Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Pemulis · Mar 8, 2024

I rage quit the first dark souls when I got stuck on Capra demon (maybe the 2nd or third boss?)

I eventually went back to it and the played the absolute shit out of the rest of the series. Just tonight I went through my Elden ring characters to try to inventory what I have and how far they have gotten in my almost 350 hours of gameplay. I’m sure that’s not a lot compared to some people and some games, but it sure is a lot for me

Tuco · Mar 8, 2024

Rajaah said:
That reminds me, I was telling someone the other day that I bet a ton of people call into work sick (or use vacation time) for the DLC launch day, which is a Friday. I bet it's enough to be noticeable, like a Dragon Quest in Japan.

Using vacation time for Elden Ring DLC to get your shit pushed in all day is going to be depressing XD

Vinjin · Mar 19, 2024

It's been probably 9 months or so since I last played ER so I decided to do a fresh run-through again in anticipation of the DLC.

Some things came back very quickly. Others I had totally forgotten about. Margit and Rennala were both one-shots, which was a bit surprising and unexpected. On the other hand, fuckers like Leonine Misbegotten and that stupid MFer Moongarm assassin dude right before the elevator to Renalla each took roughly a dozen attempts before I finally got them down.

The latter was especially frustrating b/c I had forgotten about that OP shield ability he has to basically counter any move I made and essentially one-shot me right after. God, what a punk!

I know I'm going to struggle badly vs some of the major bosses down the road. I'm still only lvl 45 atm but I know what's coming.

Rajaah · Mar 19, 2024

Tuco said:
Using vacation time for Elden Ring DLC to get your shit pushed in all day is going to be depressing XD

As someone who sucks at action games and doesn't think Elden Ring is that hard (if you use everything available to you), I'm curious to see how the DLC handles difficulty.

Does it stay more or less accessible and keep the invisible difficulty slider of the main game, or do they go all in with making it the "challenge mode" of the game that grabs headlines for killing people 100x on one boss?

I'm pretty sure they're going to go the route of the challenge mode. Other From DLCs have usually been home to the toughest fight for that game: Orphan of Kos, Fume Knight. Was Nameless King in a DLC? This is why I'm gonna run the DLC on a new NG cycle with a new character (at endgame levels). NG+++ DLC will probably be obliteration, unless they do something to make the DLC the same across all cycles which is doubtful.

I'm thinking Miquella is going to be the DLC's Malenia, except way way harder than Malenia ever was. Which would be awesome. I'd like to see something almost nobody can win against. Main story boss being Messmer and a bit more reasonable.

Chris · Mar 19, 2024

Vinjin said:
It's been probably 9 months or so since I last played ER so I decided to do a fresh run-through again in anticipation of the DLC.

Some things came back very quickly. Others I had totally forgotten about. Margit and Rennala were both one-shots, which was a bit surprising and unexpected. On the other hand, fuckers like Leonine Misbegotten and that stupid MFer Moongarm assassin dude right before the elevator to Renalla each took roughly a dozen attempts before I finally got them down.

The latter was especially frustrating b/c I had forgotten about that OP shield ability he has to basically counter any move I made and essentially one-shot me right after. God, what a punk!

I know I'm going to struggle badly vs some of the major bosses down the road. I'm still only lvl 45 atm but I know what's coming.

Same, got Margit on second try (went to boost DPS) and seemed really easy with wolf summons and Rogier.

Got a bleed Nagakiba guy called Sephrioth.

Anyone got any suggestions for buffs to get?

Rajaah · Mar 19, 2024

Chris said:
Same, got Margit on second try (went to boost DPS) and seemed really easy with wolf summons and Rogier.

Got a bleed Nagakiba guy called Sephrioth.

Anyone got any suggestions for buffs to get?

Don't even remember what buffs there were in the game, just that on the Flask of Wondrous Physick I went with Heal Half HP + Regeneration for pretty much all of the game. Use that as your first heal on a boss fight and enjoy the regen for a while.

Margit seemed so tough the first time through. I thought you had to level up a bunch of times, find a good weap, upgrade it, find some equipment, explore Limgrave, and then eventually come back and take Margit out. Never thought it was something I could do at the starting level. Last time I was showing the game to someone I picked Samurai as the starting class, went right to Margit, and... won at starting level. Was pretty surprised to be able to do that, was a similar feeling to when I replayed other Souls games and beat the intro stage bosses after having it in my mind for a while that they were way harder than they actually were.

Pyros · Mar 19, 2024

Rajaah said:
Don't even remember what buffs there were in the game, just that on the Flask of Wondrous Physick I went with Heal Half HP + Regeneration for pretty much all of the game. Use that as your first heal on a boss fight and enjoy the regen for a while.

Margit seemed so tough the first time through. I thought you had to level up a bunch of times, find a good weap, upgrade it, find some equipment, explore Limgrave, and then eventually come back and take Margit out. Never thought it was something I could do at the starting level. Last time I was showing the game to someone I picked Samurai as the starting class, went right to Margit, and... won at starting level. Was pretty surprised to be able to do that, was a similar feeling to when I replayed other Souls games and beat the intro stage bosses after having it in my mind for a while that they were way harder than they actually were.

First time Souls always work like that, when you replay them(for NG+ or otherwise) it's hilariously easy in comparison especially early bosses, because you're a lot more used to the timings of the game in general(weapon timing, rolls, the way animations work) plus your experience on the boss the first time around. Hell even in general from game to game it gets easier over time, there's always the one fuck you boss but having played every Soul, a lot of the difficulty goes away after a few hours to get back into it. That plus weapon based difficulty, Souls difficulty setting is often just what weapon/setup you use, some trivialize stuff while others tend to be a lot harder.

Blueweed · Mar 20, 2024

Grizzlebeard · Mar 20, 2024

Blueweed said:

Chris · Mar 25, 2024

What a difference on my second playthrough.

I remember Raya Lucaria being extremely difficult using Moonveil Katana, Glintstone Phalanx/Pebble as that was a meta build I saw.

Now I'm just whacking stuff with the giant katana one hand or duel wield, not even proccing bleed which my build is meant to be eventually, and it's fine.

TJT · Mar 25, 2024

Rajaah said:
As someone who sucks at action games and doesn't think Elden Ring is that hard (if you use everything available to you), I'm curious to see how the DLC handles difficulty.

Does it stay more or less accessible and keep the invisible difficulty slider of the main game, or do they go all in with making it the "challenge mode" of the game that grabs headlines for killing people 100x on one boss?

I'm pretty sure they're going to go the route of the challenge mode. Other From DLCs have usually been home to the toughest fight for that game: Orphan of Kos, Fume Knight. Was Nameless King in a DLC? This is why I'm gonna run the DLC on a new NG cycle with a new character (at endgame levels). NG+++ DLC will probably be obliteration, unless they do something to make the DLC the same across all cycles which is doubtful.

I'm thinking Miquella is going to be the DLC's Malenia, except way way harder than Malenia ever was. Which would be awesome. I'd like to see something almost nobody can win against. Main story boss being Messmer and a bit more reasonable.

Doing my second playthrough now and its way way easier. Yes I know what's coming and I kinda know what works and what doesn't.

I played sword and board the whole time and never though I was struggling super hard. But this time I went straight for the Nagakiba and I am not even bothering with the shield. I am also aggressively upgrading more than I did before. I'm tearing through shit now. I want to go run down the greatbow and get dung puppet this time.

I did not go kill the big dragon for earlier levels. The biggest thing is that I am making a concerted effort to use big R2 attacks a lot more than I did before. Where I mainly R1 spammed with shield block. Getting a poise break into a crit is a ton more satisfying than whittling down with R1 and playing super safe. Also I am avoiding running around on Torrent and picking away at mobs and just going straight in.

Unsheathe is super strong. I completely ignored it before. Unsheathe straight into a jumping R2 is good shit.

Fogel · Mar 25, 2024

I'm doing a play through with the Stone Hammer. You'd think odd at first, but I saw a video on it and come to find out this thing is a beast. High AR but its R1 is almost as fast as a dagger. I can usually get in 3-4 R1's in the time most weapons get a single R2. Added benefit is it has the same stance damage as all hammers, which is 2nd highest behind only great hammers I believe, so works great with a great shield and guard counters. Only down side is its only a drop from battlemages and there aren't that many available to farm, luckily it only took me 25 kills.

Chris · Mar 25, 2024

TJT said:
Doing my second playthrough now and its way way easier. Yes I know what's coming and I kinda know what works and what doesn't.

I played sword and board the whole time and never though I was struggling super hard. But this time I went straight for the Nagakiba and I am not even bothering with the shield. I am also aggressively upgrading more than I did before. I'm tearing through shit now. I want to go run down the greatbow and get dung puppet this time.

I did not go kill the big dragon for earlier levels. The biggest thing is that I am making a concerted effort to use big R2 attacks a lot more than I did before. Where I mainly R1 spammed with shield block. Getting a poise break into a crit is a ton more satisfying than whittling down with R1 and playing super safe. Also I am avoiding running around on Torrent and picking away at mobs and just going straight in.

Unsheathe is super strong. I completely ignored it before. Unsheathe straight into a jumping R2 is good shit.

Yeah I'm using Nagakiba too. I did kill the dragon to get to 30 Vigor which is really helping me.

Using Bloodflame Blade on it for bosses but really the sword seems to be doing most of the work.

TJT · Mar 25, 2024

Chris said:
Yeah I'm using Nagakiba too. I did kill the dragon to get to 30 Vigor which is really helping me.

Using Bloodflame Blade on it for bosses but really the sword seems to be doing most of the work.

I straight killed Bloody Finger Yura in the first hour of the game for Nagakiba lol.

Chris · Mar 25, 2024

TJT said:
I straight killed Bloody Finger Yura in the first hour of the game for Nagakiba lol.

Yeah me too. Went to the Church of Vows and Turtle Pope said that I did nothing wrong.

Which Weapon Art are you using? Was it Unsheathe? What does it do?

Using Double Strike but it's kinda underwhelming.

Seananigans · Mar 26, 2024

Chris said:
Which Weapon Art are you using? Was it Unsheathe? What does it do?

If you have a sheathe it uns it.

It's a reactionary style anime attack, you hold the trigger until they're in range and then the strike is fairly swift.

Rajaah · Mar 26, 2024

Seananigans said:
If you have a sheathe it uns it.

It's a reactionary style anime attack, you hold the trigger until they're in range and then the strike is fairly swift.

Yeah Unsheathe is real good, and a cure for the slow attack speed that trips up most people when they play From games for the first time.

Elden Ring including a riposte feature (strong attack right after shield-blocking an attack, IIRC) is another thing that can be a huge help to new people suffering from "every time I try to attack I get hit" syndrome. Instead of spamming attack, block and riposte. The riposte fires very quick, like Unsheathe.

Some time soon (probably June) I need to gear up for my third big ER playthrough. Overall I've played it like 5-6 times, but several of those were me playing NG+ cycles repeatedly until the enemy levels caught up with my previous-endgame levels. Only started from scratch 2x, and both were in the first couple months it was out. So it's been a while and we'll see if it holds up to what I remember. Is it possible to be nostalgic for something from two years ago? Cause I'm pretty sure I've got that feeling.

Fogel · Mar 26, 2024

Rajaah said:
Yeah Unsheathe is real good, and a cure for the slow attack speed that trips up most people when they play From games for the first time.

Elden Ring including a riposte feature (strong attack right after shield-blocking an attack, IIRC) is another thing that can be a huge help to new people suffering from "every time I try to attack I get hit" syndrome. Instead of spamming attack, block and riposte. The riposte fires very quick, like Unsheathe.

Those are guard counters. You have to build around them though which means a good amount of str and end to use a good shield and have enough stamina to both block and guard counter after.

Grizzlebeard · Mar 26, 2024

The same animation for unsheathe is used on the Moonlight Katana but the art is way more powerful.

Lodi · Mar 26, 2024

Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

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