Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Benny]

I went for a Sorcery build initially when I did a new playthrough of Dark Souls 3 to get round to the DLC, but went back to my preferred Faith/STR for ER. I kept seeing cool magic stuff in ER and going, oh boy that looks cool!... Guess I'll just keep using my black fireball then. *Forever alone Godskin face*  

[Chadruharazzeb]

Finally sorted out the full grown fallingstar beast. Kicked its ass, actually by using 

Spoiler

The archer woman summon and gravity magic. She did quite a lot of damage to it and kept it distracted while I chucked boulders at it and staggered its ass. 

 

Fuck you, beast! 

[Sun Tze]

10 hours ago, Jamie John said:

100 hours in, level 125. I mostly spent this evening exploring underground.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Did the Siofra River Aquaduct, most of the Darkroot Depths, the Ainsel River Mouth and finally wound up in Nokstella.

 

This game is fucking nuts, properly insane. It's almost *too* much, you know? Like, too much of a good thing. I spend most of my time playing it with this expression

 

Had a good session yesterday and went for the Capitol. The sense of scale seems to have changed again and after running and dodging past some enemies i come to a yet another crossroad showing yet another never-ending set of stairs leading up into the heavens (ps4 draw distance?). It just became a bit too much and i instinctively went to the menu and was ready to select quit game. No enemies close by, just wanted to quit because all the different options and routes available became overwhelming. Decided to read a message close by. It said: "Don't give up". I smiled, applauded it but still quit the game a few moments later because i was spent. Amazing stuff. 

[Timmo]

After finishing this, I spent a couple of hours on the PS5 version of the game. The visual upgrade is absolutely minimal. PS4 version (on PS5) is a much better way to play, butter smooth throughout and the pop-in really isn't that bad, only noticeable at certain times in the open world.

[Ste Pickford]

39 minutes ago, ox1973 said:

Although what you can do is equip heavy armor so they can tank and then unequip after summoning so that you can float like a butterfly....

 

I take it there's no quick way to swap out all your armour in the middle of a fight other than by individually  selecting each slot from the equipment menu?

[Kzo]

57 minutes ago, Benny said:

 

But also there is no melee weapon that can deal with those

 

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warping out of the ground screaming motherfuckers. I think they are my most hated enemy since the singing Cthulhu guys in Bloodborne.

 

 

Not a melee weapon but casting heals on them does massive damage and stuns them for a critical. They are complete ballbags but holding great heal until they come in range then 2 shotting them is very cathartic. 

[df0]

Yup, started with PS4 version on PS5, gave the PS5 version a try and never again. PS4 version looks superb, buttery smooth at 60 fps.

[Benny]

Just now, Kzo said:

 

Not a melee weapon but casting heals on them does massive damage and stuns them for a critical. They are complete ballbags but holding great heal until they come in range then 2 shotting them is very cathartic. 

 

How did I not try this in 250 hours. Lol.

[ox1973]

2 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

 

I take it there's no quick way to swap out all your armour in the middle of a fight other than by individually  selecting each slot from the equipment menu?

 

Don't think so - pretty much means dumping your armour quickly and going in naked. You rely on the Mimic to tank and keep your distance. Works best for ranged builds of course.

[Benny]

5 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

 

I take it there's no quick way to swap out all your armour in the middle of a fight other than by individually  selecting each slot from the equipment menu?

 

You can get naked real quick though. Start, tap X on everything, come at me boss!

[JPL]

1 hour ago, ox1973 said:

As far as I'm aware it's an exact copy of 'you' at the point it is summoned so you would need to have appropriate weapons/gear equipped.

Yeah, I meant more if I have some crazy weapon that I can’t properly wield due to my stats, will he be able to handle it ok?

[dug]

34 minutes ago, Timmo said:

After finishing this, I spent a couple of hours on the PS5 version of the game. The visual upgrade is absolutely minimal. PS4 version (on PS5) is a much better way to play, butter smooth throughout and the pop-in really isn't that bad, only noticeable at certain times in the open world.

 

32 minutes ago, df0 said:

Yup, started with PS4 version on PS5, gave the PS5 version a try and never again. PS4 version looks superb, buttery smooth at 60 fps.

 

Interesting. I played the PS5 version all the way through. I found the frame rate to be fine 99% of the time, with only the occasional stutter when swinging the camera in a wide open area.

 

For my next NG playthrough I'll try the PS4 version and see how it compares.

[Davros sock drawer]

2 hours ago, imp said:

 

n.b. There is no melee weapon that makes dogs and rats any less of a pain to deal with. 

There is! A rapier (I use Rogier’s at +22) will stun lock them for as long as you have stamina to poke at ‘em, and you can hide behind a shield while doing it.

 

Or just equip the beast repellent torch and they won’t even attack you. Like, at all. 
 

 

[Gigawatt]

Got to the credits this morning, 95 hours, level 157. Pretty sure I got a vanilla ending so I’ll go look up the others now. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game for this long before, this is as 10 as a 10 can be. 
 

For most of the game I was longsword and shield with a bit of sorcery, but ended up leaving INT low and building up STR to get some good damage. Close to the end I respecced into DEX so I could use Moonveil and Rivers of Blood. Slight endgame spoilers:

 

Spoiler

I settled on Rivers of Blood with Corpse Piler which is great for dealing a load of damage. Brass Shield in the other hand and Mimic +10. Managed to do Malenia which had been a sticking point when I was STR. 

 

Final boss was ok in the end. First phase was simple once I’d learnt the patterns, and for the second phase I ended up just sprinting up close and wailing as much as I could and then running away from the ranged attacks. Probably only took 15 attempts which is pretty good for me.

 

[Captain Kelsten]

Mad attention to detail in this game

 

- Fire spells do less damage in the rain

 

- Lightning spells do more damage in the rain 

 

- You leave different footprints on sand/mud etc if you’re wearing/not wearing shoes

 

- There are no Stakes of Marika near Rennala because her husband, Radagon, left her for Marika 

Spoiler

Which is weird since, technically, Radagon IS Marika…

 

- Metal weapons make sparks when hitting stone, wood weapons don’t

 

- Torrent ducks when you use spells on horseback 

 

- Some merchants play a tune from Bloodborne on their instruments (The First Hunter theme) 

[imp]

7 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

There is! A rapier (I use Rogier’s at +22) will stun lock them for as long as you have stamina to poke at ‘em, and you can hide behind a shield while doing it.

 

Or just equip the beast repellent torch and they won’t even attack you. Like, at all. 
 

 

Oh of course! I switched to a rapier from a greatspear late one run and must have never run into any after that. The greatspear was a bit of a pain even turtling behind a huge shield against those enemies as it was so slow to counter. I bet a halberd is pretty decent as well, thinking about it now!

[Number 28]

On the subject of dogs, some of them are very broken;

 

[kempstar]

2 hours ago, PeteJ said:

Oooh. Yes I have both talismans and hats to boost int (and others). Do these not count when it comes to weapon requirements?

They do, but if you had removed a talisman that took you INT below the weapon requirements, then levelled up to take you back over the requirements, your damage output will jump up on the stats screen just like you explained.

[Timmo]

21 minutes ago, Number 28 said:

On the subject of dogs, some of them are very broken;

 

 

Came across this Youtuber the other day.

 

There's a fantastic video of theirs about why Breath of the Wild's weapons break and how Elden Ring solves the same issue.

 

 

[dug]

In praise of the Catacombs:

 

In the early game, it doesn't take many catacombs for the player to come across a bit where a room they are in is exactly the same as a room in one of the previous catacombs. After one or two more you realise that all the catacombs are built with a limited room set. So while no two catacombs have exactly the same layout, they are all made with the same parts. This, combined with repeated enemy types, repeated boss types, and repeated objectives, fosters a sense of familiarity. So, when you enter a new catacomb you know exactly what to expect: navigate through familiar looking rooms, fighting imps and bastard cat statues, to find the switch to open the boss door.

 

Some catacombs have additional puzzle elements, like the ones with enemies that are invincible until you get them to stand in the light, or the ones with loads of illusory walls, but the primary puzzle element is navigating through the space of the catacomb, finding the switch. Frequently, you can see the switch early on, on some inaccessibly high ledge; you just need to figure out how to get up there.

 

By the late game, you're on your twentieth one of these, and they're getting bigger and more complex, but due to all the familiarity, they all kind of combine into one in your head. This is where From pull their meanest trick.

 

A couple of the late-game catacombs (big spoilers here, so don't look unless you've done all the late game catacombs, or don't care about having a great puzzle spoiled):

 

Spoiler

Have a structure where there's a clear main path with several side paths. The side paths usually end in a dead end with an item, or they loop back onto the main path. Then eventually the main path itself loops back round to an earlier point in the main path. But what the player doesn't realise yet is that there are two copies of the whole catacomb! And each time you loop back round onto the main path, you're actually looping back round onto the other copy of the dungeon.

 

So, because you just keep looping round, you soon end up rechecking the side paths, and find that, hang on, there's an enemy and an item here, I swear I've already done this room? And then you find how to get up to the ledge where the switch is, but the switch isn't there! Wtf? Eventually out of desperation you end up walking back to where the grace is but it's a dead end????!!!?? What is going on?

 

I was questioning my sanity before I finally cottoned on to what was going on. And when I did realise, I grinned from ear to ear and thought From, you mad evil genius bastards.

 

 

 

It's the repetitious nature of the catacombs and your familiarity with them that laid the groundwork which allows From to pull that trick. We all already know that From do the best combat in any action RPG. Now they've shown they have serious puzzling chops as well. To make simple traversal of the dungeon the puzzle, rather than light all the torches or push the block over there is brilliant. Although having said that, there are a couple of light all the torches sections. The more I think I think about it, the more Zelda-ish Elden Ring is.

 

I said earlier in the thread that ER seems like a truer expression of what a modern take on the original Legend of Zelda would be, than Breath of the Wild was. Having now completed it, I stand by that statement.

 

TL;DR: Elden Ring is secretly a Zelda game.

[Benny]

1 hour ago, Gigawatt said:

Got to the credits this morning, 95 hours, level 157. Pretty sure I got a vanilla ending so I’ll go look up the others now. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game for this long before, this is as 10 as a 10 can be. 
 

For most of the game I was longsword and shield with a bit of sorcery, but ended up leaving INT low and building up STR to get some good damage. Close to the end I respecced into DEX so I could use Moonveil and Rivers of Blood. Slight endgame spoilers:

 

  Hide contents

I settled on Rivers of Blood with Corpse Piler which is great for dealing a load of damage. Brass Shield in the other hand and Mimic +10. Managed to do Malenia which had been a sticking point when I was STR. 

 

Final boss was ok in the end. First phase was simple once I’d learnt the patterns, and for the second phase I ended up just sprinting up close and wailing as much as I could and then running away from the ranged attacks. Probably only took 15 attempts which is pretty good for me.

 

 

That was literally my endgame build in the end. I even tried

 

Spoiler

A flame art Uchi fully upgraded with my faith build and it still didn't pump out the damage as fast as vanilla +10 Rivers of Blood

 

[Benny]

14 minutes ago, dug said:

In praise of the Catacombs:

 

In the early game, it doesn't take many catacombs for the player to come across a bit where a room they are in is exactly the same as a room in one of the previous catacombs. After one or two more you realise that all the catacombs are built with a limited room set. So while no two catacombs have exactly the same layout, they are all made with the same parts. This, combined with repeated enemy types, repeated boss types, and repeated objectives, fosters a sense of familiarity. So, when you enter a new catacomb you know exactly what to expect: navigate through familiar looking rooms, fighting imps and bastard cat statues, to find the switch to open the boss door.

 

Some catacombs have additional puzzle elements, like the ones with enemies that are invincible until you get them to stand in the light, or the ones with loads of illusory walls, but the primary puzzle element is navigating through the space of the catacomb, finding the switch. Frequently, you can see the switch early on, on some inaccessibly high ledge; you just need to figure out how to get up there.

 

By the late game, you're on your twentieth one of these, and they're getting bigger and more complex, but due to all the familiarity, they all kind of combine into one in your head. This is where From pull their meanest trick.

 

A couple of the late-game catacombs (big spoilers here, so don't look unless you've done all the late game catacombs, or don't care about having a great puzzle spoiled):

 

  Hide contents

Have a structure where there's a clear main path with several side paths. The side paths usually end in a dead end with an item, or they loop back onto the main path. Then eventually the main path itself loops back round to an earlier point in the main path. But what the player doesn't realise yet is that there are two copies of the whole catacomb! And each time you loop back round onto the main path, you're actually looping back round onto the other copy of the dungeon.

 

So, because you just keep looping round, you soon end up rechecking the side paths, and find that, hang on, there's an enemy and an item here, I swear I've already done this room? And then you find how to get up to the ledge where the switch is, but the switch isn't there! Wtf? Eventually out of desperation you end up walking back to where the grace is but it's a dead end????!!!?? What is going on?

 

I was questioning my sanity before I finally cottoned on to what was going on. And when I did realise, I grinned from ear to ear and thought From, you mad evil genius bastards.

 

 

 

It's the repetitious nature of the catacombs and your familiarity with them that laid the groundwork which allows From to pull that trick. We all already know that From do the best combat in any action RPG. Now they've shown they have serious puzzling chops as well. To make simple traversal of the dungeon the puzzle, rather than light all the torches or push the block over there is brilliant. Although having said that, there are a couple of light all the torches sections. The more I think I think about it, the more Zelda-ish Elden Ring is.

 

I said earlier in the thread that ER seems like a truer expression of what a modern take on the original Legend of Zelda would be, than Breath of the Wild was. Having now completed it, I stand by that statement.

 

TL;DR: Elden Ring is secretly a Zelda game.

 

This right here was when I realised the game was certified legendary design status. Its sheer confidence that after 100 incredible hours the game can just be getting started.

[Captain Kelsten]

If Elden Ring was a PSOne game

 

 

 

[Jamie John]

Just made my way down to the LoR.

 

Spoiler

Lake of Rot. Someone at From has obviously watched Ghostbusters 2 recently. I'm gonna need some more preserving boluses.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Jamie John]

24 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

If Elden Ring was a PSOne game

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine how many PS1 discs this would take? Twenty at least.

[spanx]

Commander Shitbuggering Niall can do one. Jesus

[Captain Kelsten]

3 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Can you imagine how many PS1 discs this would take? Twenty at least.

[Mystacon]

And done. Level 150, 180 hours on the clock.

 

This game is an incredible achievement. Well done FromSoft.

[imp]

13 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Just made my way down to the LoR.

 

  Hide contents

Lake of Rot. Someone at From has obviously watched Ghostbusters 2 recently. I'm gonna need some more preserving boluses.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Oh boy do I have the incantation for you! Gets rid of rot for a mere 14FP, and only requires 12 FTH!

 

It is called:

 

Spoiler

Flame, Cleanse Me

 

And can be found in

 

Spoiler

Liurnia...

 

Spoiler

Southeast of the Church of Vows...

 

Spoiler

In a fire monk camp.

 

 

 

[NecroMorrius]

1 hour ago, dug said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Have a structure where there's a clear main path with several side paths. The side paths usually end in a dead end with an item, or they loop back onto the main path. Then eventually the main path itself loops back round to an earlier point in the main path. But what the player doesn't realise yet is that there are two copies of the whole catacomb! And each time you loop back round onto the main path, you're actually looping back round onto the other copy of the dungeon.

 

So, because you just keep looping round, you soon end up rechecking the side paths, and find that, hang on, there's an enemy and an item here, I swear I've already done this room? And then you find how to get up to the ledge where the switch is, but the switch isn't there! Wtf? Eventually out of desperation you end up walking back to where the grace is but it's a dead end????!!!?? What is going on?

 

I was questioning my sanity before I finally cottoned on to what was going on. And when I did realise, I grinned from ear to ear and thought From, you mad evil genius bastards.

 

 

 

The first time this happened I thought I was losing my mind! Took me so long to map out in my head. Genius trolling.