The gameplay is perfect. But how about just fixing the PC version with some basic things like…
- A setting to disable chromatic aberration.
- Fix the broken ultrawide support.
- Add remappable keybinds.
- Unlock the framerate.
- Add DLSS and FSR.
You know, basic, fundamental PC features.
Fromsoft PC ports have always been notoriously bad, but it blows my mind that after 15 years, they still don’t support something as important as custom keybinds.
Bro, they have remapping keybind in their game, I don’t know what you’re on about.
Wait those are all issues? I may hold off on buying the game then.
But unfortunately you can’t use this while playing online.
Flawless Ultrawide can also be used to fix most of those things, but in either case, EAC will block you from online play… which is, like, half the fun of a FS game.
The keybinds are mostly rebindable though actually? I play on mouse & keyboard with basically completely different setup than default.
From Soft PC ports definitely rough, though they have gotten a bit better each release
The game is not “difficult” per se, it’s just that the underlying systems of how to make it easier aren’t made explicit. You’re meant to engage with it and learn how to create the advantages you need. It’s supposed to be a process of learning and growth that feels rewarding and earned. Or read a guide.
It’s honestly one of the easiest From games, once you engage with the particulars. Let me be clear: This isn’t an elaborate “git gud”. That began as an ironically bad opinion that inevitably became a genuine opinion held by fools.
Engage with the systems and dynamics presented to you, and you begin to see that the difficulty setting in ER (and other Souls games) exists on a conceptual level.
The exception that proves the rule here is Sekiro, which was an amazingly interesting experiment in putting you into a character’s shoes through game mechanics - the only way to beat the game is to adopt the bold and precise combat style of the main character. The difficulty of that game comes from hesitation, fear, and carelessness - and it is painfully unforgiving.
Paragraphs are your friends
The megagraph is not “difficult” to read per se…
Nodding acquaintance at best really
Never change, Miyazaki.
Not being able to grab a wooden club and beat god to death with it isn’t the game being difficult, but you listen to some folks and you might get the idea its what they expect.
Use summons, get your magic going (or hell, full sorcerer) and you won’t see any major filters. Might need to do fights a couple times but thats hardly a big deal.
The problem is that the controls for anything other than the fighting are rather clunky. It’s not something specific to ER, but rather gamepad based games, for some reason. I’ve the same issue with Horizon Zero Dawn. In both games I play pretty much with the weapons, the healing and that’s about it because fuck all that shit about cycling through options in the middle of a fight.
You can long-press d-pad down to reset the inventory belt to the first item, same thing with the spells on d-pad up
I wish long press would just show us a choice wheel, right thumbstick to pick my choice, done. Free the left and right foe other stuff.
I don’t know, that’s too many inputs which is a trap that I feel console games easily fall for nowadays. Having to long press is already kind of annoying, adding another input layer with a wheel would make it worse imo
You sound like everyone who has ever seen me menu spells in a KH speedrun. You sound like someone who turns weapons off in ULTRAKILL. Neither of these are explicitly bad things, but the system in place (a scrollable selection menu in real-time) can be utilized at the same level of efficiency as a spell wheel; you just need to exercise your memory when you set up and when you use your belt items.
There’s a lot of titles that allow you to pause and utilize your menu. Dragon’s Dogma 2, for instance, allows you to pause at 0 HP and still use healing items, so long as you haven’t finished your dying animation or been knocked flat.
Dark Souls and similar games make a deliberate choice in keeping the game in real time when you menu, and there’s a lot of truly functional items you can keep on your belt to help those weapons: status items can help you finish applying a status when an enemy leaps back, the physick, stamina regeneration, many extremely powerful effects that they want a small execution and collection barrier on. Alone in the Dark (5) had a real-time menu like this too far before it was popular, and people complained bitterly about it, so I get where the complaint comes from.
Without dramatically reducing your available options or developing a completely different system of menus, the controls can’t really be less “clunky”. If horizon’s wheel and DaS’s menu aren’t for you, you may just not like how action RPGs control. If it’s about needing time for the menu, these specific titles may not really be up your alley. There’s a TON of games that operate the way you’re expecting, and at this point the community and developer alike are committed to sustaining this experience that provides friction. Friction is basically how you talk, from a design standpoint, about the difficulty of the game and why it’s present and what it does functionally.
If you don’t understand how friction and fun are related, the game was unironically not made for you, and misunderstanding that or not being eloquent enough to explain that has led to the “git gud” divide. The menus are meant to provide friction. The combat animations and the period you must wait before acting again provide friction. Being a relatively heavy RPG, you can overcome friction multiple ways, either through developed personal skill or overleveling or picking tools that the boss isn’t equipped to handle or statuses it’s weak to.
TL;DR of course the menus are clunky dude they’re based on a decades-long tradition of interfaces that provide gameplay fun. The fun is there for a grand majority of people, if you’re not having fun with the ball-crusher, nobody is making you use it.
I do appreciate your point of view. I just disagree about the “it’s been like this for ages and we’re used to it and it’s part of the difficulty”. Good UI should cause no friction.
I do agree a paused menu with quaffing health potions mid-strike is bullshit. But if things are gonna be real time (not even slow down while in menu wheel like many others) then there is no reason to stick with ancient traditions. It would be simple enough to have an item wheel instead.
As it is yeah, I do play with a handicap. It’s fine, I’ve beaten other games with similar issues (from my POV). I’m just super annoyed about subpar UX in software. I’ve seen too many in my career and too many people enduring bullshit UI… so it really rustles my jimmies when I see the same problems in games. You know, software that’s supposed to provide fun.
It’s really not an ER specific pet peeve of mine; I’ve endured shitty UI/UX for the last 37 years and so I’m a bit grumpy about it, is all.
Lots of very roundabout ‘the game isn’t difficult, you just need to get good at it’ replies in this thread, trying hard not to say the quiet part out loud…
for me, the “difficulty” lies in wind-up, cooldown and range of weapons. everyone also gets a “stagger”/balance gauge which adds more depth to your arsenal.
the way you use that against the npcs uptime with the current terrain is a typical souls experience.
It wouldn’t break shit, the fan base would have a meltdown over their precious thing being more accessible though.
Difficulty is not an accessibility issue.
lmao Elden Ring is already a dumbed down, more accessible version of Dark Souls.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Having played through its entirety last week for my review, though, I can confidently say that it’s not unfair, as every foe possesses learnable movesets with consistent, readable telegraphing (the base game actually had a few problems with this).
While Shadow of the Erdtree is home to some of FromSoftware’s toughest ever boss fights, finally taking them down after hours of patient perseverance led to some of the highest highs I’ve ever felt playing a game.
I couldn’t help but loudly cheer despite the fact it was 1:30 in the morning (sorry, neighbors) when I finally beat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight — the first or second boss you’re likely to encounter — in a (self-imposed) duel with no summons.
Shadow of the Erdtree takes what the base game did and does it better, cutting away most of its formulaic side content like simple mines and catacombs and giving its players a denser world with more bespoke and original things to find.
Neither pillar of Elden Ring’s gameplay would give me the satisfaction they do if the experience was designed to be easier or to hold my hand, so I’m in full agreement with Miyazaki’s comments.
In fact, that’s a big part of why the Land of Shadow is so enjoyable to explore — new weapons, armors, spells, talismans, Spirit Ashes, and more are scattered all throughout the DLC’s various zones, with particularly special items often located within or at the end of side dungeons.
The original article contains 710 words, the summary contains 244 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Doesn’t Elden Ring have quite a few easy mode mods?
yes. many. there’s also mods that make it harder too, if that floats your boat
Elden ring isn’t hard. People just need to learn to adapt and try new builds. This game is too massive to play with one build unless you go for something OP. That’s why they give you so many tears to reclass. Learn weaknesses and resistances, use ranged attacks, use summons, use everything you have at your disposal. That’s the whole point of the game.
If anyone needs any advice I can help make the game easy from start to finish. Just let me know.
I really wanted to like ER. It’s fucking beautiful and seems to have a lot of depth, but the a appeal to difficulty doesn’t really hold any water, cuz the only thing that makes it difficult is unnecessarily clunky controls.
Maybe there’s a mod or something now that makes the combat more fluid… I should give it another visit.
Get the fuck out of here. Absolute troll post.
Post your steam account stats, I dare you.
Which stats? I put over 100 hours into ER if that’s what you’re looking for. Like I said, I really wanted to like it, and ‘got gud’ (learned to time the control’s clunkiness) enough to progress a decent way through the game. But it never actually got fun, nor did it live up to the wildly positive feedback it was getting from the gaming community. ER is an okay game. 5/10. It’s not bad by any stretch, but it’s not the posterchild of a perfect game that it was/is lauded as.
People are allowed to not like games you like …
I also find souls likes to feel janky. Elden Ring is playable for me, Dark Souls 3 I just rage quit rather than dealing with its UI.
They have the same UI and flow between each element…
They couldn’t even be bothered to report the correct keys if you use anything but an xbox controller or allow custom key binds in Dark Souls 3. I will never understand the praise the Dark Souls 3 PC port got.
They actually do let you rebind most keys, and they do also have a setting that changes the button prompts to keyboard buttons though I recall it being sorta hidden.
This is true. The only game to automatically detect my controller and display the correct buttons without going into a menu to change them in recent memory was Remnant 2. Extremely rare afterthought type quality of life is what we’re seeing complaints about now.
Stop complaining about difficulty, pussies. Git gud.
Cringe
Indeed. Everyone here has clearly lost their sense of humour.
And that’s why I will never buy it. If you’re too asshole to put in difficulty scaling, I have no use for your game.
