I love the fact that this game is not story driven. It makes the open world more enjoyable and real. Instead of rushing from place to place and big moment to big moment just to chase the story, you move at your pace and explore and create the experiences in "your" story.

AgBQ-00 said:

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I love the fact that this game is not story driven. It makes the open world more enjoyable and real. Instead of rushing from place to place and big moment to big moment just to chase the story, you move at your pace and explore and create the experiences in "your" story.

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To bolster your point, and I like a good story in my games, I've been playing the latest Deus Ex game because it comes with the PS sub. It's ok but I DNF'ed the game last night because it's almost literally all cut scenes and laptop mini game hacking. Finally just got fed up with sitting there listening to conversations and the only action being computer hacking.

So, in order to not pay full price for Crimson Desert and preserve my ethics I bought Elden Ring on sale. I may end up rage quitting that since it is a Souls game but it's supposed to be more forgiving than the others. If I end up rage quitting, I will capitulate and buy this game.

I could not tell you what the main story is in CD. Maybe something about rocks falling out of the sky? I'm only on chapter 5 though. Most side quests are dumb.

Non-boss combat is trivial. I can just hold down the primary attack button and kill everything if I'm being lazy. I don't even have any special weapon/armor.

Bosses have been pretty easy so far. Every boss has been one shot with no pre-battle prep except for the plant thing and that was not fun at all. Trying to grab its eye/crystal is a crapshoot. Most of the time you grab it but then it breaks free and hits you hard because you can't let go and dodge fast enough. Maybe I'm missing some mechanic but I would like combat to be more deterministic. (actually that robot excavator boss thing took me several tries but most of it was just getting used to the controls)

Honestly, I'm treating this game as just a sandbox. I sit down with it each time and just do something. Do the abyss puzzles (man they seem endless), explore, do side quests, do main quest, figure out base camp mechanics. I don't think there is one aspect to the game that is excellent other than they crammed so much stuff in into a big detailed world. I don't even think the world is that beautiful artistically but do appreciate how they made it come alive with all sorts of vegetation and wildlife.

It's a remarkable achievement that this dev studio is able to create something like this and has set a new standard for a game engine.

Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time so that's my measuring stick. I'm not a big fan of open world like RDR/GTA but CD has been the best so far of this genre. You can tell both ER and CD have been a true labor of love which I greatly appreciate.

BenFiasco14 said:

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Ok I got this and am loving it.

The criticisms over the controls and lack of story are over blown in my opinion, especially the latter.

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That's good to hear about the controls but if you are a left handed KBM player its still a non-starter until they allow mapping of the wasd keys.

Hopefully they get around to that soon then I'll buy.

On the story part - seems like some people want story, some just want everything else. I'm one of those that usually just glosses over the story as much as possible because even the best PC game story is usually still pretty blah.

YouBet said:

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AgBQ-00 said:

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I love the fact that this game is not story driven. It makes the open world more enjoyable and real. Instead of rushing from place to place and big moment to big moment just to chase the story, you move at your pace and explore and create the experiences in "your" story.

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To bolster your point, and I like a good story in my games, I've been playing the latest Deus Ex game because it comes with the PS sub. It's ok but I DNF'ed the game last night because it's almost literally all cut scenes and laptop mini game hacking. Finally just got fed up with sitting there listening to conversations and the only action being computer hacking.

So, in order to not pay full price for Crimson Desert and preserve my ethics I bought Elden Ring on sale. I may end up rage quitting that since it is a Souls game but it's supposed to be more forgiving than the others. If I end up rage quitting, I will capitulate and buy this game.

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Yeah, I think I remember you tried to play Persona 5 at some point right? And we're like "why the hell am I going to class and cleaning bathrooms". Might be someone else I'm thinking of.

CD has enough of a story where there's a legit plot going on but cutscenes are extremely rare.

Elden Ring was so good I beat it twice from scratch characters. If you run into something that's too hard, you can just go work on a different area and come back, until you are focused on progressing main story. Its a hard game, but (mostly) fair.

I can't tell if you like this game or hate it.

BenFiasco14 said:

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YouBet said:

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AgBQ-00 said:

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I love the fact that this game is not story driven. It makes the open world more enjoyable and real. Instead of rushing from place to place and big moment to big moment just to chase the story, you move at your pace and explore and create the experiences in "your" story.

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To bolster your point, and I like a good story in my games, I've been playing the latest Deus Ex game because it comes with the PS sub. It's ok but I DNF'ed the game last night because it's almost literally all cut scenes and laptop mini game hacking. Finally just got fed up with sitting there listening to conversations and the only action being computer hacking.

So, in order to not pay full price for Crimson Desert and preserve my ethics I bought Elden Ring on sale. I may end up rage quitting that since it is a Souls game but it's supposed to be more forgiving than the others. If I end up rage quitting, I will capitulate and buy this game.

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Yeah, I think I remember you tried to play Persona 5 at some point right? And we're like "why the hell am I going to class and cleaning bathrooms". Might be someone else I'm thinking of.

CD has enough of a story where there's a legit plot going on but cutscenes are extremely rare.

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Ha. Yeah, that may have been me. I generally do not like doing day to day human mundane tasks in my game.

YouBet said:

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I can't tell if you like this game or hate it.

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haha... I wouldn't say I love it but I can see how some people would absolutely adore it.

For the money, yes it is worth it. It will occupy a TON of time. But, I can't point to one single thing I love about it. I don't love the combat or the puzzles or the quests or the bosses. Dialogue pacing is horrible. Even walking/riding while exploring is clunky. I haven't had a moment of "wow look at that" but plenty of "wow, they added that into the world" moments.

All that yet I'm still playing it!

Cromagnum said:

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Elden Ring was so good I beat it twice from scratch characters. If you run into something that's too hard, you can just go work on a different area and come back, until you are focused on progressing main story. Its a hard game, but (mostly) fair.

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I'm fine with hard if it's fair and doesn't leave me totally in dark like other Souls games I've started and then immediately had to search on internet to find out what to do only to find out...it's just hard and you are f'ed.

The bosses you're talking about...are you talking about the periodic "harder" npc in the world? Or are you talking about the bosses like the Sword of Atumbra or the Staff of Atumbra, Ludvig etc?

ETA: Just wondering. Because I agree with the "hard" mob type leader guys. But the main bosses have been pretty good challenges for me.

Haven't seen those yet so maybe I'm not there yet?

Of the bosses I've played and heard people had a hard time was the mask dude which I one-shot not knowing anything. I hope any future bosses is no where like the stupid plant one.

Learning about the research mechanics. The Village you cant get to at first because the forest people knock you out is a really nice place to start. Have self refilling arrows. It produces so many I have had to sell bundles to make room in my inventory a couple of times.

This build looks super fun.

The combos you can come up with are limitless. Saw a video this week of a guy in what looked like a Blue Man Group outfit

AgBQ-00 said:

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The bosses you're talking about...are you talking about the periodic "harder" npc in the world? Or are you talking about the bosses like the Sword of Atumbra or the Staff of Atumbra, Ludvig etc?

ETA: Just wondering. Because I agree with the "hard" mob type leader guys. But the main bosses have been pretty good challenges for me.

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Just beat the Sword of Atumbra. Not a bad fight at all but once you know the moveset, super easy. I'm surprised using the shield is very useful. Can block almost every chain attack and then you go in for a few stabs (palm, strong, normal, normal). rinse and repeat.

Yeah. Once I was able to time and interrupt his major heavy attacks I was able to stun and chain together some combos and knock him down quick. But it was a fun boss fight.

Upcoming updates/patches. They are going all in on making this an evergreen game it seems like

Something I saw last night as I was exploring a cave. I held up my lantern and noticed the forcepalm leaf appeared really small on a wall. So I went over and latched on and forcepalmed it and it spun me into a treasure chest room. Not sure if it works on all such walls, but something to keep an eye out for.

Quote:

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We are carefully reviewing your feedback about controls. To provide a better gameplay experience, we plan to add customization options for certain controller inputs. We will also expand the range of configurable keys for keyboard and mouse to improve usability.

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Great! Sounds like they'll fix the keyboard mapping problem - I'll finally be able to play this! Hopefully in April and not June!

The txt link: https://crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com/en-US/News/Notice/Detail?_boardNo=82

So apparently there is an extra puzzle after you purify a sanctum by putting it back together and making a witch happy. There is a dial that you activate and then have to synch up timing of your blinding flash as it rotates. I gotta go back to ones I missed.

as a souls fan, I'm glad CD has at least these types of boss content. While so far they aren't as good as souls games (less interesting bosses and not very epic), it's another feather in CD's hat. So much content that gamers will find something they like.

The one I'm looking forward to is the Sauron looking boss. That one is going to be pretty hard for me

What are we picking up from the ground here, folks? I normally grab marigold whenever I see it to make Palmer pills, but there are so many different flowers, herbs, and critters I usually just end up crowding my inventory.

Granted, I only have a few alchemy recepies at this point.

I have not delved into alchemy much. Normally when i do it is the basic stuff for palmar pills etc.

I actually prefer liberated areas to stay liberated, but I guess I'm in the minority on that. Is there a reason they are resetting in this game?

Having said that, nothing stays liberated in Elden Ring which I'm currently playing, but you kind of need them to respawn to get the experience so you can continue leveling. Is that the same concept here?

I dont think that's forced, but im not 100% sure

I'm trying to hurry and beat Doom: Dark Ages so I can dive into this.

I think it allows you to continue to get Abyss Cores so you can keep levelling.

AggieMac06 said:

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I think it allows you to continue to get Abyss Cores so you can keep levelling.

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Ok, so similar to ER then.

YouBet said:

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I actually prefer liberated areas to stay liberated, but I guess I'm in the minority on that. Is there a reason they are resetting in this game?

Having said that, nothing stays liberated in Elden Ring which I'm currently playing, but you kind of need them to respawn to get the experience so you can continue leveling. Is that the same concept here?

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There was a complaint from a person that played the game for 230 hours (yes, 230 hours), and said he only had a few bosses left to beat, but since the map doesnt repopulate, the game felt empty. I think the devs hyper-reacted to this corner case and allowed this type of thing to keep people happy, but it seems like it was unnecessary. Just my opinion, but if people want to smash a button to repop the map and have more fun after TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY HOURS....okay.

Game on.

Just buy it already, YouBet. You'll love it. I was skeptical at first, but now I'm drowning in just getting in and playing. It's fun.