Why Elden Ring's Replay Value Suffers Unlike Other FromSoftware Games

Game Rant Writes "Despite its big play space giving players a multitude of things to experience, Elden Ring's fixed content doesn't do much to incentivize another go."

[Junkrad2022]

Is that why i finished the game 3 times and platinumed it?

[warriors_13]

well that's his point. you only finished it 3 times. i've replayed the souls games hundreds of times even after platinuming them. as great as elden ring was during the first few playthroughs, it just doesn't draw me back to it compared to the other souls games.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I’m having a hard time believing you finished the Souls games hundreds of time. Sounds like Cap…

[Angyobangyo]

“ i've replayed the souls games hundreds of times”

Press X to doubt

[outsider1624]

Well replaying 3 times is not bad. How long is the game in the first place

[gammaray13]

totally agree with you, Bloodborne i have over 2000 hours Elden Ring only 195 hours and i find it not as much fun as the others

[Eidolon]

I think he means he's sat down to play Souls games, hundreds of times. XD

[EvertonFC]

100s of times ? How boring. Do you play any other games ?

[thesoftware730]

Of course, he played it 100 times.

After each death you respawn.

100 deaths =100 replays.

[thorstein]

Imagine if people understood hyperbole.

[VenomCarnage89]

Everyone doubting probably doesn't get that by news game plus 5, your character is a god that can run through the game in 5 hours without much effort at all. I've cooped through that in an afternoon before many times, safe to say I've beaten the souls games collectively at least 50 times, DS3 15-20 times at least. Elden Ring twice. It's honestly just wayyy too long to endlessly replay like that

[warriors_13]

maybe a slight exaggeration but it doesn't even matter. the point is the souls games are infinitely more replayable. they are short and sweet and fun to replay. elden ring's best feature is exploring the open world but once you've already discovered everything, subsequent playthroughs are just traversing huge space without surprises so it's boring in comparison. before the update, you even had to go back and get all the upgrade bells which was a huge chore in itself.

[MrBaskerville]

I usually just wait a year or two and then replay from the beginning, don't see any need for so called "replay value", if the game is good it's replayable.

[Mobis-New-Nest]

If the developers had invested in offering free DLC every few weeks to few months then gamers would most likely want to replay the game. This is why all gaming developers need to start offering free AAA quality DLC with their games so that gamers can not only get more bang for their buck but also have an incentive to replay the game.

[MrBaskerville]

How anyone could complain about lacking "bang for your buck" in regards to Elden Ring is beyond me. The game is beyond huge.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

In my opinion the bosses in Elden Ring aren’t as well designed or balanced as the ones present in Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3. I haven’t finished Elden Ring yet. I play as melee, which has at times been frustrating. The bosses are hyper aggressive. They also do high damage and many of them have AoE attacks. While watching guides, I noticed that the bosses seem to be designed around summons. Furthermore, Elden Ring seems to be balanced in favour of magic users.

[phoenixwing]

I can't disagree with you on your critique of er it is absolutely designed around having summons and or co op. While normally that would be bad it's also the most forgiving souls formula game from fromsoft

[on_line_forever]

I like elden ring but in my opinion Dark souls & bloodborn was and still my top souls games , if some one ask me what the next souls game do you want I will pick Dark souls or Bloodborne

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 are my two favourite souls game. However, I didn’t play the series in order. Elden Ring boss fights aren’t as enjoyable or rewarding as those in the other Soulsborne titles that I enjoyed.

[thorstein]

Yeah, make that melee way more nimble and fast otherwise that beast at the end is astoundingly dumb.

I play heavy melee and the designers didn't take that into account. The boss fight had 10 minutes of straight running just to get hits.

[thesoftware730]

While I agree that the game seems to favor magic, I beat the entire game as a Tank with Colossal weapons, once I got the Bull Armor I never took it off lol. I couldn't even use most of the summons as I barely had any FP.

My son who loves the souls' games was amazed that I actually beat it with my play style and tank set up, especially Melina.

BTW, It's the first sound game I have finished...I dabbled with DS2 but only play 1/2 way thru.

[CrimsonWing69]

What?

[Levii_92]

https://youtu.be/Ho9InO4a5Y...

[ocelot07]

I finished it 3 times for the platinum trophy and put 170 hours into the game.

That's plenty of reply value for the low cost of £42 at launch. Now am going to give it a rest until they release the dlc.

[Profchaos]

It's not that old it's like saying you didn't rewind and watch die hard again as the credits rolled so it's got zero replayability.

[KillBill]

This person hasn't a clue what they are talking about.

[P_Bomb]

Replayability is overrated. If someone got through it once and had a great time, that’s still a win.

[AuraAbjure]

Yeah I'd agree, but replayability is still cool. Like with super mario, the first playthrough was magical, but replaying to collect all the coins or stars is quite the adventure too.

[Inverno]

I never really understood the argument of replayability. People will play it a hundred times if they want to, if not then that's that. I won't but that's cause open world games aren't the same a second time for me

[fitofficial]

I spent 120 hours fully completing it. That's 3x longer than the other games in the series for me. Can't speak for anyone else but I need to recharge.

[gurp]

beat it once, that is enough, it is a good game but I have other games to play

[Mazgamer]

The author of this article presented Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V as games with better replay value than Elden Ring. And while they are both great games on their own, what was he smoking?

GTA V and RDR2 have NOROURIOSLY shitty first 3-5 hours before you unlock the majority of the game's features and the game stops holding your hand at every turn. Making the act of replaying those games so brain-dead boring that it hurts.

Meanwhile, in Elden Ring you can start making a completely new build, utilizing shortcuts to get to late game areas, and trying tough challenge runs within 10 MINUTES.

[BrainSyphoned]

Yet I still fire up Skyrim without mods every year. Elden Ring is going to be the same.

[anast]

I've been playing since launch and I'm at 80% completion. I have made more characters than I can count with many build variations. In fact, I am thinking about reinstalling it today, because I thought I was done, but I want to play more.

[Lexreborn2]

I actually don’t typically play a second or third playthrough for souls games. Mostly because I spend 120-150 hours on my first playthrough

[darklaw]

I was terrible at this game, I died a rage inducing death at least 10 times an hour, until I got a little better, and then it was only like three times an hour. I played it until the end, using every single exploit I could find online, and still I died, even after grinding that effing bird on the cliff until I was level 150, Die die die, this game should have been called Deathen ring. I never finished it, I got to the final boss and tried to cheese him too but couldn't beat his second form....so I gave up, haven't played it since, I will probably never play it again.

I did realize after, that I loved searching for boss cheeses, executing them and making them work. Exploiting the game's monetary system to gain levels, Exploring the huge and fascinating world of this incredible game, was exciting... But I do feel like I have seen 90% of it. Which was the allure to me, the exploration, so I don't feel the need to go back through and cause a possible brain aneurysm due to all the cheap deaths.

After playing this game, I revisited the Witcher 3, (another game i wasn't very good at and didn't finish.) I restarted using a glitch to play new game plus,( since I never finished it) and started anew, and for some reason I was a god among men and found the gameplay super easy, I played to the end loving it more than ever having a blast being able to beat every challenge with ease.

I credit this to Elden Ring. It forced me to be a better player, with all my screaming at the TV like a child, twisting my controller in rage and causing myself headaches, this game was still interesting enough to keep me coming back for more and forcing me to get better while doing it. So Thank you, Elden Ring, for teaching this old dog new tricks and for the incredible experience this game was, both good and bad, it will probably go down as one of the most remembered games in history.

PS: (I may revisit it if new DLC comes out)

[Ramboforlife]

I have to admit I'm having trouble playing it again -- spent literally hundreds of hours my first playthrough. It's a wonderful game. I'll pick it up again later on.

[MasterChief3624]

Uh.... I don't know about this. All of my friends who played the game have played it several times through. One of my friends has played through it 10 times, I think. He always talks about, "Oh! I have a great idea for a new build!" He even did one where he played as an approximation of Wolverine.

This article is bunk.

[Sprinter24]

I clocked my 127 hours and have no desire to go back atm ... I did mess up some questlines but I'll wait to go back till they add more content ... or I just forget enough of the game haha

[Psychotica]

It has plenty or replay value for me because I won't touch it again for two+ years once I finish it. By that time I won't remember anything about it and it will feel brand new to me.

[Crows90]

Yet you're still talking about the game. Obviously has replay value. As much as others is purely subjective. There's still plenty people playing so obviously not true.

[BrockEmSockEm]

That's all I need out of a game. Give me an experience to remember for a long time and then let me move on to the rest of my backlog. This is also why I don't need games to last 100 hours either. I want to have a goo experience and fun time and let it be over. Elden Ring is great, and it feels like I finished it in a week (probably did), but it was the first time in a long time I was excited every day to get back to it. Now some other game can provide that feeling.