From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[toro]

Maybe unpopular opinion, but I think the hardest Fromsoft bosses are in Sekiro. No summons, no main weapons besides a katana, everything is a duel.

Saint Ishin is the height of Fromsoft boss design, not only in "fair difficulty" but because he perfectly encapsulates everything you've learned throughout the game.

I agree except that (1) you had weapon arts in Sekiro and (2) Saint Ishin is far away from "fair difficulty".

But I get your point: the boss fights in Elden Ring would be better without summons ... but then they designed some boss combos exactly for summons. I don't know.

 

[toro]

Bros who have beaten the game already, does the game shunt you on to NG+ automatically or can you choose to remain in NG like in Dark Souls 2/3?

You can remain in the NG.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I played offline all night with 0 crashes. It's the server stuff. Funny the people playing in Japan have no issues.

 

[Cromwell]

the boss fights in Elden Ring would be better

If I could Use Dante as unlockable character.

 

[toro]

The idea that one would feel ashamed of using these things in the first place is bizarre to me. Miyazaki himself has stated that difficulty is not the point of these games, the "Prepare to Die" motto was a marketing ploy by Bandai. I don't see why making it more difficult for yourself is considered the "correct" way to play by a very large portion of the players. You rarely hear of people intentionally gimping themselves in Wizardry, Gothic or any other difficult RPGs.

Honestly for DS1 and DS2 I felt like most enemy is designed for you to fight in melee. Most of them do not responds well to player abusing ranged combat + magic. Playing both games all melee "feels right". Enemy has clear break and window you are supposed to use against them.

ER tho is just annoying that you have to cheese dodge roll + get few small attacks if you are fully using melee. It's culmination of FormSoft melee combat philosophy taken to the very extreme.

Thanks. I had the same feeling but I'm too retarded to put it so concise.

I think this is my biggest problem with the new souls games since DaS3: the mobs/bosses are designed to fuck you up at close range ... and there is nothing fair about it.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[toro]

The mimic is already a meme at this point and probably the real Elden Lord in the end

 

[Shrimp]

This game is categorically too fucking big. I love Souls gameplay and exploration of spaces and locations made by their art team so much that I'm still onboard and enjoying it all, but I'm at 77 hours.

I've barely set foot beyond the grand lift and on the plateau (opened the route through the tunnel first). Haven't even seen anything beyond those areas.

I suspect someone who is less fond of From's games in general will be starting to get really fatigued by now and would just plough through to the end, only to be cockblocked by the brutal later bosses and just throw the game away.

Exact same thing happened to me. When the game told me to take the lift to proceed further into the game I decided that I wanted to finish up the three regions (Limgrave, Liurnia and Caelid) that I already had uncovered at that point. I ended up spending days just running around the old zones, tying up loose ends all while finding new stuff to do, new dungeons, evergaols etc.
By the time I thought I was finished I had found three different ways to access Altus but I felt almost exhausted knowing that there was an entire new region that I hadn't even set my foot in. Fortunately I did like exploring the region, so I ended up not burning out from the game, but I can easily see a lot of people suffering from mid game burnout once they reach this part.

The game really is huge and if you're someone like me who likes to attempt to leave no stone unturned then I think it definitely can reach the point where it feels too bloated. On the other hand the optional side content feels like the heart and soul of this game, so if you only rush through the mandatory parts I think you will end up with a less satisfying experience. It's tough to find a perfect balance between the two.

 

[Shrimp]

I played offline all night with 0 crashes. It's the server stuff. Funny the people playing in Japan have no issues.

The PC version is just a mess for some people. I'm playing online (although the only online component I interact with is bloodstains and messages) and I have yet to crash in close 100 hours of gameplay.
I run mostly stable 60 FPS on a 1060 6GB while people with monster rigs allegedly frequently encounter severe stuttering.
Unfortunately the roots of PC performance issues can at times be hard to pin down since you don't always if they are caused by inadequate hardware, lack of drivers, odd settings or if it's just people over exaggerating the issues they encounter. Some people are satisfied with a game running stable 30 FPS while others at least want 60 while other people will soil themselves and deem the game unplayable if it drops below 120.

 

[Tyrr]

Don't try to do everything during your first run. Don't burn yourself out by being autistic.
The game has no map with question marks all over the place like Witcher 3 or other open world games. There is no pressure to 'clear' the map.

 

[Multidirectional]

For fuck's sake, just because i was complaining about shields, the LB button on my controller is giving out. Thanks, Microsoft.

Yeah these fucking bumper buttons on Xbox controllers die way too fast when playing From games. I had RB die on one controller, then LB on another after playing through Sekiro few times. Then I got a cheaper Xbox pad alternative for 25 euro and got stick drifting within a month. At least that I can fix by increasing deadzone with "Durazno" plugin so I'm still using that pad.

 

[Curratum]

Don't try to do everything during your first run. Don't burn yourself out by being autistic.
The game has no map with question marks all over the place like Witcher 3 or other open world games. There is no pressure to 'clear' the map.

It's muscle memory from playing other Souls games. I know if there's a butt-end of an area, it will have a cool item in it and I have to go get it, can't help it.

 

[Tyrr]

Don't try to do everything during your first run. Don't burn yourself out by being autistic.
The game has no map with question marks all over the place like Witcher 3 or other open world games. There is no pressure to 'clear' the map.

It's muscle memory from playing other Souls games. I know if there's a butt-end of an area, it will have a cool item in it and I have to go get it, can't help it.

Everything is fine as long your are having fun.

 

[Funposter]

Finally broke down and used the fully upgraded Mimic Tear. Beat Mohg first try, beat Malenia second try. Have now moved onto finishing the main story and I am genuinely shocked at the perverse new level of degenerate boss design FromSoft have achieved with Malekith. I am so sick of giant enemies that jump around arenas and fly around the screen while taking up your entire view of the camera.

 

[Shrimp]

Don't try to do everything during your first run. Don't burn yourself out by being autistic.
The game has no map with question marks all over the place like Witcher 3 or other open world games. There is no pressure to 'clear' the map.

This is where I feel a bit conflicted. The game has so much optional side stuff that if you deliberately don't explore everything during your 'first run' you could easily have a vastly different experience in the event that you ever do another playthrough and decide to take a different route or head into new areas.
Unfortunately this won't work very well when some almost essential items like the bells that let you buy upgrade materials are located at the end of random dungeons. Imagine if you never found those - you'd be stuck using nothing but the first weapons you picked up since you'd never find enough materials to upgrade any secondary weapons you might find somewhere down the line.
Furthermore, if you've done one playthrough you should already know how much random bullshit the game can throw at you at times. Simply knowing some of the encounters the game makes you go through is enough to deter me from wanting to bother starting over from scratch.

 

[Funposter]

I'm exploring everything because the game is too fucking long and I don't plan on playing it ever again.

 

[Shrimp]

I'm exploring everything because the game is too fucking long and I don't plan on playing it ever again.

Same here honestly.
In all three Souls games the first thing I did after finishing them was to immediately continue into NG+ or make a new character so I could start over.
This time I can't see myself playing it again for a while. I expect the game to get some DLC in 6-12 months so I'll probably see how I feel about the game at that point.

 

[Silva]

So where are my bandit/dex-arcane-bleeder-posioner bros? Anybody maining such a build? Any good weapon that scales off arcane?

Also, having high arcane really changes much here?

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Gotta love Mr. Lock-on, what a helpfull guy.
"Ah I see you are trying to lock onto to that behemoth in front of you, but did you realize there is also a friendly looking sheep grazing all the way back there? Yeah, missed that one didin't ya!"
Thanks man, cool.

 

[Shrimp]

So where are my bandit/dex-arcane-bleeder-posioner bros? Anybody maining such a build? Any good weapon that scales off arcane?

Also, having high arcane really changes much here?

I've seen multiple people say that weapons scaling with Arcane are bugged and don't actually scale. No idea if that's true though.
Early in the game when I picked up the Poison Armament incantation I used it on my sword which already had innate bleed build-up. I have no clue how much damage the poison actually dealt throughout an entire boss fight, but I liked the idea of spamming the boss with status effects.

 

[Tacgnol]

Gotta love Mr. Lock-on, what a helpfull guy.
"Ah I see you are trying to lock onto to that behemoth in front of you, but did you realize there is also a friendly looking sheep grazing all the way back there? Yeah, missed that one didin't ya!"
Thanks man, cool.

The lock on is a massive liability when trying to do gargantuan bosses with multiple hit zones as well. Dragons are a good example, instead of locking onto the nearest limb within striking distance it'll lock onto the head.

 

[Kjaska]

that's an amazing choice of thumbnail

 

[Kjaska]

The funny thing is that axe NPC you can summon there was way more durable then my char

You got an NPC summon there? I thought I would get one after having one at Margit, but no bueno. Maybe they don't show up, if you're past a certain level threshold for the area.

 

[Tyrr]

that's an amazing choice of thumbnail

When your character design is so bad, even people like Bellular start meming about it.

 

[Lutte]