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

[Lutte]

Unless by "master" you mean "reliably beat her without getting hit", but that's an unreasonable goal and achieving it should require an unreasonable amount of time.

I was talking about how specific videos are not representative of anything. So yes, I mean those no hit videos, captain obvious.

Sure, but then who is that directed at exactly? Like who is mystified that you need to practice more than the average player in order to achieve a no hit run or even no hit encounter?

You're creating strawmen in your head and then fighting with them. Is it fun?

Dude, you are your own strawman. You just used that video as the sole counter argument to make toro sound ridiculous.
Retards abound in this thread. People who don't understand context too.

Warning, elderly lady being abused in the spoiler

Spoiler

Dat first phase

This must be fake, I just read somewhere...

The fight is absurd with low vigor, low damage and no summons.

Without learning to parry Malenia is a cartoon fight were she chases you for several minutes. Complete garbage.

Well, this aged poorly.

 

[mediocrepoet]

You're creating strawmen in your head and then fighting with them. Is it fun?

Dude, you are your own strawman. You just used that video as the sole counter argument to make toro sound ridiculous.

toro does sound ridiculous, he doesn't need me for that. As I had mentioned before, I literally finished fighting Malenia and was talking about how I enjoyed her and then was uploading a video that directly contradicted some of his claims. The fact that someone else posted an Ongbal video was just icing.

Sorry that you don't have the mental elasticity to accept that not everyone will agree with you. There's gotta be a safe space around here somewhere for you.

 

[Lutte]

You're the one who keeps latching on people for having a negative opinion on Malenia and who can't stand that people don't think like you and then you whine when people react to you. The souls fanbase in a nutshell.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Endurance 50
Strength 99

Did you find it worthwhile pushing to these points? The scaling is far different than in the prior games and non-linear with weird peaks and valleys, like on my first character, I was getting good returns on dex to at least 80 when screwing around with respecing, but I haven't really tried to go all out in any one area yet.

 

[Ivan]

ooooooooooooooooooh elden ring

any leaks/rumors about DLC? read something about a coliseum but I'm not interested in multiplayer/pvp

disappointed the performance hasn't been addressed

 

[Andnjord]

Malenia video + tips video for people who might want them.

That first phase was some lucky RNG, no Waterfowl, and she started with the one attack you can wail on her for free? You lucky bastard

 

[mediocrepoet]

Malenia video + tips video for people who might want them.

That first phase was some lucky RNG, no Waterfowl, and she started with the one attack you can wail on her for free? You lucky bastard

Waterfowl in the first phase wouldn't have been much of an issue (but fair enough), it's the second phase where it really starts to suck. I'd actually say my lucky RNG was not getting the fucking clone attack in P2. That's what I have the most trouble with, tbh. I can avoid most of it, but depending on stamina and/or what my camera decides to do, that can still make my life miserable (and short).

 

[Andnjord]

Malenia video + tips video for people who might want them.

That first phase was some lucky RNG, no Waterfowl, and she started with the one attack you can wail on her for free? You lucky bastard

Waterfowl in the first phase wouldn't have been much of an issue (but fair enough), it's the second phase where it really starts to suck. I'd actually say my lucky RNG was not getting the fucking clone attack in P2. That's what I have the most trouble with, tbh. I can avoid most of it, but depending on stamina and/or what my camera decides to do, that can still make my life miserable (and short).

Really? I've always find it easy to dodge but supremely annoying due to how long it lasts with no opportunities for counterplay and no guarantee of punish windows at the end.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Malenia video + tips video for people who might want them.

That first phase was some lucky RNG, no Waterfowl, and she started with the one attack you can wail on her for free? You lucky bastard

Waterfowl in the first phase wouldn't have been much of an issue (but fair enough), it's the second phase where it really starts to suck. I'd actually say my lucky RNG was not getting the fucking clone attack in P2. That's what I have the most trouble with, tbh. I can avoid most of it, but depending on stamina and/or what my camera decides to do, that can still make my life miserable (and short).

Really? I've always find it easy to dodge but supremely annoying due to how long it lasts with no opportunities for counterplay and no guarantee of punish windows at the end.

I've avoided the entire chain a few times, but usually the two parters screw with me or I dodge out of time or something along those lines. Also, parts of it tend to one shot me at whatever health I'm at (can't guarantee I'm at full health when being hit, I didn't review any of those clips).

As you've probably noticed, my playstyle might be best described as "spastic".

 

[Vibalist]

I think she is the apex of the game and one of the best Souls bosses.

She is the apex of bad design for a boss encounter.

The fight is trivial with summons, heavy weapons or poison/rot/bleed builds. The fight is absurd with low vigor, low damage and no summons. There is no middle ground in the fight: it's either easy or hard.

I don't think you've learned shit while fighting her. At best you learned how to avoid her attacks but whatever shit you think you've learned it's completely inconsequential to the rest of the boss fights.

Sekiro was not perfect but at least you were engaged in a duel with the bosses (most of the time). Without learning to parry Malenia is a cartoon fight were she chases you for several minutes. Complete garbage.

While I don't really agree with the general sentiment or wording here, I do think the highlighted part hits the nail on the head. The problem with Malenia - and most other bosses in ER - is that you only really learn to fight her by fighting her; meaning her specific movesets, attack delays, combos and general bullshittery. Then you move on to a new boss where you, again, have to learn a very specific moveset unique to that boss which can't really be applied to any other opponent, and so on and so on. There's no room for intuiting the fight, only for memorization, and this is what separates ER from earlier FromSoft titles.

 

[mediocrepoet]

The problem with Malenia - and most other bosses in ER - is that you only really learn to fight her by fighting her; meaning her specific movesets, attack delays, combos and general bullshittery. Then you move on to a new boss where you, again, have to learn a very specific moveset unique to that boss which can't really be applied to any other opponent, and so on and so on. There's no room for intuiting the fight, only for memorization, and this is what separates ER from earlier FromSoft titles.

I'd say that Malenia can be fought more or less reactively (but does enough damage that if you don't know what she can do, there's a good chance you'll get blown up before you know what's going on), but certainly the stupid ass delayed attack crap has had a negative effect on the game.

Other than that, I'm not sure I completely agree. For instance:

Spoiler

Astel's nebula attack is basically given two holy variations in Elden Beast. When you see it, you recognize it from before and know that the stars will detonate.

If nothing else, I'd say that for any reasonably competent player, Malenia is likely to be the only cockblock and you can get around that by using cheesy solutions whether ashes, bleeds, frost, or some combination thereof.

 

[NJClaw]

Endurance 50
Strength 99

Did you find it worthwhile pushing to these points? The scaling is far different than in the prior games and non-linear with weird peaks and valleys, like on my first character, I was getting good returns on dex to at least 80 when screwing around with respecing, but I haven't really tried to go all out in any one area yet.

It depends on what you define as worthwhile. Since FS finally invented the technology to make scaling work for values > 99, two-handing a heavy Gargoyle's Greatsword you get something like this:
- 30 -> 40 = 60 AR
- 40 -> 50 = 54 AR
- 50 -> 60 = 33 AR
- 60 -> 70 = 20 AR
- 70 -> 80 = 21 AR
- 80 -> 90 = 21 AR
- 90 -> 99 = 18 AR

Using a flame art infusion and going 50/60 with Faith gives a slightly lower AR (not counting Flame Grant me Strength, obviously), but you would probably still deal more damage against many enemies. Also, keep in mind that I'm considering the greatsword with the best STR scaling in the game, any other weapon will yield lower benefits. Overall, I'd say it's worth it if you want to play a character without spells.

As for Endurance, 50 is where you stop gaining stamina and it allows you to wear a full set of heavy armor while wielding a greatsword and the heaviest greatshield. Pushing to 60 allows you to cover yourself in the bull-goat armor, but I don't think it's really worth it in PvE.

I'd actually say my lucky RNG was not getting the fucking clone attack in P2.

That's a great combo to block, since the clones don't restore her health.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Overall, I'd say it's worth it if you want to play a character without spells.

Magic's such an odd duck in this game. The buffs tend to be / are always(?) better than the weapon art equivalents, but the attack spells tend not to be as far as I've seen. It's almost like a D&D style thing where magic mostly brings utility, but using magic for direct damage seems to be mildly retarded (in PVE).

Note that I haven't tried playing a full on caster, so this could be wrong if you go all in on it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lol, the Evergaol in Dragonbarrow, with an easy mook in an area that's rated for such an high level.

Tbh, you'll never find an evergaol that will evoke the same feeling as Crucible and the Black Knife did at this point in the game. This game doesn't have a properly designed progression route.

Usually yes, but the Evergaol in question is into Dragonbarrow. It doesn't seem it should have been hard to figure out the kind of power level people would be in by this point. Everything in this area is souped up both health and damage wise compared to Caelid, then you meet this guy who isn't any harder than the one in the cave in Liurnia lmao.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Just showing off my skills against Astel.



And I mentioned earlier that I was going to show a poise and armour comparison. It's not the best thing ever, but I think it at least shows that they aren't useless like some people have claimed for some reason (which is weird, because it's super obvious - but whatever).

 

[mediocrepoet]

It depends on what you define as worthwhile. Since FS finally invented the technology to make scaling work for values > 99, two-handing a heavy Gargoyle's Greatsword you get something like this:
- 30 -> 40 = 60 AR
- 40 -> 50 = 54 AR
- 50 -> 60 = 33 AR
- 60 -> 70 = 20 AR
- 70 -> 80 = 21 AR
- 80 -> 90 = 21 AR
- 90 -> 99 = 18 AR

Also, keep in mind that I'm considering the greatsword with the best STR scaling in the game, any other weapon will yield lower benefits. Overall, I'd say it's worth it if you want to play a character without spells.

Yeah, I appreciate that the different weapons and scaling produce different results and the damage absorption considerations. Generally, I view increases as worthwhile as long as they're still providing a 2-3 point return per point invested on average. When it dips to 0-1, I'd rather just not level or bump something else that hasn't been hit as hard by diminishing returns.

I'm impressed that there's an actual reason to boost a damage stat all the way to 99 depending on your load out. It's interesting.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Hey, baby. Do you like my throbbing purple headed scepter?

Wow, that's really forward. I'm down, but don't be so hard on yourself. You don't look that old.

 

[Elwro]

Now guys I'm playing almost completely blindly, but I'm getting a lil too old for this shit in one aspect: time I have for gaming. Thankfully I'm going through ER with my wife and it's actually a nice way to spend evenings. But I won't be able to figure out some stuff on my own surely, just because I took a wrong turn somewhere despite not knowing there even was a turn to make (which is, of course, the true Souls fashion). So I need from you guys one piece of information: In eastern Lurnia there's some 'Study Tower' which includes a pedestal on which 'something fits', something I do not have. Then there is the big chamber in which blue ghost pussies poke at you with their laughable weapons and one wizard tries to kill you with missiles. I killed them all. However, I see no way to lower the staircase near the ceiling. Tell me this: does this require putting some item on the pedestal? 'Yes' / 'no' will suffice. Thanks in advance.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Now guys I'm playing almost completely blindly, but I'm getting a lil too old for this shit in one aspect: time I have for gaming. Thankfully I'm going through ER with my wife and it's actually a nice way to spend evenings. But I won't be able to figure out some stuff on my own surely, just because I took a wrong turn somewhere despite not knowing there even was a turn to make (which is, of course, the true Souls fashion). So I need from you guys one piece of information: In eastern Lurnia there's some 'Study Tower' which includes a pedestal on which 'something fits', something I do not have. Then there is the big chamber in which blue ghost pussies poke at you with their laughable weapons and one wizard tries to kill you with missiles. I killed them all. However, I see no way to lower the staircase near the ceiling. Tell me this: does this require putting some item on the pedestal? 'Yes' / 'no' will suffice. Thanks in advance.

Yes.

Spoiler

It's related to a side quest, so don't get too hung up on it.

Spoiler

You get it at almost the end of Ranni's quest.

 

[Elwro]

Oh. Thanks.

Ranni is the person who gave me the summoning ability, right? I thought she was on my side but then she turned up during the Rennala fight and I don't know anymore ;-)

 

[Bloodeyes]

Lol, the Evergaol in Dragonbarrow, with an easy mook in an area that's rated for such an high level.

Tbh, you'll never find an evergaol that will evoke the same feeling as Crucible and the Black Knife did at this point in the game. This game doesn't have a properly designed progression route.

Usually yes, but the Evergaol in question is into Dragonbarrow. It doesn't seem it should have been hard to figure out the kind of power level people would be in by this point. Everything in this area is souped up both health and damage wise compared to Caelid, then you meet this guy who isn't any harder than the one in the cave in Liurnia lmao.

You mean the sorcerer guy? He's a joke. 4 or 5 Lion's Claw's in a row and he was dead and I didn't have a scratch on me. He wasn't even able to stand back up after the first one. You can actually do that to most evergaol enemies and bloody fingers. Almost anything humanoid and spamming Lion's Claw leaves them utterly defenseless.

Now guys I'm playing almost completely blindly, but I'm getting a lil too old for this shit in one aspect: time I have for gaming. Thankfully I'm going through ER with my wife and it's actually a nice way to spend evenings. But I won't be able to figure out some stuff on my own surely, just because I took a wrong turn somewhere despite not knowing there even was a turn to make (which is, of course, the true Souls fashion). So I need from you guys one piece of information: In eastern Lurnia there's some 'Study Tower' which includes a pedestal on which 'something fits', something I do not have. Then there is the big chamber in which blue ghost pussies poke at you with their laughable weapons and one wizard tries to kill you with missiles. I killed them all. However, I see no way to lower the staircase near the ceiling. Tell me this: does this require putting some item on the pedestal? 'Yes' / 'no' will suffice. Thanks in advance.

I've looked it up. It's a quest. The place you get it is nowhere near there. Like miles and miles away. Just forget about it and grind runes on the ghost guys a few times before you move on. The boss doesn't respawn but they do. If you lower the elevators behind you and fast travel back down you can get a couple of well deserved levels for your trouble going through that bullshit fight.

 

[NJClaw]

Oh. Thanks.

Ranni is the person who gave me the summoning ability, right? I thought she was on my side but then she turned up during the Rennala fight and I don't know anymore ;-)

That was Renna, you absolute dimwit. How could you mistake her for Ranni is beyond me. I bet you feel pretty ashamed right now, so I will leave you alone with your thoughts and shame.

Spoiler

Forget that they're the same persone, that's an entirely different matter.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Now guys I'm playing almost completely blindly, but I'm getting a lil too old for this shit in one aspect: time I have for gaming. Thankfully I'm going through ER with my wife and it's actually a nice way to spend evenings. But I won't be able to figure out some stuff on my own surely, just because I took a wrong turn somewhere despite not knowing there even was a turn to make (which is, of course, the true Souls fashion). So I need from you guys one piece of information: In eastern Lurnia there's some 'Study Tower' which includes a pedestal on which 'something fits', something I do not have. Then there is the big chamber in which blue ghost pussies poke at you with their laughable weapons and one wizard tries to kill you with missiles. I killed them all. However, I see no way to lower the staircase near the ceiling. Tell me this: does this require putting some item on the pedestal? 'Yes' / 'no' will suffice. Thanks in advance.

It's related to a side quest that unlocks a full new area. Unlike some of the other quests, this one is worth trying not to miss, even if the "final" item you get is pointless.

BTW, when i first saw Ranni i actually had my jimmies rustled because she looked so animu. I thought, fuck, they finally went there.

In reality she looks like that because she is literally a puppet doll lmao. My bad for jumping the gun.

 

[Hassar]

Now guys I'm playing almost completely blindly, but I'm getting a lil too old for this shit in one aspect: time I have for gaming. Thankfully I'm going through ER with my wife and it's actually a nice way to spend evenings. But I won't be able to figure out some stuff on my own surely, just because I took a wrong turn somewhere despite not knowing there even was a turn to make (which is, of course, the true Souls fashion). So I need from you guys one piece of information: In eastern Lurnia there's some 'Study Tower' which includes a pedestal on which 'something fits', something I do not have. Then there is the big chamber in which blue ghost pussies poke at you with their laughable weapons and one wizard tries to kill you with missiles. I killed them all. However, I see no way to lower the staircase near the ceiling. Tell me this: does this require putting some item on the pedestal? 'Yes' / 'no' will suffice. Thanks in advance.

It's related to a side quest that unlocks a full new area. Unlike some of the other quests, this one is worth trying not to miss, even if the "final" item you get is pointless.

BTW, when i first saw Ranni i actually had my jimmies rustled because she looked so animu. I thought, fuck, they finally went there.

In reality she looks like that because she is literally a puppet doll lmao. My bad for jumping the gun.

Did she ever explain why she chose a doll rather than something more durable? Seems weird to have these invulnerable items and seemingly immortal, invulnerable beings around that she could swap bodies with but she chose a fragile toy.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Watch me learn a mob's attack pattern in real time:



I'm sure those guys are just regular mobs you meet later as usual, but this fight was only hard (so to speak, this was my second try) because of the amount of damage those guys do, which i guess is what everybody is complaining about when it comes to "late" game areas (which i assume is what Dragonbarrow is).

Essentially, this is nothing but level scaling. Those guy's movesets are complete normie tier, could have been from any mob in Limegrave.

This is why i disagree with the idea all the new ways they came up to fuck up experienced players are a form of degeneracy, given that it's either that or... this (besides all they have done is make rolling as timing sensitive as parrying). Just bloat a mobs damage and health and call it "hard", which is bullshit. I'd rather have spazzy animu bullshit i can overcome with just getting gud than having to play a stat racing game where i have to bump my health because the mobs now have higher damage, which feels MMO-like.

SL1 runs are gonna get fucked here as it seems it's gonna be no hits allowed for the entirely of the late game's areas. I already get one shot sometimes with 35 vigor as it is.

Another example is the dark knight on the bridge. Same exact mob as found in Limegrave, except now it hits harder and has no more health.