First impressions and on the fence:

I am an older gamer and a father of 4 boys. Elden Ring was the first game for me in the "Souls-Series" that I have really played. I did buy Dark Souls 3 and try to play that once it released on Steam, and it took me nearly 3 hours to kill Gundyr; only to find myself constantly invaded, and relentlessly killed when I was trying to play with my youngest son, Griffin afterwards. Needlessly to say, I quickly put that game down and moved on with my life. Years later, my sons showed me Elden Ring and I fell in love with the trailer. My wife encouraged me to try it and be open; maybe this would be a better experience. Time would tell. My gamers of all age and creed, I have put in 1000 hours in and I have no intentions of stopping.

I told myself that I would give an honest review from my point of view if I ever played the game for 1000 hours.

Arising as a Tarnished:

I can safely say that this game is one of the best games that I have ever played in my life; I have played many. I have experienced such a range of emotions of this game, and no matter how many times I failed at a boss or a mechanic, I always knew that I could better myself if I applied myself; a nice lesson learned in life that transcends quite well into the gaming universes. Once I was able to get my noodle around the mechanics of this game, I fell in love and I could not put it down; I still cannot. You just have to be patient with yourself and believe in yourself. That is one of the many cornerstones of life that leads to success and in these Souls games, it is no different. You can quite literally play the game however you want. Any build you can think of, any style you desire, you can do it here. Your limits are only set on your imagination and will power. I have created many different kinds of builds for my complete playthroughs and I never get bored beating the games and repeating the content as a different character from the hit MOBA: League of Legends.

Support beyond the Fog:

As an older gamer, and father of 4 boys, my time is limited, and it is always an opportunity cost when learning how to play a new game. The community that surrounds Elden Ring are amazing as well, which was very strange at first. I did not expect a game, that is heavily singleplayer, to have an immense amount of care, and support from a community. From this community, the amount of resources of knowledge and guidance they give, often reminds me of my first time playing Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest and the original World of Warcraft. From wikis to video playthroughs, and everything in between, anything you could possibly want to know, and answers to the questions that you did not think you could have, the community has your back. Keep this in mind if you are ever stuck in this game, or on the fence about this game. The resources are there for you, the support from the community is there for you both in and out of game. Shout out to Fextralife, Fightincowboy, Giggathiccas, Onion Samurai, Titus Actual, YMAH (the goat), and Steelovsky for helping me in all aspects of the game. If you are ever struggling, please look any of those up on how to better yourselves in PvE or the PvP Aspects of the game.

A Seamless Land, that is as vast as the oceans

When I reached the 25 hours mark, I told my wife that this game reminded me a lot of Nintendo's 1998 hit classic "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time". That world space was so vast for its time, it was like nothing that the world of gaming has ever seen before. Seamlessly wondering around, adventuring around, didn't matter if you got lost or hit a dead end, I was so engaged back then to explore and find what wonders and secrets held, low and behold, Elden Ring delivered that same experience that I had in my youth. That was so captivating for me and it really left an impression on me of what it means to explore in a game and actually enjoy yourself. It has been literally decades since any game has been able to deliver that experience again and trust me, I have bought nearly all those AAA open world games that have sucked in comparison on delivering a wholesome experience.

Final Thoughts

When I buy a game, I invest my hard earned money AND my limited time in it. I expect to have a good time with my family and friends that also play that game. I took a leap of faith with this game; especially after my first experience with a FROMSOFT game was quite miserable (LOL not anymore, I have nearly 100% Darksouls III and absolutely love the Dark Souls games, yes including DS II). Needless to say, this game has not only surpassed my expectations, but it has been quite sometime (I would say 5 years) that I have thoroughly enjoyed myself playing a game. Gamer-Rot is a hard experience to endure and live through as a passionate gamer, and Elden Ring got me out of it. Elden Ring has paved the road for me and my sons to spend more quality time together. Thank you Elden Ring.

Try Finger, But Hole.