Elden Ring Standard Edition - PlayStation 5

My pre-order came on-time and my fancy steelbook case bonus came the Monday after release day on Friday! Very happy with the steelbook that came with Best Buy vs the one I could have gotten from the collector's edition! :) My 2nd time playing a FromSoftware game ~ I did not like Demon's Souls since it was quite dated and the long and constant load times on the remaster did not help. I have experience with the Nioh series and Elden Ring gameplay is not as smooth and doesn't seem as quick as it is in the Nioh series, but the learning curve to attack timing and such doesn't take too long. The game environment is beautiful and the loading screens are very brief. I'm currently through the first continent and the open world is huge and there is lots to do, but it will definitely get repetitive down the road. Story starts intriguingly and you just have to keep going around and you'll most likely bump into something story-related eventually. Character creation is decent, but the armor choices are average overall so far. I wish there was an option to turn off the helmet armor, so I could at least see my character's face too. Maybe there is something, but I'm not far enough yet ~ All in all, I'd give Elden Ring a 4 out of 5. Open world, pretty graphics, and difficulty in gameplay are the norm for these Souls-types of games, so nothing really makes Elden Ring stand out besides being new and shiny for the moment. Perhaps the bits of story will make it better, but I will have to keep playing and see. :)

This game is not for the uninitiated and definitely not for the impatient! It is seemingly impossible to make any real progress right out of the gate, but with a little bit of practice and perhaps some online research you will begin to get the hang of things. Slowly but surely you will find yourself leveling your character, learning new spells, attacks, recipes and discovering new and epic locations. I picked up this game based on a friend’s recommendation and I’m not disappointed. Highly recommend playing on a large HD TV in order to fully embrace the beautiful, and sometimes terrifying, landscapes and open world environment that the developers have created. It is “Skyrim-esque” in its scenery and sheer amount of open world design full of enemies, resources, weapons and trinkets of all sorts. All you need is a little bit of patience.

Massive open world gaming with beautiful graphics and memorable characters. The different playstyles you can choose are numerous and vastly different from your normal rpg hero archetypes. Replayability with different styless, weapon types, magic spells are endless. Unlike any games today Elden Ring doesnt hold your hands and tutorial you thru the tough parts. It throws you in this massive dangerous world and you die repeatedly until something clicks and you overcome that enemy or obstacle and push on. Thats what I loved about this game. It took me over 245 hrs to become Elden Lord and Platinum Trophy the game. How long will it take you?

Newcomers to the souls franchise might find themselves a little more enticed with this entry than previous ones. The epic journey that many have been waiting for since it’s reveal. Elden ring doesn’t cut you short from the souls-style gameplay elements and mechanics, while making slight adjustments to work amazingly within an open world that becomes a personal experience that will VERY well differ from person to person. I think this has the potential to be the definitive starting place for anyone who wants to comfortably assert themselves into the Fromsoft franchise— known for overcoming the hard challenge through death, learning enemy patterns, exploration and obtaining items and resources to build the best version of your tarnished one. If you personally aren’t drawn to souls-like games and have no interest in the strong learning curve, even with the admittedly charming atmosphere that comes with it: don’t force yourself into buying it. As for souls fans— this is the epic DS easy that combines numerous additions and recurring themes from many souls titles into the perfect package. Be weary of slight issues in performance depending on what platform toy choose. PS5 has been working flawlessly for me. Even with little frame drops, this isn’t something that’s unpatch-able. Patience becomes a great asset in becoming successful… and soon to be: the elden lord.

Elden Ring is a complex but amazing game! It begins like any other game but it’s so not usual (only maybe Soul Gamers would be prepared for what they get with this game). I’m about 83% done and have put quite the number of hours into it. The immersive and open world lets newbies venture into the arms of unforgiving overpowered bosses who leave you humbled and sometimes frustrated. But true gamers don’t quit right? They rise to the challenge! After hours of continuous play, you start to understand the game. You feel the power that comes with upgrading your player and getting new weapons and the game starts to get easier. As you get stronger and better and progress, boss battles you struggled with get easier but then you encounter new bosses that make you hunger for an every bigger upgrade!!! In the end, it’s a never ending challenge of a game that still keeps you coming for more and relishing in every victory and hungering for the completion of all battles, so you can finally become The Elden lord! What a game! What an online community too that carries you along! FromSoftware, you did good!