree and all that. The sister Friede fight also pays off and I didn't totally summon Gael because my build wasn't good. I waited 2 years for this dlc and it felt the worst as a fan of Elden Ring. I got into III when the DLCs were already out and had it all. If I were a fan back then, I'd probably consider Ariandel the worst. I don't since I love snow and cause I didn't have to wait for the ringed city.
 
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Nameless One said:
The sister Friede fight also pays off
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2/3 of her fight is bad. The first phase is a gimmick fight from DS1 that's somehow even less threatening. The second is a duo fight that while not hard is very unenjoyable and I'm surprised it isn't brought up more as a very bad FS duo boss (I suspect it's because it's not that hard). Third phase is just bummy Lady Maria, even in terms of weaknesses; just replace parries with backstabs and a worse case of being staggered by larger weapons. It's one of the few "good" points people try to bring up about AoA, but it's really not. The most positive thing I can say about that DLC was that it was short and on the cheaper side (still 5 dollars more than the DLCs for DS2 at their release dates, which are now just baked into SoTFS), but if all I have to say about something is that I didn't waste too much money on it and it was over quickly that means that I would rather the entire thing not exist at all. That's why AoA is the worst DLC. By the way, it's not even cheaper to play DS3 with all DLCs than Elden Ring with its DLC (not counting key resellers) as Elden Ring Shadow of The Erdtree edition is cheaper than Dark Souls 3 Deluxe Edition on Steam.
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Tenshi Eating A Corn Dog! said:
For real. A lot of DS3 areas feel like Elden Ring prototypes after going back to it and I partially believe they are.
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From either does a lot more iteration than other studios or they're simply more blatant about it. Almost everything in ER is an iteration on something they tried earlier, you decide if it's for better or for worse. It also contributes to some of the "From has gotten stale and complacent" undercurrent that's been circulating for a while now. I dunno, I'm glad they do.
 
Asian tech support said:
From either does a lot more iteration than other studios or they're simply more blatant about it. Almost everything in ER is an iteration on something they tried earlier, you decide if it's for better or for worse. It also contributes to some of the "From has gotten stale and complacent" undercurrent that's been circulating for a while now. I dunno, I'm glad they do.
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From has always been pretty iterative (Armored Core 1 all the way through to Last Raven is a great example of this and I think probably their strongest example of it) but they kinda threw out a lot of my favorite design choices from DS1/DeS. If anything, I'm probably complaining they aren't iterating enough or on the right things.
 
Tenshi Eating A Corn Dog! said:
but they kinda threw out a lot of my favorite designs from DS1
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I miss DS1 poise, and I'd like them to make it even more effective than that. Just because it's a neat mechanic and funny. Fully embrace that shit. Make me comically slow and take away all my stamina, but let me be a stupid tank that cannot be staggered by a farting frog. I don't care about PvP I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT BE QUIET

I also miss the character sliding backwards when blocking a heavy hit with a shield. It's cool. It would be even cooler to have it be fully dynamic, so that the biggest ROBO LASER DYNAMITE HORROR ASSHOLE CLAW PUNCH would make you slide really far, and if low DEX/stamina, you'd fall down in the end.

And motherfucker, I want to dismember shit. Not just Dragon tails but also legs. Heads. I want to take out the weapon arm entirely with some retardedly difficult once in a lifetime hit. I want to slice off a testicle and half a titty. I know I won't get it. I still want it. I yearn for it like a beaver yearns for a bunch of sticks
 
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Swine Schwein said:
Godefroy split my soul in two timelines. The other guy thought "lol what a retarded piece of shit to put in a game WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS" while I pretend to go with "wow, so it's even deeper and so much more conceptually wild than I thought"
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Reminds me of the mental gymnastics people do to explain Ornstein being a boss in DS2.

The real lore is that FromSoft gets lazy sometimes. And that’s ok.
 
Nameless One said:
Gods, probably similar ones behind Bloodborne, abandoned world, left to rot.

It's one of the simplest tales they've told since demons souls just that they had to add a lot for the open world.
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Elden Ring is hardly simple, there's the Alchemic stuff, the Outer Gods stuff, Marika's rise and fall akin to the Holy Roman Empire (almost beat for beat)
 
Zenos Yae Viator said:
Elden Ring is hardly simple, there's the Alchemic stuff, the Outer Gods stuff, Marika's rise and fall akin to the Holy Roman Empire (almost beat for beat)
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It's simpler than your drivel if you just play the main story and get the basic endings. Every other element is set dressing.

Most of their games are built like tabletop games or choose your own adventure fantasy games where you can engage differently with it.

Even as a lore enthusiast I can't take elden ring too seriously. It's too vast and a cacophony of ideas rather than a focused slice of a world the way I've come to know their games prior.
 
Nameless One said:
It's simpler than your drivel if you just play the main story and get the basic endings. Every other element is set dressing.

Most of their games are built like tabletop games or choose your own adventure fantasy games where you can engage differently with it.

Even as a lore enthusiast I can't take elden ring too seriously. It's too vast and a cacophony of ideas rather than a focused slice of a world the way I've come to know their games prior.
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you really a fuckin joyless cunt.
 
Nameless One said:
It's too vast and a cacophony of ideas
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Agreed with the cacophony description. A lot of neat ideas that exist and work inside their own bubbles, but kind of fall apart when scrutinized as parts of a whole.

I must admit it's not as delicate, not as carefully and geniously crafted as I would like. Fromsoft shuffles, deletes and adds a bunch of shit in different parts of the game/lore at various stages of development just to get a product out there. They keep certain bubbles, themes and inspirations but the threads between them get messier and messier.

Gladly, the cacophony remains open and expressive enough to allow many absolutely fascinating and even schizo-adjacent theories, but even the best ones, in the end, have to rely on assumptions piled on top of each other.

I would like to be wrong and 5D chessed by Miyazaki, but until he appears in my dreams to explain himself, I will be content with just being an adventurer in an atmospheric, fucked up world where nothing really makes too much sense and I can focus more on the mood. Meanwhile the "truth is out there" people will no doubt provide me some entertainment with their theories. Which can be really damn cool, have to admit.
 
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