Elden Ring

[OCH]

I kept dying to him. Being caught by hitboxes, that I thought I was clear of. Or should have been clear of.

[Nag]

3 hours ago, OCH said:

You are more or less where I was before tapping out. If you got a key item from the Albinauric village, I'd advise you to head for the large castle, west of the Fire Giant arena. Defeating the boss there will send you to another new map.

 

I'll give that a go.👍

[radiofloyd]

I love the underground area below Leyendell, now this is more like it! I’ve died three times down here already in three different places. This is a return to the old Dark Souls challenge.

 

As for Leyendell itself:

 

Spoiler

It was a bit of a maze but I think I’ve explored all of it (that I can). To the east the way forward is blocked by a seal set by Morgott, and on the other side I’ve gotten to the Queen’s Bedchamber bonfire which leads to a boss battle, Morgott I assume. Also bumped into Goldmask and Corbyn again. For now I’m going to keep exploring the sewers.

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Summon some folks in to help @Nag if you're struggling, there's no need to throw in the towel if you've hit a brick wall, just find some folks to help you get over it.

 

I assume you're using Ash Summons anyway - which as you've probably noticed - are usually more effective than proper summons in this game as bosses get a massive health boost with real folk summons. What I found though, is that towards the end of the game their use tends to wane a bit with some of the tougher bosses and I felt summoning real folks was much more effective. 

 

I never would've beat Malenia for example without real folk summons as your ash summons only give her additional health throughout the fight.

 

I can't actually remember Fire Giant too much, I think I remember being on a horse and using the Black Knife Tiche ash summon but my memory is hazy.

[Nag]

Fire Giant down... he got cheesed to death by getting stuck on a rock and pelted with arrows from Letenna the Albinauric for the first phase... and then me jumping out of the map and him following to his doom in the second.

 

Fuck you Fire Giant.

[OCH]

Latenna is great for that fight. I got her set up on the cliff above you, as you enter the boss arena. She was already +10 for me and is basically a sniper on the roof. I just made sure she was buffed. So when he did go for her, she could shrug most attacks off.

[Nag]

I'm just going around the map now killing bosses that are tied to trophies...

 

Just wondering whenever I do what I'm supposed to do and get transported to Crumbling Farum Azula am I stuck in the end game? Or can you still fast travel back to the main map.

 

I'm wondering if I should go to Miquella’s Haligtree first as I've got the item to get there but not tried the area yet and don't want to get locked out on this playthrough.

[DisturbedSwan]

10 hours ago, Nag said:

I'm just going around the map now killing bosses that are tied to trophies...

 

Just wondering whenever I do what I'm supposed to do and get transported to Crumbling Farum Azula am I stuck in the end game? Or can you still fast travel back to the main map.

 

I'm wondering if I should go to Miquella’s Haligtree first as I've got the item to get there but not tried the area yet and don't want to get locked out on this playthrough.

 

Are you going for the Platinum? It's pretty easy really if you summon some folks to help with Malenia, it may take a few goes to find ones that are good enough to help take her down but it didn't take too long for me. 

 

The only missable thing in the game AFAIK which would require a second playthrough is a weapon on Leyendell which disappears after defeating one of the bosses in Farum Azula. 

 

You're stuck in Farum Azula until you find the first site of grace then you can fast travel anywhere on the map again. 

 

I'd give the Haligtree a go first and see how you get on, I got to the bottom of the area and had a few goes at Malenia before going back to the main path and taking on Fire Giant, Farum Azula etc. before defeating Malenia just before the final boss. 

[Nag]

4 hours ago, DisturbedSwan said:

Are you going for the Platinum

 

Im not sure at the minute, I don't know if I can be bothered tracking down those cookbooks and stuff... we'll see.

 

Cheers for the point of no return explanation.👍

[radiofloyd]

Did a lot today. But I also fucked up and locked myself into a specific ending. But luckily it seems to be reversible.

 

Spoiler

So I finished exploring the sewers. It led to, among other things, a catacombs level and also a boss who gave me an achievement (Mohg, the Omen - no idea of his connection to Margit, the Fell Omen) Beyond the boss was another seal set by Morgott, so I went and defeated him, piss simple fight at this stage unfortunately, once and done. Went back to the seal, and it led eventually to a Site of Grace called the Frenzied Flame Proscription. I passed through a door here and a cut scene played where I was grabbed by three fingers and branded. I had no idea what this meant but I soon found out - the next time I rested at a bonfire the maiden (I’ve forgotten her name) effectively told me I’ve chosen the dark side (the Lord of Chaos), and that she would no longer travel with me and if we met again she would kill me. I was like, what the fuck, I didn’t actually choose anything, it just happened…

 

Anyway I googled my predicament and it seems like it can be reversed by completing Millicent’s questline and using Miquella’s Needle, so I’ll have to keep on top of that.

 

The sewers also led back to the Darkroot Depths and an area I couldn’t access before. Nothing too interesting here though. I do actually have to go back to the sewers again because an NPC in the Stronghold gave me a Sewer Key to open a locked door. I’m fucked if I remember where that door is in the sewers though.

Made good progress today but I’m fair bummed about the ending thing, could have used some forewarning about that or a chance to back out. Anyway, next up I’m off to the Great Lift of Rold.

[DisturbedSwan]

1 hour ago, Nag said:

 

Im not sure at the minute, I don't know if I can be bothered tracking down those cookbooks and stuff... we'll see.

 

Cheers for the point of no return explanation.👍

 

No worries 👍 I think there is also a dragon in darkroot depths you have defeat before the last boss in Farum Azula as well. 

[OCH]

23 hours ago, radiofloyd said:

But I also fucked up and locked myself into a specific ending.

Personally, in my opinion, the best ending in the game. I looked it up to see if the NPC ending I was leaning towards led to a good ending. In context, yes. As a cutscene, no. So I decided to change tact and pursue that ending instead. I did the sewer, when I eventually found it. As miserable a dungeon as I expected it to be. But, I'd already done Fire Giant. If you do that bit before Fire Giant, the cutscene is a little different (I was informed to look that up).

 

If you're planning on NG+, I'd suggest you stick with your current ending. Most people I've spoken with opted for completing Ranni's quest or that one. 

[radiofloyd]

Absolutely zero intention of playing NG+, there are far too many other games to play!

[radiofloyd]

Have a splitting headache today unfortunately but I googled some loose ends I wanted to clear up.

 

Spoiler

I googled exactly where the door the Sewer Gaol key opens is, I did not want to wander aimlessly down there again. I met the guy and freed him and he promised to do all sorts of bad stuff. I googled his questline and it more or less seems like a waste of time.

 

I googled the blind maiden Hyetta’s questline and again it seems like a waste of time.

 

Both of these quests involving traveling to numerous specific locations, which is fine maybe in a linear game like Dark Souls, but in an open world game like Elden Ring, the odds of me ever deciding to re-explore those areas is basically zero.

 

Then i googled the area the Prince of Darkness’ Throne because it seemed to me like there had to be more to it. Turns out it’s related to an NPC in the Roundtable Hold and her questline. Again it doesn’t seem like something worth doing, having read about it. I had actually been ignoring that NPC this whole time.

 

Lastly, I googled the Ring of Oath which is necessary to progress past Astel, who I beat a gazillion hours ago. Turns out, the way to get it is so lame. A random bonfire in the Ainsel River underground area, has a random option right at the very bottom of the list of all the things you can when you rest at a bonfire, you could rest at that bonfire a hundred times and never notice it. It makes a little bit of sense if you reach this bonfire following Ranni’s quest as the warp gate at Renna’s Rise takes you to this bonfire, unfortunately I had already reached this bonfire traveling from the coffin in the Darkroot Depths, so when I rested here, the option wasn’t even there. Lame. 

Elden Ring has the worst NPC quests.

[Nag]

Apart from Ranni's quest I haven't done anyone else's... it's a Fromesoft staple that everything has to be obnoxiously vague and make fuck all sense.

 

I respecced for the first time last night, I'd hit a wall again in the shape of Godskin Duo... so now I'm a magic user who also uses a big fucking katana. Unfortunately straight after I found a NPC summon point with this guy who was basically immortal and made the fight a cakewalk.🤣

[OCH]

18 minutes ago, Nag said:

Godskin Duo

Funny story, they actually have a really obvious weakness. I killed the separate Godskins relatively easily when I discovered it. Looked it up to see if I was right, too. Sleep. I have an Ash summon that specialises in Sleep attacks. Most boss size enemies get staggered by it, if they aren't outright immune. But the Godskins are very susceptible to the status. 

[DisturbedSwan]

My Ash Summon Black Knife Tiche took care of Godskin Duo before I’d even properly got into the fight 😂

[OCH]

I did see one YouTube video with the NPC @radiofloydis talking about. As an Ash Summon. One of the most broken in the entire game. Arguably more than Mimic Tear or Tiche. But you have to know how to get him, to make him a summon by the end of his questline.

[Nag]

Had to respec again tonight just so I could carry a stupid fucking torch.... wow.🙄

[OCH]

The respec thing is iffy. I avoided it. Since you have to be mindful that there are some stats that have to stay high enough to even carry basic stuff.