Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Vinjin said:

When I beat the game the first couple times last year, I ran with a RoB and a blood-loss build and had to summon ashes for most of the big boss fights. So my goal for this new run-through, in addition to shaking off the rust in prep of the DLC, was to use a completely different weapon/build and to not use any ash summons at all.

I just hit Consecrated Snowfield and am level 106. Haven't used any ash summons to this point and haven't struggled too much on any one fight outside of the Valiant Gargoyle duo at the end of Nokstella and Commander Niall, which both took 6-7 tries. I still have Mohg and all the big bosses beyond this point though so I know the hardest is yet to come.

On the flip side, I'm almost ashamed to say that I couldn't resist the urge to go with the RoB and blood-loss as a main build. Even with all the nerfs it's apparently had, I'm just so much more effective with the Corpse Piler ability. Even the Nagakiba, which is just another katana, feels inferior to the RoB.

Part of it is not wanting to waste the upgrade mats before the DLC releases but I do wish I could get into other weapons more than I do.

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Yeah I still like using the RoB and even dual-wielding it (too bad I can't get two during the DLC replay since it's NG-only).

Corpse Plier is a lot like Mortal Draw in Sekiro, which is similarly outstanding.

Fogel said:

Best advice for melee on Mohg P2 is hump him. All his fire aids punishes dodging/moving back.

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Honestly on any boss you have trouble on, chances are the answer is to hump. More often than not staying close will lead to higher survivability.

OU Ariakas said:

I just finished getting a new game to the DLC starting point. Level 150, Starscourge Greatsword +10, Mimic Tear +10, all bosses defeated and ready to get Maliketh in Farum Azula. Honestly, I went as fast as possible while still exploring almost every location again and just used spirit summons on every damn boss. Melania is still the hardest one in the game by a fucking mile and it is only because she heals. Whoever added that little gem to her kit should get a raise.

This is the first time i've replayed a FromSoft game from the start and I think I found it more enjoyable the second time through.

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Im on my first NG since Feb ‘22 and I’m doing a moonveil thing. Limgrave and Liurnia are clear, most of Caelid including Radahn, most of Altus, and all of the subterranean stuff short of Lake of Rot and Mohg’s area.

55hrs so far and still insanely fun. Biggest take away is the world and level art and design. Even the second time through, it’s just fucking stunning.

Seananigans said:

Honestly on any boss you have trouble on, chances are the answer is to hump. More often than not staying close will lead to higher survivability.

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Yeah back in Souls 2 I noticed that I was better off sticking to the back of a boss' foot than trying to get distance on them. One of the many things you have to learn with Soulsborne that are different from how you play everything else. Most of the difficulty people have getting into this series is probably that they're trying to play them like regular games, i.e. button-mashing.

Grizzlebeard said:

Just started a new playthrough after listening to you guys stoke my interest up again. I noticed I have 912 hours banked so far and I’m more than ready for another full playthrough.

So far rocking a bleed scimitar and some random other one for power stance goodness but I’m going to need to decide on some Ashes soon. Trying out Storm Blade and it seems better than it used to be.

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On ashes, I hadn't gotten poop man on my first plat playthrough so I'm trying him. Gotta say, he doesn't disappoint, he's +10 after recently clearing Nokron/Nokstella. Very resilient and does decent damage.

I was very annoyed with the quest in general though, it's one of their more obtuse ones. Especially Seluvis, I couldn't ever get him to respond about me finding his hidden basement UNTIL I had already fed Dung Eater the potion in the Sewer Gaol. And it was also annoying trying to figure out exactly what I needed to do to get him to invade me at the south moat.

I think the two biggest (and likely only) improvements I'd like to see in FromSoft games is:

1) Some way to make quests a bit less annoying, not sure how though, quest logs are fucking gay - might take someone much smarter than me to figure out a solution but holy shit so much of these games I'd never experience without guides on the interwebs. Maybe a checklist that unlocks after you beat the game?

2) Fucking real multiplayer you goddamn asshats. I'd give my left nut (or maybe his left nut) to be able to play ER with my best friend start to finish. I've probably said this one 10 times on these forums alone, but it bears repeating.

OU Ariakas said:

They made a *gigantic* improvement in ER with the NPC tags in the map; hell, having a map was a new thing in a FromSoft game.

However, and this is big, it is still hard to see the NPC's unless you are looking directly at them and they are not hidden against the background. I know that they have dialogue come up when you are near one, but unless you are always looking for them it is easy to miss. Also, figuring out where they are going to be next is almost impossible and revisiting every goddamn site of Grace after exhausting each NPC's dialogue is a bad time.

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I still can't find Millicent in this playthrough. I always thought she showed up the first time in Altus, but she was never there. Maybe she'll show up after I clear out Selia, who knows, can't be arsed to look up her nonsense.

Any advice on equipment that resembles Guts from Berserk? Mainly need a weapon that resembles his giant sword. Gonna try a Guts playthrough for the DLC. Been tooling around with Guts playthroughs in some of the older games.

Demon Souls has the Dragon Bone Smasher, Dark Souls has the Greatsword (then later Gwyn's greatsword in NG+), and I haven't gotten to it but Dark Souls 2 has a few Guts options that are finally a bit more spot-on. Kinda feels like playing as chonky Str build Guts is "playing as intended" since I only played these as speedy dex characters and casters in the past.


This is the type of weapon I'm looking for, hopefully ER has a few similar weaps that don't suck.

Anyone doing a playthrough for the DLC with some try hard rules like no spirit summons, jewelry etc? Anyone play the game before like that?

Tuco said:

Anyone doing a playthrough for the DLC with some try hard rules like no spirit summons, jewelry etc? Anyone play the game before like that?

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I tried a playthrough without using the controller but I'm still stuck at the title screen, been 15 months.