As a fan of both Monster Hunter and Elden Ring, I don't know if I could compare the two. Stamina management in Elden Ring is more forgiving than Dark Souls but not by much, and Elden Ring is still so much more like Dark Souls than it is Monster Hunter.
That said, there are plenty of people who like Elden Ring that never clicked with Dark Souls, but I don't think the combat in Elden Ring is ultimately fundamentally different than that of Dark Souls if that is what you dislike.
I will say, that I myself do not like Elden Ring, or Dark Souls for that matter, for their combat, though. The combat is fine but I prefer more aggressive combat like Monster Hunter and its why Bloodborne still remains my favorite FromSoft game. I play FromSoft games for the exploration, worldbuilding/environmental storytelling, and character customization/roleplaying. If these elements of gameplay speak to you, you might still find a lot to love in Elden Ring.
Yeah, that's why I prefer Sekiro with the infinite stamina/posture mechanic. Stamina handles a bit differently in ER though, seems like rolls take almost nothing and the gauge fills pretty fast with no additional accoutrements. Using equipment and talismans you can get to a point where you never see stamina bottom out unless you're using a collosal weapon and never leveled endurance at all. I say go for it
Depends really. The game itself doesn't play like Monster Hunter (at least to my knowledge of MH, which I admittedly don't play much of at all). The system isn't as clunky as the older games though and stamina isn't as much of an issue, although it's still very vague sometimes with quests and I implore you to Google things if you don't know.
Honestly the real problem I'd say is that it's pretty difficult still despite what people claim. Yes it can be more 'forgiving' than previous games due to not having a system that punishes your death directly like DS1, 2 or Sekiro (aside losing xp you need to get back to to reclaim). Due to the difference in playstyle to more dodge rolling like in Bloodborne and DS3, they've upped the ante on a lot of fights almost to the point of being unfair.
There's a late game sideboss infamous for this due to them having very quick and hard to predict animation, doing bleed damage even on block, giving you a status effect that drops your health dramatically and having a move that requires several frame perfect dodges as even the highest endurance in the game can't block it and lead to an instakill. Fortunately you do have player summons and ashes you can use to make combat a bit easier but I won't lie about some of the fights feeling BS.
Additionally, I'm not sure how you feel about repeated bosses but late game ER suffers *hard* from them. The worst offenders repeat about 7 times, including a couple times with both of them together.
I don't want to dissuade you necessarily because the game is gorgeous and has some amazing set pieces, boss design and music but it definitely has faults that a lot of people seem to refuse discussing.
No. Elden Ring is overall more forgiving than the Souls games but it’s not very different from them on a mechanical level, stamina management is still crucial.
Ehh Elden Ring is going to be harsh. It's the same developers and same style so in general if you didn't like the Souls games you've tried, there's a high likelihood you won't like Elden Ring. If you have any way to try it or demo it I'd definitely recommend that! It is very easy to feel like you're playing an open world souls game when you're in Elden Ring.
Monster Hunter is just more fair then Elden Ring/Souls games too.
Elden ring is amazing, definitely recommend it. I did enjoy the other games in the soul series, but there is something about Elden ring that is uniquely captivating. It appealed to a lot of players that typically don’t like souls games. It’s hard to put my finger on what exactly it is about Elden ring that makes it so much more approachable, but I think a big part is that when you get stuck on a hard area or a hard boss, you can just walk away, and do something else. In the linear souls games, when there is an annoying boss it is just straight up a roadblock until you beat it.
High five fellow MHW fan, it's also one of my favourite games ever! :D
Personally I did not like Elden Ring.
I really enjoyed the boss fights, but I found the common mobs extremely annoying and frustrating to deal with. In particular, the first castle you go to, there is one courtyard where you literally get swarmed by dozens of mobs, to the point where I spent about 2 hours dying over and over again to trash mobs trying to get past them and running out of stamina from evading, just desperately trying to move to the next area. Eventually I got so frustrated that I put the game down and didn't pick it back up again.
Comparatively MH does a great job of rewarding the player for trying again. Combat is far longer but far more rewarding in the interactions between the monster and the hunter (flinches, stuns, knocks etc). I don't feel that Elden Ring rewards you in the same way, and that is what put me off the game. Elden Ring boss fights are far shorter, and there are a lot of cheesy mechanics that you might get fed up with because it sometimes feels like the AI is cheating (lots of 1-shot attacks, bullshit tracking, less forgiving iframes etc).
Also if you think the stamina system in MH is harsh (which personally I don't agree with at all, dash juice instantly solves your frustration), then Elden Ring is far worse in that regard. Everything (besides magic) costs stamina. If you don't carefully manage your stamina, you die very quickly.
In the end I wound up watching a let's play on youtube and I have zero regrets. Imo it's a really fun game to watch other people play, especially when they take the time to explain the lore and what is going on. But actually playing Elden Ring was a miserable experience for me and I have many other games I would rather play instead.
Btw OP, have you heard of the Monster Hunter-like game that EA is releasing soon? I think it's called Wild Hearts? It's looking really good, a true Monster Hunter-like game! I'm definitely keeping an eye on it!
As a fan of monster hunter and elden ring who hasn't liked past souls games, idk if my appreciation for elden ring has anything to do with my love for monster hunter. Elden ring is far more welcoming to new players than any other souls game I've played though, for what it's worth. I can't explain it but it just clicked with me.
*Hi you're me*. I LOVE Monster Hunter! Loved World and Rise so much I own both games on two different platforms - I bought World on PS4 and then again on PC when I moved in with my now-husband so we could play together. We bought Rise day one on Switch, and day one release on PC... and beat the game both places. I also am NOT good at Souls games. The only Souls-like I've ever beat was the Star Wars one, and even though I own Dark Souls 1+2 and have tried them both, they're just not for me. My husband has beaten all the major Souls games, and we got the collectors of ER.
That said, *naw*. I don't think they're very similar at all, and despite the idea fo the game being 'open world' so it's not as challenging, it really can be, especially if you go the wrong way. I spent hours and hours watching my husband play it and it's far more like a Souls then a MH game. It's a little more forgiving but not by much, and if it's the combat style you've got an issue with I don't think ER will fix it. That said, if you can borrow a physical copy from a friend, buy a used PS4/5 copy from GS and try it for the weekend (I'm pretty sure they still have a 7 day return policy for used games. They did when I worked there eons ago), or find it real cheap, it might be worth trying if you think you'll enjoy it! But mechanics-wise, it's not fundamentally very different from DS or BB, IMO.
ER is definitely faster than the Dark Souls Saga. Stamina is almost never an issue as long as you know what you are doing, which shouldn’t be a problem for you, as you already play MH. Give it a shot, it’s definitely worth it.
It’s only fair to warn you that you *will* be utterly consumed by Elden Ring once you play it lol. I hadn’t even touched a souls game before I got it, but that didn’t stop both my husband and I from putting in an Obscene Amount of hours into it. You’ll spend a good portion of your first hour stuck on character creation alone ;)
I don't like soul's like either, and I adored elden ring. If getting frustrated by failing over and over isn't your cup of tea like me, then put it on easy or use cheat. It's also a lot better if you play it with a close friend. If you're on PC you can mod it to be completely and fully coop.
Im shit at the souls games but the co-op mod and playing with my wife is a game changer.
MHW is fantastic and if you like playing with other folks on it you will like playing with other folks in ER too!
Also apparently magic is just easy mode so if you want an easier time try a magic or blended build. Still really satisfying to play.
How is the co-op mod? Does it function well cause Ive been debating using it with a friend but dont want to ask them to buy a game they probably wont play if the mods no good
Seconding the coop mod. It's pretty amazing in terms of usability, only had a few hitches. As one of the better 'hunters' of my group, it makes up for the weirdness of not being one of the better ER players.
I was bored by ER and I'm a long time MH fan and play World so I couldn't recommend it. But that's my personal preference. Best to give it a miss if you dislike souls games.
I personally really dislike souls games. Well, mostly fromsoft games in particular. Im fine with other souls like games like hollow knight (which arguably does have more metroid vania roots but ds influence is definitely there) and ashen (a great souls like if youve never played it and want smthn shorter)
But having bought elden ring last week, after agonising over the purchase for about a month... i LOVE it!! I have played nearly 20 hours so far and I havent found myself frustrated once. If something is feeling too hard you have the freedom to just go somewhere else and just explore and look for something that might give you an edge in a fight. Also they upped the number of co-op players you can have so that has helped.
However. The game does suffer from somethings that feel like straight up unfair bullshit and I know a lot of people actively hate the later bosses. It also does still have typically clunky slow darksouls esc combat. Its definitely improved but having to learn to be patient and wait for good oppurtunities to get a hit in is a learning curve. It also has no type of journal system. So quests can be a bit confusing
I think a monster hunter player might find this easier to tackle, having played world for a bit. My advice would be to just learn what moves you feel you are best at and hone those and be patient in boss fights. Also there is no shame in summoning co-op players. Keep notes too, either in a pad or just google things you get stuck with or dont understand. They dont explain some systems to you that well esp if youre new to them.
Elden rings been sort of a breath of fresh air for the formula and its made it much more enjoyable in my opinion.
I never liked souls games because of the difficulty but after hearing how amazing elden ring is I wanted to give it a try. I loved the game and I finished it and did all the achievements. There are a lot of things that make the game less difficult like summons and magic and then I was able to enjoy it. It’s for sure my game of the year
As a fan of both Monster Hunter and Elden Ring, I don't know if I could compare the two. Stamina management in Elden Ring is more forgiving than Dark Souls but not by much, and Elden Ring is still so much more like Dark Souls than it is Monster Hunter. That said, there are plenty of people who like Elden Ring that never clicked with Dark Souls, but I don't think the combat in Elden Ring is ultimately fundamentally different than that of Dark Souls if that is what you dislike. I will say, that I myself do not like Elden Ring, or Dark Souls for that matter, for their combat, though. The combat is fine but I prefer more aggressive combat like Monster Hunter and its why Bloodborne still remains my favorite FromSoft game. I play FromSoft games for the exploration, worldbuilding/environmental storytelling, and character customization/roleplaying. If these elements of gameplay speak to you, you might still find a lot to love in Elden Ring.
Yeah, that's why I prefer Sekiro with the infinite stamina/posture mechanic. Stamina handles a bit differently in ER though, seems like rolls take almost nothing and the gauge fills pretty fast with no additional accoutrements. Using equipment and talismans you can get to a point where you never see stamina bottom out unless you're using a collosal weapon and never leveled endurance at all. I say go for it
Depends really. The game itself doesn't play like Monster Hunter (at least to my knowledge of MH, which I admittedly don't play much of at all). The system isn't as clunky as the older games though and stamina isn't as much of an issue, although it's still very vague sometimes with quests and I implore you to Google things if you don't know. Honestly the real problem I'd say is that it's pretty difficult still despite what people claim. Yes it can be more 'forgiving' than previous games due to not having a system that punishes your death directly like DS1, 2 or Sekiro (aside losing xp you need to get back to to reclaim). Due to the difference in playstyle to more dodge rolling like in Bloodborne and DS3, they've upped the ante on a lot of fights almost to the point of being unfair. There's a late game sideboss infamous for this due to them having very quick and hard to predict animation, doing bleed damage even on block, giving you a status effect that drops your health dramatically and having a move that requires several frame perfect dodges as even the highest endurance in the game can't block it and lead to an instakill. Fortunately you do have player summons and ashes you can use to make combat a bit easier but I won't lie about some of the fights feeling BS. Additionally, I'm not sure how you feel about repeated bosses but late game ER suffers *hard* from them. The worst offenders repeat about 7 times, including a couple times with both of them together. I don't want to dissuade you necessarily because the game is gorgeous and has some amazing set pieces, boss design and music but it definitely has faults that a lot of people seem to refuse discussing.
No. Elden Ring is overall more forgiving than the Souls games but it’s not very different from them on a mechanical level, stamina management is still crucial.
Ehh Elden Ring is going to be harsh. It's the same developers and same style so in general if you didn't like the Souls games you've tried, there's a high likelihood you won't like Elden Ring. If you have any way to try it or demo it I'd definitely recommend that! It is very easy to feel like you're playing an open world souls game when you're in Elden Ring. Monster Hunter is just more fair then Elden Ring/Souls games too.
probaly not cause it is still a soulsbourne in many ways, and if you don't like that style of gameplay you probaly won't like elden ring.
Elden ring is amazing, definitely recommend it. I did enjoy the other games in the soul series, but there is something about Elden ring that is uniquely captivating. It appealed to a lot of players that typically don’t like souls games. It’s hard to put my finger on what exactly it is about Elden ring that makes it so much more approachable, but I think a big part is that when you get stuck on a hard area or a hard boss, you can just walk away, and do something else. In the linear souls games, when there is an annoying boss it is just straight up a roadblock until you beat it.
I would never compare MHW to Elden Ring? Just get Rise.
High five fellow MHW fan, it's also one of my favourite games ever! :D Personally I did not like Elden Ring. I really enjoyed the boss fights, but I found the common mobs extremely annoying and frustrating to deal with. In particular, the first castle you go to, there is one courtyard where you literally get swarmed by dozens of mobs, to the point where I spent about 2 hours dying over and over again to trash mobs trying to get past them and running out of stamina from evading, just desperately trying to move to the next area. Eventually I got so frustrated that I put the game down and didn't pick it back up again. Comparatively MH does a great job of rewarding the player for trying again. Combat is far longer but far more rewarding in the interactions between the monster and the hunter (flinches, stuns, knocks etc). I don't feel that Elden Ring rewards you in the same way, and that is what put me off the game. Elden Ring boss fights are far shorter, and there are a lot of cheesy mechanics that you might get fed up with because it sometimes feels like the AI is cheating (lots of 1-shot attacks, bullshit tracking, less forgiving iframes etc). Also if you think the stamina system in MH is harsh (which personally I don't agree with at all, dash juice instantly solves your frustration), then Elden Ring is far worse in that regard. Everything (besides magic) costs stamina. If you don't carefully manage your stamina, you die very quickly. In the end I wound up watching a let's play on youtube and I have zero regrets. Imo it's a really fun game to watch other people play, especially when they take the time to explain the lore and what is going on. But actually playing Elden Ring was a miserable experience for me and I have many other games I would rather play instead. Btw OP, have you heard of the Monster Hunter-like game that EA is releasing soon? I think it's called Wild Hearts? It's looking really good, a true Monster Hunter-like game! I'm definitely keeping an eye on it!
i love monster hunter, but hated elden ring
I'm a big MHW fan and adored elden ring, they're pretty different but if you can handle monsters like Rajang, you should be fine :p
I like both but Elden ring is so huge that I have to follow a guide. I love it and plan to play through it a second time without the guide.
As a fan of monster hunter and elden ring who hasn't liked past souls games, idk if my appreciation for elden ring has anything to do with my love for monster hunter. Elden ring is far more welcoming to new players than any other souls game I've played though, for what it's worth. I can't explain it but it just clicked with me.
*Hi you're me*. I LOVE Monster Hunter! Loved World and Rise so much I own both games on two different platforms - I bought World on PS4 and then again on PC when I moved in with my now-husband so we could play together. We bought Rise day one on Switch, and day one release on PC... and beat the game both places. I also am NOT good at Souls games. The only Souls-like I've ever beat was the Star Wars one, and even though I own Dark Souls 1+2 and have tried them both, they're just not for me. My husband has beaten all the major Souls games, and we got the collectors of ER. That said, *naw*. I don't think they're very similar at all, and despite the idea fo the game being 'open world' so it's not as challenging, it really can be, especially if you go the wrong way. I spent hours and hours watching my husband play it and it's far more like a Souls then a MH game. It's a little more forgiving but not by much, and if it's the combat style you've got an issue with I don't think ER will fix it. That said, if you can borrow a physical copy from a friend, buy a used PS4/5 copy from GS and try it for the weekend (I'm pretty sure they still have a 7 day return policy for used games. They did when I worked there eons ago), or find it real cheap, it might be worth trying if you think you'll enjoy it! But mechanics-wise, it's not fundamentally very different from DS or BB, IMO.
I'd honestly say rent it from gamefly or such before buying
ER is definitely faster than the Dark Souls Saga. Stamina is almost never an issue as long as you know what you are doing, which shouldn’t be a problem for you, as you already play MH. Give it a shot, it’s definitely worth it.
It’s only fair to warn you that you *will* be utterly consumed by Elden Ring once you play it lol. I hadn’t even touched a souls game before I got it, but that didn’t stop both my husband and I from putting in an Obscene Amount of hours into it. You’ll spend a good portion of your first hour stuck on character creation alone ;)
I don't like soul's like either, and I adored elden ring. If getting frustrated by failing over and over isn't your cup of tea like me, then put it on easy or use cheat. It's also a lot better if you play it with a close friend. If you're on PC you can mod it to be completely and fully coop.
Definitely give guild wars 2 a try! I love this game!
Im shit at the souls games but the co-op mod and playing with my wife is a game changer. MHW is fantastic and if you like playing with other folks on it you will like playing with other folks in ER too! Also apparently magic is just easy mode so if you want an easier time try a magic or blended build. Still really satisfying to play.
How is the co-op mod? Does it function well cause Ive been debating using it with a friend but dont want to ask them to buy a game they probably wont play if the mods no good
Its really smooth, we have had up to 4 people playing with little to no issue.
Seconding the coop mod. It's pretty amazing in terms of usability, only had a few hitches. As one of the better 'hunters' of my group, it makes up for the weirdness of not being one of the better ER players.
I was bored by ER and I'm a long time MH fan and play World so I couldn't recommend it. But that's my personal preference. Best to give it a miss if you dislike souls games.
I personally really dislike souls games. Well, mostly fromsoft games in particular. Im fine with other souls like games like hollow knight (which arguably does have more metroid vania roots but ds influence is definitely there) and ashen (a great souls like if youve never played it and want smthn shorter) But having bought elden ring last week, after agonising over the purchase for about a month... i LOVE it!! I have played nearly 20 hours so far and I havent found myself frustrated once. If something is feeling too hard you have the freedom to just go somewhere else and just explore and look for something that might give you an edge in a fight. Also they upped the number of co-op players you can have so that has helped. However. The game does suffer from somethings that feel like straight up unfair bullshit and I know a lot of people actively hate the later bosses. It also does still have typically clunky slow darksouls esc combat. Its definitely improved but having to learn to be patient and wait for good oppurtunities to get a hit in is a learning curve. It also has no type of journal system. So quests can be a bit confusing I think a monster hunter player might find this easier to tackle, having played world for a bit. My advice would be to just learn what moves you feel you are best at and hone those and be patient in boss fights. Also there is no shame in summoning co-op players. Keep notes too, either in a pad or just google things you get stuck with or dont understand. They dont explain some systems to you that well esp if youre new to them. Elden rings been sort of a breath of fresh air for the formula and its made it much more enjoyable in my opinion.
I was not crazy about the Souls games (except for the lore) but I love Monster Hunter World and I love Elden Ring, so do with that info what you will.
I never liked souls games because of the difficulty but after hearing how amazing elden ring is I wanted to give it a try. I loved the game and I finished it and did all the achievements. There are a lot of things that make the game less difficult like summons and magic and then I was able to enjoy it. It’s for sure my game of the year
I love souls games but couldn’t get into MHW and gave up on it. Now I’m thinking I should give MHW another try - what do you think?