@add286 see, this is exactly it. You didn’t care to actually process what I wrote, and instead went for a strawman argument against me saying something not true at all:
That I disrespected you or didn’t understand your comment and that I was arrogant about it, while none of these things are true at all.
Maybe you should have another go at reading my comment, because there is nothing disrespectful about it.
I went out of my way to clarify that your preferences and opinion have nothing condemnable about them; but that’s just what they are: opinions.
The fact that you “didn’t mention difficulty” is a moot and frankly dim argument.
Your opening statement is:
“You nailed my experience with it too” referring to OP’s article.
Half of said article is registered as a complaint about fights/combos being too long, cheap, undodgeable, unfair etc etc.
I quote: “Most of my memories of fights from the game are ones of annoyance. Enemies had attacks that felt undodgeable or unblockable. Others had combos that ran for far too long. Still more were so aggressive, that healing became nigh impossible. Some were a combination of all the above. It became a distraction, something at the forefront of my mind. It made it harder to enjoy the artistry and craftsmanship that went into all of these encounters.“
By your own definition, since he “nailed it” you must be in agreement with this or you are the one that presented his view poorly.
Also, you implied the soulsborne community agrees combos are too long. I’m part of the soulsborne community and have been for years and I don’t know anyone that thinks that. I have read a couple comments about i, but it’s hardly a mainstream idea. By far and wide the soulsborne community loved the game and majority of the more experienced players found it actually TOO EASY.
Finally, I never said I can determine who should play a game, do as you absolutely please!
Nonetheless, it sounds logical to me that if you are the type of player that “ when I think back on boss fights in Elden Ring, the first emotion that rises up in me is irritation” or “ The enemies I ended up not liking grew to an immense number: Crucible Knights, Ulcerated Tree Spirits, Black Knife Assassins, the list goes on and on. It would even come to include many regular enemy types, Perfumers and the like. By game’s end, there were more enemies I disliked encountering than ones I enjoyed. And this came to a head when finally, at Crumbling Farum Azula, I nearly uninstalled the game. I had had enough. Why was I even still playing, what was I trying to prove to myself?” then you are probably not the player this game was designed for.
Through the years I’ve seen oceans of people rage-quitting souls games and then having a rant on Reddit over how unfair, cheap, and ***** the games are but the reality of said opinions is but one:
These players are NOT the target audience for the game and quite evidently do not enjoy the challenge; it does not make the game bad, because the same design choice is what makes other people think it’s great.
I see one person here invalidating others and that is you. I never called you arrogant or suggested you didn’t finish other souls games, I frankly don’t much care. I just said that if you agree with OP view perhaps there is a chance these ain’t the games for you. It’s a fairly neutral and respectful thing to say, if you can’t take it maybe don’t engage in commenting.
@Nem you are right, but it isn’t clunky either. It’s a fairly accurate adjective and I don’t think ER’s combat fits it. DS1 is clunky, uncharted are clunky, last of us is clunky….ER flows very well imho.
Funnily enough, I was just wondering what combat system is on par with souls and the only thing I came up with are GOW and DMC.
Quite opposite to you though, I find dmc a beautiful exercise in style over substance. There is no challenge whatsoever in playing through DMC even at higher difficulties and the only real difficulty is pushing yourself to SSS every combo you attempt. Once you know the formula to get there, it’s pretty much a done deal. There’s nothing that is going to pose a threat anymore.
Surely it’s faster, but that’s because it’s a hack and slash system (oranges to apples) and being responsive is a different thing; I’d argue that actually ER is considerably more responsive that DMC. The chances of a combo not playing out as designed because of unregistered commands in DMC is quite high, in ER you’d be hardstrapped to find many circumstances when you do something and the outcome isn’t as predicted.
@add286 every community has radicals that don’t accept critiques and get very defensive about it. However I must point out that what you single out as issues are not issues, it’s by design and deliberate. What you described is simply the souls formula and reason why many of us play it. Don’t get me wrong, you are not “wrong” for not liking it, that is strictly personal, however both your post and OP’s article read quite simply like people that still suck at souls games and hence get too frustrated to enjoy the playthrough.
I don’t say it as a “git gud” kind of argument. You either are the kind of player that enjoys tough challenges, or you’re not. If you are not then Fromsoft’s games are simply a bad choice for your taste.
Having played all their titles, I don’t think ER is cheap in the slightest, and it’s not even close to being the hardest out of the series.
The cheapest is surely bloodborne’s DLC, and the hardest learning curve is probably Sekiro (although it becomes very easy once you understand the system).
Imho ER has issues with the amount of material which was unnecessary and some bugs due to the size. Aside from that, it’s a gem of a game. Don’t understand how one can argue the opposite.
I hated RDR2, so boring and repetitive I had to drag myself through it, and yet one can’t say that it’s a bad game.
Gamers need to understand the difference between “bad” and “not for me”
@Nem if combat in soulslike games is “not good” according to you; could you kindly make an example of a good system? Souls games are highly regarded specifically for their combat system and imho second only to the Sekiro system because of its higher speed and sophistication.
@AdamNovice not very clear how it “gets a pass”. It’s an outstanding game regardless of whether one likes it or not. There is very little to criticize about it aside from personal preference over some aspects, some repetitive content which is quite frankly minor when compared with every single other game of this size out there, and some bugs.
Comments 5
Re: Soapbox: I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It
@add286 see, this is exactly it. You didn’t care to actually process what I wrote, and instead went for a strawman argument against me saying something not true at all:
That I disrespected you or didn’t understand your comment and that I was arrogant about it, while none of these things are true at all.
Maybe you should have another go at reading my comment, because there is nothing disrespectful about it.
I went out of my way to clarify that your preferences and opinion have nothing condemnable about them; but that’s just what they are: opinions.
The fact that you “didn’t mention difficulty” is a moot and frankly dim argument.
Your opening statement is:
“You nailed my experience with it too” referring to OP’s article.
Half of said article is registered as a complaint about fights/combos being too long, cheap, undodgeable, unfair etc etc.
I quote: “Most of my memories of fights from the game are ones of annoyance. Enemies had attacks that felt undodgeable or unblockable. Others had combos that ran for far too long. Still more were so aggressive, that healing became nigh impossible. Some were a combination of all the above. It became a distraction, something at the forefront of my mind. It made it harder to enjoy the artistry and craftsmanship that went into all of these encounters.“
By your own definition, since he “nailed it” you must be in agreement with this or you are the one that presented his view poorly.
Also, you implied the soulsborne community agrees combos are too long. I’m part of the soulsborne community and have been for years and I don’t know anyone that thinks that. I have read a couple comments about i, but it’s hardly a mainstream idea. By far and wide the soulsborne community loved the game and majority of the more experienced players found it actually TOO EASY.
Finally, I never said I can determine who should play a game, do as you absolutely please!
Nonetheless, it sounds logical to me that if you are the type of player that “ when I think back on boss fights in Elden Ring, the first emotion that rises up in me is irritation” or “ The enemies I ended up not liking grew to an immense number: Crucible Knights, Ulcerated Tree Spirits, Black Knife Assassins, the list goes on and on. It would even come to include many regular enemy types, Perfumers and the like. By game’s end, there were more enemies I disliked encountering than ones I enjoyed. And this came to a head when finally, at Crumbling Farum Azula, I nearly uninstalled the game. I had had enough. Why was I even still playing, what was I trying to prove to myself?” then you are probably not the player this game was designed for.
Through the years I’ve seen oceans of people rage-quitting souls games and then having a rant on Reddit over how unfair, cheap, and ***** the games are but the reality of said opinions is but one:
These players are NOT the target audience for the game and quite evidently do not enjoy the challenge; it does not make the game bad, because the same design choice is what makes other people think it’s great.
I see one person here invalidating others and that is you. I never called you arrogant or suggested you didn’t finish other souls games, I frankly don’t much care. I just said that if you agree with OP view perhaps there is a chance these ain’t the games for you. It’s a fairly neutral and respectful thing to say, if you can’t take it maybe don’t engage in commenting.
Regards
Re: Soapbox: I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It
@Nem you are right, but it isn’t clunky either. It’s a fairly accurate adjective and I don’t think ER’s combat fits it. DS1 is clunky, uncharted are clunky, last of us is clunky….ER flows very well imho.
Funnily enough, I was just wondering what combat system is on par with souls and the only thing I came up with are GOW and DMC.
Quite opposite to you though, I find dmc a beautiful exercise in style over substance. There is no challenge whatsoever in playing through DMC even at higher difficulties and the only real difficulty is pushing yourself to SSS every combo you attempt. Once you know the formula to get there, it’s pretty much a done deal. There’s nothing that is going to pose a threat anymore.
Surely it’s faster, but that’s because it’s a hack and slash system (oranges to apples) and being responsive is a different thing; I’d argue that actually ER is considerably more responsive that DMC. The chances of a combo not playing out as designed because of unregistered commands in DMC is quite high, in ER you’d be hardstrapped to find many circumstances when you do something and the outcome isn’t as predicted.
But hey, to each their own.
Re: Soapbox: I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It
@add286 every community has radicals that don’t accept critiques and get very defensive about it.
However I must point out that what you single out as issues are not issues, it’s by design and deliberate.
What you described is simply the souls formula and reason why many of us play it.
Don’t get me wrong, you are not “wrong” for not liking it, that is strictly personal, however both your post and OP’s article read quite simply like people that still suck at souls games and hence get too frustrated to enjoy the playthrough.
I don’t say it as a “git gud” kind of argument. You either are the kind of player that enjoys tough challenges, or you’re not. If you are not then Fromsoft’s games are simply a bad choice for your taste.
Having played all their titles, I don’t think ER is cheap in the slightest, and it’s not even close to being the hardest out of the series.
The cheapest is surely bloodborne’s DLC, and the hardest learning curve is probably Sekiro (although it becomes very easy once you understand the system).
Imho ER has issues with the amount of material which was unnecessary and some bugs due to the size. Aside from that, it’s a gem of a game. Don’t understand how one can argue the opposite.
I hated RDR2, so boring and repetitive I had to drag myself through it, and yet one can’t say that it’s a bad game.
Gamers need to understand the difference between “bad” and “not for me”
Re: Soapbox: I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It
@Nem if combat in soulslike games is “not good” according to you; could you kindly make an example of a good system? Souls games are highly regarded specifically for their combat system and imho second only to the Sekiro system because of its higher speed and sophistication.
But please share
Re: Soapbox: I Tried So Hard to Like Elden Ring, But I Just Couldn’t Do It
@AdamNovice not very clear how it “gets a pass”.
It’s an outstanding game regardless of whether one likes it or not. There is very little to criticize about it aside from personal preference over some aspects, some repetitive content which is quite frankly minor when compared with every single other game of this size out there, and some bugs.