Hi there folks, and welcome to my personalized opinion on the new game to be released from Software which is called Elden Ring!

In this review I will be going over multiple different interesting points that have to do with the game Elden Ring, this isn't an exact order of what I will be discussing but some of the topics we will discuss are :

• Difficulty of the game entirely

• Different Arnaments (Weapons, Shields, Staffs, Bows, Torches, Seals, and more)

• Game Mechanics and how smooth or unsmooth some mechanics are

• Leveling

• Armor and the different effects each one provides

• Character Class selection

• My personal overall opinion on the game itself

Character Class Selection

We've finally done it, we've managed to get out there or get online and purchase that brand new title from software that everyone's been gawking about! We turned that bad boy on and we're ready for our first playthrough, up first comes the Class selection for your character which I believe you can't change after you've chosen your class and started the game so make sure you're sure that's the class you feel like dominating the game with!

Vagabond:

This class is for the well seasoned player that's familiar with the dark souls game mechanics and is for someone whos looking to be more of a physical fighting tank rather than a ranged or mage type gameplay, this class focuses more mainly on strength and in a way ignores mage boosting statistics such as dexterity, faith and intelligence. IN MY OPINION this is the character you would use if you want to hack and slash your way to victory! Great swords and shields are mainly best for this character!

Hero

The hero class is more on the side of the idea of a swiss knife! This class doesn't focus on one stat but more of evenly focuses on all stats as its able to play ball in almost every court in the game. You can choose to get up close and personal to deal massive damage with your great weapons and maneuvering tactics or you can choose to stay back at range and use magic capabilities. This character doesn't focus on a main weapon set which is good for someone starting new as they can now experiment as they play without lacking the ability for the required stats to use said equipment.

Warrior

This class focuses mainly on Dexterity and is kind of an all rounder like the Hero class above, as this class is well operated with daggers and curved swords accompanied by medium armor, this class also allows expansion in your choice of weapons and armor. You can choose to stay at range with ranged arnaments or get up close and personal with your fast chain attacks dealt with curved swords! Basically a second option if you don't like the hero class but want an all rounder!

Prophet

The prophet is mainly a faith boosted class, focusing on using magic abilities to either curse an enemy or heal and boost thy self and friends! Its the perfect class for wanting to keep some distance from the fight and being a team player for your friends. This class is better operated with light armor as maneuverability is limited being a sorcerer type class.

Wretch

The wretch is hands down the most challenging class anyone can choose, starting with next to nothing this characters stats are bare minimum for the hardened veterans of dark souls to be able to have a little challenge playing this game. This class is not recommended for the first play through as it starts with nothing but if you feel your a pro then I bow to you sir or miss or ma'am.

Prisoner

The prisoner class mainly focuses on dexterity and intelligence making this the 3rd all rounder character so far in this list. With the capability to master sorceries and hack and slash your way through the game, this character offers opportunity to use which ever playstyle you choose to use, the downfall is this class also deals less damage with other weapons than the previous all rounders we've discussed. All in all this class is mainly for the seasoned player that's wanting to explore every playstyle!

Bandit

This class focuses on high arcane stats, and is a really good choice if the player is into parrying and applying back stabbing moves to the enemies, with a great movement ability this character is able to turn the tides in a battle with their defensive capabilities. On top of being maneuverable this class is great with bows and arrows if you feel like taking a step back and taking out enemies from a distance.

Astrologer

The astrologer mainly focuses on intelligence as this class is the master of sorceries and incantations! If your a fan of staying back from the fight and launching magic arrows and fireballs at your enemies this is the class for you. With a smaller amount of health and limited stamina its probably a better choice to use this class if you don't want to get into melee fights!

Confessor

This class is more of a blend between being a badass mage and a well trained swords man, at the start this class focuses on more of the mages side of stats but as you level up you can allocate stat points to level up this character to be both a ranged and close quarters fighter! This would technically be another all rounder class but more of for the people who want to focus on both mage abilities and melee!

Samurai

Last but not least the samurai, this legendary class mainly focuses on dexterity and the ability to parry is limited as well, this class can either be a ranged class with a bow or a swordsman class with its uchitagana sword, the samurai is more of for a seasoned player or if trying out a mage class doesn't work and you want to expand this is the class to come to.

Keep in mind that every character can be leveled up infinitely which can over time make any character able to use any arnament of their choosing! You determine your playstyle once you start leveling up your character.

Different Arnaments

Daggers

The daggers are I feel one of the fastest attacking melee chain weapon classes to choose from, with the ability to slash fast and repeatedly with little stamina cost, makes this weapon a great up close and personal weapon. What the dagger lacks in damage is usually made up for in speed + consistency and or curse applying effect! These weapons tend to have low damage resistance so remember to bring a shield or practice rolling so you can avoid the damage.

Swords

Swords tend to deal medium damage to everything that get damaged by physical damage, the attack chains are decent for most swords but they aren't as fast as a curved sword or dagger. Though these weapons tend to have an evened out statistic rate making this weapon an all rounder. It can be used with either a shield or a second weapon with ease. These weapons have light damage resistance so if you're double handing the sword or dual wielding weapons get ready to roll my friends. A shield is recommended using swords though if your not two handing the sword.

Great Swords

Great swords are a little more on the heavy side, these aren't the heaviest swords but they still lack in speed, thankfully where it lacks in speed also lays a decent amount of power. These swords usually require a decent strength stat to use efficiently. Anyone can wield it, just your going to need some strength to be able to move around properly! These swords tend to have minor blocking capabilities, as having a shield will limit your movement holding this beast these swords tend to deflect some of the damage. Leveling up enough to carry both a shield and a Great sword will grant the user tank like abilities. They usually have added staggering ability allowing the user to knock down their opponent easier.

Colossal Swords

These are the largest swords you can manage your character to wield in the game, these swords are massive and take great amounts of strength and stamina to properly use in a fight. They do massive amounts of damage but at the cost of slow movement and slow attacks, making it easier for the enemies to stumble you in the fight causing your character to not complete the attack. A good understanding of patience and timing with enemies attacks works amazing with these swords, if you can have both patience + timing recognition abilities with these swords you're slightly unstoppable. These also have great staggering abilities like the above listed "great swords".

Thrusting Swords

Thrusting swords are really great for staggering your opponent when their mid attack, with the ability to lunge forward and jab as if your in the fencing tournament of Elden Ring, these swords can really come in handy for the guy that doesn't stop swinging. They tend to be a lighter weighted weapon allowing the user to take advantage of getting the most attacks in using less amounts of stamina. There is a "Heavy" version of the thrusting swords and its just a little heavier and a tad bit slower but has the same attacking mechanics, the lunge attack. Defensive capabilities with these aren't very great so a shield is recommended or the ability to evade at ease.

Curved Swords

These are great if you want to double wield and run straight into battle hacking and slashing your opponent as they have a low stamina use with a fast attack chain and medium damage application, these swords can deal great amounts of damage in small bursts as long as the user is good with rolling and maneuvering to evade enemy attacks. A high stamina is a great combination for these swords. The defensive capabilities of these weapons isn't the greatest so become good at evading or bring a shield.

Curved Great Swords

These have the same capabilities as "Great Swords" just with a tiny bit more speed and a tiny less amount of damage.

Katanas

The Samurais best friend, the katana comes with a great skill set allowing the user to execute quick and clean attacks while maintaining the ability to evade as its light and strong. These deal medium damage like swords but they have decent speed which separates them from the swords capabilities. Medium damage followed by speed is any sword swingers wish in a weapon. Be sure to learn how to roll and evade each enemies attacks before getting confident with these though!

Twin Blades (double tipped spear)

These double tipped spears are amazing for throwing in a number of chain attacks to overwhelm your enemies, although they are more on the medium weight side these can deal a massive amount of damage if used correctly. You can also double hand these making them even deadlier, but user be aware they must learn the way of the evade as you only have 2 hands, if we had 3 we could wield the shield.

Axes

These are mainly one handed weapons, what they lack in damage they make up for in speed and efficiency. These little buggers can deal a decent amount of damage with their quick attack chains, and the user can have the decision to dual wield with another weapon or accompany these with shields which grant riot gear capabilities.

Great Axes

This is what you would bring to strike down that tree with one hit, but user beware these take a decent amount of strength to operate efficiently. Accompanied by a high stamina bar these axes can lead to massive damage capabilities in the right hands.

Hammers

These weapons are more of on the strength and physical side of things as they are blunt objects rather than a sharp object, what these lack in speed they make up for in pure physical damage. It would be a little on the heavy side to use a shield with these so its advised that the user either raise their equip load stat in order to use these efficiently with shields. That or get good at rolling my friends because you're going to need to evade!

Great Hammers

These are similar to the listed above hammers, the only difference is that their usually heavier and deal a greater amount of damage, with more weight comes slower speed, unless you can evade every 2 seconds this may not be the way! Decent strength is required for these weapons.

Flails

These are more on the lighter side of things and pair great with a shield! The damage numbers lie somewhere between light damage and medium damage but make for a great physical damaging weapon.

Colossal Weapons

These are the biggest of the big, the humongous weapon in your hands makes your character look like a demi god, these weapons tend to be heavy though so be ware users these tend to require great strength and stamina in order to properly use them. If you can carry these and a shield and maintain a medium equip load your guaranteed a walking mini tank.

Spears

These are great for maintaining some distance between you and your foe allowing you to leap in and jab and leap away before they can initiate an attack on you. They tend to deal medium to large amounts of damage but with the loss of maneuverability which is why this weapon is better used at a safe distance. Accompanied by a shield you can maintain the status of a badass spartan.

Great Spears

Great spears have the same capabilities as regular spears just their a little more on the heavier side of things making them a little slower than the before listed spartan like abilities, but with the right stats you can make the great spear perform as a regular spear with great spear damage ratings.

Halberds

These are kind of on the lines of being a great axe and a great spear, its a large staff like weapon that has a axe like end which grants the ability to deal large amounts of damage and be able to maintain that safe distance to give yourself that little bit of range. Accompanied by the right stats and a shield your looking at another spartan build.

Reapers

I would have to say these are more of a lighter version of the halberds, offering the safe distance attacks and the spartan like ability with a little extra speed than the before listed halberds.

Whips

Whips are a great weapon for being up close as well as medium/close range, they have decent damage ratings as well as a high speed output allowing the user to attack with ease and have time to react for an evade.

Fists

These are mainly for people who want to get really up close and personal about the fight, they maintain decent speed as well as deal decent physical damage, these are great for enemies that you can walk up to and attack but user beware your so close their breathe can hit you so be prepared to evade at explicit timing.

Seals

These grant mage abilities allowing the user to cast incantations and sorceries from their memory slots, different seals grant different abilities and boosts to different types of spells. User be ware this is not the type of weapon that can deal physical so refrain from trying to melee with it. Better used with range between your enemy and you.

Claws

Claws like fists are a really up close and personal kind of weapon, just with the added feature of slashing ability, these claws are great dual wielded and if your ready to get up close to tear your opponent apart.

Bows

These make for a great distance attack, Robin Hoods choice of weapon allowing the user to deal medium amounts of damage to their enemies, there is next to no melee capabilities with this weapon so its strongly advised to keep your distance or swap weapons when they get close. Bows are great for individually luring out enemies from a pack to take them on one by one.

Great Bows

Great bows are the same exact deal as regular bows just with less range and more damage, again these are great for distance but swapping weapons or maintaining that distance is recommended.

Cross Bow

These one handed crossbows are great for interrupting your enemies attacks while in battle, though holding the crossbow and a second melee weapon calls for great evading skills in order to survive a fight holding one of these. These maintain a decent amount of speed just the only problem is the range is limited and the reload is persistent.

Ballista

These have the same capabilities as the cross bow as its basically a "GREAT crossbow" which means slower reload speeds and lower distances but greater power.

Staffs

These are a mages best friend, these allow users to cast spells and incantations as well as use sorceries, each staff has its own category which it boosts certain magic that is being used. User beware the staffs don't have much melee capabilities!

Torches

Ever find yourself in a dark cave and maybe your screens contrast is so low its not allowing the lights in the game to shine you a way through the cave or tunnel, well these bad boys do just that and light your way around you. They have minor damage capabilities but its still possible to use as a weapon.

Small Shields

These little guys are more made for the seasoned player but can also be used by newer players as well, just the blocking capabilities only block about half to 3/4 of the incoming physical damage.

Medium Shields

These shields tend to block more damage than the small shields but where it gains physical negation it lacks in maneuverability so be prepared to become slightly slower using this shield. The defensive numbers on these range from 70% to 85% damage negation.

Great Shields

Great shields are by far the strongest shields in the game, the defensive capabilities can become so great that some shields can block up to 100% of incoming physical damage. Where this shield gains strength though it lacks in speed for being so heavy, great stamina or understanding of evading maneuvers is greatly recommended.

Keep in mind that each and every individual arnament contains its own requirements for stats as well as its own individual skills, there's arnaments that have spells for attacks built right into them. Until you try them all you can never know what weapon is more suited for your play style. These descriptions on each arnament are purely my personal speculation.

Armors And Their Uses

Light Armor

Light armor is mainly used for characters that are either ranged or mages. It has been known for people to get up and close into battle with light armor as it grants great maneuverability but its not recommended for a first play through person to get up close and personal with light armor.

Medium Armor

Medium armor is slightly heavier than light armor of course, but with heavier stats comes slower maneuverability causing the user to be slightly slower than usual. great for the character that wants to hack and slash his way through the game.

Heavy Armor

heavy armor is the slowest armor you can equip, but where it lacks in speed it also gains a large amount of damage negations, the wearer of this armor can withstand a hit or maybe 2 from the main story line bosses allowing them to have the upper hand and be able to defeat them with ease.

Keep in mind that the more you level up your character the more freedom you'll have for opportunities on builds for your character. With higher stats comes greater selection.

Leveling

While playing Elden Ring and defeating enemies your going to come across a currency in the game called Runes. There is many ways to find these runes scattered across the Elden Ring game, mainly your source will be defeating enemies. other sources include, Rune Stones which can be found throughout the map and defeating enemies, also by selling items you've stumbled upon in your gameplay that your 100% sure you can go without. Once you defeat an enemy or sell an item you gain a specific amount of runes that you can then use to level up your character. With the right arnaments and applying the runes to specific levels you can become and Elden Ring God! I highly recommend holding your arament in the equipped slot before accessing the level up menu because when before you apply the level up you can see what each individual stat would level up if you applied the levels to those specific stats.

Keep in mind that every player has their own way that they like playing the game, so as for specific stats to level up that's entirely your decision as to what you want to level up!

Game Mechanics

Every game has its own set of mechanics that makes it unique and stand out from the others, in this topic we're going to go over what I think is great mechanics in the game and what is the least great mechanics in the game..

First off I would like to start with one of my favorite mechanics which is the horse you acquire called Torrent. This horse is your number 1 life saver when it comes to exploring the game and defeating certain bosses. Its a usable item that calls forth a horse called torrent, its highly recommended that you put this in your quick slot inventory for easier access.

Second would be the ladders in the game. This is one of my more less favorite mechanics as climbing the ladders in this game can be very time consuming. I feel I can speak on behalf of the Elden Ring players that every ladder should have just been a lift! There's a couple spots where you climb for 30 seconds just to get to the top and there's and enemy waiting to attack, they knock you down the ladder and you either die or have to climb it again. Its a real gear grinder so be prepared when you see a ladder.

The third mechanic I would like to discuss is my personal favorite which is the evading/rolling. This is by far the best mechanic in the game along side blocking with a shield. When you roll at a specific and perfect timing the roll makes you invincible to even the greatest, largest, unescapable moves in the game. Once you learn the power of the roll, no boss will stand in your way.

The final mechanic I want to discuss is the no item in the slot cutscene.. This is my worse pet peeve about this game which is the fact that if you try to use say a Health flask and you have none left your character reaches for his side pocket for a few seconds trying to grab something that's not there ultimately leading to the enemy your fighting hitting your character while he's literally grabbing nothing. Users beware always make sure something is in your usable item slot..

If theres any mechanics you don't personally like let me know down in the comments :)

Difficulty of the Game

Usually in a game they offer different tiers of difficulty for playing through the game as not everyone is familiar with how to play video games, allowing the newer player to learn the game and the seasoned player to present themselves with a greater challenge. This game works completely different as there is only 1 difficulty and that is Elden Ring difficulty, no matter how many times you get defeated by that pain in the ass boss the game will never get easier until you learn the game itself. The only time the games difficulty changes is if you A) spend all your time making your character OP so you can crush the whole game or B) completing the game and playing your second playthrough. Even then in the second playthrough its just higher health enemies and more runes per kill! Other than that you have to play the game that the developers intended you to play.

My Personalized Review of Elden Ring

This game is overall a 9.5/10.. Everything about this game is amazing, the graphics are stellar like sometimes I stand on the side of a cliff with my horse Torrent and just Enjoy the landscape I see before me in this well tailored game. The story line is amazing, there is multiple endings as well for those who like extra storylines. Software really out did themselves with this title and I feel like this is the start of something amazing. They've already dropped a new update fixing numerous bugs and on top of the bugs fixed they added new content into this massive game. Thank you so much Software for making my gaming experience that I will never for get.

THANK YOU so much for reading my detailed review about the Elden Ring title, this is my first ever video game review, and I know there is a lot of grounds I didn't cover but I hope this article was able to help you have a better understanding for the game I reviewed. Cheers everyone and I hope all is well with you.