Author Topic: GRRM x From = Elden Ring  (Read 43965 times)

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Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #780 on: May 28, 2022, 05:15:32 PM »
RIP Boc  :cry

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #781 on: May 28, 2022, 06:05:55 PM »
Did you at least tell him he was beautiful?

 :fbm

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #782 on: May 28, 2022, 06:55:37 PM »
Did you at least tell him he was beautiful?

 :fbm

I did not.

Wasn't following a guide, and I was like "hey that's a really unsatisfying end to the quest. You don't even get any items from his dead body!" so I looked it up and read about that :(

Too bad, I liked Boc. If I ever do a NG+ I'll get him to survive.

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #783 on: May 28, 2022, 07:34:02 PM »
I'm way too weak for Lyndell, everything kills me in basically one hit 5 feet from the doors.

Unsure what to do next, guess I'll start looking for my boi Blaidd who was searching for a lost city or something.
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #784 on: May 28, 2022, 09:58:29 PM »
Was looking at Atlus Plateau to see if I missed anything and man, the Catacombs in Leyndell itself are pretty well hidden. Totally missed them. Time to do that.

Also did not like the Subterranean Shunning Grounds too much. Way too easy to get lost in the tunnels and having to purposely drop through pits to find the right ones to get anywhere is :| Plus those ogres are annoying as fuck. Lost 30k souls at one point :(

I'm way too weak for Lyndell, everything kills me in basically one hit 5 feet from the doors.

Unsure what to do next, guess I'll start looking for my boi Blaidd who was searching for a lost city or something.

Do you mean arrows? Because heavy arrows are always pretty damaging and you just gotta roll.
But also yeah you shouldn't be getting one shotted by an arrow or catapult. What's your vigor stat right now?

The lost city stuff with Blaidd is easier than Leyndell for sure outside one of the optional bosses and it'll get you some levels and stones for upgrading your weapons. Definitely worth doing first.

What weapon level is your weapon?

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #785 on: May 28, 2022, 11:36:31 PM »
Ok, what the fuck at these ice swordpeople at the start of the mountaintop area.

I think I might need to go respec into a ranged magic user. Even with Flame Art builds of katanas and using Flame ashes and imbues I cannot beat 2 of these guys at a time without burning through like 10 flask. The difficulty jump from Leyndell and the earlier parts of the game is insane if these are normal enemies at this point.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #786 on: May 29, 2022, 12:58:54 AM »
Figured out their moveset and can take them pretty well. Again the issue is my katana range is shit so sometimes I dodge roll x 2 their two attacks and do my L1 and it misses them because the reach is a bit too short. Still, easy enough area to farm since they're 5k each.

Did a bunch of the Mountaintop and I kind of hate this area. It's really empty and boring and open and because it's for GIANTS it just means you move slow through it and between stuff.

Also I feel like I'm underpowered again on the east side. Like the frost dragon in the ice lake I'm doing jack shit damage and it would take so many freaking hits and it kills my horse in like 1-2 hits and kills me about the same. I did the last Volcano Manor request against the blood whip guy and beat him but he was a real pain in the ass with his teleport dodges.

I do wonder if it's time now at 85 hours in to start using a better weapon than the basic ass katana. I have a ton of somber stones to upgrade a special weapon to close to max and I feel like a special weapon would be better at this point.

Turned it in and now I'm fighting Rykard and ugh, gimmick fight. Why do I have to use this big heavy slow sword. Oh well, will strip naked to I can actually fucking roll and do it.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2022, 01:03:20 AM by Bebpo »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #787 on: May 29, 2022, 01:19:55 AM »
Ok, Rykard was pretty joking easy with the R1 lane stab. Was using the L2 one at first which has a long windup.

Back to mountaintops.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #788 on: May 29, 2022, 01:36:27 AM »
Also I feel like I'm underpowered again on the east side. Like the frost dragon in the ice lake I'm doing jack shit damage and it would take so many freaking hits and it kills my horse in like 1-2 hits and kills me about the same. I did the last Volcano Manor request against the blood whip guy and beat him but he was a real pain in the ass with his teleport dodges.

Looked up to see why I seem so weak against Boraelis the Freezing Fog Dragon here only to find dozens of posts on him and people saying he's one of the top3 most difficult bosses in the game if not the #1 because of the camera. Apparently there were some cheese but they've been patched out. Just seems like you gotta do it same as every other dragon get a couple hits in and run away, repeat, except it takes forever with this guy and one fuck up kills you. Will save him for end game.

I do feel like endgame here is starting to favor magic ranged builds. Might go respec all of my DEX into Faith or INT and try a spell build for a bit. Have like 10 larvel tears so can experiment. Though I'd need to upgrade a seal/rod for the scaling. I have some great magics, but I'm damage capped on my melee weapons until I get a bunch more Smithstone 8s, which apparently aren't frequent until the vortex city place even further in.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #789 on: May 29, 2022, 03:29:08 AM »
Also when I was looking up that stuff, I googled whether magic or melee is stronger for endgame and got a ton of results that say for pure melee builds, this is the worst souls game in terms of viability and that pure melee is fine and manageable for early/mid game but for endgame magic vastly outpowers melee and is much better for most of the endgame bosses.

Damn. I mean I can respec and I got enough somber stones to level int/faith weapons, but means changing 85 hours of muscle memory and learning how to play a ranged magic build at this point.

Ehhh, I think I'm too lazy and until/unless I hit a real wall I'll just stick to my pure melee with some buffs powerstance katanas.

If I really get stuck at some point in endgame though I'll respec to magic.

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #790 on: May 29, 2022, 05:02:50 AM »
I got a +17 Cold Zweihander as my strongest weapon right now. Blood Hound Fang at +5 and some type of Arcane Blade at +5. My Blood Katana is +7 for humanoids. For Magic a +4 Demi Human Staff and +5 Wolf ashes.
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #791 on: May 29, 2022, 05:05:55 AM »
I got a +17 Cold Zweihander as my strongest weapon right now. Blood Hound Fang at +5 and some type of Arcane Blade at +5. My Blood Katana is +7 for humanoids. For Magic a +4 Demi Human Staff and +5 Wolf ashes.

That's a nice spread. I've honestly never thought of having 2ndary or 3rd backup weapons to switch between based on what I'm fighting. Seems like a great idea. Especially once you can buy stones close to your current weapon level.

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #792 on: May 29, 2022, 07:02:16 AM »
The weapons also have different skills which comes in handy. The Frost Stomp for example or the Blood Slash. I'd like to experiment more with different ashes of war though so maybe I'll have to upgrade a couple of vanilla weapons too.

For spells I was just spamming fire balls for the longest time, the Glintstone Arc is my go-to spell now because you can easily destroy groups and it stuns most enemies.
What's making me weak right now is my lack of Vigor (I basically need to be able to absorb more hits) and I never leveled any shields after finding the Carian one.

I also looked up the recommended levels for the areas again, in that sense it makes sense that Leyndell is kicking my ass. Seems like there's more to find on the Altus Plateau in the area in between the mountain and the Plateau.
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #793 on: May 29, 2022, 07:56:02 AM »
I've been spoiling myself and reading a lot about endgame and I gotta say it's real bullshit the two balance patches have nerfed really good moves.

Like now you find any old thread on these endgame bosses and they all say use Mimic Tear, Hoarfrost Stomp, Swarm of Flies, ez mode. But all that's nerfed now.

I just think that people lttp getting a harder game than people who played at launch is fucked up in a Souls game.

I'm really not looking forward to Melania since it sounds like a brutal fight and everything that worked to make it beatable in under 50 tries no longer works.

It's weird because outside Orphan of Kos, I don't think Demon Souls, DS1-3, Bloodborne have any real brutal take you hours/days of retries bosses. Even Kos ain't too bad. With Sekiro they stepped up their boss challenge level and ER's endgame sounds like that but while dealing with the worse input lag and less tight controls than Sekiro.

So far outside the dual gargoyle fight, I haven't found any of the bosses brutally hard, but this endgame sounds nasty. Everything outside Melenia sounds doable. Not sure if I'll be able to beat her. Sekiro was the only Souls game I had to give up at the very end because I just can't react fast enough to deal with it and Melenia sounds similar to that.

At least they haven't nerfed Bloodhound Step yet and that sounds like it gives enough iframes in dodge to at least put you back on Sekiro mobility for a fight like that. Will be doing Dragonbarrow soon and will grab that.

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #794 on: May 29, 2022, 02:29:46 PM »
I went to Mt. Gelmir to get the map but the boss there one hit killed me so I got back to the castle in Caelid to see if I was strong enough now.
Where I'm sure there was a double boss before they had been replaced by Blaidd. I guess there's multiple approaches to this fight depending on the quests you do(?)

Managed to beat the General (that was a crazy epic fight btw. Holy shit. All the bois tho, RIP :fbm)

That fight apparently unlocked
spoiler (click to show/hide)
the stars, a meteor strike and now I'm heading down Nokron
[close]
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #795 on: May 29, 2022, 05:30:08 PM »
There's two versions of the castle. Once you activate the festival by stepping onto the Atlus area or talking to Selvus in Ranni's quest the festival starts and the castle is empty and boss is gone.

After you beat Radahn, if you go back to the festival and talk to the guy and then leave the area it'll return to normal with enemies and open doors to explore and a boss fight.

Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #796 on: May 29, 2022, 11:56:04 PM »
Like now you find any old thread on these endgame bosses and they all say use Mimic Tear, Hoarfrost Stomp, Swarm of Flies, ez mode. But all that's nerfed now.

I just think that people lttp getting a harder game than people who played at launch is fucked up in a Souls game.

I'm really not looking forward to Melania since it sounds like a brutal fight and everything that worked to make it beatable in under 50 tries no longer works.

Radahn was often considered the most frustrating boss pre v1.3 due to the RNG which would screw over people. That said I also played him pre v1.3 and was overleveled for it so it was fairly easy. I literally waited so long since I'd read so much shit about him that turned out irrelevant for my build/level  :P

There'd still be strats for the bosses post patches. I'd argue the cheese strats for Melania pre v1.3 involved respec'ing, having a high enough level for yourself/weapons/etc, playing well. I didn't want to respec so even despite trying various of such strats pre v1.3 they weren't as effective (eg: damage wasn't comparable, or the 'cheese' was just getting gud). Sometimes I'd notice the real strat in video description was the author being level 160+ when most are far lower level at that time :doge

The way you're describing finding bosses easy with your build/level/skill I'd be curious if by the time you encounter her it's not quite as bad as you expect. I literally died more to the insane platforming of one dungeon area than Melania. If you get past her the rest is fine.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #797 on: May 30, 2022, 12:13:29 AM »
I messed around with finding a 2ndary weapon I could use without respec for stronger horseback weapon.

Ended up going with the Blasphemous Blade +9 and just barely have the stats with Godrick's +5 great rune. But man, what a weapon, especially for this snow area. I just took down the ice dragon in like 60 seconds just running around it's legs slashing because I was doing heavy damage with the fire DPS on it. And grinding those tall elves at the start of the mountains with the L2 skill that shoots the giant flame kills them in 3 blasts, with a mimic can run through that whole area and kill all 8 of them in about 90 seconds and get 40k+ souls per run.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #798 on: May 30, 2022, 02:42:26 AM »
Finished Castle Del Sol, yeah Blasphemous Blade's skill was useful for that commander Nail fight since you can hit him and his summons in each flame blast over and over.

Still going back and forth between powerstance katanas for enemies that bleed and blasphemous sword for enemies that don't or big enemies I need to stagger or that are weak to fire. My FP sucks so I constantly run out when using blasphemous sword skill which is the main downside.

Going back to Dragonbarrow and finishing that out now before finishing out Mountaintop of the Giants. Unlocked Consecrated Grounds and will do that after Mountaintop.

Svejk

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #799 on: May 30, 2022, 04:36:45 PM »
Started Lyndell.  Such a cool looking locale... Nice scale with multiple routes is awesome.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #800 on: May 30, 2022, 11:23:33 PM »
Got +25 for my katanas and Blasphemous Blade. Doesn't seem like that much of a jump in damage but every little bit helps a bit. Lvl.147 now and I'm just throwing stats into random stuff like Mind and Faith to balance things at the 1-25 level so I can use more stuff. At this point Vit/Dex/End doesn't do much for giving them more stats.

Didn't realize you can hit max flask charges way ahead of this game. I got 5 golden seeds and it won't let me use them :| Could use more Sacred Tears though if there still is any, a flask barely refills half my HP at like 2,200 HP.

Did some of the Consecrated Grounds, that place has a lot of stuff to fuck you up. Everything does so much damage even at my stats and with decent medium-ish armor. Also I hate the idea of giant area with tons of hidden shit where you can't see anything half the time because snowstorm. Really lame. Got to Mogywan Palace and did some. That first checkpoint area with all the albernaucs sitting is such an easy farm area. Just shoot a few blasphemous flames and it kills a bunch at a time and you get 40k souls in like 30 secs. Don't need to grind, but that seems most efficient spot at this point. Was grinding the tall elves at mountaintop before it for about 40k running through killing all 8 of them over a few mins with a mimic buddy.

Finished up Dragonbarrow, the platforming in the divine tower going down is some rough stuff (getting into it wasn't too easy either).

With the platforming the bane of my existence is that the run but is also BACKSTEP. I've had at least 3 spots in this run where I'm on a tiny little platform and I need to make a running jump for that extra bit of distance and on instinct I hold down O and I backstep off the platform to my death.

Went back and killed the Dual Gargoyles. Easy at this point, but it's kind of bad balance because by the time I could kill that boss I'm way overleveled for Deeproot Basin and that was a quick blow through all the content area. Still enjoyed it.

Finished up Gurranq's quest, Sellen's quest, Fia's quest, Archer summon girl's quest. I think the only ones left wrap up in the remaining areas. And I need to invade some people for White Varr's quest.

Pretty much just have the last bit of Mountaintop of the Giants, about half of Consecrated Grounds, half of Mogywan Palace, Azum Farum, and Haligtree left. Probably do them in that order. Feel like I'm getting there in terms of finishing this up before the final area.

Still enjoying the game plenty, lots of great level design and rewarding exploration. That said at this point Elden Ring's never wowed me a single time like past souls games. It's a pretty consistent 8.5-9/10 very good Souls game, but it just never hits any real highs and with the gigantic kitchen sink thrown in of content there's a decent amount of lows here and there though nothing too miserable so far.

I have issues with Sekiro, but Sekiro had some really awesome moments and was conceptually a very fresh tight game. I think the metacritic scores between that and this should've been swapped TBH, though I think Bloodborne/Demon's/DS1 should all be at the top. I definitely enjoyed my replay of Demon's Souls with the PS5 remake more than ER so far.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #801 on: May 31, 2022, 02:03:46 AM »
Also Blasphemous Blade's skill is ridiculously good against some enemies. Did the death's dream legendary dragon and drank the infinite FP elixer and just stood still and fired a bunch off and pretty much destroyed it. Feels pretty cheap, but it's nice to have some easy wins here and there.

Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #802 on: May 31, 2022, 06:54:35 PM »
Did some platformy parts and my god it fucking sucks, it's so bad, imprecise and sometimes unresponsive that I wish the game would respawn back when you fell with no souls lost as long as you're not in combat :trumps
(ice)

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #803 on: June 01, 2022, 01:06:13 AM »
Finished up Mogwyn Palace. I thought this was an endgame tough area like Haligtree/Farum but everything was easy and the boss went down in like 20 seconds  :doge

Given how easy it is to farm and how you can jump straight there really early in the game, seems like a great shortcut if you're playing a NG.

Lord of Blood, more like Lord of getting Bloody Killed.
spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

Weird thing is the other fight with him at the bottom of the sewers with Dung Eater was actually a good challenge (same moveset?). Small cramped area and he wasn't melting like that. Then again I didn't have dual +25 katanas with Seppuku and didn't have Dex at 80 at that point. Could just be that.

Speaking of which, I don't mind the copy & paste boss fights because I think of bosses as just the big grunt enemies in western AAA games that you fight occasionally, but copy & paste Legendary bosses is so dumb. Oh no it's Astel again in a mine! :\

Lord of Blood paid out 400k+ souls though for 30 seconds of low effort. Can't complain.

I have VIT at 60 now, DEX at 65 + 5 from talisman + 10 from physics capping out at 80, END is 35 but don't need much more. Pretty much maxed out stat-wise for pure Dex gear.

I normally finish souls games around like lvl.60-80 or something and usually don't do NG+ or at least never bothered finishing a NG+, so I've never run into this situation before where I'm maxing out stats and have to figure out what to apply stuff to when I level up. I think I'm like 159 or 165 or something now.

Did some platformy parts and my god it fucking sucks, it's so bad, imprecise and sometimes unresponsive that I wish the game would respawn back when you fell with no souls lost as long as you're not in combat :trumps

Yeah, platforming's always been terrible in all these Souls games. I guess I'm just used to it at this point so it usually doesn't phase me though my hands get sweaty on certain bits for sure.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2022, 01:10:16 AM by Bebpo »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #804 on: June 01, 2022, 01:18:23 AM »
Also I think Bell Bearing Hunter is the worst repeated fight in the game. Not only is he annoying to spawn since you have to change to night elsewhere and then warp in, but he has one of the most bullshit movesets of any of the bosses since he hits really hard close up and then sends his flying spinning sword around to fuck you if you try to get some range. And he has a shoulder tackle dash!

Plus he hits like a goddamn truck and kills you in a combo before you can get away.

Did a bunch of bosses tonight and the only one that gave me any trouble was the Bell Bearing Hunter in Dragonbarrow. I did not expect the explosion after the shield slam since the previous ones don't have that move. I got the Bloodhound step from the Night's Calvary there and was trying it out for the first time against him trying to teleport dodge around him getting hits in and I got fucked.



Then I beat his ass and did 50% of his HP before he did a move which helped. I feel like in every souls game a lot of it is just getting lucky and the boss AI does an easy move first and you get a ton of damage in and it just puts you in a good position to finish them out.


Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #805 on: June 01, 2022, 01:29:09 AM »
I normally finish souls games around like lvl.60-80 or something and usually don't do NG+ or at least never bothered finishing a NG+, so I've never run into this situation before where I'm maxing out stats and have to figure out what to apply stuff to when I level up. I think I'm like 159 or 165 or something now.

I'd probably suggest avoiding leveling further tbh and invest it in leveling weapons instead but it depends on the difficulty you want.


Yeah, platforming's always been terrible in all these Souls games. I guess I'm just used to it at this point so it usually doesn't phase me though my hands get sweaty on certain bits for sure.

Wait until you get to the true depths of the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds :doge
« Last Edit: June 01, 2022, 01:34:35 AM by Coax »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #806 on: June 01, 2022, 01:51:38 AM »
I normally finish souls games around like lvl.60-80 or something and usually don't do NG+ or at least never bothered finishing a NG+, so I've never run into this situation before where I'm maxing out stats and have to figure out what to apply stuff to when I level up. I think I'm like 159 or 165 or something now.

I'd probably suggest avoiding leveling further tbh and invest it in leveling weapons instead but it depends on the difficulty you want.


I mean I'm just doing the content and leveling up each time I have enough souls for a new level. Leveling weapons isn't too expensive (spirit ashes are pricey though). I don't mind being overleveled since I can put it into stuff like arcane and then mess around with dragon magics without having to respec.

I guess I could spend the souls on buying upgrade stones. That does make sense since those do add up with how many you need.

Quote

Yeah, platforming's always been terrible in all these Souls games. I guess I'm just used to it at this point so it usually doesn't phase me though my hands get sweaty on certain bits for sure.

Wait until you get to the true depths of the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds :doge

Yeah I did some of the

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Three Fingers
[close]

area, but I don't want to lock myself into that ending so backed out until I have the needle.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #807 on: June 01, 2022, 01:54:29 AM »
Also, one thing that helps with the platforming is whenever I'm gonna attempt some dangerous platforming I go spend all my souls so I have like 0 before I attempt it. Then there's no penalty if you die so don't mind the deaths in platforming sections as much.

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #808 on: June 01, 2022, 02:15:13 PM »
In general the solution for the vertical platforming(which usually means you're going down, not up)  like in the Caelid tower is not to jump but simply drop down.
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #809 on: June 01, 2022, 03:27:07 PM »
In general the solution for the vertical platforming(which usually means you're going down, not up)  like in the Caelid tower is not to jump but simply drop down.

Yup.

I saw a message that said "try backstep" to land on the little platform there and I was like ...no and just dropped down and was fine.

Have too much trauma from backstepping off platforms already  :(

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #810 on: June 02, 2022, 01:12:01 AM »
Finished Mountaintop of the Giants. Whoops I fucked up bleh.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Was planning on sacrificing myself to keep maiden alive and then purging the flame with the needle. Figured that would be the best ending route?
Didn't realize that was the choice to burn maiden. It makes sense, I just wasn't thinking. Thought it'd be more clear about what the choice was.

Still gonna go see Three Fingers but I guess there's no point other than to get there now :|
[close]


Also I got Rivers of Blood and did a respec to Arcane for it and I hate it. I had to lose so much to get Arcane up. I had to drop VIT from 60->50 and END from 35->30 and DEX from 65 -> 46 if I wanted to keep 17 STR/21 Faith so I can swap between it and Blasphemous Blade. These two builds are very incompatible.

So yeah, I proc blood quicker using Seppuku on my +25 Uchi dual powerstance with Rivers of Blood on main, but the damage isn't that much better than just two Uchigatana +25 keen builds with Seppuku on each. And the Rivers of Blood skill move I kind of hate. Because it's not a physical attack it doesn't hit stun enemies AT ALL like a normal attack and so I do the animation and they hit me. It doesn't even do much damage on the first hit, so you have to do the whole 3-part L2 skill combo which is a lot of time that enemies are murdering you.

AND it eats up like 75% of your FP bar at default FP just to do a single Rivers of Blood combo.

Also that stuff sacrificed to have a still short reach sword skill that's only usefulness is quicker bleed. I mean I'm sure it's great for PVP but...I get to Bleed proc fast enough already on PVE and then they build more resistance each time so it's not that great.

Not sure if the Fire Giant just has a shitton HP, but it barely felt like I was doing much damage and that fight took a while even with Rivers of Blood procing bleed a bunch of times.

So basically I'm gonna go respec again and go back to my 60 VIT and 65 Dex and 35 END and stick to Dual Uchigatanas w/Seppuku and Blasphemous Blade.


Also I guess I'll do Farum since I'm already a bit in and then go Consecrated Grounds/Haligtree afterwards and before the end area.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #811 on: June 02, 2022, 05:04:21 AM »
Last Death Rite Bird in Consecrated Grounds took me a good 40 mins. Was surprised that the Night's Calvary x 2 there I cleared on my first try just picking them off one at a time. Thought you'd have to fight both together.

Got one cave, one catacomb left and then it's time to enter the Haligtree!

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #812 on: June 02, 2022, 05:13:09 AM »
Also it looks like I only fucked up two things in this run going for 100%

spoiler (click to show/hide)
-Failed Brother Corbyn's/Goldmask quest because I was supposed to go solve a puzzle before igniting the Giant's Fire, which locks me out of one of the endings.
-As mentioned didn't save fire maidengirl. Not sure if this actually changes anything? I watched a vid of what happens when you burn yourself and she just tells you to fuck off and leaves. Not sure if she appears again.
[close]

Otherwise I think I've finished or will be able to finish the rest of the NPCs questlines, just a couple left and do all the rest of the content if I can clear Melinia.

Tempted to run a Main Story only quick NG+ after finishing this as a ranged INT mage just to see what it's like and try out all these spells. I did try out all the dragon spells since I have high arcane/faith right now with rivers of blood and they all seem pretty meh outside Greyroll's shriek which is nice for wiping large amounts of grunts at once but it eats a ton of FP. INT/Sorcery builds seems more fun and useful.

Coax

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #813 on: June 02, 2022, 07:20:22 AM »
Also it looks like I only fucked up two things in this run going for 100%

spoiler (click to show/hide)
-As mentioned didn't save fire maidengirl. Not sure if this actually changes anything? I watched a vid of what happens when you burn yourself and she just tells you to fuck off and leaves. Not sure if she appears again.
[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)
She doesn't appear again. I only went for the Flame mark + needle path since it seemed like the better thing to do. They could have added something imo as it's quite a convoluted quest path to take.
[close]

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #814 on: June 02, 2022, 01:43:13 PM »
Not sure if the Fire Giant just has a shitton HP,
Absolutely has a ton of HP.  Fire Giant as 4x as much HP as Morgott and 2x as much as Godfrey.  :dizzy

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #815 on: June 02, 2022, 02:48:29 PM »
Been watching build guides, and kinda annoyed I spent almost 100 hours just melee-ing with katana types and Blasphemous Blade.

Lots of interesting builds out there. I thought the dragon stuff was meh because of the startup delay that you can get hit out and the huge FP eat, but watching some videos where you put tons of buffs on and basically one shot everything before they see you with dragon breaths and take out bosses quick seems cool.

Honestly not sure if it makes sense to mess around with lots of builds right now at the very endgame when everything is hard and I need to be at my most efficient builds. Probably makes more sense to try this stuff in NG+ after grinding a bunch of runes at the end to buy tons of upgrade stones max out seals/weapons to at least +9/+24.

It also sucks that Larval Tears, while decently abundant, aren't farmable so you can't just keep respec-ing and messing around with different builds. I think I'm down to about 9 left and probably need to respec at least one more time to get my dex build back before I finish the game. Like respec is way, way better than past souls games, but just with so many build options and all the fun of trying them out and the different gear I wish you could farm or buy them at endgame or post-game.

Pissy F Benny

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #816 on: June 02, 2022, 04:56:29 PM »
Not had much time for gaming ,but had an hour or so to poke around the atlus plateau a little bit, wtf is that windmill village full of weird dancing women all about :confused
« Last Edit: June 02, 2022, 05:28:00 PM by Pissy F Benny »
(ice)

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #817 on: June 02, 2022, 05:12:13 PM »
In my latest session I went exploring Nokron, the Eternal City.

Killed some sort of ancient magic beast that kept healing itself and did an unblockable roll attack. Figured out the best way was to equip the Blood Fang, put on some Magic Grease and keep wailing at it.
The beast sure had beautiful animations but I'm glad it's dead now.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #818 on: June 02, 2022, 07:15:38 PM »
Not had much time for gaming ,but had an hour or so to poke around the atlus plateau a little bit, wtf is that windmill village full of weird dancing women all about :confused

Midsommar

Miyazaki's never been shy about giving nods to all the creepy horror stuff he loves aka the entire games are ripped off of Berserk's art design.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #819 on: June 02, 2022, 09:57:09 PM »
This Ordina bit with the magic archer spam has me wanting to just delete the game at this point 100 hours in and walk away.

This is like that terrible bit in DS2 everyone talks about BUT EVEN WORSE.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #820 on: June 03, 2022, 12:07:05 AM »
Haligtree was pretty tough. Honesty it's the only part of the game that's felt like Demons Souls where the level itself is a challenge because sites/shortcuts are a bit far and everything is set to kill you.

First part of the game where I had to resort to the old Souls method of RUN PAST EVERYTHING TO THE NEXT CHECKPOINT here and there.


Malenia wasn't an issue with mimic summon. It still distracted her enough that I could hit her in the back or the mimic doing that vice-versa and get staggers in. Took 4-5 tries of learning a few moves to dodge and how to recognize waterfowl dance to just run the fuck away, but took her down in about 10 mins.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
[close]

Now gotta go back and finish exploring out and getting all the treasures from the Haligtree and finishing Millicent's NPC quest and get the needle and finish up Dung Eater's quest since the last 2 seedbed curses are in the Brace.

Will probably do Farum tomorrow and finish the game up on Saturday at this rate.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #821 on: June 03, 2022, 01:29:26 AM »
Finished exploring out Haligtree. That stage has some annoying shit. Putrid Avatar on the bridge took me longer than Malenia and then all those graveyard guys who spam you to death below that. Got so sick of taking that Elevator back up over and over again.

Finished Millicent's quest, got the needle, finished Dung Eater's quest, did Forsaken Chapel, finished Hyetta's quest. The platforming had a few rough spots but once I realized I could roll to get less distance than a jump and more than a fall it wasn't too bad.

Might even finish this tomorrow. Getting real close.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2022, 01:36:12 AM by Bebpo »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #822 on: June 03, 2022, 04:01:15 AM »
Did some Farum through the Duo. Not sure why people were getting stuck on this. Even if you're at a much lower level if you've done Volcano Manor you get Bernahl and your own summon so it's 3 vs 2 which is very doable.

Now if you're doing no summons 1 vs 2, yeah I can see how it sucks. I started out this game playing it like old souls games and solo-ing bosses but at some point it just became clear the game was designed around having summon buddies as part of your attack lineup so I have no issue summoning any story NPCs or my own summon the second I walk into a new boss fight.

Coax

  • Member
Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #823 on: June 03, 2022, 10:04:18 AM »
Someone made a demake for the Gameboy and Analogue Pocket.

Gameplay footage

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #824 on: June 03, 2022, 09:12:54 PM »
Finishing up the game now and honestly I'm way past ready for it to be over. Just tired of the same bullshit over and over. On my 3rd death against the Crucible Knight at the end of Farum. Same moveset as always but crazy high stats and still complete bullshit enemy that blocks everything and kills you in a couple hit combo. Plus there's no site of grace near him (there's no way back up from the one to the right of him) or stake so gotta do the 1-2 min boss run every time just to fight this same Crucible Knight I've fought 20 times already and whose been a pain in the ass input reading cheating every time.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #825 on: June 03, 2022, 09:41:37 PM »
Fuck, game crashed on me :(

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #826 on: June 03, 2022, 09:45:48 PM »
Damn, have to fight a boss again. I thought it saved after :|

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #827 on: June 03, 2022, 10:29:51 PM »
Farum done.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Maliketh kept one-shotting me immediately after the cutscene midway. Was pretty annoying. On like 3rd or 4th attempt he did a different move after and I beat him.

Placidux was fun. Got one-shotted like 80% into the fight by the yellow laser. Next time I saved my damage negation physix flask for that phase and didn't die. It's nice to at least have one fucking dragon fight that isn't just the same fight you've fought 20 times against every dragon in the game.

At Capital of Ash. Will see how these final bosses are.
[close]

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #828 on: June 03, 2022, 11:23:07 PM »
It feels satisfying that every time I hate an enemy and google it I find like 5 reddit threads on why they are the worst enemy in the game   :lol

Now that I'm at the final bosses, most of the enemies were fine, most of the bosses were fine. But as a melee build I had no fun at all with any Crucible Knight or Lesser Burial Watchdog (normal enemy versions, bosses are fine). Surprisingly I didn't have issues with Revenants because they were very squishy and once they spawned I'd just rush them and kill them before they could attack. But if they got their like 8 hit combo going, yeah usually dead.

Also I don't understand how ukemi works in this game. Sometimes I'm knocked down and I'm invincible safe for a second or two until I get up, but other times I'm knocked down and then I get murdered before I can move. Not talking about stagger but like knocked on your ass laying completely down on your back. Seems random.

Oh and another thing is I feel like the enemy/boss damage output in ER is way higher than any previous Soulsborne game. Don't remember Sekiro damage enough to compare it. The amount of enemies/bosses that one shot you in this by hit-stunning you with a combo and doing an entire lifebar (At max 60 fucking VIT with medium armor) worth of damage is ridiculous. I've never felt like previous Soulsborne games were full of constant basic one or two shots, but ER definitely felt that. ER feels like you are always a glass cannon build no matter what. I think it's pretty stupid tbh.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #829 on: June 04, 2022, 12:13:26 AM »
Ok, cleared it. Final boss looked nice but seemed pretty straight-forward fight.

Not sure what was going on in the story. Will look it up. Game was solid.

*edit* shit, looking at the trophy list I should have save scummed though not sure how you back up saves on PS5. Only trophies I missed were the other 2 endings. I guess I could NG+ and NG++ if I wanted the plat. I'll see if I wanna even do NG+
« Last Edit: June 04, 2022, 12:30:06 AM by Bebpo »

BrokenVerses

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #830 on: June 04, 2022, 01:03:25 AM »
Finishing up the game now and honestly I'm way past ready for it to be over. Just tired of the same bullshit over and over. On my 3rd death against the Crucible Knight at the end of Farum. Same moveset as always but crazy high stats and still complete bullshit enemy that blocks everything and kills you in a couple hit combo. Plus there's no site of grace near him (there's no way back up from the one to the right of him) or stake so gotta do the 1-2 min boss run every time just to fight this same Crucible Knight I've fought 20 times already and whose been a pain in the ass input reading cheating every time.

Yeah that's how I was feeling towards the end. I just went Mimic Tear/Rivers of Blood and blasted through everything since I was so ready for it to be done.

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #831 on: June 04, 2022, 01:09:31 AM »
Overall thoughts on ER are about the same. Game is pretty good but doesn't bring anything really new or fresh to Dark Souls or Souls series in general and because it's so long with so much content it has all the usual Souls ups and downs of good content and occasional shit content.

Story was ok, I need to watch the lore videos now. I read all the item entries and have some general understanding of the lore, but can't say I was ever super into it like Bloodborne/DS1 or even DS2 (DS2's lore is the most redeeming part of DS2, it's a real interesting though incomplete story). I already thought that Sekiro was pretty lite/weak on Lore and it followed DS3 which had the least interesting Lore/story yet in a Souls game, ER is a step in the right direction and better and more interesting lore than those two, but at least for me it was never interesting like Bloodborne/DS1/DS2's worlds and story.

Can't say I really cared about most of the npcs. Alexander maybe. Ranni was moe as fuck. I also dislike how almost every npc just ends up dying.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Legit bummed when Alexander died to give me his living shard.

Was also pretty gross. Those jars are gross ass shit.
[close]

Also I gotta disagree with Let's Cyber that the game doesn't have the usual Souls fall off in the last 1/3rd or 1/4th. Yes, Haligtree is excellent and one of the best areas in the game in level design/art. Farum is solid too though a bit repetitive with the same enemies over and over. But everything else after Leyendell is the usual Souls fall off in quality.

Mountaintop of the Giants is boring. It's spread out with very little to do or explore and nothing really new or interesting. Conscerated Snowgrounds is a complete troll fucking area of just lots of bullshit whether it's the blizzard where you can't see shit for 1/3rd of it (including a Red Wolf fight with 12 smaller wolves when you can't see shit), ganks like Sanguine Invader dropping you off your horse right when you aggro a couple of runebears so you deal with them and him at the same time, the magic archer maze, the worst catacombs dungeon, etc...there's like nothing fun in that area. Then the end stuff doesn't have much story or interesting level design or interesting bosses. It's all just kind of ehhhhh, ok after Leyendell imo.

I think ER has lots of great level design but for every great legacy dungeon there's another Souls game that does a similar kind of area but with better level design. I mean it's masterclass level design for sure. Just nothing we haven't seen before from this team.

Otoh, after killing 120 bosses, I think outside like 10 bosses they are very, very average souls boss fights. I definitely think that overall ER has the worst & least interesting/exciting/fun bosses in a Souls game. They're just so bland outside the few that are closer to Bloodborne/Sekiro fights (aka most of the Legendary bosses).

Elden Ring is like 10/10 level design and 7/10 bosses.

I think the 97 metacritic is pretty nuts and to me this feels like an 8.7/10 or something, but lots of games have way higher or lower scores than they deserve. Sekiro was a much better game imo, same great level design, way better bosses, far tighter combat and more original feeling and aesthetic.

My souls ranking is:

S tier: Bloodborne / DS1
A tier: Sekiro / Demons Souls
B tier: Elden Ring
B- tier: Dark Souls 3
C tier: Dark Souls 2

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #832 on: June 04, 2022, 01:54:25 AM »
One of my favorite bits in the game:

spoiler (click to show/hide)
[close]


Bunch of screens I took. Art design was on point like always for From Soft.

spoiler (click to show/hide)










[close]

HardcoreRetro

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #833 on: June 04, 2022, 07:52:04 AM »
Can't believe you put Sekiro that high. Didn't that game put you in the hospital thanks to the ammount of stress it gave you?

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #834 on: June 04, 2022, 10:03:16 AM »
hey, a good game's a good game even if if kills you irl.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2022, 11:20:20 AM by Bebpo »

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #835 on: June 04, 2022, 01:13:49 PM »
Gonna go into NG+, sounds short & fun. Might do 2 more runs of the main story and get the plat.

Read up that you lose all your bell bearings and stone purchasing's in NG+ which sucksssssssssssssssss. Spent all that time getting everyone one so later on could just buy stones and upgrade tons of weapons for different builds.

Will have to decide my new build 100% with stats/weapons maxed before starting NG+, just know I want to run a ranged int spellcaster with a backup int/str weapon for something different than my dex/faith/arcane katana run.

Let's Cyber

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #836 on: June 04, 2022, 01:51:17 PM »
Given the enemy re-use, I can see why people didn't like that Mountaintops of the giants nearly as much. I think I was a little more forgiving on because it's a barren, frozen wasteland, so the setting saves it a bit. It doesn't have as much content the proceeding areas obviously but it fits theme of the area. I didn't kill Borealis or fight any of the dogs/crows/trolls either. At far into the game, there really wasn't any point when you know there isn't any reward for doing so outside of runes. Maybe Borealis gives like ice dragon breath incantation? I wasn't running arcane at all.

Parts of DS1 were straight up unfinished, which I think is a lot more egregious. I could see making a case that they could have drastically cut down the empty space in Consecrated Snowfield and mountaintop of the giants and condensed the relevant content down in a smaller area. The vastness of the play area really benefited most of the game in my humble opinion, but the snow area probably could have been cut down a bit.


Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #837 on: June 04, 2022, 04:13:57 PM »
Given the enemy re-use, I can see why people didn't like that Mountaintops of the giants nearly as much. I think I was a little more forgiving on because it's a barren, frozen wasteland, so the setting saves it a bit. It doesn't have as much content the proceeding areas obviously but it fits theme of the area. I didn't kill Borealis or fight any of the dogs/crows/trolls either. At far into the game, there really wasn't any point when you know there isn't any reward for doing so outside of runes. Maybe Borealis gives like ice dragon breath incantation? I wasn't running arcane at all.

Parts of DS1 were straight up unfinished, which I think is a lot more egregious. I could see making a case that they could have drastically cut down the empty space in Consecrated Snowfield and mountaintop of the giants and condensed the relevant content down in a smaller area. The vastness of the play area really benefited most of the game in my humble opinion, but the snow area probably could have been cut down a bit.

Pretty sure if they cut the entire snowfield and just had a teleporter in mountaintop that went to Haligtree, nothing of value would be lost. The only other interesting bit in Snowfield is the deathroot in the connector tunnel since I like

spoiler (click to show/hide)
invisible walkways
[close]
but could've kept that tunnel as a catacomb if they wanted.

Mountaintop was fine and it was nice looking enough to see a giant scale area. It just needed to be more interesting content-wise. You say you skipped the dragon on the lake, but that's probably the most interesting thing in the map after the Rise puzzle and Fire Giant fight.


Yeah, DS1 has unfinished areas, which are more funny than a big negative imo. Like hey there's an area that's almost totally empty. Weird. And a terrible bed of chaos boss after.

But almost every Souls game basically has this "ran out of time or budget in the end zones" issue. In ER even the last area is pretty much nothing besides a few fights.

spoiler (click to show/hide)
I don't mind City of Ash having no exploration/level design, but I thought when we got in the Eldtree there'd be a final stage inside the tree or something before the final boss.
[close]

I don't think ER's end zone drop off is any worse than previous Souls games, but I don't think it doesn't fall into their usual MO. Honestly, it probably makes sense to develop their games with the most time and budget going into the first half of the game since most players probably don't even get to the 2nd half  :lol

Nintex

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #838 on: June 04, 2022, 06:54:00 PM »
The Valiant Gargoyles are kicking my ass :info
🤴

Bebpo

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Re: GRRM x From = Elden Ring
« Reply #839 on: June 04, 2022, 08:06:52 PM »
The Valiant Gargoyles are kicking my ass :info

Hardest boss in the game for me and it's not really a strategy thing. You can learn all their moves and if you can't kill the first one fast enough because you're too low level, dealing with both of the same time is extremely difficult.

You get 2 summons in the fight. One of your own, and D's brother. So make sure you do the D questline to get him. But basically if you don't beat it after a few tries, just leave and come back every 10-20 levels until you can beat it.