Elden Ring

[Maf]

Started this today and got to Margit. Threw myself at him about 10 times but just to see the fight and experiment a bit. I think if I stacked all my flasks in to magic and just played really well I could cheese it. He takes a lot of damage from magic. But I don’t really want to do it like that. 
 

I tried jump attacking and the first time I did it I staggered him 3 times. Took 4 hits to knock down but on the 4th one easy stagger. But every attempt I’ve made since I can’t buckle him at all. Just die too fast and not getting the hits in quick enough. 
 

It doesn’t seem that bad to me. The game reading my inputs to heal to throw the magic daggers which is bullshit. The fast magic swipes I can’t figure out how to dodge. And the big AoE hammer strike is obnoxious as fuck. But I feel like I’ve played this before. I get what makes it different but it’s still the same kind of boss fight. 

 

I’m only level 17 or something and have gone heavy on magic so far. Reading sword and shield is nonsense then I’m not going to bother with that.

 

Guess now I just have to go backwards and explore a bit. Find new weapons, toughen up, etc.

 

I don’t know. I like this game. But so far so Dark Souls. It’s the same challenges, same victories, same flow to the combat, all the stats and stuff are similar. I know it’s an open world and more customisable with ashes and special moves and stuff. But so far it’s not really new to me. It’s a sequel. 

[one-armed dwarf]

fwiw, I beat him lvl 23 without summons (no ash). I think it was super rough, but I did not actually know about jump attacks at that point and how effective they were for stagger.

 

@mfnick

 

[radiofloyd]

Sword and shield is nonsense? Sword and shield is very effective in this game. Guard counters are very effective. Just gotta back off and regroup if your stamina gets drained. I don’t think I’ve fought a single boss so far that it benefits to fight long distance as opposed to close range.

[Maf]

I dunno I’m just going off what I read.

 

Think I messed up anyway looks like all the cool magic is tied to Faith and Arcane. I found the dragon podium with the 3 spells on it and was like awww

 

Took me about a hour and a half but I beat Tree Sentinel. I copped out at the end and shot him with magic but he has 3 moves that all OHKO so seemed fair to me. 
 

Now just going around the open world looking for stuff. It’s kind of putting me to sleep tbh. It’s only the first area so maybe it livens up but it’s kind of dull to run around. I’ve just turned it off because I can’t find the energy for it 

[one-armed dwarf]

You're not nearly far enough into the game to be hitting the 'fucked my build up' part of the game tbh. RF is right about sword and board as well, you can do well enough with it if you play clever. Guard counter is a great new mech. But you just need to know what's the right type of attack to block, or go full greatshield. Same as always, just enemies are more complex now

 

Everything is super viable, although I do think faith and arcane have way cooler magic than intelligence. Tho INT is a more powerful investment later and even in the midgame. 

 

Dragon magic isn't much tho. it's very high damage but you can really only use a lot of them on staggered bosses I think

 

I dunno, there's nothing in this game where I feel like a particular approach is impoverished. With the exception of my build of course, where I am punching stuff with a dragon on each hand. Buff us pls, FROM, there are dozens of us

[Maf]

I don’t think I’ve messed a build up it’s just the first magic thing I come across I can’t use. Like, man. Of course. 

[OCH]

A Magic build out of the gate in Soulsborne isn't the most fun time @Maf

Depending on where you go to acquire more spells, of course. Some of the most powerful spells early on don't require Faith/Arcane. You just have to find the right Vendor.

[Maf]

If it is how it was in DS2 and Demon’s Souls then in the beginning magic is good for taking out stragglers, a group of weaker enemies or safely finishing a tough enemy. But yeah if it runs the same way it will get better later.

 

I don’t know I can use Ashes/summons yet but looking at where they are in the inventory yes they seem important. They’re the second tab in the inventory and you can mess with them at every campsite. I can’t use them yet but the conversation before how important are they and should you use them. The way their surfaced it’s like the game is showing them off as a 3rd weapon you should be using. Or at least a highly important part of your kit. 
 

When I get them I’ll be using the fuck out of them. It really comes across like they’re pushing for them to be used. 
 

The thing I’m less gung ho on are the special moves as you can’t seem to try them before using them and if you replace them they’re gone for good unless you duplicate or buy more. Seems harsh man. Can’t even give me a little demo video to see what it looks like. 

[OCH]

Yeah, you can't use them immediately. But I have three ashes that are pretty great. There are some troll ones though. Just something to bear in mind.

 

Also, the thing about the weapon ashes is you don't lose them if switching them out to other weapons. It is a penalty-free system.

[mfnick]

6 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

 

 

@mfnick

 

😂 that’s great. 
 

@Maf Don’t know if you’re bothered about spoilers but I’d look up some good mid and late game weapons, find one you like and and spec towards it + recommended end game spec to aim for. I enjoyed it a lot more after doing that. These Souls games are the only ones I can think of where levelling up doesn’t feel good, I just get huge anxiety that I’m messing up when I put my level in a certain category. Looking up that stuff helped me loads in that respect. 
 

Id recommend googling how to unlock ash summons and then later how to upgrade them because it can be very easily missed and is pretty essential. I really think they should have made that much more obvious. 
 

I’m in Leyndall now, what a labyrinth that place is!!! Every space has branching paths everywhere. Exhausting. 

Spoiler

Just beat Margot thoughts. Sounds like I’m off to the giant area now. 

For what it’s worth, I’m about 45-50 hours in. I’d say it’s a good 8/10 game so far. Hugely overhyped though. But very good and really addictive. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Tbh, there's no reason to worry that much. You can respec a lot in this. Not going to put that in a spoiler, cause it's more likely people's enjoyment might get spoiled by the overthinking of optimisation in this

 

Think you can respec something like 14 times as well

[mfnick]

Yea but that’s quite far in. I think I could respec 7 times now if I wanted. But It’d be pretty easy to make the early to mid game much harder and less enjoyable for yourself - by not being able to use lots of equipment like I had trouble with - by levelling “incorrectly”. 
 

I also wish I’d played into the Arcane side a lot more. There looks to be so many cool abilities tied behind that. Look a lot cooler than the sorcery stuff anyway. 

[Maf]

Int stat is like 23 and I’m thinking of pivoting to Arcane. I want to do the stuff they were doing in the trailer 

[one-armed dwarf]

I think as long as you've got decent investment in at least one damage stat you can make anything work

 

But I'm gonna say, maybe dont invest in arcane. It's a niche stat. it affects item discovery, status effect buildup and very specific weapons scale with it, and it gives you dragon magic which is probably the worst class of magic. Feels like more of an NG+ thing

 

Then again, this is the type of thing a non-arcane player might say. 

 

(play how you want)

[Maf]

Here’s me beating the Sentinel

 

Spoiler

 

God damned tree hugger

 

Does the game not tell you what dungeons you’ve completed? Also can I put flasks and my horse whistle in the pouches so I don’t have to keep selecting them off the d-pad?

[one-armed dwarf]

Ye, I put horsey on up and blue juice on right, physick on down and left is usually some random fight specific shit. But I keep sunny d on square all the time.

 

I no damaged 'M's first phase twice today but Im still way too unga on p2

[Maf]

Beat Maggie

 

Spoiler

 

Don’t see what all the fuss was about 👀

 

It’s not cheese it’s zoning. I’m like, the Ryu of Elden Ring.

 

In all seriousness if I had to beat this fight hard core with sword and shield and what not this would have taken forever. I see what Dwarf was saying that in the second phase it’s like he slides in from combo route to combo route. In one of my attempts it was like a 11 hit combo and I lost of track of what move he was doing and when it would end. What’s sneaky it’s not even like he’s resetting the combo. Like you left a gap so he started from move 1. He can just get to move 3 and do whole new string and it’s like well fuck. I’d like to see what your stamina bar looks like in battle. 

 

It’s almost RNG. Because Souls’s bosses have always, and seem to still, do specific attacks depending on how far away the player is. It’s why some bosses are super easy because you stand at a certain range and whiff punish over and over. The problem here is depending on where the player is standing you don’t know if the combo will end or not. If you just keep dodging in to the wrong spot then you might just be triggering the next attack. But in the rush of rolling around just trying not to die. It’s almost RNG because who knows specifically where you’re going to land?
 

There was one combo in his first phase which I basically never saw because the first hit is like a uppercut, and if you dodge it he goes in to the combo. But if you block it he never does. That’s some crazy shit, and the most simple example of what’s happening in the fight. When he is doing the never ending attacks in phase 2 it’s like well there’s too many attacks to block, I have to roll here, but where ever I’m landing is triggering the next strike.
 

At least that’s what it seems like.

 

It’s interesting. I’m not sure I’m against it…but I’m almost certainly not for it. I guess it stops being RNG if you are in complete control of the fight and your spacing is perfect. But the way these things go. It gets out of control and I end up just trying to get away. In the second I don’t care where.

 

The attack I ended up hating the most is the quick, left handed magic blades swipe. In the couple of rounds I think I worked out you have to roll in to him. Maybe. At least that worked a couple of times and nothing else worked consistently. I hate that move.

 

Hmm. Eat this blue cheese bacon burger, bitch. Fuck your sword shit. Time for wands!

[radiofloyd]

I googled the key I was looking for. Having found where it was, I don’t regret googling it in the slightest. Anyway, I’m 40 hours in and now in the Raya Lucaria academy.

 

I found some cool stuff. 
 

Spoiler

At the Four Belfries location in Liurnia I activated a warp gate that took me back to the starting area and got revenge on the boss there. He dropped a cool greatshield. I also found some Hawk summons, one of which can’t be used (for the time being at least) but the other I was able to immediately upgrade to +3.

 

Also, I started a quest for a witch called Renna that is going to take me back underground to find an Eternal City. Back to the river Siofra we go.

But for now I’m going to focus on getting this second great rune.

[mmmark]

I opened a chest yesterday and got 

Spoiler

Transported to a mine far to the north east

where the enemies are several generations above my pay grade. I’m only two hours in and a complete weakling. I couldn’t fast travel. Kept being killed over and over. I thought it had screwed my game over accidentally but I eventually managed to leg it away to a bonfire and a story cut scene to be taken to 

Spoiler

The knights of the round table or something.

So I assume this is something everyone must have been through one way or another. 
 

I also saw my first dragon. But I was looking at something else as it approached and hadn’t noticed it until it screamed and proper shook me up. I was streaming at the time, I’ll see if I can clip it.

 

 

[OCH]

6 hours ago, Maf said:

It’s not cheese it’s zoning. I’m like, the Ryu of Elden Ring.

That's fine for now.

 

Spoiler

But, you can be Goku later...

 

2 hours ago, radiofloyd said:

I googled the key I was looking for. Having found where it was, I don’t regret googling it in the slightest.

Yeah, they do still have some obtuse item locations to find. I googled the other half of the thing I need, for the secret quest I found. The area told to me, where it was, meant nothing to me at all. So I knew it was decidedly late game and went elsewhere. 

 

1 hour ago, mmmark said:

I opened a chest yesterday and got 

That's definitely a sneaky early game troll, by Fromsoft. It led me to wonder if Mimics were also in this one, too? Haven't found any yet...