Elden Ring

[ShiraNoMai]

I'm curious how large the numbers are for this test. I imagine a LOT of people would have signed up for this considering the large amount of hype around this game.

[Dragon Lord]

They'll probably let a good amount of people into it. They want to do a stress test of the online servers, so they're going to need quite a bit of traffic to really gauge how good the servers will handle the load.

@Moonface - I don't know if PS4 and PS5 can play with each other, but I hope so at the very least. This is the first instance where the same game has been on different gens, so it's hard to tell what they'll end up doing. They released Dark Souls on PS3/360 and then Dark Souls Remastered on PS4/XBone, but those were still different versions of the game. Same goes with Dark Souls II on PS3/360 and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin on PS4/Xbone. Different versions of each other. This will be the first time we'll be seeing a Fromsoft game with co-op release on two different gens at the exact same time.


At the very least PS4/PS5 should be able to play together. I think most other online games that are on both PS4 and PS5 allow playing with each other.

[Moonface]

@Dragon Lord: I expect the reason those games couldn't play together is the difference in how PS3 games and PS4 games are made and coded. I don't think any games on those two systems could play together except for maybe LBP3, but that game uses a shared server which probably helps and the online content can be read on either copy even if it was made in the opposite one.

I won't be surprised if gameplay footage comes out in that upcoming State of Play. There's no NDA on this network test so gameplay will clearly come out, so may as well just show it off officially before then.

[Dragon Lord]

I think it'd have more to do with the differences between the versions.

Both Dark Souls and Dark Souls II (PS3/360) were 30 FPS locked. Meanwhile, Dark Souls Remastered and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin were 60 FPS. I believe this is likely one of the biggest reasons for them not allowing the two to play together. Since the games include PvP, you can't really have one side locked at 30 while the others are at 60. That's going to cause a lot of problems.

Scholar of the First Sin also changes many things about original Dark Souls II (item placements, placements of NPCs blocking your path, etc.), so that would create problems since PS4 players would have access to different items at different times than PS3 players.

Elden Ring will be the same for both PS4 and PS5, so I can't imagine why they wouldn't let the two play together. Unless there's going to be a FPS difference in the two versions again, but at this point in the PS4's life, coupled with the fact that Fromsoft got DSR and DSII: SotFS to 60 FPS on PS4, there's no real good reason for Elden Ring not to hit 60 as well.

I'll have to look into whether or not the PS5 version is a native PS5 version as well, and not just "play the PS4 version on your PS5!", as that could also be a determining factor in whether or not the two player bases are separated or together.

[Moonface]

I'll have to look into whether or not the PS5 version is a native PS5 version as well, and not just "play the PS4 version on your PS5!", as that could also be a determining factor in whether or not the two player bases are separated or together.

It appears Bandai Namco confirmed during the announcement for the network test that there is cross-gen support for multiplayer, but not cross-platform support. So it seems both versions are likely to be at the same FPS and it'll just be loading and visual fidelity that are the key differences.

[Dragon Lord]

Alright, that means if we all get into the network test, we could try out some jolly co-operation in it, and since testing the servers is the whole point of the network test, we can actually contribute something to it!

Though of course that depends on if any of the times the tests will be done would work for all of us. Me being on an overnight schedule may complicate the chances of that happening.

[Moonface]

These are the official times for the tests:

Session 1:
Friday, November 12, 7:00 - 10:00 EST
Session 2:
Friday, November 12, 23:00 - 2:00 EST
Session 3:
Saturday, November 13, 15:00 - 18:00 EST
Session 4:
Sunday, November 14, 7:00 - 10:00 EST
Session 5:
Sunday, November 14, 23:00 - 2:00 EST

I think I translated the times correctly from their Japanese time stamps. The only times I'm going to be able to play are from Session 3 onwards because of work.

[Mr EliteL]

If I do get in and try to play with Moony, only Sessions 3 & 4 are good for me then. Session 1 included if not with Moony, but in any case 2 & 5 I just can't do for time reasons.

[Dragon Lord]

Unfortunately my current work schedule only goes to November 11th, so I'll have to wait until Friday to know if I'll have any of the days off for the network test.

If I do, then these ones would work for me:

Session 2 and 5 pending I have those nights off of work.

Session 1 and 4. I I have the night off, I can be there for the entire thing. If I don't have the night off, then I'll miss the first hour to hour and a half of the network next, as I don't get off work until 6 AM and that's when the tests will start those days, and I don't get home until closer to 7 AM.

Actually, I don't believe that I work November 11th, so Session 1 will work for me at the very least.

[Moonface]

Well, sign ups are officially closed now so I hope everyone got in. Now to wait until the 9th to see if any of us got codes.

Also, I don't know if anyone else heard about it, but 27 seconds of raw gameplay got leaked a little bit ago. I didn't post it at the time because I figured it would a) die everywhere and cease to exist and b) gameplay would come out at that recently abysmal State of Play. But looks like some videos of it are still alive on YouTube so if you want to see it, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWfdhS-g...Fighter.PL
I'm not embedding it so that way even the preview image doesn't spoil anyone who wants to stay 100% blind.

[Mr EliteL]

I'll stay blind until the 9th. Well if the short clip of gameplay that is, unless I don't get a code then I will watch it.

[Moonface]

So if you don't want to watch leaked footage (that isn't even very good), From Soft have announced that 15 minutes of gameplay will debut tomorrow!

[Moonface]

Elden Ring Gameplay Preview


I didn't realise this happened almost three hours ago now, but I just watched the footage and my excitement for this game just increased dramatically!
If you're curious what the video covers before watching it, here's a basic breakdown:

• World showcase, with minor combat scenes
  
• World traversal, with a focus on horseback riding and how the game handles that feature when the terrain features a lot of verticality
  
• Stealth, combat, and a brief look at a boss fight in co-op
  
• Catacombs and dungeons, with a small sectional look at one of each
  
• Another boss fight
  

Overall, I'd say it doesn't spoil much, since even when a boss or dungeon is shown, I doubt even a quarter of the full content is being shown.

Here's a look at the stats a character can have: https://i.redd.it/tvxulkw36lx71.png
Someone has also stitched together everything that was shown of the world map screen: https://i.imgur.com/0kEVsOE.jpg


As for my thoughts on what was shown, I love how the combat takes cues from everything FromSoft has done before but blended together with some new stuff to make something that looks incredibly intricate and diverse. World exploration excites me the most, because I love that in games like Breath of the Wild and this game looks to be filled with tons of stuff to find and do. That dungeon near the end looks like a place I could get lost in for hours just searching every nook and cranny.

If any other game in 2022 can deliver something that challenges this to the GOTY crown I'm going to be very impressed and depending on the game, very excited too.

[Dragon Lord]

As much as I am hyped about Elden Ring and think it's going to be an absolutely amazing game that will be worth playing for hundreds of hours, I unfortunately think it has no chance at winning GoTY. Not when it has to complete against two media darlings in Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok.

As much as I'd LOVE to see it beat those games (especially Horizon, because I have never hidden my extreme dislike for Horizon Zero Dawn and how overrated I think it is), I just don't see it happening. God of War Ragnarok especially has too much hype around it. I could see that game winning on name alone even if the game itself ends up being a huge disappointment compared to its predecessor.

Also I really hope Fromsoft does this open world right. Nearly every open world game is just a gigantic wasteland filled with barely anything to do (Breath of the Wild) or filled with copy/pasted content (Skyrim) that it just ends up sucking.

[Moonface]

I forgot about Ragnarok. I can't see Forbidden West taking many awards though because although Zero Dawn got a lot of nominations, it barely won many of them outside of "Best Original X". I also forgot about BotW2, but the only way that's winning is if it addresses the issues BotW had and/or because it'll be the Nintendo darling of 2022. Elden Ring may do to that game though what BotW did to Zero Dawn, where one highlighted the problems and shortcomings of the other.