Is Elden Ring the best Souls game in your opinion?

Don't know yet and I honestly don't know if I'd be able to choose. I love them all.

Not only is it better, its miles better than the rest. The variety in everything (be it spells, enemies design, bosses, biomes, weapons, moves, etc) is unmatched.

Objectively, I would say it is. Personally, the first Dark souls will always have a special place above elden ring.

1. Elden Ring
2. Dark Souls 2
3. Dark Souls 1
4. Dark Souls 3
5. Bloodborne/Demon Souls

The "manticore" had to sneak in some bashing on GOTY sony exclusives.

That was my list. Has nothing to do with Sony. Bloodborne is on PC too. You should have mentioned Halo instead.

Yes. I absolutely had a blast playing it and there was so much content in this one game. Took me 166 hours to get through it all in one playthrough and I think I may have missed some minor optional stuff (like a few caves here or there). I am genuinely surprised at how good this game is in a time when games are very run-of-the-mill for the most part. From Software really knows what they are doing with the Souls formula.

The other games are great too, but Elden Ring just has so much in it and a lot of it is great stuff. Best game I have played in a long time.

Yes, I would say that it is. The biggest gripe that I have with the game right now is that it is too long, but it's not grindy long like a lot of games are so much as it just has so much content. I am hoping that the dlc doesn't add any new areas, but instead takes all of the repeat bosses throughout the game and gives us new, unique bosses to fight in those locations instead. That would be amazing.

Yeah, I think that it is.

Objectively Speaking, Bloodborne was the soul game for me until Elden Ring just walks over it. So this is how ER stands out for me:

1. Elden Ring
2. Bloodborne
3. Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice
4. Dark Souls 3
5. Demon Souls

I had no idea that was a souls game. The more you know! I bought it but I have never played it.

1. Dark Souls

2. Elden Ring

3. Bloodborne

4. Dark Souls III

5. Demons’ Souls

6. Trash

7. Dark Souls II

I have yet to finish Elden Ring, but I don't think it'll end up being my #1. I'd rank them thus after playing ~40 hours of ER, which is about how long it took me to beat the previous games (haven't played Demon's Souls):

1. Dark Souls 3

2. Dark Souls 1

3. Elden Ring

4. Bloodborne

5. Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls 3 to me is still the pinnacle of the series, great bosses and level design, and it learned some of the lessons from Bloodborne in adding some more aggressive enemies and just felt a bit tighter overall than the first two DS games. However, I prefer the flexible builds and variety of Dark Souls over BB, especially since I like to turtle with a shield and approach fights slowly/tactically. I liked that BB pushed me to change up my playstyle but it never fully won me over and I think its a hair overrated, mostly by Sony fannies.

Elden Ring to me feels a bit bloated. Exploring the big open areas gets a bit tedious. and I think they should have revamped their quest system; the cryptic quests worked OK in their previous games since the areas weren't that huge and you could sorta figure them out but in the huge open world of ER they feel so obtuse that I either look them up or don't bother with them. I also feel the average quality of bosses is lower in Elden Ring compared to their previous games (barring DS2) and there is less originality in them so far. definitely more of a Quantity vs. Quality approach.

My favorite parts of ER are the levels that are basically Dark Souls levels embedded within the open world. I hope they go back to this more focused style of level design in the future.

Yea yea, nothing to do with Sony, we believe you. DkS2 in front of BB. Good one.

hard to say. when it gripped me it got me like no other souls game has before. but there were peaks and troughs, it didn't flow as well as other fromsoft games. when it lost momentum it took effort to get it back and the further i got in the game, often the shorter it lasted. currently in my second playthrough. bloodborne and demon's souls remake edge it currently but could easily change the more i play

ER > DS1 > BB > Sekiro > DS3 > Demons > DS2

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

1. Elden Ring
2. Dark Souls 2
3. Dark Souls 1
4. Dark Souls 3
5. Bloodborne/Demon Souls

The "manticore" had to sneak in some bashing on GOTY sony exclusives.

That was my list. Has nothing to do with Sony. Bloodborne is on PC too. You should have mentioned Halo instead.

Yea yea, nothing to do with Sony, we believe you. DkS2 in front of BB. Good one.

Your manticore work is always shite🤡

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

The "manticore" had to sneak in some bashing on GOTY sony exclusives.

That was my list. Has nothing to do with Sony. Bloodborne is on PC too. You should have mentioned Halo instead.

Yea yea, nothing to do with Sony, we believe you. DkS2 in front of BB. Good one.

Your manticore work is always shite🤡

Dude, I am so good, it's crazy. You want my number? How do you like your eggs in the morning? Overeasy or fertilized? ❤️

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

@hardwenzen said:

@x_hedon said:

That was my list. Has nothing to do with Sony. Bloodborne is on PC too. You should have mentioned Halo instead.

Yea yea, nothing to do with Sony, we believe you. DkS2 in front of BB. Good one.

Your manticore work is always shite🤡

Dude, I am so good, it's crazy. You want my number? How do you like your eggs in the morning? Overeasy or fertilized? ❤️

Manticore btw

Do you love me?

I like 343i more than i love you. Let that sink in for a second.

I'm of the belief that all Souls games suck equally.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

I think Sekiro is a better, concise experience tho. Same with Bloodborne.

Elden Ring is def the best iteration of the pure Souls formula.

That hurts my feelings. You know, if we met in real life, we would totally hang out. Play games, have a beer. Check out chicks. Bros before hos my friend.

Since everyone is giving their list, i have to do mine.

1. Elden Ring and Demon's Souls from 2010. Because Demon's was my first, and that game was unknown to most gamers, exploring it felt special and unique. Even tho Demon's is inferior to ER, the experience of playing the game back then was amazing, and the only Souls game that can match ER.

2- Bloodborne. Now imagine Bloodborne 2 as an open world concept that allows you to explore the whole city. Damn bruh

3- Dark Souls 1.

4- Demon's Remake.

5- Dark Souls 3

6- Sekiro. A very good game that should be way above, but because it didn't have rpg mechanics i want to see in a Fromsoft game AND had no pvp (pvp would be shit in a game like that, anyways), it simply didn't offer me enough content compared to the rest.

7- Dark Souls 2 lul.

Its good to know that you understand how bad 343i is😎

Yes and no, the formula isn't as fresh when Souls games were making waves but it does offer most of what these games have built upon, built for newer systems. Dedinitely feels bigger and offers more exploration. I do kind of feel like it offers less in boss diversity though. Tombs start to feel the same for instance.

Yes! It is the best for me because I had no desire to replay the other games. Besides, the bar is very low for souls games.

The best Souls game was made by Team Ninja.

Nioh is better than all of them.

Nice joke.

Extremely repetitive and uninspired level design that makes you replay the same levels starting from every corner of the map. They even re-use the same maps in the sequel, imagine that.

Copy pasted enemies with the exact same animations even in the sequel.

Random weapon drops that add absolutely nothing to the experience. Feels like a mechanic from a phone game.

Nioh ain't got shit on any Fromsoft titles, EVEN Dark Souls 2. They have a good combat system, but everything else is ranging from "aight" to trash.

Elden Ring is objectively better than all of them. Subjectively, I see a great argument for Bloodborne being the best, and something I might agree with.

DS1 is still the best. Demon Souls is still the worst.

People voting "no" just to be controversial. We all know and accept that Elden Ring is the ultimate magnum opus from Fromsoft. Time to move on.

@hardwenzen: Elden Ring has too many flaws. It did good on making the game easier though.

You know what has many flaws? BOTW.

@hardwenzen: Not as many as Elden Ring. But that’s one thing Elden Ring has going for it, it does good coping off Zelda.

BOTW is not even 1/4th of what ER has, and it has more flaws. I hope BOTW2 is better, but since its made for the same 2005 hardware, i doubt they'll be able to do much. I think you agree with what i said.

Nothing like that first time playing Demons Souls. A whole genre was born from this game and the opening music still runs through my head on the reg.

@hardwenzen: We feel your pain mate. You spend so much time making fun of Nintendo and Zelda games. Yet your favorite game is a game heavy inspired by Zelda and Nintendo. 🤡

I am not making fun of botw. I am simply reminding you that its not even 1/4th of what ER is. I think its easy to understand🙃But you have finally experienced ER, you already know how far ahead this game is when compared to anything Nintendo can even make.

@hardwenzen: Sorry mate, BotW will forever be the greatest game ever made. One day you’ll enjoy such greatness. Until then, enjoy playing games inspired by the master.

Stop lying to yourself, you've done it for long enough. Just like Infinite, botw has just one biome🤡

It's probably the top for myself. The other Souls games were great to explore, but ER really took it above and beyond. Bloodborne would be close, but i'm furious there hasn't been a PC or a 60fps/frame-pacing fix on PS4/5.

Bloodborne's aesthetic and atmosphere are still the best.

Absolutely not.

More is not necessarily better. The game feels bloated beyond belief. There’s like a 80-100 hour game here stretched to over 300 hours (with multiple playthroughs because screw you) and most of the game is filler. Like imagine taking Portal 1, but taking all the puzzle rooms and adding huge boring ass fields between them. Pointless padding and the game feels less immersive than either Dark Souls 1, Bloodborne, or better open worlds like BoTW, Witcher 3, Morrowind, or even Stalker (nothing beets the immersion of Stalker. Would love to see these “git gud” apologists take on the Misery Mod).

The legacy dungeons are wonderful, however. The game goes from least favorite to favorite as soon as a legacy dungeon like Stormveil Castle or Raya Lucaria are involved.

@organic_machine: They love to claim get gud, then cry when easy op builds get nerfed. I hope the bleed and faith builds get nerfed next. And I hate having to play the game so many different times to try different builds and weapons. Make it like BotW where I just upgrade health and stamina and the weapons and armor etc do all the rest. The being stuck to only certain weapons and builds is getting old.

In my opinion it is without a doubt. I find most other Souls games extremely boring but I am still having a good time with Elden Ring.

Heretics must be purged.