Why Elden Ring Is an Imperfect MASTERPIECE 

Shocked how 2 handing was never an option for this guy

I don’t hate the mountaintops of the giants as much as others. It is a little weaker from a gameplay perspective, with the area feeling dead to many players. However, I found the deadness to be a strong artistic choice. The world leading up to the mountaintops is super alive, with lots of little creatures and NPC’s everywhere, but the mountaintops is literally covered in corpses. It made the endgame feel more dire and tense when going through a forbidden land in which everything is already dead.

This is probably the best game that has come out in a decade

I’ll be honest, I have never heard a complaint about Godfrey the way you described until this video. His first phase is buttery smooth and satisfying, while his second phase is hectic and bombastic. I consistently see it in the top 5 elden ring bosses in every ranking I have ever seen

I appreciate this take. I feel like too many video essays on Elden Ring come off as the negative Steam reviews with 2000 hours payed. Sure it’s flawed and imperfect, but what it brings to the table in terms of game design transcends the flaws with this individual game.

its quite a pleasant surprise to see a COD guy reviewing Elden Ring

Yeah this game made me play every fromsoft game, beat every dark souls now, and am on bloodborne now. Thanks elden ring for introducing me to my new favorite genre

During my very first playthrough (fully blind), I beat the game without having any idea there was an entire dungeon hidden behind a wall in the Volcano Manor, with a massive, very important boss at the end of it, among MANY other things I missed and had no idea about. It's just amazing that FromSoftware were so confident about their product that they felt fine about leaving entire swathes of the game away from the regular players' sight unless they are willing to spend time exploring the world in depth and get immersed into it. Elden Ring is truly a unique experience, easily one of my all time favourite game - and I literally cannot wait for the expansion.

Was not expecting you to make a video about this. Glad you did though!

Thank you Elden Ring, for giving me trauma each time I hear boss music.

The best thing I can say about Elden Ring is that the world has so. Much. DETAIL. There’s batches of land that are structured in a way that feel the attention to detail applied by FromSoftware. Like a crap hidden in a lot of shadows thanks to a bunch of trees and bushes while a pond of water reflects the surroundings. It was oddly a unique sight for being so small in comparison. It’s designed in a way like real life: there’s no patch of line EXACTLY like it. While it doesn’t keep this attention to detail all the way through the game, it’s still so refreshing that an open world focused on, well, THE WORLD ITSELF.

Elden ring is so good everytime i get a cutscene in the game i get goosebumps

just got the game last week and it’s so beautiful it feels like it never ends

I watched entire hour and no mention of THE best boss, Dragonlord Placidusax :(

don't wanna be that guy but like why are you one handing weapons if ur not using anything in ur offhand? you deal more dmg if you two hand any weapon.

it’s a pretty good perspective on the game. I played a lot souls games and for some reason every game gives me distinct feelings and memories, Fromsoft magic

My brother in Christ, I've never heard that comment for Godfrey. He is the most fair and least boring boss in the entire game. Both phases. Although first phase is more fun.

Love the reviews man keep them coming 😊

I just checked your channel yesterday for a new analysis video

Nicely put video, its crazy to also think everyone had different experiences playing this game, i was dual katanas for all three of my playthroughts, decide to watch a magic user against maliena and couldnt believe how easy it was. It was my 1st from-software game and i truly fell in love can see why it was game of the year.

Just watched this full series while at work (DS, BB, Sekiro and Elden Ring). Definitely helped me get through the night lol. Nice content.

Video of the year.

WOAAHHH ch0pper is doing elden ring content now That's so nice to see. I remember when you were a small channel who played pung... It's great to see you doing new stuff and making a foret into this sort of thing, and I'm glad I rediscovered this channel!

Great video! Really like your retrospective! The Wyrm is one of the best explained reused boss, because you can yourself do the dragon ritual, where you eat the heart of a dragon! And the Ronin explains that you will turn into a dragon and lose your humanity! So the different boss-wyrms were all once a hunter like you!

Homie clearly didnt know you can two hand your great sword/halberd

In my 20 years of gaming experience this is the best RPG I've ever played. I was glued to my PC for an entire week and no other game has had that effect.

How did he miss rennala im so confused the graces litherally point you towards her when u first enter the swamp you see the big ass building in the middle of the swamp infront of you and there is that npc in the church after you beat godrick that tells you about the academy

The one sort of "defense" I always say of the repeated content in Elden Ring is that unlike alot of other games FromSoft goes the extra mile by atleast giving a lore relevant reason as to why there's so many of a thing. For example, in the lore Godfrey had 16 Crucible Knights as his personal guard and so you fight (or just encounter) all 16 of them over the course of the game.

Was not expecting this, count me in I've just recently got into this game

Really great analysis, man. I appreciate your honesty and for taking your time, as this game definitely deserves it.

horah loux has a ton of openings, almost all his grabs leaves him open and so does his melee combo and small stomps.

I like your reviews dude

Am I the only one who finds open world bosses, including Radahn, way easier to fight on foot?

I never actually played this game but chop is the goat 🐐

Liked and Subbed just for your unbiased honesty

Dude, Godskin duo is designed to use summons and NPC as Tree Sentinels are designed to fight them with Torrent. If you choose to not engage with some mechanics in the game is obvious they will be harder. You can tweak the difficulty your self if you find it to easy with summons by using less useful summons, or not summon Bernahl. But hte reality is that you are making it more difficult and unfair yourself, so you shouldn't complain.

I really want them to make a couple optional boss fights (at least 1) that is really hard like malenia. As long as it is realistically possible to defeat it, im all for it. Fighting malenia for hours to learn how moves and beat her solo was so gratifying after doing it.

Wonderful review

Beat the game 56 times... never replayed a game so much in my life. A year later, I came back and it feels just as fun as when I started.

I’ve played elden ring fully completion about 6 times, over 250 hours played. I love this game so much and never got bored of it.

Can I ask you why you use colossal weapons without double handle them?

At least this video won't get memed on, start a RU-vid drama war, and deleted after 2 days. Quality content 👌

The morgott skit had me dying Great video

Great video! I loved this game. Easily the best game in awhile in an era where games have microtransactions, incomplete, bugs and glitches etc, this was such a breath of fresh air.

I can’t wait for Shadow of the Erd Tree. I’ve fully completed ER and did 9 playthroughs before finally putting it down. I want to do another but I’m going to try and wait for DLC and start a fresh playthrough from scratch.

Just watched the entire thing. Great video! Love how you went into detail with the bosses and how you broke them down. A couple things though: First off, the attacks for Margit and Morgott are delayed for a hidden reason - it's an opening long enough to sneak in a small hit before dodging out the way. I think that's why they made the stamina recovery so fast compared to DS3. (that's all the criticism I have for your video lol) Second, I noticed that there was a certain LEGEND-class boss you did not showcase... There is another secret boss in Farum Azula at the lowest part of the dungeon. It's quite a difficult path to spot since it's so hidden, but the secret boss is so worth it. Thirdly, you have been handicapping yourself this entire time by one-handing your sword. You can actually two-hand your weapon, and if its strength scaling is good (and your colossal weapon does have good strength scaling), you can increase the damage up by a LOT.

don't fight fire giant on torrent unless his far away, also second phase you're supposed to hit his hands that he leaves open every time he attacks and takes extra damage.

Whatcha wanna do is guard counter the heck out of leonine misbegotten. Since he’s so aggressive, that move absolutely punishes him

YOOOOOOooooooooooooo! I heard "rain" from Halo ODST ost at around 5:30 that song is goated.

At 45:13 I just immedietely started compulsively dancing 😂 wasnt expecting the Persona 3 music hahaha

I like how you mention brain meds during the Godskin battle and then immediate mix up Christian Bale and Ben Affleck and say that Orstein & Smough were in DS3. lol

your complaint about combo's is really just you not being aggressive enough, a lot of them you can punish mid combo if you position correctly.

Chopper pulling through and making LEGENDARY soulsbornekiroring content lol

Even though I've never played a Souls game I had to get Elden Ring because of all the high praise it received. Sadly I couldn't even beat the first boss. Hell, it was a struggle fighting regular enemies spread across the map. I've been playing rpgs all my life but I just could never rap my head around how to play this one. Maybe I should reinstall it and give it another try. I just want to have the great experience everyone else had playing this game

That’s crazy knowing there’s an item for Maliketh. One of my favorite fights

hour long vid 🙏

Elden Ring is FromSoft's masterpiece; all of their other Souls games are fantastic but ER is just next-level. the jealousy and envy of other developers is hilarious but hopefully they'll take some notes and we can get some innovation in other genres and games.

Bro why am I so excited to watch this

I loved that morgott fight. I really enjoyed doing that one

Amazing breakdown of the game/bosses. Earned a sub from me :)

It hurts to see you one-hand all those strenght weapons especially when you don't have anything on your left hand.

One of the greatest openings I’ve ever seen!!

Elden Ring has set a standard

While I haven't played the game in a very long time Maliketh is where I finally got stuck. I may have to look into that item you mentioned.

This was completely different than most fromsoft games. I spent so much time trying to get every single thing on the first playthrough which made successive playthroughs not as enjoyable but that first playthrough was so good it made up for it. After a while I’ll go back through and it’ll be amazing

since tears of the kingdom came out, I have come to appreciate elden ring even more than I already did.

I love this channel cuz there's finally someone o can watch who play cod and souls games

I'm still kind of shocked. You never noticed renalla until you beat the game.

I love how I had to piece together the story through several playthroughs. (yes, I made a new character and went new places + old places) it was great. It was like.. you don't know whats going on until.. you know whats going on.

I just came back for my 3rd play through. Fucking masterpiece!

just found this on recommended while playing dark souls 3 in Prague

You forgot to mention the input reading that Margit does - somehow knows to save his golden knife throwing ability specifically for when I take a sip from the crimson flask.

im 470 hours in . Totally enthralled by the world and lore .

Elden Ring’s my third favorite open world ever behind Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Which makes sense given the inspiration Zelda had on ER, both are in a league of their own, flaws and all.

new elden ring dlc confirmation just dropped too.

Ur complaint ab the bosses is literally a complaint to every other open world game

maleketh is perfectly fine for melee builds, just be as aggressive as he is and get under or behind him he leaves him self open during/after a lot of his attacks, also his aoe can't hit you if you're next to his hip or behind him. He has a lot more openings than you think he does.

I swear you one handing that Ultra Greatsword is causing me an brain aneurysm. Good video essay regardless 👍

Godfrey (first part) is in my opinion the best boss in the game. Mastering his move sets, jumping over his powerful stomps is so satisfying. 😊 Radagon is also equally rewarding.

41:40 actually just to insert this tip in here. If you remember the visual queue for this earth shaking attack the best way to avoid it is when you see it going to initiate the attack. Quickly start running left or right and right before it lifts its head to initiate the earthquake jump and you should be able to avoid the damage all together

On Rykard you can use the weapon art of the seperant hunter to stun him when he does the attack to summon skulls. That interaction is the main reason why Rykard is one of my favorite bosses of Elden ring. I also think you may be able to jump that ground shock wave but I have no memory of the attack.

If the summons did not ruin the bosses this game would be perfect.

bro youre one handing the golden halberd without the stats required 😭

The imperfect perfectionist! Oh the Humanity.

My man commits crime playing ultra greatsword one handed😢

i remember the day i got the game i ended up in dynasty mausoleum at level 17

Always a pleasure to watch, your editing is always a crack up, The "gets no bitches, stacks no paper" caught me off guard😂👍🏻

I think Elden Beast is kinda cute too

Good take on casual and hardcore gamers and how these two groups approach the game's content. Edit: I do agree that some dungeon's loot, to me lots of ashes for example, is disappointing, but i never had the feeling that the dungeons were the same. The layouts were never copypasted, only rooms. What i don't like is that one can see where they cut of tunnels in caves.

My first time against Renalla, she summoned a bloodhound knight and then a spirit dragon. That was definitely something to write home about. Oh, and Godskin Combo, use sleep. Honestly, using consumables is often overlooked in this game. I've always taken the position that in a souls game, the player is supposed to be disadvantaged, so use whatever you got. Sleep pots make this fight easier.

Godfrey first phase is easily the smoothest of all the bosses

There is nothing quite like typing "Elden Ring" in the yt search bar and seeing a NEW 1 hour+ video essay.

So many people make the same “flawed masterpiece” videos about every good game that it’s just become cliche at this point.

Why isnt he using two handed in the gameplays bro 😭😭😭

Subjective opinion based on my own experiences: On your point about the end game being a lot more linear and all the bosses being kind of back to back - this was not my experience. I ended up leaving a lot of the optional smaller stuff from the rest of the world until late in the game. I'm still not done with the game (need to go back and kill Radogan and Elden Beast eventually) but I took a detour from Farum Azula immediately back to Liurnia and Altus Plateau to continue stuff I didn't do, and start filling out the map more. I think this is largely because I rushed through some earlier parts of the game, despite traveling an unorthodox path. For example, I accidentally discovered Liurnia before I even attempted Stormveil, and I accidentally discovered Altus Plateau through the side path that leads up these cliffs - because I was just picking a direction and moving in it. As a result, I ended up having opportunities to come back later and rediscover stuff that it seems like most people experienced as their linear progression. I will say, though, since I'm over Level 150 now, much of the super early bosses that I had left (some of the Evergaols for instance) are excruciatingly weak, and I can take them out with three or four blasts. Throughout most of my playthrough, I've taken a very "explore a route until I get bored and then go explore a different route, then come back later" approach. It's kept the game feeling very fresh. I ended up going to Raya Lucaria super late in the game (because I just never found the key, didn't realize until I noticed the treasure map I'd picked up and sought it out). Today I flipped back and forth between Limgrave, Liurnia, Altus Plateau, Farum Azula (to revisit and find Alexander), Consecrated Snowfield (for Ordina), and the Haligtree. In all cases, I've found things that I didn't even realize existed before. For instance, this afternoon I went back to the very first starting area (the Stranded Graveyard), originally intending to finally complete the Fringefolk Hero's Grave, but realized after I got there that I had too many runes to feel comfortable going down there, and decided to head further back into that starting room with the cave of knowledge. I discovered that there's an item up on a cliff! Couldn't get to it though... So I started trying to work out how to get there, and thinking about how low that area is relative to the surface of Limgrave, went to the south of the chapel and discovered an entire beach I'd never realized I could get to. In fact, I only realized I could get there because I saw an enemy walking around. Went on a little jaunt through that part of Limgrave, found items I'd never found before, and made my way down into this beach which felt really fresh, and got myself that Haligdrake Talisman (or whatever it's called). My point is, I think the game definitely has capacity for the kinds of open-worlding that you describe being missing from the end of the game, and I think it entirely depends on how the player chooses to approach the game. I'm 200 hours in and still haven't finished the game, despite essentially only having "one boss fight left" (or two if you count them as separate). But I still haven't killed Rykard, or Melania, or even Loretta. There's still a number of caves I'd never seen, including tunnels and catacombs I found today which I didn't even know existed. Turned out I'd never even been to the center of Altus Plateau with the minor Erdtree.

One thing I can think of that I thought was massively under-utilised was jumping. In the early game and some of the mid game, jumping acts similar to sekiro’s jump counter system. When characters do sweep attacks you jump over it and maintain aggression. It makes it so you can choose to stay close and keep attacking if you memorise the bosses attack pattern, it adds more choice to the fight and it makes fights faster and more fun. So early on I was dodging and weaving and punishing and it was awesome. But as you get later on there’s some moves that visually sweep but you can’t jump over, and later on there is basically nothing you can jump over to dodge apart from one or two attacks, sometimes you’re even punished for trying it. The only mid to late game exception I can think of is goldfrey in the capital. So the games movement returns back to dark souls 3 roll spam but with less attacking and more getting one shotted. Eventually you just abuse jump heavy attack and that’s basically the beginning and end of jumping in Elden ring. I think they tried to add it as an evasion option, but it faded into the background as they finished more and more of the game and it just ended up as a new way to deal too much damage and poise faster than last time. It’s not a bad mechanic, when I first saw they were bringing back the cool Sekiro jump mechanic I thought that the combat would revolve more around player- boss feedback. I just think it sucks that this gets basically abandoned half way through the game

Love your fromsoftware reviews. Just finished them up

I love that persona 5 music in the background.

Personally I visited and beat every dungeon and boss, collected just about every weapon/spell, armor I just wanted to do and collect about everything that I could in my very first play through. I didn’t summon help for any bosses on my first play through because I wanted the self satisfaction of beating everything on my own on the first go around. But now my character is on NG+ 3 and I’m just doing things to get the last of the trophies

I could absolutely see my kid having an Elden Beast plushie. He is not scary at all lol