Elden Ring/Dark Souls/Bloodborne

Hi Sloppy

Very difficult for me to say whether you’d like it but, for me, Bloodborne is in my top five games of all time and, weirdly, I didn’t take to Elden Ring immediately.

It is a proper open world game. It actually reminds me a lot of Breath of the Wild, if you’re a fan of that? Similar style of world (obviously a lot better graphically), but much more complicated / harder combat, and lot more mature, and a lot more one-off fantastical events (I.e., a dragon that is literally 20-30 times the size of your character, swooping down onto the battlefield unannounced, and suddenly, you’re in a boss fight).

I’m still only a few hours in, so far too early for me to form a proper opinion, but I guess I can see the rationale behind the rave reviews.

The downside for me is that it is NOT a Dark Souls / Bloodborne game. They are among my favourite and I love almost every aspect of them. A lot of that has had to be sacrificed, here, for the huge open world and exploration dynamic. That might be perfect for you.

It’s still a very hard game at times (the first proper boss is a very rude awakening), but you can just run off to another part of the map, explore over there, grind, level up, etc.

Have a little read around the game before you jump in - check out VaatiVidya on YouTube - there’s loads of content out there. It’s one of those games that you can spend hours reading about / exploring things like item crafting, weapon upgrades, status / elemental affects.

Don’t expect RDR2 in terms of graphics and level of detail. That was a once in a generation masterpiece and I’m still astounded at what Rockstar managed to do there.

It is, however, a lot faster paced and less methodical, whilst still being a game that you could drop a hundred hours into, no problem

Bloodborne was amazing. I suspect Elden is going to be top class too. All reviews have it as a masterpiece so far.

what platform will you be playing on?

the PC port isnt the best. A lot of performance issues and pad support isnt suposed to be that great, rebind control problems.

Decent on Xbox and rather poor on PC

Thank you for the comments guys. Its appreciated. Sounds like I really need to give Bloodborne another go. Read a few reviews over the weekend and sounds like it's in most people's top five/ten games. Probably need to give it more than half an hour and be prepared to die lots but to learn from it.

I will be on PS4 as can't really justify a PS5 when I don't spend much time on the PS4. Maybe once I put 60 hours into Bloodborne the wife might let me have a PS5

comment by Sloppy implementer of heroic ideas (U20845)
posted 4 hours, 22 minutes ago
Thank you for the comments guys. Its appreciated. Sounds like I really need to give Bloodborne another go. Read a few reviews over the weekend and sounds like it's in most people's top five/ten games. Probably need to give it more than half an hour and be prepared to die lots but to learn from it.

I will be on PS4 as can't really justify a PS5 when I don't spend much time on the PS4. Maybe once I put 60 hours into Bloodborne the wife might let me have a PS5
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console versoins seem to be fine, think the older gens are having a few framerate issues, but on the whole seems fine. PC version is a bit of a mess just now

Probably need to give it more than half an hour and be prepared to die lots but to learn from it.


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It’s an odd game as the first level is really hard and frustrating but it gets a massive amount better after that. I hated the first level. Worth noting you can basically run past everything to the bosses once you know the way, which makes it less annoying.

This is my first attempt at one of these games (played Bloodborne for about 5 minutes I think)

Quite interesting. So far not as hard as I expected, mainly just no bloody clue where I am meant to go.

Now I am used to the system of levelling up, re-spawning and how that all works, I quite like it.

I actually do think it's a game you can drop in and out of, just because of how it works.

Chris, don’t worry about having no idea where to go - I think we all felt like that at some stage.

Just have a wander about; easy enough to get around, with the fast travel system

I still don’t have any idea where I’m going in it

Had always said that I’d buy Elden Ring on the PS5 but doesn’t look like I’m getting one anytime soon so I caved and bought it from the PS store over the weekend. The download includes both PS4 and 5 versions so when I do get a PS5 I’ll have the better version.

Thoughts so far. Great graphics. Not that challenging so far but I am doing a Faith build. I have thought about 8 bosses so far, all of which are the optional ones in the dungeons, ruins or caves.
I’ve attempted the first main boss and came close a few times but I am definitely under levelled. I’ve obtained enough runes and I’m around 25-26 now so will give him another shot.
Like having the ability to easily go from one place to another.
The beginning of the game is very much like DS1 where you have the option to go wonder anywhere but you soon find out if you should be in a certain area at a certain time. Reminds me of my first DS1 play when I head straight into Anor Londor at the start

Agree with what Chris says as well. I think this will be one of those games you drop in and out of. So far so good.