Current Events > Elden Ring really was overrated as fuck

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can't believe I gave in to the hype. Like don't get me wrong, there's a place in gaming for Souls games and I wouldn't take them away from anyone, but they just aren't my cup of tea.

After months of hearing how it's going to be GotY, best open world, all kinds of secrets and rewards, elite customization, etc., I said fuck it and decided to dive in. Never played a souls game before anyways but I'd seen the clips of various souls games and figured I'd get sucked in once I gave them a shot.

I had some moderate fun for a while, but man, was I oversold. Re-used bosses, empty open world, artificial difficulty, a story only follow-able by reading every item description and piecing them all together, I just got burnt out. I was told there were just loads and loads of secrets if you look around in the open world, and all I managed to find were copy-pasted catacombs with copy-pasted traps. Admittedly the whole underworld or underground or whatever you wanna call it was sweet, that did surprise me, being such a fat new area coming out of nowhere.

And I gave it a fair shot too. I have a recorded playtime of 80 hours (but I afk a lot so it was realistically more like 70). I made it to I think the capital city lyndell so I think I was close to the end of the game. So spare me the whole "you didn't give it time, it gets good after x hours, etc." bit.

But the moment I was done was when I had just come back from a week long work trip. When I'm away from a game I'm playing for a while, I usually come back with a refreshed sense of excitement and eagerness to dive back in. And I had it. For about three minutes. I was traversing through the area mentioned above, made it past where I died last time, ran into a larger not-even-miniboss enemy, but died after getting stuck on an invisible corner despite my having zero issue damaging it to near-death.

So I said fuck it and that was that. Something in me just said that's enough. Like I wasn't hating the game at that point or anything, but it just lost me.

Again, it's not a bad game. If it was bad, I wouldn't have given it ~70 hours. But it was the definition of overrated. Every review calling it a 10/10 perfect game, previews overselling the awesomeness of the combat and exploration, it was all just overrated.

TaylorHeinicke posted...

artificial difficulty,

and there it is

TaylorHeinicke posted...

artificial difficulty

There it is.

Don't buy games that get hyped like that.

would actually call lyndell the half way point depending on how much of a completionist you are, some of the better bosses behind that.

but yeah, i dont think it's a 10/10 either, but in general i think people don't use x/10 properly as well.

Shut your fucking ass up.

I think the actual levels are fun, but the open world felt totally empty and unnecessary. I hope their next game is more like a traditional Dark Souls or Bloodborne

I prefer the other Souls games more because I don't enjoy open world stuff, but artificial difficulty is something you should think on a bit more. What does that actually mean?

Loved the first half but feels like the open-world side takes a back seat for the latter parts of the game.

I get 100% the game is all about exploration and it is amazing at that but there are a few times you need to find specific items to progress like the lift medallions where it does feel a little like luck as to whether you do find them or not. yes i know there are some hidden workarounds but some of them are just as lucky to find as the items needed.

I do like that pretty much any build is viable as long as you aren't an idiot.

skill issue

git gud

cope

seethe

didnt read

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/9/AAGkrsAADPNZ.jpg

The parts of the game that take place in the legacy dungeons are amazing.

The side quests for several characters are very very well done (Ranni, Millicent and Fia stand out to me most.)

Rest of the game varies between very good to boring (the little mini-dungeons are the worst offender here) but it was still a very enjoyable game.

ok jokes aside, more actiony titles like Bloodbourne and Sekiro were my preferred direction to the series. Elden Ring felt like they made a Souls for generic AAA gamer people who dont like Souls but love having a fuck-huge map to wander aimlessly.

Its a great game. Im not a great player but I got thru it. The genius is the little catacombs and stuff give you small little things to accomplish instead of always sloughing through main story dungeons.

Artificial difficulty in the Haligtree area where the devs said "fuck it, just toss all of these minibosses into one cramped area and have at it" but other than that, shut **THE** actual fuck up

God of War was overrated as fuck

I managed to sink 400 plus hours into it in just over 4 months, so it's my GotY. I fucking loved it.

I see most of you don't even have anything constructive to add. I do agree on most of what you said TC. I played through it 4 times because I missed a lit of quests I had no idea about until I looked it up. That was one of my main issues. I shouldn't have to look them up. Not even a log to keep track had to get a notebook and write it down. Then the open world is just empty asf.

Nirvanas_Nox posted...

Not even a log to keep track had to get a notebook and write it down.

This is a great positive imo. The fixed the quests main problem by adding in the NPC markers.

My first playthrough was great. Taking notes to track important NPC interactions, things to to back to later.

I'll say you were very fair. Too many people who call things overrated would say that the game is 100% trash or something along those lines. You gave it a shot and recognize it's a good game but was obviously turned off by the hype or everyone's "glowing" review of it. I'll definitely say that Gfaqs as a whole absolutely has a massive boner for anything Fromsoft makes and will even fight legitimate criticisms like the way side quests works.

TC after saying all that shit: I can't wait for the DLC

FaultyCircuitry posted...

This is a great positive imo. The fixed the quests main problem by adding in the NPC markers.

My first playthrough was great. Taking notes to track important NPC interactions, things to to back to later.

Yeah but having npc markers doesn't help track quests. Just tracks where the npc is. I mean it's great they added it but still doesn't help track quests

All Souls games is the same

Nirvanas_Nox posted...

Yeah but having npc markers doesn't help track quests. Just tracks where the npc is. I mean it's great they added it but still doesn't help track quests

Which it doesn't need to do.

I loved Elden Ring

My only issue is the narrative. It's bad. I don't buy "it has deep background worldbuilding and lore it's just not in your face about it" as an excuse either.

If you play through the game and follow the main story, you will likely not know what's happening without having it explained to you directly by a Youtuber or through combing through a series of obscure item/spell descriptions.

That's bad storytelling.

You'll get certain moments like Queen Marika turning into Radagon, which should be a huge moment for the player, but because the game does almost no effort explaining who these characters are or why them being in that state is important, like 90% of players are just gonna be like "what"

Doom_Art posted...

That's bad storytelling

It's excellent storytelling that doesn't work for everyone. Nothing wrong with that tbh

FaultyCircuitry posted...

It's excellent storytelling

It really isn't lol.

It's unconventional, but "excellent" is being massively charitable.

VampireCoyote posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/9/AAGkrsAADPNZ.jpg

I love how timeless this image is.

Thanks protagonist of the world, for bestowing us with your superior and 100% cannon perspective. We don't know how to apply proper value to anything as an NPCs. So, it's good when the main character tells us what we should like and what we shouldn't when it comes to things that entertain us.

But seriously, it's as easy as saying "I don't see what everyone else sees in Elden Ring" to not come off as self absorbed.

Soma posted...

I love how timeless this image is.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/0/AABUaRAAD7_q.jpg

Why does the guy in the image go from angry, to frightened, to dumbstruck and finally to sad?
Is that the poster needing to go the extra distance to make sure people know it's meant to be a zinger?

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Why does the guy in the image go from angry, to frightened, to dumbstruck and finally to sad?
Is that the poster needing to go the extra distance to make sure people know it's meant to be a zinger?

Because he's coming to terms with angels existing and that having the implication that hell also must exist and that's where he's going for trying to force his opinions on others.

Lost_All_Senses posted...

Because he's coming to terms with angels existing and that having the implication that hell also must exist and that's where he's going for trying to force his opinions on others.

Who is he trying to force his views on? I see nobody else in the comic. I see a man at his wits end, screaming into the abyss. Nobody will listen, so it is nobody he accepts as an audience.
He is going to hell for being a thought-criminal?

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Who is he trying to force his views on? I see nobody else in the comic. I see a man at his wits end, screaming into the abyss. Nobody will listen, so it is nobody he accepts as an audience.
He is going to hell for being a thought-criminal?

hes in the desert

TC, based I your post, you would probably enjoy the actual Dark Souls games.

• The copy/paste dungeons and Bosses aren't an issue.
• You know the main castles/dungeons in Elden Ring that are an absolute joy to explore? Every area in Dark Souls is like that.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Who is he trying to force his views on? I see nobody else in the comic. I see a man at his wits end, screaming into the abyss. Nobody will listen, so it is nobody he accepts as an audience.
He is going to hell for being a thought-criminal?

He's screaming his opinions at God. Which was the worst thing he could of done with this new realization that God actually exists and he knows that. Jeez man. It's all right there in the comic strip.

VampireCoyote posted...

hes in the desert

Forcing your views on scorpions is definitely a damned for all eternity type offense

Does overrated and underrated actually mean anything other than that person is in the minority? I always was cautious about using the words because it seems like an often unintentionally muddled way to convey a critique.

VampireCoyote posted...

hes in the desert

Please explain the last panel where the background of the message is a dark, murky blue. You'd normally look down to read something instead of holding it up or outward. Either the ground is a textureless blue void or the sky has suddenly turned into night.

Lost_All_Senses posted...

He's screaming his opinions at God. Which was the worst thing he could of done with this new realization that God actually exists and he knows that. Jeez man. It's all right there in the comic strip.

Why did God respond with a passive aggressive "ok" that could easily be misinterpreted as a sign of agreement? And why was this guy deemed worthy of interaction with his creator when countless others have been passed up?

polished concrete floor

Idk What you all are talking about in regards to a empty world. Because eldens rings is second to none.

There are a abudance of dungeons landmarks, useful items, gear, and npcs to find around every nook and corner of this world. Even 200hrs in I randomly find new things just riding around aimlessly.

And there are plenty ofngreat story and lore analysis videos for those if you care.

And while I agree this free roam doesn't last that's just the sacrifice that comes with opening 80% of the world to the player out the gate.

Re-used bosses - True but I forgive it since there are around 70 different bosses.Ofc there are only like 13 or fewer unique bosses (bosses only fought once) but i dont really care much about the uniqueness of bosses.

empty open world - definitely agree. Its just littered with enemies lol

artificial difficulty - true but imo it makes sense for an rpg. Have to make leveling up items and characters worth it for most people. I know some have beat the the entire game without any upgrades and leveling but takes most of them a few hundred hours of practice apparently.

a story only follow-able by reading every item description and piecing them all together - true.

K still give the game a 9/10. Tbh I don't care much for the lore and story of the game and didn't knock the game any points from that. I mainly knocked down 1 point cuz the side quests suck. They remind me of adventure games lol. The having to blindly stumble upon objects that allow you to progress part. It works well for linear games but for open world it becomes a fucking chore

VampireCoyote posted...

polished concrete floor

So there's some elevation to this, like he's climbed a structure most of the sand can't reach?
Either the guy in the comic came out to keep the concrete floor spotless or there's another character we never get to see? Perhaps the angel has some sort of exuding aura that blew all the sand away?

ViewtifulJoe posted...

Why did God respond with a passive aggressive "ok" that could easily be misinterpreted as a sign of agreement? And why was this guy deemed worthy of interaction with his creator when countless others have been passed up?

Imagine living on earth and still questioning why God says things easily misinterpreted and only talks to people who seem to have misguided intentions. That's like his whole bit. If you stop taking things so serious, you realize how hilarious God is. But no, everyone is so obsessed about why everyone around them is dying and he's over here doing bits. People need to lighten up. No way you're getting in to heaven being uptight about God's bits. Why would he want buzz kills in heaven. It's why we as humans react sarcastically to everything. It's the Godly part of us. We're not just all dicks for no reason. That's God in us.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

No, the ignorance you mistook for being "the truth".