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Elden Ring - Information Thread, update (02/21): Shadow of the Erdtree DLC "Collector's Edition Messmer the Impaler Statue" trailer

Commissar SFLUFAN

By Commissar SFLUFAN
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Bacon

Bacon

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29 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Xenoblade is just like Elden Ring except with a more robust story and more characters.

 

I assume this is a joke

but 1, i ain't laughin' 

2. the only thing similar about these games is that they are both from japan

 

Every Xenoblade that has ever came out has had some of the worst gameplay ever in an RPG. Fuckin' ELEX has better gameplay. 

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Bacon

Bacon

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Also, let me turn on reddit mode for a sec

 

PSA: Don't Watch Any Elden Ring Video Because Even The Ones That Claim To Have No Real Spoilers Still Contain Blatant Spoilers 

 

Simple as that really. I don't care personally, but they claimed to not have any thing that could be considered spoilers but literally just out right mentions bosses by name when they exist in an area they are talking about. Now, while we don't have context on the names, as soon as we start playing we will gain that context and thus any surprise will be ruined. Also, there is this puzzle and they literally end the video with solving that in-game puzzle so now you know about it and how to "solve" it before ever playing the game. This was in a video that claimed that they weren't going to show anything that is really spoiler-y. They even started the video saying how they were upset that they were reading an article and they were spoiled. Then, they ended their video by doing the same thing the article did, but worse because this is a video. 

 

In these types of games those are the spoilers people don't want to get spoiled on. "Story" spoilers don't mean shit. You don't want your discovery of stuff in the world to be spoiled. Again, personally, I don't really mind as I'll be looking up how to get the bad guy ending ASAP, but these videos are just fucking lying about not having spoilers. 

 

end psa

 

I didn't watch any of the videos on my own. I tuned into a streamer who was watching them. 

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Mr.Vic20

Mr.Vic20

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This brings up a fun topic that I've enjoyed arguing since Gears of War first launched and many decried its brand of story telling, called "imbedded" at the time. I personally like Souls games approach to imbedded or environmental story telling. Its limited, it lets you fill in quite a bit. Now the other direction, your average JRPG for example, will go out of its way to make sure you know the story. Not a crime, just not my cup of tea any more. Neither is correct story telling or good or bad inherently, but they are quite different. Now Elex is bad story telling! Hilarious mind you, but still quite bad! 

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Elden Ring is poised to be both the easiest and the hardest Souls game yet | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
Better builds will help us beat back beastly bosses.

 

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Even the hardest boss in the original Dark Souls is easier than Margit the Fell Omen. So why isn't Elden Ring simply the hardest Souls game FromSoftware has ever made? Because it's also by far the most empowering.

 

 

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Elden Ring will be the new gateway drug for Souls games | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
It's not just going to be FromSoftware's biggest game ever. It's going to bring scores of new players to the old games, too.

 

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In the tone of its intro alone Elden Ring is welcoming in new players who love Skyrim and Dragon Age and The Witcher but never dared to give Dark Souls a try (or died to a dogpile of skeletons in that first graveyard and said nah, not for me). For just a moment, Elden Ring builds you up and inspires you before it tears you down.

 

 

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You can complete Elden Ring in 30 hours, but you really shouldn't | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM
Savour FromSoftware's open-world RPG like a fine wine

 

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Elden Ring could probably be beaten in 30 hours if you strapped blinders to your head. You could strut past that tearful NPC, dismissing her concerns as none of your business. You could find a boss, decide that he's not harming anyone, and you could just leave him be. Just in the first hour you could gallop past guarded treasure and turn your nose up at ancient stairways leading to god-knows-where if you liked. But what would be the point of playing an open-world Dark Souls if all you wanted to do was beat it? It's full to the brim of curiosities and questions you should explore to the fullest extent. 30 hours will be a fraction of the time I'd recommend anyone spend with the game. 

 

 

 

 

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Elden Ring Preview: An Unparalleled Sense Of Melancholic Freedom

WWW.THEGAMER.COM
Six hours with FromSoftware's open world epic has us more excited than ever.

 

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Elden Ring doesn’t hold your hand. That should be obvious to anyone familiar with FromSoftware’s work. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro are all uncompromising experiences that demand patience and precision. A failure to acknowledge the lessons it hopes to teach you will result in death time and time again. There are so many ways to enjoy games like this, whether you wish to be a valiant knight or a timid pyromancer. Elden Ring feels like the culmination of a vision that Hidetaka Miyazaki has spent years building towards.

 

It’s a morbid form of magic, an invitation to lose yourself in a realm that threatens to swallow you whole at every given opportunity. You’re entranced the moment you emerge from the underground and glimpse at the skies above, overwhelmed by the options displayed before you. An archetypally cryptic NPC seeks to guide you in the right direction, but you can just as easily brush aside his advice and let this mythical land swallow you whole. That’s exactly what I did during my six-hour preview, letting The Lands Between and all of its fascinating landmarks dictate my adventure instead of obediently following the 

 

 

 

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The first 6 hours of Elden Ring is so much vaster than I could have imagined

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM
We got hands-on again with Elden Ring and realised how vast the starting area of Limgrave really is.

 

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Before long I'd entered the Roundtable Hold, Elden Ring's hub area and a place that looks like it will act as your Firelink Shrine equivalent. Knights and priests are gathered here, offering you conversation and aid. A blacksmith too. And someone who hugged me and gave me a buff? I'm intrigued to see how this place develops as you make allies, enemies, or whatever else in the full game.

 

And in the last few ticks of the clock, I fought a nun armed with a machete and entered an area of Limgrave overcome by fungi. A land ravaged by red and white spores, with residents that shuffled and exploded in flame. My last memories were picking some toxic mushrooms and getting squashed by a bloke controlling a face on wheels that belched fire.

 

Elden Ring is shaping up to be the perfect pub game. While everyone else chats about the footy results and Gaz being a mad lad, you and your mates can sit around your own little roundtable, talk Limgrave and share all of the different things you discovered. "Then...and THEN!" is what this game prompts. I can't wait to discover more.

 

 

 

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After six hours of playing, Elden Ring feels like it could be an all-timer

WWW.VG247.COM
From Software's Elden Ring has what it takes to be one of the very best games of all time, if it can stick the landing.

 

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I do have one more thing to share, however. In Lingrave, the game’s first area, I found myself in a forest, at the foot of the Minor Erdtree. I’d had to dodge giant bears and mounted knights to get there. I wasn’t surprised to find a mausoleum-type building in the shadow of the tree; these things are everywhere. But I was stunned when I went inside.

 

After a load-disguising elevator ride, I found myself in a whole new area: Siofra River. This wasn’t just some dungeon – this sprawling underground river runs directly under huge swathes of the open world map, and appears to link multiple areas through similar mausoleum buildings. It’s just massive, and gorgeous. This is hidden under the map – and again, you can access it practically from the start of the game, if you’re so inclined.

 

Despite being underground, the ‘sky’ is ablaze with a cosmos of stars. Wondering how this is possible prods one ever-close to a desperate lore-reading spiral. Honestly, as this area opened up before me, I said “holy shit” out loud.

 

Add all this stuff up and, well, there’s no mathematical equation here. Not off just six hours. What I can tell you, though, is the vibe that I get from Elden Ring is that this game could well be an absolute classic – and it certainly seems poised to be the greatest game FromSoftware has ever made. The next few weeks of waiting are going to be brutal.

 

 

 

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Hands-On: We spent 6 hours exploring Elden Ring and this is what we discovered | VGC

WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM
We took another step into The Lands Between and went off the beaten path…

 

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Elden Ring doesn’t want to copy the best bits from Souls and string them together in a compilation without cohesion, it wants you to feel the way you did when you had those moments. The first time a dragon flew over your head in Demon’s Souls. Your first foray into Blighttown.

 

We are extremely excited to get our hands on the full game and immerse ourselves in every element of it. The one real question mark is how the larger narrative will play out, and if From takes steps towards making the lore and story of Elden Ring more prominent. From games are famously absolutely teeming with story, but often it’s hidden in books or item descriptions that require hours-long YouTube videos to explain.

 

From the narrative elements that we got to take a look at, and won’t spoil, we’re confident that the game takes a step in the right direction when it comes to explaining what’s actually going on, without losing any of the mystery that captivated players in the first place.

 

 

 

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Elden Ring hands-on: Brutal, beautiful, and inscrutable | GamesRadar+

WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM
A preview of Elden Ring has left me wanting to see more of its world, which is as vicious as it is inviting

 

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Even if not, these were minor issues, and Elden Ring so far seems like it's shaping up to be one of the best FromSoftware games yet, maybe even on a par with Dark Souls 1 or Bloodborne. Its strengths are evident from the start, and the sheer openness of it all means you can drop the main quest at any point and just go wandering, finding boss fights, treasures, and strange, hostile realms over the horizon.

 

It also might be one of the most approachable FromSoftware games, though that's obviously a massively qualified statement with a thousand asterisks hanging off the end like a string of cheap tinsel. No, Soulsborne games are never friendly, but Elden Ring is at least willing to meet its players a little more in the middle, encouraging them to navigate around challenges and explore all possibilities before committing to one suicide mission in particular. There's even increased co-op options, meaning you can call on a specific friend to hold down whatever enemy's been tormenting you while you go for an easier kill.

 

Or you can do as I will come February 25 – start as the class who's equipped with little more than a loincloth and optimism, and go marching out into the world to pick a fight with every looming horror you can find. It won't be easy, but it's got to be done. 

 

 

 

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The Elden Ring Final Preview – Going hands on shows it’s worth the hype

WWW.THESIXTHAXIS.COM
We go hands on with Elden Ring and its open world take on the Souls-like genre for one final preview before its release on 25th February.

 

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Another Souls tradition, although perhaps a less welcome one, is the obscurity of progress. The first NPC you meet tells you the general direction of your adventure but the main game systems are initially locked away. My focus on exploration meant that I missed the grace location (this game’s equivalent to bonfires) which reveals the character who allows you to level up and gives you access to Torrent, your steed – make sure that you rest at the site just outside the gatehouse to avoid repeating my mistake.

 

Once you do have access to your steed, the game opens up even more. Rather than a living horse as in Zelda, summoning Torrent is reminiscent of the Darksiders series as they immediately appear beneath you and then disappear just as quickly if you venture indoors. The extra options for mounted combat and environment navigation make Torrent even more important in distinguishing Elden Ring from its predecessors.

 

I could go on for much, much longer, such was the impact of even this short time with Elden Ring, but it won’t be too long to wait for our full review and the game’s release. It’s safe to say even at this early stage that Elden Ring feels like the natural evolution of Souls games and is shaping up to be a worthy entrant into FromSoftware’s legendary library.

 

 

 

Six hours with the terrifying freedom of From Software's Elden Ring (Eurogamer)

 

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Six hours isn't nearly enough time with this game, even taking into account the 20 hours we'd sunk into the closed beta. The great (and terrible) thing that strikes you is the freedom - sites of grace give off a golden trail that subtly points you towards a next objective, but you can completely ignore that and strike out in whatever direction you want. It's impressive when you think about how FromSoftware must consider how every player might pace themselves as they each explore the map in their own way, and yet how progression still feels entirely up to you. And that's frightening in itself, given how danger lurks everywhere, even in the least expected places. Will you take a chance and reach out and touch a mysterious mirror you find, or a suspicious stone tablet? Will you risk it all to open that chest, not knowing if it may mean your sudden doom?

 

Mistrust of random inanimate objects aside, Elden Ring feels freeing in ways From Software games haven't before, perhaps in part due to fear of the unknown, but also, fear of the great unknown expanse that lies before you. if you're struggling with a particular area or boss, simply fast-travel or summon Torrent and ride your way out of there, and find a myriad other directions you can explore in. I might have felt pressure during a timed preview, but this will surely feel extremely freeing in the final game, when you can take things at your own pace, go your own route, indulge in the freedom that this jagged, ragged open world offers you. There's difficulty and challenge here, yes, but there's also the promise that you can and will overcome it, however you wish. Freedom. Great and terrible freedom.

 

 

 

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Six hours with Elden Ring - Formidable, Fantastic, and Frightening | RPG Site

WWW.RPGSITE.NET
Six hours with Elden Ring gives us time to contemplate its scope, ambition, and brutality. It's looking good.

 

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Is six hours enough to really get to grips with Elden Ring? Absolutely not. Six hours is enough, however, to already know that Elden Ring is a formidable experience. There’s something to be said for quality over quantity, but… why can’t we have both? Elden Ring might be that rare game that manages that feat. In fact, there's so much content there in front of you that it is so easy to get overwhelmed and just lost in the world in front of you, sucked in from the get-go. 

 

That’s what I love the most about the game already. There’s so many different routes for you to explore; the chains of linearity aren’t just broken, they are disintegrated. Dust. It’s up to you to decide where you go first, and it could lead you on a completely different journey to where your friends go. There is no right or wrong answer, no yes or no. It’s all for you to decide. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s been a few months since a chosen few were able to take their first steps into Elden Ring - thanks to From Software’s Closed Network Test - and explore just a small fragment of the open world that was teeming with mini dungeons, roaming field bosses, and plenty of secrets. With the release date looming large just a few short weeks away, I was given one last chance to explore as far as I could in the Lands Between. This time there were no barriers to stop me — just a lot of incredibly tough adversaries waiting to kick my ass.

 

Rather than trying to solely progress through Elden Ring’s “main path” that led through incredibly grueling “Legacy Dungeons”, I decided to spend my precious six hours finding out exactly how the open world really works, and there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

 

 

 

 

 

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Elden Ring feels like a true Dark Souls successor | PCGamesN

WWW.PCGAMESN.COM
It might be open-world, but Elden Ring bears all the hallmarks of FromSoft's brilliant Dark Souls trilogy

 

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I’ll admit I was worried when Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of FromSoftware, revealed that Dark Souls III would be the final game in the series back in 2017. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice proved Bloodborne wasn’t a fluke, and that the developer could branch out from the ingenious formula of its core series and still create something special, but it isn’t Dark Souls. It wasn’t until after I played Elden Ring for six straight hours that I could finally move on from the beloved trilogy. The king is dead; long live the king.

 

 

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Elden Ring preview — Ringing in a new age

WWW.PCINVASION.COM
We got the chance for a PC Elden Ring preview, and six hours with this near-final build indicate things are looking very, very good indeed.

 

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If there’s one thing I can easily state after six-ish hours of Elden Ring hands-on preview time on PC, it’s that the game is very definitely a ‘Soulsborne’ game. In fact, I can go one step further: it’s pretty much a Dark Souls game. Shields are useful. Combat is… well, not ponderous, but weightier than Sekiro or Bloodborne. Poise, staggering, and item weight are things of huge importance.

 

In a lot of ways, Elden Ring feels like Dark Souls 4 with the names swapped out. I mean, the spell styles (Sorceries and Incantations) have different names and are mashed up a bit, but they’re effectively used the same way. Bonfires are Sites of Grace, and Souls are Runes, etc. But for all of that? If this is Dark Souls 4, then it’s had a lot more meaningful additions than we saw at any time between Souls and Souls 3.

 

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Elden Ring (25 February 2022) - Information Thread, update: multiple final hands-on preview articles/videos posted
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Elden Ring (25 February 2022) - Information Thread, update: PC system requirements released
Brick

Brick

Posted
Posted
Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

That's pretty much everyone's reaction as well :lol:

 

Smells like poor optimization to me, which is par for the course with From Software and their PC versions (I remember hearing how the first Dark Souls is practically unplayable on mouse and keyboard, and a gamepad is a must). 

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Zaku3

Zaku3

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4 hours ago, Brick said:

 

Smells like poor optimization to me, which is par for the course with From Software and their PC versions (I remember hearing how the first Dark Souls is practically unplayable on mouse and keyboard, and a gamepad is a must). 

 

I can't speak of the original (Played the remaster) but DS2 is unplayable on PC with a KB&m. You use WASD to move but the actions are all mouse based. So weird. You can't even rebind keys to follow the DS remastered and onwards controls. It's been religated to my Neo because of that. 

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Xbob42

Xbob42

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Posted
8 hours ago, eventide11 said:

So Elden Ring, written by George R R Martin and Hidetaka Miyazaki, will have a worse story than Xenoblade?? 

When I finish watching a 32-part Youtube series interpreting all the item descriptions and vague interview quotes 8 months from now I'll let you know!

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Bacon

Bacon

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9 hours ago, eventide11 said:

written by George R R Martin

I'm nitpicking here, but  The actual story the player will be experiencing was not written by Martin. He created a foundation of the Elden Ring world, the mythos and backstory. I wouldn't say the story was written by Martin because of that. Another way to look at it is Martin created Westeros and Miyazaki created Game of Thrones. 

 

9 hours ago, eventide11 said:

will have a worse story than Xenoblade?? 

Oh yes. 100%. Unless they actually put a story in the game this time. Even Sekiro barely had a story. 90% of a Dark Souls story is told in the opening cinematic. Lore doesn't make a story. The reddit-scraping YouTube videos don't count as a story either.

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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Posted
15 hours ago, eventide11 said:

So Elden Ring, written by George R R Martin and Hidetaka Miyazaki, will have a worse story than Xenoblade?? 

Yes?

Have you ever played a souls game? There isn't a story, only lore spread out across items and locations that would take a literal notebook and 100's of hours to piece together

Also, Martin didn't write any story, just some background

 

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Zaku3

Zaku3

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Posted
2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Yes?

Have you ever played a souls game? There isn't a story, only lore spread out across items and locations that would take a literal notebook and 100's of hours to piece together

Also, Martin didn't write any story, just some background

 

 

Also Elden Ring lacks waifus.

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eventide11

eventide11

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

Yes?

Have you ever played a souls game? There isn't a story, only lore spread out across items and locations that would take a literal notebook and 100's of hours to piece together

Also, Martin didn't write any story, just some background

 

But this is a departure from 'souls'. And the lore in Souls is far better IMO than anything Xenoblade. And yes, I've played those too and they're excellent games. But differences in opinion and preferences in gaming are a good thing as far as I'm concerned 

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