When Elden Ring dropped, it was showered with rave reviews. They are, for the most part, deserving, but I take issue with the 10s. I might be too hard with my rating, but to get a 10, a game has to be pristine. There have to be no flaws, which is not the case with Elden Ring. Even putting aside the big issues with the PC port (because they’ve been fixed for the most part, at least on my high-end machine), this is not a perfect game. Is it a very good game? Hell to the yes! But not perfect. I’ll tell you why.
First of all, there are things I hate about From games that I’ve noted in the past. I’ll quickly rattle them off here. Janky platforming. If you are not a platforming game, just don’t do it. You’re not going to nail it; I guarantee it. I will fully admit that it’s partly me. I have spatial issues that make it difficult for me to gauge things like where it’s safe to jump and where it isn’t. But that’s not completely my fault. It’s also the games. As I’ve said in the past, platforming is precision gaming. There’s an art to it. that’s why platforming games can be so elegant, delicate, and beautiful. The platforming in From games are none of those–it’s heavy-handed, clumsy, and frustrating as fuck.
It’s worse in this game because there’s the addition of Torrent, your adorable spirit steed. I love Torrent. He is cute with his demon horns and makes it easy to traverse across the vast lands. He’s my buddy and he makes the open world manageable. In other words, I am not dissing Torrent. At all. But in terms of combat and jumping, he is the worst.
Wait. Let me rephrase that. In terms of jumping, it’s frustrating because he does not have precision control. He can’t stop on a dime (which, duh. He’s a horse) so the finicky little platforms you have to land on make it a real hit or miss whether you will stop in time or plunge to your doom.
As for the combat, it’s not good. At all. Most of the time, it’s me whooshing by someone and missing them with my weapon. If we’re both on horseback, then it’s comical as we keep circling each other and missing. I nearly always resort to using my magicks while I’m riding Torrent because sword to sword is just rubbish.
While we’re on the topic of combat, let me unload all my frustrations with it. I’ve talked about how I hate copy-and-paste bosses. From has always thrown in clone bosses, which is not my favorite, by any means. Usually, though, it’s kept to a minimum so I can either ignore it or take care of it with haste.
Side Note: I have a new best incantation that I am IN LOVE with. It’s called the Frozen Lightning Spear and is dropped by a mid-game boss. I’ve had it for a while, but it takes 34 Faith to use, which I didn’t have until recently. it’s so fucking dope, yo! I’ve been using the regular Lightning Spear as a staple incantation. This one is even better because as it explodes, it radiates ice damage. Chill damage. Frozen damage. Whatever it’s called. Frost damage. That’s what it’s called.
It’s funny. In the video of the Frozen Lightning Spear that I’ve included, they’re using it in the same area I use to try out new weapons, magicks, and spirit summons. It’s early in the game and it’s a soldier camp, so there are plenty of enemies to mow down. I have killed them so many times, I almost feel sorry for them. There is one spear dude who was so tough at the beginning of the game. Now, I can decimate him with one Frozen Lightning Spear. In re-watching the video, it’s not the same place that I use. Mine is by the Gatefront waypoint.
Back to combat. One way From tries to make the combat more difficult is by simply throwing mobs at you. In the past, they were more sparing with it–and you could lure one enemy away from the pack. For the most part. In this game, that’s not always as possible. The mobs are almost overwhelming and many times, I simply ride by them.
I realize that by adding a horse to the combat, they had to shake things up and make it more difficult in some ways. I mean, I have Torrent and a spirit summon on my side. They have to even the odds somehow. But just increasing the numbers is not an exciting way to make the combat more difficult. It really has come down to if I can gallop away, I will.
This was actually one of my worries about the open world aspect of the game. In the old From games, if you stumbled upon a difficult situation, you had to bash your head against that wall until something gave–usually your head. Now, you can go elsewhere and forget about your current situation for a while. Which, fine. I’ve done it more than once, but then I sometimes forget to go back. Right now, I have about four or five areas I need to finish. Plus, there are NPC side quests that I have to clean up so I’ve been doing that in the past few days.
I will say I’m glad that you can miss steps of the side quests and still do them later. That’s good to know. There was one NPC I didn’t find at all in the early or mid-game, then went back to get him a few days ago. He was in the first place he was supposed to be and I quickly moved through his quest to get him to his current location. I did the same with another NPC with seemingly no ill side effects.
That’s something I love about the game–the NPC quests. This one in particular is so rich with the NPC lore. In the past, most of the NPCs just stayed in one place and didn’t do much of anything. It was different in Demon’s Souls, but still not to this extent. I will admit I’ve looked up all the questlines, though. No way I’m going to run into them organically. In fact, I tip my hat to the people who did figure out all the steps to the multiple NPC questlines.
Also, Iron Pineapple tweeted about a hidden wall in the game that has to be hit several times to dispel. I stumbled across it and saw two messages that a hidden wall was ahead. I hit it twice and nothing. I was going to shrug and move on when I recognized it from the video. I watched the video again, and it was, indeed, the same place. So I hunkered down and started attacking. I had to do more than 50 hits, but it finally dissipated. How wild is that?!
I’m in the portion of the game where things are hard again. I don’t like being one-shot by enemies–or even two-shot. Again, it’s partly my fault because I have 25 Vigor so I’m very fragile. but I need the Intelligence, Faith, and Mind in order to do enough damage with my spells and incantations. It’s not a fun way to play, though, because I’m not good enough to avoid getting hit.
I’ll be honest. One of the reasons I went back to clean some stuff up is because I’m tired of having my ass handed to me on a regular basis. I needed to feel good about myself and the game, which I currently do. Yes, I still love the game despite my grumblings. It’s incredible and inching up on being my favorite From game of all time.