Sure thing, I’ll give this a whirl:
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Okay, so I’m sitting here, thinking about Elden Ring and, like, can it really get better? I fired it up on my Asus ROG Ally X—yeah, I know, mega nerd alert—and with this new Nightreign expansion, things just went nuts. Elden Ring was demanding? Pffft, whatever. Nightreign is standalone, and, get this, it runs even smoother. How cool is that? Like, blew my mind.
But here’s a laugh: the whole map, Limveld, it’s teeny. We’re talking compact. So less to load, I guess? It’s like Limgrave, not that erdtree stuff bogging it down. Man, hardware. Speaking of, let’s chat about gear. The Asus ROG Ally X is killer, not just because I said so, but it’s got this AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. I mean, compare that to the Lenovo Legion Go, and yeah, you’ll see. With 24GB of RAM, it’s like strapping rockets to a skateboard—just nuts. Can’t wait for that leaked Xbox Ally with the Ryzen Z2, though. My brain’s buzzing!
Anyway wait—hardware wars. Steam Deck might actually Stand. A. Chance. Valve’s secret sauce optimization is no joke, seriously. They made Elden Ring run smooth as butter, so Nightreign could follow suit. Who doesn’t love rivalries?
Tested this baby right in Limveld’s castle, because why not. Giants chucking magic pots at you? Classic. It’s like a framerate rollercoaster up there. Every new graphics preset was like opening a surprise bag. Cranked up the Operating Mode to Turbo, shoved it into the wall (power-wise), and hoped for the best. Love how the RAM trick works, splitting 24 into a sweet 16 just for the GPU. The top banana on handhelds, folks!
Speaking of bananas—stats, oh boy. 1080p on Maximum, getting 30 fps! Not gonna lie, it dips to 27 when you’re getting bombarded. Still, better than expected. On Medium, it’s smoothish, kinda averaging at 39 fps. The numbers dull, I know, but there’s something cool about dropping it to 720p. You ever watch a pixel art movie? Kinda like that, crunchy yet sharp in all the right places. Averages jump to something respectable.
But let’s face it, cobbling through ruins doesn’t need checks and balances. If stuff blows up and enemies crash your party, everything lags. The game makes up for it in closed spaces, though. Little hacks, like pointing the camera away from chaos—who knew? Noboby tells you these things.
So, you want smooth 60 fps? Dream on, my friend. 720p on Low’s your best bet, but then everything looks like a blocky relic of a bygone era. Limveld without shadows? Like, come on. Bet I could draw better shadows. A smidgen ugly, but hey, who’s counting polygons?
My love for Elden Ring’s deep, like… existential. Nightreign at Maximum? Still kind of a bumpy ride but slides over 30 fps most times. If you’re living for that sweet spot, go for 720p Maximum; it’s just shy of perfection but works like magic. You’ll manage, trust me.
Fun fact time! Claire, lover of all things game-y, reporting from the battlefields of journalism. That’s me, armed with passion, nostalgia, and a weakness for handheld gaming consoles. When life isn’t about games, it’s fettuccine alfredo and loads of geeky babble. What a life, huh?
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