wikipedia posted:

Elden Ring is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game is a collaborative effort between game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, and is scheduled to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25, 2022.

Elden Ring takes place in the realm of the Lands Between, sometime after the destruction of the titular Elden Ring and the scattering of its shards, the Great Runes. Once graced by the Ring and the Erdtree which symbolizes its presence, the realm is now ruled over by the demigod offspring of Queen Marika the Eternal, each possessing a shard of the Ring that corrupts and taints them with power. As a Tarnished — exiles from the Lands Between who lost the Ring's grace — summoned back after the Shattering, players must traverse the realm to ultimately find all the Great Runes, restore the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord.

AllisonByProxy posted:

SHISHKABOB posted:

Sockser posted:

Me, running into a big gently caress-off field boss dragon in my path to cooler poo poo:

Bread Set Jettison posted:

raditts posted:

ChocNitty posted:

DrBouvenstein posted:

Perfect Potato posted:

Aipsh posted:

Kaiju15 posted:

Finally managed to get my screenshots off the ps5.

YoshiOfYellow posted:

Oh and can't forget my best ally:

Inzombiac posted:

Hempuli posted:

OH WORD SON posted:

Takes No Damage posted:

*reads posts about fighting birds with swords for legs*

deep dish peat moss posted:

This may have already been posted itt but lol

Oxxidation posted:

minor spoilers throughout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MW-qdNoYA

boop the snoot posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBGSrxyhCMs

Stick Figure Mafia posted:

https://i.imgur.com/jTgtCQH.mp4

RPATDO_LAMD posted:

You can see exactly where the map pickup is, there's an tower-like icon in each unrevealed section of the map that shows where to find it.

e: it looks like this

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

So that list of sites of grace you can bring up? Turns out it has a check mark system so you can check off dungeons or areas you’ve completed.

RPATDO_LAMD posted:

The first password is for co-op matchmaking, the 5 below it are for messages and bloodstains (this is where you should put LLJK).
Passwords don't affect invasions at all, although the co-op password probably affects red summon signs.

drunken officeparty posted:

What are the small obelisk looking things I see everywhere

SKULL.GIF posted:

They enable using summoning ashes

I was wondering that for the longest time myself too. I was half convinced it was lore-related

hazardousmouse posted:

I haven't monkied with ashes of war yet, I can't imagine they're consumed when you apply them?

Filthy Monkey posted:

Not consumed. Swap them in and out to your heart's content.

Propaganda Hour posted:

Can we put this at the top of the OP? Because for my first 20 hours I thought they were consumed. It wasn't until I found my first duplication material that I understood that you only need to duplicate ash if you want to apply the same ability to multiple weapons.

deep dish peat moss posted:

I strongly recommend following these starting steps for new players, this will unlock your mount, ashes of war, and spirit summoning right away, and those 3 things enable a whole lot more progress. Spoiled for the sake of anyone who wants to go in blind but I don't recommend it for these 3 early things.


1) from the starting area, proceed forward until you get to a boss fight. You need to either die or win the fight, either one.

2) after the fight you'll be in a new area. There is a ghost sitting in a chair next to a hole in the ground. Jump in that hole if you would like to do the tutorial, otherwise leave through the other door in the room.

3) light the bonfire outside. Look around and you'll see a church. Head to that church next, don't fight the big horseback man yet.

4) at the church talk to the vendor and light the bonfire. This vendor sells the crafting kit for 300 runes and a torch for 100 runes. You want to buy them both. There is also a blacksmith's anvil at the Church, approaching and looting it opens up weapon upgrading.

4) to the northwest ish side of the church is a series of high cliffs/precipices you can climb. Climb to the top and interact with the statue.

5) go to the location the statue points you toward to find a catacomb. Clear the boss of that catacomb.

6) return to any bonfire and rest. An npc should appear to give you your mount. If not, just run around for a while, find new bonfires, kill things, whatever - until you trigger the mount scene at a bonfire.

7) go back to the church bonfire and there should be a new npc there. Rest if they don't show up. if it doesn't seem to trigger, explore for a bit again and make sure you run around on your horse, then come back to the church. When the npc is there, talk to them to receive the ability to use spirit summons

8) Proceed up the road to the north from the church until you get to the Gate Ruins. Clear it and look for stairs leading down into the ground. Go down the stairs and open the treasure chest to get the final piece of the puzzle here, the item that lets you equip ashes of war.

Mailer posted:

Don't know if this is in the OP, but exhaust all dialog from everyone. There are so many quest chains I've missed just because I didn't mash the Talk option. D showed up for a couple of visits then permanently hosed off so that's an entire chain I'll never see until a replay happens.

Azran posted:

Dunno if this has been shared already but there's a lot of stuff that's entirely new to Elden Ring and I had no idea even existed after like 50 hours. Some standouts:

-You can use your left handed weapon on a horse by pressing the two handed input
-You can keep your shield up while backstepping
-You can't accidentally fall to your death while on an attack chain
-Weather affects lightning and fire damage
-Golden leaves means you get extra runes from killing stuff
-Stone miners explode if they get lit on fire

amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg_hveDzzvo

deep dish peat moss posted:

General tips I picked up, filtering out all of the general souls-series tips:

The following key items can be found right at the start of the game, don't go past the 3rd bonfire without them:
The horse
Whetstone Knife allowing you to use weapon arts
Torch, Crafting Kit, Telescope (from a merchant)

Return to the first few campfires after you make "some progress" and try resting at them. This unlocks the ability to summon NPC spirits

You can get an early 100% physical block shield from the guards in the early ruins as a random drop

Thanks to the open world you can cheese a lot of fights by backstabbing an enemy, running until it drops aggro, then returning to backstab them again (hey it's Sekiro!)

Equip weight doesn't matter on horse so you can min/max powergame by equipping your heaviest armor when mounting up

Buy Stonesward Key whenever you see it, it's the equivalent of DS2's stones of pharros

Catacombs contain (loot type spoilers) Spirit Ashes and Spirit Ash upgrade materials
Caves and Mines contain (loot types) special equipment and ore for upgrading gear
Towers contain magic and equipment for mages as well as spell attunement slots

Collect every gesture you see because some puzzles require them

The phrase "something guides the way" means there is an invisible platform nearby

Militia Camps, Forts, etc - everything you see, contains good loot, so don't just ride past everything. But also feel free to bypass everything you can't handle yet and come back later.

you can't respec until after a late-game boss and this video recommends focusing your stats and NOT going for a quality build but I'm still going for a quality build

Upgrade materials are not rare

Red Mundus posted:

If anyone is like me and hates how dodge works based on button release and not button press I've found a way to fix it if using Steam.

First click Controller Configuration on your Elden Ring library page. Then follow the images below.








This will still let you sprint but you will dodge first before sprinting so be careful. This basically turns it into Sekiro's sprinting if you've ever played that.

Let me know if this breaks something. I've been using it for awhile and no problems so far.

VideoGames posted:

I want to know what is with that floor with the face the character is walking up the ladder away from.

Aidan_702 posted:

I wonder what the 'you never die' conceit is...there's this from the site but uh I still don't know what it means.

"And now the guidance of grace will be brought to the Tarnished who were spurned by the grace of gold and exiled from the Lands Between. Ye dead who yet live, your grace long lost, follow the path to the Lands Between beyond the foggy sea to stand before the Elden Ring."

I assume you've been banished to some limbo dimension and found by a firekeeper waifu to....kill everyone

Ratios and Tendency posted:

I seem to recall talk of this being ~open-world, are we still expecting that?

Blind Rasputin posted:

It looks gorgeous op and I don’t give a poo poo. The combat looks like it is going to be amazingly crisp and heavy at the same time.

Just watched the trailer a third time. No tarnish to be found anymore but still rubbing

Ulio posted:

I am not mad about it being cross gen, imo Fromsoft's games look fine on a technical level but most of the beauty of their games is the aesthetics, atmosphere and art style. That's why Bloodborne is still one of the best looking games just because of the aesthetics.

lih posted:

it's Dark Souls except open world and this time they got the Game of Thrones guy to write all the background lore stuff that's going to be communicated exclusively through item descriptions

Polo-Rican posted:

IMHO each Dark Souls sequel has felt a little greyer

Volte posted:

Demon's Souls isn't a FROM game anymore and they had nothing to do with the remaster so I wouldn't look to that with any form of expectation whatsoever.

Groovelord Neato posted:

The lamest possible complaint I could imagine for this game especially after watching that trailer a dozen times.

Comrade Fakename posted:

Yeah, why would I expect a software company to make good software? Graphical/technical prowess isn't magic, these games make From a shitload of money, they can afford to just hire programmers. It's not unreasonable to expect that one of the most anticipated games of the year would have significant investment in it.

It's not a huge issue, it's not a dealbreaker, but it's something that I had hoped would have changed and hasn't.

Colonel Whitey posted:

If you wanted this game to come out like a year later, maybe. Holy poo poo I can't believe people are complaining about the visuals.

VideoGames posted:

Thinking about that dragon grabbing that spear of lightning.

Volte posted:

I think you misunderstood what I said. I just said it's not a FROM game anymore, in that (as far as I can tell) their name is literally not even mentioned in the remake except at the very end of the game when the original Demon's Souls PS3 credits are tacked on after the main credits. I only meant that nobody should look at nuDeS as an indicator of what future FROM games might look like, since people tend to associate Demon's Souls very closely with FROM and may not realize that they aren't involved in it anymore.

4000 Dollar Suit posted:

I'm sure this is the hottest take but I'm really sick of open world.

acksplode posted:

Elden Ring is: open world; hobby-grade coop campaign; genre-blended, multi-mode sidequests; meta-growth, choice + epic Elden Ring Heroes!

ZZZorcerer posted:

acksplode posted:

There's a certain semi-recent sequel to a renowned series of linear games that introduced a radical open world design while managing to respect series tradition, I'm hoping Miyazaki took some inspiration from it. For that matter it also happened to be gorgeous because of its art design rather than its technology.

K8.0 posted:

It's not about the aesthetics, from does a great job of doing a western aesthetic. It's that the visuals are objectively bad and totally out of date, and not in a stylized way that could be cool. It's not just in terms of poly count and texture res either, look at the big dudes pulling the coach in the trailer. Their heads are totally non-animated, all their hair and poo poo is very plainly just part of a static "head" model and even that isn't flexing relative to the body at all. That's probably the most egregious example, but even in the "better" areas the animation honestly looks like complete rear end for the most part, it's more like an early 360 era title than even a PS4 game. From doesn't seem capable of moving forward at all from where they were with Demons Souls other than adding in a few polygons and a bit higher res textures. There really isn't an excuse for this, while not everyone is always at the bleeding edge, there's no one else making $60 games that has adapted this little. Madden shows more visual improvement FFS.

veni veni veni posted:

This post stinks, but I will admit that on paper there are some things in all Fromsoft games that aren't very "state of the art". But it also doesn't matter. From isn't competing with other AAA games in the way you seem to be implying. Their story isn't that of a dev trying to create a top of the line AAA technical showpiece for Sony, or MS or whatever. They started out as an underdog making AA games barely anyone cared about, and were thrust into the spotlight for doing something that (I don't think I'm being hyperbolic here) sort of changed everything. They have never seemed to give a poo poo about certain things that are becoming industry standard like mocapped faces or photorealism or whatever. So their games might not line up with some of the things you'd expect from "AAA" but it doesn't matter at all, because they have always just prioritized what they wanted to and done their own thing, and thats what got them where they are today. Not keeping up with the joneses.

Also most of your bullet points are just flat out wrong because the animation is awesome and the game looks great.

Regarde Aduck posted:

not happy about this post tbh

Xenolalia posted:

iirc From described it as "open field"

Moofia Boss Val posted:

The sci fi hollywood music was very inappropriate. Looks like another generic souls game. Only thing that seems somewhat interesting is the mounted combat.

net cafe scandal posted:

net cafe scandal posted:

You want some too?

Hogama posted:

DrakePegasus posted:

I saw a shield! Are shields viable again!? Can the ugly onus of “passivity” finally gently caress off and let us lowly swordanbords turtle in peace!?!?

Groovelord Neato posted:

Guildenstern Mother posted:

edit: I'm mostly just grumpy they didn't take the chance to maybe try out a different plot line for once.

World War Mammories posted:

WHAT IF..... the dragons and gwyn made an unstoppable tag team

veni veni veni posted:

"it's just Dark Souls" is a weird burn because that's just saying it's better than every other game already.

Relin posted:

as someone who enjoys difficult CAG i found sekiro to be incredibly hard (though i platinumed it) so hopefully elden ring takes a step (or several) back from that

Oxxidation posted:

https://twitter.com/PsiHypo/status/1403406303792406533

Raygereio posted:

I'm honestly hoping From is going back to the more slower paced combat from Demon's Souls & Dark Souls 1.
DaS3's pace never felt quite comfortable to play for me. And Sekiro looks cool in slowed down videos, but playing it was a miserable experience to me.

Groovelord Neato posted:

Which is good because "true" open worlds suck rear end.

Walrus Pete posted:

Sometimes video games are fun to play

the answer to "why" is fun

Blind Rasputin posted:

You all were posting Sekiro gifs earlier but there is a specific gif passed around that seems like its from DS3 of some (humanoid) boss jumping forward with a sword on fire, just blasting swinging sword fire everywhere in slowmo. Thats the best I can do describing it. I haven't ever been able to figure out which game/boss its from but its absolutely beautiful stuff. Post it if you have it!

Blind Rasputin posted:

I feel like somebody in this thread just said that my all time most difficult fight in gaming, with Owl Father, was a glorified QTE?? Did that happen or did I whiff my own fart

Blind Rasputin posted:

Yes!! Thank you. For some odd reason I’ve never been able to find that gif on my own and it rips so hard.

VideoGames posted:

I think someone said to me that Sekiro was not as well sold as the previous games. 5 million to DS3s 10 million. Activision being what they are they maybe thought it not worth it.

After seeing the ending I saw There is definitely room for more

huh posted:

Part 1 of a Famitsu interview someone on reddit translated:


--So, the release date and support for next-gen consoles has finally been announced. We've had coronavirus and a lot of societal instability, will you be able to meet the announced release date?

[Miyazaki] Yes, we've kept everyone waiting for a long time, but we are finally at the stage where we can anounce the release date. The entire staff is working at full pace on the final polish and development.

--This is the first interview since development of Elden Ring was announced in June 2019 where you explained the game concept. I want to go over the basic information. First of all, what kind of game are you aiming for with Elden Ring?

[Miyazaki] What we are aiming for with Elden Ring, in short, is a proper evolution to the Dark Souls series. We wanted to bring together all of our know-how we have built creating the [Dark Souls] series in terms of action, level design and world building, in order to realize this evolution on an even grander scale.

In order to do this, we of course had to have even more depth in world design and story, and we were able to bring in GRR Martin. Honestly, this was an extremely fortuitous and powerful addition.

--Did you decide on the open-world format after GRR Martin joined?

[Miyazaki] No. We had a vague idea to do this even before he joined. It would be more correct to say that his joining allowed us further shape the idea going forward, providing us a powerful boost.

--How did GRR Martin come to be a part of this project?

[Miyazaki] I was already a fan of GRR Martin's novels. Of course, I was a fan of "A Song of Ice and Fire", the basis of "Game of Thrones", but I was also a fan of Ferve Dream, the Tuf Voyaging series, the Wild Cards series, etc. One of From's executives, Eiichi Nakajima remembered this, and approached GRR Martin not expecting him to accept, but it turns out he knew about Dark Souls and agreed to speak with us against all expectations.

--You must have been happy about that.

[Miyazaki] At the time, while there was no talk about any concrete business plan, but we had an animated discussion and asked him to join us in creating this game, and he was happy to oblige.

--You've said that GRR Martin didn't actually create the world design, but wrote the basis for it.

[Miyazaki] He created the foundation for the world design of this game, would be the correct way to say it. We knew when he joined that he was extremely busy, and we also didn't want this game to follow a strict story. Also, we didn't want to warp GRR Martin's vision to fit the necessities of the game.

--You didn't want to make a traditional RPG following a set story line?

[Miyazaki] Due to certain circumstances and intentions on our part, we came to ask him to write the mythology to form the foundation for this game taking place in the distant past.

--So is it fair to say that this world wouldn't have been realized without GRR Martin?

[Miyazaki] Yes, without a doubt. The mythology he wrote was extremely fascinating. There is a mysterious depth, and the character drama is built on top of this complicated family relationship. This is a history in addition to being a mythology, and is also an epic - it provided an inspiration we had never had before.

--There is a protagonist, but they don't have a defined personality, correct?

[Miyazaki] We didn't imagine a specific protagonist in this game like we did in Sekiro, for example. Think of it like Dark Souls in that players can each create their own characters freely, with their own play style.

--What kind of person is the "Tarnished" protagonist?

[Miyazaki] It's a long story, but okay?

--Of course!

[Miyazaki] There is a land in this game called "The Lands Between" that is blessed with a golden tree. This land is the stage for Martin's mythology - a race called the Demigods received the blood of the Divine Queen Marika, and are heroes that rule this land, having received a particularly powerful blessing.

All who have received this blessing have a golden light in their eyes, but these people have lost this light. The are called "Tarnished" because they have lost this golden light from their eyes, and are driven out of The Lands Between. The Tarnished who is the protagonist of the game is a descendent of the people who were driven out of The Lands Between.

And now, when the Elden Ring which forms the source of the blessing of the golden tree has been shattered, this once-lost blessing is returned to the Tarnished who reside outside The Lands Between. It is a rumbling to become the king which beckons you to The Lands Between and to the Elden Ring.

--So the protagonist's goal is to become the king of The Lands Between they have been driven from?

[Miyazaki] That's right. That is the clear "beckoning of the blessing". In the world of this game, this amounts to a revelation of god, but it is not an absolute. Some may follow this beckoning, while some may have their doubts, it's up to the player.

Moving away from the world design side of things, this "beckoning" acts as the initial guide for the player. We wanted to have this "beckoning" to act as a simple guide so that the player doesn't feel lost with no clue where to go in this immense world.

--So there is a "beckoning" that guides the player's path, but you can choose to ignore it. So that is one of the degrees of freedom in the game, which means there might be multiple endings in this game as well?

[Miyazaki] Yes, there are multiple endings and many ways to arrive there. It's one of the characteristics of this game, and the degree of freedom in progressing through the game is much higher than in the Dark Souls series.

--That's certainly something to look forward to.

[Miyazaki] If you take boss fights for example, very few absolutely have to be beaten, and the order, or timing, is up to the player in many cases.

huh posted:

Part 2


-So the story leading up to the ending is made up of fragments pieced together by the player like in Dark Souls?

[Miyazaki] Right. Our essential approach to storytelling hasn't changed. At least that's only according to our standards - the basic parts of the story are easier to understand than before. Furthermore, the story woven together from these fragments is larger and more layered than ever before.

--So, did you oversee the game text yourself?

[Miyazaki] There is a huge amount which makes it difficult, but I try to review everything as a rule, with a large portion being directly written by me.

--Earlier you said you were aiming for a proper evolution to Dark Souls, so why isn't this Dark Souls 4, but a brand-new IP?

[Miyazaki] When we had GRR Martin come in on the project, we wanted to avoid the limitations that the world of Dark Souls would impose, and besides that, it would allow us more freedom of imagination.

We aren't slavishly tied to the Dark Souls style; on the contrary, we tried to avoid it being too much like Dark Souls, while applying our know-how to create a new dark fantasy.

--So the open field system created for this game, would you say it's different than open-world?

[Miyazaki] It depends on your definition of "open-world". The open field in this game first serves to expand the scale of the story, increasing immersion. There is a great unknown and threat in this world, and there is the thrill of feeling your way through the world, intended to bring the joy of discovery and travel. I think this is one of the joys that the old classic RPGs had, and we wanted to aim for that in this game.

--I want to ask about the gameplay - what kind of game system exists for character customization to deepen the roleplaying?

[Miyazaki] It basically continues from the Dark Souls series. Customizing character appearance, weapons, armour, magic can all be chosen freely, raising stats to strengthen your character, etc.




One of the characteristics of this, is the wealth of weapon arts we introduced in Dark Souls 3. Most of the skills in this game are not tied to a weapon, so you can try out various combinations of weapons and skills freely.

--So weapon and skill combinations are important decisions for the player. Can you assign multiple skills to a weapon?

[Miyazaki] You can assign one skill per weapon. However, you can swap these freely - there are about 100 in total. There is also quite a selection of weapons - finding your favorite combination will be one of the things to enjoy.

Also, completely separate from this, it is possible to summon spirits. You can summon these to become allies and fight with you when in the correct place. There is the same element of collecting and equipping that exists with weapons, armor, magic, etc.

--Summoning spirits - this is something new.

[Miyazaki] Yes. Spirits are basically based on enemies, and have their own individual character that is quite varied. You can summon a shield character to protect you from behind, summon archers to aid your advance, place decoys to attack enemies from behind, etc. They have many strategic uses.

--Can the spirits level up? For example, to the point where you can use them against bosses.

[Miyazaki] Yes they can. Just like with weapons, you can choose which spirits to level up. Choose which ones to level to match your strategy or preference. There are even some spirits which aren't of much use, but are quite loveable anyway.

huh posted:

Part 3


From Software games are known for their difficulty, instead of making the action easier, you take the road of increasing what the player can do in order to deepen the strategy. Is it the same in Elden Ring?

[Miyazaki] Yes, and this trend is even stronger in Elden Ring. Like the spirits I was mentioning, you don't have to rely on pure mechanical skill, but can use strategy to defeat your enemies. We are emphasizing a strategic approach to combat in this game.

--You can jump!

[Miyazaki] Yes you can. You can jump for a heavy attack, and you can jump to avoid low attacks. More importantly, I feel it allows a greater degree of freedom in exploration.

--It appears that a more active fighting style is possible, but are finger-biting tense battles still alive and well?

[Miyazaki] Yes, they are still alive and well. Don't worry about that. In addition to what I already mentioned, there is one which is a kind of counter-attack after parrying with a shield. You will have a wide variety of choices to engage in strategic and vigorous battles.

--With more choices, it sounds like boss fights are going to be very engaging

[Miyazaki] Yes. Boss fights are a special experience, one of the high points of the game. At the same time, we hope to minimize instances of being unable to advance in the game because the boss is too hard.

Like I said in the beginning, this game is designed with freedom in mind; you can put off fighting hard bosses, and some but not all bosses need not be beaten at all.

--I plan on asking about multiplayer later, but can you adventure through the game world with friends?

[Miyazaki] Yes. There are a few exceptions, but multiplayer is possible even in this wide open world. You can even go straight into boss battles together. However, during multiplayer you can't use your horse, so be warned.

--One thing that struck me about bosses is the uniqueness of each ones design.

[Miyazaki] One of the features of bosses in this game is, they are based on the demigods in GRR Martin's mythology; they aren't just enormous and twisted, but we emphasize a certain heroic and mysterious aspect. All of the demigods have their own backbone as a character which makes them more appealing characters than simple bosses.

--This may be hard to answer, of course it will involve trial and error, but how difficult will it be compared to Sekiro or Bloodborne?

[Miyazaki] That's a difficult question, but I think it will be less difficult mechanically compared to the titles you mentioned.

It may be easier to compare to Sekiro, because in Elden Ring you can choose to level up or engage in coop play. In that way, I think it's closer in difficulty to Dark Souls 3. Even compared with DS3, you have new strategic options, summoning spirits, and stealth. This along with a lower barrier to engage in coop play should mean that while it will still be a meaty challenge, you should be able to get through it.

--The game field seems to be enormous; how will players progress through the story?

[Miyazaki] Basically, we want you to explore freely. Something may happen while exploring, prompting you with further goals.

At the same time, the "beckoning of blessing" mentioned earlier will be the main story choice. There are NPCs who nudge you along this path, so you shouldn't be stuck not knowing what to do. This "beckoning" is not forced choice, so you have the freedom to ignore it if you like.

--So there will be dungeons and other special areas off the beaten path?

[Miyazaki] Yes. Besides dungeons, it might be NPCs.

--About the dungeons, besides the large-scale "legacy" areas that make up the large beats of the story, will there be places to explore in each area?

[Miyazaki] Besides the extremely thought-out vertical "legacy" dungeons that you mention, there are many small-medium scale dungeon areas. Forts, catacombs, caves, mining tunnels, etc.

We are planning to have many NPCs, but currently there are no towns or villages where they reside. There are places that were once villages, but are now abandoned and the prowling place of dangerous enemies. This is because we decided to put our development resources into what we do best.

--So these "legacy" dungeons are like the previous entries, with a vertical and complex structure?

[Miyazaki] Yes, imagine the areas in the Dark Souls series. Only this time, the scale is larger and there may be new places you can reach by jumping, which should make exploration even more enjoyable.

--Talking about exploration by jumping makes me worried about fall damage.

[Miyazaki] We've adjusted fall damage to make the game less stressful considering the freedom allowed by jumping is an important part of the game. We've made it so enemy attacks won't cause you to fall unfairly and have also adjusted the fall damage down.

--How many "legacy" areas will there be?

[Miyazaki] There will be six, what we would call "legacy" areas.

huh posted:

And some various points from reddit:


-- There are dungeons that are built with extreme care like the levels from previous games, but there are also many smaller-medium sized dungeon through out the world. There are no cities or towns with npc's, only places that used to be a cities/town. This was due to developmental resource reason, and to focus on what From is good at.

-- The main dungeons are even larger in scale compared to previous games levels.

-- There are world map, and you can see more of it as you visit more locations (again probably like SoC)

-- While riding the horse, you can easily jump up and down a small ledges in the open world.

-- There are crafting system. You gather resources and craft an item anytime. However, life related item are specials and separate from other (like Estus I assume)

-- During the night, both the player and enemy have limited vision. However, there are some signs/markings that are only visible at night. There are also some scary (strong?) enemies that only appear at night.

-- Player can create a "group", and messages and blood stains from the "group" is shown in priority compared to other online messages. They wanted a feeling of working together stronger in this game by this system. They are hoping to create a new feeling for the players compared to the previous complete random messages and blood stain.

-- There are no limit to the size of the "group" and shared through a "key word." (So we can create a r/eldenring group with keyword "potboi" or something)

Miyazaki was keep emphasizing the larger scale of everything in Elden Ring. Level Design, lore, weapon options, side activities, etc. I kind of skimmed through the second half so I may have missed some information, but tons of new stuff!

huh posted:

Part 4


--Can you reach the ends of the game map from the start of the game?

[Miyazaki] No, there are some barriers, that is to say you must overcome some areas to reach further areas on the map.

--Speed runners are going to have a field day

[Miyazaki] Yes, it's not that we have speed runners in mind, but personally I enjoy watching them, and I hope people will enjoy doing them.

--The field is clearly much larger than previous entries, will there be a world map?

[Miyazaki] Yes, there is what you would call a world map for the open field areas. You can set a waypoint, travel to uncharted areas, and enjoy revealing the map.

On the other hand, as in the Dark Souls series, there is no map in the big dungeon areas. We want you to enjoy figuring out the layout through exploration and to have that great feeling when you finally do.

--It seems like the spirit horse will be useful for this.

[Miyazaki] Travel on horseback will be limited to the open field, but I think it really feels nice. You can use your jumps to quickly jump over small differences in elevation or leap down dangerous cliffs. In certain places you can perform a large jump making exploration dynamic and vertical.

--Can items be crafted anywhere?

[Miyazaki] Yes. Various useable or consumable items can be crafted from items you find while exploring. You can replenish resources and craft items as needed. However, HP recovery is a special case in Elden Ring as well [as in previous titles].

--Is there a concept of passage of time and dynamic weather?

[Miyazaki] Yes, those are elements that change in real time. This also has an effect on the game. For example, at night visibility decreases for both you and the enemy bringing new strategic aspects to approaching enemies. There are certain trails that are more visible at night and terrifying enemies that only appear at night.

--From everything I've heard so far, it sounds like both the amount of gameplay and the field size are substantial.

[Miyazaki] Without a doubt. Our aim from the start was a grandness of scale. Suffice it to say that this is our biggest game yet.

Rather, we are now working hard making adjustments to make sure this doesn't become cumbersome. We want this to be something enjoyable for the player.

--So this is the biggest game From Software has ever created?

[Miyazaki] Yes

--What do you expect the play time to be?

[Miyazaki] I hate questions like this If you don't stray from the main story very often we're looking at around 30 hours, but to be honest I can't say for sure. We are aiming for a much larger and deeper experience where players go beyond that kind of playstyle.

--Seems the play time will vary depending on whether you play online or not. You say you are still working on how exactly coop play and PvP will work. What other features are you expecting to have?

[Miyazaki] In regards to asynchronous interactions like phantoms, bloodstains, and messages, users will be able to create their own groups.

You will be able to share these asynchronous elements while playing, and by setting groups, those belonging to the group will be prioritized and will have a different appearance.

--So you will be going a step further than the sort of loose connections in previous titles?

[Miyazaki] Phantoms, bloodstains, and messages were always left behind by some nameless player out of the masses, but by using groups this information will sort of belong to players you know. Or by knowing that it will be used by those players, there may be some new meaning or emotion attached to it, that is our aim.

It's a simple system, but we expect that it will lead to new ways to play.

--How do you create user groups?

[Miyazaki] Based on passwords. Users can set their own passwords for these asynchronous elements, so that only people that know the password become group members. There is no limit on the size of groups and it's up to you on how to share the passwords so we expect there to be a bunch of new ways to have fun.

--Hopefully this kind of system leads to a new segment of fans.

[Miyazaki] Yes. It's fun to play with someone else, so we hope to slightly lower the barriers to this.

With a game like this, people tend to brace themselves for a struggle, but we want them to know that there are many reliable people online ready to help them through the struggle. By lowering the barriers to start playing with these allies, we hope to gain many new users.

We hope it will be a game you can recommend to people interested in the world building, story, and characters but are still somehow hesitant to jump in.

--Well, I've learned a lot about the game from this talk and expectations are even higher. I look forward to the new challenge From Software has set for itself.

[Miyazaki] The entire staff is all-out working hard to make a game that players will enjoy. I know it's a bit of a cliché, but please look forward to what's coming.

quote:

[Miyazaki] The entire staff is all-out working hard to make a game that players will enjoy. I know it's a bit of a cliché, but please look forward to what's coming.