If you are struggling on a boss, all you have to do to get passed them is just GIT GUD.
Seriously bunch of filthy casuals around here. DISGUSTING!

With all jokes aside. This souls-like, like previous titles from FromSoftware, are well designed immersive environments that really puts the players in a fantasy world. And unlike previous FromSoftware titles, the game gives the player the tools to over come difficult obstacles and the freedom of choice to move around the map and explore if the player finds something that's to difficult at their current state in the game. Apart from other adventure RPGs currently being release, such as the Horizon series and God of War games, Elden Ring DOES NOT hold the plays hand throughout the playthrough. This is the greatest breathe of fresh air I have had the joy of experiencing in a game since Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild, where the main objective is made clear, but it's the player's choice to decide how to get there.

| Main Objective |

Like Breathe of the Wild (BotW), the main objective of the game can be completed without doing the any of the side content ie. dungeons, catacombs and mini castles. However the joy of this game is exploring those areas. Although you could rush in and complete the mandatory bosses that enable you to finish the game, like rushing into fight Ganon in BotW; doing the side portions helps the player gain the tools to defeat bosses around the world easily, and in turn the later bosses at the end of the game (similar to defeating the four divine beasts in BotW). The freedom of this choice that FromSoftware has chosen to go with for the player experience, is a game choice that you rarely get to see in games that are being made in current triple A titles. There is a indescribable joy that comes from learning and figuring out secrets by yourself and at your own pace, and not shoved down your throat with quest markers like the Assassin's Creed franchise, Far Cry, and other poorly designed Ubisoft games in past years.

| Graphics & Art Design |

I've seen on multiple threads of people discussing the current engine that the game uses for its graphics to be out dated. Which I will have to agree. The engine used seems to be a modified version of that used in Dark Souls III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. However as seen in previous FromSoftware games, their games are clearly not designed with the purpose to break some sort of new graphical milestone. FromSoftware chooses to let the art design of world's environments, landmarks, bosses and design of NPCs to help convey the games story, rather than making rather arbitrary things such as grass and trees "look realistic". With that said, FromSoftware's choice in colors and unique set pieces makes the game look and feel like a long forgotten distant land. I can say confidently that anyone who enjoys playing games in general already knows this, but the overall gameplay and art style can elevate a game way farther than just graphical fidelity alone, and with Elden Ring this is no different. I wasn't playing through the game thinking that the mountain or castle didn't look "realistic", I was to busy exploring and trying to piece the story together based on the environmental story telling that FromSoftware uses. If you are concerned about the graphics, simply just play a different game, if something just as trivial as graphics keeps you from playing an almost perfect game, then all I can say is you're missing out.

| Story |

Like in previous FromSoftware games the story is not told in the traditional sense. The game uses item descriptions and NPC dialogue to help convey the game's lore and story. With that said unlike previous FromSoftware games, the story and main objective and reasoning on why the player tarnished is collecting the shattered rings and trying to become Elden Lord is made clear, IF you are constantly interacting with NPCs. Just like other souls games, it is the players responsibility to uncover the story. And for new people to FromSoftware games this may seem odd. This form of unique and cryptic story telling is why these games are a joy to play. Even at 150 hours, at the time of this review, there is so much that I still don't know about the game's story. And this is where this game's community comes together to uncover the games story. It isn't hard to say that this is the reason that so many people, including myself, enjoy these types of games. The sense of mystery that the story leaves is similar to the developers giving the players and jigsaw puzzle and purposefully leaving out pieces, and its up to the players and community to find the missing pieces and interpret the holes in the story. And just for that alone, I would recommend Elden Ring. Asking yourself, "Why" or "What did I just do?" at the end of a game isn't bad story telling, as some people would like suggest, its a form of story telling that leavings the player wanting answers, wanting more and its something that you don't find in many games to date.

| Multiplayer |

I have little experience with the multiplayer, so I'm not going to say to much on it, but the little bit I did use I did find it a little difficult at times to find friends and random summon signs throughout the playthrough. This could be the fact the the population of Japanese players are possibly lesser than that of the states so in turn not as many summon signs. Adding to that, I did experience times where I would try to summon other players, the game would give me the prompt immediately "Unable to Summon" when attempting to connect with another players worlds. This could be my own internet, but I have seen threads discussing the current problems with the multiplayer system and the difficultly connecting other players worlds. And no I'm talking about the use of summon signs, summon signs are unique to the game's lore and aren't the issue themselves, however I do think there could be a better way of implementing this feature that I won't discuss here, but just know that this is what I found in my playthrough. Use this information when you decide to get this game if co-op and multiplayer is your main intent of playing the game, but it my have been my region and/or internet that caused this and you may have a different experience than myself. And if this is a well known problem, I would be certain that FromSoftware will make a future patch fixing this, as we have already seen them patch multiple issues in the game since launch.

| Conclusion |

I just want to say that a new title hasn't held my attention for this long since the release of games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Sea of Thieves (Pre Pirate's Life Update). Its rare for me to enjoy a game nonstop like this, and I know for me this game still holds so much replay-ability as each playthrough is different from the next; trying new and different ways of overcoming difficult challenges in this game is a joy and uncovering the story's hidden lore. This game has been worth every penny, or in my case every yen, and will continue to for years to come. No game is perfect and not every game is made for everyone, however anyone can beat a FromSoftware game. From my own personal experience these games will give you so much satisfaction from overcoming certain trials that you may encounter, but only if you are willing to learn from you mistakes, have the patience and persistence to overcome challenges, and the curiosity to discover.

Elden Ring is going down as one of the greatest games of all time, despite jealous game developers or crying haters who don't have the brain capacity to walk around Tree Sentinel.

This game doesn't hand out victory, you have to earn it! Anyone, and I mean anyone, can claim the thrown of ELDEN LORD!