Elden Ring (New From Soft Game)

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Miyazaki gave an interview to The New Yorker recently about Elden Ring: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/p...ka-miyazaki-sees-death-as-a-feature-not-a-bug

At least there isn't the wave of trendy thinkpieces about accesbility from the problem internet trolls this time.

Wow! I had no idea... A man after my own heart.
Ah, well that explains a lot of the vibes I keep getting in this game.

This actually makes complete sense and I already sort of informally categorized From Soft's games in the same class as Ico, SotC and The Last Guardian... Including repetitiveness and technical difficulties; these are labors of love and obsession, not cutting edge tech demos. =)
 
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Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
I spoiled myself a little bit while watching a review video and it seems like this game has its own version of an Ornstein and Smough type of fight. Looking forward to that. Also, Radahn is one of the coolest bosses in the game.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I spoiled myself a little bit while watching a review video and it seems like this game has its own version of an Ornstein and Smough type of fight. Looking forward to that.

It wasn't the fight in the plaza before him? Because that was the first two-on-one I found in the game. I'm actually a little peeved because I reached that fight early on so decided to revisit it later, but by the time I did the festival was starting and the plaza had been re-populated with Berserk cosplayers! Easiest way to pass a boss since The End in MGS3, but I was ready to kick ass and felt like I'd been cheated.

Also, Radahn is one of the coolest bosses in the game.

I made a couple of attempts but haven't passed him yet. Then again, I've been trying to beat him "solo" and without the horse, which I should probably save for NG+. I do like how he pushes the limits of a Souls boss fight in that way where using summons seems like an integral part of fighting him at all.
 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
It wasn't the fight in the plaza before him? Because that was the first two-on-one I found in the game. I'm actually a little peeved because I reached that fight early on so decided to revisit it later, but by the time I did the festival was starting and the plaza had been re-populated with Berserk cosplayers! Easiest way to pass a boss since The End in MGS3, but I was ready to kick ass and felt like I'd been cheated.



I made a couple of attempts but haven't passed him yet. Then again, I've been trying to beat him "solo" and without the horse, which I should probably save for NG+. I do like how he pushes the limits of a Souls boss fight in that way where using summons seems like an integral part of fighting him at all.
If you're talking about the one in Caelid, then no. I'm talking about the Godskin Duo. Also, the moment where Radahn jumps up and comes down as a meteor is one of the coolest fucking things I've seen in a game. It took me 2 hours straight to beat him. I had to take a long break after that lol.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
If you're talking about the one in Caelid, then no. I'm talking about the Godskin Duo.

Not the Erdtree Knights either? This game! There's gotta be over 100 bosses/sub-bosses running around.

Also, the moment where Radahn jumps up and comes down as a meteor is one of the coolest fucking things I've seen in a game. It took me 2 hours straight to beat him. I had to take a long break after that lol.

The first time he did that I pulled a Prometheus and ran away in a straight line directly in his path and died immediately on impact. :ganishka:

I got him shortly after posting after some prep work, heaviest armor, upgraded Longbow for some kiting when necessary, and that did the trick. Before that when I was trying to go pure melee I could only get him down to about 15% life before I was inevitably caught by one of his insta-death attacks, or his bullshit ranged stuff.

Anyway, great fight, a totally unique Souls experience, and what a boon killing him was! I'm probably not going to use the sword or bow, but the armor alone gives me so much poise and damage reduction it doesn't matter what I lost in manueverability, plus I can carry all my shit on me instead now instead of menu switching. This fight basically changed how I'll play the game for now, though I'm still pure Vig, End, Fth, which is awesome, and I'm sure someone will require fast rolling down the line.
 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
Not the Erdtree Knights either? This game! There's gotta be over 100 bosses/sub-bosses running around.



The first time he did that I pulled a Prometheus and ran away in a straight line directly in his path and died immediately on impact. :ganishka:

I got him shortly after posting after some prep work, heaviest armor, upgraded Longbow for some kiting when necessary, and that did the trick. Before that when I was trying to go pure melee I could only get him down to about 15% life before I was inevitably caught by one of his insta-death attacks, or his bullshit ranged stuff.

Anyway, great fight, a totally unique Souls experience, and what a boon killing him was! I'm probably not going to use the sword or bow, but the armor alone gives me so much poise and damage reduction it doesn't matter what I lost in manueverability, plus I can carry all my shit on me instead now instead of menu switching. This fight basically changed how I'll play the game for now, though I'm still pure Vig, End, Fth, which is awesome, and I'm sure someone will require fast rolling down the line.
I respecced into a faith build so I was just spamming magic attacks from a bit of a distance, but not too far where he start using that annoying bow. Was a bit dangerous though since he can just use gravity hax to pull you into him, but worked out in the end.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I respecced into a faith build so I was just spamming magic attacks from a bit of a distance, but not too far where he start using that annoying bow. Was a bit dangerous though since he can just use gravity hax to pull you into him, but worked out in the end.

If you've got the Sacred Blade Ash of War, which I found by pure luck, put it on your weapon and you'll be a goddamn faithual Tyrannosaurus... just like me. :badbone:
 
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Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
I accidentally hit pope tortoise. I thought he would be permanently aggressive towards me but he forgave me.

Edit: I see the spoiler tag when I edit this post, but not unedited. Edit, edit, edit: Figured out what I did wrong. Probably not even a spoiler!
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I think dual wielding is busted and will be nerfed soon. I'm using two Sacred Lordsworn Swords, one +16 with the Sacred Blade weapon buff, one +11 with the Sacred Order aura, so with both activated my +16 sword alone does 519 damage... then the second sword hits. It's crazy, but that's not even the broken part: it doesn't use stamina for some reason!:shrug::ganishka:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I think dual wielding is busted and will be nerfed soon. I'm using two Sacred Lordsworn Swords, one +16 with the Sacred Blade weapon buff, one +11 with the Sacred Order aura, so with both activated my +16 sword alone does 519 damage... then the second sword hits. It's crazy, but that's not even the broken part: it doesn't use stamina for some reason!:shrug::ganishka:
Me going through Stormveil next time:

 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
Moonveil Katana is so stupidly broken holy shit. I think it’s definitely getting nerfed. I’m gonna respec and try a new build. I like ice wizards in shit (I played a frost mage and frost death knight in wow and I made a frost mage build in Skyrim, so ya get the picture lol.)
I found this video.
I like this build so much, I’m fucking going for it.
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
Currently, I'm sitting outside Godrick's arena. Stormveil is a total pain in the ass. I still need to go back to some of the bird heavy areas to see if there is a shortcut I missed.

This morning, I hit some of the caves that I missed earlier. I'm now much stronger than some of those bosses, just casting a summon and spamming magic can speed up those fights.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
One area this game puts Breath of the Wild and most open world games to shame is the underworld. There's literally fucking underground cities! I was riding my horse through an underground area that looked like another world while my mind was being blown. If you push down one of the sticks on your map it'll even switch you to underground Points of Grace in the game.

Anyway, my progress has stagnated, but that's partly because I'm having a good time just co-opping with a friend that's new to Souls or fucking around building my character. Last night it was time for a little Guts cosplay with the Greatsword, wolf helmet, and Lion's Claw Ash of War (gives you a front flip sword slam that's a signature of the activated Berserk's Armor). Lots of fun and really gives you a lot of openings to critical hit dudes and fuck them up. With the inherent weapon art or on the horse you can send guys flying 12 feet up in the air! :guts:

Doubt I'll be switching from my twin Sacred Lordsworn Swords during serious play though as they just have too much speed, damage and versatility.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
One area this game puts Breath of the Wild and most open world games to shame is the underworld.

I just hit one of these the other night and I was completely blown away by the scale and beauty of everything.

Quoting my convo with Aaz: "w o w. just hit the Siofra underground. it's fucking beautiful! Place is huge—what a crazy use of an underground space! What maniacs!"
 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
Honest question. Do y’all see the mimic tear being nerfed? A +10 mimic tear pretty much ensures that you will never lose another fight. I’m thinking this could cause problems if things like dlc bosses get added to the game. Some of my friends think I’m crazy for thinking this.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Honest question. Do y’all see the mimic tear being nerfed? A +10 mimic tear pretty much ensures that you will never lose another fight. I’m thinking this could cause problems if things like dlc bosses get added to the game. Some of my friends think I’m crazy for thinking this.

I just found that (I guess I should use it; I heard you can basically cheese any boss by creating a double)! I haven't actually used any summons yet though. I'm over 60 hours in and like level 80 and I don't even know how to play the game yet! I didn't even know how to equip or activate my great runes until Aaz brought it up. From Soft!


Holy shit, I mean, it's been building for over a decade now. Miyazaki's From Soft is like some killer underground band that just kept refining and putting out quality material, getting more popular and mainstream with each release until finally somehow taking it over, remaking it in their image. This is their Black Album... of course, you know what comes next. :ganishka:

Pretty incredible success story for this company, and well deserved.

But I thought they didn't know how to do proper UX? Or graphics? Or quests! Don't forget the lack of accessibility in their vision. They're all just smoking at their desks looking at "CTR" monitors! Yeesh, I hope all these salty companies go under and we all just continue to play the latest iteration of Demon's Souls 8.0 or whatever's next from the guys smoking at their desks programming on CRTs (these loser gen Z developers don't even realize how cool that actually makes From Soft sound by comparison :badbone:).
 
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Seriously though what is going on with all the crabs everywhere?

And jeezus the bears! I am legitimately terrified of them if I’m just trying to ride by. One on one it’s fine but they are TENACIOUS.

One area this game puts Breath of the Wild and most open world games to shame is the underworld.
My wife was watching me play when I found this area and we were both pretty floored. What starts as a casual ride down turns into visual magic.

She may end up playing a Souls game because of all she has seen so far!

I just wrapped up Raya Lucaria and once again an amazing dungeon. I feel like I’ve still just only started scratching the surface of this game.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
One area this game puts Breath of the Wild and most open world games to shame is the underworld. There's literally fucking underground cities!

More generally, and this may be me misremembering since I haven't played BOTW since its release, but I'm impressed with how much stuff they've packed in their open world map. I've been taking my time combing the map, trying to make sure not to overlook spots, and I've seldom wasted my time doing so. There's almost always some item or little event going on that makes it worth your while to have taken the detour. It's also one of the few games where I've needed to and therefore fully embraced the map markers, which is amusing to me given the "UI/UX" meltdown from jealous devs.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Honest question. Do y’all see the mimic tear being nerfed?

So, I used it on the Gargoyle outside the Beast church and it did NOT give me the win, but I came damn close. I could see it making most fights trivial. Add to the To-Be-Nerfed List with this and Moonveil ("hello" most hated, ubiquitous PvP weapon): The Sword of Night and Flame. I found and switched to this because it was essentially a special version of my Sacred Longswords (and the Int requirement also lets me play with the Moonveil =), but HOLY SHIT, the R1 special move is a fucking magic photon canon with range that will nuke health bars with a point blank hit. No joke, at +6 I one-shotted a mid-game stone giant with one 5,000+ damage blast on his right leg! It also has a AoE fire attack on the R2 that could be useful, but not nearly as broken.

Seriously though what is going on with all the crabs everywhere?

And now, the next evolution... Giant Enemy Lobsters!

My wife was watching me play when I found this area and we were both pretty floored. What starts as a casual ride down turns into visual magic.

It almost kind of undermines the events on the surface for me, like while they're all babbling about being the dumb Elden Lord there's a whole universe under their feet spreading to eternity! And now... Giant Ants! :magni:

I feel like I’ve still just only started scratching the surface of this game.

Yeah, I reached the capital days ago and kind of pulled back on progressing the main plot because I was afraid I was going to wrap it up too quick. Now, from what I've seen and heard or haven't encountered yet, I suspect this area is "only the beginning."

More generally, and this may be me misremembering since I haven't played BOTW since its release, but I'm impressed with how much stuff they've packed in their open world map. I've been taking my time combing the map, trying to make sure not to overlook spots, and I've seldom wasted my time doing so. There's almost always some item or little event going on that makes it worth your while to have taken the detour.

BotW was impressive in this way too, but it also had a cheat: because almost every surface was climbable by default, the terrain itself was something to interact and occupy yourself with, even if it amounted to nothing, until you did run into something.

Clearly From Soft spent the development of this game just creating more, and more, and MORE content, because, yeah, a lot of the engine, graphics, and assets are all recycled or "refurbished" going back to Demon's Souls, but with a literally huge payoff. In a way they've been developing this game for fifteen years.

It's also one of the few games where I've needed to and therefore fully embraced the map markers
which is amusing to me given the "UI/UX" meltdown from jealous devs.

Same, I NEVER use that shit in games but find myself using waypoints all the time and even wishing they had more variety of markers too.

which is amusing to me given the "UI/UX" meltdown from jealous devs.

I was shocked by the open hostility from people that probably bragged about playing Dark Souls at parties a decade ago. First there was the accessibility thing with Sekiro, which from fellow developers always felt like a cheap, self-serving ("my games are easy because I'm so woke!") way to attack a rival under the umbrella of a "very important issue," or get some pub if they were a nobody (suddenly lots of industry hangers-on got their tweets shared in articles about the GotY; too bad it wasn't for making it =). But this time it was straight up mad online, mean girls sour grapes, no attempt at even couching it in a friendly critique. I guess it was all good as long as it was a cute little cult thing everybody enjoyed, or pretended to, but once From Soft outscored and outsold everybody for the month in a day it's, "THIS BROKEN OLD SHIT!!? STOP THE STEAL; MIYAZAKI IS MANIPULATING THE REVIEW SCORES!" :ganishka:

I do sympathize though with trying really hard at what you think is the right way of doing things, and then someone comes along spurning all that and basically invalidates your ethos. Especially the Horizon team that keeps getting their GotY contender open world franchise cuckolded by some titan of the industry releasing their transcendent attempt at an open world game the same week.:magni:
 
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Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Same, I NEVER use that shit in games but find myself using waypoints all the time and even wishing they had more variety of markers too.
Does anyone have a clue why both BotW and this game put a ceiling (100 max) on the map markers?
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
And now... Giant Ants! :magni:

That took me back to King's Field. The more things change, the more they stay the same. =)

Yeah, I reached the capital days ago and kind of pulled back on progressing the main plot because I was afraid I was going to wrap it up too quick. Now, from what I've seen and heard or haven't encountered yet, I suspect this area is "only the beginning."

Limgrave and Liurna are definitely meant to be the "starting zones" you can wander around in. Then it's on to the Altus plateau and Caelid and their respective subzones of various difficulties. That's where I'm at right now, meticulously "cleaning up" the map. I'm also curious to see what comes after that, although I did get a brief taste I think.

I was shocked by the open hostility from people that probably bragged about playing Dark Souls at parties a decade ago. First there was the accessibility thing with Sekiro, which from fellow developers always felt like a cheap, self-serving ("my games are easy because I'm so woke!") way to attack a rival under the umbrella of a "very important issue," or get some pub if they were a nobody (suddenly lots of industry hangers-on got their tweets shared in articles about the GotY; too bad it wasn't for making it =). But this time it was straight up mad online, mean girls sour grapes, no attempt at even couching it in a friendly critique.

Oh I did see some guys default back to the accessibility issue when they got some pushback on their bullshit. It's such an obvious pretense it'd be laughable if it didn't hijack/eclipse legitimate concerns disabled people might actually have.

I guess it was all good as long as it was a cute little cult thing everybody enjoyed, or pretended to

Yeah pretty much. :ganishka:
 

Dark Emperor

Dweller of the Lotus Moon
Oh I did see some guys default back to the accessibility issue when they got some pushback on their bullshit. It's such an obvious pretense it'd be laughable if it didn't hijack/eclipse legitimate concerns disabled people might actually have.
Lol “accessibility.” More like people who can’t cope with the fact that they suck horsedick at the game and don’t want to take the time to get better. Some people really just want an interactive movie instead of a challenge. If the open world aspect of the game doesn’t speak accessibility, then I don’t know what else to say. This whole “games need to be for everyone” nonsense that been spouted over the past few years results in things like this. I’m glad From Soft is being adamant with their stance to keep their identity and not make their games appeal to the lowest common denominator.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Anyone still seeing lines of grace even after clearing out an area? I’ve done everything there is to do at Castle Morne, (including the boss, passing the letter, telling the old man about the sword), and I’m still seeing the line pointing to the castle (and beyond that is just the open sea, so that ain’t it …).

As for this discussion of difficulty, it’s inevitable. But I don’t quite understand the passions on either side of it. From Soft continues to make the games they always have. But they’ve reached a truly grand, epic scale with this one, and more people are taking serious notice of it. However, they aren’t for everyone, so there’s more friction around this title than others. Bigger spotlight, same issues. More people, for whom the magic of these games holds no appeal, have big opinions about the game. Who cares? The sales of the game and the ecstatic fans are what matters.
 
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