Elden
Ring like much of the Souls series in general is very hard to both
rate and recommend. As a disclaimer I have played all of the previous
souls games and I am used to the certain quirks that come along with
the game. I will be touching on all of the major categories that
people usually use to review. Graphics/Performance, Gameplay/Boss
Fights, and Veteran/New player experience. At the end I will give my
final thoughts on the game and what my ultimate score for the game
is.
Graphics/Performance
Elden Ring is a beautiful looking game. I played the game on PC and was able to run the game on the highest settings and the visuals were stunning. The game is split up into various different environmental sections that all look great. You have the classic snowy area and volcanic mountain but there are some more unconventional environments as well. I won't spoil them here but some of the more hidden areas of the game contain great visuals. The open world contains a surprising amount of entities besides enemies, such as various wildlife that are neutral to the player until the player engages them. For the sheer amount of terrain that has to be loaded there are no loading screens between areas. The only loading screens that take place are when the player teleport between the different safe areas in the game. The performance of the game on PC was serviceable, good but not great. While the game held steady in terms of FPS for the majority of my play time, there were more than a handful of time when the FPS would drop. This usually would not occur during a boss fight it would mostly occur while traversing the open world. However this is assuredly a black mark against the performance of the game. This game marks a change in the visual style that is primarily chosen for the dark souls games. While the previous three dark souls games were primarily based on European fantasy, Elden Ring is based around Norse fantasy. This is a good style change as the European fantasy is a bit played out in modern media. Overall Elden Ring has beautiful graphics that are sometimes marred by performance issues.
***It is important to note that during a boss fight I had repeated crashes during the transition to the second phase. This is something that various others had issue with as well and needed to be stated as it affected my thoughts on the performance. ***
Gameplay/Boss Fights
This will probably be where the meat of the article is as there have been many changes and additions to the game play in Elden Ring. The biggest change to game play is the shift from a more linear focused game (such as the previous souls game) to a open world game. Overall the FromSoftware was able to build a good open world. There are various dungeons and bosses hidden away in the open world. The player is encouraged to explore and find new weapons, new armor and level up in order to tackle the main story bosses. In order to help with the transversal of the open world the player now has access to a horse that they are able to mount anywhere in the open world. In dungeons and other closed off areas the horse is not allowed. This helps to solve the skyrim horse issue where horses can be used to break the physics of the game. Crafting has been added to the game which pairs well with the open world setting. The player can gather the crafting materials in the open world or in dungeons. The player has to collect various crafting books in order to craft all of the items that they might want. In my personal experience crafting was not very impact as the items that could be crafted were only consumable/battle items. There is no crafting gear or weapons so do not go in expecting a robust crafting system. The crafting system seems a little tacked on and I believe was only included because it gave players more to do in the open world. Moving to the negatives of the open world, my main gripe was the lack of direction or limiting in where the player can go. Normally I would applaud a open world game for not restricting the player but with a souls type game there can be issues. The main way the the game attempts to corral the player is by making enemies in the different zones gradually harder to force the player to eventually go in the direction that the game intends. However this works against the whole mantra of the souls games of being "git good". I personally would struggle against enemies that were significantly stronger than me not knowing where I was actually supposed to be. I thought that I was just low level or just needed to get used to the game. However after I eventually overcame these enemies I returned to the areas I was supposed to and very easily cleared those areas. It made for a very inconsistent difficulty curve in the game. Once I had found a good weapon and had my build up and going there was only one boss that gave me significant trouble. That boss will be discussed later or in a different post as I have A LOT of thoughts about that design.
This is a good time to pivot to the combat and boss fights themselves. There are a few new editions to the combat system but overall it is very much the same as it was in the previous dark souls games. There is a light attack, heavy attack, dodge, block, weapons arts, and magic spells. These basic core tools are what returning souls fans can rely on until they can grasp the changes and additions that were done to the combat. With the addition of riding a horse, players can also fight on the horse. Fighting from the horse is a trade-off as the player can deal more damage but can be knocked off the horse and take critical damage until they get back up. I very often would NOT fight on the horse as many enemies deal high damage and being knocked off the horse was a quick way to end up dead. One of the bigger changes to combat is the boss design. In the previous dark souls game (especially Dark Souls 3) the dominant strategy was often to dodge then attack over and over again until the boss was defeated. The boss would not change up or vary their attack patterns except when the shifted into a second phase. However in Elden Ring the bosses are much "smarter" if that is the correct word to use. Bosses will very often delay their attacks and change up their patterns in order to catch players who attempt to use the Dark Souls 3 strategy. Bosses are in general also much more aggressive and do not give as much time between their attacks. This makes boss fights much more active as the bosses are engaging the player rather than the player engaging the bosses. Veteran players will have to come to terms with these changes or they will eventually hit a brick wall like I did against one of the earlier bosses. While this makes the boss fights more interesting it can also serve to make them very frustrating as the player can often feel that they have no chance to attack and that they are just getting comboed to death. Utilizing the other new systems, such as the ash summons, is key to adapting to this style of combat. In the design department there is a decent amount of repeated boss design which detracts from the uniqueness of the bosses. However there is enough time between these repeats so it never feels like you are fighting the same boss multiple times in a row. The unique designs of the main bosses easily outweigh the negatives of these repeats.
Veteran Player Experience
For a veteran souls player these changes can be overcome by relying on the skills that they have from previous games. While the dodge attack strategy does not work as well it can still be relied on in a pinch against the less mechanically difficult bosses. Since the veteran players have less to learn they will have an easier time with the game. It is hard to say exactly how difficult this game is for souls veterans as everyone has different thoughts on the hardest game. Many people claim Dark Souls 2 is the hardest but I personally found the jank of Dark Souls 1 to be much more difficult to play. Elden Ring sits in the middle of the difficultly tier as there are mechanics that can significantly help players such as the ash summoning system.
New Player Experience
However for newer players it is hard to recommend that Elden Ring be the first souls game that they play. There is a lot for new players to take in if they have never played a souls game before. There are the basics that the player must learn in addition to the new mechanics that are specific to Elden Ring. Due to how aggressive and punishing the bosses can be this can be very difficult for new players to want to continue when it feels that they have no chance against a boss. For new players there is nothing wrong with summoning a friend or NPC to help beat a boss. However the player clears the game is a valid strategy that worked for them. If you are a new player looking to pick up Elden Ring be prepared for frustration. This is not a game that you should expect to sit down in a weekend and beat. There is nothing wrong with having to stop and take breaks. Remember that you are supposed to enjoy playing the game. For new players who are looking to get into the series I would recommend playing Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne before coming to Elden Ring. I think Bloodborne is the better of the two but due to the fact that it is locked to only the PS4, Dark Souls 3 might be the better choice. They are overall "easier games" that can help newcomers get accustomed to the peculiarities of the souls series.
Final Thoughts
In gaming today, unfortunately, the trend is to release a half finished game and promise that in one year the game will be finished. I can happily say that Elden Ring is a complete product at launch that in general runs well. There are various changes across that board that differentiates this entry from the others in the souls series. The pivot to an open world was handled generally well and adds to the game rather than feeling tacked on. The graphics are amazing and other than a few frame drops the and odd crashes the game runs very well. Boss fights get a change in formula which is welcome for a veteran player but can be very frustrating for a new player. Overall I would rate the game a solid 9. Many reviewers rated the game at a perfect or near perfect 9.5/10. I however do not concur with this high a rating It is a quality game that has a few sore spots to work out before it can be considered a "perfect" game.
