Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Steven]

7 minutes ago, denisb said:

Is it super hard ? I can’t be bothered with perseverance any more I just like play on easy and see all the game 

 

 

 

[Captain Kelsten]

8 minutes ago, denisb said:

Is it super hard ? I can’t be bothered with perseverance any more I just like play on easy and see all the game 

 

 

Based on what you’ve said there, don’t even bother. 

[NexivRed]

8 minutes ago, denisb said:

Is it super hard ? I can’t be bothered with perseverance any more I just like play on easy and see all the game 

 

 

It is the opposite of this. 

[disperse and recoagulate]

If you’re poo at games (and have never played a Souls game) is this one to skip and just watch on Twitch?

[cassidy]

10 minutes ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

If you’re poo at games (and have never played a Souls game) is this one to skip and just watch on Twitch?

I'm ok at games. And usually bounce hard off Souls games. 

 

Currently 12hrs in and loving it. I've even started to git gud a smidge. 

 

Still you can never be cocky or overconfident I find.  It's hard but doable so far. 

 

And the open world exploration is just superb so if I bounced through frustration before there's loads of shit to do this time which I think makes all the difference. 

 

YMMV

[CrichStand]

5 minutes ago, denisb said:

Is it super hard ? I can’t be bothered with perseverance any more I just like play on easy and see all the game 

 

 

It is and it isn’t. It’s been waaaay easier than the other games so far but.........it seems like there’ll be stuff that is a lot harder to balance things out.  It’s more accessible but........it’s also less accessible. Makes sense!
 

For example - you can avoid most of the enemies out in the open world, many of them can be one shotted with a base character and base weapon too in a sizeable chunk of the world, whilst others aren’t much of a threat at all. However, once you get into the classic dungeons and boss fights it’s a totally different story. You can still avoid lots of stuff but it’s not easy to do so, although that seems to be balanced out with the “bonfires” being closer together. Bosses are a different story though.
 

Obviously you can upgrade your character which makes the game far easier. It’s up to you how easy you want to make the game. In that way there’s always been an “easy mode” in these games. Just level up a lot. 
 

If you don’t want to persevere and prefer easy modes in games though it’s probably not for you, as these games can hold a lot of frustration.......but also a lot of reward. They’re pretty much built around tension and release.

 

11 minutes ago, Vemsie said:

The exploration in this is something else. Everytime I wander off, I find something interesting. And it's all naturally integrated into the world without feeling copy/paste, something even BotW suffered from.

I'm not that far in, but it's absolutely captivating. 

 

There’s definitely some copy/paste stuff in there, like most other open worlds. @Majoramentioned it earlier in the thread and I’ve started to see some of it myself, 25hrs in. Mini dungeons with the exact same layout and enemies, same ruins scattered around, same tombs laid out, same graveyard bits, sections of the world that feel empty in comparison to other areas etc. It’s a small price to pay for what is there though, especially with the worlds size, scope and scale. 

[Alan Stock]

8 minutes ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

If you’re poo at games (and have never played a Souls game) is this one to skip and just watch on Twitch?

 

Largely I'd say it depends on your willingness to learn, explore and not to be put off by dying. This is by far the most accessible Souls game, yes enemies are hard but there is the ability to do less difficult content to power up your character/equipment and make hard encounters much easier. Things will kill you, but you learn and either stay away or adapt your strategy to suit. Skill does play a factor but if you go for say a sword and shield build you will have a much easier time, and in the long run may want to go for heavy armour and a big shield so you can focus on blocking and timing attacks rather than mad skillz quick rolls to evade danger. There are always things you can do to weight battles in your favour, from levelling up elsewhere, buying items to help you in fights, summoning other players or NPCs to help and so on. Personally I would give it a shot and keep an open mind. If an enemy seems way too hard, just go elsewhere and come back later, that's the beauty of this game, there's so much to explore and do. 

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Forza la lumiere...

[Alan Stock]

Also to put things into perspective, I started on Dark Souls 3 which is one of the harder Souls games, and for that and Bloodborne I used player or NPC helpers to get me through some of the hardest encounters in the games. I ended up doing almost everything in them and returning to do some of the stuff solo (like in Dark Souls 3 about half way through I realised I had got good enough to do bosses solo), and ultimately loved those games. There are safety blankets there for newcomers but you do need to accept death and learning as part of the experience. 

 

Remember that despite the reputation there is so much else going for these games - the world, the lore, the visual design, the atmosphere, the exploration and level designs, the freeform structure, the endless secrets. One of the reasons Elden Ring is so good is because it offers even more of those things than other souls games. 

[LaveDisco]

There’s so much shit that hangs around from games. Stuff like difficultly levels, how hard it is, git gud. And all that jazz. 
 

The reality is that this game is the game. The mechanics are the reason to play. Not any story.  This could be your exclusive game for months to come. It asks a lot. But it gives a lot. 
 

If you choose to play Elden Ring, and stick with it, you’ll beat the hardest version of the game possible for you. 

 

The beauty of the game is that yes you “get good” but simultaneously everything you do is a release valve. Levelling up, summoning, new unlocks and strats all lower the difficulty inch by inch. But so slowly you end up beating the most difficult game you could beat. And there isn’t a feeling like that. It’s brilliant. It took me 150hrs to beat dark souls and I was over level 100.  It took far less to beat DS3 as I was much more experienced and I did it at a far lower level. 
 

The brilliance of Elden ring is they’ve made that escape valve other content. Just go explore. 
 

[Len]

7 hours ago, Cosmic_Guru said:

One gripe I have is with pushing the left stick to dismount, it's far too easy to do that inadvertently  cost me many times in the tree defender battle.

 

I do this constantly and it drives me nuts. was even considering swapping it with/for stealth.

[Cosmic_Guru]

G the G is down, new tactic of staying well out of range and only coming in when he seemed totally preoccupied with the melee summons worked!

[Mike S]

I'm pushing on for 20 hours in now and have finally  encountered Margit who arrived in that typical swaggering FROM style. Lovely. Smashed me back into last week.

 

Had a few more tries and I can get the health bar below half way so it seems doable but as it was a bit  too stressful for a lunchtime I've left it to go for an explore.

 

Found a whole new area, a Peninsula, which I'm really liking. Had a very funny death caused initially, of course, by greed then falling for a trap, and which developed into an escalating series of difficulties which saw me running blindly down tunnels picking up more and more aggressive chasers before running into a surprise boss room where I, of course, swiftly died. Went back and managed to kill the big bugger to save my modest pile of runes so all ended well. It was genuinely funny watching my situation get worse and worse whilst stressing that I was going to lose enough runes to level up.

 

What a game this is.

 

 

[Ste Pickford]

I think the Breath of the Wild comparisons are fair.  It's not the same game, obviously, but it does trigger a lot of the same feelings, and (so far) it seems like a world made with a similar level of care, and evokes a similar level of surprise around every corner.

However, the game it's reminding me most of is Tir Na Nog on the Spectrum.  I think someone else mentioned this upthread.  I'm feeling the same kind of fear and mystery even as I wander around quite empty areas as I did in that game.

[Mike S]

4 minutes ago, LaveDisco said:

There’s so much shit that hangs around from games. Stuff like difficultly levels, how hard it is, git gud. And all that jazz. 
 

The reality is that this game is the game. The mechanics are the reason to play. Not any story.  This could be your exclusive game for months to come. It asks a lot. But it gives a lot. 
 

If you choose to play Elden Ring, and stick with it, you’ll beat the hardest version of the game possible for you. 

 

The beauty of the game is that yes you “get good” but simultaneously everything you do is a release valve. Levelling up, summoning, new unlocks and strats all lower the difficulty inch by inch. But so slowly you end up beating the most difficult game you could beat. And there isn’t a feeling like that. It’s brilliant. It took me 150hrs to beat dark souls and I was over level 100.  It took far less to beat DS3 as I was much more experienced and I did it at a far lower level. 
 

The brilliance of Elden ring is they’ve made that escape valve other content. Just go explore. 
 

 

 

This is an excellent summary of the appeal of FROM games.

 

Hats off.

[Len]

7 hours ago, robdood said:

No it looks a bit like a slingshot, I can't remember where I collected it.  (it's actually a martyr effigy)

 

You just use it and it makes you available to be summoned at any location in the game. 

 

I stopped using it cos I got fed up of being summoned to fight the Tree Sentinel!! 

 

There's a spirit you can use for the tree sentinel (I tried them all after the umpteenth time) that means you literally have to do nothing and he just cant fight it. Very pleasing.

[robdood]

@Doctor Shark @CrichStand I think the grafted 'spider' that whatshername talks about is the boss of Stormveil castle....

[Len]

7 hours ago, Steven said:

 

What did you use to clear out the mines? - found they weren't taking much damage from the weapon I have.

 

Warpick which I picked up nearby/god knows where. Works a treat. I couldn't do the boss so have to go back later.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Oh my! 

[deerokus]

Yes the thing which makes this special is that although it's an open world, it's an intimidating, frightening open world where exploring feels risky.

 

The only other game I've played that does something similar is Dragon's Dogma. This is more rewarding to explore than that game for sure.

[robdood]

2 hours ago, Doctor Shark said:

 

Yeah except it doesn’t. I think others are right in that it just points you towards a nearby major point of interest, regardless of whether or not you’ve done it. In my case it was pointing me towards 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Castle Morne

Which I’d already completely cleared. 

Flipping heck man, I've also done that same thing! My bad. Defo seems to point you towards big bosses, in a daisy chain of grace sites though. 

[Colonel Panic]

Level 19 and I've done some exploring, bought sorceries and levelled my weapon a bit and I'm still struggling with Margit.

 

Liking it but very overwhelmed by the open nature of the game so far.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

A lot of the mini bosses I've done cheaply getting them down to half power and then unleashing my spirit guides on them

[CrichStand]

12 minutes ago, robdood said:

@Doctor Shark @CrichStand I think the grafted 'spider' that whatshername talks about is the boss of Stormveil castle....

Cheers dude! After talking to her I was jumping at the slightest sound and bit of movement. 😂

 

Had a quick look on YouTube to see what it’s like. The stuff of nightmares! It’s not spidery enough to bother me though, so looks like I should be golden.

[Broker]

16 hours ago, Harrisown said:

 

I do wonder is what we see on the map screen the entire game minus dungeons?

No. The map keeps pulling out as you find more areas. 

[Captain Kelsten]

16 minutes ago, robdood said:

@Doctor Shark @CrichStand I think the grafted 'spider' that whatshername talks about is the boss of Stormveil castle....

Yeah I think that’s the one Roderika was meaning for sure, but up in another area there are spider-like mobs. 

[Len]

I got a huge bloody sword last night (40 strength) but no where near being able to use it. I've got a Lordson Heavy Greatsword+3 which is ok but I feel I could be doing better.

 

Can anyone point me in the direction of something a little better maybe? I have the

Spoiler

Bastard Sword

but need more equip load to carry so maybe level for that?

[dug]

So, just killed Margit. On my first attempt.

 

Obviously that's because I'm a super swag master of skill, style and enormous sexual potency.

 

Spoiler

Also, it might have something to do with the fact I'm level 33, with 20 points each of vigor, mind and strength, along with a Lordsworn's Heavy Greatsword +4.

 

Oh, and a summon called Banished Knight Oleg. Holy shit. It's the first time I've tried using him because I've only just levelled Mind enough (takes 100 FP to summon him). He ripped Margit to pieces! I just chipped in with an occasional hit and critical hit when he got staggered. I've unlocked easy mode, apparently.

 

[cassidy]

I just can't express how I feel about this game. 

 

So I'm making my way through Stormveil. 

 

Never have I played a game that makes you so tense at every moment. Any combat gives you a reason to be fearful cos one mis step and your dead. 

 

But you keep progressing forward. Always pushing forward as there must be a grace point coming up,please let there be one. 

 

Then you reach it. The relief is palpable and the sense of achievement at getting somewhere and learning more about the place and the enemies.

 

Your always learning even when dying. 

 

I LOVE THIS GAME. 

 

Strormveil enemies 

 

Spoiler

The Black Knight in the dark room after making your way up the escarpment.

 

Sod that, nabs key and scarpers out of there.  I'll be back for you though. 

 

The bloody birds though, the ones with the barrels can do one. It's making me wonder where can I get a bow from??

 

[CrichStand]

8 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

Level 19 and I've done some exploring, bought sorceries and levelled my weapon a bit and I'm still struggling with Margit.

 

Liking it but very overwhelmed by the open nature of the game so far.

Folk might have noticed I wasn’t the biggest fan of the open world at the start! Still think there should have been more to discover on the actual coastline. I mean, loads of people are going to head there for the seaside location. I couldn’t wait to get on the beach with my bucket and spade and discover some creepy hidden caves and stuff.  So far it feels like everything worth seeing is inland. 
 

Absolutely love the open world setup now though and think it adds loads to the game. I’ve lost track of loads of places I meant to go back to because of other stuff I found whilst travelling about. It also feels like the more tight linear setup of the old games is still there too on the main line and in the bigger dungeons.