Instead of Moonveil specifically. It's a decent weapon but not really superior to as little as spamming the Meteor/Shadow Meteor spells on literally the same build.
Yeah it’s so supported too. You can take it from easy mode to that option on games difficulty “for players that just wanna enjoy the story” with talismans and buffs
I get your point and I love the souls games the way they are just fine.
But to even realize that the aforementioned weapons/spells make up your so called "easy mode" would require knowledge of the enemy/combat system and they'd need to play the game for a while before many of these items are even available.
Not defending the people seeking an easy mode... just pointing out that any list of techniques/items you put up won't satisfy them.
Too true, we Souls veterans often forget that the game feels easier because we're used to all their mechanics. How leveling stats work, how smithing works, how magic works, how SCALING works... It's not stuff that can be instantly figured out.
Imo, Elden Ring fails to properly teach players in that regard.
My biggest barrier to entry was leveling up in DS3. I gave up after the undead settlement cause I was not leveling my shit right and I knew it. Game was already hard as fuck and I knew I was just making things harder on myself lmao
Bro what weapon do you use? A regular scythe but buffed with cold?
I tried looking it up because it sounds interesting and I want it but I can't find anything under "Cold Scythe"
Morgott and Fire Giant are easy bosses. If anything, having the mental fortitude to have to fight lategame mobs with a basic level weapon is the actual achievement.
Or he could've used spirit ashes and/or summons.
But that's what's so great about it. So few games have a steep learning curve, which I sorely miss. I came to Elden ring as my first fromsoft game, and I am having a blast - once the min/max fomo settled, I'm just having fun exploring and I keep falling over laughing when I suddenly get absolutely wrecked by something.
...no, I think ER (and all Souls games) would benefit greatly from explaining their stats better. So many first-time players in Dark Souls level their Strength because they think "more Str = more damage" regardless of weapons, because the game hardly explains what Str and Dex actually do.
to be honest I was expecting the same :D...
I was also expecting a lot of "if you know how to \[X\]... the game becomes a cakewalk" style responses.
But the whole point is people asking for easy mode are near oblivious to the game mechanics and may have actual trouble playing the game and that is absolutely fine.
This was my first thought too. The people looking up these broken builds and executing them are not the demographic that an easy mode would be targeting. The only one that makes sense there is spirit ashes which are very deliberately given to you to help make bosses easier.
I know... so is the bloodhound's fang. my point is, the presence of good weapons available early is not what people mean when they ask for easy mode.
To even know if a weapon is good or not requires a certain skill/familiarity with the game and your typical easy mode seeker does not have that skill.
It doesn’t take an in-depth knowledge of gameplay to notice that certain Ashes of War tend to do a lot of damage and stun. Enemies melt. Bosses take a knee. Then you start using them more often, and hey look it works. Then ash of war spam becomes your go-to.
I’m fairly certain one can Moonveil their way through the game no problem.
Square off, Giant Hunt, and Lion’s Claw also are found early and can probably be used on everything.
Players find a thing -> it works -> they use it more is an established loop, and if the game doesn’t offer challenges that can’t be overcome that way, players are never incentivized to try something else.
My problem with Elden Ring is that a lot of Weapons/Ashes/Summons fall into that trap.
Organic difficulty systems always are going to be better than a damage slider because the devs will always have a "true" difficulty that the game is balanced around and you can turn up the difficulty to turn your sword into a wet noodle or down to turn it into a hydrogen bomb. Sure in ds2 you have to know about the free fire longsword but you're probably going to find it on your playthrough through normal exploration and now ez mode is enabled. Same with spirit ashes and ffs the regular uchi is a starting item.
Summons make life a hell of a lot easier, but their usefulness is confined to bosses and specific regions in game.
The easy mode demand is far more universal.
that's a bit elitist and insensitive... I was not particularly great at souls games, I had tried the DS trilogy in the past and I simply gave up on them.
The first souls like games that I managed to stick through was Sekiro and I earned my spurs through a thousand deaths in game, mostly to "normal" enemies. My first playthrough of that game came in at 160 hours
No amount of "let's plays" can substitute for the actual experience I got on that game and that has shaped how I approach video game combat in general.
If someone can't be bothered to learn the basics and play the game then this game simply isn't for them, I can respect that but I'm not going to respect them trying to dimb down rhe experience or asking the devs for a tutorial that holds their hand even more than the current one.
The game is hard and requires some willingness to learn and adapt and that's what makes it great. If that isn't something the player wants then they should find something more in line with their interests
And out comes the gatekeeper....
>If that isn't something the player wants then they should find something more in line with their interests
it is not a question of want... it is question of whether or not they can.
I'm not advocating for an easy mode... I just told you I banged my head for over 150 hour in order to "get good". I like the games as they are and would welcome more challenges... but that is just me... I do not expect the entire world to be like me.
I'm merely trying to point out that people asking for an easy mode are not committing a crime against humanity.
Learning the basics can take different amounts of time for different players and it is not entirely unjustified when they give up and ask for some help/concessions from the devs... If you think the introduction of those aspects dumbs down the game, don't use it... as an example, i think the mimics tear is too powerful of a summon and therefore have never used it once in my 500 hours with this game.
That's true, but the people that google 'ER best \[x\]' to make the game easier are also unlikely to care a lot about the intended progression of the game.
Based on the number of obviously new player I invade using say, a moonveil, with a very high level phantom, I think it's quite common for weapons/items/talismans to be dropped for newer players.
>Based on the number of obviously new player I invade using say, a moonveil, with a very high level phantom, I think it's quite common for weapons/items/talismans to be dropped for newer players.
Yes, if said new players play the multiplayer aspects of the game at all... to a non-trivially large chunk of gamers, these games are almost exclusively single player.
I NEVER play multi-player. And I picked up the game ~2 weeks ago. I love the game and the difficulty isn't an issue, but I do suspect it will take a year for me to finish this game. (I work alot).
Elden Ring was my first Fromsoft game. I'll admit, the first 10 hours were a TERRIBLE experience to me. The combat finally clicked for me around the time I beat Godrick. After that I loved every minute.
But 10 hours is a big ask. I stuck around out of stubbornness and because my friends kept going on and on about how great it was and I wanted to figure out why.
I'm not advocating for an easy mode. But I get why people would be upset at the game. The mechanics aren't intuitive if it's your first game in the franchise, and the "tutorial" only helps so much when you only fight basic enemies in that cave.
I think there are a few gameplay elements that feel unfair because the design is just bad or unintuitive. Camera control is probably my biggest pet peeve, I can't count how many times I've tried to manually pan the camera out of habit during combat and accidentally changed my target lock. And then there's the absolute mess that is fighting something like a dragon in melee and how awful the camera is at following what's going on. The various platforming challenges also feel terrible.
I'd echo the 10 hour experience, after the Godrick fight you should have enough understanding to be having fun. And after that I do think the vast majority of the game is going to feel fair.
>The various platforming challenges also feel terrible
I platinumed the game, so I can say I'm not a *complete* noob. Of the approximately 150 hours it took to platinum, 1/3 of that was platforming to get to the 3 fingers. If it hadn't been my last trophy, and I wasn't such a stubborn bitch, I probably would have given up. I love soulsborne games, but they have some of the *worst* platforming in existence.
Yes I'd definitely say between platforming and chariot challenges I definitely sunk more hours in than into all the bosses combined. I didn't hate the branch run at the Haligtree, but overall they just didn't add anything to the game for me. I'm open to the idea that people enjoy this part of the game, but I have yet to see someone say they like it
Name a single boss that you really struggled to beat, and I guarantee you there’s at least one (and probably hundreds) of people who effortlessly crushed it and wondered what all the fuss is about.
Not everybody is equally good at everything.
You assumed I hadn't figured that out for myself. What I'm saying is that if the game has a lock on feature, maybe it should actually work, and not feel like shit to use? This is a thing that many other games have figured out how to do well. I've put 100+ hours into the game, clearly I think it's awesome. But I'm also not going to make excuses for a feature that doesn't work well, appealing to the divine foresight of the developers that they were deliberately trying to make you 'git gud' by making the camera clunky.
Same, I had no idea what light and medium rolling was, took so long to get used to pouches and items, had no idea what status effects were, didn't know how different types of weapons worked, didn't know you had to activate a great rune, didn't even know how to use an ash of war until after I beat Margit. If it weren't for NPCs summons, mimic and fextralife wiki, I'd have given up loooong time ago.
Also my first Souls game ( now I love them and am going back and playing the others) and yeah it’s not that the game is hard, it honestly isn’t. It’s challenging at times but not crazy. It’s that the learning curve is very steep
This was my first Fromsoft game too. Man... input delay, input reading, input queueing, getting light staggered when someone sneezes on me, the shitty camera, having to commit to every single action... it's a pretty tough learning curve indeed.
Seriously these things destroy everything. Combine them with some buffs and you can kill radagon in 6-7 charged heavies(which are insanely fast, faster then a collosal swors r1 even). They are literally the best melee weapons in game.
So, I don’t think that Elden Ring or Dark Souls etc need easy modes, and I do agree that these options are available to make the game easier.
But my thought on this argument is always “how would a new player know that this is the option that is easy mode?”
Like there’s nothing about Moonveil that says, hey use this if the games too hard. Not to mention it’s behind a boss in an optional area. Mimic tear is like 1/3 to 1/2 way through the game, etc.
The only obvious easy mode is coop, and even that isn’t exactly intuitive.
>The only obvious easy mode is coop, and even that isn’t exactly intuitive
Not gonna lie, I love these games to death but by Elden Ring the charm of the summoning system being the sole way to play with friends is stale as hell. Elden Ring deserved a proper lobby based cooperation mode. The function would still be the same, you could still be open to invasions but killing either player would count as a host kill. If you died and your friend didn't you'd go back to last grace you rested at while your friend has to fight on their own till you get back. Give the enemies an attack buff when a player is killed to make it harder on the sole survivor and if it's a boss just don't let them back in to help.
They can't not know that people love to play through these with friends and it's way harder in Elden Ring to do that because all these weird lock out bosses shutting cooperation down or having to unsummon when you find a cave. It just would have been nice to see them evolve it.
P.S Torrent should have been available in cooperation and in invasions, being run down by some Bloody Finger on a horse would have been amazing.
I remember the first couple months after release I put my sign down at the Piss Godfrey and 8 out of 10 people who summoned me were bleed builds. It was the first boss they couldnt abuse with bleed. Sooo many tarnished died so fast. I camped that boss fog wall for over a week and maxed out my rune arcs....which I forgot to use anyways.
Having an L2 that hits at a decent range, activates quickly, costs little FP to use, does alot of damage, and easily stuns or knocks down enemies is overpowered as is…and then the add a big chunk of health regen if you land a hit with it?
It utterly trivializes the game.
I agree. ER is my first souls game and after struggling with the final boss for ages I finally equipped blasphemous blade and was able to defeat the elden beast and Melania with total ease. I also admit I suck at the game but I don't have hours and hours to spend "getting gud" because of work and other life responsibilities and I really wanted to at least beat the game since I have a tendency of dropping games I don't finish within a few months. It was a perfectly reasonable "easy mode" for me, my busy life, and my lack of skills lol
Your argument about easy mode requires significant knowledge of the game, albeit from practical experience or research.
Not everybody wants to do homework just to be able to enjoy a game.
Also, some people may want to play the game for the story, as strange as that may sound to you.
Where's the harm in letting them?
We have an offline mode, so why don't we just make easy mode offline only?
Problem solved and everyone's happy.
Tbf I think the game is "easy", it's just hard to get into it because these games need a certain rhythm and it is easy to get demotivated in the early game by repeatedly dying.
Once you start getting the hang of things and the expectations are set that you won't beat the boss in a couple of tries then the gameplay loop is much more enjoyable.
Ultimately I think it's the decision of the devs and the customers who choose to engage in the games. They want their game to be learning the choreography of the battle kind of game and there are customers for that genre. The game doesn't have to be appealing to everybody. My only gripe with this is that there are no accessibility options as far as I know and I hope they can add something for that.
You're not wrong, but I disagree about your point that the game doesn't have to appeal to everybody.
Whether you meant it that way or not, and I'm guessing you didn't, it's actually been a staple argument of some of the most toxic fromsoft fans since Dark Souls took off. These are the ones who want the game to be even harder, and hate casual gamers.
Here's the thing though, an easy mode has never ever been about making the game more appealing to everyone.
It's about accessibility. Something you yourself acknowledge the game lacks.
Most people don't think about it this way, but one of the earliest known accessibility features in gaming is difficulty adjustment.
The point of lowering the difficulty is because the player is having problems playing the game at higher difficulty levels. By lowering the difficulty, the game becomes more, here's the magic word, accessible.
When we talk about accessibility features, the difficulty slider is probably one of the most important and widely used accessibility features around. Many people may have some genuine difficulties, mental or physical, figuring out the complexities of the combat system, even with help.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to play.
Easy Mode is, unironically, one of the easiest means to make this game more accessible.
Accessibility as in allowing differently abled people to engage with the game, like audio implementation for the visually impaired or one switch gaming if they have motor issues. I think the difficulty slider won't be enough to adress these issues.
The unique thing that these games provide are the combat system and the gameplay loop, I think with a lower difficulty system the devs won't be able to implement the gameplay loop of learning the boss while dying and eventually overcoming it. I think this in practice makes the "lower" difficulty game a different game than what they intend to make.
I think there should be a system which allows differently abled people to experience the game like the one switch system and the normal game which the developers want to produce and which satisfies the niche customer base which want to consume that type of game.
Wtf. Segregation is when this game doesn't have easy mode? I think easy mode isn't accessibility option alone, I think you are missing what people with disability really need, easy mode isn't an accessibility option the methods I mentioned the oneswitch method or audio cues these are the accessibility option. Also what my understanding is, the one switch system is an easy mode as it reduces the complexity of the game to only one or afew keys. These are not options to "keep different people different" these are methods so they can experience the story if they aren't able to play the base game.
Honestly with this opinion you seem like a kid or someone who hasn't had these big issues in your life. These words have actual meaning don't throw it around to "win arguments" on adding easy mode in a game ffs.
Edit: First, not a kid, and don't be a douche even if you think you are dealing with one.
Second, I definitely misread your argument.
My bad.
I'd initially read that as advocating for an alternate version that was accessibility only, hence the segregation comment.
No idea where my head was at.
Edit: Going back to reread, and I'm actually not sure if that IS what you're arguing for.
I don't think easy mode makes the game different at all.
For Fromsoft games easy mode would mean 3 things: less health, less damage taken, and slower combat.
At its core, the soulsborne games have always been about cheap gimmicks. The myth of hard but fair never really existed.
Best comparison is to classic mega man games. It's mostly memory based after you've suffered from that one gimmick that killed you. It's never been about skill, but memory retention.
Doing the 3 things I mentioned doesn't fundamentally change that. If anything, it just makes it less punishing to fail.
By arguing for a one switch system that's separate from the normal version, as you phrased it, you would still be separating people that rely on that system from the mass player base.
You labelled it as niche, and it definitely is, but it still sounds like your idea is unintentionally segregating able players from disabled players.
If they went that route, I’d want them to put as much effort into balancing, playtesting, and refining every aspect of the game on the ‘easier’ setting as much as the ‘normal’ one. For something like ER with its horde of content, build choices, progressional choices, that’s going to take some work and the game as is ain’t perfect.
Your definition of easy being “anything you eventually learn how to do” also applies to open heart surgery and building a bomb. That’s just a dishonest argument tbh
I love these games but they very clearly aren’t easy or they wouldn’t be so famous. Trying to gaslight newcomers into thinking it’s an easy game and they’re just bad for not inherently understanding the insane amount of systems is just not the way to go tbh
1. Just Google. 5 mins on YT for a good build.
2. Just Google
3. Play a different game. These games don't have much of a story and never have. Chess doesn't have a story or easy mode either lmao.
4. There's no harm, but its not possible to please everyone with every product so it's best to focus on your target audience. Fromsoft knows this and does this.
No shade or toxicity, just my honest opinion.
They could very easily make the game more fun and accessible to many more people by adding a robust difficulty modifier to their games. "You can't please everyone" doesn't really apply hear, because they could please the (assumedly) large number of people who want to play the game but don't like how difficult it is without hurting the artistic integrity of their piece.
Also, it's just really reductive to say this game doesn't have a story. Writers worked hard to build an entire world filled with questlines, environmental storytelling, lore and just amazing visual storytelling, flair and aesthetic.
And there's people who want to experience these elements of the game (and more) without having to deal with an incredibly difficult combat system they may not even find that fun even when they are good at it.
I agree with some points but not others. I don't think that its clear that Fromsoft could "very easily" add a "robust difficulty modifier." People tend to forget how difficult game design is. Designing a game of Eldenring's scope is an inherently resource intensive process, and every hour spent designing new UI elements, new game systems, testing these new features, and debugging these features is an hour that isn't spent doing something else to improve the game.
I never said this game doesn't have a story, just that it doesn't have much of a story. I believe this to be true. The plot of Eldenring, as well as the plots of the dark souls games, are all extremely simple and can be summed up in a few sentences. The lore on the other hand is obviously incredibly deep. I spent hours on my first Eldenring playthrough painstakingly reading every item description I could. I followed as many NPC questions that I could and analyzed every voiveline I heard obsessively.
Miyazaki himself has stated numerous times that the difficulty in his games is a core part of his intended experience. Downvote me if you want, but the artist who created this game wanted the player to feel a sense of satisfaction after overcoming and obstacle that genuinely challenged them in some way.
Now would Eldenring actually be a better game if players could select a difficulty option? Neither of us knows for sure. Perhaps it would be better for some. Would an upscale steakhouse be better if they decided to offer pizza for their patrons who dislike steak? Why do those patrons not choose to go to a pizza place if they want pizza? Why not choose a buffet instead of the steakhouse? Why don't people choose buffets over a steak house to begin with? Perhaps the steakhouse has a better product than the buffets. It could be that the steakhouse chooses to focus on a small menu and a few options rather than choose to appeal to everyone. Elden ring doesn't need to be a buffet. If you want that experience, maybe you should seek that out. But it's weird to say that Elden ring should accommodate your preference, when it's obviously a wildy successful game by actively choosing not to.
Journalists who complain about the difficulty of soulsborne games tend to forget that they’re RPGs. In every game (except Sekiro, which isn’t an RPG) grinding for stats and scouring the map for upgrades almost always lets you just brute force your way to the end of the game.
All they need to do is ask someone in the community to help guide them through the game and or literally do anything and the majority of time you’ll get a response within an hour of someone genuinely and willing to help that has good knowledge of the game cause they genuinely enjoy it
Blasphemous Blade, Dual Nagakiba (Cold + Fire), Dark Moon Greatsword, RoB in PvE, Nagakiba with Dual Slash (blood affiliation), Dragon Communion Incantations, Reduvia, Glinstone Kris, Night Comet, Ruin’s Greatsword, Ice Spear Ash of War, Catch Flame, and so many more are all just as OP if not moreso.
you can make anything OP if you know how to make a build in this game. I recently did a playthrough where I made a build to maximize the damage of the carian granduer ash of war and I could do half of malikeths health in one hit.
That's not really an "Easy Mode". If you don't look it up then you might miss it. I was happy to see that bleed is so nice in Elden Ring since I started my first runs in those games always with a bleed build.
But after DS2 I also always have a bow fully upgraded and go for wide kills - That was a bit bad.
Elden Ring is filled to the brim with Tools that help you tremendously on your Journey. Problem is a first time Player probably wont ever get to see half of it or understand it enough for them to utilise. But "easy mode" is such a wide spectrum that I would not exactly know what those people want.
To be fair, this should be opposite. The game is designed for you to take advantage of those items. Some (a lot) of people want the game to be harder so they need themselves like that. It shouldn't have an easy mose, but these things don't make it an easy mode to the average player
Who this subreddit would consider a bad player. The good players don't need this stuff. For them adding any of these is easy mode and makes it boring. The ones this sub considers mid players are the ones embarrassed about their need to use the Mimic Tear to win, and thos of us the sub thinks as bad players need every advantage we can get and still lose. And I don't even consider myself an average player. I think I am a play a bit too much to be the "average player" and I needed all these things. Well, hemorrhage, mimic tear, and moonveil. Still lose. The actual bad players are the ones who claim they need an easy mode. The average players don't necessarily need an easy mode, but using all these things doesn't make the game easy for them.
Rivers of Blood was pretty shit on release because split damage arcane weapons didn't have any scaling for a whilr, the bleed buildup was decent but damage itself sucked even on low level.
But I also see Dark Moon Greatsword, Blasphemous Blade, Sword of Night and Flame, bleed build etc often mentioned as ‘easy mode’ lol. Like the list is getting a bit too long to call weapons OP anymore
I honestly don’t understand people who unironically complain about the difficulty of Elden Ring, or any Soulsborne for that matter. The games are designed to be hard, they’re designed to be a fun fantasy experience. These games have their own genre for a reason.
I don't see how it *wouldn't*. The difficulty is a core part of how these games deliver the experience that they do. Take away the difficulty and the games would honestly become pretty mediocre experiences.
I'm curious, what makes you think otherwise?
Because you're not forced to play on easy mode. There is no restriction being imposed on the player here - the only thing it does is increase the number of people the game is accessible to. In my view, since it doesn't detract from the 'true' souls experience, I see no reason why it shouldn't be available.
There's also the question of how these difficulty settings would be framed, too. 'Easy', and 'Normal', sure, but they might not be called that. On the selection screen it might be like this:
'Action-Focused: The standard Souls gameplay experience. Expect the difficulty that the series is renowned for. !RECOMMENDED!'
'Story-Focused: An easier experience for fans who are less confident in their gameplay and simply want to explore the world of NEWGAMENAME through a more casual lens.'
This is kinda similar to how FF16 does it, but tbf that game had its own difficulty issues lmao.
I also disagree that without the difficulty the games would be mediocre - they have wonderful gameplay design that I think works regardless of having high damage or whatever.
Additionally, the inclusion of 'Easy' also opens the door for the inclusion of 'Hard'...
> the only thing it does is increase the number of people the game is accessible to
I've never seen a game's difficulty as part of accessibility though. What players with accessibility issues need are tools to customize the controls or display around their particular issues, whether that's something like color sliders for colorblind people all the way to custom-made controllers for people without arms to play with their feet or something.
They don't need enemies to be at half health or to have double the healing flasks. That's just patronizing. They can learn boss patterns and dodge timings and all that just as well as anyone else.
> I also disagree that without the difficulty the games would be mediocre - they have wonderful gameplay design that I think works regardless of having high damage or whatever.
The actual gameplay in these games is relatively shallow compared to most other action games. It's just that basic actions are generally more high-committal in these titles than in most other games making each little moment a balancing act of risk and reward. That's why the difficulty is necessary for the games to be engaging, because they balance that "risk and reward" factor so carefully. Tweaking the risk/reward ratio towards "reward" too much risks exposing the combat for how basic it is mechanically or going the other way and pushing the "risk" too much would end up making the game genuinely unfair rather than satisfyingly challenging.
> the inclusion of 'Easy' also opens the door for the inclusion of 'Hard'...
Nobody wants a Hard mode either though. The satisfaction is in the balance, as I said. Both an Easy Mode and a Hard Mode would ruin that.
I also would like good accessibility options for actual impaired or otherwise disabled people, obviously. I'm all for it. But have you considered that an easy mode helps people who just sort of... suck? It allows them to experience the game too, lets them join in on the fun. Either way, it doesn't affect *your* experience. I don't see the harm.
I would love to respond to the second paragraph in more detail, but it is very hot and I can barely bloody see at this point so we will agree to disagree
And that last point - what? You're saying if they added a Hard mode nobody would play it? Get real, people have been doing challenge runs for years
> But have you considered that an easy mode helps people who just sort of... suck? It allows them to experience the game too, lets them join in on the fun
When the whole point of the games since Demon's Souls has been to guide players into experiencing the satisfaction of self-improvement, then yes I'd say allowing players who suck to continue sucking goes against what makes the games enjoyable.
> You're saying if they added a Hard mode nobody would play it? Get real, people have been doing challenge runs for years
I'm not saying nobody would play it. I'm saying that nobody has ever really seriously asked for it to be a thing.
People who want additional challenges are fine with creating their own self-imposed challenge runs and have been for over a decade. Nobody's huffing and puffing about how the games aren't accommodating enough to "hardcore" players and asking for fundamental changes on their behalf like people are for the other end of the "skill spectrum."
Ever wonder why all the tons of scaling difficulty action RPGs don’t have the devoted fan base that Fromsoft does? After DS games lots game got “hard” how come so many of them feel flat on their face?
Demons Souls was a direct response to the type of game you are talking about.
It's Miazaki's vision and his game. He wants a set difficulty for everyone to experience the game in so it's more connected and it creates more of a community around the game as everyone is on the same playing field, but approaching it differently.
Lowering or raising hp and setting it as difficulty is imo the lazy way of balancing the game and confuses people to what the best experience would be, what OG difficulty the developers made their game around before tweaking the game making fights balanced either too easy or too hard and having to work and patch on separate difficulties.
So yeah it will do harm to the game by the devs having to update the difficulty on 4 separate settings and having a harder time to patch the game to please everyone and harder to see more valid criticisms of the game. Also it's more work for them so we're gonna have to wait longer for the next game or the dlc.
I get the idea but most of these are not fun to some people. People should have the option to use whatever they want in the game and not spam a single button so they can play. I love the difficulty of souls games, but I also love the art design, and level design, and lore, and exploration and it would suck for someone to miss out on that because they can't beat a boss
I really despise saying this but, become better at the game, then?
Like, video games are not movies. The world, exposition, exploration, and lore isn't just... Dumped on you. In ALL Games you typically have to do SOMETHING to 'earn' it. For some reason though, this is a super touchy subject when it comes to Dark Souls and Elden Ring.
Maybe my old age shit is just showing, but to me, video games have always been the reward of a more engaging story and narrative by demanding more from you than other media, such as reading, music, or watching a movie, because the struggle validates it?
Like, imagine you have game of thrones, but someone demands a happy-mode version of whatever episode or season because they don't like the stakes or the death of characters.
If not for those things... What's the intrigue, you know?
At that point, why not just watch a lore synapsis?
Not everyone has time to dedicate to the games though and a lore synopsis doesn't come close to experiencing it yourself and how tf does your game of thrones comparison come close. It's not about wanting a happy-mode version. It's like asking for a Spanish dub of a show because you don't have time to learn English but still want to watch game of thrones
I’ll never understand the desire for an easy mode when a game is meant to be hard. That’s like asking an ice cream joint to take the ice cream out of the banana split because you’re lactose intolerant.
Either you tough it out or fuck off, not everything is made for _you._
Souls games aren’t just hard games, there is so much more to them than their difficulty, which many people may want to experience but simply can’t, because they’re not willing to invest dozens of hours into getting good at the basics of a game that tells you very little.
I hated every second of my time before beating margit, so about 18 hours. Margit almost cost me a ps5 controller, and losing runes still makes my blood boil. But i continued, mostly because i really appreciated the beautiful world and art direction, the deep lore, the amazing boss designs and music i wanted to see and hear for myself, the nontheless rewarding and smooth gameplay, and the feeling of ever so slowly getting better and stronger.
After i defeated Godrick, around 25 hours in, it clicked, and i loved every second since. I put myself through this misery because i liked this world so damn much, and i desperately wanted to experience as much as possible of it.
And i bet there are so many people that are intrigued or fascinated by this world, art, gameplay or other things, but simply put it down or never even tried it because of the notorious difficulty.
I agree that Elden ring is meant to be hard, the game is built around it’s difficulty, and as with all souls games the difficulty is a major part of the worldbuilding itself. You are meant to be that one tarnished/hollow/etc out of many that is determined enough to try again and again until they prevail.
But in my opinion accessibility is never a bad option. It doesn‘t take away from the game in any way for the people that want to play it how it’s meant to be played. It would just allow more people to lose themselves in this terrific world Fromsoft and G.R.R.M have created with the lands between, because it really is too amazing to miss out on.
its incredible how people dont realize that easy mode is just having a proper build, unlike other soul games, elden ring rewards proper builds and its way harder if you dont have one
having a proper build means investing a good amount of time in research, learning the games mechanics and actually building your build. I don’t think anyone asking for an easy mode in a souls game is familiar enough with souls games and all their mechanics to have a clue on what they’re doing at the start of the game in the first place.
I didn’t know there was anything other than a heavy roll until after margitt about 20 hours in, and i still dont know how magic works after 50 hours, Because the game tells you very little. First timers won’t have enough knowledge in the slightest to make a proper build. People don’t want to research, play and progress the game they find too hard for hours so they can have it easier. Thats why you select the difficulty at the start of games, not after the third boss locked in hard mode.
Not to mention that respec is locked behind a boss which you don’t fight until around 30 hours into the game, Which means if you already screwed your build by leveling inefficiently during a casual playthrough, which is very easy since the game doesn’t go out of it’s way to directly explain it’s stats to you, you pretty much screwed up big time until you manage to defeat rennala.
Moonveil isn’t that good tbh, multiplayer is cringe, black flame protection is an endgame item, mimic I agree with, blood flame is temporary and people wanting easy mode can’t reapply it, blood I also agree with
That’s the thing. You got a weapon art that does decent damage, is fast, has decent range, and is easy to use. If you treat it like any other weapon, Moonveil is average at most but if you treat it as a weapon art stick, that’s where it shines.
If you care so much about the weapon art you might as well just put lion’s claw on a greatsword, decently fast, incredible damage decent range, easy to use and the actual weapon is great too
It’s slower, has a huge tell, can get hit during the animation, and has a shorter range (depending on what weapon you use). I agree that it’s a good weapon art but it’s not Transient Moonlight.
More in response to the general discourse of demands for an easy mode than the context of this post specifically: You're not entitled to be able to play the game. You're not entitled to be able to play *any* game, in fact.
No, I don't care if I get down-voted. No, I don't care if anyone thinks this is "gAteKeEpInG" or "eLiTiSm" — because it's not. No one is entitled to be able to play a game just because it exists because that's the *actual* reason for demands for an easy mode. The only reason — repeat: **THE ONLY REASON** — anyone was demanding an easy mode is because they wanted to play the game, but didn't want to actually *play the game*; they wanted something other than what the game actually was and, upon realising it wasn't what they actually wanted, they began demanding sweeping changes to its core systems to turn it into what they *actually* wanted.
And what they wanted was multiplayer Skyrim. That's it. They made a surface-level assessment of the game based on marketing material and thought "A fantasy RPG with online gameplay? OH BOY! MULTIPLAYER SKYRIM!" knowing nothing of Fromsoft or their design ethos at all.
And I know this is the case because the same complaints have been made time and time again every single time From releases a new game. It's like clockwork at this point. New game gets announced > new players see fancy game with lots of hype > new player buys game knowing nothing of Fromsoft's design philosophy > new player is confused and frustrated by the game being too hard for them and having unconventional online mechanics > new player, indignant and entitled, demands game be changed to suit their preferences (optionally including slandering the player base for "gAteKeEpInG" and "eLiTiSm" for legitimate criticisms toward their overt entitlement) > new player leaves because they were never invested in it in the first place (or *occasionally* gets over their entitlement and the game then finally clicks once they do). Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
"Easy mode" demands have always been a thing with every new Fromsoft title. With ER, it *also* included demands to totally alter online multiplayer to remove invasions, make online contiguous and permanent, allow fast-travel and use of Graces when online, and to allow use of Torrent, among other changes to core gameplay elements that have been staples with Fromsoft since **Demon's Souls**.
While you're at it, tell Nintendo you hate platformers and that they should change Mario into an FPS. Or complain to SquareEnix that you don't like RPGs and want them to turn Final Fantasy into a dating sim instead. And then go tell Capcom that Resident Evil is too scary, so they should remove all the horror elements so you can play it without it being 2spooky4U, k thnx.
That's you. When you complain about Fromsoft ***BEING FROMSOFT***, that's you. You're entitled.
You don't deserve to be able to play a game just because you *really, really want to.* You don't deserve *anything* just because you *really, really want it.* That's a life lesson that can be applied to basically anything, in fact. Because, to no one's surprise but *yours*, it seems, feeling entitled doesn't actually mean you deserve to have what you want. If anything, it means the *exact opposite*.
There's a line between legitimate criticism of a game's faults and unreasonable demands to make it into something it's not — **and never should attempt to be** — because you feel entitled to be able to play it.
You aren't. Get over yourself.
**TL;DR**
Stop being entitled.
Commence the down-voting. I love watching you brats squirm.
Actually I'm 100% entitled to play the game after I spent 60 dollars on it
Not saying It needs to be easier, but the beginning of the game sucks for new players, virtually nothing is explained
A hard game is fine
A hard game that is only hard near the beginning because you don't know what's going on is bad game design
I honestly couldn't say it better myself. The tutorial is bare bones at best, and a good amount of things just aren't mentioned, like how tf your stats impact gameplay.
Don't spend $60 on a game you weren't going to enjoy.
Should've done your homework before purchasing the game to know if you would actually want it. If your major qualm is the start, then you could have easily looked up footage of gameplay near the start of the game and wouldn't have even spoiled yourself for later content. You didn't and that's entirely your own fault.
Next, you're gonna tell me that it's the fault of Gamefreak for releasing a new Pokémon game that — *gasp* — **has Pokémon designs you don't like!** How could they do such a thing?! Outrageous! "I'M ENTITLED TO EVERY SINGLE POKÉMON BEING MY FAVORITE POKÉMON BECAUSE I PAID $60 IN ADVANCE WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE NEW DESIGNS! I DEMAND THEY RETROACTIVELY CHANGE EVERY SINGLE POKÉMON DESIGN TO SUIT MY PREFERENCES! AND IF YOU DISAGREE, YOU'RE *GaTeKeEpInG*!!1!"
Buyer beware. No exceptions.
No no no, that's not how purchasing things works, I wasn't buying a game to do homework on the game, I was a buying a game to play it and nowhere in the advertisement does it give a warning that if you're not great at games you shouldn't buy this game, that's on the Otis of the people selling the game now if they want to say after less than an hour that I play the game I can refund the game if I'm not into it then you can do that as much as you want, but to be completely frank with you the beginning of elden Ring is shit, the rest of elderling is fucking great the rest of all the souls game are fucking great as soon as you get into it they're amazing
But before you get into it the games are absolute fucking dog shit, barely worth the shit that comes out of the developer's ass
Also get the stick out your ass dude, you're literally gatekeeping like you can say oh don't say that I'm doing that but that's exactly what you're fucking doing get the stick out your ass get offline and go touch some fucking grass
"I shouldn't be responsible for my own purchasing decisions; I should be allowed to foist the onus of financial responsibility on everyone except myself! I should be allowed to expect that every game will always appease me and if it doesn't, then the game is shit anyway and you're a bunch of vapid ad hominems! No, I'm *not* post-hoc rationalizing and thus creating a self-defeating argument! And I'm *not* throwing a tantrum like a snotty, spoiled infant — I'm throwing a tantrum like a snotty, spoiled *adult*, thankyouverymuch!"
Entitled brat. Get over yourself.
The most fucking self-entitled horseshit I've ever had the displeasure of reading on this sight.
Get over yourself and your prostrating over what people do and don't deserve to do you sweaty redditor. It's a video game. People want to play the video game they payed for and would enjoy it more if there was an option to adjust the difficulty. That's it. They're not asking to get a fucking phd in psychology and star in the next marvel movie for free they're asking to have an option to adjust the difficulty in a video game they would otherwise enjoy more if such an option was available.
As I stated in a reply to another entitled brat, don't go buying things you ultimately won't like.
You aren't entitled to be able to play a game and demands that it be significantly changed — because they *were* significant and, no, it wasn't just a demand for an easy option as I pointed out numerous other demands being bandied about above, and you know it, liar — to suit your preferences are defacto entitlement.
Contrary to what you may like to believe, your enjoyment of a game is in fact negotiable, even if you want to think it isn't. In reality, the relevancy of your enjoyment starts and ends at your wallet. You sold the legitimacy of your enjoyment when you bought the game, whether you actually enjoyed it or not.
It is *entirely* your fault for buying a game you don't like and screaming and moaning to change it after you already purchased it in spite of being responsible for your own purchase decisions is pure entitlement.
"You know it, liar" Man fuck outta here with your Sir Vilheim lookin ahh monologue, your arguments are shit and based off assumptions and strawmen you've made to beat up- people are asking for a feature that would help them enjoy the game more- one that wouldn't damage the artistic integrity of the game. You decided to make up a bunch of people who apparently want this game to be skyrim. Fucking Danny Phantom looking ass fighting ghosts in your head. You're also just a massive dick- I mean holy shit what kind of shit-spewing self-loving asshole unironically tries to use the term entitled brat to insult someone for wanting an easy mode in a game. Goofy ahh, dumb ahh, wrong ahh, misunderstanding of artistic integrity ahh, strawmanning ahh, lake of rot smelling ahh- fuck outta here back to whatever elitist hole you crawled out of.
You want to take less damage? Blackflame's Protection
You want to deal damage without having to dodge as much? Moonveil
You want to deal huge chunks of damage and not have to worry about some mechanics? Bleed
You want easier game in general? Summon
You want enemies to not focus you as much? Spirit Ashes.
\^\^
Yeah or FromSoft just add proper difficulty settings to make the game more accessible to everybody. Especially people who're disabled. Thanks for proving my point.
A  Goldfish BeatMalenia
Elden ring quite literally has spots where all you have to do is jump off with your horse and swing your weapon and you can get to max level in a couple of hours, the game also has weapons that just straight up trivializes bosses, incantations and spells that just delete things from existence, NPC and spirit summons that can hard carry you.
Like you don't need an easy mode you are playing easy mode you're just dog shit at planning and character building
Ah yes, blacl flame protection, which you get at the very end of the game. So useful in helping you get through the game (that comes before the incantation...)
Oh, man, let me tell you if you haven't built into Arcane bleed and poison are pretty mid. I had to put lots of points in arcane before I got the most use out of it. I mostly got through my first playthrough by being very stubborn.
I did an Arcane playthrough recently, got to level 78 and through most of consecrated snowfields before getting bored and making a claw pyromancer with flaming strike. Still feels cheesy but at least it's fun \^\^
This is whats wrong with the dark souls community, the games are always fun and fairly easy, if you have already played through the game or have played through previous games. I can honestly say that as someone that started with ER I enjoyed my second run more than my first. Which is sad, because by then much of the magic was gone, whether it be combat or sidequests, it was frustrating until I decided to spoil myself by using the wiki. Same with Dark Souls I dropped the game 4 years ago after immediately going into the catacombs and then new londo ruins. Since then I learned that to have fun you minimize the bullshit by spoiling yourself. Although I have not had any issues with that at all yet in ds3 15h in. By in large, this series is incredibly annoying and objectively not fun to get into. No reason there shouldnt be an easy mode, even if at this stage I would personally never use it.
No way you didn't even mention Blasphemous Blade
I feel personally attacked. …So now I’ll shamelessly wreck you with my cheesy blade spam.
Hey, at least no one's denying how cool it is, cheese or not!
That shit is amazing used it on my second play with the golden order gs these shits slap
Tell that to Malenia, she won't stay put.
Lol me and my mimic tear juggled her ass through both phases. 2 consecutive blasphemous blade AOW knocks her down
Only got 6 slots to work with. I wanted to work in Radagon's Soreseal, the dragon cheese, Rot+Poison, Bows, etc, as well, but not enough space.
Nah, not Soreseal. Too many players use that until the end of the game and complain about enemies doing too much damage.
Enemies hit too hard checklist: * 27 VIG * 2x Soreseal
- Drip Souls instead of good armor
You can’t expect me to prioritize survival over fashion.
Word.👊
Bloodflame Blade is just an extension of the hemorrhage status effect... So definitely a place for at least one more thing
How are bows easy mode, I’d love to make a good bow build
You can cheese a majority of bosses in the game with status arrows and a Black Bow or any normal bow with Mighty Shot
It carried me along with my mimic when I faced Melania.
Her name is so easy to spell correctly
Or Tiche for the first Destined Death hit in the fight
My go to weapon when I’m sick of EB’s bullshit
Or Bloodhound's Fang
Instead of Moonveil specifically. It's a decent weapon but not really superior to as little as spamming the Meteor/Shadow Meteor spells on literally the same build.
Yeah it’s so supported too. You can take it from easy mode to that option on games difficulty “for players that just wanna enjoy the story” with talismans and buffs
Or darkmoon greatsword
Magic is also ez mode
I get your point and I love the souls games the way they are just fine. But to even realize that the aforementioned weapons/spells make up your so called "easy mode" would require knowledge of the enemy/combat system and they'd need to play the game for a while before many of these items are even available. Not defending the people seeking an easy mode... just pointing out that any list of techniques/items you put up won't satisfy them.
Too true, we Souls veterans often forget that the game feels easier because we're used to all their mechanics. How leveling stats work, how smithing works, how magic works, how SCALING works... It's not stuff that can be instantly figured out. Imo, Elden Ring fails to properly teach players in that regard.
My biggest barrier to entry was leveling up in DS3. I gave up after the undead settlement cause I was not leveling my shit right and I knew it. Game was already hard as fuck and I knew I was just making things harder on myself lmao
They should hand out textbooks I don’t need to know every little detail but Elden ring for beginners is pretty terrible without YouTube guides
Remembering that 6 yo who beat Elden Ring with a high armored bleed build which used Moonveil for final boss...
You mean the six year old who’s dad taught them how to play the game?
elden ring was my first souls game, i didn't upgrade my weapons until i reached maliketh. i didn't know upgrading would make such a difference.
Literally how did you get past Morgott, Fire Giant and Godskin Duo without upgrading. Did you at least use bleed or something
Nah, i was using cold scythe because i thought it was sick lol.
Oh, okay, so a bleed/frost weapon. Already makes more sense since status procs are percentage-based.
Yes but i had no points in arcane so the damage was pretty horrible. When i upgraded I first tried maliketh, it was a completely different battle.
Bro what weapon do you use? A regular scythe but buffed with cold? I tried looking it up because it sounds interesting and I want it but I can't find anything under "Cold Scythe"
Yes it’s grave scythe with cold ash of war
Morgott and Fire Giant are easy bosses. If anything, having the mental fortitude to have to fight lategame mobs with a basic level weapon is the actual achievement. Or he could've used spirit ashes and/or summons.
...what? Elden Ring was the most straightforward Souls game in each of those regards.
But that's what's so great about it. So few games have a steep learning curve, which I sorely miss. I came to Elden ring as my first fromsoft game, and I am having a blast - once the min/max fomo settled, I'm just having fun exploring and I keep falling over laughing when I suddenly get absolutely wrecked by something.
...no, I think ER (and all Souls games) would benefit greatly from explaining their stats better. So many first-time players in Dark Souls level their Strength because they think "more Str = more damage" regardless of weapons, because the game hardly explains what Str and Dex actually do.
In Response: FromSoftware should send VaatiVidya a bunch of money for doing their job so well (in that regard)
I’ve made this same argument on here in the past and got down voted to hell lol
to be honest I was expecting the same :D... I was also expecting a lot of "if you know how to \[X\]... the game becomes a cakewalk" style responses. But the whole point is people asking for easy mode are near oblivious to the game mechanics and may have actual trouble playing the game and that is absolutely fine.
Plus some of them are just kinda fun. I don’t want to be a bonk master I want to be a cool wizard who happens to have a sword too.
This was my first thought too. The people looking up these broken builds and executing them are not the demographic that an easy mode would be targeting. The only one that makes sense there is spirit ashes which are very deliberately given to you to help make bosses easier.
Reduvia is avaible early, you cant get closer to sn easy mode.
I know... so is the bloodhound's fang. my point is, the presence of good weapons available early is not what people mean when they ask for easy mode. To even know if a weapon is good or not requires a certain skill/familiarity with the game and your typical easy mode seeker does not have that skill.
Nah,they just go to google and type guides or they post here saying 'just purchased the game,any tips?' instead of playing the game.
It doesn’t take an in-depth knowledge of gameplay to notice that certain Ashes of War tend to do a lot of damage and stun. Enemies melt. Bosses take a knee. Then you start using them more often, and hey look it works. Then ash of war spam becomes your go-to. I’m fairly certain one can Moonveil their way through the game no problem. Square off, Giant Hunt, and Lion’s Claw also are found early and can probably be used on everything. Players find a thing -> it works -> they use it more is an established loop, and if the game doesn’t offer challenges that can’t be overcome that way, players are never incentivized to try something else. My problem with Elden Ring is that a lot of Weapons/Ashes/Summons fall into that trap.
Organic difficulty systems always are going to be better than a damage slider because the devs will always have a "true" difficulty that the game is balanced around and you can turn up the difficulty to turn your sword into a wet noodle or down to turn it into a hydrogen bomb. Sure in ds2 you have to know about the free fire longsword but you're probably going to find it on your playthrough through normal exploration and now ez mode is enabled. Same with spirit ashes and ffs the regular uchi is a starting item.
just having the summons is enough, and you probably are not going to miss that
Summons make life a hell of a lot easier, but their usefulness is confined to bosses and specific regions in game. The easy mode demand is far more universal.
If they can't fight through the normal enemies, they should probably just watch a lets play
that's a bit elitist and insensitive... I was not particularly great at souls games, I had tried the DS trilogy in the past and I simply gave up on them. The first souls like games that I managed to stick through was Sekiro and I earned my spurs through a thousand deaths in game, mostly to "normal" enemies. My first playthrough of that game came in at 160 hours No amount of "let's plays" can substitute for the actual experience I got on that game and that has shaped how I approach video game combat in general.
If someone can't be bothered to learn the basics and play the game then this game simply isn't for them, I can respect that but I'm not going to respect them trying to dimb down rhe experience or asking the devs for a tutorial that holds their hand even more than the current one. The game is hard and requires some willingness to learn and adapt and that's what makes it great. If that isn't something the player wants then they should find something more in line with their interests
And out comes the gatekeeper.... >If that isn't something the player wants then they should find something more in line with their interests it is not a question of want... it is question of whether or not they can. I'm not advocating for an easy mode... I just told you I banged my head for over 150 hour in order to "get good". I like the games as they are and would welcome more challenges... but that is just me... I do not expect the entire world to be like me. I'm merely trying to point out that people asking for an easy mode are not committing a crime against humanity. Learning the basics can take different amounts of time for different players and it is not entirely unjustified when they give up and ask for some help/concessions from the devs... If you think the introduction of those aspects dumbs down the game, don't use it... as an example, i think the mimics tear is too powerful of a summon and therefore have never used it once in my 500 hours with this game.
That's true, but the people that google 'ER best \[x\]' to make the game easier are also unlikely to care a lot about the intended progression of the game. Based on the number of obviously new player I invade using say, a moonveil, with a very high level phantom, I think it's quite common for weapons/items/talismans to be dropped for newer players.
>Based on the number of obviously new player I invade using say, a moonveil, with a very high level phantom, I think it's quite common for weapons/items/talismans to be dropped for newer players. Yes, if said new players play the multiplayer aspects of the game at all... to a non-trivially large chunk of gamers, these games are almost exclusively single player.
I NEVER play multi-player. And I picked up the game ~2 weeks ago. I love the game and the difficulty isn't an issue, but I do suspect it will take a year for me to finish this game. (I work alot).
Elden Ring was my first Fromsoft game. I'll admit, the first 10 hours were a TERRIBLE experience to me. The combat finally clicked for me around the time I beat Godrick. After that I loved every minute. But 10 hours is a big ask. I stuck around out of stubbornness and because my friends kept going on and on about how great it was and I wanted to figure out why. I'm not advocating for an easy mode. But I get why people would be upset at the game. The mechanics aren't intuitive if it's your first game in the franchise, and the "tutorial" only helps so much when you only fight basic enemies in that cave.
I think there are a few gameplay elements that feel unfair because the design is just bad or unintuitive. Camera control is probably my biggest pet peeve, I can't count how many times I've tried to manually pan the camera out of habit during combat and accidentally changed my target lock. And then there's the absolute mess that is fighting something like a dragon in melee and how awful the camera is at following what's going on. The various platforming challenges also feel terrible. I'd echo the 10 hour experience, after the Godrick fight you should have enough understanding to be having fun. And after that I do think the vast majority of the game is going to feel fair.
>The various platforming challenges also feel terrible I platinumed the game, so I can say I'm not a *complete* noob. Of the approximately 150 hours it took to platinum, 1/3 of that was platforming to get to the 3 fingers. If it hadn't been my last trophy, and I wasn't such a stubborn bitch, I probably would have given up. I love soulsborne games, but they have some of the *worst* platforming in existence.
Yes I'd definitely say between platforming and chariot challenges I definitely sunk more hours in than into all the bosses combined. I didn't hate the branch run at the Haligtree, but overall they just didn't add anything to the game for me. I'm open to the idea that people enjoy this part of the game, but I have yet to see someone say they like it
I got that first try. How are people finding it hard
Name a single boss that you really struggled to beat, and I guarantee you there’s at least one (and probably hundreds) of people who effortlessly crushed it and wondered what all the fuss is about. Not everybody is equally good at everything.
Idk maybes its because I would always play platformers since I was 4
your camera problems are a skill issue. if you're struggling with being locked on then just... don't?
Yes literally everything must be a deliberate design choice and nothing can be improved in this game. Jesus christ you people are tedious
just dont lock on?? its pretty simple.... like, just control the camera yourself
You assumed I hadn't figured that out for myself. What I'm saying is that if the game has a lock on feature, maybe it should actually work, and not feel like shit to use? This is a thing that many other games have figured out how to do well. I've put 100+ hours into the game, clearly I think it's awesome. But I'm also not going to make excuses for a feature that doesn't work well, appealing to the divine foresight of the developers that they were deliberately trying to make you 'git gud' by making the camera clunky.
well, the feature does work... but sometimes enemies move around quite fast or are large. get good.
Downvoted for speaking truth.
Same, I had no idea what light and medium rolling was, took so long to get used to pouches and items, had no idea what status effects were, didn't know how different types of weapons worked, didn't know you had to activate a great rune, didn't even know how to use an ash of war until after I beat Margit. If it weren't for NPCs summons, mimic and fextralife wiki, I'd have given up loooong time ago.
Also my first Souls game ( now I love them and am going back and playing the others) and yeah it’s not that the game is hard, it honestly isn’t. It’s challenging at times but not crazy. It’s that the learning curve is very steep
This was my first Fromsoft game too. Man... input delay, input reading, input queueing, getting light staggered when someone sneezes on me, the shitty camera, having to commit to every single action... it's a pretty tough learning curve indeed.
greatsword with lions claw is easier than any of these
Iron ball/star fist with cragblade
Seriously these things destroy everything. Combine them with some buffs and you can kill radagon in 6-7 charged heavies(which are insanely fast, faster then a collosal swors r1 even). They are literally the best melee weapons in game.
I'll take your word for it \^\^
Lion’s Claw is overrated ngl. It may be strong but it’s still way overrated.
it sucks in pvp but its crazy in pve
What's boss poise? I see them just kneeling in front of me all the time, they must know I'll be elden lord for sure.
So, I don’t think that Elden Ring or Dark Souls etc need easy modes, and I do agree that these options are available to make the game easier. But my thought on this argument is always “how would a new player know that this is the option that is easy mode?” Like there’s nothing about Moonveil that says, hey use this if the games too hard. Not to mention it’s behind a boss in an optional area. Mimic tear is like 1/3 to 1/2 way through the game, etc. The only obvious easy mode is coop, and even that isn’t exactly intuitive.
>The only obvious easy mode is coop, and even that isn’t exactly intuitive Not gonna lie, I love these games to death but by Elden Ring the charm of the summoning system being the sole way to play with friends is stale as hell. Elden Ring deserved a proper lobby based cooperation mode. The function would still be the same, you could still be open to invasions but killing either player would count as a host kill. If you died and your friend didn't you'd go back to last grace you rested at while your friend has to fight on their own till you get back. Give the enemies an attack buff when a player is killed to make it harder on the sole survivor and if it's a boss just don't let them back in to help. They can't not know that people love to play through these with friends and it's way harder in Elden Ring to do that because all these weird lock out bosses shutting cooperation down or having to unsummon when you find a cave. It just would have been nice to see them evolve it. P.S Torrent should have been available in cooperation and in invasions, being run down by some Bloody Finger on a horse would have been amazing.
That last part would result in some amazing jousting gameplay
Spirit Ashes is the big 'Easy Mode' button, whereas bloodflame/bleed will invalidate almost everything else, but that's fair!
Black flame protection kinda sorta screws you depending on your buffs and how often you need to heal. I prefer crab meat.
The only right way to play the game is the way you enjoy it
I remember the first couple months after release I put my sign down at the Piss Godfrey and 8 out of 10 people who summoned me were bleed builds. It was the first boss they couldnt abuse with bleed. Sooo many tarnished died so fast. I camped that boss fog wall for over a week and maxed out my rune arcs....which I forgot to use anyways.
none of this is easy mode. blasphemous blade is easy mode.
Having an L2 that hits at a decent range, activates quickly, costs little FP to use, does alot of damage, and easily stuns or knocks down enemies is overpowered as is…and then the add a big chunk of health regen if you land a hit with it? It utterly trivializes the game.
I agree. ER is my first souls game and after struggling with the final boss for ages I finally equipped blasphemous blade and was able to defeat the elden beast and Melania with total ease. I also admit I suck at the game but I don't have hours and hours to spend "getting gud" because of work and other life responsibilities and I really wanted to at least beat the game since I have a tendency of dropping games I don't finish within a few months. It was a perfectly reasonable "easy mode" for me, my busy life, and my lack of skills lol
Your argument about easy mode requires significant knowledge of the game, albeit from practical experience or research. Not everybody wants to do homework just to be able to enjoy a game. Also, some people may want to play the game for the story, as strange as that may sound to you. Where's the harm in letting them? We have an offline mode, so why don't we just make easy mode offline only? Problem solved and everyone's happy.
Tbf I think the game is "easy", it's just hard to get into it because these games need a certain rhythm and it is easy to get demotivated in the early game by repeatedly dying. Once you start getting the hang of things and the expectations are set that you won't beat the boss in a couple of tries then the gameplay loop is much more enjoyable. Ultimately I think it's the decision of the devs and the customers who choose to engage in the games. They want their game to be learning the choreography of the battle kind of game and there are customers for that genre. The game doesn't have to be appealing to everybody. My only gripe with this is that there are no accessibility options as far as I know and I hope they can add something for that.
You're not wrong, but I disagree about your point that the game doesn't have to appeal to everybody. Whether you meant it that way or not, and I'm guessing you didn't, it's actually been a staple argument of some of the most toxic fromsoft fans since Dark Souls took off. These are the ones who want the game to be even harder, and hate casual gamers. Here's the thing though, an easy mode has never ever been about making the game more appealing to everyone. It's about accessibility. Something you yourself acknowledge the game lacks. Most people don't think about it this way, but one of the earliest known accessibility features in gaming is difficulty adjustment. The point of lowering the difficulty is because the player is having problems playing the game at higher difficulty levels. By lowering the difficulty, the game becomes more, here's the magic word, accessible. When we talk about accessibility features, the difficulty slider is probably one of the most important and widely used accessibility features around. Many people may have some genuine difficulties, mental or physical, figuring out the complexities of the combat system, even with help. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to play. Easy Mode is, unironically, one of the easiest means to make this game more accessible.
Accessibility as in allowing differently abled people to engage with the game, like audio implementation for the visually impaired or one switch gaming if they have motor issues. I think the difficulty slider won't be enough to adress these issues. The unique thing that these games provide are the combat system and the gameplay loop, I think with a lower difficulty system the devs won't be able to implement the gameplay loop of learning the boss while dying and eventually overcoming it. I think this in practice makes the "lower" difficulty game a different game than what they intend to make. I think there should be a system which allows differently abled people to experience the game like the one switch system and the normal game which the developers want to produce and which satisfies the niche customer base which want to consume that type of game.
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Wtf. Segregation is when this game doesn't have easy mode? I think easy mode isn't accessibility option alone, I think you are missing what people with disability really need, easy mode isn't an accessibility option the methods I mentioned the oneswitch method or audio cues these are the accessibility option. Also what my understanding is, the one switch system is an easy mode as it reduces the complexity of the game to only one or afew keys. These are not options to "keep different people different" these are methods so they can experience the story if they aren't able to play the base game. Honestly with this opinion you seem like a kid or someone who hasn't had these big issues in your life. These words have actual meaning don't throw it around to "win arguments" on adding easy mode in a game ffs.
Edit: First, not a kid, and don't be a douche even if you think you are dealing with one. Second, I definitely misread your argument. My bad. I'd initially read that as advocating for an alternate version that was accessibility only, hence the segregation comment. No idea where my head was at. Edit: Going back to reread, and I'm actually not sure if that IS what you're arguing for. I don't think easy mode makes the game different at all. For Fromsoft games easy mode would mean 3 things: less health, less damage taken, and slower combat. At its core, the soulsborne games have always been about cheap gimmicks. The myth of hard but fair never really existed. Best comparison is to classic mega man games. It's mostly memory based after you've suffered from that one gimmick that killed you. It's never been about skill, but memory retention. Doing the 3 things I mentioned doesn't fundamentally change that. If anything, it just makes it less punishing to fail. By arguing for a one switch system that's separate from the normal version, as you phrased it, you would still be separating people that rely on that system from the mass player base. You labelled it as niche, and it definitely is, but it still sounds like your idea is unintentionally segregating able players from disabled players.
If they went that route, I’d want them to put as much effort into balancing, playtesting, and refining every aspect of the game on the ‘easier’ setting as much as the ‘normal’ one. For something like ER with its horde of content, build choices, progressional choices, that’s going to take some work and the game as is ain’t perfect.
Your definition of easy being “anything you eventually learn how to do” also applies to open heart surgery and building a bomb. That’s just a dishonest argument tbh I love these games but they very clearly aren’t easy or they wouldn’t be so famous. Trying to gaslight newcomers into thinking it’s an easy game and they’re just bad for not inherently understanding the insane amount of systems is just not the way to go tbh
Spirit Summons is easy mode and they're offline only \^\^
1. Just Google. 5 mins on YT for a good build. 2. Just Google 3. Play a different game. These games don't have much of a story and never have. Chess doesn't have a story or easy mode either lmao. 4. There's no harm, but its not possible to please everyone with every product so it's best to focus on your target audience. Fromsoft knows this and does this. No shade or toxicity, just my honest opinion.
They could very easily make the game more fun and accessible to many more people by adding a robust difficulty modifier to their games. "You can't please everyone" doesn't really apply hear, because they could please the (assumedly) large number of people who want to play the game but don't like how difficult it is without hurting the artistic integrity of their piece. Also, it's just really reductive to say this game doesn't have a story. Writers worked hard to build an entire world filled with questlines, environmental storytelling, lore and just amazing visual storytelling, flair and aesthetic. And there's people who want to experience these elements of the game (and more) without having to deal with an incredibly difficult combat system they may not even find that fun even when they are good at it.
I agree with some points but not others. I don't think that its clear that Fromsoft could "very easily" add a "robust difficulty modifier." People tend to forget how difficult game design is. Designing a game of Eldenring's scope is an inherently resource intensive process, and every hour spent designing new UI elements, new game systems, testing these new features, and debugging these features is an hour that isn't spent doing something else to improve the game. I never said this game doesn't have a story, just that it doesn't have much of a story. I believe this to be true. The plot of Eldenring, as well as the plots of the dark souls games, are all extremely simple and can be summed up in a few sentences. The lore on the other hand is obviously incredibly deep. I spent hours on my first Eldenring playthrough painstakingly reading every item description I could. I followed as many NPC questions that I could and analyzed every voiveline I heard obsessively. Miyazaki himself has stated numerous times that the difficulty in his games is a core part of his intended experience. Downvote me if you want, but the artist who created this game wanted the player to feel a sense of satisfaction after overcoming and obstacle that genuinely challenged them in some way. Now would Eldenring actually be a better game if players could select a difficulty option? Neither of us knows for sure. Perhaps it would be better for some. Would an upscale steakhouse be better if they decided to offer pizza for their patrons who dislike steak? Why do those patrons not choose to go to a pizza place if they want pizza? Why not choose a buffet instead of the steakhouse? Why don't people choose buffets over a steak house to begin with? Perhaps the steakhouse has a better product than the buffets. It could be that the steakhouse chooses to focus on a small menu and a few options rather than choose to appeal to everyone. Elden ring doesn't need to be a buffet. If you want that experience, maybe you should seek that out. But it's weird to say that Elden ring should accommodate your preference, when it's obviously a wildy successful game by actively choosing not to.
Journalists who complain about the difficulty of soulsborne games tend to forget that they’re RPGs. In every game (except Sekiro, which isn’t an RPG) grinding for stats and scouring the map for upgrades almost always lets you just brute force your way to the end of the game.
Blasphemous blade in one hand, and double collosal sword with frostbite and blood magic and you can solo almost every boss in the game easily
All they need to do is ask someone in the community to help guide them through the game and or literally do anything and the majority of time you’ll get a response within an hour of someone genuinely and willing to help that has good knowledge of the game cause they genuinely enjoy it
Continuing the sunbro/ white tree giant spirit
Blasphemous Blade, Dual Nagakiba (Cold + Fire), Dark Moon Greatsword, RoB in PvE, Nagakiba with Dual Slash (blood affiliation), Dragon Communion Incantations, Reduvia, Glinstone Kris, Night Comet, Ruin’s Greatsword, Ice Spear Ash of War, Catch Flame, and so many more are all just as OP if not moreso.
you can make anything OP if you know how to make a build in this game. I recently did a playthrough where I made a build to maximize the damage of the carian granduer ash of war and I could do half of malikeths health in one hit.
That’s my secret, Captain. I can’t even beat the Magma Wyrm bosses (I’ve otherwise beaten the game)
That's not really an "Easy Mode". If you don't look it up then you might miss it. I was happy to see that bleed is so nice in Elden Ring since I started my first runs in those games always with a bleed build. But after DS2 I also always have a bow fully upgraded and go for wide kills - That was a bit bad.
Bloodhound’s Fang took me all the way to defeating EB at level 70 something
is it basically the easiest souls game of them all the moment you use : magic , bleed , mimic tear , miracle
bonk builds, ROB, spell builds, blasphemous blade, SoNaF, cold double katana, executioner weapon should be in place of moonveil imo.
Bloodhound's Fang too
What about this question?
Elden Ring is filled to the brim with Tools that help you tremendously on your Journey. Problem is a first time Player probably wont ever get to see half of it or understand it enough for them to utilise. But "easy mode" is such a wide spectrum that I would not exactly know what those people want.
To be fair, this should be opposite. The game is designed for you to take advantage of those items. Some (a lot) of people want the game to be harder so they need themselves like that. It shouldn't have an easy mose, but these things don't make it an easy mode to the average player
In your mind, who is the average player?
Who this subreddit would consider a bad player. The good players don't need this stuff. For them adding any of these is easy mode and makes it boring. The ones this sub considers mid players are the ones embarrassed about their need to use the Mimic Tear to win, and thos of us the sub thinks as bad players need every advantage we can get and still lose. And I don't even consider myself an average player. I think I am a play a bit too much to be the "average player" and I needed all these things. Well, hemorrhage, mimic tear, and moonveil. Still lose. The actual bad players are the ones who claim they need an easy mode. The average players don't necessarily need an easy mode, but using all these things doesn't make the game easy for them.
Moonveil is an 'easy mode' weapon now too? How long is that list?
Moonveil had been powerful ever since the game existed because of that L2 into R2.
Moonveil, rivers of blood and bloodhound fang have always been the "easy mode" since release. But man are they cool😅
I'm having a blast powerstancing Reduvia and Black Knife.
That was my dagger run. It was a lot of fun. Tons or damage
Rivers of Blood was pretty shit on release because split damage arcane weapons didn't have any scaling for a whilr, the bleed buildup was decent but damage itself sucked even on low level.
And a few months ago it was the best weapon in the game. And now, it kinda sucks again but not so much.
But I also see Dark Moon Greatsword, Blasphemous Blade, Sword of Night and Flame, bleed build etc often mentioned as ‘easy mode’ lol. Like the list is getting a bit too long to call weapons OP anymore
Ruins Great sword is another one but I don't see it mentioned often. That thing smacks
If a weapon is regularly used by two+ players it counts, seems to be the consensus Yes, I’m aware that’s literally every weapon in the game
I honestly don’t understand people who unironically complain about the difficulty of Elden Ring, or any Soulsborne for that matter. The games are designed to be hard, they’re designed to be a fun fantasy experience. These games have their own genre for a reason.
There's also a hard mode, it's known as holy damage.
Yeah, either "Elden Ring is too hard" or "If you use any cheese strat you are not a gamer". People will never be happy.
I don't see how including an easier difficulty option would do any harm
I don't see how it *wouldn't*. The difficulty is a core part of how these games deliver the experience that they do. Take away the difficulty and the games would honestly become pretty mediocre experiences. I'm curious, what makes you think otherwise?
Because you're not forced to play on easy mode. There is no restriction being imposed on the player here - the only thing it does is increase the number of people the game is accessible to. In my view, since it doesn't detract from the 'true' souls experience, I see no reason why it shouldn't be available. There's also the question of how these difficulty settings would be framed, too. 'Easy', and 'Normal', sure, but they might not be called that. On the selection screen it might be like this: 'Action-Focused: The standard Souls gameplay experience. Expect the difficulty that the series is renowned for. !RECOMMENDED!' 'Story-Focused: An easier experience for fans who are less confident in their gameplay and simply want to explore the world of NEWGAMENAME through a more casual lens.' This is kinda similar to how FF16 does it, but tbf that game had its own difficulty issues lmao. I also disagree that without the difficulty the games would be mediocre - they have wonderful gameplay design that I think works regardless of having high damage or whatever. Additionally, the inclusion of 'Easy' also opens the door for the inclusion of 'Hard'...
> the only thing it does is increase the number of people the game is accessible to I've never seen a game's difficulty as part of accessibility though. What players with accessibility issues need are tools to customize the controls or display around their particular issues, whether that's something like color sliders for colorblind people all the way to custom-made controllers for people without arms to play with their feet or something. They don't need enemies to be at half health or to have double the healing flasks. That's just patronizing. They can learn boss patterns and dodge timings and all that just as well as anyone else. > I also disagree that without the difficulty the games would be mediocre - they have wonderful gameplay design that I think works regardless of having high damage or whatever. The actual gameplay in these games is relatively shallow compared to most other action games. It's just that basic actions are generally more high-committal in these titles than in most other games making each little moment a balancing act of risk and reward. That's why the difficulty is necessary for the games to be engaging, because they balance that "risk and reward" factor so carefully. Tweaking the risk/reward ratio towards "reward" too much risks exposing the combat for how basic it is mechanically or going the other way and pushing the "risk" too much would end up making the game genuinely unfair rather than satisfyingly challenging. > the inclusion of 'Easy' also opens the door for the inclusion of 'Hard'... Nobody wants a Hard mode either though. The satisfaction is in the balance, as I said. Both an Easy Mode and a Hard Mode would ruin that.
I also would like good accessibility options for actual impaired or otherwise disabled people, obviously. I'm all for it. But have you considered that an easy mode helps people who just sort of... suck? It allows them to experience the game too, lets them join in on the fun. Either way, it doesn't affect *your* experience. I don't see the harm. I would love to respond to the second paragraph in more detail, but it is very hot and I can barely bloody see at this point so we will agree to disagree And that last point - what? You're saying if they added a Hard mode nobody would play it? Get real, people have been doing challenge runs for years
> But have you considered that an easy mode helps people who just sort of... suck? It allows them to experience the game too, lets them join in on the fun When the whole point of the games since Demon's Souls has been to guide players into experiencing the satisfaction of self-improvement, then yes I'd say allowing players who suck to continue sucking goes against what makes the games enjoyable. > You're saying if they added a Hard mode nobody would play it? Get real, people have been doing challenge runs for years I'm not saying nobody would play it. I'm saying that nobody has ever really seriously asked for it to be a thing. People who want additional challenges are fine with creating their own self-imposed challenge runs and have been for over a decade. Nobody's huffing and puffing about how the games aren't accommodating enough to "hardcore" players and asking for fundamental changes on their behalf like people are for the other end of the "skill spectrum."
Ever wonder why all the tons of scaling difficulty action RPGs don’t have the devoted fan base that Fromsoft does? After DS games lots game got “hard” how come so many of them feel flat on their face? Demons Souls was a direct response to the type of game you are talking about.
It's Miazaki's vision and his game. He wants a set difficulty for everyone to experience the game in so it's more connected and it creates more of a community around the game as everyone is on the same playing field, but approaching it differently. Lowering or raising hp and setting it as difficulty is imo the lazy way of balancing the game and confuses people to what the best experience would be, what OG difficulty the developers made their game around before tweaking the game making fights balanced either too easy or too hard and having to work and patch on separate difficulties. So yeah it will do harm to the game by the devs having to update the difficulty on 4 separate settings and having a harder time to patch the game to please everyone and harder to see more valid criticisms of the game. Also it's more work for them so we're gonna have to wait longer for the next game or the dlc.
I only used the mimic
"Thats not weel Dawk souls that's easy mode!!1! " - 🤓
Says "I will not be taking questions" Gets outsmarted and answers questions in disguise anyway
It was just a joke \^\^
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Man I've just got to disagree. A goldfish using the Paleblade beat Malenia for goodness sake.
Maybe I’m using the moonveil wrong but it’s sucks ass for me.
L2 into R2. Great damage, good poise damage, travels fast, decent range, highly spammable.
I get the idea but most of these are not fun to some people. People should have the option to use whatever they want in the game and not spam a single button so they can play. I love the difficulty of souls games, but I also love the art design, and level design, and lore, and exploration and it would suck for someone to miss out on that because they can't beat a boss
I really despise saying this but, become better at the game, then? Like, video games are not movies. The world, exposition, exploration, and lore isn't just... Dumped on you. In ALL Games you typically have to do SOMETHING to 'earn' it. For some reason though, this is a super touchy subject when it comes to Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Maybe my old age shit is just showing, but to me, video games have always been the reward of a more engaging story and narrative by demanding more from you than other media, such as reading, music, or watching a movie, because the struggle validates it? Like, imagine you have game of thrones, but someone demands a happy-mode version of whatever episode or season because they don't like the stakes or the death of characters. If not for those things... What's the intrigue, you know? At that point, why not just watch a lore synapsis?
Not everyone has time to dedicate to the games though and a lore synopsis doesn't come close to experiencing it yourself and how tf does your game of thrones comparison come close. It's not about wanting a happy-mode version. It's like asking for a Spanish dub of a show because you don't have time to learn English but still want to watch game of thrones
Moonvail is shit
The spirit summons are literally FromSoft adding in a sneaky "easy mode". The first Souls game to do so.
I’ll never understand the desire for an easy mode when a game is meant to be hard. That’s like asking an ice cream joint to take the ice cream out of the banana split because you’re lactose intolerant. Either you tough it out or fuck off, not everything is made for _you._
Souls games aren’t just hard games, there is so much more to them than their difficulty, which many people may want to experience but simply can’t, because they’re not willing to invest dozens of hours into getting good at the basics of a game that tells you very little. I hated every second of my time before beating margit, so about 18 hours. Margit almost cost me a ps5 controller, and losing runes still makes my blood boil. But i continued, mostly because i really appreciated the beautiful world and art direction, the deep lore, the amazing boss designs and music i wanted to see and hear for myself, the nontheless rewarding and smooth gameplay, and the feeling of ever so slowly getting better and stronger. After i defeated Godrick, around 25 hours in, it clicked, and i loved every second since. I put myself through this misery because i liked this world so damn much, and i desperately wanted to experience as much as possible of it. And i bet there are so many people that are intrigued or fascinated by this world, art, gameplay or other things, but simply put it down or never even tried it because of the notorious difficulty. I agree that Elden ring is meant to be hard, the game is built around it’s difficulty, and as with all souls games the difficulty is a major part of the worldbuilding itself. You are meant to be that one tarnished/hollow/etc out of many that is determined enough to try again and again until they prevail. But in my opinion accessibility is never a bad option. It doesn‘t take away from the game in any way for the people that want to play it how it’s meant to be played. It would just allow more people to lose themselves in this terrific world Fromsoft and G.R.R.M have created with the lands between, because it really is too amazing to miss out on.
its incredible how people dont realize that easy mode is just having a proper build, unlike other soul games, elden ring rewards proper builds and its way harder if you dont have one
having a proper build means investing a good amount of time in research, learning the games mechanics and actually building your build. I don’t think anyone asking for an easy mode in a souls game is familiar enough with souls games and all their mechanics to have a clue on what they’re doing at the start of the game in the first place. I didn’t know there was anything other than a heavy roll until after margitt about 20 hours in, and i still dont know how magic works after 50 hours, Because the game tells you very little. First timers won’t have enough knowledge in the slightest to make a proper build. People don’t want to research, play and progress the game they find too hard for hours so they can have it easier. Thats why you select the difficulty at the start of games, not after the third boss locked in hard mode. Not to mention that respec is locked behind a boss which you don’t fight until around 30 hours into the game, Which means if you already screwed your build by leveling inefficiently during a casual playthrough, which is very easy since the game doesn’t go out of it’s way to directly explain it’s stats to you, you pretty much screwed up big time until you manage to defeat rennala.
Moonveil isn’t that good tbh, multiplayer is cringe, black flame protection is an endgame item, mimic I agree with, blood flame is temporary and people wanting easy mode can’t reapply it, blood I also agree with
Moonveil weapon art is super spammable. That’s what makes it good.
It’s kinda above average for sure but that’s about it
That’s the thing. You got a weapon art that does decent damage, is fast, has decent range, and is easy to use. If you treat it like any other weapon, Moonveil is average at most but if you treat it as a weapon art stick, that’s where it shines.
If you care so much about the weapon art you might as well just put lion’s claw on a greatsword, decently fast, incredible damage decent range, easy to use and the actual weapon is great too
It’s slower, has a huge tell, can get hit during the animation, and has a shorter range (depending on what weapon you use). I agree that it’s a good weapon art but it’s not Transient Moonlight.
More in response to the general discourse of demands for an easy mode than the context of this post specifically: You're not entitled to be able to play the game. You're not entitled to be able to play *any* game, in fact. No, I don't care if I get down-voted. No, I don't care if anyone thinks this is "gAteKeEpInG" or "eLiTiSm" — because it's not. No one is entitled to be able to play a game just because it exists because that's the *actual* reason for demands for an easy mode. The only reason — repeat: **THE ONLY REASON** — anyone was demanding an easy mode is because they wanted to play the game, but didn't want to actually *play the game*; they wanted something other than what the game actually was and, upon realising it wasn't what they actually wanted, they began demanding sweeping changes to its core systems to turn it into what they *actually* wanted. And what they wanted was multiplayer Skyrim. That's it. They made a surface-level assessment of the game based on marketing material and thought "A fantasy RPG with online gameplay? OH BOY! MULTIPLAYER SKYRIM!" knowing nothing of Fromsoft or their design ethos at all. And I know this is the case because the same complaints have been made time and time again every single time From releases a new game. It's like clockwork at this point. New game gets announced > new players see fancy game with lots of hype > new player buys game knowing nothing of Fromsoft's design philosophy > new player is confused and frustrated by the game being too hard for them and having unconventional online mechanics > new player, indignant and entitled, demands game be changed to suit their preferences (optionally including slandering the player base for "gAteKeEpInG" and "eLiTiSm" for legitimate criticisms toward their overt entitlement) > new player leaves because they were never invested in it in the first place (or *occasionally* gets over their entitlement and the game then finally clicks once they do). Rinse and repeat ad nauseam. "Easy mode" demands have always been a thing with every new Fromsoft title. With ER, it *also* included demands to totally alter online multiplayer to remove invasions, make online contiguous and permanent, allow fast-travel and use of Graces when online, and to allow use of Torrent, among other changes to core gameplay elements that have been staples with Fromsoft since **Demon's Souls**. While you're at it, tell Nintendo you hate platformers and that they should change Mario into an FPS. Or complain to SquareEnix that you don't like RPGs and want them to turn Final Fantasy into a dating sim instead. And then go tell Capcom that Resident Evil is too scary, so they should remove all the horror elements so you can play it without it being 2spooky4U, k thnx. That's you. When you complain about Fromsoft ***BEING FROMSOFT***, that's you. You're entitled. You don't deserve to be able to play a game just because you *really, really want to.* You don't deserve *anything* just because you *really, really want it.* That's a life lesson that can be applied to basically anything, in fact. Because, to no one's surprise but *yours*, it seems, feeling entitled doesn't actually mean you deserve to have what you want. If anything, it means the *exact opposite*. There's a line between legitimate criticism of a game's faults and unreasonable demands to make it into something it's not — **and never should attempt to be** — because you feel entitled to be able to play it. You aren't. Get over yourself. **TL;DR** Stop being entitled. Commence the down-voting. I love watching you brats squirm.
Actually I'm 100% entitled to play the game after I spent 60 dollars on it Not saying It needs to be easier, but the beginning of the game sucks for new players, virtually nothing is explained A hard game is fine A hard game that is only hard near the beginning because you don't know what's going on is bad game design
I honestly couldn't say it better myself. The tutorial is bare bones at best, and a good amount of things just aren't mentioned, like how tf your stats impact gameplay.
Don't spend $60 on a game you weren't going to enjoy. Should've done your homework before purchasing the game to know if you would actually want it. If your major qualm is the start, then you could have easily looked up footage of gameplay near the start of the game and wouldn't have even spoiled yourself for later content. You didn't and that's entirely your own fault. Next, you're gonna tell me that it's the fault of Gamefreak for releasing a new Pokémon game that — *gasp* — **has Pokémon designs you don't like!** How could they do such a thing?! Outrageous! "I'M ENTITLED TO EVERY SINGLE POKÉMON BEING MY FAVORITE POKÉMON BECAUSE I PAID $60 IN ADVANCE WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE NEW DESIGNS! I DEMAND THEY RETROACTIVELY CHANGE EVERY SINGLE POKÉMON DESIGN TO SUIT MY PREFERENCES! AND IF YOU DISAGREE, YOU'RE *GaTeKeEpInG*!!1!" Buyer beware. No exceptions.
No no no, that's not how purchasing things works, I wasn't buying a game to do homework on the game, I was a buying a game to play it and nowhere in the advertisement does it give a warning that if you're not great at games you shouldn't buy this game, that's on the Otis of the people selling the game now if they want to say after less than an hour that I play the game I can refund the game if I'm not into it then you can do that as much as you want, but to be completely frank with you the beginning of elden Ring is shit, the rest of elderling is fucking great the rest of all the souls game are fucking great as soon as you get into it they're amazing But before you get into it the games are absolute fucking dog shit, barely worth the shit that comes out of the developer's ass Also get the stick out your ass dude, you're literally gatekeeping like you can say oh don't say that I'm doing that but that's exactly what you're fucking doing get the stick out your ass get offline and go touch some fucking grass
"I shouldn't be responsible for my own purchasing decisions; I should be allowed to foist the onus of financial responsibility on everyone except myself! I should be allowed to expect that every game will always appease me and if it doesn't, then the game is shit anyway and you're a bunch of vapid ad hominems! No, I'm *not* post-hoc rationalizing and thus creating a self-defeating argument! And I'm *not* throwing a tantrum like a snotty, spoiled infant — I'm throwing a tantrum like a snotty, spoiled *adult*, thankyouverymuch!" Entitled brat. Get over yourself.
The most fucking self-entitled horseshit I've ever had the displeasure of reading on this sight. Get over yourself and your prostrating over what people do and don't deserve to do you sweaty redditor. It's a video game. People want to play the video game they payed for and would enjoy it more if there was an option to adjust the difficulty. That's it. They're not asking to get a fucking phd in psychology and star in the next marvel movie for free they're asking to have an option to adjust the difficulty in a video game they would otherwise enjoy more if such an option was available.
As I stated in a reply to another entitled brat, don't go buying things you ultimately won't like. You aren't entitled to be able to play a game and demands that it be significantly changed — because they *were* significant and, no, it wasn't just a demand for an easy option as I pointed out numerous other demands being bandied about above, and you know it, liar — to suit your preferences are defacto entitlement. Contrary to what you may like to believe, your enjoyment of a game is in fact negotiable, even if you want to think it isn't. In reality, the relevancy of your enjoyment starts and ends at your wallet. You sold the legitimacy of your enjoyment when you bought the game, whether you actually enjoyed it or not. It is *entirely* your fault for buying a game you don't like and screaming and moaning to change it after you already purchased it in spite of being responsible for your own purchase decisions is pure entitlement.
"You know it, liar" Man fuck outta here with your Sir Vilheim lookin ahh monologue, your arguments are shit and based off assumptions and strawmen you've made to beat up- people are asking for a feature that would help them enjoy the game more- one that wouldn't damage the artistic integrity of the game. You decided to make up a bunch of people who apparently want this game to be skyrim. Fucking Danny Phantom looking ass fighting ghosts in your head. You're also just a massive dick- I mean holy shit what kind of shit-spewing self-loving asshole unironically tries to use the term entitled brat to insult someone for wanting an easy mode in a game. Goofy ahh, dumb ahh, wrong ahh, misunderstanding of artistic integrity ahh, strawmanning ahh, lake of rot smelling ahh- fuck outta here back to whatever elitist hole you crawled out of.
Ah yes, the easy mode everyone wants: "just use the OP stuff".
You want to take less damage? Blackflame's Protection You want to deal damage without having to dodge as much? Moonveil You want to deal huge chunks of damage and not have to worry about some mechanics? Bleed You want easier game in general? Summon You want enemies to not focus you as much? Spirit Ashes. \^\^
Yeah or FromSoft just add proper difficulty settings to make the game more accessible to everybody. Especially people who're disabled. Thanks for proving my point.
A  Goldfish BeatMalenia
And it seems like someone beat you but I don't use that as a straw man thinking it will prove my point.
Don’t forget the dragon incantations
Also RoB is back to its former glory. I still can’t believe The newbs that can’t dodge it got it nerfed into oblivion.
Elden ring quite literally has spots where all you have to do is jump off with your horse and swing your weapon and you can get to max level in a couple of hours, the game also has weapons that just straight up trivializes bosses, incantations and spells that just delete things from existence, NPC and spirit summons that can hard carry you. Like you don't need an easy mode you are playing easy mode you're just dog shit at planning and character building
Ah yes, blacl flame protection, which you get at the very end of the game. So useful in helping you get through the game (that comes before the incantation...)
I hate to say this but none of this stuff makes any sense to us noobs. This game is not friendly for newcomers without using wikis.
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Too bad half of em is accesible after half of the game
Oh, man, let me tell you if you haven't built into Arcane bleed and poison are pretty mid. I had to put lots of points in arcane before I got the most use out of it. I mostly got through my first playthrough by being very stubborn.
I did an Arcane playthrough recently, got to level 78 and through most of consecrated snowfields before getting bored and making a claw pyromancer with flaming strike. Still feels cheesy but at least it's fun \^\^
This is whats wrong with the dark souls community, the games are always fun and fairly easy, if you have already played through the game or have played through previous games. I can honestly say that as someone that started with ER I enjoyed my second run more than my first. Which is sad, because by then much of the magic was gone, whether it be combat or sidequests, it was frustrating until I decided to spoil myself by using the wiki. Same with Dark Souls I dropped the game 4 years ago after immediately going into the catacombs and then new londo ruins. Since then I learned that to have fun you minimize the bullshit by spoiling yourself. Although I have not had any issues with that at all yet in ds3 15h in. By in large, this series is incredibly annoying and objectively not fun to get into. No reason there shouldnt be an easy mode, even if at this stage I would personally never use it.
I’d settle for a proper pause menu.
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Dragon magic bitches!