I know this has already been suggested by others, and I’ve upvoted those posts, but I’m making my own in the hope that it reaches more people. RNG has completely killed the game’s replayability for me after finishing it. Now that I want to experiment with different weapons and builds, everything feels blocked by RNG—RNG in drops, RNG in enchantments, RNG in nearly every system.
On top of that, so many things in the game are locked. Why? It feels like the game actively discourages experimentation. Gems are locked. Runes are locked. You try something once, and if you don’t like it, that’s it—too bad. You’re forced to find another weapon and upgrade it from scratch, or permanently lose that rune or gem. I don’t see the point of these anti-fun systems.
To be completely honest, I’ve only been playing with free rerolls and no weapon break mods for the last few days and I genuinely can’t imagine playing the game without them anymore. That alone should give a clear idea of how bad the vanilla systems feel.
I loved the campaign, but that only lasted about 25 hours. Everything after that has been deeply disappointing and has completely killed the game’s replayability for me.
This game is wonderful and I really hope the studio does it justice it deserves. It would be a shame if it continues in this manner. Bye for now. I’ll be back in a few months to see if things change.
Yes I absolutely agree, The game encourages you to make the best of what you find like in a roguelite.
Customizing your build is a terrible experience, even just thinking about all the things you would have to do just to have a ramture that you like really makes you lose your will, literally I just tried to craft a ramture that first came out with a Facet that weighs a lot and so I couldn’t use it without going in fat roll.
Not saying this will fix your issues with ‘builds’ but maybe it will lower some heart rates…
The entire method of building a build will change when they switch to a ‘jobs’ system much like Final Fantasy Tactics, which they’ve mentioned specifically, multiple times on streams.
Yes but no, if for example I would like to make a blind on the new critical damage I would also need enchantments and that part remains tedious and RNG dependent.
Even if the classes would have some interesting features these problems remain.
same here: I actually stopped playing the game. I’ve finished it, killed the eccho knigh, made a couple of new characters to test different attribute: just like in my first playthrough they get stuck with the same weapon for most of it. Power lift alone devours too many attributes points, even when I try to stay light. The few weapons I do find that have the right attribute ask for a level that is way beyond what I managed to level up without getting oneshot by even the simplest mobs or if I want to be able to make an attack and dodge once without being already out of breath. I could respec my maxed out first character, but… all that constant RNG makes it tedious, I litterally lost the will to try more.
I know the whole map by heart, and there is only such many time you can go through them until it feels dull. Most of the stuff I pick up, I end up looking at it feeling “meh”: they’re different but at the same time nothing particularly sets them much appart: there always something wrong about it. it feels like I just picking up garbage because nothing is really usable or optimised and the single though of try to get it there… All that grind and lottery system just bores me already before even trying.. There is no fun anymore, and I lost the hope to try new things because it’s all became a chore: so many weapons I didn’t get to try, so many thing I wish I had tested, but the game keeps ruining it every single step of the way and won’t give you an actual chance before end game, which is too late already, and even then… you have to mindlessly grind forever without any actually garantee you’ll get what you want… EVER! I want to play an RPG, not an RNG!
I’m starting to think that this game, that has so much great potential might end up sucking really hard if they keep being so set on all that RNG BS everywhere…
@Mithril I agree with your comment completely. I felt the same way progressing through the game. Getting a LOT of weapons but I never get to use them. Don’t forget to upvote the post. Top left of the post.
Totally agreed. I’m starting to understand your point a lot more since finishing the game. From your comments on different posts.
I’ve asked this many times now but no one has answered me yet. What’s the reason behind this design choice? There HAS to be a reason why they think this is a good way to play the game. The most probable reason that I can guess is to increase playtime maybe? But trust me, this system is working against that idea. it’ll drive people away from the game much faster.
Lastly I want to bring up the topic of coop and pvp. With pvp planned for the future after they’re happy with coop.
So they imagine people will play this game for much longer after finishing the campaign and engage in pvp/coop. But why would anyone do that if changing builds is SO tedious and borderline impossible to perfect. My build will never be exactly what I want. How is that a good design choice? This isn’t a roguelike where you get to restart a run every hour or so.
RNG in drops can exist but only if every single weapon/item has a GUARANTEED drop somewhere, somehow. At least once. Make it a hidden boss fight, hidden location, or a difficult parkour challenge. Doesn’t matter. And after that drops for that weapon can be RNG, I have no problem with that.
Farming is so pre-2015 and I will NEVER find joy in it. I’m sure most people would agree.
By the way with all this RNG I don’t see how pvp can be balanced.
The animations of some weapons are too fast for PvP, if a basic enemy would have access to certain animations of the player’s weapons it would be unfair and unreactable, the only way I see PvP working is if weapons are introduced specifically for PvP and in PvP you can only use those for PvP.
Yes, in my opinion this would be the best solution, then in my opinion for the crafting ingredients there should be the possibility of giving yourself “hunting missions” to find the mob you are looking for and make sure it drops what you want, if for example you have defeated all the bears, and you need one of their three now you have to wait for them to respawn and it is a very slow unfun process.
Same, clear “missions” with clear rewards, RNG works only if there are also safe and relaible methods as alternative.
@Lombix_4 about pvp balancing, I talked to a dev. Brought up the exact issue you mentioned. Moveset and animation speeds. And their thought process is that it doesn’t need to be balanced since it’s not a pvp focused game. pvp is just for fun, nothing more.
Which makes sense but also makes me a bit sad. Cuz I love pvp.
In my opinion, “random bullshit happens” can be fun once or twice, but once you realize there’s no depth, it becomes boring or frustrating right away.
That’s why the idea that only specific weapons made specifically for PVP should be made.
If they add PVP and it’s not playable because it’s so unbalanced, the whole community will be VERY upset.
In my opinion, there is no point in making a PvP mode if you have no intention of balancing it in any way, they can use resources for something else at that point.
Yes I was mentionning the AFK built for PvP in another topic: What the hell are we supposed to do against that? XD It’s even worse if you add Darak’s golden shield + shielding rings to it… (it’s basically how I managed to kill the echo knight for the first time, but the fun doesn’t last long to be honest)
In a sense PvP is already there since you can already fight with your friends in the current experimental version. I guess it won’t get any further than that. I personally don’t mind much if it stays a friendly fight to mess around, I have always really hated the backstabbing T-bagging mentality in Elden Ring PvP. The disrespect you get there is so huge that it’s actually the entire reason I stopped playing it.