Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Lovelyman]

Just now, Doctor Shark said:

What’s with this? 

Are you doing one?

[Wiper]

I mean, perhaps you two didn't need to grind, but I certainly felt like I was underlevelled (and/or badly levelled, I suppose) and had nowhere else to go but back on myself; perhaps I'm just not good enough. Either way, it's not something I ever felt in Elden Ring,* because whenever I encountered a boss that I noped out of** I just, well, went somewhere else.

 

Demon's Souls is the only one I ever had a similar "ooh, it's fine, I can just go somewhere else" option at all times, but it made up for it by just having me get endlessly lost in caverns, end up losing all my souls, and spend most of my time in incorporeal form. And then have the annoyance of being invaded if I did deign to be at full health for once. Clearly that incorporeality just stuck in my mind, as I did think it was an issue in DS1-3 as well, but clearly I'm misremembering there! To be fair, it was only Souls 1 I gave a fair shake of the leg; 2 and 3 I only gave short tries, as I'd already disliked the first two games so much.

 

Bloodborne was solid, mind. If it wasn't for the whole 'you lost to the boss? Please enjoy this trip through several hordes of deadly enemies before you can retry them', plus my general uncertainty as to whether I'm not good enough vs. my character could do with buffing, I'd have kept at it, but I just don't have the patience for those aspects. The combat was ace, though.

 

(in terms of approachability, I'd personally rank the modern From games, from easiest to hardest, as: Elden Ring >>> Bloodborne >> Sekiro >>> anything with DS as its initials)

 

*well, until right at the moment where I'm being obstructed by a large fiery dude, but then I've only tried him twice so I'm hoping there's some trick to his second form that isn't "lol you should have picked a heavy-hitting build rather than a fast one"

**e.g. the first time I met the queen of the academy and decided that, you know what, maybe I should go try Stormveil castle after all

[Captain Kelsten]

10 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

I’ve beaten every Souls game (bar Sekiro) and never once have I had to grind. You just have to know when to bank your souls into another level. 
 

…also Demon’s Souls is the only game that put you at half health in Soul form. 

Dark Souls 2 does the half health thing, too, and it’s shit there, as well. 

[Captain Kelsten]

9 minutes ago, Wiper said:

I mean, perhaps you two didn't need to grind, but I certainly felt like I was underlevelled (and/or badly levelled, I suppose) and had nowhere else to go but back on myself; perhaps I'm just not good enough. Either way, it's not something I ever felt in Elden Ring,* because whenever I encountered a boss that I noped out of** I just, well, went somewhere else.

 

Demon's Souls is the only one I ever had a similar "ooh, it's fine, I can just go somewhere else" option at all times, but it made up for it by just having me get endlessly lost in caverns, end up losing all my souls, and spend most of my time in incorporeal form. And then have the annoyance of being invaded if I did deign to be at full health for once. Clearly that incorporeality just stuck in my mind, as I did think it was an issue in DS1-3 as well, but clearly I'm misremembering there! To be fair, it was only Souls 1 I gave a fair shake of the leg; 2 and 3 I only gave short tries, as I'd already disliked the first two games so much.

 

Bloodborne was solid, mind. If it wasn't for the whole 'you lost to the boss? Please enjoy this trip through several hordes of deadly enemies before you can retry them', plus my general uncertainty as to whether I'm not good enough vs. my character could do with buffing, I'd have kept at it, but I just don't have the patience for those aspects. The combat was ace, though.

 

*well, until right at the moment where I'm being obstructed by a large fiery dude, but then I've only tried him twice so I'm hoping there's some trick to his second form that isn't "lol you should have picked a heavy-hitting build rather than a fast one"

**e.g. the first time I met the queen of the academy and decided that, you know what, maybe I should go try Stormveil castle after all

That’s all absolutely fair to be honest. These games aren’t for everyone, just like monster Hunter or…I dunno…Yakuza won’t be for everyone (and I do NOT get the love for yakuza at all and it took years and several games for me to “get” monster Hunter). 
 

I think the grinding thing is interesting, as I never felt I had to go away specifically to grind (other than in Bloodborne for bullets and healing items - another shit mechanic at first but it’s fine eventually) but I do tend to just kill everything I go past out of habit until I’m on a mission to beeline to a boss, where I’ll just ignore everything and run past it all (which you can totally do in 90% of situations, I reckon). This makes getting back to a boss when you die easier (though not necessarily “easy”). 
 

The half health thing in demons souls (and ds2) is a shit mechanic which I’m glad they abandoned for dark souls 1, 3 and Bloodborne. No idea why it was brought back for ds2. As I said, it’s manageable with rings and you do get used to it, but it’s always shit. 
 

Anyway…I say all this as someone who adored demon’s souls and dark souls 1 but then bounced off ds2, 3, Bloodborne and Sekiro for years until Elden ring reignited my love for FromSoft games and I binge-completed a lot of them (probably not Sekiro, though, I’ve got ghost of Tsushima directors cut for my samurai needs), which is also how I can confidently say the vast majority of bosses in ds1 and 2 especially (and to a lesser extent Bloodborne and ds3) aren’t hard compared to some of the ones in Elden ring and if anyone is keen to try ds1-3 or Bloodborne again after finishing Elden ring, like I was, I would absolutely recommend it as I’ve had a blast. 

[Qazimod]

I know people love the "you don't need to grind" narrative but for me it always has a bit of a "this guy on YouTube who dedicates his life to the games beat it with no armour at level one so why is everyone else such a scrub" vibe.  . I agree that in certain situations it's not your character level that's holding you back - dumping tons of points into your stats isn't going to make you better at reading startups and cooldowns for attacks, or learning an enemy's elemental affinities - but suggesting that levels are meaningless is like saying that the equipment and spells that require those levels were a waste of development hours, or that build variety and customisation is an afterthought because none of it matters.

 

It's a judgement call that the individual player has to make - take the runes earned by killing fodder enemies in a zone and equate it as a proportion of the runes needed for your next level, and ask yourself if it's worth it to respawn that fodder again and again. I'll happily admit that I rinsed the hags at Windmill Village when I needed to quickly reinforce a new weapon with the cheap materials, for instance - but only when it was worthwhile to do so.

 

38 minutes ago, Wiper said:

(in terms of approachability, I'd personally rank the modern From games, from easiest to hardest, as: Elden Ring >>> Bloodborne >> Sekiro >>> anything with DS as its initials)

 

I'd probably say ER > BB > DS2 (if you so desire you could completely depopulate zones and turn it into an entirely boss-focused experience) > DS3 > Sekiro > DS1 (the only one of the six that I shelved early on.  ) Although I'm sure there are a few optional encounters in those games that I missed. (BB excepted)

[Zael]

I found DS3 a good bit harder than Elden Ring. I don't think any ER boss came close to the difficulty of Friede, Midir, Gael or Nameless King. 

[Captain Kelsten]

4 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

I know people love the "you don't need to grind" narrative but for me it always has a bit of a "this guy on YouTube who dedicates his life to the games beat it with no armour at level one so why is everyone else such a scrub" vibe.  . I agree that in certain situations it's not your character level that's holding you back - dumping tons of points into your stats isn't going to make you better at reading startups and cooldowns for attacks, or learning an enemy's elemental affinities - but suggesting that levels are meaningless is like saying that the equipment and spells that require those levels were a waste of development hours, or that build variety and customisation is an afterthought because none of it matters.

 

It's a judgement call that the individual player has to make - take the runes earned by killing fodder enemies in a zone and equate it as a proportion of the runes needed for your next level, and ask yourself if it's worth it to respawn that fodder again and again. I'll happily admit that I rinsed the hags at Windmill Village when I needed to quickly reinforce a new weapon with the cheap materials, for instance - but only when it was worthwhile to do so.

 

 

I'd probably say ER > BB > DS2 (if you so desire you could completely depopulate zones and turn it into an entirely boss-focused experience) > DS3 > Sekiro > DS1 (the only one of the six that I shelved early on  )

Not even slightly. Once you get to a certain point, upping your stats a level only adds 1 extra health or 1 extra damage (and sometimes it’s only every second level) , and 1 extra health or 1 extra damage is never going to be the difference between success and failure. It’s mostly about finding the equipment that works for you and getting the stats for that and then going from there. I guess eventually you will get high enough level to trivialise early stuff (you can witness this when you return to early areas and can now one shot stuff basic enemies), but it’s rarely bosses that get trivialised. 

[Captain Kelsten]

2 minutes ago, Zael said:

I found DS3 a good bit harder than Elden Ring. I don't think any ER boss came close to the difficulty of Friede, Midir, Gael or Nameless King. 

Melania definitely was. I beat Friede and nameless much quicker than I beat Melania (but they all still took way more goes than any other boss). 

[Zael]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

Melania definitely was. I beat Friede and nameless much quicker than I beat Melania (but they all still took way more goes than any other boss). 

 

Did you play without the Ashes?

[Captain Kelsten]

Just now, Zael said:

 

Did you play without the Ashes?

Nope, used mimic ashes like a proper filthy casual scrub. 

[Zael]

1 minute ago, Doctor Shark said:

Nope, used mimic ashes like a proper filthy casual scrub. 

 

Oh right ok. I think I just might have had the perfect build or something for Melania because she took 4 goes and I'm not good at these games. Radahn took me like an hour. Whereas those DS3 bosses all took me 30+ tries I'd say.

[Captain Kelsten]

3 minutes ago, Zael said:

 

Oh right ok. I think I just might have had the perfect build or something for Melania because she took 4 goes and I'm not good at these games. Radahn took me like an hour. Whereas those DS3 bosses all took me 30+ tries I'd say.

There were definitely builds that trivialised Melania (heavy bleed, hoarfrost before the nerf), but as a full strength 2 hander man I struggled (but loved the fight regardless). I probably spent more goes in Melania and Elden beast than every other boss combined. 

[dug]

On 19/04/2022 at 12:18, dug said:

 

Not true. You can still get there from the 

  Reveal hidden contents

Ashen capital

 

 

@Girth Certificate Apologies! You were right, you cannot get to the divine bridge from the 

Spoiler

Ashen Capital.

 

I could have sworn I'd done it in my first playthrough, but clearly not. I checked it last night, and the route I thought I took was indeed blocked off.

 

Boy, is my face red today.

[Lovelyman]

Sanguine dickhead

[Hanzo the Razor]

2 hours ago, Doctor Shark said:

Dark Souls 2 does the half health thing, too, and it’s shit there, as well. 

 

No it isn't. Ring of Binding, chap.

[Captain Kelsten]

Just now, Hanzo the Razor said:

 

No it isn't. Ring of Binding, chap.

I know, I mentioned there are rings you can use. It’s still shit, though

[Hanzo the Razor]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

I know, I mentioned there are rings you can use. It’s still shit, though

 

😆

[Wiper]

Attempt the fifth at large fire fella: 

 

Spoiler

 

Get in.

 

It turns out the solution was: have a little rebirth as a treat. Figured I'd a) pump up my Mind a little so I could use Black Knife Tiche (who didn't survive the first stage, but it felt like moral support at least so I'll take it), and b) take to heart ignore the build advice on here and increase decrease my vigor in favour of boosting my occult whips further and giving myself enough endurance to wear Proper Armour. My stats immediately prior to consuming his level ups: 

 

Spoiler

 

(the random extra 2k runes were from doing one final act of clean-up in volcano manor as a warm-up for the battle. Can't quite believe how little I got for that piece of work, but it felt like it needed doing)

[Ste Pickford]

I beat a boss tonight and got 'Legend Felled' instead of 'Great Enemy Felled'.  I presume this is related to the type of enemy it is, lore related, etc.  Does anyone have a quick explanation of what a Legend is, in this context?  I tried googling but couldn't find anything.

[Hawklord]

2 hours ago, Ste Pickford said:

I beat a boss tonight and got 'Legend Felled' instead of 'Great Enemy Felled'.  I presume this is related to the type of enemy it is, lore related, etc.  Does anyone have a quick explanation of what a Legend is, in this context?  I tried googling but couldn't find anything.

You have Field Bosses that you'll find in the open

 

Greater Enemies which are next step up. Some are mandatory, the others guard gear/items

 

Legends are the Main Bosses of the game and will give you a Remembrance, some will also give a you Great Rune. These are main story and side quest bosses and not all are mandatory

 

See here for more info, be very wary of spoilers though

 

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Bosses

[PikaStu]

9 hours ago, Wiper said:

Attempt the fifth at large fire fella: 

 

  Hide contents

 

Get in.

 

It turns out the solution was: have a little rebirth as a treat. Figured I'd a) pump up my Mind a little so I could use Black Knife Tiche (who didn't survive the first stage, but it felt like moral support at least so I'll take it), and b) take to heart ignore the build advice on here and increase decrease my vigor in favour of boosting my occult whips further and giving myself enough endurance to wear Proper Armour. My stats immediately prior to consuming his level ups: 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Nice! I’ve taken him on a couple of times, only made it to his second stage once.

My mimic gets in close while I zoom in and out on my horse. I need a change in tactic though…

[Ste Pickford]

7 hours ago, Hawklord said:

You have Field Bosses that you'll find in the open

 

Greater Enemies which are next step up. Some are mandatory, the others guard gear/items

 

Legends are the Main Bosses of the game and will give you a Remembrance, some will also give a you Great Rune. These are main story and side quest bosses and not all are mandatory

 

See here for more info, be very wary of spoilers though

 

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Bosses

 

Aha, cheers, thanks. So it would have said Legend Felled when I beat Godrick, Rennala, etc?  I must have been too excited to beat them that I didn't notice!  Beating the Regal Ancestral Spirit was the first time I noticed it, so I thought it was maybe a special class of boss.

[PeteJ]

Level 90, finally killed Putrid Avatar in Caelid. 

 

I feel like this should have been an easy fight at my level but I managed to make a right hash of it, must have taken 20 attempts. Of course, the time I made it I barely got scratched. 

 

I'm totally screwed when I start exploring Altus and beyond, aren't I? I may have hit my skill limit!

 

I've been mopping up bosses before I move on. Last one (that I know of) is Alecto, who just seems like the worst. Very nearly did it last night on my first go (having already tried it 10 or so times on previous nights) but managed to jump off the cliff to my death like a plonker. Subsequent attempts were disasters in other ways. 

[Wiper]

3 hours ago, PikaStu said:

Nice! I’ve taken him on a couple of times, only made it to his second stage once.

My mimic gets in close while I zoom in and out on my horse. I need a change in tactic though…

 

Obviously I'm far from expert, and your weapon selection will dictate a lot, but I'd strongly recommend ditching Torrent once you've reached him; most of his attacks cover too wide of an area to reliably evade them on horseback, so you need the invulnerability frames of dodging to safely avoid them, while giving you the chance to attack him thereafter.

 

The trick for me was learning to not be greedy — a jump attack and maybe a follow-up after each dodge, then waiting for his next attack, made sure I had sufficient reaction time and stamina to evade whatever followed (and/or to run at one of his fire orbs and trigger its explosion then dodge away — though I fear that behaviour is what finished off my poor old summon, who wasn't bright enough to get out of the flames...). It definitely helped that I was using long-ish ranged whips, though, rather than my previous twin blades — the extra distance made it easier to see what's going on while attacking/quickly get in range of his foot after he moved.

[cassidy]

Just beat the EB after 9 days of trying. 

 

Just finished my first From Game.  I'm so fucking chuffed. 

 

What a game and what an experience. 

[DeciderVT]

Can't get past Commander Niall at the moment. His Banished Knight summons are bad enough but he just makes mincemeat of my summon and I when they've been dispatched. I've used all of those little branches to turn them against him as well but he kills them more or less instantly. Think I'm going to have to put this down for a couple of days and enjoy the rest of my holiday from work instead.

[Wiper]

Unless you're cleaning up, I'd recommend just skipping him — it's what I did! I might return to him later, but he was far worse than the fire giant for me, and he's not essential for progression — he left a sour taste in my mouth too after a good ten failures in a row, but I felt a lot better after I wandered off in a different direction and fought my way through more reasonable enemies.

[Parappa]

36 minutes ago, PeteJ said:

I'm totally screwed when I start exploring Altus and beyond, aren't I? I may have hit my skill limit!

I am not sure.. I have eventually found Altus and it seems to start off pretty easy and then I used my invite to

Spoiler

Volcano Manor

and sod that.  Those stretchy worms are a right pain in the ass and there are loads of other enemies around that I seem under skilled for.  

 

I am about L70 I think with about 80 hours on the clock but I am not really sure where to go next.  I finished Rennala last but attempted to go somewhere top left of the map and got owned. I have explored pretty much everywhere except Cailed so perhaps time to head back there.  

[Minion]

Re: Alecto - use bloodhound step to avoid her* (I think it's a her) bullshit.

 

man I missed a whole hero's grave in my last playthrough at Giant's mountaintop, crazy!

[Exidor]

1 hour ago, DeciderVT said:

Can't get past Commander Niall at the moment. His Banished Knight summons are bad enough but he just makes mincemeat of my summon and I when they've been dispatched. I've used all of those little branches to turn them against him as well but he kills them more or less instantly. Think I'm going to have to put this down for a couple of days and enjoy the rest of my holiday from work instead.

 

I was having a proper miserable time with him last night. He's an absolute bastard for magic users. Sometimes I'd get him down to 25% health before getting unlucky with one of his bullshit lightning stomps or something. Other times I'd run in and get ganked right away by one of the knights in three swipes. Went to bed convinced that I was burning out on the game and needed a break.

 

So obviously I switched it on for a quick half hour before work this morning and got him first (third) time. The key was probably swapping my mimic for Tiche. Her bleed stuff did a lot of the heavy lifting and then there was a very tense dance at the end after she died and I had to whittle down the last third of his health with my pew pew pebbles.