Elden Ring (2022)

Continuing with my i-frames reflections, today I though of another reason why Elden Ring's dodge doesn't feel good: you cannot roll through enemies. In games like Hollow Knight and Nine Sols or Furry, you can not only dodge through attacks, but also through enemies and even environmental dangers. So when you roll you are consistently a ghost.

In Elden Ring, though, you can't. Enemies can and will corner you and you can't escape by dodging. So you've got this silly situation in which you can go through an enemy arm but only if they're attacking you. And it makes the whole thing feel weird and videogamey and arbitrary.

I've just killed the Godskin apostle. It was a tough fight but me and my minotaur got it after a few tries. Those claws are super fun to use and it's so satisfying to see the boss's health bar disintegrate when you get the bleed effect. (The trick is to survive long enough to get it to work).

It was tense fight because he could almost one-shot me and I had a bunch or runes. So each time I entered the arena, it was first priority to get them before getting hit.

I then went to level up and that fucker dropped almost 100k runes! That's literally 7 levels for me. That's insane. And there I was worrying about less than 5k.

Ok, last night I fought a walking tree which wasn't too bad. I still don't love the i-frames-reliant combat, but at least I'm not hating it once I adjusted my expectations.

The reward, however, was a couple of items that enhance something called "Flask of Wondrous Physick", which I don't have. So again... I don't know if it advanced my character one bit. But at least it was more fun than the same-y catacombs and caves I'd been rummaging around before; although I have a sinking feeling that this tree boss is going to be recycled a bunch.

I also found a walking bell/church. Cool concept and visuals that would've had more impact had I not seen it before in a loading screen. No gameplay reward from getting into it, though; just the promise that I can duplicate a type of item that I don't have.

I revisited Margit around 25 hours in and won in only two tries. So all the hours put into exploration and grind paid off there. Though I did utilize the summon that's waiting just before the mist door and brought out my most powerful spirit ash/summon to help. So maybe that cheapens it a bit but I figure a win is a win. I then went back and revisited the Tree Sentinel and took him out fairly easily too.

Prior to that I did try my way through Caelid and made it to the Divine tower and started getting absolutely owned by some black robed guys and the godskin boss in there, so that felt like a sign that I was there a bit too early (and those giant crows and rats around Caelid also felt a bit above my level). Now about 30 hours in, I'm working my way through Stormveil castle and really enjoying that experience.

12+ hours and I've yet to find a single fun or interesting area. Lots of copy-pasted dungeons with recycled minibosses. Lots of random buildings with random mobs that are not worth the trouble. I found a neat turtle shield in some random chest, but it's worse than my current one, stats-wise.

I feel that I've done nothing but run around collecting flowers. I swear that I could feel my eyelids closing as I almost fell asleep.

I'm still not clicking with this game. I went exploring and honestly... I didn't really find anything that interesting or useful. I found a talking pot, which is kind of cool, but that's about it. Fought a few minibosses and got a bunch of gear that I can't wear due to my stats or weapons that I don't like and Ashes that I cannot use because I don't have the bell.

I miss Sekiro's progression system. Kill a miniboss, get an item to improve your attributes. Simple and to the point and you knew that winning tough fights would always be worth it.

The combat also is not clicking at all. Parrying and blocking is essentially useless compared with dodging. Fights don't feel physical with my character using i-frames to clip through weapons and fists. Dodging also usually leaves me too far away for an attack, so I barely can get a few hits per enemy combo.

The nadir so far has been a giant troll with stupid AoE attacks. Seeing my character chipping at its ankles while phasing through a solid club but taking damage from the other side of the arena looks and feels terrible.

20 hours in and I still feel like I've barely begun. I still haven't given Margit a serious attempt since it was clearly a gatekeeper boss and I'm still exploring the opening areas. And every time I think I've covered it all I discover more. The areas are incredible, and Siofra blew me away after I stumbled on that.

There's someting a little off that I can't quite put my finger on, though. I feel like I'm exploring with no real purpose other than to explore. There's no real story or driving factor up to this point. So my main incentive being to level up and maybe get some cool shit and expand my crafting repertoire. So it feels a bit lacking in that regard, and a bit grindy due to leveling being my primary motivator for exploration.

I decided to give this a try since I liked Sekiro and all that. I have so say that it's abundantly clear now that FromSoft simply sucks at any sense of onboarding.

At first I was fucking around the starting area and going more or less where the literal arrows didn't point, but eventually I got kind of bored and though: no, the game is constantly talking about the Grace thing and it had a pretty gentle tutorial area, and people say this is the most approachable from soft game. Let's trust the game and follow the arrows. So I did and found my first boss encounter. This dude Margit. He' s kicking my ass as I learn the hard way that parrying is not really viable in this game.

Anyway, I log off and decide to google him before going to bed to see what people say about him... Well, apparently I am NOT supposed to get to him this early. I'm supposed to kill other easier bossed and explore the open world.

If I'm not supposed to be here, then why the fuck do you scream at me to follow the arrows that point me in this direction, game?! What the fuck?! It's fucking Chained Ogre all over again. I hate this.

I've done more in this game the whole month of January + February than when I actually started it! I was so scared of it, you have no idea, like I was scared of being horrible playing it. But I decided, just get on with it, and actually enjoy it, and dang I did. I can keep saying the same I said in my last review (after 39 hours of this) this game is stressful has hell, but its so addictive, its amazing, I can't sleep because i'm thinking of my next session, It's like a damn drug. It also makes you think a lot while playing, what can I do to survive this, how can I attack them with this etc etc, its awesome. I have not yet gone to margit (LMAO I KNOW) I've just been exploring, defeating mini bosses in caves and catacombs, I can't explain it, but just going around limgrave, weeping peninsula and siofra river has been so fun?! The jump scares I got in siofra river tho because of those stupid ass blue bulls, like why?! And those fking dogs in Weeping peninsula?!? AND WHEN I WENT TO CAELID AGAIN BUT WENT AGAINST THAT DAMN NATACHA TARNISHED WHAT EVER!? A BTCH BTW.

Anyway. I love this game so much, I'm sad I can't play everyday (life as a 29 year old working adult, lol) so my sessions are mostly on my days off, but each session is a joy, I get to curse a lot, I get to laugh at myself a lot, and I get to actually beat bad guys and "get good" lol I also found out I like magic, so I'm doing my build as a strength + intelligence, lets see how it goes. I was going to do Strength and Dex but yea, changed my mind, I wanna beat them and also do some magic tricks, why not?!

Anyway, amazing game, best thing I bought in 2024.

I have played 22 hours of this. At first (like my last review explained) I didn't understand any of it, I was dying non stop, I didn't even know I had so many runes to evolve my stats so I ran around in level 9 while being wooped in the ass by the Tree sentinel. Without a horse lmao. Anyway.

I am no way near good at this yet, but i'm slowly lerning, and i have to say i am obsessed now. I went from scared shitless of being bad and dying and never get on with the game, to actually accomplish little stuff that made me a lot more confident.

Its like everyone says, you have to try and never give up. You have no idea how happy i was when i cleared caves/catacombs in one go, or when i finally cleared stormfront ruins, or when i cleared dragon burnt ruins and got myself into Caelid and ran for my life so fast screaming all the way to outside.

This game tests your patience, your anger and your curiosity, but its so addictive.. I go to sleep i think of elden ring "how will i go by X thing, should i use X thing? " I go to work, i cant wait to leave to play for a bit.

By the way, i'm still way behind, like i haven't even started on the main story. I Just got to the Roundtable hold and i was insanely happy about it.

I'm glad im progressing, even tho it's slowly. I still have stuff i want to clear completly in Limgrave before adventuring myself into the boss on the Stormveil Castle, i went into the tunnel, and found the place of grace, will come back when i feel im better at dodging 😂🙏next stop is bridge of sacrifices!