Jeff, Jeff, and Jan Talk About Elden Ring!

IGN gave it a 10 Masterpiece.

That upload was quick. Good timing.

Edit: Them talking about and praising the game for being non-linear, meaning it doesn't tell you where to go and lets you explore and find things yourself, is interesting. I guess Square Enix should make a modern Romancing Saga or Saga Frontier sequel, because non-linear RPGs are quite popular in Japan, but were hated in the States... possibly until now.

Something must be wrong with my brain, cause hearing them start off by saying how they just got lost and wandered around a bunch got me more hype than anything else I've heard about this game has yet.

BoTW was a pretty good time after all.

Ive played and finished all the sekiro soulsborne games several times plus DLC. I. am. ready. Notepad at my side.

Is it possible to get the "talk about" videos in the podcast feed? This is an HOUR. I'd love to check it out on my drive.

I am ready.

These are the type of in-depth discussions I would like around a games release. Thanks @jeff for trying to make this more of a regular type of video on the site. This is far more useful to me than a review. Keep up the great work!

I understand Bakalar being upset about not having time to dedicate to a giant game. But it's why I skip games like Horizon, Dying Light, etc. Just doesn't fit into my life. Though I will play Elden Ring, as the more linear From back catalog has me hooked on their stuff.

Interesting discussion. Seems like so many reviews are done by superfans. This is a bit more level-headed.

Tell me another story of the Shepard, Elden Ring

I doubt this will be fun at all for me since I can't use a controller these days and dark souls on keyboard mouse is always terrible. Last time I tried to use a controller my hand hurt for 3 days after 20 minutes. I wish someone who made a controller asked people with arthritis "does this feel like your hand is on fir3".

Another game just for healthy gamers a lot of us can't play. Sigh.

@csl316: I understand a normal person not having time but someone who works in video game journalism should have time.

botw is the only open-world game where aimless wandering was enjoyable (with the possible exception of skyrim circa 2011 but i mean it's 2022 and it's showing its age at this point), so all this talk about being lost is actually making me more excited to play elden ring

Agreed. I came here to get a viewpoint that might be more similar to my own, since the big Souls fans are gone from GB. My history with the Souls games is very similar to these guys: appreciation without fandom. I love Tamoor, but hearing that he loves this game doesn't really mean much to me. If he didn't like it, now that might be something.

It seems like there are just enough bones thrown to those of us who haven't been able to really get sucked in before between checkpointing, horse riding, fast-travel, etc. that this might be the one. Or this will just be another From game that I have thought was the one.

It's such a shame this is releasing so close to Forbidden West. I can't wait to explore this world and was having a ton of fun with Demon's Souls PS5 prior to Forbidden West coming out, but I just don't think I can finish Forbidden West and then leap right into this. I'm also not sure I'll be finishing Forbidden West in the next, oh, 40 hours of gameplay after already clocking 40?

It's just so hard to watch Jan fighting some of these bigger enemies with the same old "hack their knees and cheeks until they evaporate" I've done over and over in Bloodborne and now Demon's Souls when I've been having this epic battles with complex, multi-facted enemies like Tremortusks and Thunderjaws. It just looks so dry by comparison, even though I know in practice it's quite exhilarating in its own way.

And yes, I realize the irony in the fact that probably 80% of the enthusiast gaming public is writing the exact same thing with everything reversed (ie. I say combat, you say exploration).

I played DS2 (needed a mod to fix some issues, admittedly) and Sekiro on KBAM just fine, had a grand old time with the latter.

@tayliastwist: yeah, all I want to do is walk around and get lost, find random weapons and level up slowly.

@jeff Yeah, if you've got the urge, finish Bloodborne. There's something more-ish about it which the other From games lack, for me. It's probably the rally mechanic keeping you in fights and giving you the luxury of pushing your luck.

@csl316: I just came from this same video uploaded to YouTube. And there are so many comments mad at Jeff G for "hating" the game. It feels like if you aren't doing the "Hey Guys! Let me tell you about this Amazing game I've been playing. It's gonna change your life!" YouTube shtick, people think you're hating.

@mordja: Thanks, I'll have to try it before I concern myself about the difficulty of the controls. The IGN reviewer made a comment this game had some of the hardest bosses of any game From Software has made which has me a little "eh....do I want that?"

To be honest with you, I don't want EASIER games. I want better feeling control options and developers to make sure they provide adequate PC controls. The answer here isn't a 'story mode' for me or something like that, it is just the hope that the keyboard/mouse controls are manageable in a way that feels good to play and not having to rely on a controller (which ends up being a worse solution) to do it.

I really liked seeing Jeff G's impression of the game slowly change throughout the recording of this video. It's really exciting to watch people come away with a more positive opinion of a game just by talking about it and swapping experiences. Great discussion, gang.

Also, I will never get tired of Jeff G reacting to someone playing a FromSoft game and getting their shit caved in. The part where Jan got shot off his horse reminded me of "Ben surprisingly gets parried to death in Sekiro" from a few years back. I can't wait to get absolutely wrecked so I can save a clip and send it to my friends.

Every Souls game prior was not good and I didn't like BOTW. This definitely looks like the fusion of both, which will either combine into the worst game of all time or solve the problems of both. No in-between. I hope there will be a more in-depth look soon-ish. As much as I'd like to believe, this exact circular discussion was part of the problem in previous games. Looks the part though. Content is back baybee.

Huh, Jeff is kinda right about George RR Martin's hand thing. Jaime loses a hand, Theon has his hands severely disfigured in the books, Stannis cuts off Davos fingers, and Littlefinger's nickname.

Very good discussion! Especially cool because the three of them come from such different backgrounds at the game regarding FromSoft's oeuvre.

I totally want to see a parody From game in the style of one of those frictionless Ubisoft-style openworld games like Horizon or Dying Light 2.

• Combat nun sheathes her gigantic mace when she sees those weather balloons: "Hm, don't have the right tool for that." Ughhhh
• Click the right stick to activate your Rune Sense to see all the crafting material in the world.
• Climb a castle to populate your map with a bunch of icons leading to even more crafting material.

Tamoor loved it- no surprise there (10 - Gamespot). I love the Souls games, did about half of BB and didn't really dig Sekiro. I am STOKED for this one. I think it's atmosphere I enjoy the most.

This looks like just the right panacea to the banality of Horizon, that game looks beautiful and the story is compelling enough - but it all feels sorta rudderless to me, I still don't care for the mechanics at all. I like the game ok, but it does really feel like just another AAA game albeit one with a narrative that's above average. I can't get myself to give a shit about crafting new gear or getting use out of whatever abilities I unlock and so on.

This was a great discussion though, a lot of what is shown and said here has me really exciting to sink my teeth into this one. Might be the first game in a long time, over a year probably that I really do that for.

This is how the open world game design should be, no lame waypoints like in ubisoft games.

No fuckin overload of bulshit UI and all that nonsense.

It makes world alive and keep the sense of mistery and exploration alive.

Looking forward to putting 30+hours into this thing over the weekend.

Fantastic video.

Kinda funny Jeff didn't realize the light beam waypoint thing when I thought that was obvious from when they showed it in the first trailer.

Also feel Bakalar/Jan were kind of overselling how much of a commitment this it, Horizon 2 and Dying Light 2 will probably take most people about as long.

Fuck, I wish i could be back in high school and having a time to beat it.

The emperor has no clothes.

I can't wait for the Elden Ring pros to get broken on Arcade Pit hehe.

As an unabashed fanboy of the King's Field games, I loved how @jeff said at 53:59 that "Finally they've reclaimed the King's Field roots by putting more 'field' into it." Put that on the back of the box! :-D

Man, I hope you guys stick with this, because I always enjoy discussion about these games, from people that aren't already big fans (like I am).

Also I can't wait to get my hands on this myself - yes, time is an issue, but fuck it. I'll make time for this.

I took off a week of work for this game. Bit of a gamble, but seems like it paid off.

JESUS IM SO EXCITED

i BELIEVE IN YOU JEFF B

Jason could NOT be contacted, as all messages with him revolved around "I found this HUGE hammer!".

Love seeing the team talk passionately about a new release, been missed the last year or so.

Elden Ring looks cool, was apprehensive but the reception has been on the level of Breath of the Wild, near universal praise which is so rare.

This is what I'm here for. This is the kind of video game content I enjoy.

@steveurkel: I played through all of Sekiro via mouse and keyboard. I'm planning on playing Elden ring this way as well, though we'll see how it turns out. Either way, It can be done, especially with the more modern From games (I mean, the first dark souls was still really broken on PC years after release, and you needed 3rd party fixes to even make the game remotely playable. Sekiro was just fine on PC for the most part).

On an AV note, Does Bakalar sound a little hot on this recording to anyone else? I've noticed this on a few videos recently. Sounds like his audio is distorting a bit.

Do I want to watch this? or am I expecting another video of Jeff G shitting on an exciting new game because it is popular lol?

I like this video, although I did listen to it more than I watched it because I want to be surprised when I play Elden Ring for myself.

Nextlander has been doing a thing, whether conscience of it or not I'm not sure, where the three of them go off to play a game, hopefully to completion, so that they can ALL talk about it together. They did it with FF7 Remake and Resident Evil Village. This prevents the age-old Giant Bomb thing of one person talking at everyone else about a game that they're playing and/or enjoying and hoping that the rest of the team has interesting questions to ask about the experience, but what often happens is one or two people chime and the others may very well have left the room. It's why the BotW and Phantom Pain-centric podcasts are some of my favorites. Granted, I'm aware that it takes special games with universal appeal for this kind of content to exist.

This sure does look like a Souls game! People who love 'em will love it and the rest of us will be left scratching our heads. Which is fine, actually.

Also, point of order, that horse is not a horse, it is a yak.

One of the more important aspects of soul's games, not pointed out often enough, is the player's ability to overpower content through trying something different. This is how I got into these games. I sucked at melee. So I played as a mage caster class. Over time this taught me how to play because I made progress, and was having a blast. I then went back, and melee was way easier due to learning timing.

There is no right way to play. Lure big bosses off cliffs, cheese stuff. It's an RPG, learn the systems, and have fun. Fuck the noise.

I really like this style of discussion, always good hearing the guys go in-depth on something. I'm very curious to see how From have pulled this one off (which seems to be the initial response across the board), because I don't think we've seen many games that handle a low-key open world like BotW's in a way that encourages and rewards exploration the way that game did. But it makes sense that From would be the kind of team who could pull that style of design off.

Every time Jeff B talks my sub woofer goes crazy because of the bass from his phone/mic setup. Kinda funny