Those struggling to wait for Elden Ring's release are going to be dealing with even more hype, as the review embargo for Elden Ring has lifted, revealing what critics with early copies of the game think of FromSoft's latest game. We're not even three months into the year, and we might already have a GOTY on our hands, as Elden Ring's reviews are outstandingly, overwhelmingly high right out of the gate. With just less than 100 individual reviews, the game is sitting at an average score of 97--higher than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, higher than The Last of Us, Persona 5, Metal Gear Solid V, and other titles that tend to sit atop "best game of all time lists".

In fact, Elden Ring is now the highest-scored game of all time critically, tied with 2017's Super Mario Odyssey. This is at least going by OpenCritic's more modern standards of review aggregation--over at Metacritic, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time still confidently reigns supreme with its 99/100. Regardless, the results are in, and it appears Elden Ring might be one of the greatest games out in the past few years. Are you even more excited to try it, or are you going to wait to see what the fan consensus is after launch?

Now the #1 game of all time: pic.twitter.com/UAZClQnKGf

— OpenCritic (@Open_Critic) February 23, 2022

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Elden Ring will be out on February 25th, for PC, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.

 

[Scarlet]

To me it just looks like Tolkein/Elder Scrolls type of fantasy, and the fighting mechanics of Souls games still haven't grown on me. In your mind, you think you have an objective reason why everyone should like this game. I just don't find it very appealing. I find it kind of strange that there is so much invested in the hype of it from people who have yet to play it.

I don't like watching people play games either. Maybe I have peculiar interests.

People throw around objectivity too much when it comes to games and reviews. Some people will like some games and others won't. That's all there is to it. There's no objective right or wrong here, and that's fine.

If you want to talk objectivity, then we can look at the facts of this thread. A significant number of people who were provided a copy for the purpose of review prior to the game's launch enjoyed it. That's it. Does it guarantee you, or any other person will enjoy it? Of course not. But you can read the words and assess why each person enjoyed it and see whether it marries up to your definition of enjoyment.

I don't understand the arguments around liking and not liking a game. It really is fine either way, and there's no shame in not liking a popular series, just as there's no shame in liking one.

 

[Xzi]

But the "heavy" character movement/combat (same old souls stuff) is already a big "no" to me.
It feels almost exactly like playing the heavy hitters from Dynasty Warriors, like Xu Zhu and Meng Huo.
Horse movement looks fine though.
So his "wow, what great combat!" tirade is already laughable to longtime Musou players.

Character movement and combat are based on the weapons and armor you have equipped, they're not static.

Dynasty Warriors is a button-mashing hack n' slash. I don't find its combat challenging at all, it's designed so you can literally turn off your brain while playing.

This review goes on about how "big" the game is with 100 hours.
I've played RPGs much longer than that.

Yeah and all of them were about 50% filler and empty space. This is a densely-packed world with unique points of interest every ten to twenty feet.

He also has the balls to say it's "the best ARPG" ever. Even Kingdom Hearts 2/BBS has a more satisfying combat.

Lmao now you're just trolling. Kingdom Hearts is "good" across the board, but I wouldn't say there's anything in specific it does better than every other game.

It's funny that he says nothing about the plot in a freaking RPG.

That would be considered spoilers. Suffice it to say the story is more straightforward than the Souls games, akin to Sekiro in that sense.

Also, I'm a fan of cell-shading and color, not blood or the darker monsters/zombies usually present in modern WRPGs.

Uhh...this is a JRPG though.

 

[SG854]

People love to just toss any critical opinion aside because "muh shill" and "lmao paid off". That kind of brushing off is always eyeroll worthy.
Click bait also makes no reasonable sense here. There is an embargo that the reviewers agree to. They have zero idea what others are going to score it. Even if someone gave Elden Ring a 7/10 and people called it clickbait, that writer would have had no idea of the rush of 10/10s that were going to happen.

From Soft games come from Bamco publishing and while they're a large company, the PR firm they have handling their games only does PR for them. Reviewers wouldnt lose out much by "angering" them theoretically. I'm not saying it never happens, but I am saying it's laughable for people to claim that Bamco needed to pay people off or leverage taking away review codes from outlets over a game from one of the most beloved developers in modern gaming. Elden Ring was always going to score high. But it seems very well like it earned that higher than average score.

How much were you paid to say this? I'll double it.

 

[64bitmodels]

Lmao now you're just trolling. Kingdom Hearts is "good" across the board, but I wouldn't say there's anything in specific it does better than every other game.

kingdom hearts is better at being unbelievably autistic, moreso than nearly every other game released
seriously, who thought mixing disney and JRPGs was a good idea.... it looks so fucking dumb

 

[gohan123]

It's graphically a 10/10 no doubt. What a gorgeous looking game. First of this gen to look this clean IMO.
But the "heavy" character movement/combat (same old souls stuff) is already a big "no" to me.
It feels almost exactly like playing the heavy hitters from Dynasty Warriors, like Xu Zhu and Meng Huo.
Horse movement looks fine though.
So his "wow, what great combat!" tirade is already laughable to longtime Musou players.

This review goes on about how "big" the game is with 100 hours.
I've played RPGs much longer than that.

He also has the balls to say it's "the best ARPG" ever. Even Kingdom Hearts 2/BBS has a more satisfying combat.
It's good if, and only if, you like this kind of sluggish combat Souls game have. I don't.
It's funny that he says nothing about the plot in a freaking RPG.

Also, I'm a fan of cell-shading and color, not blood or the darker monsters/zombies usually present in modern WRPGs.

In summary, this is a really good 8-9 game (/opinion).
I also think people throw 10/10 too easily though.

To me, 10/10 means "this game can hardly be improved on all areas. It's reached the zenith of perfection for current tech."
With this combat and no plot mentions, I already think a 10/10 is overrating it.



Not everyone will share your tastes, bud. Souls game aren't even that good as far as I am concerned.
And as I also said, even with my tastes, I find this better than the emptiness called Zelda BotW.

musou and great combat, omg I think I'm suffocating. I doubt that most people in this thread actually ever gave a fair chance to a souls game. but I still think, elden ring is proably a bit overrated. every open world game nowdays gets overrated.

 

[SG854]

kingdom hearts is better at being unbelievably autistic, moreso than nearly every other game released
seriously, who thought mixing disney and JRPGs was a good idea.... it looks so fucking dumb

Emo Mickey. Nuff Said.

 

[64bitmodels]

musou and great combat, omg I think I'm suffocating. I doubt that most people in this thread actually ever gave a fair chance to a souls game. but I still think, elden ring is proably a bit overrated. every open world game nowdays gets overrated.

finally, someone who realizes how dumb the open world trend is. a tighly designed open ended linear level will always be a more fun experience to revisit than any open world. Sonic 1, 2, 3, CD and mania, as well as wario land 4, 99% of metroidvanias, prince of persia and a bunch of others i'm probably missing are proof of this

 

[Xzi]

every open world game nowdays gets overrated.

Every open world game from a developer that's never done one before, maybe. People are well and truly tired of Ubisoft-style open worlds, and if that's all Elden Ring was, it would've reviewed in the low 80s at best.

 

[64bitmodels]

Every open world game from a developer that's never done one before, maybe. People are well and truly tired of Ubisoft-style open worlds, and if that's all Elden Ring was, it would've reviewed in the low 80s at best.

sandbox games like GTA, Saints row, Prototype, infamous, and a bunch of others make for far more better open worlds to play than BOTW. when you've got a sandbox full of people, activities, and stuff to mess with, you'll stay far more entertained than traversing a big giant open grassland with hardly much to do. this is why BOTW and quite a few other open worlds i can think of like every single ass assin's creed game suck

 

[gohan123]

finally, someone who realizes how dumb the open world trend is. a tighly designed open ended linear level will always be a more fun experience to revisit than any open world. Sonic 1, 2, 3, CD and mania, as well as wario land 4, 99% of metroidvanias, prince of persia and a bunch of others i'm probably missing are proof of this

hey, sonic team finally cracked the code. we might now see the first 90% rated sonic 3d game!! thanks to the open world design!

 

[64bitmodels]

hey, sonic team finally cracked the code. we might now see the first 90% rated sonic 3d game!! thanks to the open world design!

wooo yeah can't wait for BOTW but it's sonic..... Utopia achieved that better in 2016

 

[Xzi]

sandbox games like GTA, Saints row, Prototype, infamous, and a bunch of others make for far more better open worlds to play than BOTW. when you've got a sandbox full of people, activities, and stuff to mess with, you'll stay far more entertained than traversing a big giant open grassland with hardly much to do. this is why BOTW and quite a few other open worlds i can think of like every single ass assin's creed game suck

Correct. The most important question devs need to ask themselves before committing to an open-world design is: do we have enough stuff to fill it with? Shrine quests in BotW got pretty repetitive pretty quickly, AND they were too few and far between. Not to mention you got the same reward for completing each of them. Every single dungeon and area of the open world in Elden Ring rewards you with different weapons, armor, weapon arts, flask components, etc. And all of these meaningfully impact the way the game plays, should you choose to use them.

 

[Chary]

every single ass assin's creed game suck

AC 1 and 2 gave the illusion of open world. They were moreso hub cities packed with stuff and giant blank stretches between them to give the illusion of a giant game world. Wasn't until later games that they went full tilt into. "open world"

 

[64bitmodels]

AC 1 and 2 gave the illusion of open world. They were moreso hub cities packed with stuff and giant blank stretches between them to give the illusion of a giant game world. Wasn't until later games that they went full tilt into. "open world"

i stand corrected

 

[SG854]

i stand corrected

How does it feel to be p'wned?

 

[the_randomizer]

if you don't see how this is a huge innovation on what the current soulsborne games laid out... I don't know what to tell you

The link in the OP doesn't really describe how it is, so..

 

[AlexMCS]

Character movement and combat are based on the weapons and armor you have equipped, they're not static.

I got that. Just like... Dynasty Warriors.

Dynasty Warriors is a button-mashing hack n' slash. I don't find its combat challenging at all, it's designed so you can literally turn off your brain while playing.

You're just telling me you don't actually play the games. Specially the earlier ones on harder difficulties + lower levels.
'Souls' got nothing on DW3XL later stages on hard.

Yeah and all of them were about 50% filler and empty space. This is a densely-packed world with unique points of interest every ten to twenty feet.

That's nice, like I said, but not exactly new or riveting content. I got that from WoW, Horizon and many others.
What's actually great on Elden Ring is the graphics + vertical design.

Lmao now you're just trolling. Kingdom Hearts is "good" across the board, but I wouldn't say there's anything in specific it does better than every other game.

RPG combat action, but as have outed yourself as saying DW is "mindless", this opinion is expected.

That would be considered spoilers. Suffice it to say the story is more straightforward than the Souls games, akin to Sekiro in that sense.

Story beats or overall sense is not spoilers. The total lack of commentary on it is at least weird, but that's kinda the norm for most WRPGs.

Uhh...this is a JRPG though.

It's an WRPG through and through. It has to do with style, not country of origin anymore.
The same way we have tons of indie western JRPGs.

musou and great combat

It's literally the reason the genre exists today, more than 20 years after the first game.
Iterated revisions on the core of the game, the combat.
At the very least, it's better than "souls' " or this game's.

 

[ZeroT21]

Yup, all we need now are more clones

 

[the_randomizer]

kingdom hearts is better at being unbelievably autistic, moreso than nearly every other game released
seriously, who thought mixing disney and JRPGs was a good idea.... it looks so fucking dumb

Do you have to be ableist about it though? Oh you want to know what's objectively shit? Zombie horror survival games and TLOU2 and Naughty Dog in general.

 

[SG854]

Yup, all we need now are more clones

Oh No!
Attack of the Clones!!!

Order 666 has commenced. 666 Reviewers will give this game a good score.