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

[Curratum]

Honestly, fuck this place. I've had more fun dying in lava in Lost Izalith first time round. And I have the cookbooks for EVERY other type of bolus except the ones that cure rot.

Spoiler

 

[Shrimp]

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.

You need to use a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see summoning signs including NPC ones, sort of like how you need to use a humanity or kill a boss to enter a human state where you can see signs in the other games.

 

[Lutte]

Honestly, fuck this place. I've had more fun dying in lava in Lost Izalith first time round. And I have the cookbooks for EVERY other type of bolus except the ones that cure rot.

Spoiler

The cure rot is absolutely useless there anyway, and rot resistance only slightly delay the inevitable (it's the strongest status effect of the game). I had multiple ailment resistances, and I had plenty of boluses, it's not worth it.

You're really meant to do death runs on this map, while activating platforms that will allow you to go from one solid piece of ground to another without being rot infected so that you can fight the boss in the area.
Personally I completely ignored everything in this place and just beelined to the next area while drinking flasks like it's orange juice and only came back late game when I could just wack the area boss to death with weapon arts.

 

[Shrimp]

I spammed the incantation that cures rot, worked quite well for me.

 

[perfectslumbers]

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

Arcane dex is great with bleed katanas. Unfortunately arcane scaling is completely broken on any weapon that does mixed damage so I'd avoid it for now. Dragon incantations are cool but they're a lot of investment into weird stats that don't combine well with any weapons, at least, not until arcane scaling is fixed. There's a seal that scales with arcane which means you can scale any incantation off of arcane, but you still need a lot of faith to hit incantation requirements so it's weird.

There's also just very few arcane ashes of war and very few arcane weapons in general so it's a build that probably requires a lot of metagaming.

 

[Lutte]

Tbh, bleed feels good enough even without any stat investment. Rivers of blood was working so well with its bleed weapon art I thought it scaled when it didn't.
I proc a decent amount of bleed with my normal INT setup with Moonveil+Uchigatana power stance too, and there's a few ashes of war arts that can boost that much further if you're into it (like Seppuku).

I have a very, very strong feeling that if they fix arcane mixed scaling this will go from "just for metagaming" to "most overpowered build in souls history"

 

[Curratum]

Just a quick brain-fart: there seems to be a free 80,000 runes accessible in Caelid right off the start in the game, which may be a great boon for speedrunners.

 

[Kruno]

Just a quick brain-fart: there seems to be a free 80,000 runes accessible in Caelid right off the start in the game, which may be a great boon for speedrunners.

You can also kill Mohg very quickly with this:

500,000 runes

 

[Curratum]

How do I even progress Ranni's quest at this point? Guides all say things that aren't happening in my game.

Spoiler

I got her doll, killed the Blaidd shadow that she wanted me to kill and now I don't know what to do.
Later I found Blaidd in the evergaol, freed him, spoke to the giant blacksmith about it and there's still no way to progress things, it seems...

 

[perfectslumbers]

How do I even progress Ranni's quest at this point? Guides all say things that aren't happening in my game.

Spoiler

Open the chest beside Rennala in the Raya Lucaria Library, you have the key if you killed the baleful shadow. After that go through the lake of rot to grand cloister, and lay in a coffin at the edge overlooking a cliff. Doing that will take you to a boss to continue the quest line.

 

[Haplo]

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.

I think you need to meet her and speak to her first. She's actually very near Godfrick, exit the boss bonfire grace to the left, beat the troll and his lackeys and you'll find a room on the left with the NPC.

You don't need to use any finger-thingmajins for her. I have certainly never used anything like that. But you may need to activate those weird white "Y" shaped branches for the area.

 

[Silva]

After watching a YT vid explaining all the lore and endings, I came to find it pretty interesting. And seeing the early trailers again that show some blacksmith dude breaking the ring..

Spoiler

..it's possible to notice it'd actually Marika/Radagon doing it. The person back and hair changes subtly, sometimes red (Radagon) sometimes blond (Marika).

But why did they fuse again?

Spoiler

If you finished the game it's told in plain text in queen marika's weapon (which you can read the description from or get it through the elden beast remembrance), the hammer. She broke the ring, and Radagon, her other aspect, tried to repair it.
It's unclear when exactly they fused back into a single being, just as it's unclear as to when they split (there's a decent amount of background info about Marika's origins, so I'd guess she was the original personality and form, while Radagon just suddenly appeared one day as a hero and nobody knows anything about his distant past, that makes me think he's something that was split from her, like a reverse adam/eve where eve was split from adam) but since Marika was punished by the great will to become a mindless puppet it isn't rocket science to guess the great will had something to do with it.
Another thing that points to this direction is that the first way to get to know about the truth behind Radagon is a developer message in front of Radagon's statue encouraging you to use Law of Regression. When you do, the statue of Radagon turns into Marika. I don't think it's a coincidence that it's a spell called Regression that turns the statue back into Marika, Marika is the original one.

Rennala's arc in Raya Lucaria implies Radagon showed up as a young hero before the Shattering occurred. Could this mean Marika was already a tranny by this time?

 

[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.

You need to use a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see summoning signs including NPC ones, sort of like how you need to use a humanity or kill a boss to enter a human state where you can see signs in the other games.

The one in front of Margit was permanent and I didn't have to use FFR to see it. When I use it now, all I see are actual people summons, no NPCs.

 

[Black Angel]

Not sure if I should tag RPG Codex's resident Foot Coomer or not

 

[Kjaska]

I think you need to meet her and speak to her first. She's actually very near Godfrick, exit the boss bonfire grace to the left, beat the troll and his lackeys and you'll find a room on the left with the NPC.

You don't need to use any finger-thingmajins for her. But you may need to activate those weird white "Y" shaped branches for the area.

I know the area you are talking about. Unfortunately I only discovered that area after I killed Godric (I am now a proud summoning cuck and average guide enjoyer) and wondered why all the player notes referred to a friendly NPC but there was none inside.

I have been activating the Y shaped branches every time I see one, but have only ever seen one other NPC summon sign in front of the dual monkey/rat boss arena. The one in the cave, where you get the sewing kit.

 

[Curratum]

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.

You need to use a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see summoning signs including NPC ones, sort of like how you need to use a humanity or kill a boss to enter a human state where you can see signs in the other games.

I was able to see Npc signs without the remedy.

 

[Lutte]

Rennala's arc in Raya Lucaria implies Radagon showed up as a young hero before the Shattering occurred. Could this mean Marika was already a tranny by this time?

Yes. But that's exactly how much we know about Radagon: "a young hero showed up",

Spoiler

he has no real past because he's a split.

Not very important, but I found something I didn't expect, since I'm pretty much done with this run and already killed the end bosses and completed the quests I wanted, I felt like seeing if there's any npc left to kill and if they drop something interesting.

I killed Gowry, and

Spoiler

it turns out he's one of those seafood walking things that spam hundreds arrows using an illusion to look like a normal human being. I always thought these things were just random monsters, it seems they were humans who belong to the cult of Rot and became abominations following their faith. He also respawns if you return to his body and isn't hostile, if you kill him once more he tells you (I don't recall the sentence verbatim) something akin like he'll make you understand someday, a very dedicated preacher to his outer god.

 

[Sunri]

Honestly, fuck this place. I've had more fun dying in lava in Lost Izalith first time round. And I have the cookbooks for EVERY other type of bolus except the ones that cure rot.

Spoiler

The cure rot is absolutely useless there anyway, and rot resistance only slightly delay the inevitable (it's the strongest status effect of the game). I had multiple ailment resistances, and I had plenty of boluses, it's not worth it.

You're really meant to do death runs on this map, while activating platforms that will allow you to go from one solid piece of ground to another without being rot infected so that you can fight the boss in the area.
Personally I completely ignored everything in this place and just beelined to the next area while drinking flasks like it's orange juice and only came back late game when I could just wack the area boss to death with weapon arts.

Flame cleanse me!

 

[Brickfrog]

Honestly, fuck this place. I've had more fun dying in lava in Lost Izalith first time round. And I have the cookbooks for EVERY other type of bolus except the ones that cure rot.

Spoiler

The cure rot is absolutely useless there anyway, and rot resistance only slightly delay the inevitable (it's the strongest status effect of the game). I had multiple ailment resistances, and I had plenty of boluses, it's not worth it.

You're really meant to do death runs on this map, while activating platforms that will allow you to go from one solid piece of ground to another without being rot infected so that you can fight the boss in the area.
Personally I completely ignored everything in this place and just beelined to the next area while drinking flasks like it's orange juice and only came back late game when I could just wack the area boss to death with weapon arts.

Flame cleanse me!

Yeah, I don't remember how much faith you need to cast it but there's an incantation that cures rot and trivializes the area.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Killed Rennala, she's definitely the easiest of the big-name bosses I've seen so far. Thought her summoned dragon ended-up stomping my guy to death a millisecond after she croaked, and my runes are forever lost in her astral demiplane, FUCK.

I think this game follows the philosophy BOTW had where you aren't formally intended to mow the map for every little goddamn thing. But I think the openness of it all works both to give starry-eyed first timers an fulfilling explorative experience and to give returning veterans the freedom to go to all the exact spots needed for kit out their munchkin. I know that's what I'll be doing later.

Going east to the land of red now. At soul-level 51 currently, I think I want to be around 60 before I try fighting the Starscourge. Not looking forward to it.

 

[Curratum]

Any idea where Radahn's castle steward goes once he leaves castle Redmane?

 

[deem]

Hidetaka Miyazaki Sees Death as a Feature, Not a Bug

“We are always looking to improve, but, in our games specifically, hardship is what gives meaning to the experience. So it’s not something we’re willing to abandon at the moment. It’s our identity.”

 

[Tacgnol]

Going east to the land of red now. At soul-level 51 currently, I think I want to be around 60 before I try fighting the Starscourge. Not looking forward to it.

I'd probably leave Starscourge closer to 80 personally. Even if you go with the "safe" strategy of just running around resummoning the dead NPCs, you will still occasionally take massive amounts of damage if you aren't super super careful.

 

[Lutte]

I think this game follows the philosophy BOTW had where you aren't formally intended to mow the map for every little goddamn thing.

The problem with that train of thought is that it's still designed like as souls game at the core, but now with the thin spread of open world behind. I can't say I've solved every single npc quests of a souls on a single run, but for the most part, most "quests" followups are something you could reasonably stumble upon throughout one journey in a dark souls, while in this.. I've finished the game and am reading spoilers on NPCs atm and the amount I've missed on is gargantuan all in a game that took me three, possibly four times the amount of time to finish compared to a typical souls.

The same goes for upgrade resources, unique items etc.

And there is no way I'm straight up going to replay this hugely fat mess so soon to see said content for myself.

 

[Shrimp]

Finally completed the game. Did all major side bosses etc. though I wouldn't be surprised if I had missed some dungeons and other open world encounters. I ended up at around 100 hours of playtime which I'm fairly is more than twice the amount of time I spent completing each of the three Souls games on my first playthrough. I don't want to argue that 1 hour equals 1 content, but I definitely think that should give you an impression of just how big the game is.
In fact I think it might even be a tad too big for its own good. In each of the three Souls games the first thing I did once I had finished my first playthrough was to immediately continue into NG+ or make another character so that I could do it all again. I don't think I'll be doing the same with this game though. I feel like I've had my fill until the inevitable DLC which will probably get announced or released in half a year. It might just be a case of my personal preferences and tastes, but this game doesn't strike me as replayable as the others. I fear that if I were to play it again I'd just do it with a wiki open 24/7 to check whether or not the nearby dungeons or ruins are worth for me to check out. It often feels like the game expects you to play some sort of hybrid melee+caster build and with the first half of the game being rather stingy with upgrade materials and runes I fear there wouldn't be too much variety in playstyle in any subsequent playthroughs I might do.

If you're someone like me who loves trying to leave no stone unturned the game has a lot of exploration type content for you to experience. I genuinely liked uncovering random points of interest in remote parts of the map, and the game did give me a good feeling of adventuring into vastly different lands. Feels more like a DS2 style globetrotting adventure rather than the confined feeling of remaining within a small area of the world like in DS1 and DS3.
Something I did not like, however, was how the combat ended up playing out. I didn't like DS3's Bloodborne influenced combat and somehow Elden Ring feels like it took an even greater step back. The frenzied 10 hit combos with insane tracking and mid-air 180 degree turns makes it feel like the enemies are playing Sekiro while you are still playing Demon's Souls or Dark Souls 1. The constantly delayed attacks and feints meant to catch you off-guard feel like a very cheap and metagame-y way of punishing you for not rigorously memorising every attack pattern rather than playing by intuition. Encounters only get worse as the game progresses and far with many of them feeling like they're deliberately made just to overwhelm and kill you rather than serving as an obstacle to overcome. Whereas finishing many of the Souls games' bosses would leave me thinking "Holy shit, what a fight" a far too big amount of Elden Ring bosses left me thinking "Holy shit, I'm glad it's over" instead

Something in the game that struck me as odd was how the game freely allowed you to change ashes of war and weapon infusions. It seems like an insane quality of life change that allows for a ton of experimentation and customisation, but then the game's upgrade system throws a lot of that completely out of the window. Upgrade materials are incredibly scarce to come by and once you unlock the ability to buy them (assuming you even find the item that lets you buy the upgrade materials you need) they are also incredibly expensive - especially during the early/mid game. A lot of the Titanite Slab equivalents are also simply area locked behind the two final areas in the game instead of being strewn all over the game world where an experienced player could find them on subsequent playthroughs. I ended up using the same weapon for 90-95% of the game since it just was too good in comparison to the others ones I had acquired due to the fact that I couldn't even upgrade those.

Overall I do think it's a solid game. I went in with the expectation that it'd be Dark Souls except in an open world setting and I suppose the game did deliver on that front. If you already like the similar games in From Software's catalog it's definitely worth checking out.
I think the game has some issues that affect replayability, but if you're only planning on playing it once then those shouldn't matter too much. Play the game for the sake of experiencing it, because we'll probably be hearing about this game for quite some time in the years ahead.