Alfonso_of_Rivia
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Gone Gold
Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page
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Gained 10+ total review likes
GOTY '23
Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event
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I was hesitant to buy this game because I had never played a CRPG or D&D before. Let me just say that I am so glad that I took the leap of faith, because this is a game that deserves to be enjoyed by any fans of RPGs and fantasy elements, and deserves GOTY '23.
The dialogue in this game is unparalleled. Every NPC/Party member has an immense pool of responses to world events, character choices, and comments to make on your player character's race and actions. It makes me so excited to jump right in to another playthrough with a new race and class to play as. If you enjoy a heavy focus on roleplaying in RPGs, you really can't do any better than this title.
The combat took some getting used to as a CRPG & D&D noob, but it comes together nicely once you get a hang of what practices are best in combat (like high/low ground, sneaking, movement, etc), learn what spells are better to focus on for your casters, and get a grasp of the dice roll mechanics and how to utilize advantage and disadvantage. I recommend switching to explorer difficulty if you're struggling in the beginning like I was. It helped me to learn the ropes and you can change the difficulty back to balanced at any time.
The information thrown at you in the beginning can be overwhelming at first, especially after you spent roughly 1.5 hours just customizing your player character. But take it slow, read item and spell descriptions, and put into this game what you want out of it. Because if you do, what you'll receive is one of the most memorable and rewarding gaming experiences of the 21st century. And one that will have you itching to run it back over again once you've finished.
The dialogue in this game is unparalleled. Every NPC/Party member has an immense pool of responses to world events, character choices, and comments to make on your player character's race and actions. It makes me so excited to jump right in to another playthrough with a new race and class to play as. If you enjoy a heavy focus on roleplaying in RPGs, you really can't do any better than this title.
The combat took some getting used to as a CRPG & D&D noob, but it comes together nicely once you get a hang of what practices are best in combat (like high/low ground, sneaking, movement, etc), learn what spells are better to focus on for your casters, and get a grasp of the dice roll mechanics and how to utilize advantage and disadvantage. I recommend switching to explorer difficulty if you're struggling in the beginning like I was. It helped me to learn the ropes and you can change the difficulty back to balanced at any time.
The information thrown at you in the beginning can be overwhelming at first, especially after you spent roughly 1.5 hours just customizing your player character. But take it slow, read item and spell descriptions, and put into this game what you want out of it. Because if you do, what you'll receive is one of the most memorable and rewarding gaming experiences of the 21st century. And one that will have you itching to run it back over again once you've finished.
I got this game as a gift from a buddy for our group's Secret Santa, and turns out it made for a great gift!
The gunplay comes with a ton of variety from the different weapons you can equip and unlocking the other archetypes can change your build and plans of attack drastically.
The randomly generated worlds kept subsequent playthroughs fresh and engaging, with alternative stories in each world. Slightly annoying if you're looking for a particular piece of loot, but at least they let you "re-roll" each world separately to keep your loot hunts separate from your current story.
Overall, a really fun time. Glad I got this as a gift!
The gunplay comes with a ton of variety from the different weapons you can equip and unlocking the other archetypes can change your build and plans of attack drastically.
The randomly generated worlds kept subsequent playthroughs fresh and engaging, with alternative stories in each world. Slightly annoying if you're looking for a particular piece of loot, but at least they let you "re-roll" each world separately to keep your loot hunts separate from your current story.
Overall, a really fun time. Glad I got this as a gift!
FromSoftware at its absolute best. Where do I even begin?
Like Zelda BOTW, you're essentially thrown into the Lands Between and told "figure it out." It was intimidating at first. But once I got my bearings, I wanted to search every nook and cranny there was, and unlike BOTW, I was actually rewarded for my efforts with a new boss, or new weapon, or new summon, or new armor, or new NPC/quest, or new dungeon! The amount of varying rewards alone were enough to keep my exploration spirits high.
As far as bosses go, I'm aware that this roster is polarizing. First I will say that in terms of designs, nearly all bosses hit it out of the park. There are a couple of dud mini-bosses but I excuse that since the roster is so large. However, there is definitely a scaling issue that happens once you enter the last area of the main game, but in all honesty most FromSoft games have this issue to some extent. On my first playthrough, I did find myself caught in the "this is too hard by myself, too easy with summons/a buddy" camp, but on my NG+ playthrough where I forced myself to gut it out solo, I felt that patented satisfaction that you don't find in any other games.
My main reason for being okay with some boss difficulties is that the amount of weapons you can arm yourself with is astounding. I believe there are over 300 different armaments you can equip, and that leaves more than one for each situation. Knowing bosses resistances and switching your gameplan to attack that weakness is critical, and it's never been easier to utilize another weapon than in Elden Ring.
On top of that, you can re-spec your build almost as many times as you want! (provided you have enough larval tears). Having that option of totally changing your character's strengths and weaknesses is something that was absent in most other FromSoft games, and if it was there it was much more obscure with much less available respecs per playthrough. So I appreciated that feature immensely.
Elden Ring is as close to perfect you can get in a video game, in my opinion. To be as big as it is and perform as well as it does while you're playing is an achievement that I don't think enough people appreciate. Shadow of the Erdtree cannot come soon enough.
Like Zelda BOTW, you're essentially thrown into the Lands Between and told "figure it out." It was intimidating at first. But once I got my bearings, I wanted to search every nook and cranny there was, and unlike BOTW, I was actually rewarded for my efforts with a new boss, or new weapon, or new summon, or new armor, or new NPC/quest, or new dungeon! The amount of varying rewards alone were enough to keep my exploration spirits high.
As far as bosses go, I'm aware that this roster is polarizing. First I will say that in terms of designs, nearly all bosses hit it out of the park. There are a couple of dud mini-bosses but I excuse that since the roster is so large. However, there is definitely a scaling issue that happens once you enter the last area of the main game, but in all honesty most FromSoft games have this issue to some extent. On my first playthrough, I did find myself caught in the "this is too hard by myself, too easy with summons/a buddy" camp, but on my NG+ playthrough where I forced myself to gut it out solo, I felt that patented satisfaction that you don't find in any other games.
My main reason for being okay with some boss difficulties is that the amount of weapons you can arm yourself with is astounding. I believe there are over 300 different armaments you can equip, and that leaves more than one for each situation. Knowing bosses resistances and switching your gameplan to attack that weakness is critical, and it's never been easier to utilize another weapon than in Elden Ring.
On top of that, you can re-spec your build almost as many times as you want! (provided you have enough larval tears). Having that option of totally changing your character's strengths and weaknesses is something that was absent in most other FromSoft games, and if it was there it was much more obscure with much less available respecs per playthrough. So I appreciated that feature immensely.
Elden Ring is as close to perfect you can get in a video game, in my opinion. To be as big as it is and perform as well as it does while you're playing is an achievement that I don't think enough people appreciate. Shadow of the Erdtree cannot come soon enough.