Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Strafe]

You could say it goes uphill!

[Kevvy Metal]

1 hour ago, Uncle Nasty said:

Still massively stalling the endgame because of all this boss talk. I'm through the Capital now and think I've rinsed every single side quest, gaol and location. Does it go downhill badly after the Capital?

 

It does not go downhill after the Capital.

[Uncle Nasty]

Ace, thanks all!

 

I didn't think Dark Souls tanked as badly as a lot of people did in its second half, so I'll just press on with it.

 

@Doctor SharkI did indeed clear out the sewers and everything else below the Capital, apart from the vertical path down after the Omen boss. But I think I got to the area it leads to from another direction/boss.

[scottcr]

Asked my son to get me some runes. I now have about 10M runes hahahahahhaha. 

[Benny]

I mean if you honestly aren't interested in engaging with the game on its own terms, more power to you.

[scottcr]

19 minutes ago, Benny said:

I mean if you honestly aren't interested in engaging with the game on its own terms, more power to you.

but as people said above - it’s been part of souls since ever. You can’t trade stones - and those make a massive difference. 
 

yeah.. the game was becoming less fun as it was so I decided to do legit stuff to make it more fun. 

[Jamie John]

Elphael 

I mean, it's incredible, but still. 

[sofasurfer]

And EB finally down. I struggled on my own even with the Mimic and summoned a couple of players to help out who were worse than my Mimic. That is until Jonny was summoned and together we obliterated EB. Whoever Jonny was I owe them a pint, their Faith build meant they used some damn powerful magic which made light work of attacking EB whilst I melle'd the bastard from behind.

 

I did get the Fractured ending which is strange as I completed Ranni's quest. Maybe I missed something important.

 

I did say once the game was over I was not touching NG+ for a long time but found myself blasting through the first two bosses and feeling like a god.

 

Damn this game is like crack.

[StephenM]

Whew, just threw myself at Putrid Avatar for a while. Seems so doable but, well, I didn’t do it!

[Jamie John]

@Uncle Nasty

 

I haven't quite completed the game yet, and while I wouldn't say that the post-Leyndell stuff 'goes downhill', necessarily, it does feel quite different from the stuff prior to it: there's a big step up in the amount of damage that enemies do, as well as enemy density in some areas. There's one zone in particular which is quite linear and extremely punishing, comically so, to the point where playing it in a slow, methodical way seems almost like a waste of time and you're better off just Benny Hill-ing you way through, grabbing as many items as you can, as runes become more or less meaningless. It feels like a DLC area, in fact, similar to The Ringed City DLC for DS3.

 

I'd go so far as to say that I wouldn't have minded if the game ended when you polished off Leyndell. I was at 100 hours at that point, after having completely rinsed every other area, and it felt like the game's natural endpoint. This later stuff is incredible, but it does also feel a bit excessive.

 

If From ever does release DLC for this then lord alone knows what that will be like. Kaizo Dark Souls.

[Benny]

I saw a PC Gamer article that said Elden Ring was "too big". 

 

I just thought: likely pathetic sort.

[Jolly]

Love that the names of bosses in this are all mysterious like 'Henrickter the Candlekiller' and 'Ubolotitous Dim' and then one is just 'he's got worms on his face so he's Wormface, lol'

[Jamie John]

2 minutes ago, Benny said:

I saw a PC Gamer article that said Elden Ring was "too big". 

 

I just thought: likely pathetic sort.

 

I'm not so sure, to be honest. I suggested as much about 15 hours or so in-game hours ago. It's not that it's too big, but more like it's too *much*. It's wearying to play something this intense for this amount of time. It feels endless and almost insurmountable. Areas within areas within areas.

 

I've never played a single-player campaign for 120 hours before without additional DLC. BotW with all the shrines was about 90. Persona 5 was 100 and definitely too long. I think my save on The Witcher 3 was up to 120 hours, but that was after both DLC chapters and every single sidequest completed. The imagination and creativity on show in Elden Ring is truly amazing, but part of me wonders if, overall, I don't prefer the relative leanness of Sekiro, or Dark Souls 1. Elden Ring is as mind-boggling as it is exhausting.

[Benny]

On the contrary, the areas within areas within areas just kept compounding my sense of awe and wonder. I adored that. Like a truly otherworldly adventure not experienced before. If that intimidates I would find that sad. It's vast and all the more special for it.

[Benny]

To anyone saying "make it smaller" I would say, no, make your aspirations bigger.

[ChewMagma]

You don't have to completely rinse every area though. I'm more or less in the final area now and I'm 75 hours in. I was fairly thorough but not obsessively so.

 

It is just same criticism that is levelled at virtually every open world no? "Oh there is too much content, it gets repetitive, it is fatiguing." Except 99.9% of the content in Elden Ring is cool and good so I dunno really. You're fatiguing yourself doing a load of more or less optional stuff.

[Exit Chamber]

 

2 minutes ago, Benny said:

To anyone saying "make it smaller" I would say, no, make your aspirations bigger.

 

Or just take a break. The game will still be there when you're ready for more.

[Zael]

"Goes downhill" is a harsh way of saying it. For me, everything up to and including Leyendell is some of the best open world content I've ever encountered and I don't think the stuff afterwards matches up to it. Its not bad by any means though, except for a few bullshit areas. 

[Benny]

4 minutes ago, Blunted said:

 

 

Or just take a break. The game will still be there when you're ready for more.

 

Lol yes or this. Or...

 

Spoiler

4am Benny shambles to bed once again.

 

[Uncle Nasty]

1 hour ago, Jamie John said:

@Uncle Nasty

 

I haven't quite completed the game yet, and while I wouldn't say that the post-Leyndell stuff 'goes downhill', necessarily, it does feel quite different from the stuff prior to it: there's a big step up in the amount of damage that enemies do, as well as enemy density in some areas. There's one zone in particular which is quite linear and extremely punishing, comically so, to the point where playing it in a slow, methodical way seems almost like a waste of time and you're better off just Benny Hill-ing you way through, grabbing as many items as you can, as runes become more or less meaningless. It feels like a DLC area, in fact, similar to The Ringed City DLC for DS3.

 

I'd go so far as to say that I wouldn't have minded if the game ended when you polished off Leyndell. I was at 100 hours at that point, after having completely rinsed every other area, and it felt like the game's natural endpoint. This later stuff is incredible, but it does also feel a bit excessive.

 

If From ever does release DLC for this then lord alone knows what that will be like. Kaizo Dark Souls.

 

Thanks for that. This will be a reckoning for me I'm sure as I've got very cocky with my current stats and +10 Mimic steamrollering everything. Tears ahead.

 

Ad far as the size of the game goes, I agree with @Benny - I love that there's areas with areas within areas and that they're mostly optional. Like MGSV, the way this game controls and feels is just impeccable to me, there's real joy in controlling your character and flinging them about whether that's in combat or traversal. The systems are satisfying and addictive - summoning Torrent and you're already pushing in the direction you want to travel and the game is there with you as your mount rezzes in, it's so beautifully timed and judged. MGSV was like that. Highly tuned for every nuance that you threw at it. It feels like the devs thought of everything and provided a counter or reaction for it.

 

Beneath the Capital was amazing. The way it kept opening up and revealing further layers was both so exciting and daunting.

 

What is everyone's setup with Talismans? Do you keep a set of four permanently locked in? My current setup is three permanent Talismans for increased stats and equip load, and a "floating" Talisman in the first slot that I swap out depending on the situation. So that could be defence against Magic or increased damage output from bows, whatever I'm facing at that time.

 

 

 

 

[RabMyself]

So after killing fire giant, hit up Crumbling Faram Azula, decided to take a detour to the haligtree, made it down to Elpheal, lost over 320,000 runes to those stupid, poison spitting multi legged speed demons (bound to be a record), killed a couple of tree monsters then found a boss door. Went in and it was Malenia! Was not expecting her to be here, as soon as the cut scene ended she jumped on me and 1 shot me. Now I know where to avoid for a few more levels. 
 

Im kinda sad now as I’ve just been running around exploring for ages and now the end is in sight! I can now go ‘complete’ the game if want, taken some of the mystery away!

 

Going to run around and kill some dragons I avoided earlier in the game seeing as I’m all grown up now and can bully them back then finish off CFA.

[Curtis]

2 hours ago, scottcr said:

Asked my son to get me some runes. I now have about 10M runes hahahahahhaha. 

Reminds me of a Phantom/Player I summoned in Demons Remake who was max level (99 on all stats) - done via Soul Sucking an organised host (not nearly as interesting as is it sounds), who brazenly ran headfirst into the 3 No. Red Eyed Knights on the stairs of 1-3, in my NG+, and he got absolutely destroyed!

 

He was so embarrassed he quit without making an excuse for his foolishness.

 

I know you know this. Soul Levels are not the be-all-and-end-all. 10 million runes is utterly worthless. All it’s going to do is skew your experience from here on out.

[Jamie John]

 

13 minutes ago, Benny said:

To anyone saying "make it smaller" I would say, no, make your aspirations bigger.

 

That's a bit reductive. I don't think it's a question of there being "too much" content, as I explicitly mentioned. I think it's more to do with pacing. There's little in the way of levity after Leyndell, arguably even after you get to the Atlus Plateau. Rather, it's a solid uphill marathon through steadily more challenging areas until the end. Those areas are wondrous and incredible and head-scratchingly amazing, but there's very little let up in the intensity of the overall experience. The game is fatiguing, there's no two ways about it. And suggesting that you should 'take a break' from it if does nothing to contradict the fact that the game has this effect on the player. (Moreover, taking a break from a game that is this mechanically complicated I'd argue would make it difficult to come back to. It's not exactly a 'pick up and play' type of game.)

 

A game like Sekiro is also challenging right up to the end, obviously, but I completed Sekiro in less than 40 hours: I've still got a ways to go in this with 120 hours on the clock, and those additional 80-100 hours have an undeniable effect on the player's ultimate experience of the game. If Sekiro were 120 hours long it would be fucking awful.

[Benny]

I would happily play 120 hours of Sekiro now actually...

 

I think Elden Ring is now my second most played game now on Steam. Ever. I would only have put those hours in if I wanted to, and I honestly enjoyed nearly every minute being in its world.

 

I've put more hours into PUBG and spent a large portion of that hating it, so I definitely lucked out this time on the uses of my time stakes.

[Anne Summers]

Spoiler for end stages of Milicent's questline ...

Spoiler

In the Brace of the Halligtree area ... According to the guide I read, I need to defeat a big enemy just before the Drainage Channel area to trigger the last stage of her questline. Is this the big horrible thing that erupts out of the crimson rot-filled cavern that's made up of two pieces of rot-covered ground joined by a tree branch bridge? Only I've tried to kill it about 5 times and it keeps one-shotting me, and I can't be bothered to keep trying if it's not the abomination I'm looking for. 

 

[Curtis]

@Jamie JohnMy opinion is that the late game feels like a slog because the balance is all out-of-whack.

 

They ramped up the damage output of regular enemies a little too high. Being 2-shot by enemies you’ve seen before, with 60 Vigor is not okay.

 

I understand why a lot of players don’t like the later areas.

[Exit Chamber]

9 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Moreover, taking a break from a game that is this mechanically complicated I'd argue would make it difficult to come back to. It's not exactly a 'pick up and play' type of game

 

I'd disagree, you can easily go back to farm earlier areas or put your summon sign down to sharpen up, it's not like you are forced to go straight back to banging your head off tough areas.

 

I do agree that it's hard going towards the end though, not disputing that at all.

[Benny]

6 minutes ago, Anne Summers said:

Spoiler for end stages of Milicent's questline ...

  Reveal hidden contents

In the Brace of the Halligtree area ... According to the guide I read, I need to defeat a big enemy just before the Drainage Channel area to trigger the last stage of her questline. Is this the big horrible thing that erupts out of the crimson rot-filled cavern that's made up of two pieces of rot-covered ground joined by a tree branch bridge? Only I've tried to kill it about 5 times and it keeps one-shotting me, and I can't be bothered to keep trying if it's not the abomination I'm looking for. 

 

 

How to do it easily:

 

Spoiler

Stand on the hill behind it and just chuck fireballs. Rekt.

 

[Anne Summers]

Just now, Benny said:

 

How to kill it easily:

 

  Hide contents

Stand on the hill behind it and just chuck fireballs. Rekt.

 

Will give it a go. I was trying to snipe it with various things from the hill last night though, and it still seemed to be able to get at me. 

[Curtis]

I’m gonna be doing my usual drunken jolly coop session with randoms off Discord, but if anyone off here wants shenanigans please just message me.

 

The game scales damage output so don’t worry about me turning up into your world and destroying things at will. 😀
 

PSN only I’m afraid.