Elden Ring - First Impressions


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This game is crazy

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So I will start this off by saying that I have never played any of the Dark Souls games. Well, I did buy Dark Souls 3, but played it for like 30 minutes and had no idea what I was doing, other than dying, so I gave it up pretty quick. But I have seen many people say that Elden Ring is the best game to get into the From Software franchise.


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Elden Ring is probably the most anticipated game to be released in the past couple years and I was pretty intimidated when I first loaded it up. I had just smoked some weed and had no idea what I was in for when I fired this game up.


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The artwork is AMAZING and the intro to the game is one of the most epic intros I have ever seen. There really isn't too much to the intro, but between the artwork, the sound design, the narration and the overall excitement I had for this game, it was amazing.


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If you have been living under a rock lately and don't know anything about this game, George R. R. Martin, who created the Game of Thrones World, also created the world for this game, so I knew it would be an epic experience.


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After the intro to the game was over, I knew I was going to be in for a treat. But by that time, I was a bit too stoned to even try and understand what was going on, so I stopped playing for the night. This game requires some pretty precise movements and I would not be able to do any of that at that time.


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So the next day, I gave the game another try. I played a warrior class, but that was pretty tough as I am still getting used to how everything works in the game. Luckily my whole Tik Tok feed is nothing but Elden Ring right now, so I have been learning a ton about the game and getting a lot of tricks.


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The first thing that I learned was that the mage class is a bit easier to play for newcomers to the series, so I rerolled my character and made an Astrologer, which is a mage.


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The Astrologer class is pretty good at keeping the enemies at range, but if they get up close, you need to make sure you can roll away or block because they are pretty squishy and are very easily killed.

One of the things about this game is that it doesn't really tell you anything about what you are supposed to be doing, and it relies on you being curious about the world and going out and exploring. One thing I learned about Tik Tok is that there is a ton of stuff to explore and the world is massive.


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There also doesn't appear to be a quest tracking system or anything that I have found, which is odd for me. I am so used to games pretty much keeping track of everything you are supposed to be doing, but this game doesn't do that at all. I just found out that the main quest is somewhat guided on the map and it gives you a direction to go to find more of the spots of grace, which are like checkpoints. I have heard in the Souls games that the bonfires were pretty spread out, but in this game so far the spots of grace aren't too far from each other, so refilling your flasks and saving your progress is a bit easier.


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The graphics in this game are pretty amazing. I am playing it on the PS5 and it runs really well. I have heard there is some frame rate drops on the consoles, but I haven't really noticed anything like that yet.

One thing that is kind of annoying and hurts the frame rates is the messages and bloodstains all over the place because they load in animations from other players. You can choose to turn them off, but I really do like the messages because they can be funny or they can even be helpful when the people aren't trolling you.


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I have defeated one boss so far, and I think it is the first boss that you should try and fight, so it isn't really that big of an achievement in my eyes. One thing that is cool about this game and different from the others is that you can summon NPCs to help you fight in certain areas. The NPCs aren't the greatest, but they do a decent job at keeping aggro on the bosses.

I also was able to summon some wolves to help fight this boss too. I am not sure if I am able to summon the wolves again or if I need something to be able to summon them, but they sure did help out with that fight. I think I died like 10 times on it before I was able to kill him. I had to take a break and just go exploring and level up a bit before I was able to beat him. That was when I found some lady that gave me the stuff to summon the wolves, so that was nice of her.


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Overall, I am enjoying the game so far. It is a lot different and more difficult than the games I usually play and there is a massive learning curve when it comes to the terminology and what everything in the game does, but it is fun learning. When I play, I am in a constant state of fear too because I don't want to lose my progress and there is stuff that can kill you all over the place.

I bought the game for my daughter's boyfriend today too because he loves the Dark Souls series and has beat all of them multiple times, so I figured he would enjoy the game and he would even be able to help me out and give me some pointers.


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I am really enjoying it so far and looking forward to really diving in and exploring this creepy world. It is such a different type of landscape than I have seen in other games. I really think that this is going to be the game of the year this year. It is pretty dope.



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42 comments
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I'm a dark souls fiend. Best tip is to go to the gracepoint at the castle entrance and the lovely lady gives you the choice to level up and she also gives you a horsey. Then I just go around and level up to around 20 before I go attacking anything. If you fast travel back to the little church at the start as well you get your magic on which I see you did already with the wolfs. Great game but it gets wicked hard if you are not levelled up enough and you wont enjoy it. Some graphics as well espcially the monsters bosses. I love a good old hard boss. We got soft over the years. These guys would cut you in half in a second.

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Ya, I got my horse and have been riding it around. There are a bunch of rune farming places that I have heard of that I am going to go check out. There is also a staff near the starting area that I am going to go find because it is supposed to be really good and last a while.

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There are a couple of caves near the start as well if you travel slightly left to avoid the big guy on the horse. Good starting points. Frighten the life out of you, those mini dungeons. Great game though.

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I will have to check those caves out. I am going to try and fight that huge guy on the horse too. YOLO

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I've never played the Dark Souls games either, but this looks really interesting and accessible to newbies-to-soulslike too. Whenever I get around to trying it out, I'll probably be a mage type of character too.

It does look pretty amazing. Good to see you're enjoying it!

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It is a fun game, but it is a souls game at heart and very difficult. I hope that you like it if you are able to give it a try.

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I've been si tempted to pick this game up, I heard G.R.R Martin was involved in the writing. But, once I heard it was dark souls-ish I decided I wouldn't get it, I tried to get into that series but, just can't. Hope you enjoy it man.

!PIZZA

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It is a good introduction to the souls series. With it being open world, it is a lot easier to get into than the souls games. There is a ton of stuff to do as well.

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I didn't know the game was going to be (somewhat) similar to dark souls. I have beat the first one (never again) and am working on the second one. I know what you mean about the scared feeling when exploring. I get that when I play dark souls 2 and sometimes it feels like my heart is going to burst through my chest! The graphics really do look awesome! Good luck and enjoy!

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Ya, these games can make you on edge the whole time you play. It's a ton of fun.

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(Edited)

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The feeling of fear when exploring was what made me doubt whether to play it or not, but in the end I decided to risk it and I don't regret it, it's a total enjoyment. Just today I defeated the second main boss and I'm excited because now I can access new areas, I already want to go for new weapons 💛.

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I am really enjoying it so far. I used to play hard games back in the day, but as I got older, I gave up on games like this that take a lot of time to beat. But now that I am retired, I have plenty of time for it.

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(Edited)

I will warn you, sorcereries are nice at first, but have a hard time later. Magic generally is the easy route in Dark Souls games as it is far easier than actually having combat. But in Elden Ring the only viable spell is Glintstone Pebble, the same one you get at the start as other spells cost more mana and do less damage.

I would also suggest to always go a melee character your first play through so you can experience the game like it was meant to be played, without the training wheels.

I started a Let's Play for Elden Ring, it's a new character (dex) from my main (str based) that I am streaming exclusively for Hive on YouTube.

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I've heard that from others but I think a lot of people just don't like the mage classes because they make the game feel easier. I've checked out a few mage guides and there are a lot of cool and powerful spells that you can get and they show you how to get them. I don't mind wearing training wheels with this game. I would rather enjoy my time playing it and not rage.

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I've heard that from others but I think a lot of people just don't like the mage classes because they make the game feel easier.

That is true, but that's pretty normal for Dark Souls, they have always been easy mode.

I've checked out a few mage guides and there are a lot of cool and powerful spells that you can get and they show you how to get them.

From what I have experienced on my socrcer and what I have heard, the more powerful spells ultimately do far less damage per mana point than the basic Glintstone Pebble you get at the start which results in you just spamming that spell instead. It's boring and provides no real progression.

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We shall see. If it turns out being dumb, I can just reroll a new guy.

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!PIZZA

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Justo ayer estaba viendo un gameplay de esto, y sentí que la dificultad no era tan dura como dark souls, o no se si en él gameplay estaban jugando en fácil o así viene la dificultad en genérica

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i am a first time traveler in souls series aswell. my experience so far was just death. tried to beat that big knight from the start of the game and got raped 5 times.. then i decided to move on, and ended up finding a dragon... my 6 death. i have no idea what to do, but i am avoiding spoilers and guides so far. i ended up finding a small dungeon with an easy boss by the end. that's my only kill so far ! still i am enjoying it, graphics and story looks dope. have fun !

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Follow the trail on your map from some of the points of grace. They kind of guide you for the main quest. My brother is taking notes on where things go for quests cause I guess there is no quest guide.

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I have never played Dark Souls, but my son has heard this game was good, so I was very happy to see your review on Trending. I have a PS4 so I am unsure I can play it, but I will look into it.

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It works on the PS4. Hopefully you enjoy it.

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That’s good to hear, thanks. 🙂

I was looking at my friends list on the PlayStation App and realized some of them haven’t played for over one year. We use to play Destiny a lot online, but the game changed and many moved on to stop playing. 🙁

It’s interesting to be connected online to something you both enjoy. It’s odd that we are all over the world, connected none the less by our humanity and shared love of gaming. 😊

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Everyone seems to love this beside me. Brutally hard, I placed it on ebay the very next day and it sold quickly. Still I am drawn to hard games as most of them these days are very hand-holding. If only it had a difficulty level slider (kind of defeats the object I know).

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I went in knowing that it would be hard, but there are so many things that they do with this one to make it easier for people that dont want to play the traditional souls style, like the magic classes and the ability to summon NPCs or other players to help you fight. There is so much to this game that you can just go exploring and you dont really even need to fight a lot of the bosses. The really hard bosses are there for those that want that challenge. I have a lot more free time now than I used to, so I don't mind the challenge.

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I can't remember the last time I played videogames while stoned. Summoning wolves is epic. The truth is I haven't been too much of a Souls fan either, but this game when I first saw it really caught my attention, it even made me want to play souls for some strange reason. I will soon download it and see if my machine is capable of running it(I hope so). I think this game as a gift is a great detail for any Dark Souls lover, so congratulations, what a nice father in law hahaha. I look forward to seeing more about this game, the artwork it gives off and the great graphics are insane.

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Hopefully you are able to play it because it is pretty fun so far. I am enjoying the difficulty of it. I am hoping to find some cool loot today and just go exploring.

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I been hearing about this everywhere and sounds amazing, honestly I'm sad about the fact that I don't have where to play it 😭haha

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It really is pretty cool. Really challenging, but worth it.

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maybe you can go back to DS3 after this haha, Elden Ring is probably way better at attract new users 🤔 again, sounds amazing

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How incredible I can not stand my excitement for this game, I'm getting together to buy it and so also enjoy the online, for me and for all the impressions I've seen from multiple players and qualified press, no doubt is the best game in history

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It is a lot of fun, but very hard. This one is going to take people a long time to complete.

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ngl, hype is real for this one. Thank you for sharing!

/jeevesyboy

!PIZZA

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This game looks crazy. Soon im about to start playing it. Hope I don't ragequit like I did in dark souls lol

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