Don’t get me wrong, I also think Elden ring is amazing, but I think I prefer ds1 (and ds3) as well 
I think the soundtrack is actually the weakest part of Elden Ring.
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I’m pretty sure you can backup your saves on all consoles too. I’ve done it on PS4 on all the FromSoft games to save time. I have a DkS3 character saved to the cloud with tons of covenant items that took hours to farm. When my mates or randos on Fextralife want the items, I drop the items for them to pick up, them reload the save from the cloud. I’ll be doing it at the end of ER as well - I’ve already met the requirements for all three endings. 
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I’ll need to remember to double check when FS next release a game 
I did the same on Ps5 to get all endings
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I love Elden Ring. Every time I put it on I’m floored by the sheer amount of detail and endless content. But man, there really is something off about the balancing of the gameplay.
My issue with the balancing is perfectly demonstrated by Mohgwyn Palace - what a fucking awful place. Giant skeletons that smack you with huge arms and long-range magic, massive birds that have humongous health pools and irritatingly difficult to read movesets, bastard rot-dogs that seem to completely decimate your health in seconds, an army of those bug-eyed albinauric things that grow spikes and cartwheel around and several invasions from those bleed-building Varré guys. Honestly that place took me to the edge of frustration with my jaw hitting the floor at just how stupidly difficult and unfair the whole thing was. Then when I finally faced off against Mohg himself, I killed him first time. Admittedly, this is due to being able to summon a Mimic Tear +10, having a max-level weapon and decent armour/talismans/items, but I swear this never happened in a SoulsBorne game before.
Traditionally, the way to the boss would be difficult, you’d have to learn the movesets of the enemies, take advantage of the environment and eventually figure out a way to speedrun to the boss for the multiple rematches, but the boss itself would be the hardest part the first time round. In Elden Ring there’s something not right about the balance, and it’s to the detriment of the game.
I also honestly despise how flakey the summoning of spirit ashes can be. Earlier I was in Leyndell and summoned my Mimic Tear to assist with a medium-sized enemy. We took it out quickly and a few seconds later my Mimic Tear phased out of existence. I wasn’t allowed to continue past that small area to fight the next bunch of enemies with it. The invisible walls which cause your spirit ashes to disappear are incredibly frustrating, especially when they cost a lot of FP/HP. Honestly I think the game would have been better without them - it’s a lot of fun summoning AI assistance but it trivialises the bosses and they vanish too quickly in the open world.
Again, I’m not pooping on this game just for the sake of it. I’m obsessed with FrimSoft games and adore their work. Elden Ring is a masterpiece and incredibly enjoyable. But I feel its ambitious design has caused too many balancing issues for my liking. Unfairly difficult in some places, comically easy in others. It just doesn’t ‘flow’ like the games before it.
I think the problem is there are two types of enemies in these games. Some you have to go defensive and wait for your opening. The game teaches you to play this way.
The other type are those in Mohgwyn - go in strong and aggressive. you know what they are going to do, so shut them down fast. Go in fast and slap them before they turn in to spinning balls of spikes. This is counter intuitive - but sometimes going death or glory is the way to win.
How did you end up clearing Mogwyhn? I hate that area so much but I want to beat the invaders. Problem is the birds and dogs are a huge PITA to deal with.
Get the Elden Beast Sword, it pushes a wave out that eats everyrthing. (holy dmg)
Right but thats the last boss in the game. I may try frost on these guys.
You can get one bird for free walk to the edge next to grace with all the sleeping dudes and shoot it with an arrow. It will immediately storm towards you, right into the ravine between you. (Also don’t forget to draw out those 4 bleed dogs one-at-a-time when you’re down there 
)
@Claid I agree, the summons simply chance the character of the bossfight gameplay, not using them fixes a lot of that though. I’m not sure how I feel about them, since on the other hand I do like the elegant experimentation with a integrated difficulty setting, which is clearly its purpose.
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Dark Souls I is super awesome!
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Fire captured in a bottle…
Mohgwyn was tough but I was eventually able to get through with the Blasphemous Blade at +9. The giant skeletons are being summoned so you just have to rush in and kill the summoners. Those dogs and birds are terrible though. I used the Black Knife Tiche for some sections but not for all (there are a bunch of sections where you can’t like where all the birds/dogs are).
And I agree that I often have a tougher time in the field than with the bosses in this game.
I treated some areas like end game content, so I rushed through Mohgwyn Palace and the Consacrated Snowfield and went back there after finishing the game/before nG+ and it felt more balanced.
I drew the enemies out one at a time with a bow. Took a bit of patience waiting for them to make their way towards me but it saved a lot of frustration in the long run. 
This is how I got about 40 of my levels… It’s cheap but super easy and a quick 10,000+ souls. Funny too - the squawk followed by the death plunge is comedy gold.
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Im at the Elden Beast now. Only tired a couple of times. First part was pretty easy with a mage build, but second was harder.
What i find funny and annoying sometimes is that i can struggle with regular enemies, but demolish some bosses on the first try. Like the Fire Giant. Read that alot of people struggled with him. I took him pretty easy on the first try. And not with ranged magic either. Just got up in his feet and used katana and moonblade spell.
Malekith also went pretty easy. But i struggled with Melania. Not as much as i did with Rennala though. And almost everybody thought her was easy. hehe.
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I’m in a bit of a comfort zone with the Moonblade and Mimic Tear right now (partway through the Royal Capital). Bosses are proving much easier than some of the minions, thanks to the Mimic - Depraved Perfumers have caught me out a few times, and Revenants are a nightmare. My daughter watched me trying to take one of those on in the Shaded Castle, and I’m pretty sure it put her off FromSoft for life after it teleported behind me, spewed fifty gallons of poison and went straight into that amazing clawing frenzy. “Is that a boss?” Um, no, ignore your father and watch a few SL1 videos instead.
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One thing I like a lot about Elden Ring is how versatile the useable items are. You get your standard consumables like your Flasks of Crimson Tears and Cerulean Tears, then move on to your Flask of Wondrous Physick and your Rune Arcs. Then you get your useable - Cracked Pots, Ritual Jars, then your Perfume Bottles… Each one can be tailored to a specific use. For example, did you know that there’s a perfume which gives you a flat damage buff of 10% for 40 second and trivialises incoming damage once? And did you know that this power allows you to SURVIVE a hit from one of those bastard chariots in the Hero’s Graves? Yeah, neither did I.
It’s called the Uplifting Aromatic by the way. You get it from the Perfumer’s Cookbook [1], which is found in the Perfumer’s Ruins above Mt Gelmir.
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Perfumes are slept on big time in this game.
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