Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Droigan

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Figure since people are waiting for the Elden Ring DLC, this might be of interest. Might have been mentioned before since demo has been out for 3 weeks or so.


Full rework of DS3, people who played the demo say it's like a Dark Souls 4.

Archthrones is a retelling of the Dark Souls universe and comprehensive total game mod for Dark Souls 3 complete with its own lore that is informed by the deepest secrets of the Dark Souls mythos. New enemies, bosses, armor, weapons and spells are only the beginning.

The design of the game has been inspired by Demon's Souls's level structure. With the richness of NPC questlines and depth of our own level design, the player will find engaging complexity within the varied worlds. Relive some of the most memorable areas of the entire trilogy within one mod, with reinterpretations of iconic characters and some interpretations you've only seen in item descriptions. All made possible by a talented team that includes experienced concept artists, writers, programmers, composers, and voice actors within the Souls community.

Experience a world where you, The Emissary, must hunt down the Gods of yore. Pulling from every single game in the series and including mechanics and animations from other accomplished Fromsoft games, the team has also worked on highly memorable boss battles and complex combat encounters.

 
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Rajaah

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That looks like something that should actually get some sort of official release / support from From.

It's amazing how fan-made games are some of the most impressive games out there at this point in time. Like those various Super Mario Crossover games (forget what the newest one is called) that could be actual Switch releases and sell extremely well.
 

Rajaah

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Was playing Dark Souls, got to pretty late in the game (only Gwyn left), noticed an NPC that I've never seen before:

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It's right near the beginning in Firelink Shrine. Got an item next to him. Not sure how to get to the guy. Anyone know offhand who this is / what it's for?
 
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Derkon

Trakanon Raider
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Uhh it's been a while but I think he's a merchant. You should be able to drop down to the pillars there from the ledge above?
 
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Araxen

Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Was playing Dark Souls, got to pretty late in the game (only Gwyn left), noticed an NPC that I've never seen before:

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It's right near the beginning in Firelink Shrine. Got an item next to him. Not sure how to get to the guy. Anyone know offhand who this is / what it's for?

Keep going forward and you'll be able to jump over to there.
 
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Seananigans

Honorary Shit-PhD
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Honestly you might just be able to walk it. There are some deceptively small walkable ledges in these games.

I know I always go over there my first time through Firelink, although the NPC isn’t there yet at that point. Don’t know what his trigger is for showing up.
 

Pemulis

Not Woke
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Pretty sure he’s the same merchant who is also in the Depths near the entrance to Blighttown
 
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Rajaah

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Apparently he shows up there after ringing both bells.

Interesting.

I'm still doing a Demon->Dark->Dark 2->Bloodborne->Elden "Berserk playthrough" to lead up to SOTE. Finished Demon Souls and Dark Souls, both speedruns (10-ish hours for one and 7-ish for the other). Was bouncing between them for the past week or so. Fought Artorias in the DLC but that was it. Had to get Power Within to have enough DPS to take down the last few bosses. Doing a Guts cosplay / Greatsword strength build for the first time ever was pretty interesting and the games were definitely harder than they were with Dex characters or casters. Felt more like I was playing them "as intended" by the developers.

On Souls 2 now, planning to do the main game and the Ivory King DLC (not the Frigid Outskirts, and not the other two DLCs, just the main ice castle area that's supposedly the lost 6th Archstone). Only played the Souls 2 DLCs once and it was in 2015 so now that I've played Demon a few times I want to see that ice castle again. Last week I started with a Greatsword build like the others, got a few hours in and realized the Greatsword in this one is super slow and super lame, started over after my tenth or so time swinging at the air in the wrong direction while locked on to a foe. Running a Griffith character now with a Rapier and building around that, game is much more playable now and I got back to where I was in half the time (which isn't far, 4 bosses down). Already have the Tseldora Set and the Covetous EXP Ring +1 so I'm getting a flat +42% souls bonus from every fight.

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Any suggestions for what upgrade route to take a weapon in Souls 2? Base Rapier is super good, especially with the Leo Ring (adds damage to hits you land while an enemy is winding up or recovering, which this quick weapon is good at) and Ring of Blades (which adds a set amount of flat damage to every strike, amazing on a quick-striking weapon). Wondering if Fire or Raw or what is the way to go in Souls 2, considering I'm doing the base game and that one DLC. Souls 2 is the game that gives me more trouble than anything else in the series so I have to take it pretty seriously. Not gonna be speedrunning and bowling this one over like the first two.

Also, just gonna put this out there, I think Souls 2 is really underrated. Might be objectively the "worst" in the series but I'm enjoying it more than the first, and it's got some of the prettiest art direction in the series outside of ER. Also the storyline in this one is probably the most interesting of the bunch, with the Queen taking over the kingdom and bringing it to ruin while the king becomes a hollow husk to try and keep her from getting absolute power.
 

Chris

Potato del Grande
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Think I'm DLC ready, got most of the game done and about lv130.

Held off killing Mogh, Malenia or doing the Forge just in case the DLC has any interactions with Miquella, Malenia or Melina.

Probably safe killing Mogh as that's the DLC entrance but could be a new cutscene?

Following guides for quests as I didn't do most of them on the first play through, how the fuck are you supposed do them without a guide!?
 
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Vinjin

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Probably safe killing Mogh as that's the DLC entrance but could be a new cutscene?
I thought about this as well on my recent playthrough. In the end, I surmised that there's no way they would design the DLC to REQUIRE Mohg still be alive so I just killed him (after many, many, many attempts). But since he is technically optional, you may be right in that there could be two different cut-scenes depending on if he is or not.

My toon is sitting at lvl 132 IIRC. The only boss I left up in this run is Malenia, mostly because I'm not ready to rage THAT hard again. At least not yet.
 
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Grizzlebeard

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I thought about this as well on my recent playthrough. In the end, I surmised that there's no way they would design the DLC to REQUIRE Mohg still be alive so I just killed him (after many, many, many attempts). But since he is technically optional, you may be right in that there could be two different cut-scenes depending on if he is or not.

My toon is sitting at lvl 132 IIRC. The only boss I left up in this run is Malenia, mostly because I'm not ready to rage THAT hard again. At least not yet.

As usual my melee-heavy builds morph into some int/dex hybrid. It’s too hard to pass up on a decent ranged option.
 

Seananigans

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I think my first time through, my build wasn't terribly optimized and thus various enemies/areas gave me issues. This caused me to under-appreciate an area. I recognized its awesomeness, but I did not enjoy exploring it and thus did not explore it fully, nor fully appreciate it.

Crumbling Farum Azula is a goddamned masterpiece.

Not only are the theme and art/aesthetic phenomenal... fierce tornados all around, flying drakes/wyverns/whatever circling the entire set of islands, beautiful stone construction anywhere from fully standing complete to almost completely in ruins and everywhere in between. Giant dragons that you fight, fierce asshole humanoid knights, savage beastmen with absurd lightning magic. Great stuff.

But also the level design and construction. Jesus fucking christ the FromSoft level designers are gods among mere mortals. I consider myself extremely competent with spatial recognition and mind theater analysis of 3D spaces, but I am routinely flabbergasted by their level design, and I think this one is my favorite bar none. Not only is it fucking HUGE (I'd bet it's the largest dungeon in Elden Ring), and it has all of the usual shortcuts and checkpoints with clever locations, but since the overall design aesthetic is an open air set of islands, you can almost always head to an edge and evaluate where you are in relation to where you've been, and where you're going.

This time around I'm doing a Moonveil build and wrecking shit, so I'm actually enjoying fully exploring and appreciating this zone, doing a full clear. I've gotten to understand how everything fits together, and it's fucking genius. This zone is unbelievable, and I'm supremely impressed by the level designers at FromSoft for this one. Not that they often disappointed.

I wish I had that level of design creativity with 3D spaces. I can definitely fully appreciate them, but as game designer just beginning my journey, I'm realizing I have many strengths but unfortunately I am not THIS creative. I will continue to be flabbergasted by groups who can produce things like this.
 
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Bloodrocuted

Trakanon Raider
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Doing a from scratch run through to carry into DLC, no summons with a spear and shield "hoplite" build. Radahn has been the biggest challenge so far, I don't think I ever did him pure melee with no summons before at level 55-60ish. The shield counter is a lot of fun, although not feasible for a lot of bosses. About to take on the twin gargoyles, should be interesting. Going to no summon Malenia and finally learn how to properly dodge the damn waterfall, with the help of youtube! RIP my sanity
 

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Doing a from scratch run through to carry into DLC, no summons with a spear and shield "hoplite" build. Radahn has been the biggest challenge so far, I don't think I ever did him pure melee with no summons before at level 55-60ish. The shield counter is a lot of fun, although not feasible for a lot of bosses. About to take on the twin gargoyles, should be interesting. Going to no summon Malenia and finally learn how to properly dodge the damn waterfall, with the help of youtube! RIP my sanity

You're going hoplite, so just block it. Worked for me with a beefy great shield and decent stamina. Yeah, she'll heal a bit, but you can still out dps her heal with spear pokes.
 

Bald Brah

Bronze Squire
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Doing a from scratch run through to carry into DLC, no summons with a spear and shield "hoplite" build. Radahn has been the biggest challenge so far, I don't think I ever did him pure melee with no summons before at level 55-60ish. The shield counter is a lot of fun, although not feasible for a lot of bosses. About to take on the twin gargoyles, should be interesting. Going to no summon Malenia and finally learn how to properly dodge the damn waterfall, with the help of youtube! RIP my sanity
Why not use the bad ass lightning spear from on top the dragon in the capitol? With a proper dex + lightning build the ranged attack from that is ridiculous on top of the decent melee dmg.
 
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Grizzlebeard

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Doing a from scratch run through to carry into DLC, no summons with a spear and shield "hoplite" build. Radahn has been the biggest challenge so far, I don't think I ever did him pure melee with no summons before at level 55-60ish. The shield counter is a lot of fun, although not feasible for a lot of bosses. About to take on the twin gargoyles, should be interesting. Going to no summon Malenia and finally learn how to properly dodge the damn waterfall, with the help of youtube! RIP my sanity

You can pretty much do Radahn without doing any damage to him and just continue to summon allies.
 
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Seananigans

Honorary Shit-PhD
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Doing a from scratch run through to carry into DLC, no summons with a spear and shield "hoplite" build. Radahn has been the biggest challenge so far, I don't think I ever did him pure melee with no summons before at level 55-60ish. The shield counter is a lot of fun, although not feasible for a lot of bosses. About to take on the twin gargoyles, should be interesting. Going to no summon Malenia and finally learn how to properly dodge the damn waterfall, with the help of youtube! RIP my sanity

Malenia is a twat, and my 44 year old ass has little desire to ever fight her without a summon.

Godspeed.
 
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