Elden Ring - #6 on the most played Games List

I can't say I've ever watched a Let's Play for the sole purpose of finding out what "I" thought about the game, that seems to be a completely arse about hat way of approaching a form of video entertainment. That would be like watching Top Gear for the sole reason of seeing a car review.
I do it all the time. If I want to know whether a game plays in a way I'll enjoy, I'll pull up a random "let's play" video, pick a random spot in it, and watch it for a bit. Maybe skip around a bit to see other chunks. Always seemed to me like a better idea then pulling up some gameplay demo video where things are probably staged for the viewer's benefit.

I've never watched a "let's play" with the goal of actually wanting to watch someone else play a game in my entire life (that seems so utterly bizarre to me), yet I end up watching small pieces of them quite regularly for the above reason.
 
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For all those that (also) aimed at the other person(s) talking instead of the (interesting) topic(s): stop doing that. It won't win you the discussion - you are merely spoiling it.
 
I think I will talk about of my love of the game here.

In the 1980s there was this little game called Super Mario Bros that took the world by storm. The main attraction though it being a competent game was that there were many secrets littered throughout the game. This led to people passing knowledge of these secret from on another and made the game very popular. This was replicated with Legend of Zelda.

Fast forward 35 years this concept was all but lost. But Elden ring seems to bring it back in some form. There is virtually no handholding of any type in the game, not even a mini map. The lack of clutter UI on the screen is a breath of fresh air honestly. And made people look for external sources for when they are stuck. Things like interactive maps for upgrade materials and dungeon walkthroughs are a must when you get stuck.

It feels like the whole world is playing the game with you being one of the people playing it, though sharing information only goes one way this time.
 
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Another thing I really like about Elden Ring compared to other souls games is that I can play it without having to constantly keep the wiki page open. In other soulsborne game I felt like consulting with the wiki to read about the areas as you played was almost required, otherwise you'd miss essential things. Not just item upgrades and story items, but also incredibly important quality of life things such as hidden save points that cut off 5 + minutes of run time.

Elden Rings has a million secrets and hidden things, but I feel like I can just find them organically, without bringing up a wiki. And if I miss a few, it's no big deal. I will occasionally bring up the wiki if I'm stuck in a dungeon and not sure where to go next, or if there's a quest that I'm confused about and I don't feel like wandering around everywhere. But it's fairly rare.
 
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Guess you didn't want to respond to the question. I wonder why…

I thought I already explained why twice. We don’t see things the same way. I could point out the posts in this thread and others ( it’s not a 1 thread observation) and you can tell me that I’m wrong and then we could debate for 2 more pages. Or we could just agree we don’t see things the same way and rarely ever do. Not every discussion is right or wrong sometimes people just interpret things differently.
 
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I'm not watching the entire let's play from beginning to end. Is that what you thought I meant? I might watch say 20 minutes or something like that.

I prefer a let's play over a "sample gameplay" video because those are often put out by the publisher and only show specific things. I want to see unedited gameplay from a finished copy of the game not something that exists for PR purposes.

Is that something you can comprehend or does it still seem like gibberish?

Well, yes, it's still gibberish, because the very definition of a Let's Play is:

"A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, usually including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face.[1] A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strategy guide by focusing on an individual's subjective experience with the game, often with humorous, irreverent, or critical commentary from the gamer, rather than being an objective source of information on how to progress through the game.[2] While Let's Plays and live streaming of game playthroughs are related, Let's Plays tend to be curated experiences that include editing and narration, and can be scripted, while streaming is an unedited experience performed on the fly.[3]"

So it's probably more that you're talking at cross-purposes. Same for @Stingray; and all the +1 'ers.

A simple Walkthrough video, for example, can seem like a Let's Play and may even be titled by the uploader as a Let's Play, but a Walkthrough is something completely different and is the one that usually doesn't have commentary.

If you're just 'dipping into' a Let's Play for tiny chunks of this and that, you're not really watching a Let's Play, lol, you're just repurposing the odd video within the Let's Play as an alternative Walkthrough or Gameplay video - to which, to then have a preference for non-commentary is completely at odds with the whole point of a Let's Play LMAO.

I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong or silly, just that 'preferring' a non-commentary Let's Play is kinda making a rod for your own back, lol. Particularly when there are other people providing what you want, the armies of Walktrough and Gameplay uploaders.

Fun to watch someone else play a game that I've already played to death? I think it's safe to say that you and I have vastly different ideas of what's entertaining, but there's nothing wrong with that.

I have no idea why it wouldn't be entertaining. *shrug*

You got me there. That analogy is so incredibly dumb that I literaly don't know how to respond to it. :)

Respond or not, it's a valid point and no, I have no idea what you're trying to say here, let alone why it would be dumb. *shrug*
 
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I thought I already explained why twice. We don't see things the same way. I could point out the posts in this thread and others ( it's not a 1 thread observation) and you can tell me that I'm wrong and then we could debate for 2 more pages. Or we could just agree we don't see things the same way and rarely ever do. Not every discussion is right or wrong sometimes people just interpret things differently.

If you say so. It seems more like you avoided the question because you know your original comment was an exaggeration.

Personally, I like the game a lot from what I've played so far. The only reason I'm not knee deep in it right now is because I'm waiting for another patch for the PC version which still has some issues.

In fact, it seems I like Elden Ring more than you since you've expressed that the game is a mixed bag for you. To me, this game is significantly more interesting than any of the Dark Souls titles.


@lackblogger; Cool story :thumbsup:
 
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@OverIt;
Was Mario the first game to have secrets of that sort? I feel like that kind of thing has been in games forever but I guess I can't really think of a game that pre-dates Mario that did it first.

I think the games that make the best discussions are the ones where people do need help. In days before the internet, especially school days talking on the playground at recess, having a lot to discuss would act as marketing in itself.

But, you're right, the trend in RPGs has been toward greater accessibility for a long time now. That's what people want. Quest markers and journals and anything to make it easy. Elden Ring has been a success despite being inaccessible.

But, it was the same with all the Souls games and Demon Souls is going back a long way now.

I guess what it does differently that makes it more accessible without adding in any hand-holding is give you more options. You could say there were options in Dark Souls but it was pretty much go to Undead Berg or go get destroyed in the catacombs or new londo ruins. In Elden Ring you have a whole shitload of easy places to go. You can easily play 60 hours just exploring and not even attempt a main boss.

But that brings me to what @sakichop; was saying about not being sure it's the most fun even though it's objectively the best souls game. And I kind of get that. But it's hard to tell if that's the game or if its me.

Trying to approach the game as I do with the other souls games is a fair amount more exhausting. I started off like always trying to systematically explore every inch of ground. But because terrain often blocks a straight path I couldn't just run up and down and explore it like a grid. I do think that's a good thing and evidence of a well built world. But I soon found myself taking a new approach of just not worrying about finding everything and riding off in whatever direction I feel like and not even trying to keep track of where I'd been. So I ended up just going east and found myself in Cailid or whatever and had a hard time there but did find a lot of stuff but I started to want to find a REAL dungeon for some actual Souls style levels to explore and went off to do Stormvail Castle and the game started feeling like a Souls game for a while. That was a great dungeon with lots to find and I spent a good while there. Farmed the set of Banished Knight Armor and weapons. Then I was eager for more Souls style dungeons so I barely explored the lake area before I found the key and went to do the second dungeon. But it wasn't as good. It had a bit of rooftop stuff to explore but it wasn't the greatest dungeon. The boss was super easy and died in about 5 hits to a +5 golden halberd. So, I thought I was probably ready for the third dungeon and went back to castle redmaine. But it was even less interesting than the academy, though it did have a hard boss. At the moment I'm still trying to do Rannis questline and the underground areas have been alright. I've also got access to Altus, though I haven't been there yet. But I'm kind of feeling weary. And, again, I'm not sure if that's the game or it's just me. Usually the feeling I have at this point is anxiety that the game will be over soon because I've had such a blast playing it. But now I feel like theres aboslutely loads left to explore but I'm not sure I can be bothered.

I dunno. Maybe open-world isn't that great. Like, if I think about playing an MMO, WoW or Lost Ark or something, I don't really care for exploring the world and questing. I just like the dungeons and the co-op. I mean, I do like a good view to admire the graphics and ER is full of that. Beautiful game to behold.

I guess that brings us to the multiplayer. A lot of people will rejoice that invasions NEVER happen. You literally can't be invaded while solo unless you use an item to turn it on or something. Haven't actually looked at it. But I do think this game is the worst for multiplayer, whether thats co-op or pvp. If you summon someone to help you can't use your spirit ashes. I want to beat the bosses solo, anyway, just for bragging rights. But I'm just not feeling it. I guess I'm not building up levels of Sunbro to look extra shiny or something. It's like the covenants are missing and there's a loss of progression the other games had towards being a rank3 sunbro. Is this true? What sort of covenants are there that I'm not noticing?

So, you know, there's less dungeons, there's less multiplayer. More RPG, more open-world exploration. I'm sure lots of people, especially on RPGwatch, will love that. I've seen people talk about not wanting to be invaded and just wanting a singleplayer experience. The games great for you guys. You don't even have to play offline. But you might as well because literally every wall in the game has some troll message saying it's a hidden passage. And, you know, that's fine. They're excited, they're having fun. I wouldn't want to mess with that. But I guess the "grumpy old man" in me is pretty sick of 95% of messages being some troll shit. Occasionally they've been helpful, like one said "gesture required" when I was trying to find where to click my fingers to summon Blaidd.

So, yeah, I dunno. Was I trying to make a point or something? I forget. Super Mario? Eh, whatever, post completed. :)
 
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@SirJames; not everything gets worse when it blows up, but a lot of things do. The messaging in Elden Ring compared to earlier games is a pretty strong example. There were some lies in Dark Souls but the ratio of helpful (or at least clever) messages to trash was much higher. The community had this vibe of wanting to help each other through a tough game. Now that everyone and their sister is playing it, there are a lot more jackasses and not nearly as much feeling of community.
 
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@SirJames; Other games had secrets but not in the abundance and with no clues they exist like in Super Mario Bros which made it a phenomenon in school culture.

As for less dungeons, I dont think so. The game map is so huge filled with dungeons there are about 50 dungeons or at least what i consider to be dungeons ranging from pretty huge dungeons to smaller ones. As for exploring every nook and cranny, I find that is the beauty of the game, its so huge that you could do that, you could spend a lot of time exploring, you could just do the dungeons.

As for multiplayer I really enjoy it. Despite it being a little harder in multiplayer(the person who joins someone else's game gets half the flasks), there is a certain thrill of getting invaded and beating those people. More so when you are running out of flasks. That said there are some broken systems which make some of the invasions not fun.

And the troll messages are whatever though later in the game because the game gets harder, people are putting more helpful messages. And even the troll messages have people saying "liar ahead". That said i do enjoy watching people jump off to their doom(red patches), some of them are in unexpected places.
 
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I myself may bite the bullet and give the game a try. Gasp I know it's a sign of the end of the world. I just have to finish Elex 2 and see how Distant Worlds 2 turned out.:lol:
 
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I think posters should not insult others for not liking a popular game like Elden Ring. I am referring specifically to a hit and run post that said rpg watch is composed of old gamers who, presumably, are out of step with the latest "hotness" that all the youth are playing. That is a bullshit take. Just because something is hot and popular in the moment, does not necessarily make it good. 'Nuff said.
 
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I think posters should not insult others for not liking a popular game like Elden Ring. I am referring specifically to a hit and run post that said rpg watch is composed of old gamers who, presumably, are out of step with the latest "hotness" that all the youth are playing. That is a bullshit take. Just because something is hot and popular in the moment, does not necessarily make it good. 'Nuff said.

What makes a game good is if people are really enjoying it. Doesn't spectacularly high sales imply that people are enjoying it? If people somehow enjoyed pong by the 10s of millions today, can you really argue that pong is a bad game.

That doesn't mean the game is for everyone.

Also low sales doesn't mean a game is bad. Plenty of brilliant games bomb in sales.
 
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I think posters should not insult others for not liking a popular game like Elden Ring.

In fact, posters should not insult others for not liking any game, whether it's popular or not.
 
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I don't like anything and am definitely a grumpy gamer...so there :p
 
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Now zombies are super-overrated. I could do without them completely. I keep hoping for a survival game where the enemies are bunnies or pets (Playboy/Penthouse) or beauty contest winners ;) There are actually games like that but they're Japanese mostly and horrible graphics!

I may play both Elden Ring and Elex 2 as soon as they drop in price a bit. Neither game is really in my wishlist, but meh.
 
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