Elden Ring

[Yosh1]

Hi guys,

 

 recently purchased Elden ring to get back into gaming but I feel this was a mistake.

 

I've enjoyed Elderscrolls, Fallout etc in the past but I die that much in Elden Ring it isn't even fun. I can't commit too much time either so feel like it's going to take a long time to get into.

 

Is there something with includes a story/exploring etc, Fallout76 possibly?

 

Playing on the Xbox Series X

 

[Zando_]

I enjoy Fallout 76, I have 378 hours in it now. There is a lot of inventory management if you don't fork over the $ for Fallout 1st though (which gives you an infinite scrapbox to dump junk into, if you're familiar with Fallout 4 crafting then you'll know the value of being able to hoard massive quantities of junk). And it's worth looking at what build you want to have and working towards that as you level up, swapping between multiple builds isn't easy till you're ~100+ hours in (you get the perks as cards from leveling up, not a board you pick points on like in Fallout 4). Though those are mostly important for the big boss fight events, and usually there'll be some level 1000+ (I've seen as high as 2200+ players) with a perfectly minmaxed build who can carry the boss damage.

 

The community is generally helpful, there's a lot more players now due to the show so I have ran into... I think 2 trolls so far, that's it. Usually folks are happy to drop items for new players, carry them through daily ops/expeditions/boss events for the XP and rewards, etc. From the random teams I've joined where they used voice chat (there is no text chat, only voice) most people seem to just be regular 9-5er adults chilling after work. I think the nature of Fallout 76 keeps away most of the tryhards/trolls other games often struggle with. The C.A.M.P system (think a smaller version of Fallout 4's settlements, but you can place it nearly anywhere) is nice once you collect enough plans for stuff to build, many of these you just get around the world, the others are from the Atom shop (micro-transaction store). If you get it for free (I have an XBOX code from Amazon Prime, let me know if you want it and I'll DM it to you) or on sale then it's worth giving a shot or two to see if you like it. I didn't at first, then I picked it back up a year later and sunk over 200 hours into it. I like it enough that I usually pay for Fallout 1st when I'm actively playing it ($12/mo, I manually cut the subscription off and on). 

 

 

[Motifator]

Have you the heart? For your sake, I'll assume that you have the beast's heart, or I'll hunt your soul 100 more times with a baller "YOU DIED" screen.

I'd weep for your state, but faith gives one solace to post on this matter... lol, ok enough souls references.

Welcome to the genre of souls games. They're meant to be hard, not exactly chill at all.

[AlexTheGreatish]

I'd strongly suggest sticking with Elden Ring.  Rip around a bit and try to beat Margit, 73% of players have and you can use that as motivation to not be in the 27% that couldn't.  Once you learn how the game works a bit you'll go for long periods between bosses without dying.

 

If you want story though the current best is Baldurs Gate 3.

[Stahlmann]

Elden Ring is easily one of the best games released in the last 10 years, maybe even one of the best of all time. Don't bang your head against a wall and get frustrated. If you run into something you can't beat, and you're not even close to beating it, explore the map a bit, do some side dungeons, find new weapons, level up, and then go back to the thing you couldn't beat. In that sense, Elden Ring is the easiest of all FromSoft games, since most of the game is optional (or at least very flexible in when you tackle certain areas/bosses). I also got frustrated and quit the game after fighting Margit right at the beginning of the game. A day later I started again, explored more, and got hooked. About 120 hours later, I beat the game. I know some people got closer to 200 hours before the credits rolled, but since I played a lot of Dark Souls 3, which has very similar gameplay, I probably had an easier time than many players.

 

If you still want something easier with more focus on the story, play The Witcher 3, preferably the next-gen edition. Another masterpiece of a game where you can easily spend over 100 hours on a single playthrough.

 

Cyberpunk 2077 is also worth a try. Also one of my favorite games released in the last few years. The patches and DLC released last year were just the icing on the cake. The story and writing is excellent and will probably leave some emotional damage, the gameplay is also great to live out your cyborg power fantasy.

[thrasher_565]

back when i played smb on the nes i suex at it but as a grue up i got farther and farther tell one day i beat it. but if you really dont like it dont play it.

 

ya i didn't have an option to play anything els it was that or play out side... i did like my sandbox thow...

Edited May 9 by thrasher_565

[DanteCoal]

Elden ring is, by far, the easiest, most user friendly, hand holding, casual of all Souls games.  Been an OG since DeS on the PS3, and while Elden Ring might have more mechanics, it's still, overall, EZ mode for FromSoft games, and is also arguably their best to date, with Bloodborne being the only real contender imo.

It's a game that is 100% worth putting some time and effort into.  Maybe your reaction speed needs work, or maybe you need to get used to the systems, weapons, maps, etc, but it's a killer game, and with a laughable amount of work, you can be SUPER overpowered very quickly in the game, then feel like a virtual god up until the very final boss, which is basically a poorly written Equine test, but you don't get to use a horse.

[Stahlmann]

5 hours ago, DanteCoal said:

and with a laughable amount of work, you can be SUPER overpowered very quickly in the game

Lol I agree. You can get to level 60+ within the first hour if you know where to go and what enemies to cheese, and get a +9 somber weapon without beating any of the legacy bosses. If you're at that point, you can breeze through the game so easy. And all that is possible just because the game is open world and you can run around most enemies using your horse.

 

The build variety is so impressive that some challenge runners even managed to beat the game without using some of the most important core mechanics, like dodging or even directly attacking. It's kinda ridiculous if you think about it.

 

All the other Souls games are much more restrictive in terms of upgrade materials and availability of quick and easy souls/runes to level up.

 

Man, I get really passionate when I talk about this game. It's just so good.

[DanteCoal]

8 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Lol I agree. You can get to level 60+ within the first hour if you know where to go and what enemies to cheese, and get a +9 somber weapon without beating any of the legacy bosses. If you're at that point, you can breeze through the game so easy. And all that is possible just because the game is open world and you can run around most enemies using your horse.

 

The build variety is so impressive that some challenge runners even managed to beat the game without using some of the most important core mechanics, like dodging or even directly attacking. It's kinda ridiculous if you think about it.

 

All the other Souls games are much more restrictive in terms of upgrade materials and availability of quick and easy souls/runes to level up.

 

Man, I get really passionate when I talk about this game. It's just so good.

I get it, lol.  I've got like, 450 hours in ER on PS5 alone, and just seeing a snip of gameplay makes me want to start up a new build.  Will it be parry only?  Vyke build?  Flail?  Who knows!  But I'm gonna play through the game yet again, because holy hell it's just THAT good.

 

Really my only big complaint is just how stupidly OP a couple builds are.  The entire game can be trivialized with either a Blasphemous Blade build, or a Dual Twin Blade Bleed build.  The final boss is the only true challenge I'm the game once you get the mechanics down, lol.

[Stahlmann]

23 minutes ago, DanteCoal said:

I get it, lol.  I've got like, 450 hours in ER on PS5 alone, and just seeing a snip of gameplay makes me want to start up a new build.  Will it be parry only?  Vyke build?  Flail?  Who knows!  But I'm gonna play through the game yet again, because holy hell it's just THAT good.

 

Really my only big complaint is just how stupidly OP a couple builds are.  The entire game can be trivialized with either a Blasphemous Blade build, or a Dual Twin Blade Bleed build.  The final boss is the only true challenge I'm the game once you get the mechanics down, lol.

You can make just about any weapon in the game OP. But I would say newer players won't run into this problem most of the time because they don't know which buffs stack and how to optimize their stats. I watched streamer KaiCenat play the game a few days ago, and I never thought I'd see someone make Blasphemous Blade look so bad. I didn't see his stat splits, so I don't know how he did it, but I'd say most of the difficulty of the game comes from how optimized your build is.

 

Spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

Of course, there's always Spirit Summoning. On my first playthrough, I used the Mimic Tear a lot and completely stomped Malenia on my second try, so I didn't even learn her fight. On my next playthrough, I tried it without the tear and tried for hours.

 

I once did a Golden Halberd, Strength, Charged Attack build and completely stunned Malenia on the first try with just Charged Heavy and Riposte through both phases. She didn't even get a single attack off. No summons. I just sat there with my jaw on the floor thinking about how difficult this fight was with one of my previous builds.

 

Imo Malenia is by far the most challenging in the game. But that is ONLY because of the waterfowl, and learning to dodge or otherwise effectively avoid this attack is extremely difficult. Once you get that down, the rest of the fight is pretty easy.

 

Otherwise, Mohg was my other nemesis. His delayed attacks, wide swings, and fire trails caught me off guard so many times, especially when combined with his absolutely insane damage output.

 

Spoiler free summary: The player has a huge influence on the actual difficulty of the game.

[Yosh1]

Ended up selling Elden Ring and went with Fallout 76 (Played Fallout 4 in the past and enjoyed it). 

 

I did read Fallout 76 was awful on release but has had many updates. 

[thrasher_565]

Another Crab's Treasure just came out and seems good thow might or might not like it. its like a souls game mixed with spongbob.