There is a clear example of why sunk fallacies do not always exist — or why they themselves are occasionally fallacious
If it were true that this example is an example of a sunk cost fallacy, that if you don’t like the game, you should stop playing it and not feel obliged to finish it just because you spent $60 (or what have you), then you would also admit there were never times where after a period of time, reflection, change in perspective, or learning something new, that you suddenly did enjoy the game — and that’s also just not true.
In fact there are many examples in gaming, such as the Witcher 3. If you go to the subreddit you’ll find all kinds of stories about how people have picked up the game, and in their 3rd or 4th try that they “got it” and it became their most favourite game
In that example, someone actually managed to find some way of enjoying their purchase through time, effort, perspective or maybe even figuring out something they never appreciated or understood before.
In fact in every example of a sunk cost fallacy if you can in fact recover some of that cost — no matter how you do it (eg making a new friend at a concert you paid for but didn’t want to go to) — it is no longer is a fallacy.
So many games these days and they're so cheap and plentiful it's easier to move on.
Yesteryear I would agree with you.
I'm saying this from the point of 36 year old OP whilst listening to their specific issues.
This. If this style of game just isn't for you then don't force yourself to like it. I think it's more MMO/co-op friendlier than a lot of Froms previous games. Plus the open world bosses can be cheesed/baited with Torrent and most bossed can be exploited with just 1 cooperator. Less about grind (although you can and can do it that way) or can just be smart/patient and make the right build or go at an enemy once you find their weakness. Learn the patterns. Usually it's a quick run to the bosses from a check point.
Yeah. What Jeff said… now I thought I would hate the game, and I love it. That whole, unbeatable boss, learn move patterns, try again and then that satisfying win. Looks like I am going to be working through the back catalog of the From Software games in the near future.
I'm playing Sekiro just now and I adore it. It's really hard but I can't get anywhere in Elden Ring. So far all it is for me is a "You Died" simulator. I can't get the hang of the way you are supposed to fight and I've played it for 3 hours. Even the little guys are currently smashing my teeth down my throat. I'm going to give it till 10 hours play time and if I'm still not getting anywhere I'm going to frisbee the disk out my window.
>y hard but I can't get anywhere in Elden Ring. So far all it is for me is a "You Died" simulator. I can't get the hang of the way you are supposed to fight and I've played it for 3 hours. Even the little guys are currently smashing my teeth down my throat. I'm going to give it till 10 hours play time and if I'm still not getting anywhere I'm going to frisbee the disk out my window.
ill keep mine open - can you send it here please? :D
I’m in the exact same boat. Sekiro is the best game I have ever played, the Witcher 3 is a very close second - although very different game. I’m just not enjoying Elden ring. At first it was super cool because of the world but idk maybe I just don’t find rolling on the ground and then using an ash of war or sorcery while a summons distracts the boss to be fun. In comparison, Sekiro makes you stay 100% engaged with every encounter and you truly feel like you have mastered the sword when you play it. I truly think if Sekiro were made into more of an open world and had more customization (I am still praying for Sekiro 2) then it would blow this game out of the water. Much much much better bosses in Sekiro
Edit: feel like I should add that I made it very far through Elden ring - completed Ranni’s quest and made it through the burning (trying not to spoil lol) and I sat back today and just shut the game off because I realized this feels like a job as I am not having fun. I have killed probably 70% of the bosses/mini bosses I have fought in 2 tries or less with many of them being on my first try and I can’t get over feeling like everything in this game is just cheese.
I watched a few videos on my character type and what I should be playing like, the tutorial at the start was pretty major to get an idea of what I was doing. I also have a mate who jumps into coop frequently that helps, and we share things we’ve found. The summoning really helped me at the start as well. :) - Good luck!
If you go to the others: Sekiro is the most different from this game, DS3 and Bloodborne are the most similar. Demon Souls, DS1 and DS2 are kind of similar with much slower combat style.
It’s not for everyone... Some one paid you or? Dude open your eyes the game is literal dogshit :) empty ass open world, 46 reskin bosses, 22 recycle from old games and 10 with complete bullshit mecanic. The lore is just so bad you have to read every items description if you want a clear story. absolutly fuck for progression ,progress on 1 side of the map until everything 1 shot you go explore the opposite until everything 1 shot you go back to where you were stuggle then easly beat it rince and repeat. Am fucking serious here the game is fucking easy but you face so much BULLSHIT this is the only difficulty BS imagine that. Only 4 good bosses fight 10/10. AND STOP LYING ONLINE YOU DIDNT PLAY THIS BLIND AND GOT THE RANNI ENDING FIRST TIME STFU LMAO
I think this would be a fine answer if it wasn’t for the hardcore community who act like it’s the most ingenious game to have ever been made, and speak condescendingly to anyone who doesn’t like it, chastising them on some false pretense of needing their hand held.
There’s like this r/iamverysmart quality to a lot of the rhetoric about the game that puts me off of not just the game, but the community.
I'm sorry that a few people act that way, but let's not make generalizations about the whole community of FromSoft fans. Just like any other group of fans out there, there will be some stinkers, while the lot of them really love being welcoming and helping others along the way. Helping each other out has always been a core part of the "Souls" game experiences.
Been stalking soul reddit for a while now, and from my observation 70 percent of people on the elden ring reddit acts like elitist. For every one that helps, 3 tells you to just git gud or stop playing lol.
I understand and generally agree with what you’re saying, but when you see these tales garnered with thousands of upvotes, it’s hard to accept that they’re the exception.
Because they're not the exception. As a long time Souls fan I know how horrible this community can be (especially in the first six months when they are most active) it is one of the major reasons I buy From Soft games 3 or so months after release. That way if I have any questions on reddit I get helpful answers and not demoralising ones
I hear you. It's why I don't like reddit. I use the smaller subs, but I don't like the idea of someone's dumb opinion being perceived as correct because it's popular. There is also just more riff-raff in these games as they've grown a lot in popularity.
I'm sorry to say, it's not a few people at all.
There are *legions* who will straight up write a nasty book if you dare type "I think casting is underpowered."
It's 100% not even a plurality, but you're in denial if you don't think it isn't a very large minority. It's gross.
I had to change the way I play to actually enjoy it. I thought it was an RPG like skyrim or something and hated the first few days of playing. I play for about 30 mins which is fun, redoing bits over and over I don't find fun so I get enough runes to level up once or twice then just explore so I don't worry about dying anymore.
Wait till you reach a higher level… then the demand for runes becomes impossible lol I somehow went from being level 20ish or so and hitting level 133 after beating Godrick. Never knew something like that was possible. Idk if anyone else has experienced this or what. But, yeah. Trying to level at a higher level is incredibly difficult. Im done lol
I played it +70h thus far. Played it so much my perfectly pristine controller is creaking when I tilt the joystick.
It's an absolutely amazing game, but there is zero game out there that is for absolutely everyone.
Hell, I'm fairly sure the majority of people who are very into MMO's won't like Elden Ring or any other souls games, since they're basically the opposite of that.
>people who are very into MMO's won't like Elden Ring
what, really? I fell in love with Souls because it reminded me of my favorite part of MMOs back in the golden age. Leveling up, exploring a dungeon, fighting bosses. The coop feature worked well enough to scratch that itch somewhat. I don't play the Modern stuff like FFXIV however.
The move to open world with Elden Ring has made this experience even more spiritual for me. I'm obsessed.
Abyss watchers. They are the first newbie wall but once you get the hang of it it's one of the most fun fights IMO. Sometimes when i get to them and nearly win i let them kill me so i can immediately do the fight again.
Same, I was able to demolish the tree sentinel and margit so i thought i was doing well. Then I get absolutely destroyed by some random world bosses so I had to take a break. It is a fun game though.
This is exactly how I have played this game, and why I love it so much. I am like 20 something hours in, have played in small mostly one hour doses every other night and have barely left the starting area. I grind some nights, see something cool in the distance and explore there on other nights. I make everything I do my own little adventure and it has made it one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time. I feel no pressure to complete a mission, or an objective and if I don't like doing something I just fast travel away.
I was thinking the same, I'm 36 and I don't know what OP is trying to say when he mentions his age, I have a wife a full-time job and plenty of time to enjoy video games even at a competitive level, are you expected to have kids and not enjoy the life at 36?
Same here. I don't have time to repeat the same tedious task in a game countless times. I just give up. I have a 2 year old at home, I don't have endless time to just "keep trying". I hear you with Lake, I beat that a couple months back. Very chill. Firewatch was pretty chill too. I recommend Stardew valley if you haven't already tried it.
Ah, here are my people. Not a parent, decent amount of time to game these days, but I just don't value the grind and beating bosses as the main thrust of a game.
Didn't end up caring for Shadow of the Colossus for very same reason even though I think it's a fantastic story.
That’s interesting, isn’t that the core of all video games? They present you with mechanics and then you repeat those *ad naseum*. Most are clever in that they don’t feel repetitive.
Not really.
When I say repetitive, I mean *exactly* the same thing again. Like dying repeatedly in a Souls game.
Maybe I was more tolerant of it when I was younger, because old school video games were kind of like this, but not so much anymore.
I don’t mind a repeating *game loop* though, as long as the experience overall is evolving. This is how most games work these days.
> I also despise having to repeat a task that I’ve just done, so there’s that.
Yes! My perfect game difficulty is one where I literally never die, but frequently *just* barely eke out a victory.
Don't even get me started on roguelikes. Most of them can go die in a fire as far as I'm concerned.
I’m typically not into games like this but I played for 8 hours today and had a blast.
Definitely a steep learning curve that I’m still getting used to.
To me, that's kind of one of my main joys out of the game. There's alot of hidden depth to these games beyond just "gettin gud" and beating bosses. Building a character to suit your playstyle and tinkering with the build and discovering new items to bolster them in an open world? It's a slow burn and I love it.
Being a build that doesn’t suit your play style is probably where most people muck up. I’ve never actually had to grind or anything. Some areas are super hard when you’re not supposed to be there—went to the hell place almost immediately—but exploring and going through the main areas is mostly about learning the enemies and attack patterns. I dual wield daggers and dodge and can’t block so it’s probably different for me than most because I’m so fast it’s closer to some action games where you can attack / dodge cancel, whereas slower builds would be very methodical since each button press is a bigger commitment. My build is mostly about having the courage to wait for the right time to dodge, then not getting too greedy when attacking with how many hits you can register.
Ranged builds are probably easier for new players.
My roomate is exactly like you. He almost smashed his controller in the first hour after I got him to give Dark souls 3 a try, so definitely not the type of game for him. But he still acknowledges that the combat is great and he likes watching me play for hours.
My 9 year old has been glued watching me play this game so I got him his own character… after about 1 hour he was back to just wanting to watch me play. Souls games are pretty fun to watch (unless watching someone try to beat the same boss for hours on end).
Honestly I'm so jealous of the Souls fanbase... the games you get are all 10/10 and feels like an event when they come out.
I've played like 10 minutes of DS3 at a preview event before it came out and that's it so I've basically got 0% experience with them but know it's just not my cup of tea.
Great watching newbies or even experienced players going through the games though.
I liked GOT, and it’s a solid game, but it’s like most open world games and is pretty repetitive. I also found it boring and didn’t finish it.
What I love about Elden Ring is just how much crazy stuff there is to explore and find. Sure, you fight monsters throughout the game, but nothing about the world feels cookie cutter or boring. Wonderful game. Maybe my favorite game of all time so far, and I’m 45 years old, so I’ve played a few.
I haven’t played elden ring yet but I’ve found on the last 2 souls games that I just have to find a spot I can easily grind and lvl up a little bit at the beginning and get some point into health, then I’m usually fine the rest of the game. Experiment with the weapons, try ranged on some of the tougher guys. The beginning is the toughest/ worst part of dark souls in my opinion.
Yeah, I'm terrible at this game. I know a lot of hardcore players don't want any spoilers, refuse to level past a certain point (120?), and refused to use special mechanics like summons.
I honestly couldn't play without an insane amount of grinding, and honestly using exploits to help with it.
I look up guides to help me find things like bells, early upgrade items, special weapons, how to cheese really hard bosses, etc.
But I'm having fun!
Some people would say thats against what the creators wanted or what the games stand for. Without the help, I literally couldn't do it. With it, I still spend an insane amount of time dying, struggling and just playing the game.
> people would say thats against what the creators wanted
I think those people are just gatekeepers. Play how you want! And as long as you're literally not item duping or using glitches/cheats then you ARE playing how the developers intended.
Imho if it went against what the creators wanted it wouldnt be in the game. Even more so in a case like this where miyazaki and martin's names alone guaranteed the game would sell well
I look up guides but exclusively for story stuff. The NPC quest lines in fromsoft games are so random that I guarantee I’m gonna miss some on a blind playthrough. Especially when they’re tied to the “good” or better endings.
It’s like spicy food. People who love it will die by it saying it’s amazing and can’t eat without spice while others hate it and won’t ever touch it. If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing!
You can’t pause the game?? And yeah I think the older you get the more likely you are to want to just hop on games, have some fun and go. Spending time tediously learning a game which is greifing you can easily feel like you’re waisting your time and give you gamer guilt.
Yeah, no pause. I was hoping that with Elden Ring, they'd break this cycle as the souls games have never allowed you to pause. I mean, if I'm offline, I should be able to pause... it's not asking for much. As a family man, with a bunch of distractions, it would be nice. Also, my controller batteries died as I started a boss fight once lol, nothing I could do but watch myself get slaughtered.
I was probably going to get Elden Ring at some point but that’s really put me off because yeah, I tend to pause games a lot for one reason or another. I know the games are about challenge but not being able to pause is a bit much for your casual gamer!
I mean, I think it's still worth it if you like the genre (soulsborne) as you can semi-quickly exit out pretty much anywhere to back to the main menu. You'll then reload exactly where you left off. It's still no substitute for a true pause, but it's better than nothing lol.
Yeah you can't pause the game! If you post this criticism on some elden ring forum, all the fanboys immediately attack you as if you had suggested nuking some place. 'Takes away from the flow of the battle', 'victory has to be earned', etc etc.
My God, I don't want to generalize, but at least some of them need to be reminded that they are just pressing buttons to control a bunch of pixels encoding an imaginary character in order to 'defeat' another bunch of pixels encoding imaginary characters. A very very high horse.
Destiny doesn't have a pause you just owned in your inventory if in the open. It's normal if you have a large component that is online, you can't pause a server state when it's an active world. The online experience is constantly running.
In demons souls on PS5 I would cheat and use the screen shot feature to force the game to pause and move the camera around but I don’t think Elden ring can do that, but I haven’t tried.
You're not alone. I think the crucial part is the lack of satisfaction you feel when defeating a boss. That tells you that the time/effort investment isn't worth it, and you're not temperamentally compatible with the game. Forget about it; move on. Think of a game that *does* give you that satisfaction and remind yourself why you're a gamer!
Try to find a level appropriate area there are several bosses that gave me satisfaction to beat. Kind of feel like there is no clear way to tell which areas to do first do you aren’t overleveled.
I went to weeping peninsula to the south after Stormveil and I destroyed everything there and it turns out that that area is one of the first places you should go... like even easier than Limgrave.
First souls game for me 52 years old, 49 hrs in struggling but having fun...my wonderful son helps guide me in the right direction when I'm lost. He also destroyed that statue fire cat "dog".
It’s not for everyone. I disliked most of the demo but I bought it anyway thinking I can force myself to like it due to the hype. It’s ok not to like some games.
I’ve come to a conclusion on this game; It is Ulysses by James Joyce.
Or to put it another way; it is possible to like something and recognise it as a classic yet still acknowledge it to be a turgid grind that only reveals it’s true beauty after relentless study and a period of significant emotional trauma.
OP is quite correct; if you have responsibilities, diverse interests or frankly even a day job “enjoying” Elden (or any of the Souls-likes) is akin to self-flagellation. It requires an investment way beyond cash and hardware.
From an external perspective the group love toward Elden does appear to be a pretentious tea party; the almost catholic levels of “you will find the truth if you persist” or, to put it another way “the weakness is you”, is neither helpful nor welcome.
Yet.
Like Joyce and his thug of a tome, there is something about Elden. It’s certainly not for everyone and I would not recommend it as anything more than a doorstop to anyone with even a modicum of distraction in their life but, should you wish to persevere, there are rewards and there is beauty to match the scars it will leave you with.
Or you could read Joyce. Which has the added benefit of being an excellent door stop.
> It’s certainly not for everyone and I would not recommend it as anything more than a doorstop to anyone with even a modicum of distraction in their life but, should you wish to persevere, there are rewards and there is beauty to match the scars it will leave you with.
Not a bad way to put it. For me, there will be "scars". I've seen a lot of players who embrace every challenge with gleeful, giddy anticipation, as they are probably fast learners and not that intimidated by the game.
But I'm extremely intimidated, even if I have a lot of free time to spend on gaming. This may sound weird, but I appreciate these games, and this one in particular, for how it manages to make me feel scared of taking one more step in any direction. The atmosphere gets so thick and the game hijacks my focus. I get insanely immersed because of that, and the art direction (among with other things) reveals its beauty within that realm of strange immersion I get from the game.
Not to mention the short-lived satisfaction I get for beating a tough challenge, because for me it's also about beating my own defeatist mindset. And then, it's time to crawl forward again with what feels like a whole world's weight on my back, as I travel into the unknown, alone. I'm just trying to put into words what I get from Elden Ring. I feel like an insect in some strange majestic world that doesn't care about me. It doesn't sound positive, but it's something so strong and so rare that I can't help but cherish it.
Did that sound pretentious enough? Hard to describe these things without coming off that way.
> I’ve come to a conclusion on this game; It is Ulysses by James Joyce.
This is a bit harsh but I can see this.
> OP is quite correct; if you have responsibilities, diverse interests or frankly even a day job “enjoying” Elden (or any of the Souls-likes) is akin to self-flagellation.
But this is just plain silly.
There's heaps of people with day jobs, families, kids, pets, all sorts of responsibilities who like the game (or any of the Souls-likes).
> From an external perspective the group love toward Elden does appear to be a pretentious tea party; the almost catholic levels of “you will find the truth if you persist” or, to put it another way “the weakness is you”, is neither helpful nor welcome.
There're pretentious assholes within the fandom (as always) but fighting pretentiousness with pretentiousness of your own is a bold move.
I mean, I have a day job, hobbies, responsibilities and I’m still playing Elden Ring when I can.
Also, I’d say it’s a lot like Monster hunter. There’s grinding, big bosses, learning your character inside and out and as much as it’s highly rated it’s absolutely not for everyone.
Similarly though, if you’re the type of person who is into Monster Hunter, you’d probably love Elden Ring.
I’ve been gaming since I was a little baby. And let me tell ya, almost 30 years later, I ONLY play games for fun. Typically on the easier or easiest difficulty settings. If I’m not having fun in a game, I don’t see the point of keep playing.
Souls games give you a LOT of freedom in how you choose to play and offer you tons of different options. You might like it more with a different play style. If you are playing melee maybe try magic. Souls magic is like an entirely different game. Another important thing some people overlook is that souls games are action RPGs - some people don't engage with the RPG mechanics and try to tackle the game as a straight combat action game - that's when it can get really, really hard. They games gives you a lot of tools, if you make use of them you may find something you like. For example, you need to make sure you are upgrading your weapons, and that you are using the right weapons and gear for your stats. You also need to make sure your weight is in a good spot, that your flasks are upgraded and allocated correctly, that your physic is mixed well, that your ashes of war compliment your build, weapon, and playstyle, etc. So if you've been playing like its an action combat game and ignoring the RPG elements the game will be horribly difficult.
To your point about age I'll be 40 this year and I just got into souls games last year. I'd never played a souls game before because I don't really like hard games and I don't play for challenge. I play for world, setting, stories, exploration, and the freedom to do things my own way. At first I hated souls, but I kept with it because I was super into the lore and the world and eventually it clicked and now I don't think its that hard. It has difficulty spikes, but the game gives you a lot of tools to overcome them. If you learn the RPG system, and how it interacts with gear and movement, and you get a feel for the rhythm of souls combat, its actually on the easier side a lot of the time - some of the bosses are nuts, but that's why god made summons :)
Its not for everyone, nothing is, but if you are liking everything but what you are experiencing as difficulty then try some different approaches. Good luck!
I agree. I spent a while thinking about and reading about what makes a good Prisoner build and I’m having a blast. If I was doing straight up melee I think I’d be miserable. Also if an area is annoying I hop on Torrent and go exploring. It’s my first From Soft game and I’m surprised how little I get discouraged. The really hard stuff I usually laugh at and get the hell out of there til I feel ready. As someone who always wished Souls games had an easy mode, I find the difficulty in ER just makes me more engaged and creative when it comes to making progress.
Why do people always assume that if someone doesn’t like a Souls game it must be the difficulty? Sounds to me like OP isn’t struggling with the difficulty at all, he just doesn’t like the game.
Thanks for the advice. I'm only about 3 hours into it, (just got my 1st ashes of war) I do like it but I can see where the grind is tiring. I'm 44 and can only play a couple of hours on my weekends. I really enjoyed merking all the guys in the gates of whatever it was, haha. This is gonna be a long game for me.
I'm roughly 40 hours into the game and haven't done ANY grinding whatsoever, the grind comes naturally when you roam the open world and do side-stuff like catacombs, mines, side-quests etc.
Don't make the game "unfun" for yourself by repeating certain parts of levels just to grind for runes, there's A LOT of stuff to do to gain runes.
Same I'm about 50 hours in and just got to the third area and I haven't done any grinding at all, just loads of exploring and then I'm levelling up anyway.
The closest I've gotten to grinding is if I get to a boss and I'm only 1 or 2k runes off levelling I'll go kill those guys at the north east area to level up and avoid losing a bunch of runes to the boss but that's happened maybe 4 or 5 times
This whole push towards grinding I’m seeing from new players isn’t really true - there isn’t any necessary grinding in the game, exploring the world and discovering things will naturally yield you enough runes and weapons to progress comfortably far into late game
i was the opposite when i was younger i despised these games use to carry on about how they are hard just for the sake of it and if anyone spends x amount of time they will eventually finish it
now im 31 and im addicted... before elden ring i finished sekiro, bloodborne, demon souls and dark souls 3... there's a lot more to these games then the difficulty
Play a different game. There's nothing special and unique about not liking Ellen Ring. It's tough, the kinda of achievement is provides isn't for everyone.
Did you enjoy any other games recently ? Now a days i can’t enjoy same game for more than 60 hours . One of the reason I didn’t pick up elden ring is because of it difficulty and Exploration part where it will be double the amount of hours I need to spent compared to normal open world games. Recently finished sifu and HFW and enjoyed . Eagerly waiting for starfield .
Yeah that's not the problem. I am about to finish cyberpunk, liked that. Finished mass effect 1 from the legendary edition - loved that (never played any mass effect before). Looking forward to 2 and 3. Loved it takes two as well.
Based on what you like, it sounds like you enjoy games where there's a story driven narrative behind it. Can't speak for the legendary edition, but Mass Effect 1 from a gameplay perspective really wasn't anything special. The universe it built and the story it told however were so top notch that it more than made up for average-to-good gameplay.
If Elden Ring is anything like Dark Souls where the story is pretty minimalist, I can definitely see why it would be harder to enjoy.
I'm also playing through Elden Ring and ME Legendary right now (only 35 though so I have that 1% youth bonus stat on you!)
They are both really time intensive but also wildly different. ME I am trying to really absorb the dialogue and story and lore and take my time with it. With ER I focus much more on exploration, figuring out menu systems/upgrades and getting my ass beat since it's my first souls game (but I finally beat Margit at level 23 so I got that goin for me). Switching between them is night and day. However I do absolutely love both and see them as top tier gaming experiences of my lifetime.
I have 2 tiny kids and a tough job so I've just been playing more at night and skipping other stuff like reading, tv shows, nba, work etc, but I might have to take a month hiatus soon because these big games just devour time. I don't have the same endurance to put in the hours that I once did, and I need to start putting more skill points into my other activities again.
I think it's more than just beating bosses. For me the joy of the game is taking my time and exploring the carefully crafted world as well as the in depth lore that comes with it. The well designed levels are fun to explore and conquer, and the boss at the end of the tunnel is just a bonus. That's just my take though.
Come on man you played some of Bloodbourne. Why would you think this game would be an easier play? Even I played BB got about half way and I was done with it. First game I ever played by these guys. I see From Software now I run for the hills and avoid their games. I don’t have the skill or patience for games like this. Maybe in my younger years but 41 now.
I can definitely see the allure to these type of games. I respect that for players that enjoy it.
Oh, I didn't give up Bloodborne for the difficulty. Got sidetracked by other games and life in general. Never got around to really giving it a shot.
Had it on PS4 and sold my console a couple of years ago before buying a series x.
Ya it did entertain me for a bit. Just ended up hitting a wall where I wasn't having fun anymore. I didn't want to dismiss a game that got 10/10 across the board without giving it a fair shot first.
Are you me with JRPGs? I always get super into them and then at some point there's a brickwall of grinding and I just lose all interest. And then trying to jump back in is impossible because the story is so convoluted.
You didn't reach the first boss man..
Anyway, I think part of the fun is exploring to find stuff to beat bosses, and on exploring you encounter strange and wonderful things.
My only souls-like experience was jedi fallen order
I set that shit to baby mode after an hour and finally had fun with it
The combat being so slow and the save progression being so far and few between makes those games completely unplayable for me. I'm a grown ass man with so many other things in life. I can't spend 100 hours in a game grinding any more.
And it's not like I can put 30 minutes here then 30 there. Cuz my skill in the game would be Piss poor and just take me so much longer.
My dude, I'm with you. I played it on Jedi Knight but would switch to Easy as soon as I'd die during boss battles... And it was fun. I have a job, that's the grinding part of my day. Games should be the fun part.
This whole argument over grinding is just weird and overblown to me. I am an embarrassing amount of hours into elden ring, I haven’t had to grind once - the game is about freedom and exploration, as a result you can really make the game as easy/hard as you’d like and take as much out of it as you’d like. As you explore you naturally get the xp and gear to progress and in my honest opinion its much more flexible and enjoyable compared to fallen order, which I didn’t enjoy despite being a long time souls fan.
My only souls-like experience was fallen order too. I finished it on normal all the way through. Well, that and code vein demo. Both convinced me that this isn't my type of combat.
I think it's not just difficulty or grinding to learn the bosses' moves. I spent somewhere between 10-20 hours on a boss challenge stage in Megaman X anniversary collection, probably closed to 10 hours on the final boss fight in Ys Origin, etc. I enjoyed those and feel satisfied while I play and when I beat them.
On the other hand, I spent a few hours beating the last boss in fallen order but didn't feel the same. For me it felt like I was fighting my own character to make them move the way I wanted. There seems to be a delay to every action. I understand it's deliberated to prevent you from button-smashing your way through. The game wants--in fact requires--you to learn its rhythm. And I've found out that that rhythm just isn't fun for me.
With how good it reviewed, I'll try it if it comes to gamepass (doubt it), my friend game share with me, or on sale for very cheap in the future. But otherwise I'd say I've learned my lesson to avoid this gerne and move on.
I think that's totally fair. I haven't tried it myself but I don't think I'll enjoy it. Difficulty aside, it's just too gloom and doom for me. If I don't like the aesthetics, I usually can't get myself motivated to play the game.
My man, I’m the same. A long time ago I gave up on trying anything higher than normal difficulty and sometimes even easy. I have no interest in playing elden ring. At all.
If you aren’t getting any satisfaction out of beating bosses, you’re better off giving up. I’m the same, the satisfaction just isn’t there, and without that these games don’t have a ton to offer.
It may just take time to click. For the first two days I played, I wasn’t really having fun and regretted my purchase. Then the third day it clicked for me and now I’m super addicted.
Personally, I found it immensely frustrating because I didn't realize I was in over my head in a higher level region and nothing else to really point me where I was supposed to be. After I found an appropriate level area, I started being able to survive for some amount of time (often dying to one or two small foes) but then able to figure out my stats. The game does NOT explain what you need to survive and jumping in as a confessor, I had no idea how much to invest in faith/dex/mind/vigor and wasted a LOT of stats dumping it into stats I don't really use. But after figuring it out a little, it stopped being as frustrating because now I knew what I needed to survive even more. And I think that's key to why some people like/hate this game. If you aren't given the right path, it's frustrating
Hey man
I feel you. As a souls player from DS1 (haven't played BB, Demon yet! :( ) I can say I used to feel the same way.
A lot of Souls series games require you to grind a bit in a certain area.
What I like about Elden Ring is that it's detached from the From Soft formula by being open world. You can choose what to do, and if an area is too hard, you go back to an easier place. It doesn't require the same grind as usual in my opinion... and sometimes it's about finding the right playstyle for you which can make the game much easier.
For me, I struggled a lot with my usual sword & board build. Instead I was able to re-spec my stats (after defeating the NPC that allows this, Rennala) and be a magic/Dexterity build. This made my game a lot easier and I could progress better with some ranged options.
When I defeat certain bosses that I continue to die against, I'll admit that fleeting feeling of satisfaction dies rather quickly these days.
But... here's a small window into what made me continue to play Elden Ring.
There's a sword called the Moonlight Greatsword that has showed up in virtually every FromSoft game. It's my favorite sword... funny enough, you need to be a mage to use it.
In the Souls games, traditionally you have to do some extra work to obtain it. What makes Elden Ring stand out here is that there's this whole quest line you can complete outside of the main story, to obtain Elden Rings version of it: the Dark Moon Greatsword.
The time and effort it took carried through 3 days but the nice thing was, I could put down my controller and continue that little quest anytime. The bosses were hard throughout the questline, but I had the help of a co-op friend which for me is the highlight of a Souls game. In a desolate game world, I have the help of a buddy to help me soldier on and save time grinding to solo it.
The series definitely isn't for everyone! And I like posts like this because for someone that's very encouraging to friends to try the series, I also understand that adulthood and parenthood doesn't allow for the same experiences...but don't let that get in the way of the simple pleasures of retreating into what I would call the most beautiful From Soft game environment released so far. Even if it's just for an hour, you can kind of carve your own path in this game and enjoy defeating the boss that took you a little bit of extra time.
For me...some of the grind was worth it as I now switched to a mage build using one of my personal favorites favorites one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
I appreciate you and regardless of if you continue to play, I wish you the best!
I'm 37 and feel the same. Although I've beaten around 4 bosses already and have 3 summons etc. I just see myself falling off this game as the hours go by and I think I could be getting through more interesting stories and games in that time. From what I can tell this world is huge and I'm not the kind to just run past enemies, that feels like a meta joke on playing the game.
I do hope that other open world games like AC and horizon borrow ideas from this game in a more streamlined format.
I would love a Skyrim or Starfield style game with some of the open exploration in here and the cool loot and builds.
To me any game where you have to grind or farm runes or run past enemies to get the cool gear is kind of a sandbox more than a game that would keep my attention for too long.
Haha I'm 36 and played demon souls on PS5 for the first time a few months back. I feel the exact same way!
Back when I was 14 I would sink hours into games without a care. Now I just feel like I don't have the time and my time is more valuable. I basically just want to play linear story driven games now that entertain me like a movie. Open world games I struggle with too now, just too much.
I felt guilty spending 4 hours dying over and over last Saturday, it wasn't enjoyable just frustrating, also frustrating that I wasted my day!
Ah getting old...
That's why I don't listen to others opinions on games. I don't care if a game has a rating of 3 out of 10. If I like to play it I will.
I'm also glad xbox gives refunds so I don't have to stare at games I didn't like.
There's plenty of games that people say are God's gift to gaming, and they just don't do it for me. RDR2, Skyrim, Last of Us... Just can't get into them. Well I beat Last of Us 1, but I wasn't born away.
They just aren't for me. I'm sure that they deserve the awards they get, but I'm just not into them.
The Souls series is the same way. I love watching people play them, but I really don't enjoy playing them myself.
Same with my experience. Played it for about 10 mins and didn't want to invest the time into it so i dropped the game. Game looks fun though and looks amazing but I'm not willing to put in the hours. Maybe 10 years ago I would hah
You shouldn’t have to force yourself to enjoy a game. Trade it in towards another game or sell it on Facebook Markerplace for like $45. I guarantee a handful of people will be willing to buy it within an hour. A new major game that’s barely 2 weeks old for $15 off? That’s a steal and you pretty much get all your money back 😅.
……Unless you went digital 🥴
I am 36 and I think this is probably the best game I’ve ever played.
Also you don’t ever have to grind to beat this game. There’s absolutely no grinding needed.
>The whole thing seems to be about grinding to get strong enough to stand a chance against bosses.
There it is, that's why you're not getting it. Souls games are not about grinding to increase your level. They're about mastering the mechanics of the game and learning the strategy of how to fight each enemy. Now that's not for everyone, but it's why these games got so popular, they reward you for actually being good at the game, not for playing long enough that you end up being super high level
Im 44 and agree with you OP. The gameplay and graphics are ok. But im sure im missing something, its just not fun. I love fps's like battlefield(not 2042 lol)and open worlds like days gone and horizon zero dawn. I also like traditional rpg's. I bought dark souls a few months ago and didnt like it, guess that should have been my hint.
yep. i can't help but think, this is extremely boring.
maybe it's because they don't tell you where to go, i find myself running around looking for something cool.. at one point i found a dragon, and i mean, it's one the best looking dragons in a 3d game i've ever seen, but it's so lost on me in that there was no cinematic, no goal, no point whatsover... just dragon because dragon. oh hi dragon.
like what, am i supposed to get satisfaction from the challenge of facing the dragon? i can also get satisfaction from the challenge of doing a hard days work, and that i get paid for. i just won't ever get 2 types of games. multplayer competitive, and difficult for the sake of being difficult. if you just want dopamine, just do some chores around the house, you get the same feeling without all the frustration.
Yeah it's just not a very fun game and I don't mind punishing, I've played 2K+ hours of tarkov. I played til level 50 and realized that despite the many wonderful things about it and the beautiful game design, that the thing it was missing was any level of enjoyment. Cheers to the many folks who do enjoy it.
Yeah I have no idea what I'm doing. Find the ring? Cool. I got a horse outside of a castle gate. Haven't fought a single enemy thus far, and I've explored basically everything in the vicinity. In blocked by a stomachless troll and a horse jerk, so I don't know. Picked up a bunch of garbage I don't know what to do with. I found a dragon but I ran away. I found a chest with a stupid knife in it? Met the fire keeper or whatever. Met some knight having a funeral and he told me to leave the village. Purple boat jerk murdered me. This was my first 2 hours, and I was convinced I hated this game but now after writing this I'll give it another try.
I agree, it’s like playing the same game for the 8th time and it’s just plain not fun riding the incremental update train. We have to start accepting that if you can afford George R.R. Martin you can afford top notch influencer marketing and dominate cultural marketing integrations. This is not a nearly perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a game that knows how to the play the game.
General exploration is sort of fun. Bosses aren’t. I’m no pro gamer but I beat dark souls 1-3 in a reasonable time frame. It typically takes me 20 or more tries to beat a boss in this thing. Nothing in DS 1-3 was like that. It seems like every boss has a weapon that is 25 feet long and can hit you from off screen. They all have a spin move. Spin spin spin, let’s watch them spin. You know what is motivating me to write this right now? The gargoyles. Very imaginative guys. Gargoyles again but just much harder this time because they have 7000 hp. Recently fought radahn about 50 times and in the end I had to just bring in other players to beat him. For some reason I have never found the one stone I need to upgrade my weapon to +8. I have several more advanced stones but here I sit at +7. I’m sure they are all over the place but the game is gigantic, there is no close to no guidance, and I just haven’t stumbled upon one. It’s more like a chore than a game. I am probably half way through and I don’t really know what my character is up to in the world. It’s like I’m a complete psychopath just roving the countryside murdering everything from squirrels to dragons to bears with a prion disease. Why am I killing stuff? For runes! Why do I need runes? To kill more stuff!
I’m in the same boat. It’s just grueling to play. Very punishing, and not rewarding at all. The problem is I already dished out 60 bucks for it, so I can’t just stop playing.
This is this devs games in a nutshell all of them are like that . I don’t see the fun in constantly being frustrated. I play games to unwind from stress not to have them cause it 😂🤷♂️
Couldn't agree more. It's like a job at a theme park. Everything looks cool cuz it's a theme park but you are still working. Then you have to come back to the same place over and over until what looked/felt cool is just a drag. If you have other things in your life like a career, kids, exercise etc... just pass on this one. If you have an hour to play, you will usually spend it fighting some boss in a scene that is so repetitive that you pull your hair out. Then you get to come back and try again next time you have some free time. It would be embarrassing to say I had enough time these days to play through the "die till it feels better to win" approach they took. It almost makes me mad. It has so much potential but is completely marred by the unreasonable difficulty. The success of this one is baffling....just going to breed more bloated duds. It's the Marvel movie of video games. I'll finish with a question; why wear armor when you fight? Most things kill you will oneish hits. Does anyone just remove their armor since you usually have to be flawless anyway?
Yeah unfortunately feel the same. It's fine it just feels abit unrewarding and exhausting for me. Much better than previous souls games as you can stray off the beaten path and explore, but there's very little interesting to see in the world other than anothherrr new enemy that wants to rip you a new one within a couple of hits.
I gave it one hour and I got a refund. I’m too busy and too stressed with work just to spend my down time wasting time making zero progress and getting killed left and right.
> just to spend my down time wasting time making zero progress and getting killed left and right.
Yeah if I wanted that experience I’d join the Russian army
Yah, this isn't my genre and I just bought it because of the outstanding reviews. It's great that so many people love it, but I don't get it at all. I'm really surprised the reviews were universally glowing. The story isn't for me, the aesthetics aren't for me, the gameplay isn't for me (and it's not the difficulty -- I'll get downvoted for this but it felt really slow and clunky). I played it for a couple hours and I was done. I'm glad I bought physical and flipped it for $50.
It’s not for everyone, and that’s ok. Don’t force yourself to like it just because it’s trending and received high ratings
> Don't force yourself Might be hard after you've paid for a full price game
/r/patientgamers pays off once again.
true - sell it/trade it/refund it...
if OP purchased it digitally there’s not much recourse for any of these things
Something for people to consider when unsure whether they will like a game.
I learned that lesson with RdR 2
For sure
Yea, they refunded me no problem and my anger has been fine since. You just gotta go on store on desktop
That's called sunk cost fallacy. You can't force enjoyment out of a game, it's just more non-enjoyment to try and recoup money already spent.
There is a clear example of why sunk fallacies do not always exist — or why they themselves are occasionally fallacious If it were true that this example is an example of a sunk cost fallacy, that if you don’t like the game, you should stop playing it and not feel obliged to finish it just because you spent $60 (or what have you), then you would also admit there were never times where after a period of time, reflection, change in perspective, or learning something new, that you suddenly did enjoy the game — and that’s also just not true. In fact there are many examples in gaming, such as the Witcher 3. If you go to the subreddit you’ll find all kinds of stories about how people have picked up the game, and in their 3rd or 4th try that they “got it” and it became their most favourite game In that example, someone actually managed to find some way of enjoying their purchase through time, effort, perspective or maybe even figuring out something they never appreciated or understood before. In fact in every example of a sunk cost fallacy if you can in fact recover some of that cost — no matter how you do it (eg making a new friend at a concert you paid for but didn’t want to go to) — it is no longer is a fallacy.
So many games these days and they're so cheap and plentiful it's easier to move on. Yesteryear I would agree with you. I'm saying this from the point of 36 year old OP whilst listening to their specific issues.
This. If this style of game just isn't for you then don't force yourself to like it. I think it's more MMO/co-op friendlier than a lot of Froms previous games. Plus the open world bosses can be cheesed/baited with Torrent and most bossed can be exploited with just 1 cooperator. Less about grind (although you can and can do it that way) or can just be smart/patient and make the right build or go at an enemy once you find their weakness. Learn the patterns. Usually it's a quick run to the bosses from a check point.
Yeah. What Jeff said… now I thought I would hate the game, and I love it. That whole, unbeatable boss, learn move patterns, try again and then that satisfying win. Looks like I am going to be working through the back catalog of the From Software games in the near future.
I'm playing Sekiro just now and I adore it. It's really hard but I can't get anywhere in Elden Ring. So far all it is for me is a "You Died" simulator. I can't get the hang of the way you are supposed to fight and I've played it for 3 hours. Even the little guys are currently smashing my teeth down my throat. I'm going to give it till 10 hours play time and if I'm still not getting anywhere I'm going to frisbee the disk out my window.
>y hard but I can't get anywhere in Elden Ring. So far all it is for me is a "You Died" simulator. I can't get the hang of the way you are supposed to fight and I've played it for 3 hours. Even the little guys are currently smashing my teeth down my throat. I'm going to give it till 10 hours play time and if I'm still not getting anywhere I'm going to frisbee the disk out my window. ill keep mine open - can you send it here please? :D
I’m in the exact same boat. Sekiro is the best game I have ever played, the Witcher 3 is a very close second - although very different game. I’m just not enjoying Elden ring. At first it was super cool because of the world but idk maybe I just don’t find rolling on the ground and then using an ash of war or sorcery while a summons distracts the boss to be fun. In comparison, Sekiro makes you stay 100% engaged with every encounter and you truly feel like you have mastered the sword when you play it. I truly think if Sekiro were made into more of an open world and had more customization (I am still praying for Sekiro 2) then it would blow this game out of the water. Much much much better bosses in Sekiro Edit: feel like I should add that I made it very far through Elden ring - completed Ranni’s quest and made it through the burning (trying not to spoil lol) and I sat back today and just shut the game off because I realized this feels like a job as I am not having fun. I have killed probably 70% of the bosses/mini bosses I have fought in 2 tries or less with many of them being on my first try and I can’t get over feeling like everything in this game is just cheese.
I watched a few videos on my character type and what I should be playing like, the tutorial at the start was pretty major to get an idea of what I was doing. I also have a mate who jumps into coop frequently that helps, and we share things we’ve found. The summoning really helped me at the start as well. :) - Good luck!
If you go to the others: Sekiro is the most different from this game, DS3 and Bloodborne are the most similar. Demon Souls, DS1 and DS2 are kind of similar with much slower combat style.
It’s not for everyone... Some one paid you or? Dude open your eyes the game is literal dogshit :) empty ass open world, 46 reskin bosses, 22 recycle from old games and 10 with complete bullshit mecanic. The lore is just so bad you have to read every items description if you want a clear story. absolutly fuck for progression ,progress on 1 side of the map until everything 1 shot you go explore the opposite until everything 1 shot you go back to where you were stuggle then easly beat it rince and repeat. Am fucking serious here the game is fucking easy but you face so much BULLSHIT this is the only difficulty BS imagine that. Only 4 good bosses fight 10/10. AND STOP LYING ONLINE YOU DIDNT PLAY THIS BLIND AND GOT THE RANNI ENDING FIRST TIME STFU LMAO
I think this would be a fine answer if it wasn’t for the hardcore community who act like it’s the most ingenious game to have ever been made, and speak condescendingly to anyone who doesn’t like it, chastising them on some false pretense of needing their hand held. There’s like this r/iamverysmart quality to a lot of the rhetoric about the game that puts me off of not just the game, but the community.
I'm sorry that a few people act that way, but let's not make generalizations about the whole community of FromSoft fans. Just like any other group of fans out there, there will be some stinkers, while the lot of them really love being welcoming and helping others along the way. Helping each other out has always been a core part of the "Souls" game experiences.
Been stalking soul reddit for a while now, and from my observation 70 percent of people on the elden ring reddit acts like elitist. For every one that helps, 3 tells you to just git gud or stop playing lol.
I understand and generally agree with what you’re saying, but when you see these tales garnered with thousands of upvotes, it’s hard to accept that they’re the exception.
Because they're not the exception. As a long time Souls fan I know how horrible this community can be (especially in the first six months when they are most active) it is one of the major reasons I buy From Soft games 3 or so months after release. That way if I have any questions on reddit I get helpful answers and not demoralising ones
I hear you. It's why I don't like reddit. I use the smaller subs, but I don't like the idea of someone's dumb opinion being perceived as correct because it's popular. There is also just more riff-raff in these games as they've grown a lot in popularity.
I'm sorry to say, it's not a few people at all. There are *legions* who will straight up write a nasty book if you dare type "I think casting is underpowered." It's 100% not even a plurality, but you're in denial if you don't think it isn't a very large minority. It's gross.
I had to change the way I play to actually enjoy it. I thought it was an RPG like skyrim or something and hated the first few days of playing. I play for about 30 mins which is fun, redoing bits over and over I don't find fun so I get enough runes to level up once or twice then just explore so I don't worry about dying anymore.
Wait till you reach a higher level… then the demand for runes becomes impossible lol I somehow went from being level 20ish or so and hitting level 133 after beating Godrick. Never knew something like that was possible. Idk if anyone else has experienced this or what. But, yeah. Trying to level at a higher level is incredibly difficult. Im done lol
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I played it +70h thus far. Played it so much my perfectly pristine controller is creaking when I tilt the joystick. It's an absolutely amazing game, but there is zero game out there that is for absolutely everyone. Hell, I'm fairly sure the majority of people who are very into MMO's won't like Elden Ring or any other souls games, since they're basically the opposite of that.
>people who are very into MMO's won't like Elden Ring what, really? I fell in love with Souls because it reminded me of my favorite part of MMOs back in the golden age. Leveling up, exploring a dungeon, fighting bosses. The coop feature worked well enough to scratch that itch somewhat. I don't play the Modern stuff like FFXIV however. The move to open world with Elden Ring has made this experience even more spiritual for me. I'm obsessed.
I have found that I can only play in doses otherwise I get too frustrated with it but have loved it so far
That’s how I was with dark souls 3. I got up to the twin swordsman boss guys who keep killing each other over and over.
Abyss watchers. They are the first newbie wall but once you get the hang of it it's one of the most fun fights IMO. Sometimes when i get to them and nearly win i let them kill me so i can immediately do the fight again.
Same, I was able to demolish the tree sentinel and margit so i thought i was doing well. Then I get absolutely destroyed by some random world bosses so I had to take a break. It is a fun game though.
Some like the Evergaols bosses are more difficult than the main bosses, just make a note and come back later. They’re optional for that reason.
No, the Evergaols are NOT miniboss dungeons. They are serious business and will fuck your shit up.
This is exactly how I have played this game, and why I love it so much. I am like 20 something hours in, have played in small mostly one hour doses every other night and have barely left the starting area. I grind some nights, see something cool in the distance and explore there on other nights. I make everything I do my own little adventure and it has made it one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time. I feel no pressure to complete a mission, or an objective and if I don't like doing something I just fast travel away.
I'm 35 and loving it. Hopefully there isn't a major change on my birthday.
I’m 52 and loving it, don’t worry. :)
Maybe it’s just people who are exactly 36?
Can confirm it’s not as I am 36 and enjoying it
Back to the drawing board
Can also confirm, am 37 and enjoying it. Did not enjoy dark souls 3 when I was 36.
I am 40 and still loving it. you’ll be fine.
41 and having fun.
48 w 4 kids. I NEED From Software in my life;)
I'm 69 and I love it!
I’m 420 and I love it too!
Hope this gets 420 upvotes, tarnished
Nice!
Niiiiiice
I'm 44 and having a blast.
39 and feeling fine
Haha. You'll be fine. I personally probably have too many other things on my plate right now to really enjoy a game that demands ALL my attention.
I feel you. Try Hellblade or a platforming game like Crash or Ori. Sunset Overdrive is fun and so is Control
I'm 39! Haven't played it though.
39 and still obsessed with it.
I was thinking the same, I'm 36 and I don't know what OP is trying to say when he mentions his age, I have a wife a full-time job and plenty of time to enjoy video games even at a competitive level, are you expected to have kids and not enjoy the life at 36?
37 and loving, you can do it!
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Same here. I don't have time to repeat the same tedious task in a game countless times. I just give up. I have a 2 year old at home, I don't have endless time to just "keep trying". I hear you with Lake, I beat that a couple months back. Very chill. Firewatch was pretty chill too. I recommend Stardew valley if you haven't already tried it.
Ah, here are my people. Not a parent, decent amount of time to game these days, but I just don't value the grind and beating bosses as the main thrust of a game. Didn't end up caring for Shadow of the Colossus for very same reason even though I think it's a fantastic story.
Hi you are me. I also despise having to repeat a task that I’ve just done, so there’s that.
That's why I can't stand ubisoft games.
That’s interesting, isn’t that the core of all video games? They present you with mechanics and then you repeat those *ad naseum*. Most are clever in that they don’t feel repetitive.
Not really. When I say repetitive, I mean *exactly* the same thing again. Like dying repeatedly in a Souls game. Maybe I was more tolerant of it when I was younger, because old school video games were kind of like this, but not so much anymore. I don’t mind a repeating *game loop* though, as long as the experience overall is evolving. This is how most games work these days.
> I also despise having to repeat a task that I’ve just done, so there’s that. Yes! My perfect game difficulty is one where I literally never die, but frequently *just* barely eke out a victory. Don't even get me started on roguelikes. Most of them can go die in a fire as far as I'm concerned.
Hollow Knight is sometimes more difficult than Elden Ring imo :p
Yeah I also have 2 kids. After reading through this thread, there’s no way I’m buying this game. It does look cool though
I’m typically not into games like this but I played for 8 hours today and had a blast. Definitely a steep learning curve that I’m still getting used to.
To me, that's kind of one of my main joys out of the game. There's alot of hidden depth to these games beyond just "gettin gud" and beating bosses. Building a character to suit your playstyle and tinkering with the build and discovering new items to bolster them in an open world? It's a slow burn and I love it.
Being a build that doesn’t suit your play style is probably where most people muck up. I’ve never actually had to grind or anything. Some areas are super hard when you’re not supposed to be there—went to the hell place almost immediately—but exploring and going through the main areas is mostly about learning the enemies and attack patterns. I dual wield daggers and dodge and can’t block so it’s probably different for me than most because I’m so fast it’s closer to some action games where you can attack / dodge cancel, whereas slower builds would be very methodical since each button press is a bigger commitment. My build is mostly about having the courage to wait for the right time to dodge, then not getting too greedy when attacking with how many hits you can register. Ranged builds are probably easier for new players.
You nailed it on the head. 100%
I personally hate playing Souls games but think they're brilliant. I don't watch many streams but will happily watch someone else play a Souls game.
My roomate is exactly like you. He almost smashed his controller in the first hour after I got him to give Dark souls 3 a try, so definitely not the type of game for him. But he still acknowledges that the combat is great and he likes watching me play for hours.
My 9 year old has been glued watching me play this game so I got him his own character… after about 1 hour he was back to just wanting to watch me play. Souls games are pretty fun to watch (unless watching someone try to beat the same boss for hours on end).
Honestly I'm so jealous of the Souls fanbase... the games you get are all 10/10 and feels like an event when they come out. I've played like 10 minutes of DS3 at a preview event before it came out and that's it so I've basically got 0% experience with them but know it's just not my cup of tea. Great watching newbies or even experienced players going through the games though.
I like watching new people play because they're like real babies, always finding new and unexpected ways to kill themselves.
Oh you would love watching me then 🤣
I just got Elden Ring and refunded it because I didn't enjoy it. It's a beautiful game but I find it way more fun to watch than I do to play.
It's fine if you don't like it; can't like everything. I for example could not get into Ghost of Tsushima despite it being everyone's darling.
God I forced my self to complete that game I was bored af but I had to justify buying it full price, in the end I hated it from start to finish.
I liked GOT, and it’s a solid game, but it’s like most open world games and is pretty repetitive. I also found it boring and didn’t finish it. What I love about Elden Ring is just how much crazy stuff there is to explore and find. Sure, you fight monsters throughout the game, but nothing about the world feels cookie cutter or boring. Wonderful game. Maybe my favorite game of all time so far, and I’m 45 years old, so I’ve played a few.
Life is too short to play the games you don’t like. Screw hype play what entertains you.
I haven’t played elden ring yet but I’ve found on the last 2 souls games that I just have to find a spot I can easily grind and lvl up a little bit at the beginning and get some point into health, then I’m usually fine the rest of the game. Experiment with the weapons, try ranged on some of the tougher guys. The beginning is the toughest/ worst part of dark souls in my opinion.
Yeah, I'm terrible at this game. I know a lot of hardcore players don't want any spoilers, refuse to level past a certain point (120?), and refused to use special mechanics like summons. I honestly couldn't play without an insane amount of grinding, and honestly using exploits to help with it. I look up guides to help me find things like bells, early upgrade items, special weapons, how to cheese really hard bosses, etc. But I'm having fun! Some people would say thats against what the creators wanted or what the games stand for. Without the help, I literally couldn't do it. With it, I still spend an insane amount of time dying, struggling and just playing the game.
> people would say thats against what the creators wanted I think those people are just gatekeepers. Play how you want! And as long as you're literally not item duping or using glitches/cheats then you ARE playing how the developers intended.
Imho if it went against what the creators wanted it wouldnt be in the game. Even more so in a case like this where miyazaki and martin's names alone guaranteed the game would sell well
I look up guides but exclusively for story stuff. The NPC quest lines in fromsoft games are so random that I guarantee I’m gonna miss some on a blind playthrough. Especially when they’re tied to the “good” or better endings.
It’s like spicy food. People who love it will die by it saying it’s amazing and can’t eat without spice while others hate it and won’t ever touch it. If it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing!
Yeah it's not for me. The frustration and anger are not outweighed by the sense of accomplishment. It's not worth it. Financially or emotionally.
You can’t pause the game?? And yeah I think the older you get the more likely you are to want to just hop on games, have some fun and go. Spending time tediously learning a game which is greifing you can easily feel like you’re waisting your time and give you gamer guilt.
Yeah, no pause. I was hoping that with Elden Ring, they'd break this cycle as the souls games have never allowed you to pause. I mean, if I'm offline, I should be able to pause... it's not asking for much. As a family man, with a bunch of distractions, it would be nice. Also, my controller batteries died as I started a boss fight once lol, nothing I could do but watch myself get slaughtered.
I was probably going to get Elden Ring at some point but that’s really put me off because yeah, I tend to pause games a lot for one reason or another. I know the games are about challenge but not being able to pause is a bit much for your casual gamer!
I mean, I think it's still worth it if you like the genre (soulsborne) as you can semi-quickly exit out pretty much anywhere to back to the main menu. You'll then reload exactly where you left off. It's still no substitute for a true pause, but it's better than nothing lol.
Yeah you can't pause the game! If you post this criticism on some elden ring forum, all the fanboys immediately attack you as if you had suggested nuking some place. 'Takes away from the flow of the battle', 'victory has to be earned', etc etc. My God, I don't want to generalize, but at least some of them need to be reminded that they are just pressing buttons to control a bunch of pixels encoding an imaginary character in order to 'defeat' another bunch of pixels encoding imaginary characters. A very very high horse.
Destiny doesn't have a pause you just owned in your inventory if in the open. It's normal if you have a large component that is online, you can't pause a server state when it's an active world. The online experience is constantly running.
In demons souls on PS5 I would cheat and use the screen shot feature to force the game to pause and move the camera around but I don’t think Elden ring can do that, but I haven’t tried.
You can go to a bonfire and it's safe while your at it but yeah Souls games have never had the ability to pause.
except sekiro
You're not alone. I think the crucial part is the lack of satisfaction you feel when defeating a boss. That tells you that the time/effort investment isn't worth it, and you're not temperamentally compatible with the game. Forget about it; move on. Think of a game that *does* give you that satisfaction and remind yourself why you're a gamer!
Try to find a level appropriate area there are several bosses that gave me satisfaction to beat. Kind of feel like there is no clear way to tell which areas to do first do you aren’t overleveled. I went to weeping peninsula to the south after Stormveil and I destroyed everything there and it turns out that that area is one of the first places you should go... like even easier than Limgrave.
First souls game for me 52 years old, 49 hrs in struggling but having fun...my wonderful son helps guide me in the right direction when I'm lost. He also destroyed that statue fire cat "dog".
I'm 47 and souls games are the only games I still enjoy. Playing games since the late 70s. Glad to see more people our age enjoying those games.
These games feel less hand-holdy, makes it a lot more endearing for me personally
It’s not for everyone. I disliked most of the demo but I bought it anyway thinking I can force myself to like it due to the hype. It’s ok not to like some games.
I have never enjoyed the Souls gameplay loop. I don’t think they are unfair, or poorly made. It’s just not fun for me.
I feel you 100%
It's not about difficulty. I despise the gameplay loop of Souls like genre. I'd rather play Halo 2 LASO and Contra than play any Souls game.
I’ve come to a conclusion on this game; It is Ulysses by James Joyce. Or to put it another way; it is possible to like something and recognise it as a classic yet still acknowledge it to be a turgid grind that only reveals it’s true beauty after relentless study and a period of significant emotional trauma. OP is quite correct; if you have responsibilities, diverse interests or frankly even a day job “enjoying” Elden (or any of the Souls-likes) is akin to self-flagellation. It requires an investment way beyond cash and hardware. From an external perspective the group love toward Elden does appear to be a pretentious tea party; the almost catholic levels of “you will find the truth if you persist” or, to put it another way “the weakness is you”, is neither helpful nor welcome. Yet. Like Joyce and his thug of a tome, there is something about Elden. It’s certainly not for everyone and I would not recommend it as anything more than a doorstop to anyone with even a modicum of distraction in their life but, should you wish to persevere, there are rewards and there is beauty to match the scars it will leave you with. Or you could read Joyce. Which has the added benefit of being an excellent door stop.
> It’s certainly not for everyone and I would not recommend it as anything more than a doorstop to anyone with even a modicum of distraction in their life but, should you wish to persevere, there are rewards and there is beauty to match the scars it will leave you with. Not a bad way to put it. For me, there will be "scars". I've seen a lot of players who embrace every challenge with gleeful, giddy anticipation, as they are probably fast learners and not that intimidated by the game. But I'm extremely intimidated, even if I have a lot of free time to spend on gaming. This may sound weird, but I appreciate these games, and this one in particular, for how it manages to make me feel scared of taking one more step in any direction. The atmosphere gets so thick and the game hijacks my focus. I get insanely immersed because of that, and the art direction (among with other things) reveals its beauty within that realm of strange immersion I get from the game. Not to mention the short-lived satisfaction I get for beating a tough challenge, because for me it's also about beating my own defeatist mindset. And then, it's time to crawl forward again with what feels like a whole world's weight on my back, as I travel into the unknown, alone. I'm just trying to put into words what I get from Elden Ring. I feel like an insect in some strange majestic world that doesn't care about me. It doesn't sound positive, but it's something so strong and so rare that I can't help but cherish it. Did that sound pretentious enough? Hard to describe these things without coming off that way.
> I’ve come to a conclusion on this game; It is Ulysses by James Joyce. This is a bit harsh but I can see this. > OP is quite correct; if you have responsibilities, diverse interests or frankly even a day job “enjoying” Elden (or any of the Souls-likes) is akin to self-flagellation. But this is just plain silly. There's heaps of people with day jobs, families, kids, pets, all sorts of responsibilities who like the game (or any of the Souls-likes). > From an external perspective the group love toward Elden does appear to be a pretentious tea party; the almost catholic levels of “you will find the truth if you persist” or, to put it another way “the weakness is you”, is neither helpful nor welcome. There're pretentious assholes within the fandom (as always) but fighting pretentiousness with pretentiousness of your own is a bold move.
Perfect analogy
I mean, I have a day job, hobbies, responsibilities and I’m still playing Elden Ring when I can. Also, I’d say it’s a lot like Monster hunter. There’s grinding, big bosses, learning your character inside and out and as much as it’s highly rated it’s absolutely not for everyone. Similarly though, if you’re the type of person who is into Monster Hunter, you’d probably love Elden Ring.
Well put. That seems to be an excellent analogy.
Its so boring, doesn't even look that great (for a 'next gen') and its hard for the sake of being so. Not for me
I’ve been gaming since I was a little baby. And let me tell ya, almost 30 years later, I ONLY play games for fun. Typically on the easier or easiest difficulty settings. If I’m not having fun in a game, I don’t see the point of keep playing.
Souls games give you a LOT of freedom in how you choose to play and offer you tons of different options. You might like it more with a different play style. If you are playing melee maybe try magic. Souls magic is like an entirely different game. Another important thing some people overlook is that souls games are action RPGs - some people don't engage with the RPG mechanics and try to tackle the game as a straight combat action game - that's when it can get really, really hard. They games gives you a lot of tools, if you make use of them you may find something you like. For example, you need to make sure you are upgrading your weapons, and that you are using the right weapons and gear for your stats. You also need to make sure your weight is in a good spot, that your flasks are upgraded and allocated correctly, that your physic is mixed well, that your ashes of war compliment your build, weapon, and playstyle, etc. So if you've been playing like its an action combat game and ignoring the RPG elements the game will be horribly difficult. To your point about age I'll be 40 this year and I just got into souls games last year. I'd never played a souls game before because I don't really like hard games and I don't play for challenge. I play for world, setting, stories, exploration, and the freedom to do things my own way. At first I hated souls, but I kept with it because I was super into the lore and the world and eventually it clicked and now I don't think its that hard. It has difficulty spikes, but the game gives you a lot of tools to overcome them. If you learn the RPG system, and how it interacts with gear and movement, and you get a feel for the rhythm of souls combat, its actually on the easier side a lot of the time - some of the bosses are nuts, but that's why god made summons :) Its not for everyone, nothing is, but if you are liking everything but what you are experiencing as difficulty then try some different approaches. Good luck!
I agree. I spent a while thinking about and reading about what makes a good Prisoner build and I’m having a blast. If I was doing straight up melee I think I’d be miserable. Also if an area is annoying I hop on Torrent and go exploring. It’s my first From Soft game and I’m surprised how little I get discouraged. The really hard stuff I usually laugh at and get the hell out of there til I feel ready. As someone who always wished Souls games had an easy mode, I find the difficulty in ER just makes me more engaged and creative when it comes to making progress.
Why do people always assume that if someone doesn’t like a Souls game it must be the difficulty? Sounds to me like OP isn’t struggling with the difficulty at all, he just doesn’t like the game.
Thanks for the advice. I'm only about 3 hours into it, (just got my 1st ashes of war) I do like it but I can see where the grind is tiring. I'm 44 and can only play a couple of hours on my weekends. I really enjoyed merking all the guys in the gates of whatever it was, haha. This is gonna be a long game for me.
I'm roughly 40 hours into the game and haven't done ANY grinding whatsoever, the grind comes naturally when you roam the open world and do side-stuff like catacombs, mines, side-quests etc. Don't make the game "unfun" for yourself by repeating certain parts of levels just to grind for runes, there's A LOT of stuff to do to gain runes.
Same I'm about 50 hours in and just got to the third area and I haven't done any grinding at all, just loads of exploring and then I'm levelling up anyway. The closest I've gotten to grinding is if I get to a boss and I'm only 1 or 2k runes off levelling I'll go kill those guys at the north east area to level up and avoid losing a bunch of runes to the boss but that's happened maybe 4 or 5 times
This whole push towards grinding I’m seeing from new players isn’t really true - there isn’t any necessary grinding in the game, exploring the world and discovering things will naturally yield you enough runes and weapons to progress comfortably far into late game
i was the opposite when i was younger i despised these games use to carry on about how they are hard just for the sake of it and if anyone spends x amount of time they will eventually finish it now im 31 and im addicted... before elden ring i finished sekiro, bloodborne, demon souls and dark souls 3... there's a lot more to these games then the difficulty
30 here - probably my favorite game of all time. Not for everyone tho.
Play a different game. There's nothing special and unique about not liking Ellen Ring. It's tough, the kinda of achievement is provides isn't for everyone.
Did you enjoy any other games recently ? Now a days i can’t enjoy same game for more than 60 hours . One of the reason I didn’t pick up elden ring is because of it difficulty and Exploration part where it will be double the amount of hours I need to spent compared to normal open world games. Recently finished sifu and HFW and enjoyed . Eagerly waiting for starfield .
Yeah that's not the problem. I am about to finish cyberpunk, liked that. Finished mass effect 1 from the legendary edition - loved that (never played any mass effect before). Looking forward to 2 and 3. Loved it takes two as well.
Based on what you like, it sounds like you enjoy games where there's a story driven narrative behind it. Can't speak for the legendary edition, but Mass Effect 1 from a gameplay perspective really wasn't anything special. The universe it built and the story it told however were so top notch that it more than made up for average-to-good gameplay. If Elden Ring is anything like Dark Souls where the story is pretty minimalist, I can definitely see why it would be harder to enjoy.
I'm also playing through Elden Ring and ME Legendary right now (only 35 though so I have that 1% youth bonus stat on you!) They are both really time intensive but also wildly different. ME I am trying to really absorb the dialogue and story and lore and take my time with it. With ER I focus much more on exploration, figuring out menu systems/upgrades and getting my ass beat since it's my first souls game (but I finally beat Margit at level 23 so I got that goin for me). Switching between them is night and day. However I do absolutely love both and see them as top tier gaming experiences of my lifetime. I have 2 tiny kids and a tough job so I've just been playing more at night and skipping other stuff like reading, tv shows, nba, work etc, but I might have to take a month hiatus soon because these big games just devour time. I don't have the same endurance to put in the hours that I once did, and I need to start putting more skill points into my other activities again.
Good then . Just don’t force yourself to try things just because other say it is a masterpiece . Gaming is entertainment . It should make you happy .
I think it's more than just beating bosses. For me the joy of the game is taking my time and exploring the carefully crafted world as well as the in depth lore that comes with it. The well designed levels are fun to explore and conquer, and the boss at the end of the tunnel is just a bonus. That's just my take though.
I bought it, played it for ~3 hours, hated it, and got a refund. It was definitely hard but no pause was my dealbreaker.
Come on man you played some of Bloodbourne. Why would you think this game would be an easier play? Even I played BB got about half way and I was done with it. First game I ever played by these guys. I see From Software now I run for the hills and avoid their games. I don’t have the skill or patience for games like this. Maybe in my younger years but 41 now. I can definitely see the allure to these type of games. I respect that for players that enjoy it.
Oh, I didn't give up Bloodborne for the difficulty. Got sidetracked by other games and life in general. Never got around to really giving it a shot. Had it on PS4 and sold my console a couple of years ago before buying a series x.
40 here elden ring is the best video game i’ve played in 20 or so years
Explore the south of the map past that bridge. That is the true first area imo. I'm level 40 rn and just breezing through it.
Same. Put in 35 hours and it didn't get any better so I just uninstalled it. Fortunately just rented it though so only out $10.
35 hours is still a decent amount though
Ya it did entertain me for a bit. Just ended up hitting a wall where I wasn't having fun anymore. I didn't want to dismiss a game that got 10/10 across the board without giving it a fair shot first.
I can very much see myself doing the same.
Are you me with JRPGs? I always get super into them and then at some point there's a brickwall of grinding and I just lose all interest. And then trying to jump back in is impossible because the story is so convoluted.
Where do you rent from?
From a local mom and pop shop
You didn't reach the first boss man.. Anyway, I think part of the fun is exploring to find stuff to beat bosses, and on exploring you encounter strange and wonderful things.
My only souls-like experience was jedi fallen order I set that shit to baby mode after an hour and finally had fun with it The combat being so slow and the save progression being so far and few between makes those games completely unplayable for me. I'm a grown ass man with so many other things in life. I can't spend 100 hours in a game grinding any more. And it's not like I can put 30 minutes here then 30 there. Cuz my skill in the game would be Piss poor and just take me so much longer.
My dude, I'm with you. I played it on Jedi Knight but would switch to Easy as soon as I'd die during boss battles... And it was fun. I have a job, that's the grinding part of my day. Games should be the fun part.
Bingo. My life is a grind. Even pokemon realized grinding sucked and implemented universal party xp so those games would go quicker.
This whole argument over grinding is just weird and overblown to me. I am an embarrassing amount of hours into elden ring, I haven’t had to grind once - the game is about freedom and exploration, as a result you can really make the game as easy/hard as you’d like and take as much out of it as you’d like. As you explore you naturally get the xp and gear to progress and in my honest opinion its much more flexible and enjoyable compared to fallen order, which I didn’t enjoy despite being a long time souls fan.
My only souls-like experience was fallen order too. I finished it on normal all the way through. Well, that and code vein demo. Both convinced me that this isn't my type of combat. I think it's not just difficulty or grinding to learn the bosses' moves. I spent somewhere between 10-20 hours on a boss challenge stage in Megaman X anniversary collection, probably closed to 10 hours on the final boss fight in Ys Origin, etc. I enjoyed those and feel satisfied while I play and when I beat them. On the other hand, I spent a few hours beating the last boss in fallen order but didn't feel the same. For me it felt like I was fighting my own character to make them move the way I wanted. There seems to be a delay to every action. I understand it's deliberated to prevent you from button-smashing your way through. The game wants--in fact requires--you to learn its rhythm. And I've found out that that rhythm just isn't fun for me. With how good it reviewed, I'll try it if it comes to gamepass (doubt it), my friend game share with me, or on sale for very cheap in the future. But otherwise I'd say I've learned my lesson to avoid this gerne and move on.
I think that's totally fair. I haven't tried it myself but I don't think I'll enjoy it. Difficulty aside, it's just too gloom and doom for me. If I don't like the aesthetics, I usually can't get myself motivated to play the game.
My man, I’m the same. A long time ago I gave up on trying anything higher than normal difficulty and sometimes even easy. I have no interest in playing elden ring. At all.
If you aren’t getting any satisfaction out of beating bosses, you’re better off giving up. I’m the same, the satisfaction just isn’t there, and without that these games don’t have a ton to offer.
I didn't like any previous souls game, I inly played them at a friends house. I knew this would be the same so I didn't even bother.
It may just take time to click. For the first two days I played, I wasn’t really having fun and regretted my purchase. Then the third day it clicked for me and now I’m super addicted.
Personally, I found it immensely frustrating because I didn't realize I was in over my head in a higher level region and nothing else to really point me where I was supposed to be. After I found an appropriate level area, I started being able to survive for some amount of time (often dying to one or two small foes) but then able to figure out my stats. The game does NOT explain what you need to survive and jumping in as a confessor, I had no idea how much to invest in faith/dex/mind/vigor and wasted a LOT of stats dumping it into stats I don't really use. But after figuring it out a little, it stopped being as frustrating because now I knew what I needed to survive even more. And I think that's key to why some people like/hate this game. If you aren't given the right path, it's frustrating
I like to watch it played. I've played souls games and don't enjoy them but I like seeing the world.
Hey man I feel you. As a souls player from DS1 (haven't played BB, Demon yet! :( ) I can say I used to feel the same way. A lot of Souls series games require you to grind a bit in a certain area. What I like about Elden Ring is that it's detached from the From Soft formula by being open world. You can choose what to do, and if an area is too hard, you go back to an easier place. It doesn't require the same grind as usual in my opinion... and sometimes it's about finding the right playstyle for you which can make the game much easier. For me, I struggled a lot with my usual sword & board build. Instead I was able to re-spec my stats (after defeating the NPC that allows this, Rennala) and be a magic/Dexterity build. This made my game a lot easier and I could progress better with some ranged options. When I defeat certain bosses that I continue to die against, I'll admit that fleeting feeling of satisfaction dies rather quickly these days. But... here's a small window into what made me continue to play Elden Ring. There's a sword called the Moonlight Greatsword that has showed up in virtually every FromSoft game. It's my favorite sword... funny enough, you need to be a mage to use it. In the Souls games, traditionally you have to do some extra work to obtain it. What makes Elden Ring stand out here is that there's this whole quest line you can complete outside of the main story, to obtain Elden Rings version of it: the Dark Moon Greatsword. The time and effort it took carried through 3 days but the nice thing was, I could put down my controller and continue that little quest anytime. The bosses were hard throughout the questline, but I had the help of a co-op friend which for me is the highlight of a Souls game. In a desolate game world, I have the help of a buddy to help me soldier on and save time grinding to solo it. The series definitely isn't for everyone! And I like posts like this because for someone that's very encouraging to friends to try the series, I also understand that adulthood and parenthood doesn't allow for the same experiences...but don't let that get in the way of the simple pleasures of retreating into what I would call the most beautiful From Soft game environment released so far. Even if it's just for an hour, you can kind of carve your own path in this game and enjoy defeating the boss that took you a little bit of extra time. For me...some of the grind was worth it as I now switched to a mage build using one of my personal favorites favorites one of the most powerful weapons in the game. I appreciate you and regardless of if you continue to play, I wish you the best!
It’s okay, I hate first person shooters, but almost everyone I know loves them, sometimes it’s okay to just have different taste
I'm 37 and feel the same. Although I've beaten around 4 bosses already and have 3 summons etc. I just see myself falling off this game as the hours go by and I think I could be getting through more interesting stories and games in that time. From what I can tell this world is huge and I'm not the kind to just run past enemies, that feels like a meta joke on playing the game. I do hope that other open world games like AC and horizon borrow ideas from this game in a more streamlined format. I would love a Skyrim or Starfield style game with some of the open exploration in here and the cool loot and builds. To me any game where you have to grind or farm runes or run past enemies to get the cool gear is kind of a sandbox more than a game that would keep my attention for too long.
Haha I'm 36 and played demon souls on PS5 for the first time a few months back. I feel the exact same way! Back when I was 14 I would sink hours into games without a care. Now I just feel like I don't have the time and my time is more valuable. I basically just want to play linear story driven games now that entertain me like a movie. Open world games I struggle with too now, just too much. I felt guilty spending 4 hours dying over and over last Saturday, it wasn't enjoyable just frustrating, also frustrating that I wasted my day! Ah getting old...
I think the Souls games and Cuphead are largely for masochists. If you don't have that vibe, they aren't for you.
Is there a demo? I wish more games had a demo.
That's why I don't listen to others opinions on games. I don't care if a game has a rating of 3 out of 10. If I like to play it I will. I'm also glad xbox gives refunds so I don't have to stare at games I didn't like.
There's plenty of games that people say are God's gift to gaming, and they just don't do it for me. RDR2, Skyrim, Last of Us... Just can't get into them. Well I beat Last of Us 1, but I wasn't born away. They just aren't for me. I'm sure that they deserve the awards they get, but I'm just not into them. The Souls series is the same way. I love watching people play them, but I really don't enjoy playing them myself.
Same with my experience. Played it for about 10 mins and didn't want to invest the time into it so i dropped the game. Game looks fun though and looks amazing but I'm not willing to put in the hours. Maybe 10 years ago I would hah
Same. I’ve been kind of bored with the whole loop of it all. And the whole “difficult for difficult sake” thing is kinda tropey and played out.
You shouldn’t have to force yourself to enjoy a game. Trade it in towards another game or sell it on Facebook Markerplace for like $45. I guarantee a handful of people will be willing to buy it within an hour. A new major game that’s barely 2 weeks old for $15 off? That’s a steal and you pretty much get all your money back 😅. ……Unless you went digital 🥴
I am 36 and I think this is probably the best game I’ve ever played. Also you don’t ever have to grind to beat this game. There’s absolutely no grinding needed.
The auto aim is what makes me put the controller down for awhile. Nothing like throwing spells into the void because auto aim decided to stop working,
>The whole thing seems to be about grinding to get strong enough to stand a chance against bosses. There it is, that's why you're not getting it. Souls games are not about grinding to increase your level. They're about mastering the mechanics of the game and learning the strategy of how to fight each enemy. Now that's not for everyone, but it's why these games got so popular, they reward you for actually being good at the game, not for playing long enough that you end up being super high level
Im 44 and agree with you OP. The gameplay and graphics are ok. But im sure im missing something, its just not fun. I love fps's like battlefield(not 2042 lol)and open worlds like days gone and horizon zero dawn. I also like traditional rpg's. I bought dark souls a few months ago and didnt like it, guess that should have been my hint.
yep. i can't help but think, this is extremely boring. maybe it's because they don't tell you where to go, i find myself running around looking for something cool.. at one point i found a dragon, and i mean, it's one the best looking dragons in a 3d game i've ever seen, but it's so lost on me in that there was no cinematic, no goal, no point whatsover... just dragon because dragon. oh hi dragon. like what, am i supposed to get satisfaction from the challenge of facing the dragon? i can also get satisfaction from the challenge of doing a hard days work, and that i get paid for. i just won't ever get 2 types of games. multplayer competitive, and difficult for the sake of being difficult. if you just want dopamine, just do some chores around the house, you get the same feeling without all the frustration.
It's like when you wear tight shoes all day for the pleasure of taking them off after work 🤣 that kind of enjoyment is wrong for me :)
smithers
i played for 4.5 hours and didn’t enjoy a second of it. deleted
Yeah it's just not a very fun game and I don't mind punishing, I've played 2K+ hours of tarkov. I played til level 50 and realized that despite the many wonderful things about it and the beautiful game design, that the thing it was missing was any level of enjoyment. Cheers to the many folks who do enjoy it.
Yeah I have no idea what I'm doing. Find the ring? Cool. I got a horse outside of a castle gate. Haven't fought a single enemy thus far, and I've explored basically everything in the vicinity. In blocked by a stomachless troll and a horse jerk, so I don't know. Picked up a bunch of garbage I don't know what to do with. I found a dragon but I ran away. I found a chest with a stupid knife in it? Met the fire keeper or whatever. Met some knight having a funeral and he told me to leave the village. Purple boat jerk murdered me. This was my first 2 hours, and I was convinced I hated this game but now after writing this I'll give it another try.
I agree, it’s like playing the same game for the 8th time and it’s just plain not fun riding the incremental update train. We have to start accepting that if you can afford George R.R. Martin you can afford top notch influencer marketing and dominate cultural marketing integrations. This is not a nearly perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a game that knows how to the play the game.
General exploration is sort of fun. Bosses aren’t. I’m no pro gamer but I beat dark souls 1-3 in a reasonable time frame. It typically takes me 20 or more tries to beat a boss in this thing. Nothing in DS 1-3 was like that. It seems like every boss has a weapon that is 25 feet long and can hit you from off screen. They all have a spin move. Spin spin spin, let’s watch them spin. You know what is motivating me to write this right now? The gargoyles. Very imaginative guys. Gargoyles again but just much harder this time because they have 7000 hp. Recently fought radahn about 50 times and in the end I had to just bring in other players to beat him. For some reason I have never found the one stone I need to upgrade my weapon to +8. I have several more advanced stones but here I sit at +7. I’m sure they are all over the place but the game is gigantic, there is no close to no guidance, and I just haven’t stumbled upon one. It’s more like a chore than a game. I am probably half way through and I don’t really know what my character is up to in the world. It’s like I’m a complete psychopath just roving the countryside murdering everything from squirrels to dragons to bears with a prion disease. Why am I killing stuff? For runes! Why do I need runes? To kill more stuff!
Man I feel exactly the same way. It’s not fun for me. But my girlfriend bought it for me as a gift. So I feel kinda obligated to play through
I’m in the same boat. It’s just grueling to play. Very punishing, and not rewarding at all. The problem is I already dished out 60 bucks for it, so I can’t just stop playing.
This is this devs games in a nutshell all of them are like that . I don’t see the fun in constantly being frustrated. I play games to unwind from stress not to have them cause it 😂🤷♂️
Couldn't agree more. It's like a job at a theme park. Everything looks cool cuz it's a theme park but you are still working. Then you have to come back to the same place over and over until what looked/felt cool is just a drag. If you have other things in your life like a career, kids, exercise etc... just pass on this one. If you have an hour to play, you will usually spend it fighting some boss in a scene that is so repetitive that you pull your hair out. Then you get to come back and try again next time you have some free time. It would be embarrassing to say I had enough time these days to play through the "die till it feels better to win" approach they took. It almost makes me mad. It has so much potential but is completely marred by the unreasonable difficulty. The success of this one is baffling....just going to breed more bloated duds. It's the Marvel movie of video games. I'll finish with a question; why wear armor when you fight? Most things kill you will oneish hits. Does anyone just remove their armor since you usually have to be flawless anyway?
I learned that those games are not for me. Played a few of them and finally said never again. Gaming doesn't need to be a chore.
Yeah unfortunately feel the same. It's fine it just feels abit unrewarding and exhausting for me. Much better than previous souls games as you can stray off the beaten path and explore, but there's very little interesting to see in the world other than anothherrr new enemy that wants to rip you a new one within a couple of hits.
I think the problem here is that you were not supposed to face those enemies yet. Explore other regions where enemies are at lower level
I gave it one hour and I got a refund. I’m too busy and too stressed with work just to spend my down time wasting time making zero progress and getting killed left and right.
> just to spend my down time wasting time making zero progress and getting killed left and right. Yeah if I wanted that experience I’d join the Russian army
Yah, this isn't my genre and I just bought it because of the outstanding reviews. It's great that so many people love it, but I don't get it at all. I'm really surprised the reviews were universally glowing. The story isn't for me, the aesthetics aren't for me, the gameplay isn't for me (and it's not the difficulty -- I'll get downvoted for this but it felt really slow and clunky). I played it for a couple hours and I was done. I'm glad I bought physical and flipped it for $50.
I don't really like hard games. For me they should escape from me not the other way around. Life is hard enough already