Why Elden Ring Is One Of The Best Games Ever

when i crossed the 100 hour mark in elden ring  so far from where i started and yet nowhere near   finished one thought eeked its way into my stunned  brain this is one of the best games of all time   elden ring isn't just a game it's a journey one  that was beyond the scope of my comprehension on   several accounts but also just an amazingly  fun experience when you boil it down when i rode into learning of the lakes for the  first time i was just baffled that it could be as   big beautiful and immersive as lemgrave which had  just taken me almost 20 hours to pick clean like a   vulture little did i know i had barely scratched  the surface of this enormous beast of a game   elden ring does something truly different  presenting both unthinkable layered level design   and dumb foundingly open endless freedom i was  worried that the open world would mean a drop in   overall quality in the name of quantity as from  software's first entry into the open world foray   proper it's truly a masterpiece that probably  should have failed fusing together the traits   of prior games into a gargantuan open world yet  nothing suffered in translation in fact for my   tastes most of it got better the total experience  the adventure with far more ways to play all the   hassles and convolution of prior titles is just  gone unhinging the systems that often made it   more of a hassle than it should be like providing  endless stamina out of combat a smart hub that   vanishes when it's not needed and a lot more the  joy of exploration is unmatched giving giving   giving an absurd amount of things to stumble on  a world so massive and beautiful that it's almost   intimidating yet oddly still effortless to battle  through because it was so well designed this is   a very weird and delightful combination though  honestly it felt very daunting to trek through   a game so hard so enormous so unbelievably never  ending almost i recall vividly the feeling of awe   thinking there was no way the game could keep  getting bigger truthfully i thought the game   was going to end every time i finished a new area  lim grave lernia okay this was 35 hours i can beat   dark souls 3 in 35 hours so we must be getting to  the end but wait on to the atlas plateau volcano   manor mount gilmore surely this must be over  soon 45 hours and counting but then i stumbled   on caled a sea of red skies and music mimicking an  infested buzzing beehive truly this is one of the   best examples of when game audio sounds like what  the level actually looks like no small feat you   can bet your bottom dollar yet onwards i pressed  even further to lindell this is where i thought   the game was really going to end the clock struck  60 hours yet ever more awaited to the east in fact   dozens more hours and then i stumbled on sofia  river when i came here flipped open the map and   realized there was an entire secret underground  area which opened up to no less than four or five   gigantic areas itself i found myself gasping for  breath at how much content there was in this game   just wow i sat there in a moment of pure deja vu  reminded of the moment zelda 3 dropped its dark   world on me areas no these aren't areas as we've  come to expect from other open worlds plopped down   on us in recent years lumping these places in with  other aaa open world areas is an insult limb grave   and the like are areas deserving of a masterpiece  they don't just look and sound incredible they're   pinatas exploding with so much content per square  foot that it truly baffles the mind this one game   for the price of so much else on the market offers  an endless sea of discovery in a cosmic size map   that most importantly and unironically never  ever oversees its welcome at no point did i ever   want anything less than i received and that is a  nearly impossible feeling for me to possess with   a game that can take over 120 hours to beat for an  average semi-complete playthrough vastness hardly   describes the lands between they are as dense  as they are vast yet somehow someway staying   exciting to the end because the minutia of the  game is not ignored at the expense of the scale   i would tell myself there's no way that if i run  to the furthest corner of the map behind some tiny   rock i would find something yet there it is the  entrance to another secret forget about required   content that is almost another game entirely  eldon rings world is a second game so seamlessly   hiding treasures and secrets characters scattered  everywhere inside small bushes even completely   out of sight little stories to find items with  inscriptions to decode the mysteries of the world   yet just barely to leave you never truly sure 100  dungeons caves tunnels shortcuts everywhere so   esoteric and concealed that you could never  uncover them all for yourself without but   months of time i became obsessive over this game  like a puppy with his new squeaky toy spending far   too much time looking over the edges of wayward  cliffs trying to find the most insidiously hidden   path rock shelf anything i could fall down onto  leading to who knows i just had to find everything   is there anyone else watching this video who  has looked over far too many cliffs in this game   of course no game could hold on to that childlike  sense of discovery for its entire course   eldon rings many dungeons can get repetitive and  they don't hold a candle to its legacy dungeons   as they are often much smaller and less detailed  but that's only because they exist in a game that   otherwise has the best level design of  all time when you're comparing something   to stormville castle a simple cave that would  have otherwise been very good in another game   is always going to be not as good in this one  from does need to work on their underground assets   though the caves don't pop the way the rest of  the game does they can feel quite flat lined up to   the extravagant vistas sharp lighting and wisping  particle effects when you're riding on the surface   but as a subsidiary portion of the game that is  not required i think they're mostly very fun all   things considered for the exception of the chariot  sections which i can only describe playing through   as literal hell regardless ring capitalizes on  the notion that its world activities must offer   payback nothing is worse than feeling like a  game is wasting your time for little reason   and this game showers you with stuff purple shiny  items treasure boxes with rare items you'll find   them everywhere tucked behind terrain on the top  of buildings after fights or difficult encounters   off the beaten path rewarding your inquisitiveness  as a tarnish many dungeons shower the player not   with resources or hearts but with things that  have a direct and immediate impact on the game   weapons armors spells talismans and weapon arts  and souls even more valuable upgrade materials and   bell bearings that will help you in future boss  battles and areas this isn't the achievements   collectible junk or trite grandy rewards you  see in other lesser games at best you'll get   something awesome that fundamentally changes the  way you play the game and at worst you'll find an   item that you don't need right now but could be  interesting when i respec that's a pretty good   trade-off all squished on top of a game that is  truly fun to play with advanced gameplay mechanics   beautiful diverse scenery and music compelling  gameplay scenarios and bosses escalating side   stories and multiple endings it's all there  best of all no content is locked off i mean how   many times has the invisible wall or skull icon  enemy prevented you from exploring the area that   you truly wanted to i mean just think about how  baffling this all is i at this point had around   20 hours tallied on all accounts i should have  been somewhere in stormville castle yet here i am   a random zigzag of paths i followed underneath the  very castle i was supposed to breach northwards   past a great foggy lake north even more past ruins  mages giant lobsters enormous turtle mausoleums   places that looked long lost to past beyond any  borders fighting giant undead creepy spider hands   for absolutely no reason they could have made  these hands spiders like every other game ever   made the reason i had come here was not even a  reason at all i was on no quest i had no objective   i wasn't supposed to be here by any means and i  didn't know where i was i just happened to stumble   here because i was having fun and i couldn't be  bothered to stop but maybe i was supposed to be   there maybe that's the point of a giant free  world to encourage completely organic play wait   not encourage it of course not dictating direction  with an invisible hand can be artificial and phony   but to actually build something tangible  that can allow me to do that for myself   without feeling obligated board fatigued or  tired better yes without feeling pressured to   do anything in that world that would discourage me  so including all the predetermined elements that   we naturally snap to in standardized open worlds  like quest trails boundless tiny icons on the map   endless pointless collecting limitless  glibness ironically including the story   that by all accounts be gravely impacted by this  incalculable way of play a game doesn't have to   conform to what preceded it nor carry its feelings  or stumblings and elden ring is the example   of how to structure open world game freedom not  the only way to do it but a very very good way   storm bell castle may be where 95 percent  of players go for their first great rune   however it is completely utterly optional i simply  arrived at the hidden path intentionally put here   to spark my nosiness and i looked down and thought  to myself well hey there's probably something down   there and down i went only halfway down did i  say well [ __ ] this has taken me to a brand new   area isn't it this is why i appreciate the map in  the marking system you can lay out all the points   you couldn't go to or just didn't at the time  all the forks in the road and come back without   needing to make any mental notes exploring a  game is always more enjoyable when you're not   burdened by this process this is why you can feel  almost careless when playing elden ring almost   free to set it and forget it in a sense and check  out what's down there i mean why not why not what   a simple and enormously difficult state of mind  to facilitate all of the quality of life features   make it very convenient to enter this wandering  without purpose playstates yet ironically they   never ruined the challenge of the game this is  such a perilous wire to walk elden ring is a   game where the moment-to-moment difficulty remains  but with exploration that is far less grating due   to features including but not limited to plenty of  sights of grace unlimited storage space the option   to pick up regents without stopping crafting on  the go the easy takeoff animation with the horse   jumping on the horse the ability to attack  use spells consumables and flasks while on the   horseback and in motion no weapon repair systems  potion refills when you finish a group of enemies   no durability and the vanishing hud which also  smartly acts as a silent indicator if you're in   combat or not and then of course the two biggest  improvements unlimited out of combat stamina which   is massive and the pouch system which frees you  from cycling the direction pad to find the item   you want which has always been very annoying in  previous titles combined these somewhat subtle   features make general exploration and combat  painless reinforcing the idea that there is   no correct way to play or place to go the point  i'm trying to make is that from went from having   some of the most intentionally obfuscated and  unfriendly mechanics world tendency massive   boss run backs cryptic npc story threads and  requirements and more to making it frictionless   and user friendly maybe not accessible eldon ring  is tremendously hard but at least approachable   which is ultimately a great thing if the mystery  of it all is maintained and more critically still   the difficulty it's left intact despite these  implementations as bosses and enemies required for   progress are not any less difficult than previous  games you simply get to explore the game on your   own terms how you want to at what pace within a  system that is far more fluid and fun to be in   we've got a lot more elden ring to cover but  first let me thank the sponsor of today's video   hello fresh now a lot of you know i like to cook  but the truth is going to the grocery store or   sitting in traffic trying to get takeout food is  something i often don't have the patience for so i   tried hellofresh selected some vegetarian dishes  and the ingredients and recipes shortly arrived   at my doorstep what's cool about hellofresh  was that all the ingredients came in little   individual packages which means not only was there  less food prep for me but also ensured that i   had zero food waste it also means i was able to  make two versions of this chickpea tabouli bowl   one vegan for myself as i no longer eat meat  or dairy the recipe was really clear and after   about 20 minutes we had a nice tasting dish  and it saved me so much time this week that   i was able to get a lot more stuff done like  gaming and making this video for you guys   so yeah hellofresh is actually something i  can recommend if interested use my link or go   to hellofresh.com and use the code pog downward  16 for up to 16 free meals and 3 surprise gifts   across 6 hello fresh boxes plus free shipping  and without further ado back to the show the amount of variety is what truly staggers me  a lot of games have a central theme building a   cohesive world to match it which makes for a very  grounded experience because it's very consistent   it also makes the game less expensive to produce  as assets can be reused and recycled more often   consistently gothic consistently alien  consistently dark consistently apocalyptic   elden ring never tries to be homogeneous it's  more about grand scale and grand variety here   again making you feel like you're on a never  ending adventure you give up congruity for the   sake of diversity that's for sure once objective  pro or con depending on your preference they've   gone with a high fantasy approach and the  environments are so unbelievably different limb   grave the classic green rolling hills lernia is  the blue lake level wonderfully eerie and lonely   the gentle sweeping music lovely colors foggy  at times glimmering at others the composition   is very ephemeral almost feminine it is beauty  without words a place you can truly get lost in   on the basis of its embellishments alone the  atlas plateau is the autumn forest equivalent   golden and vibrant and beautiful eastern inspired  almost with oriental music vibes and falling leafs   a nod to the cherry blossom festival in japan  i think anyway then you've got caled rotting   redlands of diseases and dragons feeling like  nothing else in the game then there's the snow   areas high risen with steep mountainsides giants  and a looming end drawing near you're almost at   the edge of the world the game has a very  upward sense of momentum at this point like   you're climbing climbing climbing metaphorically  speaking to the heavens almost but then you have   all of these other areas almost completely  optional which says a whole hell of a lot   about the current state of gaming where games are  trying to skate by by delivering the bare minimum   and hoping no one says anything my favorites are  the halogen tree and volcano manor nestled on the   far side of mount gilmore bubbling sunburst lava  embers and ash falling from the sky deep haunting   organ-like cello music the flickering of candles  lights up the darkness in a bloody red atmosphere   this lava looks incredible from software has come  a long way with their environmental assets and   the use of particle effects the graphics overall  might not be best in class but the aesthetics and   music are absolutely wonderful the entire area  enveloped me i was so captivated and motivated   to understand why this place was the way it  was who were these people and why did they   want to confront their lord the matriarch tanif it  seemed like i was destined to be here and meet her   we receive a comforting welcome after all prytor  reichard what an absolute godlike name for a boss   the atmosphere evokes a haunted house very  mysterious something is awry something is   very wrong here i love the atmosphere and i felt  compelled to look into this place extensively   truth be told they combed the game like an insane  man endless was i raking myself back and forth of   the map scouring everything the lands between had  to offer cracking every quest i could find i found   many yet i missed many too i'm sure i didn't  finish the quest until 120 hours had gone by   i just wanted to leave nothing on the table and  more than anything i wanted to discover why this   strange group of people dubbed the bloody fingers  were hunting down the tarnished why did they   feel like the two fingers betrayed the world so i  trekked on through the dungeon crawl beyond tana's   orders and quests ultimately getting face to face  with reichard hoping to find some answers from   the mammoth serpent unfortunately into gimmick  fights however the boss arena is so impressive   and the lighting and color choices are gorgeous  the battle culminates in one of the most freaky   [ __ ] up moments in seoul's history with records  face reveal the presentation is surreal he's   horrifying and when he pulls out the blasphemous  blade laden with all the bloody hands of all the   tarnish she has eaten it dawns on you that you  were all this time destined to be his next meal together his voice work impeccably perverted and warped  adding another layer to this very sinister twist   throughout the entire game from software continues  to impress with her boss introductions and story   arcs and this one for me was the best it's a  shame the game reuses so many boss designs but   the demigods themselves are always amazing and  with reichard it never just ends there elden ring   always has more to discover as you can if you wish  come back to his corpse to find tanith feasting   on his brain like a zombie swimming in the ruby  red river of his blood herself it is an amazing   presentation and i was just blown away with the  metamorphosis of this weird and frankly awesome   side story to think all of this effort went into  a 100 optional area make no mistake many who   finish the journey will never see this and this  is content that likely took a huge amount of time   money and manpower to implement that is dedication  few games provide as one of the goals of most   consumer products is to utilize labor efficiently  and nothing is less efficient than developing   content that the masses likely won't engage with  my only qualm is that there were so much more that   could have been done with tanith and reichard when  taneth offered me into her service i thought this   was going to be a major choice in the game that i  this fell tarnish would now be banished from the   will of the fingers exiled from their graces that  if i went back to the round table i'd be attacked   on site for joining the bloody crusade after  all i killed three tarnished in my short crusade   with tanith but nothing came to be and that does  fill me with sadness still it's a wonderful side   story that i continue to think about throughout  writing this video either way what's nice is that   no matter what quest you pursue it's much easier  to gain information about them and track down   who you need to talk to eldon ring has amazing  companion stories and side quests to find they're   very gripping due to some great voice acting and  writing at times creepy somber sweet melancholy   despair often a combination of various emotions  skipping the dialogue in this game is a disservice   to yourself within these conversations and the  information you're presented much of the fog   though has been lifted from prior games not all of  its it's still easy to miss much but the majority   is much more clearly presented conversations  are less vague though somehow still obscure   a combination that frum has struggled with over  the years and i really like the new feature that   certain npcs have of offering dialogue selections  that recount where you need to go who to kill and   what the context is this helps because frankly  elden ring requires so very little of you to   reach its end there's only a few mandatory things  you actually have to do so much can be and will   be skipped the ultimate beauty is the freedom  that you can come back to the stuff at any time   if you miss it or perhaps hit a roadblock and  can't seem to get past it perhaps not all the   story threads but everything else you could do 50  other things going 50 other directions stumbling   into new areas some of which are a lot easier  giving you the tools the souls and the confidence   to come back and conquer those areas and god  damn some of these areas are hellaciously hard one of the issues associated with any open  world game is balance how do you balance a   game when players can do anything they want and  finish the game in a variety of ways the amount   of variables that cannot be controlled in this  game is tremendous before you arrive at a boss   the game doesn't know what level you were going to  be if you farmed a million souls what weapons you   were going to have or your upgrades or your skills  it also can account for people looking up guides   rushing to overpowered weapons or duping items all  things that will bring up the overall skill level   and power level for at least a section of the  player base nor does it know in what order you   tackle the content so escalating the difficulty  of certain mechanics from prior areas or bosses   becomes blurred and contorted and the same issue  occurs for developing overall difficulty ramping   on the total game scale with a million ways to  play elden ring is simply unable to determine   how hard the game should be at any moment and  the end result not surprisingly is a lot of   balance issues which turns out to be elder rings  only major albeit entirely subjective flaw eldon   ring is a very weirdly balanced game with abrupt  violent spikes and difficulty at seemingly random   places in both areas of required and optional  content to be clear this isn't a condemnation   of the game this is only my experience as with all  things in this video so please keep that in mind   the game seems to be split into phases it's almost  like three or four different games rolled into one   the first game is lim grave and lernie which i  will lump into the bucket of moderate challenge   these two sections at first they do seem hard  but once you get to lindell you realize they   weren't that bad you just had to get used to the  game the controls and what was expected of you   outside the mages in the rheya academy there's not  many sharp or annoying spikes and challenge hell   even the grafted scion was removed from stormville  castle in the beta to make the game a little bit   easier then you have the second game which are  the kind of hard areas like the atlas plateau   sofia river and mount gilmore however then you  have lindell which is game number three this is   where eldon ring officially starts lindell is  gorgeous and i absolutely love this place but   damn is it pretty freaking hard to the game's  credit though at least they attempt to warn you   of this impending onslaught with the incredibly  hard tree sentinel boss outside the gates still   the difficulty spike was a big shocker for me and  here on out the game never let up on the gas the   final game is well everything past this point  crumbling pharah missoula mog the fire giants   haley tree and the elden beast which for my money  is far and away the hardest portion of ellen ring   obviously some of these are optional bosses and or  areas and you have to admit that optional content   video games should always be harder than what's  required this goes back to the days of nintendo   64 when hub world style games became very popular  simply look at mario 64. you had your painting   levels for star progression and then you had your  bowser stages which also gave you stars but they   were optional since you only needed 70 of the 120  total star count to beat the game which allowed   the devs to make them harder because they weren't  mandatory if these stages were mandatory you'd   have to make them easier so less skilled players  would actually be able to progress forward so as   long as the target audience we're aiming for can  actually beat the game with a degree of effort   we deem appropriate we can dump harder stuff on  the side for completionists if there's any silver   lining most of eldon ring's challenge does lie  within the realms of this optional content melania   radon this dragon lord the valiant gargoyles which  you mog the crucible knight duo and the falling   star beast are in my opinion some of the hardest  bosses in the game obviously relative to where i   was power-wise when i arrived at each encounter  although i can't lie some of the mandatory   content is just as hard such as the fire giant  malekith the elden beast and honestly a lot of   the standard non-boss late game enemies like the  izola beastman and it all boils down to how elden   ring was designed as an open world game eldon  ring has to account for the fact that players   may have explored the entire game world leading  up to the point at which they face a boss farmed   millions of runes picked up all of the powerful  and gimmick weapons upgraded all of their weapons   to max and leveled up as much as possible when  you have a game that has so many easy exploitable   rune farms people can and will farm so you have to  set the balance bar extremely high almost overtune   it this is the only way to ensure that these  top-end power players are still challenged bosses   by themselves can't even be balanced with the  introduction of the new spirit summing mechanic   balancing bosses wasn't at any point easy for  souls i'm sure but it had to be more doable   since co-op summons would increase the hp of the  boss this helped to normalize the difficulty with   the goal being to make the boss as difficult solo  as it was when a buddy was helping you out however   this is all flipped with spirit summons because  they don't impact boss health they simply make it   easier especially on multi-enemy bosses where they  can aggro one of the enemies while you wail on the   other so obviously we have a problem here if you  put summons into the game you have to assume most   players will use them but if you balance the game  around the spirits you then make it unbalanced for   players who don't this gets even more blurry when  you tie upgrades to spirits creating even more   guesswork as to how strong their summons will be  at any point i mean just think about it eldon ring   is an open world game where you have an entirely  free world to farm with players who can arrive   at bosses dungeons and enemies and thousands of  different states of power and orders with players   of all skill levels and the ability to summon help  in 10 different states of power in a game that has   completely busted builds and special weapons  like azure comets sword of knight and flame   moonvale rivers of blood and more where do we even  begin this is one of the major downsides of open   world games and where linear titles tend to shine  because it is so much more difficult to figure out   so the only sensible thing to do is balance the  hardest mandatory bosses around an extremely   high level character who has a fully upgraded  weapon with all the spells available to him   and hope bosses aren't too easy so that other  players of lower skill and power can use the   spirit summon mechanic to make it possible for  them to win too with the most significant side   effect being that high level characters who  also use subman simply have their challenge   trivialized either way something isn't going to  work this is why balancing overall seems chaotic   random overtuned for some undertuned for the rest  if you really think about it a great boss fight   requires so many boxes to be checked unique box  mechanics animations attacks and weapon combos   boss mechanics that don't invalidate a  playstyle including magic strength daggers etc   and ones that provide windows for attacking for  all weapon and cast speeds the player should also   be able to beat bosses without getting hit meaning  there shouldn't be a prevalence of trading blows   or taking unavoidable damage and you also need  to make sure every single attack is appropriately   telegraphed and of course design presentations  and boss arenas that are unique this is a daunting   challenge to say the least like all games in the  soul's lineup the usual suspects are still present   however one shots camera issues creeping massive  spell effects that crumple your frame rates   ludicrous health pulls delay attacks instant  procking aoe explosions when you get too close   teleports extreme amounts of range status effect  buildups or having unrealistic amounts of stamina   to the point where it looks like they never ever  stop attacking this isn't anything new to the   franchise of course i'd like to see less of these  things in the dlc but overall the gameplay is   exquisite despite it it's a proper evolution from  dark souls 3. yes the bosses can be frustrating at   times but considering the absurd number of the  bosses and the requirements i just went over to   make them actually good they did a fantastic job  overall even if the balance isn't quite there yet   i personally question the balance of the heylig  tree the most it's a very compelling serene   beautiful and truly original area from software  just loves to play on verticality don't they and   with eldon rings new horse and jump mechanic they  push the limits multiple times of how it expects   you to fight and hunt for items playing on the  notion of vertigo and risk vs reward pretty well   it also carries a thematic element to it the  feeling that you're ascending to become elden   lord with this upward trajectory versus descending  which was prevailing in dark souls 1 however with   enemies spraying bubbles from miles away that  lock onto you like missiles from a fighter jet   and throngs of thrashing bug giants roaming on  lower branches ready to eat you alive if you   drop down the first part of the level is actually  literal torture gameplay-wise it is such a weird   symbiosis as the environment is otherwise very  soothing and warm with bright colors and just   beautiful music in the canopy honestly i could  stop here and admire this vista forever but i mean   did we really need this combination of enemies  when space is so limited thankfully once the town   square has been reached the legacy dungeon proper  is very good with tons of trick shortcuts and   exquisite detail though again with extraordinarily  consistent challenge to the point where dying for   me became more of a routine than perhaps it should  have been and with melania being the hardest   boss in the game by far the climax of halek tree  once again jacks up the toughness by an x factor   the fact that she can be staggered is interesting  and this lets you create your own openings which   is rare for this game however there's no denying  she is overtuned leaving people to cheese use one   shot magic builds moon veils bloody slash  rivers of blood in any manner of otherwise   overpowered combinations to simply get out alive  though truth be told i can't really complain too   much about the hardness factor in this game when  the game gives you so many tools to actually   overcome its challenges mullany herself has plenty  of weaknesses she could be staggered by various   weapons skills and spells radon is incredibly weak  to scarlet rot godric is weak to fire and holy the   fire giant is susceptible to bleed there's all  sorts of consumables buffs overpower weapons   and spells to give you the edge guard counters  and jump attacks with strength builds are also   completely busted you can use bloodhound step for  fast fights you can use sleep pots for gank-style   fights like the god skin duo and more and honestly  the balance issues of bosses can be influenced   by the player anyway if you think it's too easy  don't use the spirits if you think it's too hard   use the spirits level up get a better weapon you  get the picture balance though is something that   can be fixed by one guy eating cheetos at his  desk at from software so ultimately it's not   a permanent issue especially considering from  has been quite active since release with patches i believe eldon ring to be the best 100 hours  you can possibly spend playing a video game it   is a masterpiece it's addictive fun hard as  hell the game world is so original looking   and it sounds incredible the look of the world is  something you see in a dream the places of fantasy   and weirdness and make-believe that you woke up  too soon from closing your eyes hoping you could   re-enter that dream but you know you can't those  special places were brought to life perhaps a few   of them are a little bit more aggravating than  they need to be but they are majestic nonetheless   the new gameplay options refine combats with new  jumping and stealth mechanics guard counters and   more they share wealth of special attacks ashes of  war magic and spells they provide so much variety   to build in general gameplay the options are truly  incredible most importantly though it leaves you   feeling absurdly accomplished like few games can  despite its draining length this truly is the   culmination of from software perhaps their magnum  opus and a game that i personally will never   forget but oddly enough i don't feel compelled to  play the game anymore i was so hyped for new game   plus after finishing it i was on this high but  this weird feeling of doneness struck me like   lightning as i was strolling through limb grave  yet again shortly after starting new game plus   it wasn't that i was bored of it i just felt that  i didn't need to replay it that i had seen what   i needed to see and that's feeling made me feel  sort of weirdly unmotivated to keep going i blazed   through stormville killed godric grabbed the key  to the academy gates did some low level invasions   and then i quit i'm being entirely genuine when  i say eldon ring is perhaps my fourth favorite   game of all time just barely below bloodborne  the truth is i received my review copy of it   alongside everyone else but i didn't want to  rush through the game and barf out a review for   money on day one so i decided to spend my time  with it and i'm very glad that i did because   it really is that incredible but i don't know why  i haven't immediately replayed it i mean i've put   close to 1 000 hours with the dark souls trilogy  i think i can attribute that feeling though to how   i played it i mean i snuffed out everything on my  first playthrough i literally ran up to every nuke   and cranny like a madman i explored everything  i turned away from no challenge as well i used   all my larval tiers i had an arcane build a sith  lord set up with a vike's dragon breath i killed   my foes with a flaming dual wheeled strength build  i used the darkmoon greatsword intelligence faith   spells i was a paladin and then a ninja with  dual wield katanas madness with vikespear i mean   i tried everything the game gives you so many  opportunities to experiment which ultimately   was why i guess i played dark souls 4 times in a  row i had no prior knowledge no skills no nothing   i played one way because i didn't know there was  anything else but here that wasn't the case and   i love that the game allows this to happen it  truly is one of the most generous games ever   it leaves nothing on the table only what you've  missed perhaps though that is the very reason   why i'm closing the elder ring book for now maybe  it's so big that it fills me with a dauntingness   thinking about retracing my steps through this  massive adventure once again isn't something that   i'm perhaps ready for right now but i know deep  down this isn't the last time i'll play eldon ring   of course i'll gladly play the dlc but  further down the road i know in my heart   i'll play the game from scratch once again just  to see how it holds up when all the bravado and   hype have disappeared i wanted to make sure  to get this point across ultimately because   it sets up context to my feelings you see we  often look at games as a number how many hours   do we get out of this game how far will it hold  my attention until the next game comes around   so many of us play with this mentality it's not  the mindset of being a completionist it's about   playing a game literally until you're sick of  it we can treat games like the commodities they   are and run them dry but that's not what i want  to do for a game when i want to write about it   the purpose of this video is to present  how i felt about elder ring the moment   the credits rolled down this is why this  video was written very romantically i guess   i'll be honest it's probably more of a gushing  than it should be the first half of the video was   framed in an almost childlike sense of glee but  i guess there was a reason for it i guess it's   written this way because precisely this is how  i felt when i was playing the game and honestly   when i first beat it i see a first playthrough as  a very special thing even if a game is meant to be   replayed you can't hold on to that special feeling  at some point you will do more harm than good to   your memory of it you might get your money's  worth but consider at what cost and i wanted to   be sure that what i wrote accurately reflected  my state of mind when i was in that moment   not after i spoiled this by running the game  into the ground because i could have harped on   on a lot of the small grievances i had with the  game with a critical hat and made damn sure you   knew what bothered me in microscopic detail even  if it was for a blip in time like are many bosses   and enemies reuse too much do bosses go airborne  for too long and limit your attack opportunities   do they use too many sound assets from prior games  are there some annoying enemies are there some   annoying bosses did i get frustrated from time  to time on this fight on that fight sure but the   truth is these feelings didn't bother me but for  more than a split second at the end of the road   the game is otherwise so pristinely polished fun  and exquisite and that kind of experience quickly   wipes away any mild nuisance frankly eldon ring  is an all-time great game where its few flaws   are almost meaningless there's so many moments  i'll never forget about this game and i want to   share those with you before i end speaking maybe  some of you feel the same way i do i truly adore   millicent's questline i despair the finality of it  i wanted to save her her last words are a tragedy   she's one of my favorite npcs ronnie's multi-hour  adventure i mean what can you say about it it's so   deep and complicated it's so sad too you learn so  much about the lore behind elden ring it makes you   appreciate the finer details of the story she's  also irresistibly cute that moment godric tears   off the dragon head reichard with the blasphemous  blade oh it is truly spine twisting some of the   moments in this game terrific bosses like godfrey  mog and ranala i just love the sound when her egg   shatters to pieces this has to be one of the  most pleasing boss arenas from has ever made it's   simplicity and elegance is so attractive exploring  the capital discovering a dragon hovering above   the ground wound up in a tiny little ball the  fight is also extremely impressive plummeting   down the elevator in misswood and seeing the false  stars of the sofia river was it not so unexpected   and gorgeous to you too and fighting ratagon  as the title music thunders across the arena   elden ring is a masterpiece tarnished only on  the tiniest level and i'm very excited to see   what from software comes up with next it's  going to have some very large shoes to fill you

Channel: Downward Thrust

Views: 353,348

Keywords: elden ring, elden ring review, elden ring vs dark souls, elden ring masterpiece, elden ring is a masterpiece, elden ring best game ever, elden, ring, downward thrust, elden ring critique, from software, dark souls games, dark souls elden ring, from software games, dark souls games ranked, elden ring video game, elden ring is amazing, elden ring retrospective, elden ring video, elden ring guide, elden ring game of the year, game of the year, dark souls, elden ring lore

Id: 0Udsa10P1mE

Length: 36min 47sec (2207 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 14 2022