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

[unseeingeye]

Oh ok, I forgot about that one. I only ever used the Gargoyle's Blackblade and stopped upgrading the other one around +12 because I couldn't stand the appearance of it.

 

[Mauman]

So I just wandered through the capital and pulverized everything in my path. In grinding to achieve a two stat build then respeccing to a one stat build I've ended up quite OP. I hope the late game is as tough as people say because at level 144 I kind of need it to be.

It does. As a faith build I never found it to be unfair though. Other builds might have more difficulty. Even stuff that was, on the surface, bullshit (ordina) I found I had the tools to make way easier.

BTW i gave the book i found to the Goldmask dude and he is STILL telling me it's the work of heresy. Is there ANY book he doesn't say that for lmao. Still waiting for that to have any kind of effect though.

it's a generic line, there are no non-heretical books in the game.

He has a unique line for the Erdtree book (basically it's just "ok, cool"). What doesn't make sense is that he uses the heretical line for the two-finger book. That took me by surprise.

 

[Elwro]

So I let a girl hold my hand and she teleported me to some Gore Manor, I barely managed to escape. Thank you, dear game, for the plethora of important life lessons you seem to teach us

 

[unseeingeye]

What doesn't make sense is that he uses the heretical line for the two-finger book. That took me by surprise.

It surprised me, too. I assume there is a lore reason I'm just not familiar with everything yet to grasp; clearly there is significance in the connections to be found between the divinatory functions of the Two Fingers which act as interpreters of the Greater Will and the manner by which Corhyn interprets what he believes to be the same phenomenon occurring in Gold Mask by reading the twitching of his fingers as he stands otherwise motionless, the way the Two Fingers at the simulacrum Round Table Hold become absolutely still when seeking communion. Even though I played as a Prophet and focused on Faith and incantations, I don't feel like I have a strong enough grasp on that actual religion yet and am replaying with a greater focus on these kinds of details to try and develop a better understanding.

 

[Lyric Suite]

WTF the Omen guys in the Shunning Grounds.

 

[unseeingeye]

WTF the Omen guys in the Shunning Grounds.

That whole area was awesome. I remember coming out of a sewer pipe into a room where four Omens jumped up on me, and one chased me up the ladder, lol. Also you can see how the Omens above ground have the horns growing across their bodies cut off, but the ones underground do not, which according to the description for the Omen Bairn implies they are born of royalty, cursed similarly I suppose to how Morgott and Mohg are.

 

[Bloodeyes]

So far, despite all my hype a few pages back about the Nights Calvary armor and Royal Knight Greaves &c I ended up going with a loadout that I've enjoyed throughout most of the weekend: I wear the Fell Omen Cloak, the one you get from beating Morgott, the Gold Bracelets from Goldmask set, and the Lionel Greaves because the cloak is one of the few good looking armors that doesn't shrink down Lionel's gear to fit with. I also wear the Aristocrat Headband, or the Commoner's Headband (Altered) or nothing, because I like the look of my characters hair and the way the cloak has the collar and hood pulled up high which gets lowered with most helms. For weapons I've mainly used Godskin Stitcher +25 power stance with Great Epee +25, one with Bloodhound Step and the other with Giant Hunt, and for quick-slot backups a Clawmark Seal or Frenzied Flame Seal and a Icon Shield +10 in the offhand, with either an Albinauric Bow or fully upgraded Arbalest on the main hand. Sometimes I switch up to power stance with the Hand of Malenia and the Nagakiba in the offhand, but I find that I don't actually enjoy the katana move sets as much, or I'll use Godfrey's Axe or Giant Crusher for fun.

If we're talking fashion, I've switched to wearing confessor robes and hood with the Lionel greaves and gauntlets. Not the most practical choice but it looks cool and I'm over-levelled enough to survive getting hit like this. I just looked up the night's cavalry armor and I'm definitely wearing that when I get ahold of it, probably with a confessor hood instead of the helm. My character's name is Mustache Man so having the mustache visible is kind of crucial for my enjoyment of him as a character. It's a roleplaying thing. He has a backstory.

I'm loving being in all black and the lighter gear let me remove my arsenal charm +1. Now I'm using Crepus' Vial and sprinting up behind enemies and stabbing them with giant hunt. Much faster than a sneak attack. The vial doesn't just silence my footsteps, it seems to silence my kills too. It's very fun and effective, and goes well with the look I've got going.

A few minutes in my grind spot got me enough runes to get all my gear to +18 so I'm happy with my loadout. Mustache Man has collected a few tools over the course of his adventure: His primary weapon and shield, his secondary weapon (A morningstar with Sacred Blade enchant to one-shot undead and as a powerful ranged option), a torch that does holy damage and scales with FTH, a regular torch with the no-skill ash put on it and a light crossbow with a selection of bolts. One thing I really want to add is that staff that scales off FTH. If I can find that I may be tempted to try some sorceries next time, though I'd still need the INT to cast them. Still, a few points in there would be very handy, especially as there are those incantations that need INT. I have 11 INT just for the one that cures death buildup. Tempting to take more. Maybe. STR would be nice too once FTH hits 80.

 

[Lyric Suite]

WTF the Omen guys in the Shunning Grounds.

That whole area was awesome. I remember coming out of a sewer pipe into a room where four Omens jumped up on me, and one chased me up the ladder, lol. Also you can see how the Omens above ground have the horns growing across their bodies cut off, but the ones underground do not, which according to the description for the Omen Bairn implies they are born of royalty, cursed similarly I suppose to how Morgott and Mohg are.

Whew, i finished the whole thing in one swoop, only Mogh, father of Worf and the Catacombs left. I'm pretty sure i didn't leave a single stone unturned.

What a ride between the Capital and this place i think it was the highlight of the game so far for me. I weep that i'll have to go back to the open world bullshit once i leave.

 

[NJClaw]

The open-world part after the capital is the worst the game has to offer in terms of recycled content and uninteresting encounters, but at least there are beautiful bits of visual design. Luckily, once you know the area, you can sprint to the next "legacy" section in 3 minutes.

What a ride between the Capital and this place i think it was the highlight of the game so far for me. I weep that i'll have to go back to the open world bullshit once i leave.

The capital is a great closure for the excellent first two-thirds of the game. Many people hated Altus Plateau, but I think that, all things considered, it's a fairly decent area. Not on par with Limgrave, but still full of details and high points.

 

[Child of Malkav]

 

[Bloodeyes]

I'm actually starting to think I want to abandon this run, or at least walk away and come back to it another time after I beat the game in a more legit way. All my triumphs occurred 60 or 70 hours ago, when my summon died in the first minute of the fight and I only needed to fuck up once or twice to die. Now I've got level 10 Banished Knight Oleg who can just about solo bosses. Now I can just ignore boss attack patterns, wade in and spam my weapon skill and they die. There's nothing to it. 12 levels of grinding at the grand cloister broke the game. It only took a few hours to ruin a playthrough that had run over 120 at that point.

Plus, my build is complete. He's fucking awesome and could be more awesome if I moved him up to the next softcap but he's basically as good as he needs to be.

At level 148 he has:

Vigor: 40
Mind: 40
Endurance: 35
Strength: 17
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 11
Faith: 61
Arcane: 13

The plan was to hit 80 FTH then level STR in NG+ but honestly what's the point? He'd be exactly the same just doing more damage. And his damage is already sufficient.

I'm beating bosses but there's no challenge and no emotional payoff for doing so. I remember in my level 20s beating the tree sentinal with only my jellyfish summon, my straight sword and my shield. It was a long, intense fight and I won by the skin of my teeth. I don't remember the dozens of bosses I've felled since. Killing them has become monotonous. So I'll need some rules:

- Weak summons only. Only the basic enemy summons, no specials. I like summons but banished knights are too OP. I think if I banish the knights I could enjoy summoning more because I'd actually have a reason to use different ones instead of Oleg being the answer to everything.
- Grinding is permissible, but only for runes to buy things or for items. No grinding for levels.
- No going away from a boss and coming back to steamroll them when I've levelled up unless the fight is clearly not feasible at my level. This one will require self honesty.
- No full plate. 40+ % DR is too much DR.

I'll also be keeping a journal seeing as the game didn't see fit to provide me with one. This time I'll be doing the quests as I missed most of them before.

 

[NJClaw]

No full plate. 40+ % DR is too much DR

Always remember there are people who genuinely think armor does nothing in this game and DR is worthless.

Depending on where you are, I think you should push and try to finish the game. The last 3-4 bosses are harder than anything the game threw at you before. If you feel overpowered, the easiest solution is to drop your weapon and switch to an underleveled one. Just level it up to the point where you feel you're doing enough damage to kill regular enemies in 2-4 hits, if you're using a greatsword. Similarly, dropping your most overpowered ashes costs nothing.

 

[Vibalist]

Or just enjoy your immense power and steamroll the fuck out of everything.

 

[Bloodeyes]

No full plate. 40+ % DR is too much DR

Always remember there are people who genuinely think armor does nothing in this game and DR is worthless.

Maybe if you have vigor so low you would die in one hit anyway it is worthless. But to not rate taking 40% less physical damage is retarded. Those people are kidding themselves and must not read the numbers on their character sheet.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, so i basically almost done with the Dung Eater quest, but i finished Ranni's quest way back, so i guess i'm locked out of the puppet?

Not that i care but apparently i need it for the achievement.

And if i do get the puppet, would i be locked out of the Mending Curse thingy?

Speaking of which, is this like the other Souls games where you can back up your save and get the achievement for ALL the endings in one swoop or will that get From pissed off? Lmao.

 

[Sunri]

No full plate. 40+ % DR is too much DR

Always remember there are people who genuinely think armor does nothing in this game and DR is worthless.

Maybe if you have vigor so low you would die in one hit anyway it is worthless. But to not rate taking 40% less physical damage is retarded. Those people are kidding themselves and must not read the numbers on their character sheet.

Armor is useless, because only bad players get hit

 

[Bloodeyes]

This is the second time I've restarted and it's so gratifying to see how much I've improved. I beat Margit the Fell Omen at level 2 and immediately got enough runes to level to 13. It took a couple tries but wasn't too difficult at all. This guy was an impassable wall my first time playing.

 

[Andnjord]

Before:

I'm going to give it one more chance. I can't think of much else in life that has made me as angry as this game.

I get smashed to the ground and finished while standing back up.

Damn right I lose runes a lot. This is my first souls game and I'm struggling hard to adjust. I'm not sure if my build is shit or I just need more practice but I still die so much.

a game I suck at

And now:

Plus, my build is complete. He's fucking awesome and could be more awesome if I moved him up to the next softcap but he's basically as good as he needs to be...So I'll need some rules

This is the second time I've restarted and it's so gratifying to see how much I've improved. I beat Margit the Fell Omen at level 2 and immediately got enough runes to level to 13. It took a couple tries but wasn't too difficult at all. This guy was an impassable wall my first time playing.

Look how far you've come

But I'll echo the others. Not sure where you're at, but try to beeline for the Malenia's of this world and see how badly they'll kick your ass (or not) while giving them a few tries solo.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Erm, when you give the Dung Eater the Seedbed Curses, do you give him all in one option?

Cause i had 3 and now i have none after only a single interaction. Supposedly two more to go.

 

[Vibalist]

Erm, when you give the Dung Eater the Seedbed Curses, do you give him all in one option?

Yup.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, so no Dung Eater puppet, and no warrior wombyn what's her face puppet. Which means if i want all achievements with this character i need to finish NG++.

Lmao yeah ok.

 

[NJClaw]

Alright, so no Dung Eater puppet, and no warrior wombyn what's her face puppet. Which means if i want all achievements with this character i need to finish NG++.

Lmao yeah ok.

What achievement are you talking about? I don't think you need either of those for the "legendary ashes" one.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, so no Dung Eater puppet, and no warrior wombyn what's her face puppet. Which means if i want all achievements with this character i need to finish NG++.

Lmao yeah ok.

What achievement are you talking about? I don't think you need either of those for the "legendary ashes" one.

I remember reading that you do.

 

[unseeingeye]

I remember reading that you do.

If you get an achievement for getting one or either puppets, then that would actually explain something I've been confused by, because I opted to give the potion to Ofnir since I wanted to complete Dung Eaters quest and get everything which at the time I thought might not be possible, and I wanted to both see closure for Nepheli and get that Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone (plus the one from Gostoc, who I figured was going to become important later on). When I load the game, I show 39 out of 42 achievements, having only completed a story once (you already know it was for Ranni, wearing the Gold Mask set sans mask), and I thought that there were only 3 ending achievements, which leaves just one that I can't account for because its hidden. I got all the achievements for the demigods and the great runes, the max upgrades, the legendary armaments and spirit ashes &c, so I don't know what else it could be without resorting to looking it up online. And although I do have the "1 of everything just before the point of no return" end-game save backed up, I don't plan on getting the other endings that way; I will actually play through again, after my journey 2 is finished I will likely finish a journey 3 and then take a big break to let it regain some of the wonder. Fortunately I have an awful memory and it only takes me a year or so to forget vast swathes of games content, it is what enables me to replay the games from the 80s and 90s that I still love near annually, even a game like Morrowind or New Vegas which I know inside and out and have modded to the tune of thousands of mods, if a year or two goes by I will completely forget the layouts of most areas, the locations of most weapons (except for This Machine, of course), and can experience it as "kind of" new, again.

 

[NJClaw]

Alright, so no Dung Eater puppet, and no warrior wombyn what's her face puppet. Which means if i want all achievements with this character i need to finish NG++.

Lmao yeah ok.

What achievement are you talking about? I don't think you need either of those for the "legendary ashes" one.

I remember reading that you do.

I think I got 100% of the achievements before ever giving the potion to anyone. Spirit ashes are specifically marked as "legendary ashen remains" in their description:

Legendary ashen remains.
Use to summon the spirit of Black Knife Tiche.
[...]

Legendary ashen remains.
Use to summon the spirit of Lhutel the Headless.
[...]

And puppets have no such thing.

When I load the game, I show 39 out of 42 achievements, having only completed a story once (you already know it was for Ranni, wearing the Gold Mask set sans mask), and I thought that there were only 3 ending achievements, which leaves just one that I can't account for because its hidden

Maybe you missed one of the optional bosses?

EDIT: wait, if you have 3 achievements left and only got one ending, then you're missing two endings and the "Elden Ring" achievement you get once you have all the others.