Vermintide 2 Just not my kind of gameplay.
Elden Ring.
Waited all year until it was on sale as I thought it might not be my cup of tea, tried not to let my prejudice get the better of me but felt it was such a drag I had to put it down.
It was recommended to me as I like Zelda but it couldn’t be further from the things I like about it: innovation, fluid gameplay, freedom, puzzles, multiple ways to tackle enemies.
I don’t think it’s the difficulty as I play lots of roguelike and bullet hell games. My main gripe is the clunkiness of the combat to the point it’s unfair. Like you don’t really stand a chance through reactions alone, you have to learn the patterns and hitboxes of enemies so that you know in advance when to react.
Also I kept hearing how good the graphics are but I think they’re kinda average although the actual art style is quite nice.
Any suggestions on how I might enjoy it would be much appreciated as I haven’t got very far.
I think it sounds to me like it just isn’t your thing. What you’re describing as a frustration is what I love about Elden Ring, you have to figure out every enemy and learn their patterns in order to succeed so every enemy is like it’s own little puzzle to solve. There’s no secret to avoid that part of the game besides maybe building INT and just avoiding fights which does not sound fun tbh
This. I think people who enjoy it see every enemy as a puzzle. Even developing your character is a bit of a puzzle, figuring out what stats suit the weapons you like and the play style you’re aiming for. Conversely, Zelda is incredibly simple and boring to me. Most of the fights are boop boss on the head 3 times, or throw their own bombs back at them 3 times. The only Zelda I enjoyed was the first one.
I don’t find Elden Ring puzzling, but maybe I haven’t played enough. From what I’ve seen so far it’s more trial and error and than figuring stuff out, which I find boring.
Skill trees in general I think are bit of a cop out in most action games, let alone having to decipher them. I’ll reach for 4X games like Stellaris or Civ if I want to sit and think about how stats affect outcomes.
Yeah boss battles are usually pretty easy in Zelda, as you say, 3 hits and done most of the time. They’re traditionally about getting the player to master the technique or item you’ve just unlocked. Have you tried running straight to Ganon if BotW or tackling The Depths in TotK though? I don’t think either of those tasks could be considered simple.
Surprised you only like the first one, the games are constantly innovating in terms of gameplay and design, but the first is a pretty standard affair. A lot of the time the simplicity is what enables the fun, fluid gameplay as with most games Nintendo put out.
If I want a challenge I’ll play online shooters or pretty much any roguelike where when I die I don’t come away feeling it was unfair. Tbh I think I just don’t enjoy modern action RPGs in general rather than it being a specific Elden Ring criticism. I find they try to cater to lots of mechanics that other games implement better but fully aware that’s an unpopular opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I have not tried those things in BotW and TotK. I got to the water temple in Ocarina of Time and got bored, which I heard was common - sincerely tried to beat it because my childhood friends love the game and were excited for me to get through it. Played 10 mins of Majora’s mask and BotW. Watched a bunch of videos of BotW and the new game of people doing cool stuff with bombs and gliders. Just not for me I guess, but I totally see the appeal of them.
I can definitely see your point about modern action RPGs catering to lots of mechanics that other games do better and the genre is saturated now with different souls-likes that lack any kind of innovation but I guess they are safe to make due to their popularity.
Whoever thought you might like Elden Ring because you like Zelda is not a true friend. There’s really not much similar with the gameplay loop.
You’re right that the gameplay is more about learning and recognizing patterns of enemies and adjusting to them so if that doesn’t appeal to you you’re probably not going to like it. With that being said though, your first soulslike is always the hardest and if you stick with it they are very rewarding to play once you know what to expect.
Cheers, probably just not for me then.
It sounds like you probably had the wrong expectations of what the game was going in. These games can be frustrating under the best of circumstances, but are very much “tough but fair.”
If you choose to give it another shot, look up a build. The weapon scaling system is a little obtuse and if you’re pumping levels ups into str and using a dex weapon you’ll do no damage. Whatever you do, put a lot of points into Vigor. Get it to 40 at least after you have the stats to equip your weapon to increase your health because defense is mostly cosmetic in these games. Other than that, you get i-frames on your roll and the game rewards aggressive play so learn to roll into attacks and not away if you’re not using a shield.
I expected it to be difficult with a possibility of not enjoying it but seemed pretty popular so thought I’d give it a go.
Will give your suggestions a shot but I find everything about it obtuse to be honest. To me good game design lowers you gently into mastering the controls and ramping up difficulty, not just chucking you in at the deep end with confusing menus so it’s on the player to look everything up.
Like you don’t really stand a chance through reactions alone, you have to learn the patterns and hitboxes of enemies so that you know in advance when to react.
Yep, Elden Ring (and all soulslike games) are basically just guitar hero with a shitty interface. And way more grinding.
It’s not actually challenging just memorization. Elden Ring is basically like speedrunners being able to play Mario with their eyes closed.
Weirdly I like Guitar Hero, but think that’s mainly down to enjoying the songs and playing with friends. Scraping through Cliffs of Dover on expert was enough Eden Ring for me lol.
Main point in enjoying soulslikes is the approach. Modern action RPGs are very fast paced, very direct in their approach “hit A - enemy dies - get dopamine”.
To make it work, slow down. Treat every enemy as a real threat, not filler between bosses. Pretending they are all real players and not bots might help. Keep your distance, bait out several attacks, see how they behave, carefully close in and make your move. Don’t get greedy on the offence and only attack when the enemy opens and then break the distance again.
Also as others mentioned, game makes you commit to any actions you take. When you attack the enemy, take responsibility of every button press. If you start mashing, the game punishes you fast and hard.
I don’t have the best reaction speeds, but I was able to steamroll most of the bosses under 10 tries, so the game is definitely not the “die until you memorize the moveset” type. If you play patiently and carefully build up your character it is definitely possible to tackle most threats on first sight.
Edit: Also, if you’re on PC I don’t mind giving you a hand sometime and playing together a little
Yeah think you’re right, I like fast-paced games where I can enter flow state quicker and I never was one for grinding up a skill tree in order to progress unless the grinding itself is fun/fluid.
I prefer actively attacking enemies with a bit of running away and dodging where required as opposed to patiently dodging waiting for an opening to attack.
Thanks for the offer, I would have taken you up on that, unfortunately I have it on Xbox, not PC.
Enshrouded. I’m on a 5600X and a 6800XT and no matter the settings or reported FPS I feel like I’m running on 30-40fps. Also for some reason the distant LODs look like garbage, nothing like the gameplay I’ve seen in review videos.
Devs confirmed it was a bug with the camera but they did not know what caused it. Engine is entirely in-house so hopefully they fix it soon.
The only thing I managed to care about so far was building a nice cave home with a huge great hall and ruining the scenery by building a giant Peter Griffin pixel art outside.
Update on this, devs have “kinda” found a fix but need to do large scale testing. They have said that they will release a separate beta branch on steam to opt-in to if you want to try the fixed fps issues.
“Mario is Missing” for the SNES.
I remember opening the Sears catalog and seeing what must be the sequel to Super Mario World. I shovelled driveways and busted open my piggy bank - it was a full price Nintendo game and I had to have it.
I started my subscription to Nintendo Power after that…
Oh I feel your pain.
I was in a video rental store, saw “Mario is Missing”, and like you assumed it was a sequel to “Super Mario World”.
Got home to play it and was just flabbergasted. I don’t think I played for more than an hour before complaining to my parents. Luckily they’re nice people and they had more errands to run that day. So back out we go, back to the video store we end up, time for me to pick a new game to rent.
Oh, “Mario’s Time Machine”, now that’s a Mario sequel guaranteed to be fun.
Mario and I were not on good terms for a long while after that.
(For those not in the know, “Mario is Missing” in an educational Mario game about geography, think Carmen Sandeigo but not fun. “Mario’s Time Machine” is basically the same game, but time.)
Diablo 4.
I played like 10 hours, then realized it was really fucking boring. It felt soulless. Uninteresting.
I actually dozed off at my computer playing D4, something about the mindlessness of it just lulls me to sleep.
Animal Crossing is my favorite sleepy time game, but Diablo gets me nodding off like it’s downtown Kensington
