Elden Ring - An Overly Long Critique

Promo Code: ELDEN
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TIME STAMPS:

Welcome To The Video - 0:00
Patreon - 2:39
Sponsor [SALAD.COM] - 3:20
Introduction - 5:17
Spoiler Warning - 12:53
Beginning An Adventure - 16:34
Big Name Bosses - 42:29
Too Strong, Still Weak - 45:12
Making The Game However You Want It To Be - 49:17
The Need For Balance - 53:04
The Pacing - 1:19:40
Sponsor [SALAD.COM] - 1:37:32
Accessibility - 1:39:04
Summons and Co-Op - 1:52:26
World Design - 2:01:17
Leveling - 2:17:41
The Narrative - 2:32:49
The Experience Writ Large - 2:39:10
Lasting Legacy - 2:55:46
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Luke Stephens
P.O. Box 13
Milliken, CO 80543, USA
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[jacoblesperance]

My first playthrough was 259hrs.
I went into the game completely blind and looked nothing up.
One of the greatest gaming experiences I have ever had.

[kennykenevil]

Caelid does have a major boss, Radahn. You don't need to defeat him necessarily to beat the game, but it is a major boss fight for Ranni's questline.

[eanderson]

Caelid has Radahn, a pretty major boss fight. While it’s not required to kill him to beat the game, you do need to fight him for the good ending

[acethefiredragon]

I don’t mind being OP for a boss when I backtrack a bit to an area I’ve already passed. I mean, after getting smacked by bosses, overcoming challenges and getting better, it’s only fair that I get to feel that level of overpoweredness. It feels earned.

[tairyu]

Others have said it already, but I’ll say it again. This game is on sale even at $60.

[Puppetmaster]

45:45 Dynamic difficulty and level scaling, at least to me, is one of the great cardinal sins of gaming. Stop putting it in my games. I don't care if im underleveled or overleveled for certain areas of the game. I ENJOY coming back and taking revenge by being overpowered. It was one of the reasons why the latest Assassins Creed games could not gel with me.... I just couldnt stand my difficulty being "standardized". LET ME MAKE MY OWN DIFFICULTY.

Elden ring respects the player in that sense.

[landfillao]

Is it just me or is Elden Ring held to a different standard? Complaining about every single item not having "more thought" put into where it's located is absurd when the vast majority of it's contemporaries have the same straight swords and axes everywhere except this one has higher numbers because you're 30 levels higher. Complaining about enemy variety in a game with over 150 enemies. Complaining about Caelid's enemies being reused in the mountain tops when you're fighting the same Griffins, Wraiths and Nekkers from White Orchard to Skellige in TW3. Complaining about reusing enemies in a 120hr game when a 25hr God Of War has you fight 7 trolls, 9 valkyries and Baulder 3 times.

Sure, they're valid complaints. But the degree to which they are blown out of proportion is a bit ridiculous.

[thevikingbear]

Caelid has the Rhadahn festival, which is one of the most memorable bosses in the game, and it is necessary to beat if you want to achieve the Age Of Stars Questline and subsequent alternative ending of the game.

[okamichamploo]

I really don't get this expectation that every boss should be balanced to you're level, even if they are in a starter zone and you came back to fight them after progressing through the rest of the game. I mean imagine playing a game based in the Lord of the Rings universe, traveling to mount doom, killing hordes of orcs and nazgul on top of dragons only to come back to the shire and struggle against the large rat underneath Mrs. Skuttlefoot's bakery.

[umbeon]

I never played any of From's games. I must admit this was one of the best games I've ever played. I feel this is definitely a masterpiece in open world technology. The 60fps is not an issue with me or most people. The graphics are awesome, it's like playing on a canvas painted by a medieval artist. So far, my choice for game of the year.

[eanderson]

I don’t think the game was overhyped at all. It was my first FS game, played it 3 times, and loved every playthrough

[SoshulCom]

Level scaling actually irritates me. Having an overpowered character is absolutely fine and maybe even necessary. It gives you a moral boost and can also fool you into thinking your safe. I think a player needs to constantly be challenged but also get rewarded for exploring and finding difficult items.

[SantitariumHaze]

I like you Luke, both as a creator and a person, but sometimes I feel like you fall into contrarianism just for the sake of it. You're the guy who went on about how good AC:Valhalla was, and how impressed you were about being able to shoot down a leaf from a tree. Only for that game to release and be the most painfully generic RPG we've seen in recent memory. I'm not bashing that opinion, because contextually I understood your argument, and I believe you were being honest when you made that video -- but when I contrast your positive opinions on AC:V to your opinions on Elden Ring I can't help but feel there is a certain inconsistency. You have been FAR harsher on Elden Ring, and have taken up this 'now hold on everybody, let's be reasonable here' thing about how, 'yes its great, but is it really THAT great?' It's just been... odd.

And even your critiques are... strange. The Sentinel Knight you mention how you're 'used to this type of thing from FromSoft' games and how you know the game intends for you to smash you head against the wall before giving up and leveling somewhere else only to return and breeze through it. That hasn't ever been a thing before though. The freedom to walk away is an Elden Ring addition. You don't get to skip Iudex Gundyr, or the Vanguard Demon, or Father Gascoigne, or Lady Butterfly, or Gyoubu Oniwa.

I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily, as opinions are like assholes and all that, I just don't want you to fall into that trap of YouTuber critics who feel they need to come out with the hottest smart take on why the thing 'everyone likes' isn't actually as good as you think it is.

Full disclosure, I do think Elden Ring is genre defining in many respects. I don't think it's a perfect game, but I don't think those terms need to be mutually exclusive. It has flaws, yet the things it does well it does so staggeringly well. I also think it is the culmination of the FromSoft formula, pushing boundaries where it can, while also expanding the audience beyond what any previous title could. It is not the purest FromSoft game in terms of difficulty, like Sekiro was, and it doesn't have the best combat system that rewards aggression and agency, like Bloodborne, but it takes cues from their entire history of work and creates something that almost everyone can experience while also staying true to its roots. That to me is impressive and makes it a crown jewel in the FromSoft lineup.

[Epiousios]

One of my only real regrets with this game is having my first play-through be a completionist run without taking breaks to play anything else. By the time I got to the mountaintops I started to get pretty burnt out.

Now I’m taking my time with NG+ and most of the problems I had with the game aren’t nearly as prevalent.

[TheElly]

Caelid has lots of stuff. One half of the medaillon for the elevator that leads to altus is there. I have a feeling the devs expect players that go to the eastside road in liurnia to then go back to Caelid because following that path leads you to said elevator. The people that followed the western route down to the lakes and the academy would end up going trough the passage that leads close to Mt. Gelmir (Gilmir?). At least thats what happened for me. I cleared Caelid before Altus Plateau. We're also ignoring the fact Caelid is easily accessible from very early in the game. One teleporter near the third church of marika (where you get your physik flask) and a teleporter trap in of the dungeons close to the first step. Its also generally easy to approach since its not gated by any boss. Realistically there's probably some people that went in caelid before Liurna.

[kingrueben]

Just got the game about a month or so ago. Cannot explain how bummed out i am, bummed that i waited so longnto play this absolute MASTERPIECE of a game. Just made it to Atlus plateau and have searched every nook and cranny this far up to here. Im in love

[InfinityNation]

He usually does reviews on games I haven’t played recently or never so I don’t have a frame a reference for how well he knows the game he is critiquing. Elden Ring I know very well. Recommending Scaling enemies was an indicator he doesn’t understand the power trip the game is suppose to put you through. After he mentioned Caelid but, not Radahn I’ve realized that just because his videos are long doesn’t mean he understands the game.

[zedetach]

I've been gaming for 27 years and this is the first single player game that took me 200 hours to complete. Now I'm the type that gets burnt out at the 100 hours mark and for me to go for another 100 and complete the game is nothing short of a miracle.

[Flash_-gyvp]

When it comes to summoning friends you can make a specific code when you go to network in the settings menu, if your friend puts in the same code you put in then you'll be specifically matched with them when you put a summon sign down.

[kollatt]

"elden ring is not a generationally defining game."

later: "it's one of the most remarkable games i've ever played and i will be referencing it in comparison to future titles for years and years to come."

...k.