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The gameplay is perfect. But how about just fixing the PC version with some basic things like…
You know, basic, fundamental PC features.
Fromsoft PC ports have always been notoriously bad, but it blows my mind that after 15 years, they still don't support something as important as custom keybinds.
Bro, they have remapping keybind in their game, I don't know what you're on about.
Wait those are all issues? I may hold off on buying the game then.
The keybinds are mostly rebindable though actually? I play on mouse & keyboard with basically completely different setup than default.
From Soft PC ports definitely rough, though they have gotten a bit better each release
The game is not "difficult" per se, it's just that the underlying systems of how to make it easier aren't made explicit. You're meant to engage with it and learn how to create the advantages you need. It's supposed to be a process of learning and growth that feels rewarding and earned. Or read a guide.
It's honestly one of the easiest From games, once you engage with the particulars. Let me be clear: This isn't an elaborate "git gud". That began as an ironically bad opinion that inevitably became a genuine opinion held by fools.
Engage with the systems and dynamics presented to you, and you begin to see that the difficulty setting in ER (and other Souls games) exists on a conceptual level.
The exception that proves the rule here is Sekiro, which was an amazingly interesting experiment in putting you into a character's shoes through game mechanics - the only way to beat the game is to adopt the bold and precise combat style of the main character. The difficulty of that game comes from hesitation, fear, and carelessness - and it is painfully unforgiving.
Paragraphs are your friends
The megagraph is not "difficult" to read per se...
To follow on to this, the "best" build may not be the best for you and how you play. Try out various things to see what feels right to you. Sword and board, magic, gish, dual wield, big two hander, bigger two hander, etc. All of them are viable to beat the game, so find the one you like the most/is easiest for you.
It's honestly one of the easiest From games, once you engage with the particulars.
I see this being said from time to time and I thought it was just me not "Gitting Gud", so after being filtered by Captain Niall even with my mimic summon, I went through and cleared Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro all for the first time, and they were a fucking breeze compared to Elden Ring. I used a strength scaled zweihander in the Demon/Souls games to have the closest comparison possible (and also because I think it looks good). I guess it depends on which weapons you enjoy using, but the fact that there's such a big skill discrepancy between entire weapon categories is in itself a pretty big stain on Elden Ring's claim to be an RPG.
edit: I shouldn't say they were all a breeze. Bloodborne and Sekiro were difficult for sure. Not even close to comparable to my experience with Elden Ring though.
I guess it depends on which weapons you enjoy using, but the fact that there's such a big skill discrepancy between entire weapon categories is in itself a pretty big stain on Elden Ring's claim to be an RPG.
They're fundamentally different play styles. Difficult to you doesn't mean that that's what's most difficult for someone else. You engage from different spacing, move differently, and pace your attacks differently. When most of the difficulty from combat is about learning what gaps you can exploit and how to protect yourself against different enemies with different attack patterns, that difficulty is going to vary heavily based on what your previous experiences are and how you intuitively understand the concepts. It's what "git gud" actually means. FromSoft games force you to learn the mechanics of the combat, and calling strength based sword "harder" than a magic build is mostly about what style clicks better with you personally.
Gameplay wise, FromSoft games are as pure ARPG as it gets. Stats matter a lot and the combination of stats and gear fundamentally changes the optimal approach to encounters. Most RPGs have higher and lower barrier to entry classes, and most RPGs have variation in skill floor and skill ceiling of different types. The biggest difference is that most RPGs with comparable depth don't have anywhere near the level of fidelity mechanically.
I really wanted to like ER. It's fucking beautiful and seems to have a lot of depth, but the a appeal to difficulty doesn't really hold any water, cuz the only thing that makes it difficult is unnecessarily clunky controls.
Maybe there's a mod or something now that makes the combat more fluid... I should give it another visit.
One could accuse Elden Ring of many things, but clunky controls is definitively not one of them.
It's probably one of the best combat systems I've ever played. When you die, you know it's your fault (usually because of greed), not the system cheating you. It's very fair, unlike many others.
What are you even talking about? In what way are the controls clunky?
soulslike mechanics probably feel clunky to people that don't really play soulslike. That said a bunch of things totally are clunky like cycling through spells and items which hasn't significantly changed since dark souls, and for people that would rather take their time browsing the items walking while the menu is up is probably pretty jarring. Probably other things. It really has come a long way from demon souls but I honesly kinda prefer the jankiness of the older games.
It's been a while, but I recall most attacks having an obnoxiously long animation, and that animation being set in stone once you trigger it. There is no aborting a sword-swing midway through to dodge or block. And if you make the mistake of pressing the attack button twice, apparently there's a built-in ability queue that can't be disabled, so you have to wait for the first animation to completely play through, then wait again for a second animation to play from start to finish.
It makes it extremely unresponsive. That unresponsiveness seems to be what most folks are talking about when they're applauding the game's "difficulty"... but you could make any game that flavor of difficult by obstructing the controls.
obnoxiously long animation, and that animation being set in stone once you trigger it. There is no aborting a sword-swing midway through to dodge or block.
The whole point of the animations being set in stone is to force the player to be mindful of their actions. Don’t commit to an attack unless you’re sure it’s safe to do so. Otherwise you’re going to get caught out.
The slow animations are a deliberate drawback to the more powerful weapons. Being able to swing an UGS around like it’s nothing would make for a fairly unbalanced weapon. If you want a weapon with quicker animations you probably want something more DEX focused. Just look at the Falcion’s animations compared to the Zweihander’s animations in Dark Souls for example. Zweihander puts out bigger damage numbers and thus attacks slower. Pretty basic balancing concept to have thing that does big damage be slower.
The lack of being able to abort moves is simply a way for the game to punish poor decisions. If you get caught out by a slow animation then you probably need to work on picking when to attack. A big part of the game is that it teaches the player through punishing mistakes. That’s why it forces you to commit to actions.
These only come across as clunky if you’re not learning from your mistakes and working around these deliberate limitations. Pick different weapons or pick better moments to attack/use an item so you don’t commit to something at the wrong moment.
The input queue is another thing that lines up with this. I believe the whole point is to, again, push the user into being careful. Dark Souls isn’t a hack and slash like DMC. You don’t want to go into fights button mashing. The game wants you to take your time. The button queue kind of reinforces that by punishing button mashing and being too hasty. I do also find it useful in queuing certain actions like attacking straight out of a roll or following item usage.
All the things you describe as clunky each have a purpose. The game expects you to work with those limitations and when you do you get a better experience. Going against them is when you run into issues. Since youre attempting to doing things the game is trying to discourage. Like button mashing (input queue) and getting too greedy with attacks (Being locked to actions/Longer animations).
Get the fuck out of here. Absolute troll post.
Post your steam account stats, I dare you.
Which stats? I put over 100 hours into ER if that's what you're looking for. Like I said, I really wanted to like it, and 'got gud' (learned to time the control's clunkiness) enough to progress a decent way through the game. But it never actually got fun, nor did it live up to the wildly positive feedback it was getting from the gaming community. ER is an okay game. 5/10. It's not bad by any stretch, but it's not the posterchild of a perfect game that it was/is lauded as.
People are allowed to not like games you like ...
I also find souls likes to feel janky. Elden Ring is playable for me, Dark Souls 3 I just rage quit rather than dealing with its UI.
I used to have a friend who was born with his left hand disabled and could only really play videogames on easy unless they had heavy accessibility options. Whenever i see these weird "dark souls needs to be hard" people i cant help but think about him and how he's barred from playing these deep, visually impressive games because the community starts sending death threats at the mere mention of an easy mode.
Accessibility like controller input options is not the same as "you have more health and can dodge more".
I agree with you that some people are misguided and expect dark souls to be hard for the sake of being hard. Yes you die a lot but that is part of the game, and dying is not a state of failure but a step in getting better in order to overcome the obstacle.
I have seen people not only beat the game but do a no hit run with guitar hero guitar, dance dance gamepad and even raw potatoes. Making the game easy does not equal to making it 'accessible', but it does break the core gameplay loop. There are ways to make games more accessible in general that doesn't ruin the fun factor. Check out AbleGamers they are doing amazing work helping the community which I think is one of the best ways to go about this issue.
Edit : May this post serve as a remembrance not to suggest an easy mode on FromSoftware game 😁
Counterpoint, no matter the accessibility options included, there's always going to be a disability that isn't compatible. The only game that everyone can play is "sitting alone in your room" and some people even struggle with that. There's always going to be some level of ability required. As much as that sucks, that some people just won't be able to experience a thing, it sucks more to have no one experience it for fear of excluding those who can't.
man without legs can't run a marathon! who would have guessed? I mean disabilities suck(obviously) but being disabled means some things are impossible, that's why disabilities suck! If you had to enable EVERYONE to be able to do EVERYTHING that would be really nice and all, but quickly turns into an impossible task. I'm disabled myself, there are things i can't do, things that i will never be able to do. but i don't expect everyone else to bend over backwards to make my life easy. life is suffering, living is hard, and everyone has their own problems. i can't eat what i want, others can't play the games they want to play. I'm not going to show up to a restaurant expecting them to know/care/be able to provide, i check beforehand, accept the problems i have, and deal with it. no one without legs will be the worlds greatest runner, no one with poor reaction time will beat eldenring, etc. that's why it's called a DISability you are unable to do something.
Stop complaining about difficulty, pussies. Git gud.
LetMeSoloHer did it in his diaper and for free, noobs! 🤩🔥🤌🏾
I had the honor of summoning him twice. It was truly a sight to behold.
After 100%ing the game, seeing some of y'all complaining is something else. Reeks of not even trying to learn.
Getting oneshot by most enemies is not "difficult" it's lazy. Just upping damage on enemies is lazy. Take out the healing system if you want difficult. Dont just maximize damage.
Not trying to learn is such a weak excuse because you completed the game. I did so too and I think the game is less enjoyable because there is literally no room for mistakes. As unforgiving From software games are, this is just lazy design in my opinion.
Plenty games have you die with one hit https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneHitPointWonder
Many of those games don't have difficulty sliders either. At least with Elden Ring there are ways to make your character sturdier if you wanted to. Fingerprint shield or greatshields in general are a great start. Stat dump in health. Wear heavy armor. Grind out as many levels as you need to. It works the same as any other game. It's not like there's a permanent game over where you have to start over. Dying and growing have been the point of these games and most games since like the beginning of gaming.
The dying is not the problem, that is part of the game. The problem here is that damage output of enemies is so exaggerated that even simple non-bosses can one shot all builds unless you go for ultra tanky. So basically what you're saying is, don't get hit or build specific tanks and not what you enjoy or you will die.
Also my quarrel is mainly with Elden Ring DLC, not every game. Base game is not bad with balancing honestly. The DLC is just ridiculous. And for the love of god, just because some people get kicks out of difficulty doesn't mean it has to be more extreme every new instance. That fanbase sheep mentality will kill good games like this.
Dark souls 3 was more forgiving in the DLCs than this game.
You can get ~60% damage reduction BEFORE ARMOR in this dlc. This one is on you buddy. Explore.
right? I'm lvl 170, 60vit and light armor (fashion)
I only die if I get pummeled down, stun locked or get hit consecutively by charged attacks
the dlc is indeed harder, but nothing unfair
I'm 75% through and have had very few issues with the game man. But yeah, bosses take time to learn and figure out. Takes me about a dozen tries per boss then I'm smoking them.
Learn the patterns, equip the right buffs, and it's really not that hard.
It wouldn't break shit, the fan base would have a meltdown over their precious thing being more accessible though.
Difficulty is not an accessibility issue.
lmao Elden Ring is already a dumbed down, more accessible version of Dark Souls.
And that's why I will never buy it. If you're too asshole to put in difficulty scaling, I have no use for your game.
Not being able to grab a wooden club and beat god to death with it isn't the game being difficult, but you listen to some folks and you might get the idea its what they expect.
Use summons, get your magic going (or hell, full sorcerer) and you won't see any major filters. Might need to do fights a couple times but thats hardly a big deal.
Never change, Miyazaki.
Lots of very roundabout 'the game isn't difficult, you just need to get good at it' replies in this thread, trying hard not to say the quiet part out loud...
Elden ring isn't hard. People just need to learn to adapt and try new builds. This game is too massive to play with one build unless you go for something OP. That's why they give you so many tears to reclass. Learn weaknesses and resistances, use ranged attacks, use summons, use everything you have at your disposal. That's the whole point of the game.
for me, the "difficulty" lies in wind-up, cooldown and range of weapons. everyone also gets a "stagger"/balance gauge which adds more depth to your arsenal.
the way you use that against the npcs uptime with the current terrain is a typical souls experience.