Author Topic: GRRM x From = Elden Ring  (Read 43996 times)

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Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #720 on: May 15, 2022, 05:59:16 PM »
Also where I'm at I'm not sure if the larger open fields are actually bringing anything to the souls formula? Like there doesn't seem much interesting stuff between interesting things and you just ride your horse. Like it feels like parts of Dark Souls which already had some larger fields with hidden secrets and connectors but just 10x as big so you get a fast horse to move 10x as fast if you want.

And from the first handful of bosses, I think one of my worries is that by having so many boss fights, they've basically neutered the souls boss fights. Like so many of these bosses are going to be completely forgettable nothings compared to the bosses in the other souls games which were generally all memorable. On top of that because there are so many boss fights, the rewards for defeating the bosses are much smaller nothings and less rewarding when you beat them.

Like I get there are major bosses which are more like the bosses in other souls games. Margrit the Fell was like that and paid out good souls on defeat like normal Souls bosses. But like The Beastman, Pumpkin Head or the Marinar grim reaper flying boat guy are just these zzz fights with nothing payouts and it feels a lot less satisfying for a souls game.

Still really digging this and think it's great, but I just have a feeling I'm gonna prefer the linear level design Souls games to ER.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #721 on: May 16, 2022, 12:00:16 AM »
Found the first tough boss. Cannot beat Crucible Knight in the Stormhill Evergaol for the life of me. I'm not running a parry build and he has like no openings and kills me in 2 hits. I'm trying to finish everything in Limgrave 100% before moving on, but I might need to leave this guy for later.

And of course, the first boss that gives me trouble and there's no summons or coop allowed :|

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #722 on: May 16, 2022, 12:21:32 AM »
I'm gonna give up and come back to this guy later. Spent like 90 mins straight on him and had one good run dodge roll and single hit poking and dodge roll until he was like 30% HP and then he did a full screen tail whip and killed me.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #723 on: May 16, 2022, 01:50:15 AM »
Ok, 13 hours in and looking at the wiki I think I cleared everything in Limgrave except two stupid fights:

1. Crucible Knight cause fuck him

2. Ball Bearing Hunter I tried like 3 times and almost killed him but having to warp out and change time to night and warp back just for another attempt is tedious and like Crucible Knight he's an aggressive annoying melee kill you in a couple hits smasher that my dual katana build with zero magics at lvl.35 is just not well equipped to handle.



Gonna go south and do the Weeping Pennisula and then the Stormveil Castle and then I'll give these two fucks another try. I really need to adjust my build to have some type of magic/ranged to deal with jerks like these.

Stats are something like 20VIT/20END/16STR/22DEX/8 everything else and rocking a +5 Uchigatana and a +3 one offhand generally and two-handing the +5 when I need to block and guard counter with it or I prefer its moveset. Just using Unsheathe still mainly.


Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #724 on: May 16, 2022, 04:08:01 AM »
Hmmm, now that I'm making my way through Weeping Peninsula and seeing the copy & pasta, I don't know man...

It's like let's take Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Demon Souls formula which was pretty much perfect and let's make it BIGGER by...copy & pasting dozens of tombs, mines, caves that all look the same and let's have you fight the same bosses over and over except with ADDS or two at a time! And when you beat one of these mini-dungeons and kill the bosses you don't even get enough souls to gain a single level because we're going to have so many of them we can't have you character build progress too quickly!

Last part is the same issue I had with Horizon 1->2 where when you more than double the game length, it just means your character strength progression will go at half the speed, so if ER is like 3-4x as long as the other souls games it means you grow in strength 1/3rd or 1/4th as slow. Like I keep gaining levels but can't say I notice much of a difference a couple of levels makes in this, though tbf in the other souls games stat increases seemed about the same? Maybe it's that in the older Souls games weapon levels were 1-10 and apparently in this it's like 1-30 or something?

One thing I like is how elemental versions of weapons are handled where at a campfire you can instantly switch between blood/holy/keen/quality/etc..., the only issue being that until you have war arts in all the elements you're locked out of those. Like if I want to make a lightning or fire sword right now I've got no option. Eventually when I get all the elements that'll be nice and let me mix up the element of my weapon pretty regularly, wheraes in other souls games since you were fairly locked in it was like pick an element you want for your weapon this run and build towards it, so most of the time I need had a weapon that targeted an enemy's weakness.


But yeah, I'm already pretty sick of Catacombs. Just did the implaler one on the cliffside, then the mine in the peninsula woods, and now I'm at another catacombs under the Erd tree there. Also these copy & paste ruins all seems pretty whatever and mostly just jump over some walls with Torrent to find the stairs down and get the treasure and leave.

Just not sure if what I wanted out of my souls games was copy & paste. Makes me miss the tight level designs and unique boss fights of Sekiro.

HardcoreRetro

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #725 on: May 16, 2022, 07:58:28 AM »
I feel like you gotta treat some of the content like the Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild. You're not supposed to do all of it. The way some of you people are playing these games sounds like an absolute chore. Go to a new area or play one of the legacy dungeons that are actual the tighter level design you're used to from the older games.

Bigger problem plagueing the latter parts of the game is that not even the big bosses are exempt from the copy and paste stuff.

Tuckers Law

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #726 on: May 16, 2022, 09:18:17 AM »
Yeah the game does have some copy and paste going on with those sections, although everyone now and then in true FROM fashion they’ll sneak a bit of trickery and fuckery to screw with your expectations on it.  You’re not wrong with your criticisms though Bebpo, especially with weeping peninsula being your second region (it feels basically like an extension or Limgrave, and thankfully the other main areas at least look more diverse).

I do like the idea of comparing them to Korok seeds, they’re sort of there to supplement the main experience and not really expected or needed to fully complete on any playthrough.

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #727 on: May 16, 2022, 10:00:38 AM »
Bebpo if you want a traditional Souls experience, you can absolutely play it that way. It will just involve heading straight for Legacy dungeons in each area and skipping a lot of the side content. If you 100% every area, you'll be much higher level, making the game a lot easier and probably exacerbating some of the issues you're having.

Elden Ring has some of the best dungeons and bosses in the entire series. Don't get too hung up on catacombs and side stuff if you're feeling your experience getting bogged down, because the core content is fantastic.

Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #728 on: May 16, 2022, 10:18:28 AM »
I just look at the elden ring wiki for those smaller caves and catacombs and see if theres anything in there I want, if the big treasure is a staff or other weapon I don't use or want I'll skip it.

I suppose them taking about 10 mins to finish makes them more tolerable.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2022, 10:26:53 AM by Pissy F Benny »
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Madrun Badrun

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #729 on: May 16, 2022, 01:37:12 PM »
Crucible Knights are a pain no matter where you are in the game.  There are also 2 of them in limegrave. 

I feel like you gotta treat some of the content like the Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild. You're not supposed to do all of it. The way some of you people are playing these games sounds like an absolute chore. Go to a new area or play one of the legacy dungeons that are actual the tighter level design you're used to from the older games.

Bigger problem plagueing the latter parts of the game is that not even the big bosses are exempt from the copy and paste stuff.

Ya I did most of everything but it was only because I enjoyed it.  It wasn't necessary by any means. 

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #730 on: May 16, 2022, 03:42:53 PM »
It's not that the side stuff is necessary, but in every single past Souls game from Demon's to Sekiro, at least for me, a huge part of the fun has been the exploration of exploring every inch of the map and discovering every secret and finding every item whether it's something useful or not. They've been a real joy to explore full of rewarding secrets.

The exploration is very different here. There's still tons of secrets already, but what you find is just something you already found before most of the time and it's much less rewarding finding a new cave/catacomb/mine. You could say there's more exploration, but it's less rewarding. And so instead of exploration being A++ exciting, it's open-world genre C++ repetition just ok.

I guess I'll try ignore the side stuff for the first time in a souls game and just do the main path and maybe some stuff I run across along my way. At least until I can respec and use more stuff. My stats are really limiting so I can't use 90% of the gear I get and can't use any spells at all right now.

Polident Hive

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #731 on: May 16, 2022, 05:46:42 PM »
I get where you're coming from. The couple legacy dungeons scratch that itch for me. But it's a different thing than the other games and they appeal differently. I know some fans still prefer Demon's Souls over the Dark Souls style and want them to return to level selection.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #732 on: May 16, 2022, 11:20:21 PM »
Finished up the Weeping Peninsula and then beat the Bell Bearing Hunter and after like 30 mins beat Crucible Knight fucker. I used the stoneward key on the starting graveyard for the Fairfolk's Grave and fuck that trap thing. There's one bit across the skinny bridge where I don't see how it's possible to not eat a hit. Luckily I had enough HP to survive a hit and roll out of the way. Beat the boss at the bottom but the guy at the top, while not particularly hard kills me fast and I don't want to go through that trap shit over and over just to try him. Will come back way later and one shot him in case he drops anything useful.

I got that accessory charm that boosts vit/end/str/dex by like 3-5 or something and you just take more damage. Helped a lot in feeling stronger. ~lvl.41 now. Gonna go do Stormveil castle and then move on to the next area.

Also by the moving monastary I found the sorceress locked up but couldn't do anything. Guess I'll come back later.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #733 on: May 17, 2022, 12:44:49 AM »
Stormveil Castle is pretty awesome. So huge and non-linear! I got lost and called it a night. Will try to figure out where to go next time.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #734 on: May 17, 2022, 02:30:10 AM »
Actually gave it another run and figured it out and cleared out the place.

Compared to Crucible Knight, Godrick was a pushover lol. Definitely overleveled for this fight. Took like 2 tries just solo-ing it.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #735 on: May 17, 2022, 10:53:56 PM »
Is it impossible to get invaded in this game unless you specifically put down a thing for PVP?

Now that I'm at the lake and learned about rune shards and great runes I finally started trying out MP by putting down coop signs on the bosses in Limgrave. Pretty fun and good way to get lots of rune shards and decent amount of souls.

Lake has nice art direction.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #736 on: May 18, 2022, 02:01:31 AM »
Nm, read up on it and started using the tongue so I can be invaded at all times. Makes it more fun. Feels more Dark Souls now.

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #737 on: May 18, 2022, 06:31:39 AM »
Finally made it to
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Miquella's Haligtree
[close]
.

It feels like I'm playing DLC pack 2 now, this game is unbelievable with the amount of content.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #738 on: May 18, 2022, 07:18:30 PM »
Omenkiller is a jerk  :maf

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #739 on: May 19, 2022, 12:50:12 AM »
I feel like the game does a pretty good job gatekeeping expected levels. Right now I'm like SL55 in Liurna and it takes foreeever to get a level with the xp payouts here. I need like 17/18k a level at this point and I'm only maybe like 1/3rd through exploring the lake out. Finished the eastern land route today but haven't done much of the western land route or the central lake yet though I did find a teleporter to the city and then the glintstone key and have access to the boss dungeon when I'm ready.

Having a lot of fun, though some gank moments like Omenkiller or that dumb regular enemy crucible knight near the divine tower. Ended up just arrowing the dude over and over. Oh and the stupid kiting magic arrow guy in the Divine Tower there was annoying when I was trying to melee him. Climbed up the rafters to try to get the jump on him before he teleports and he knocks me off the rafters and kills me. Next time I just arrowed him from a distance and was fine.

Still not really sure what magic is worth using as a melee build. I have plenty of resins to coat my weapons when needed. Hell outside fighting skeletons and using holy ashes of war I'm still just using unsheathe with dual katanas on a keen build. Not even focusing on bleed since some enemies you can't bleed and it feels like there's more and more of those.

At 30 hours in now, game is great, but just another game like Horizon 2 and AC Valhalla and a ton of others that make me keep feeling that I'd rather have a tightly designed 20-30 hour game than a 100 hour game at a slower more repetitive pace. Guessing Elden Ring 2 is a sure thing considering the sales. So more of this I guess.

Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #740 on: May 19, 2022, 01:15:32 AM »
Omenkiller is a jerk  :maf

The Storm Stomp ash of war I found useful for this. L2 to knock them off-balance momentarily with it then immediately follow up with a few R1 attacks.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #741 on: May 19, 2022, 06:01:24 AM »
Took down the sauron eye of madness. That was an interesting challenge.

I kind of feel like lore-wise this game is some frankenstein algamation of all past Souls games in one. You have the dark fantasy lords, dragons and catacombs and stuff from DS, and the stars and madness stuff from Bloodborne. Sekiro..well the lore there was pretty unique, but some of the boss movesets definitely pull from Sekiro. Margrit is straight up a Sekiro-type boss.

I really dig the game at this point, but I do feel it's lacking an identity of its own.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2022, 06:05:29 AM by Bebpo »

benjipwns

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Joe Molotov

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #743 on: May 19, 2022, 02:41:18 PM »
Too bad Elden Ring wasn't a GaaS that sold 20,000 copies and has one (1!) concurrent player. All they need is for one more person to start playing and that's a 100% increase! :success
©@©™

Svejk

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #744 on: May 19, 2022, 03:18:05 PM »
At least people are beating it....   ... :ryker

Polident Hive

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #745 on: May 19, 2022, 03:48:42 PM »
They said there will be DLC, yeah?

Shameful to admit I never played DLC for previous From games. Elden Ring is easier to jump back into. I’m interested.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #746 on: May 19, 2022, 06:06:40 PM »
I do wish I played ER at launch just because the MP would be more active.

Given the sales, it's still pretty active, but sometimes I put down a coop sign at like Godrick and it can take like 10 mins to get summoned, other times it's like 30 seconds.

Normally I wouldn't care much, but since it's the main way to get Rune Shards to use the Greater Runes, being able to quickly farm lots of coop bosses to replenish Rune Shards is pretty useful though not necessary. Since Godrick I've been trying to keep my Greater Rune active all the time for the +5 stats but then I'll hit a gank point and die outta nowhere and lose it so I go back to Godrick and farm a couple.

Same with the PVP, I've been invaded like twice in the last 10 hours having the taunting tongue active at all times. Won both times \o/  I assume for PVP it's mostly just active in the endgame or NG+, and I assume most people summoning for co-op are in NG+ at this point.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #747 on: May 20, 2022, 12:42:28 AM »
Went up the left side Liurna today and did Carian Manor. That was a pretty good dungeon, giant hands are fucking annoying melee if you're dealing with more than one at a time. At the four belfries took the first teleport to the ruins of whirlwind vortex city. I like these teleporters that give you a peak at later cool looking areas and you can get murdered by mobs way above your level if you want.

Had some good dungeon runs. Got my katanas to +12 or something and +8 for the 2nd one. Still haven't found a unique weapon I like yet so been saving all my somber stones. I kinda like the frost rapier I got in the ruins before the carian manor but the range is pretty shit even with the projectile slash.

Lost like 15k+ souls platforming in one of the mines :( Feels bad when you lose like almost an entire level's worth. I remember feeling good that I made it through all of Dark Souls 3 without losing a single soul. ER feels easier to fuck up and lose souls. This is probably the 3rd time I've lost some already in 33 hour or so. The other times were only like 5-10k though.

Now that I've fully explored the left and right side of the lake, gonna check out the main lake next and then do the boss dungeon. At SL61 or something, so going pretty good. I wish weapon upgrades/level upgrades didn't feel so insignificant on their own, but that's the price of a 100 hour game of character growth vs a 20-30 hour game. Like I'll gain 3 weapon levels and a 3-5 soul levels and barely notice the difference in damage output on current content. It's only when I go back to early areas I notice how much stronger I am.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #748 on: May 20, 2022, 04:28:57 AM »


Ended up getting to the Atlus Plataeu lol, still haven't done the lake dungeon yet or Caelid at all. Needed Smithing Stone (4)s for my Katana and the cave to the Plateau gives a ton of them so ended up doing that. Got my Katanas to +10 and +13 now.

I gotta say, I'm really digging the game and exploration now. It just took a while to click. Really like exploring out the lake and finding all the small stuff like the Prawn guy. It's a very fleshed out environment.

I'm kinda sad at how fast I'm blowing through this game, 48 hours since Saturday! Will be over soon and then I'll miss it. At least seems like Limgrave/Liurna are only about 2/5th of the game so even after I finish up Liurna's dungeon next time there should still be quite a lot of game left.

Svejk

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #749 on: May 20, 2022, 12:35:14 PM »
You're gonna blow past me in a matter of days.  Granted I'm moving at a snails pace..   :doge
I really dig the game at this point, but I do feel it's lacking an identity of its own.
I kinda agree... As amazing this game is, and the astonishing achievement of what content they crafted here, it almost feels too much...  It feels like, every creature, enemy, location, weapons and armor that got scrapped from every other From game, was thown into this and then sewed together ... Granted, it's all beautiful at the same time... The scale is needed to help seperate these DLC quality chunks to make them more of the same world.  Almost feel like it needs a bit more character interaction for story purposes, but then that would take away from the elusive nature of it.  Nothing's perfect, but damn is this one of the greatest games ever made.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #750 on: May 21, 2022, 12:19:24 AM »
Finished the Lake dungeon, that was really short compared to Stormveil. Got in and out in an hour. I feel like Carian Manor was more of a dungeon than this with a tougher boss.

Also being incredibly overleveled Rennela fight was like 60 seconds long and a joke even compared to Godrick. I'm also pretty confused at the lore because I thought Raya Lucaria was opposed to the Carian Family going by the story of Carian Manor. And Ranni is Carian Family I thought? Also this boss fight doesn't even make sense if you've met Ranni already and pledged to her alliance like I have.

Anyhow, gonna go do the underground area in Liurna and then the underground area in Limgrave and then head east and start on the scarlot rot area.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #751 on: May 21, 2022, 02:55:57 AM »
Finished the half of the Ainsel river under Liurna that I can access for now and the Dragonkin boss, then did the Sofria Underground half that I can do right now and the 2 bosses (Dragonkin and Ancestral). Seems like I need to do Caelid area to access the other half of Nokron and further Ranni's plot to access the other half o Ainsel.

Also I liked the Ainsel river tunnel and Uhl Palace Ruins, but Sofria River was way too big and open and confusing with all the torch hunting (and what a terrible reward for finding all the torches), didn't really care for that area though the starbox looked pretty.

Got another few levels to SL70. Time to explore out Caelid!
« Last Edit: May 21, 2022, 03:17:54 AM by Bebpo »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #752 on: May 22, 2022, 01:49:27 AM »
Accidentally warped to the festival before exploring too much of Caelid. Will save that for later. Blaidd is like wtf you doing here, you missed meeting up with me.

I’m already hitting the second softcaps for stats. Definitely a bit overleveled but I still did plenty enough (enemy hit stunning me over and over and platforming deaths mostly). Once I hit 40 VIT, 40 END, 55 DEX I’m gonna start messing with more magic stats. Already with Great Rune + 5 and the + 3 seal I’ve got about 17-20 in them so I can use atk/def buffs and some weaker range spells though I prefer using my bow for range.

Also I don’t think crafting is useless, I use the arrows and greases sometimes and used the bolossus until I had magic spells to cure poison/rot, buuuuut it does gut me when I think about how much xp total I’ve spent buying all these stupid cook books I’ll 95% never use.

Same with buying all the notes but I end up just discovering almost all of it myself just exploring.

But at the end of the day a few levels isn’t going to make much difference.

Mostly just running the two +3/eatmoredamage seals and stamina recovery speed+ talisman. I don’t really notice the extra damage I’m eating with even both seals on so it must be like 5% each or something.

Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #753 on: May 22, 2022, 11:53:02 AM »
Whooped redhans bitch ass, I tried cheesing him but ending up making him eat shit by letting the summons distract him and smoked him up close (I'm fairly OP tbf)
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Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #754 on: May 22, 2022, 01:19:19 PM »
Whooped redhans bitch ass, I tried cheesing him but ending up making him eat shit by letting the summons distract him and smoked him up close (I'm fairly OP tbf)

Fwiw the first few times I tried him he smoked me :tocry
(ice)

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #755 on: May 23, 2022, 12:03:14 AM »
Alright, did all of Caelid outside the dungeon boss (at the festival) and outside of fighting anything really in Dragonbarrow since it's a higher level area, or accessing the desert/beach since I can't access it yet.

Caelid was...pretty good! At first I wasn't sure about it since it's all just ugly rotten same-y looking and it's a much smaller map than Limgrave or Liurna. But it's got a lot of cool stuff and some great fights. Was fun to explore even if it only took about 1-2 days.

I do feel like this area was WAY harder than Limgrave/Liurna. Like bosses kept making me feel like I was underleveled even though I definitely am not! But so much shit just one-shots me or totally wrecks me. I feel like I'm doing good damage on the offense, but my defense feels out of whack.

I wonder if it's because I have a whopping 10 INT at SL79 still and INT is your magic defense stat, so any attack with magic is going to wreck me. But I don't want to put stats into INT since I don't use sorceries at all and I'm using FAITH for buffs  :'(

Like things that wrecked me in this area:

-Ezekyl The Scarlet Rot dragon. That Rot attack would basically one shot me unless I was faaaar out with my horse. Had to just get a few slices on the feet in and then back way off and then rush in between blasts.

-The Death Rite bird ground pound death fire explosion that has insane radius of the flames that shoot out literally one shots me and the time I beat him I just killed him before he could do that move. Every prior time I rolled/ran waaay the fuck out and I still got one-shotted each time by the flames coming out of the circle blast.

-Commander O'Neil in the swamp was pretty rough for my build since he has a ton of DEF and POISE. Ended up basically just kiting him with ashes of war projectile swings and then when he summoned people I'd run in and do a combo and get out.


I guess in the end it wasn't that bad and I cleared all that stuff along with the other bosses. Just felt tougher. Also I rode out to the giant Living Jar in front of the arena looking place in the canyon and fought one of the 3 red invaders and died and then I'm like wait those giant arrow guys respawn and if you run past them they'll shoot you during the fight with the invaders so you have to kill them each time?? No thank you.

Right now I'm saving those guys for later, the guy in the Folk Hero grave for later and there's a Crucible Knight on the 2nd Belfry teleport at the 4 belfries that you have to climb down to fight him each time and he's not hard but I just hate these fights that take time to get back to them after each death, so saving that guy for later too.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #756 on: May 23, 2022, 12:04:54 AM »
Btw, the worst part of this entire game are the fucking weak enemies that do a shit ton of quick stabs in a row to lock you in hitstun and if you're mounted lock you and your horse in hitstun and then kill your horse and then kill you when you're down.

The puppet soldiers and dogs are super fucking annoying. I got jumped by like 4 dogs in one of the ruins south of the dragon church in Caelid and fucking killed me with just never ending hit stun :| 

Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #757 on: May 23, 2022, 02:41:55 AM »
Also I rode out to the giant Living Jar in front of the arena looking place in the canyon and fought one of the 3 red invaders and died and then I'm like wait those giant arrow guys respawn and if you run past them they'll shoot you during the fight with the invaders so you have to kill them each time?? No thank you.

You don't need to defeat the rock giants in that valley. Just ride past them until you speak to the Living Jar which spawns the invader signs. I've never found their arrows hit once I'm on the hill after riding past them, since it's blocked by roots/terrain.

Btw, the worst part of this entire game are the fucking weak enemies that do a shit ton of quick stabs in a row to lock you in hitstun and if you're mounted lock you and your horse in hitstun and then kill your horse and then kill you when you're down.

For my run I wore high poise armor with a Strength/Faith build and it allowed tanking more hits and I think it helped with such stunlocking though tbf I didn't do side-by-side comparisons.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2022, 02:51:19 AM by Coax »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #758 on: May 23, 2022, 04:41:26 AM »
Finished Starscourge. Weird fight, but I guess it's kind of different for Souls.

Also I'm getting a lot of the lore but I'm also getting confused on bits like I thought Radahn and Radagon were the same person until this fight. Gonna wrap up a couple caves and the tomb down here on the beach and then get to the Nox city & Atlus Plat.

Also I rode out to the giant Living Jar in front of the arena looking place in the canyon and fought one of the 3 red invaders and died and then I'm like wait those giant arrow guys respawn and if you run past them they'll shoot you during the fight with the invaders so you have to kill them each time?? No thank you.

You don't need to defeat the rock giants in that valley. Just ride past them until you speak to the Living Jar which spawns the invader signs. I've never found their arrows hit once I'm on the hill after riding past them, since it's blocked by roots/terrain.

Nah, I went back to get my runes after dying once and I got hit by an arrow at that spot.

It's fine, later on when I'm stronger I'll just take out the two arrow guys and then take out the 3 invaders. Almost killed the invader I fought but they did that magic spinning blade shield while I was combo-ing into them and pretty much killed me.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #759 on: May 23, 2022, 06:33:21 AM »
Cleaned up the remaining couple things in Caelid (triple Crystalian fight was suck), and grabbed Starscourges chestpiece armor since was a pretty nice def stat upgrade compared to what I had. Still barely staying under medium load so it's fine. Cleared out the remaining teleports at four belfries. Even at SL82 with this armor and having fought like 3 crucible knights already, this dude at the 2nd teleporter was a huge pain in the ass. Beat him this time but was pretty close.

It sucks in Dragonbarrow that if you grab the painter location there's no way back outside teleport from map. Then there's this endgame golem guy and if you aggro it you can't map so you're just doomed. Had to use one of my few sacrificial twigs since I had a decent amount of souls on me. Dragonbarrow stuff is definitely way beyond my current levels/gear since it's endgame stuff.

Looking forward to chasing the comet and advancing that story.

Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #760 on: May 23, 2022, 06:38:06 AM »
The crow dudes at dragonbarrow are a good rune farm and fairly easy as long as you backstab/pick them off one by one and don't aggro more than 2.

Btw I think you might have fucked up a quest if you killed who I think you did.
(ice)

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #761 on: May 23, 2022, 09:55:53 AM »
Done, 120 hours.

10/10

I still prefer bloodborne for combat reasons, but this is undoubtably a more impressive endeavor overall. The level design usually drops off further into these games (Dark Souls 1 especially) but not here. Haligtree and Farum Azula were pretty tightly designed and had a lot of hidden secrets and pathways. I didn't mind the Mountaintops of the Giants, I heard a lot of complaints beforehand but it seemed fine. Enemy repetition did start to drag it down a bit towards the end but wasn't a deal breaker by any means.

The sense of scale in this added so much to believability of the world. Finally getting to the high walls of Leyndell and eventually walking though the city was like journeying to Minas Tirith or Falconia. A grand and mythical place that also felt lived in and real. The scale, level design and art design really puts so many other devs to shame.  From really is the best in the biz  :tocry
« Last Edit: May 24, 2022, 11:17:07 AM by Let's Cyber »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #762 on: May 23, 2022, 09:46:44 PM »
Man, the two valiant gargoyles feel fucking impossible for my build at my stats. Been trying 30 mins and can’t even kill one. One would be a tough enough boss.

Also no human MP available and summons die too fast.

Maybe I’ll come back later. The crucible knights before this were a pain as always as well.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #763 on: May 24, 2022, 12:21:21 AM »
Finished Eternal City outside that fight, was a pretty good sizeable area especially combined with the lower Soifra River portion. Basically a full DLC size. Finished that quest and the upside down tower was neat.

Finally started the Atlus Plateau and ran past every enemy & boss in the map on my horse collecting the 3 maps. Seems pretty huge with a ton of content. I guess I was expecting something smaller since I heard the back half of the game is less open-world and more just linear Souls dungeons and boss rushes. Gonna take me some time to explore this place out.

This was my best run on the Gargoyles after like an hour before I gave up (I didn't edit the video so you can skip the first 40 seconds):



Still used the wrong summon when the second one showed up and also after I killed the first one I had no idea how to dodge the attacks of the 2nd one because I'd spent the whole hour learning the attack patterns of the first one :| 

One of my issues with the fight is my katanas are too short ranged and I miss like 1/2 the time. I feel like when I come back to this later on I might wanna level up a longer reach weapon like a halberd or something and try with that. Or use spellcasting with a respec. When they spray the poison they are wide open if you are a ranged fighter to get damage in safely.

Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #764 on: May 24, 2022, 12:30:12 AM »
Ended up getting to the Atlus Plataeu lol
Finally started the Atlus Plateau

It's almost embarrassing how long it was before realizing it was Altus Plateau. I was like :ohhh

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #765 on: May 24, 2022, 01:45:11 AM »
Saw that the D questline opens up a summon for the gargoyles, so I tried it a few more times with that.



fuck

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #766 on: May 24, 2022, 11:20:17 AM »
Yup. Gargoyle fight was a big wall for me too, even properly leveled it can be a tough one to crack.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #767 on: May 24, 2022, 09:54:59 PM »
Cleared out Noskstella Eternal City #2 and everything in Lake of Rot outside the Dragonkin boss cause yeah I'm not doing that will losing HP heavily from Rot right now and the Grand Cloister at the end of it outside fighting the optional tree root mini-boss. Seemed anti-climatic that all there was at the end of Lake of Rot/Grand Cloister was a scorpion sword? I'm guessing maybe this stuff has more significance later in the story.

*edit* oh, apparently the coffin at the bottom takes me to an endgame boss. Probably too early to attempt this for me.

Both these Eternal City maps were good DLC sized areas with solid design. Also those groups of metalic blobs in city #2 give a decent amount of souls. Quick run through seems like 10-20k.

At SL91 now, swords are like +15 and +18.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #768 on: May 25, 2022, 12:12:35 AM »
I tried Astel and ended up beating him on my first try so I finished up Ranni's quest already (Baleful Shadow was hard but I just learned his couple of attacks and baited them and then got a hit or two in and backed off and repeat) before really doing much in the Atlus Plateau yet. Did a couple tombs/caves and started Volcano Manor hunts and that's about it so far.

I'm guessing finishing Ranni's quest locks you into an ending? Seems pretty definitive though I'm still hazy on a lot of the story since I haven't seen the stuff that goes on after Atlus.

Hit SL97. I'm past the first softcap for VIT and second for DEX and there isn't anything that's too heavy to equip right now. Not really sure what to be doing with stats from here. With the Dex talisman and Godrick's Great Rune I have like 46/47 VIT, 36 END, 56 DEX, 17 FAITH (for ATK buff and lightning strike). I guess I can just keep putting levels into VIT/END/DEX until they hit the final cap.

Also Blaidd's story is pretty depressing.

Joe Molotov

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #769 on: May 25, 2022, 12:44:57 AM »
I'm guessing finishing Ranni's quest locks you into an ending?

Nah, after the final boss fight, you get to decide whether to help Ranni or not.
©@©™

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #770 on: May 25, 2022, 06:52:14 PM »
As much as I really dig the game, at this point it's become every open world game out there where it's a bit of a checklist game. I literally have a text file that is a checklist of stuff to do, to figure out a good order to get things done.

It's like you got your Rise turtle puzzles, your Minor Eldtree Avatars, your mines, your catacombs, your ruins. It's all good but it's very much an open world game of just doing the same kinds of things over and over and over again. I don't mind it because they're all enjoyable activities, and getting XP and gaining levels feels like worthwhile progress, but game definitely is feeling like it's run out of a lot of "new" stuff at this point and is pretty much just same stuff over and over for dozens of hours. The new stuff is basically the legacy dungeons or linear areas like the Eternal Cities.

I think the only repetitive thing I don't actually like is I think they ruined Dragons in this game compared to every other Souls game. Every dragon fight is exactly the same. Horseback battle, ride up by the leg and stabby stab, move out of the way and back when stomps and run out of the way when flame stuff is happening. They're not really challenging. Even if you die it's because you're underleveled and taking too much damage and not doing enough. But they're boring fights that all play the exact same. Not what I wanted from Dragons which are like mainstay impressive fights since Demon Souls. The Scarlet Rot dragon was a little unique in that giant rot clouds, but it just meant more running by horse and back again.

I generally think all field mounted combat fights are terrible and unchallenging and unstrategic for a souls game tbh. But some enemies are such pain in the asses if you aren't mounted so you pretty much gotta mount. Like I fucking hate the giant red wolves that are on the field. I think I died like 10 times on the one in Eternal City #2 and then I got on my horse and fought it and beat it on the first try. Wolf jumps OVER your ass and out of range for melee, so like the only time you can even get a fucking hit in is when it does the 3 bite combo which is rare. Meanwhile it's just laser spamming and jumping at you back and forth.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #771 on: May 26, 2022, 01:02:03 AM »
I'm like "oh wait the full-grown falling star beast gives 5 Smith Stone(6)s??" from doing stuff ahead of my levels I have tons of 7s/8s already and that would push me into 7s.

30 mins later of fighting that guy...UGHHHHH

Ended up beating him, but since he was immune to bleed and all I have weapon leveled are two basic ass katanas at this point that was a very hard horseback fight of trying to get him poisoned here and there and just getting tiny hits in while dodging EVERYTHING.

Pretty much every move is easily dodgeable on horseback once you learn them except the stupid rock spray throw which is fast and has a huge radius and tended to kill my horse each time :|

Even when I beat it after 30 mins, was close.

But hey, got my katana from +17 -> +23 afterwards haha. But now my powerstance other katana is stuck at +17 so I'm not sure if it's still better DPS to powerstance a 17/23 weapon or just 2H the 23 weapon. Seems like 900 physical vs 750 physical (2H) so powerstance still seems better.

paprikastaude

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #772 on: May 26, 2022, 06:34:53 AM »
As much as I really dig the game, at this point it's become every open world game out there where it's a bit of a checklist game. I literally have a text file that is a checklist of stuff to do, to figure out a good order to get things done.

It's like you got your Rise turtle puzzles, your Minor Eldtree Avatars, your mines, your catacombs, your ruins. It's all good but it's very much an open world game of just doing the same kinds of things over and over and over again. I don't mind it because they're all enjoyable activities, and getting XP and gaining levels feels like worthwhile progress, but game definitely is feeling like it's run out of a lot of "new" stuff at this point and is pretty much just same stuff over and over for dozens of hours. The new stuff is basically the legacy dungeons or linear areas like the Eternal Cities.

I think the only repetitive thing I don't actually like is I think they ruined Dragons in this game compared to every other Souls game. Every dragon fight is exactly the same. Horseback battle, ride up by the leg and stabby stab, move out of the way and back when stomps and run out of the way when flame stuff is happening. They're not really challenging. Even if you die it's because you're underleveled and taking too much damage and not doing enough. But they're boring fights that all play the exact same. Not what I wanted from Dragons which are like mainstay impressive fights since Demon Souls. The Scarlet Rot dragon was a little unique in that giant rot clouds, but it just meant more running by horse and back again.

I generally think all field mounted combat fights are terrible and unchallenging and unstrategic for a souls game tbh. But some enemies are such pain in the asses if you aren't mounted so you pretty much gotta mount. Like I fucking hate the giant red wolves that are on the field. I think I died like 10 times on the one in Eternal City #2 and then I got on my horse and fought it and beat it on the first try. Wolf jumps OVER your ass and out of range for melee, so like the only time you can even get a fucking hit in is when it does the 3 bite combo which is rare. Meanwhile it's just laser spamming and jumping at you back and forth.

I've recently played DeS and am currently replaying BB and you simply can't beat their tight campaign design with open world. ER might have the most jampacked and impressive fantasy open world yet, but it's still a far cry from having the density of unique content of prior games.

The "stand out" open world games these days only delay copy-paste-fatigue, instead of overcoming it. I.e. Zelda felt refreshing for a little longer than your typcial Ubi/Sony open world, because it removed the handholding. Fascination with its world still wore off quickly when all those copy pasted dundeons, enemy camps and generic loot became blatant once again. The amount of content Elden Ring is insane, it takes like 20 or 30 hours before repetition becomes truly noticeable, but it will come sooner or later.

The philosophy of size over content drags open world down the most. Like, ER should have just stopped right before the snow area and instead flesh out prior areas even further.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2022, 06:41:54 AM by paprikastaude »

naff

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #773 on: May 26, 2022, 04:11:09 PM »
Finished Eternal City outside that fight, was a pretty good sizeable area especially combined with the lower Soifra River portion. Basically a full DLC size. Finished that quest and the upside down tower was neat.

Finally started the Atlus Plateau and ran past every enemy & boss in the map on my horse collecting the 3 maps. Seems pretty huge with a ton of content. I guess I was expecting something smaller since I heard the back half of the game is less open-world and more just linear Souls dungeons and boss rushes. Gonna take me some time to explore this place out.

This was my best run on the Gargoyles after like an hour before I gave up (I didn't edit the video so you can skip the first 40 seconds):



Still used the wrong summon when the second one showed up and also after I killed the first one I had no idea how to dodge the attacks of the 2nd one because I'd spent the whole hour learning the attack patterns of the first one :| 

One of my issues with the fight is my katanas are too short ranged and I miss like 1/2 the time. I feel like when I come back to this later on I might wanna level up a longer reach weapon like a halberd or something and try with that. Or use spellcasting with a respec. When they spray the poison they are wide open if you are a ranged fighter to get damage in safely.

if you want uchi but longer go search up a nagakiba. you can get two in one play, but you're probably already past that point

it's basically the same as the uchi but better in every way

also, those gargoyles are intended as later game content. if you're having issues, basically upgrading any decent spirit trivializes them
« Last Edit: May 26, 2022, 04:20:04 PM by naff »
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naff

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #774 on: May 26, 2022, 04:16:24 PM »
The philosophy of size over content drags open world down the most. Like, ER should have just stopped right before the snow area and instead flesh out prior areas even further.

they should have combined snowfields and mountaintops into one area. together, there's a lot of cool content, could have hidden haligtree et al through a difficult to navigate blizzard that was accessible straight from the area, and had the entrance to mohgs and other caves and camps that were part of the snowfields all bundled into mountaintops. as it was, both areas had some cool stuff but felt a bit undercooked. the snowfield content is harder, but dividing it by area and making it a clearly optional path/detour from the forge would've made the last area feel much more ominous and awe inspiring imo.

i don't think mountaintops was all that bad as a desolate snowy wasteland you can zip through on torrent, but it could've been a lot better
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Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #775 on: May 27, 2022, 04:50:07 AM »
Finished exploring out the Atlus Plateau outside Shadow Castle which I'm gonna do next, and a bit of Volcano Manor left and Leyendell city itself. Was generally same old same old but pretty fun stuff.

I'm definitely OP for this area, so pretty much killing a lot of bosses before they get off more than an attack or two. Go to right now is flame strengthen me magic -> roar physical atk up -> perfume atk up -> mixed physic dex up which gets me something like 1,500 atk or so going into fights which destroys stuff pretty well. Also summon my +8 mimic tear buddy if I need help and the two of us wreck everything.

On defensive side still pretty glass cannon, there were a couple of skeletons to the cliff on the left upper from looking at Leyendell's outer wall who have these giant scythe glaives and fuckers would do like 40% HP damage per hit, so 3 hits would kill me with like 47 VIT. But outside a few enemies that hit real hard like this, doing ok with my VIT stats.

Lvl.108 now about 80 hours in. Looking forward to finally going into Leyendell city and the Eld Tree and seeing what's up.

Svejk

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #776 on: May 27, 2022, 08:59:38 AM »
Finished exploring out the Atlus Plateau outside Shadow Castle which I'm gonna do next, and a bit of Volcano Manor left and Leyendell city itself. Was generally same old same old but pretty fun stuff.

I'm definitely OP for this area, so pretty much killing a lot of bosses before they get off more than an attack or two. Go to right now is flame strengthen me magic -> roar physical atk up -> perfume atk up -> mixed physic dex up which gets me something like 1,500 atk or so going into fights which destroys stuff pretty well. Also summon my +8 mimic tear buddy if I need help and the two of us wreck everything.

On defensive side still pretty glass cannon, there were a couple of skeletons to the cliff on the left upper from looking at Leyendell's outer wall who have these giant scythe glaives and fuckers would do like 40% HP damage per hit, so 3 hits would kill me with like 47 VIT. But outside a few enemies that hit real hard like this, doing ok with my VIT stats.

Lvl.108 now about 80 hours in. Looking forward to finally going into Leyendell city and the Eld Tree and seeing what's up.
This is about where I'm at in my playthrough.  Haven't played in over a week for being out of town.  :-\

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #777 on: May 27, 2022, 07:03:12 PM »
This is the first souls game where I feel kind of bad about stuff?

Like every time I help out an NPC with a quest it usually just ends with their dead body. Would've been better if I left them alone. And like in Leyendell and stuff these are just like city defender soldiers and I'm going around murdering them all? Feels kind weird.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #778 on: May 28, 2022, 04:05:42 AM »
Spent the night doing Lyndell. That city was fucking huge. Good dungeon, makes your hands sweat.

But like Stormveil kinda confusing and easy to get lost and exploring every inch and finding all the treasures took a lot of time but was pretty rewarding. Fuck all those crucible type knights.

Also tbh, I think I was expecting a little more story-stuff than you get there.

Got to the Forbidden Lands, will pick up there next time. Good stuff. Game is big.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #779 on: May 28, 2022, 04:46:45 AM »
Also I gotta say that even all these hours in with the repetition, my favorite part of ER are...the catacombs  :doge


Sure they're just chalice dungeons, but they're pretty well designed and some are clever (I did the Azuri~ one outside Lyndell tonight with the teleport chests and I was lost and then I got it and was like oh, that's clever).

The mines are way too similar and caves are like halfway between mines & catacombs, but the catacombs all feel pretty unique even if they mostly visually look the same.