Thank you @Warlocke, @Wormerine, @Blackheifer and others re. Elden Ring. In sum I am satisfied with my decision to pass on this game.
Look, it's your call, but I will say this. I have been gaming for 40 years and Elden Ring is the best game I have ever played. It's one of the few games I have played that felt *crafted* not just made. Things I love:
1. It does multiplayer in a way that few people could take issue with. As you travel around you see little ghosts of people, other players, doing all kinds of stuff. You can see bloodstains on the floor that tell you how other people died which can range from a solid warning of impending danger, to an extremely humorous derpiness on the part of that person or persons. 2. It does interplayer communication right. You can leave messages for others but you have a limited vocabulary to choose from which has led to some interesting creativity and memes but also very useful info. You can upvote or downvote other messages. Hint: Take the message "Time for Prawn" VERY seriously. 3. You can bring in other players to help you with boss fights/areas and to just pvp with. 4. All aspects of multiplayer are optional and can be turned off at any time. 5. There really isn't any meta build for the game or meta weapon. There are good weapons for beginners (Bloodhound Fang, Claymore, Watchdog's Staff) but there isn't a God weapon above all others and there are a metric TON of weapons and weapon types. 6. Magic isn't better than melee - it just requires different strategies. Also you are free to mix and match magic and melee. 7. You are not forced to deal with a boss or no progress - if something is too tough just leave, gain some levels doing other things and come back later. You can max every stat and learn every spell given enough time. 8. The combat is the best I have ever seen- it's clean and highly responsive (as long as you are not fat-rolling anyway). I used to think the Witcher 3 was the gold standard, but this blows it out of the water.
Thanks! This is rather helpful. I won't ever play this or any game in MP/co-op, so how SP works in the game matters a whole lot to me. It's certainly something for me to keep an eye on if it ever is at bargain sale price.
