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

[Dhaze]

I actually wanted to say 90%, but that leaves only 10% to be disputed by the sycophants and the retards, which seems too little.

 

[Raghar]

what a spectacle, to ride the spiritspring on Torrent and gawk at this aerial view of a massive crater with the beast at its center

My experience was even better. The exact moment I landed, the beast charged at me and instantly pushed me off the cliff. It worked so perfectly I wasn't even pissed.

I climbed up on foot, seen it charging, climbed back down. Then I was waiting until it falls down. But surprisingly it managed to brake in time.

 

[Silverfish]

"I hate everything about this game that I'm wasting my time playing so I'm going to waste even more of my time telling you how much I hate every second of it because that shows that I have high standards, a prestigious reputation, and an incalculable IQ."

AKA "How I learned to stop worrying and love Fallout 3.

 

[mediocrepoet]

AKA "How I learned to stop worrying and love Fallout 3.

If you think Elden Ring is akin to Fallout 3, your opinion isn't something I put much weight in.

Besides, the point is "what sort of person keeps dropping time into something they hate so much?" Not someone who's very wise, imho.

 

[Dhaze]

Fighting Commander Niall or Commander O'Neil, who respectively summon two and four-then-three enemies against you, it seems evident they were intended to be fought with help from your own summons. And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

So, I'm curious... Did the devs first conjure these bosses' designs, then realize that they would be an absolute bitch to fight alone? Or did they first think of the Spirits Ashes system, then had to give the bosses minions and those huge attacks to deal with your summons?

I'm thinking the Spirits Ashes came first. Seems natural for FromSoft to come up with an idea, then over-correct and ruin it somewhat.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Fighting Commander Niall or Commander O'Neil, who respectively summon two and four-then-three enemies against you, it seems evident they were intended to be fought with help from your own summons. And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

So, I'm curious... Did the devs first conjure these bosses' designs, then realize that they would be an absolute bitch to fight alone? Or did they first think of the Spirits Ashes system, then had to give the bosses minions and those huge attacks to deal with your summons?

I'm thinking the Spirits Ashes came first. Seems natural for FromSoft to come up with an idea, then over-correct and ruin it somewhat.

Seriously? The swamp one is trivial if you stay mounted and just wipe out his adds and then beat on him and it's not much more challenging if you do it while staying on foot. The castle one, you can pretty easily destroy his knights within 30 seconds of the battle music starting.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Fighting Commander Niall or Commander O'Neil, who respectively summon two and four-then-three enemies against you, it seems evident they were intended to be fought with help from your own summons. And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

So, I'm curious... Did the devs first conjure these bosses' designs, then realize that they would be an absolute bitch to fight alone? Or did they first think of the Spirits Ashes system, then had to give the bosses minions and those huge attacks to deal with your summons?

I'm thinking the Spirits Ashes came first. Seems natural for FromSoft to come up with an idea, then over-correct and ruin it somewhat.

O'Neill's attacks are so slow you can easily dispatch the extras on your own.

 

[Alphard]

Fighting Commander Niall or Commander O'Neil, who respectively summon two and four-then-three enemies against you, it seems evident they were intended to be fought with help from your own summons. And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

So, I'm curious... Did the devs first conjure these bosses' designs, then realize that they would be an absolute bitch to fight alone? Or did they first think of the Spirits Ashes system, then had to give the bosses minions and those huge attacks to deal with your summons?

I'm thinking the Spirits Ashes came first. Seems natural for FromSoft to come up with an idea, then over-correct and ruin it somewhat.

agree with others. o neil was somewhat challenging only because i was underleveled. his attacks are telegraphed and slow. i employed the same strategy that trivializes all these adds gimmick bosses , eg kill all adds but one. this way you trick the AI to think adds are alive and it will not summon more, except one more time when he changed phase. use torrent to kill adds and then dismount

 

[Alphard]

btw guys yesterday i also killed the draconic tree sentinel guarding the capital.idk why, but these sentinels, both normal and draconic, are my favorite bosses: appearance, moveset, animations, fairness etc. they have everything a souls boss should have and it's a joy to dance with them avoiding their attacks

 

[NJClaw]

Fighting Commander Niall or Commander O'Neil, who respectively summon two and four-then-three enemies against you, it seems evident they were intended to be fought with help from your own summons. And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

So, I'm curious... Did the devs first conjure these bosses' designs, then realize that they would be an absolute bitch to fight alone? Or did they first think of the Spirits Ashes system, then had to give the bosses minions and those huge attacks to deal with your summons?

I'm thinking the Spirits Ashes came first. Seems natural for FromSoft to come up with an idea, then over-correct and ruin it somewhat.

The commander's aggro and movement are so different from those of his minions that I still haven't found a way to fight them at the same time. For all intents and purposes, unless you're playing an extremely gimped build, both bossfights consist of two separate encounters: one against the minions and one against the commander on his own.

I really can't imagine how you (and many others) experienced these fights.

And coincidentaly, both Commanders spam attacks with truly massive hitboxes that hit 360° around them.

But those attacks have infinite windups that clearly tell you it's time to get the fuck away.

Here are my SL1 fights with them:

Spoiler

I think I had to account for the commander while fighting his minions for a grand total of 1 second in total. Rewatching the Niall video, it's clear the commander is programmed to just stand there and watch 99% of the time while you fight his guys.

 

[Wunderbar]

btw guys yesterday i also killed the draconic tree sentinel guarding the capital.

for some reason that guy killed me more times than Malenia or any other boss in the game. His second phase where he starts using red lightning is a real bitch.

 

[Alphard]

btw guys yesterday i also killed the draconic tree sentinel guarding the capital.

for some reason that guy killed me more times than Malenia or any other boss in the game. His second phase where he starts using red lightning is a real bitch.

yes he killed me a lot as well but i enjoyed every moment of it. of each attack you gotta know the timing, for example to avoid the the red lighting you have to dodge the moment he push the shield upward whiile he has it raised. other lighting smash attack you can dodge normally but you must have good timing

 

[Dhaze]

Guys, I never said I have a hard time against O'Neil or Niall (though I did get pancaked by O'Neil the first time, but getting there fresh by accident at circa level 20 was too soon).

Only that since the game gives you summons, and these bosses are two amongst the four ones to summon aids as soon as the fight starts, it clearly seems they're meant to be fought with your very own summons.

Seriously? The swamp one is trivial if you stay mounted and just wipe out his adds and then beat on him and it's not much more challenging if you do it while staying on foot.

use torrent to kill adds and then dismount

Wait... what? You can ride Torrent against O'Neil? I swear to god, I can never intuit where I can or can't ride the horse. Makes no sense. I can ride it when on the bridge where Godskin Noble spawns, but not on another bridge, and I can ride it inside the temple where Gurranq resides but not inside a walking mausoleum, and I can ride it against the Fire Giant but not when Alexander is there, and I can't ride it against Elden Beast but I can against O'Neill. Jesus christ, some consistency, please.

But those attacks have infinite windups that clearly tell you it's time to get the fuck away.

I wasn't saying that for me. What I meant was that upon entering his arena Niall instantly summons two knights, so I'm guessing a lot of players, like me, also summoned as a response; and almost all of Niall's attacks consist of some massive aoe that is guaranteed to obliterate most summons, who aren't really know to dodge save for the likes of Luthel and Tiche.

What I'm wondering is how the conversation at FromSoft went.

Like this:

Some random dev – "Hey boss, what if we gave the player the ability to summon their own aids?"
Miyazaki, tearing his eyes from a foot fetish site – "Cool, cool. But then we need to tool the bosses with tons of area-of-effect attack to deal with the summons. Because god knows our A.I. hasn't progressed one bit since 2009 lol."

Or:

– Hey devs, I hear players are starting to consider our games as too predictable, too easy. Don't know how, it's not like we've made the exact same re-skinned game six times in a row now, but whatevs... So what if we gave the bosses tons of area-of-effect attack? That way, even if the player stands behind the boss, he'll get hit! Nyark nyark nyark!
– But boss, please, be merciful. Think of the weak, the handicaped, and the maidenless; give them summons so that even when the players are getting their skulls caved in no matter where they stand, some minion of them might connect with a hit or two.

The commander's aggro and movement are so different from those of his minions that I still haven't found a way to fight them at the same time. For all intents and purposes, unless you're playing an extremely gimped build, both bossfights consist of two separate encounters: one against the minions and one against the commander on his own.

I really can't imagine how you (and many others) experienced these fights.

I think I had to account for the commander while fighting his minions for a grand total of 1 second in total. Rewatching the Niall video, it's clear the commander is programmed to just stand there and watch 99% of the time while you fight his guys.

Yeah, no, the three times I fought him, the dual-wieding knight charged alone but by the time I could attack after his spinny whirlwind, the other knight and Niall had closed the distance and their attacks followed one another with very little breaks.

Each time I got through it by running away, baiting one attack to parry and exploiting the invincibility during the resulting critical attack. Rince and repeat. Wasn't exactly riveting.

 

[NJClaw]

Wait... what? You can ride Torrent against O'Neil? I swear to god, I can never intuit where I can or can't ride the horse. Makes no sense. I can ride it when on the bridge where Godskin Noble spawns, but not on another bridge, and I can ride it inside the temple where Gurranq resides but not inside a walking mausoleum, and I can ride it against the Fire Giant but not when Alexander is there, and I can't ride it against Elden Beast but I can against O'Neill. Jesus christ, some consistency, please.

It's not consistent from an "in-world" perspective, but it is from a gameplay one. While playing alone, you can always ride Torrent unless you're in a legacy dungeon or a mini dungeon. That's it.

On an unrelated note, Shield Crash is hilarious:

 

[Dhaze]

It's so funny that a RL1 character can wield a shield with 48 strength required.

So what's the loadout for that? Godrick's Great Rune, Starscourge Heirloom, Radagon's Soreseal, and Strength-knot Crystal Tear?

 

[NJClaw]

It's so funny that a RL1 character can wield a shield with 48 strength required.

So what's the loadout for that? Godrick's Great Rune, Starscourge Heirloom, Radagon's Soreseal, and Strength-knot Crystal Tear?

All that AND the Winged Crystal Tear, otherwise you wouldn't even be able to walk with that shield and full heavy armor. The other talismans can be whatever, but Shard of Alexander and Ritual Sword Talisman add a lot of damage.

During the fight against Gideon I didn't use the bleed infusion, my guess is the encounter would last around 10 seconds with it.

And thinking that in my first playthrough I used greatshields for blocking... what a dumb-dumb.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Greatshields are great for blocking because attacks bounce off them allowing you to get a free guard counter.

I just used that to get the Unaltered Banished Armor from the dual wielding knight in Castle Sol. I'm using the Spiked Palised shield because of fashion. I could use the Brass shield which is totally superior in every way (slightly better defences all around, 100% damage block and almost half the weight), except it doesn't bounce attacks like the Palised because it is a medium shield.

Got no time now but later i'll plan to do Commander Niall with this set up.

 

[Dhaze]

I never did a SL1 run in DS3 or Demon's Souls, only in DS1. Also, a no-bonfire no-death NG+7 run in DS2. But I'm actually tempted to try a RL1 run for Elden Ring. With the huge amount of stat-augmenting options available, it seems that gear-wise the possibilities are numerous.

I'm also quite keen on the idea of a bow-centric build. Though they don't approach the greatness of something like Great Gamble or Reaper's Arrow in Dragon's Dogma, Mighty Shot and Through And Through in Elden Ring nevertheless have that nice, impactful oomph to them; props must be given to the sound design guys at FromSoft.

Anyway, I'm done with my Carian Knight playthrough, and I have to say that Carian Retaliation is a very nice and fun tool, though a bit finicky at times since you can't tell at a glance what spells/attacks can or cannot be countered with it. Here's a few examples.

- Radagon's lightning bolts are completely absorbed by Carian Retaliation, but in kind he tends to absorb the glintblade projectiles and shoot them back, though that shot-back can also be also absorbed by Carian Retaliation, ultimately leading to the weirdest, most high-stakes game of Pong ever
- The fireball spewed by the Draconic Tree Sentinel and the black fireballs used by the Godskins can be completely absorbed by Carian Retaliation.
- Maliketh's arcs of black-red energy inflict damage and DoT through the skill, though not full damage, rather like a slightly mistimed parry; but the glintblade projectiles do come up. The same goes against Alecto.
- Astel's opening move, the purple ray, is entirely absorbed, which really surprised me.
- For the life of me I couldn't parry Morgott's dagger throw.
- A lot of magical area-of-effect attacks can birth the glinstone blades over one's head, but still result in full damage being suffered.
- Multi-hit or -projectile spells are best simply dodged, as only one hit or projectile will ever be absorbed, even in the case when it visually seems like all will hit simultaneously

Also of note is that I experienced some weird behavior during the fight against Malenia, with Battlemage Hugues as my summon, though I think it's not particular to her but instead just a coincidence. What happened is that I would parry her while simultaneously she got hit by Hugues' Cannon Of Haima; and I would get the parry successfully, but I would absorb Hugues' spell, with the glintblade projectiles appearing over my head, yet she would still take the full damage and sometimes knockdown of Cannon Of Haima.

I know that you can absorb your own spells, and some bugs related to Carian Retaliation have been fixed in previous patches, so I wouldn't be surprised if the game was still a bit confused as to what exactly should happen in some rare, very specific circumstances. It happened clearly three times and I wanted to test that further, but making a parry coincide exactly with the impact of Cannon Of Haima involved way too much RNG.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I regret not making a SL1 run right off the bat lmao.

 

[mediocrepoet]

On an unrelated note, Shield Crash is hilarious:

That Tragoth fight.
"Poise this, bitch!"

 

[Alphard]

Wait... what? You can ride Torrent against O'Neil? I swear to god, I can never intuit where I can or can't ride the horse. Makes no sense. I can ride it when on the bridge where Godskin Noble spawns, but not on another bridge, and I can ride it inside the temple where Gurranq resides but not inside a walking mausoleum, and I can ride it against the Fire Giant but not when Alexander is there, and I can't ride it against Elden Beast but I can against O'Neill. Jesus christ, some consistency, please.

It's not consistent from an "in-world" perspective, but it is from a gameplay one. While playing alone, you can always ride Torrent unless you're in a legacy dungeon or a mini dungeon. That's it.

On an unrelated note, Shield Crash is hilarious:

that shit is disgusting in pvp.basically impossible to win against FP shield. add bleed and it's even more broken

 

[Lyric Suite]

Decided to take a page out of NJClaw's book even though my parry-fu skills are inconsistent:

 

[Lyric Suite]

Parry doesn't seem to work in co-op, how come? Network shit?

 

[mediocrepoet]

Parry doesn't seem to work in co-op, how come? Network shit?

Probably. The timings are fairly tight and the network code is garbage.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Google seems to confirm this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/tb54ar/coop_parry_against_bosses_needs_to_be_fixed/

This is sucks.