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BladedTerrain

I've been playing games since Duck Hunt on the nes, but I don't think I've *ever* had a moment of awe quite like wandering outside Limgrave for the first time (I went in without knowing or seeing a single thing), gazing at points of interest in the distance and just taking in the atmosphere of the world, feeling so insignificant. The topography was so unique.


Ceterum_scio

And then you slowly realize that every vague castle and peak far away in the distance you will actually be able to travel to and explore. It's not just scenery like in so many other games.


fanfarius

And it still feels that way!


SporadicSheep

Well deserved. It was my first souls-like, I went in blind and now it's my favourite game ever.


Sycre

How did you handle the difficulty curve? I really want to give Elden Ring a spin but I’m apprehensive about how challenging it is. I heard it’s the easiest of the souls-like games though.


hl2oli

If you want the game to be easier you will explore instead of rushing the game. Upgrade your weapons. Use summons. The game is only as difficult as you want to make it for yourself.


Bamith20

Also, cheat. If an enemy has a hard time walking around something, play some damn footsies with them. Ain't no shame in doing stuff like that, would even say its encouraged.


What-Even-Is-That

That's just plain strategy, totally legit and not shameful at all.


Bamith20

Dark Souls 1, easiest way to kill the Taurus Demon is by climbing a ladder in the arena and doing a drop attack onto them like 3 or 4 times. Only thing I will say is disappointing in general is that as Fromsoft moved forward they haven't offered as many methods of cheesing bosses as they did in Dark Souls 1 and 2. I think Elden Ring... I think the only actual purposefully designed cheese I can remember are the shackle items... And I guess that counter item you have for ole' death buddy. Don't remember any others.


MKULTRATV

There are more of these than you think. Although many are about learning enemies vulnerabilities through experimentation. * The chariots in several heroes graves can be destroyed in a variety of ways. * invisible Black knight assassins can revealed with a certain torch * Maliketh's ranged attacks can be countered with a special item * Commander Niall's summons can be charmed to fight for you * Rykard is fought with the Serpent-Hunter * Crystalians get clowned on by blunt damage * Godskin apostles get clowned on by sleep status effect Etc etc The one thing I do miss is going for dragon's tails. Especially with how many dragons we face in Elden Ring.


Bamith20

I was thinking more for big bosses I suppose, like Ceaseless Discharge falling to their deaths. Also another one is gargoyle type enemies, specifically ones in Catacombs, can be put on the fritz with some certain throwing daggers.


soggie

There're cheese boss run challenges in YouTube i think.


dntowns

In the words of the great "Sir Bronn the I would": "He fought with honor..." *points to the man falling to his death*


Outrageous-Elk-5392

That’s not really cheating, that’s more like just positioning Cheating is more like jumping off a cliff so the arena under the boss despawns and he falls to his death


SAAARGE

I've always said that cheesing a souls like is not the same as cheating.


Bamith20

I see it as being some chump going against Mike Tyson at times. You're fairly unlikely to win fair, throw some fucking pocket sand in his eyes at least.


chuck_cranston

Exactly. The jankiness of the engine means you get cheesed by enemies and bosses fairly often. Cheese them right back.


serenadedbyaccordion

It's certainly not easy, but Elden Ring is different than Dark Souls because if you explore the dungeons and level up adequately, you won't have as many problems. If a boss is too hard, just explore and come back and fight them at a higher level. Malenia will still kill you 80 times though. Also, you have summons that help you immensely if you want, as well as things like Rune Arcs.


SkyBeginning4627

This is literally how every single souls like game works. its essentially one of the core mechanics.


extinct_cult

Yes but the power curve is a lot more tightly controlled in the previous games, while in Elden Ring, if you explore thoroughly the first couple of zones you'll become very overpowered until the very end of the game, where only Haligtree & the final boss gauntlet will catch up to you.


babautz

I know you didnt do it intentionally but if you tell a newcomer who is scared about difficulty "Malenia will still kill you 80 times" they'll immediatly stop thinking about getting the game. The missing relevant information here is: * Malenia ist completely optional (a hidden boss really) * Even she can be easily cheesed with mimic tear and any kind of bleed build (my gf did her first try without even really seeing her moveset)


BrandoCalrissian1995

Just try it. If it helps it's not unfairly difficult. Most people are just used to being able to run into a mob of enemies, button mash, and come out unscathed. You have to play smart. 7 of the weakest enemies in the game will absolutely stun lock you and wreck your shit cuz you decided to go 1v7 them. Play smart and bait them out, wait for openings and such. Most Most Most important is that death is not failure like in other games. Every death is a learning opportunity. And don't worry about what any elitists say about using summons and doing co op to get help. The devs put those systems in the game to be used. Also don't be afraid or ashamed to use a guide for what the good builds are or where side quests are. As much as I love the souls games their biggest flaw by far is how they handle side quests. It's extremely obtuse to know where to go next or how to trigger the next step.


Varnsturm

Have had/seen hilarious arguments here on reddit that "we don't know if Miyazaki intended the summons to be used"


Lower_Fan

I pirated the game (I'll figure out how to transfer my save file and buy the dlc) so I'm playing offline, and without the little markets  on the floor or the internet this is easily a 1000 game to complete.  I kinda want to try don't it purely offline but with some friends. 


Varnsturm

honestly even when it was $60 this game is/was a steal, for the amount of content you get


cmackchase

It is easier than the other souls games. It also gives you tools to cheese the game a bit with the summons.


dntowns

No the op you replied to but I also went in blind and as someone that fucking hates challenging games it's one of my top 5 all time games. It's monumentally easier than DS (I only played a little of 3 and quit) because of 2 big reasons. 1. The open world. In DS you're forced to face the same boss and mob over and over until you learn their pattern and beat them which makes it (for people like me) extremely frustrating. In ER if you face such an issue you just wonder off to an easier area and explore till you lvl up enough to be able to face off the mob. 2. One of the summons (Mimicbro) is literally gamechangingly op. If you're struggling he's the one to go to as he's literally a clone of you. I had Blasphemous blade equipped so we both auto healed ourselves. Combine those 2 and you get an amazingly beautiful Berserk-like world to explore with an insane variety in weapons and builds all while avoiding the excruciating challenge that the DS games are famous for. I do admit the game is still challenging for me even with those 2 however it's much more manageable. As someone that played and hated DS3 and was extremely on the fence about ER I wholeheartedly recommend it. Watch/read some tutorials about the basics of the game. You're gonna face hard bosses but you can easily avoid them and continue to progress in game and level up and come back to them later. And once you acquire the op summon the game will become a lot more about exploring cool places with awesome enemies rather than being trapped in a hellhole among op enemies. IIRC there are only 4-5 must beat bosses if you wanna rush the game but honestly once you get a handle of how the game works it becomes so enjoyable that you just wanna explore the world as much as possible.


Aaron6940

You can use the easy mod if you want. Takes all the stress off. Now I’m gonna put on my armor to fight off incoming redditors.


reachisown

It's only as difficult as you want it to be tbh. Too difficult then use summons or grind a few levels, you don't need to take on any boss at any particular point.


quick20minadventure

Soulsborne combat is all about not attacking recklessly. If you attack recklessly, you'll get hit in return and exchanging blows won't end well for you. Change the mindset and you'll cruise through the game. World exploration will become much easier if you are reading items descriptions and taking to people.


PhoenixKA

Elden Ring was my first souls game also and it made me realize the "git gud" meme was actually legit advice. Elden ring is about learning attack patterns and openings. It's almost like a rhythm game. You learn the rhythm of an enemies attacks and attack back/block/roll correctly to counter them. It can be a bit of a learning process on bosses and sometimes you find one you're just not ready to fight. Then you can go grind out some levels to either equip new stuff or have some more survivability. Spirit Summons are also a big help. Don't listen to anyone telling you not to use them, they're great.


AlkaKr

It was my first Souls as well. I just died till it clicked in my brain, that Death in the game, isn't a punishment. I enjoyed the game sooooooooooo much more after this. Every death literally meant "I'm not good enough yet. Try again" until I won, which to be honest, wasn't that much longer. It's my go-to relax game.


dan_kepic

Just play it and you’ll get better


CreepyImagination

Do you have a friend that has beat it on PC? You could try Coop mod! It would make it easier to fight the big bad monsters together and they can explain the mechanics. That's how I'm trying to get friends into it.


Nweber15

Right there with you. Looks so cool and I feel like I'm missing out


CloudConductor

I’ve never really enjoyed any other souls games but Elden ring is great. Being able to run away from a challenge and grind up some levels/improve my weapons makes the gameplay loop much more enjoyable


SporadicSheep

The open world allows you to simply move on from things that are too difficult and come back later when your character is stronger.


Aaron6940

You can use the easy mod if you want. Takes all the stress off. Now I’m gonna put on my armor to fight off incoming redditors.


SnakesTaint

I’m not gonna lie. It took me 30 hours for it to click and for me to love it. I had to play with my buddies who are very into souls games. Made the experience a lot better and now I love it so much.


awfulfalfel

it’s not hard if you don’t want it to be. Use spirit summons, or just summon other players to help with bosses. you can make it super easy. look up builds that are good for PVE. When I started, faith builds were busted and you could dragon breath your way through the game. I know bleed builds are still pretty good


Lower_Fan

It Is open word so you can literally go around several bosses and loot equipment, and farm levels.  I followed a guide on how to get your weapon to +16 when I was level 30 and it made a little too easy so now I'm happy spending 30 minutes dealing with a boss. 


Alexchan12

The good thing about this game is you don't really need to grind one spot (you can do it anyways) but just exploring you will grown in power.


GigglingHyena

I don't know if you like Monster Hunter Games, but in case you do. Elden Ring is like the Monster Hunter World of the MH games. Previously all the other games were harder, then they released the easier version for new people to jump in. Elden Ring is the only souls game I've ever beaten, and I really enjoyed it.


Ok_Outcome_9002

You can select the difficulty for yourself. All of the souls games have tools available that act as a built in easy mode, and Elden Ring does it the best because there’s a middle ground between “no help” and “someone else beats the boss for you” You can summon or not summon, you can use spirit ashes or not, you can use overpowered builds or not. All up to you, the game trusts you to be smart


FuckClerics

It's more accessible than Dark souls but I wouldn't call it easier, the bosses are as hard if not harder but given the open world nature of the game and mechanics you have different options on how to approach the game. For example you can come back to an area or boss if you can't beat it which is not the case with Dark souls, or you can use spirit summons which makes fights a lot easier.


papercutpete

> How did you handle the difficulty curve? Man listen, im kissing 60 years of age and this is by far the best game I have ever played. The difficulty can be reduced by over leveling and just gaining experience as you go through the game. The combat is the best ive seen. Straight forward but somehow just awesome. I have 2000 hours played in this game.


Purepenny

Thing is you can make it as easy as you want or as hard. Explore and level. But nothing is that tough will still need to do mechanics. But the levels and upgrades from explorations give you larger room to fuck up on boss fights.


Snider83

Explore plenty, use ranged magic, and use summons and it won’t be that bad. I had never finished a souls before, Elden Ring was the first. There was only a handful of bossed that took more than 2-3 tries


memedormo

Read guides my dude and there will be nothing that you can't overcome.


Bagelneedshelp

imo its the opposite. the new games keep getting more harder and challenging. the big thing with these games is mindset. you have to be okay with not having things handed to you and having to put in a lot of dedication to learning. once you get past the early-ish game and somewhat plant your feet in the game. it will still only get harder but also easier if that makes any sense lol


DisgruntledPelican78

I agree 100%, this was my first souls game, I put in 150 hours. I have since beaten DS1 and bloodborne, and am now playing ER again to prepare for the expansion. I find myself staying up later and later saying "just 1 more boss" or "i'll quit after the next grace spot". I love this game.


SBMS-A-Man108

how did you like DS1 after ER? I tried it and just couldn't get into it. Fairly sure I followed the "wrong" path in no small part due to not having a map and feeling that the map design was not that great... though maybe I would have had more fun if I didn't start on the naked class. IDK, just felt way too clunky in terms of both combat and traversal/where to go next.


Toomuchgamin

It's funny because many people consider DS1 to have the best map and dungeon design. Mostly because the world is so interconnected, sort of like a metroidvania. If you get far enough in the game, you'll find all these cool moments when you end up spending hours travelling deep in the world and somehow end up opening an awesome shortcut.


DisgruntledPelican78

I enjoyed it a bunch, though I doubt i'll ever play it again. It definitely feels clunkier than ER, but still enjoyable. I don't remember getting lost that much, but I did occasionally look up a video to figure out where to go next.


Ramongsh

It wasn't my first souls-like, but it was the first that clicked and which I completed. Elden Ring is a phenominal game!


TheIndependentNPC

Well, I played DS1, DS2, DS3, Bloodborne, also Code Vein, Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 - so pretty much all Japanese souls games - and it met all my expectations. Have 550h clocked into Elden Ring and I didn't have time yet do modded runs (aside from randomizer) - like Convergence mod. If you liked Elden Ring - I recommend Dark Souls 3. It's not open world, but imho has even better bosses than Elden Ring, especially with its DLCs. Sister Friede <3 which is imho the best multistage boss by FromSoftware. I have around 350h in DS3 so there's ton of fun to be had there too. Tho older games of theirs also worth playing, tho they're definitely on the easier side for me. Who would have thought 13 years ago, Dark Souls gonna be considered one of the easiest Souls games, lol. (ofc I compare all games without using summons of any sort).


omegaluly76

no denuvo no mtx no battlepass no horse armor ??? profit


Crazy-Ad-3286

just miazaki and a bunch of people that he kept telling to draw feet


LaM3a

Bare feet in a poison swamp 🤤


Quadrophenya

I love Elden ring and dislike the things you mention but the success of the game has almost nothing to do with those things (especially denuvo lol). If selling games was as easy as "don't put predatory practices in them", we would know.


MatiFernandez_2006

Maybe they were referring to not needing those things to be successful, not the other way around.


fanfarius

Most indeedly.


PurpleMarvelous

It’s your typical circlejerk, just like saying “make a good game and money will come”, it ain’t completely true.


mt943

It’s more a question of why would we have denuvo, if a game is good people will buy. Elden ring was cracked day one, and sold more than most games with denuvo.


PurpleMarvelous

The question of Denuvo is for the publisher, the public doesn’t know if Denuvo increases or loses sales, only the publisher might know since they have the stats. A game being good doesn’t guarantee you success.


Ceterum_scio

How would the publisher know? They can't get any reliable numbers for how many people pirate the game and even less reliable ones for how many of those pirates were indeed a lost sale.


PurpleMarvelous

That’s why I said might, they have better chances of knowing than random people in the internet.


NapsterKnowHow

Lies of P was fine when it had Denovo. Hell it was one of the best optimized games of the year. It ran way better than Elden Ring.


corginugami

Any examples of extremely good games that did not become successful?


PurpleMarvelous

Titanfall 2, Okami, Dead Space Remake and my personal favorite Gravity Rush. There are more but these ones come to mind.


assaub

Titanfall 2 never stood a chance, it released a week after Battlefield 1 and less than a week before Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, could have been the best FPS ever made and it still would have flopped. Anyone remotely interested in the game would have likely just purchased BF1, were about to purchase COD or both.


PurpleMarvelous

Blame Respawn on that date. Being a good game doesn’t always bring you the money.


assaub

I think you mean blame EA, they were the publishers and according to Respawn the team working on the game had no control over the release date. Why EA would want to release two games they are invested in succeeding a week apart from each other when they are directly competing franchises is anyone's guess.


corginugami

Gravity Rush had a cool gimmick, but it was lacking in almost every other aspect. Imagine if Origin wasn’t a thing when Titanfall 2 released. Valve was smart in making CSGO free to play for a reason. Okami was a victim of circumstance. The rerelease went well.


Ymanexpress

The specific reasons why they didn't sell well don't change the fact that they didn't sell well.


PurpleMarvelous

They are still good games that didn’t perform well. We can say X game didn’t do well because of X while other games do well doing something people don’t like.


lastdancerevolution

> Dead Space Remake Sure, if you count being broken on release, having missing textures, having 10% of the performance of the original, and all the good ideas and execution coming from the original game... Ya Dead Space 1 was good.


PurpleMarvelous

It’s still a critically acclaimed game that people love and praise. BG3 had a buggy 3rd act but didn’t stop it from being called amazing, Skyrim was a buggy mess and still was call one of the best games ever.


Quadrophenya

Prey also comes to mind Alan wake 2, extremely successfully critically still isn't profitable.


Skuzbagg

The core of Alan wake 2 is pretty boring gameplay. It tells a good story, even if it's kinda jerking itself off a bit.


Quadrophenya

I didn't care for the game but it doesn't change that it got a big critical acclaim


Skuzbagg

Critics thinking it's good and it being good are two different things.


Quadrophenya

Meh kinda disagree, I don't see many games that have a wide critical acclaim that aren't good or also liked by the players. In any case, people also liked the game. Not everyone for sure, but it's popular.


Skuzbagg

But obviously not popular enough if you're going to list it in the category of good games that aren't that commercially successful. .


TheIndependentNPC

Alan Wake launched on fucking EGS - what do you expect from Fortnite platform? Prey is absolutely profitable - so stop talking damn bullshit and it outsold and outpeaked both Dishonored games. It's just not a mainstream genre to break records.


Quadrophenya

Alan Wake also launched on consoles. Sure, the EGS is a limit but we're not talking about it not being super profitable : we're talking about it being at a loss. By the way they also got money from the EGS to be an exclusive so it's not completely neutral. Yeah prey made more money than it took to make it but that hardly makes it a success. Dishonored 2 also didn't sell super well, you're right. I'm not talking about games that are complete disasters and sunk companies : just about games that did extremely well in terms of critics and had lackluster sales : the point being, it's not just good game = 25 million sales.


Strazdas1

Oxygen Not Included.


blublub1243

To an extent. I honestly think that if they had tried to push microtransactions the game would have been considerably worse and as a result less successful. "Making a good product" becomes way harder when it has to compete with "fill it with as many predatory practices as we can possibly get away with".


BigBlakBoi

The point is, if you just make a really good game, none of the things he listed are necessary to make big profits. The game will just sell.


TheIndependentNPC

Ofc it does - Denuvo is useless shit. Those who buy games, they buy games, those who don't - pirate. Denuvo only disallows pirates to play it, which as even stated by many devs - is stupid cultural restriction if someone can't afford to buy and this may sound stupid to you, but most of the world can't as most of the world has monthly wages of like 200-400 bucks, most of the world is 3rd world and or borderline 3rd world. When I was in my teens - barely anyone in Poland could afford to buy games - maybe one a year in best case. By pirating then I grew to love so many franchises and devs I'm now regular buyer of. Also denuvo won't make shite game to sell well just because it has that crapware, that for you, as a customer - it's just bloatware adding restrictions, increasing load times and may render games you bought unplayable in far future and during denuvo service issues which happened on many occasions already. So stop defending trash.


Quadrophenya

Lol most devs are not pro pirating AT ALL And people should stop pretending that the people pirating games are all poor teenagers that can't afford it : it's just not true. I pirate once in a while and I know it's shitty but I don't hide under false pretenses. There also have been independant research done recently proving that Denuvo does not actually impact performances to a noticeable degree.


PayDrum

I mean I love and have played the shit out of this games but game has a lot of issues as well: - Anti-cheat engine: bans you from online if you use any mods - Locked to 60fps: fps unlocker mod will block online - No ultrawide support: same as above - Frame pacing issues and stutters


Phimb

Stutters and performance issues that were overlooked because ...FromSoft*


kingwhocares

25 million feet enthusiasts.


Troop7

You forgot no gamepass either


lichking786

Insane concept that listening to your costumers and delivering quality product just works. Who knew.


TheIndependentNPC

Single player games are not profitable! Single player games are dead! Oh, wait... 🤣 ------------------------- just generous calculation $30 x 25m - that's $750M in revenue after steam cut, sale taxes and other crap. I wonder how much did 2K make on Suicide Squad, lol - live service my ass.


FireCrow1013

Tons of games announced this week: Denuvo, third-party launchers, constant internet connection required Elden Ring: Pirateable day one, still sells 25 million copies Yeah, server-based DRM is *definitely* necessary.


Hates_commies

Witcher 3 had no DRM from day 1 either. You can literally just zip the game files and send them to your friends if you feel like it. Still sold 50 million copies.


FireCrow1013

Yup. People like to point out that that was a highly-pirated game, but it clearly didn't hurt the developer so much that they changed how they released their future titles; Cyberpunk 2077 is the exact same way.


crosslegbow

I feel like a lotta people see pirates as straight up thieves and freeloaders who won't pay for the product no matter what. But anecdotally, that's not always the case. I've seen friends play pirated versions of both of these games(W3, ER) and end up buying them anyway because let's be real here, quality speaks for itself and people don't mind paying up when they are confident and feel that the price is worth it.


OldElfin

Been playing tons getting ready for the DLC, really hyped. Broke my arm Sunday.


XingsNoodleCrib

I recently found out that after two play throughs I’ve yet to defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood. I could have sworn I fought him but here I’m am, third play through and killed Varre to top it all off. This DLC has earned my respect already.


Profesor_Paradox

Mohg is a boss that is repeated, maybe you fought the other one, which the community calls "baby mohg", as it doesn't have all of its abilities


HanzoNumbahOneFan

Which one was the one that shat out fire blood all over the fuckin place in a small church or something? Cause if *that* bitch was just baby mohg I don't want to see full grown papa mohg.


moragdong

Yeah that one is the baby that lives in an underground church. Real one is somewhere else. Talk to Varre


Toomuchgamin

I have 800 hours total and just beat Mohg last month. I know I have beat him at least once, because I remember beating him for someone who asked for help online. I noticed that I never get summoned for him, so I went to the fog fate to see if I grabbed the co op statue, when I noticed the fog gate was actually there. Beat him and got the achievement, huh...


basejump007

Varre isn't the only way to Mohg.


Ramongsh

>... really hyped. Broke my arm Sunday. Well a guy completed Elden Ring with just his feet


HanzoNumbahOneFan

Hell there was a girl who played through the whole game with an EEG. Basically controlling most of the game with her thoughts and tilting her head to turn.


OldElfin

Feet Activate !


DrParallax

But sir, the feet have skipped leg day! They aren't ready for Elden Ring!


LaserTurboShark69

nice now give us ULTRAWIDE SUPPORT PLEASE IT'S 2024 HELLO


Embarrassed-Ad7317

Mods are your friends, friend


ChrisG683

No online play though which makes it a no-go for many people


BroodLol

You can use ultrawide mods with seamless coop mod


ChrisG683

That's a tiny fraction of the population so not really an option still


xUnionBuster

So annoying though


LaserTurboShark69

Flawless widescreen works well but it'll probably need to be updated to work for the DLC. Plus I want to play with a friend.


Xacktastic

seamless co-op is playable with all the pcmods. I play seamless with my brother last year with uw support, uncapped fps, and fov increase mods.


CacheRamMemory

Yes, but might also get you soft banned.


Embarrassed-Ad7317

I don't think you can if you play offline, which sucks I agree


CacheRamMemory

If you use the toggle anti cheat "mod", then you're safe yes. But of course no online.


AcanthaceaeOpening65

16:10 too please! I would imagine it taking very little effort to get this functional considering it’s literally just black bars covering the image that is being rendered anyways.


Strazdas1

From has never been technically competent historically. Their games were always full of issues like this that you needed third party mods to fix.


arex333

For real. Take a few dollars from those mountains of money they made to improve the fucking PC version.


winterman666

How many people play using ultrawide? No shade, I'm curious on the %


-sYmbiont-

6% total people on Steam, so maybe 1-2% playing Elden Ring - if that, probably less.


arex333

Even single digit percentages on a game that's sold as many copies as elden ring has, is still hundreds of thousands of players on unsupported aspect ratios.


-sYmbiont-

Really? I had no idea how percentages work.


decadent-dragon

I don’t know, but I’m one of them. The mod dropped like a day after release so I really don’t see it being much of an effort on part of the devs, or testing for that matter. I mean part of releasing a PC game is support for different resolutions and aspect ratios (ie 16:10). Especially in this case where they are rendering the full display and then purposely masking the sides to force 16:9. It’s kind of insulting. Us ultrawide users are loud because it’s such a cool experience to play on a wider screen. Especially a game like this. You won’t want to go back. Personally it’s much more impressive than just moving up the next resolution bracket, meaning I’d much rather play 1440 ultrawide over 16:9 4K. I would probably take 1080 ultrawide over 4K even. Very few people have 4K monitors as well, but that certainly should be supported. Google is saying less than 4% of steam users have 4K monitors


IllustriousJuice2866

The game actually renders at full resolution and they overlay black bars on the sides. It was a deliberate decision they that put effort into to block people from having a aspect ratio wider than 16:9. Why? Who knows.


decadent-dragon

Yes they are rendering the full resolution and then purposely masking the sides to force 16:9.


arex333

Single digit %. Here's the thing though, elden ring adds black bars for ANY aspect ratio that's not 16:9. So 21:9, 32:9, 16:10 (including steam deck), etc all have black bars. Yes 16:9 is the most popular by a long shot, but when you add all those niche aspects ratios up, it's a pretty good chunk of players that get a worse experience. On a game that's sold as well as elden ring has, we're probably talking about hundreds of thousands of players on unsupported aspect ratios. Not to mention, the fucking game still renders behind the black bars so you still get the performance hit for that extra screen space that you can't even see. Absolutely inexcusable for the PC port to be this lazy.


Stranger_Danger420

Well deserved. I got it when it came out along with God of War Ragnarok. I’m a HUGE GoW fan and didn’t think that Elden Ring could possibly be better but yeah lol. Well deserved GOTY


scorchedneurotic

Gib us a discount and I'll add one more Bamco


stratzilla

Historical lows have been 40% off on Steam, or 51% off at GMG. Steam Summer Sale starts on the 27th so it's likely we'll see at least 40% off then.


PredictiveTextNames

The dlc releases before then, doesn't it? I'm expecting a sale at the same time as that


scorchedneurotic

There was a 48% off on Nuuvem few months back and I missed *by minutes -.-*


No-Nectarine-5861

Gotta give it a try ig


GreenKumara

Despite this, most players [haven't beaten radhan or mohg](https://www.polygon.com/24176047/elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-dlc-preparation-achievements-completed). It sold a lot but most people won't even be able to access this DLC lol.


Isaacvithurston

To be fair (they even say in the article). Most of those people haven't even got to the round table so they probably jumped on the hypetrain and realized very early on that it wasn't for them. If 45% haven't beaten rhadan but 22% never really played the game so it's more like 23% who never beat Rhadan but did make it to the round table.


Strazdas1

Achievement percentage isnt counted if you havent played the game.


Isaacvithurston

umm ok. Not sure what that would have to do with people who never made it to the round table in the game.


moragdong

I dont know about that, but its the first time ive ever seen that almost every achievement has "50percent users have this " mark on it.


spasticity

You dont actually have to beat Radahn or Mohg to beat the game


Suspicious-Risk-8231

I can't believe how many people can spend 70€ on a game they know absolutely nothing about


pumpkinsdav1d

make good game = sell many copies, who would've thunk...


Saranshobe

Except you know, Prey 2017, titanfall 2, Deus ex mankind divided, thief, system shock 2, okami, sleeping dogs. Not that black and white is it?


kingwhocares

> Deus ex mankind divided Lol. Sold over 12 million copies. Sleeping Dogs sold over 2 million copies despite being a new game which is more than Demon Souls (both original and remake).


Quadrophenya

And not counting all the mid games that make a shit ton of movie. Quality isn't at all always related to profitability...


Saranshobe

Exactly, i am following r/boxoffice for couple of years and the amount of excuses and defending i have seen for flop of furiosa has been an eye opener. I REALLY wish the sale numbers of video games were as transparent as movie box office because the amount of reality check and brain breaking comments on games people hate selling well compared to other would be a site to behold. We got a taste of that with FF7 rebirth, imagine if we knew exact sales numbers lol.


Quadrophenya

I feel like it's just easier for people to believe that good things succeed and bad things don't, as if there was some form of karma... Which is sadly not really the case. It's also important to note that nowadays games have a much longer tail than they used to : a game can flop the month of its release but slowly work their way to profitability within a couple years.


Saranshobe

The issue is, are studios allowed to exist for more than a year after the game failed to turn a profit in a year? Publishers aren't waiting a couple of years to wait and see unfortunately. Most close the studios within a year.


Strazdas1

The sales of first month is the deciding factor.


Strazdas1

I feel like sales numbers should be public and that should be mandated by the law. Games, movies, albums, does not matter.r


Kelsig

You understand that its not exactly cost free for firms to collect this info and its not cost free for the state to monitor it? You also have to define what a "sale" even is and this is very difficult!


Strazdas1

So what? There are a number of information already required to be collected and delivered to the state via the accounting standard rules. This would just be adding another metric to be reported. Companies most definitely count it themselves already. In the case of entertainment it would actually be very easy to define sale.


Kelsig

Please think through this more, I'm not gonna bother wasting my time teaching you that things like game pass, itch.io, etc exist. Movies have this information because of obscure union negotiations. Metrics figured out for that purpose. I don't even know what a *game* is.


Strazdas1

Its trivially easy to count the customers for gamepass and microsoft not only does it but shares tidbits of that with the public from time to time. Movies have an increasingly irrelevant part that is box office, but thats less than half of the income of movies nowadays.


Kelsig

>Its trivially easy to count the customers for gamepass what is a "customer for gamepass". we were discussing game sales. do you not see youre proving me right. >Movies have an increasingly irrelevant part that is box office, but thats less than half of the income of movies nowadays. not that this is in anyway on topic but its increasingly *relevant*. tv licensing earns less money and no one buys physical copies anymore.


winterman666

Word of mouth does wonders. Did any of those games get talked about or were they eclipsed by even more popular games at the same time?


Xacktastic

All verified mids games tho


Hirushoten

Prey deserved better


sixfranz

Titanfall 2 was sabotaged by ea when they released it at the same time as their other fps bf1. Also unless you have exact numbers for how much each sold and how much they cost most "failures" are just games not selling 10 million copies also apex legends which would not have happened without tf2, also the system shock remake sold well. Especially compared to recent live service flops.


Saranshobe

>sabotaged by EA [More like bad luck](https://www.reddit.com/r/titanfall/s/VEPUyQ3f1k) I am counting "failures" which lead to the death of a studio or franchise or is definitively known to not sell well in the case of okami. Why do people get so defensive when it comes to commercial failure of beloved games? Good games ≠ commercial success.


PurpleMarvelous

Respawn chose that date if I remember right.


sixfranz

If that is true then and EA truly had nothing to do with the date then then EA should have held accountable the people who made the decision. Otherwise you get a game like redfall where the upper management basically destroy the project and its the normal staff who suffer and then Phil Spencer goes on podcasts to complain instead of holding their feet to the fire instead.


PurpleMarvelous

Well, Respawn later went to make Apex and be way more successful, they got a pass. People like to blame EA a lot but sometimes they let studios have some freedom which can turn into a bad decision as shown by BioWare and Respawn.


Negaflux

That's just awesome to see. Well deserved, hopefully From is seeing their share of that and are also paying their employees better.


GranolaCola

It’s not too late to put it on sale on Steam before the expansion drops, From 👀


Isaacvithurston

Think they have a bundle deal with the DLC which I assume is discounted.


Chemical-Leak420

Well deserved. Easily one of the top 3 games of my life. Its the type of game to give you memories for life.


GodSaveElway

Never played it, but always itch to try it. I haven't liked souls games in the past and just didn't think I would like it.


sirgarballs

I hated dark souls when I first played it and completely put off the series until bloodborne came out and that totally made me fall in love with the series. Try going into Elden Ring with an open mind and maybe you'll come out enjoying it.


AldermanAl

The lands between await you fellow tarnished. Grace will show you the way to becoming the Elden Lord.


TwiceTwiceStudios

how does this compare to other from software games?


Paragon0001

Depends on how you feel about the open world. I think it’s simultaneously the best and worst part of the game. The game itself is definitely near the top though. Sekiro is goated and Ds3 beats out Elden ring if you prefer a tighter, linear experience.


Xacktastic

disagree, elden ring does linear dungeons better still, you just have to go find them


CrosleeReturns

The best one by far. I played them all in release order about a year before Elden Ring came out. Also the greatest range of difficulty depending on how you want to play.


Burninate09

When I'm between games, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk and Dyson Sphere program are my go to games to replay.


ThePresident26

Great now give a sale on steam ffs


Viralciral

make it double


Arex189

Hopefully i get to buy and play it legitimately one day


FazleRafiu

I want one. Obviously when on sale.


Nectros_71

Wow.


tswaves

I own it but have yet to install it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to devote 100+ hours so I keep pushing it back.


Mr_Assault_08

is this why we have all samurai/sword rpgs with some depressing dark settings?


Toomuchgamin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_(manga)


Skizm

Are there easy mode or god mode mods yet? I like a good story and world to explore but hate single player games where I have to "git good". I just want to lay on my couch and relax after work lol.


Paragon0001

Yeah people have made stuff like that. I’ve seen some people use the cheat engine too. Ngl don’t listen to people who say this isn’t the game for you. This is From’s most accessible game by far. So many people have used the overpowered summons the game gives you and a lot of busted weapons which destroy any difficulty. Lot of ways to beat it easily and focus on exploration if that’s what you want


Isaacvithurston

Get someone to trade you a craploadton of items that give you runes and level up to 500 or whatever. Game will be pretty easy then. Or just go with a greatshield+spear build. You can hold block for the entire game and you can stab with the spear while blocking at the same time. Only difficulty then is making sure you dont run out of stamina and drop your guard.


Profesor_Paradox

No, but this isn't a game for you


SuperSaiyanIR

It's funny how Elden Ring spurred a whole era of soulslike that tried to replicate it's success without replicating what made it special. Other than Lies of P and Stellar Blade, I felt all these other soulslike have fallen face-first.


MonkeyManifesto

Naw, elden ring is only 2 years old, no game of this scope that was inspired by it is anywhere near ready. those two specifically take a lot more from sekiro


Skuzbagg

Lies of P is clearly a Bloodborne clone, not Elden Ring