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

[Lambach]

From Soft truly has the best fanbase. I feel like I understand the memes about them much better after this wonderful chat.

It's like a crossover between r/iamverysmart and Rick and Morty fans. Truly, the best and the brightest among us.

 

[mediocrepoet]

ITT we learn that following the general path of an ENORMOUS BLUE LINE IN THE SKY is analyzing every tiny detail in order to figure things out without help.

>mfw finished fighting Radahn after several hours of just trying to barely stay alive
>mfw finally done
>mfw game expects me to do Euclidean geometry and plug in star coordinates in order to determine the next location of some quest I couldn't give two flipping shits about because I just finished an intense fight and I'm just watching the cutscene with numb disinterest

Yo, way to prove me correct, my man. :D

OK, I guess that's not completely nonsensical, but it goes back to my point that only the mega-autists who have the time and energy to analyze every tiny detail can go through most content (with no help from outside, that is).

This is your idea of Euclidean geometry? Please tell me you don't hold any responsibility in real life beyond Walmart Greeter.

 

[Lambach]

This is your idea of Euclidean geometry? Please tell me you don't hold any responsibility in real life beyond Walmart Greeter.

That's your idea of understanding a joke? Please don't tell me you have any social interactions in real life beyond screaming at your mom for burning your chicken tendies.

 

[mediocrepoet]

This is your idea of Euclidean geometry? Please tell me you don't hold any responsibility in real life beyond Walmart Greeter.

That's your idea of understanding a joke? Please don't tell me you have any social interactions in real life beyond screaming at your mom for burning your chicken tendies.

Jokes are funny, by definition. Whatever shit you posted was not a joke.

joke
/jōk/
noun
a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.
"she was in a mood to tell jokes"

 

[Lambach]

Jokes are funny, by definition. Whatever shit you posted was not a joke.

joke
/jōk/
noun
a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.
"she was in a mood to tell jokes"

Please stop.

OK, I guess that's not completely nonsensical, but it goes back to my point that only the mega-autists who have the time and energy to analyze every tiny detail can go through most content (with no help from outside, that is).

 

[Raghar]

You know, the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII has maps that are literally corridors. You just run in a straight line and do the content. It sounds like that may be more the speed some of you are looking for.

Or FROM could, you know, give you a hint as to where Millicent is going to be at next while you're following her quest, instead of expecting you to randomly stumble into a figure 100x100 pixels in size while exploring a map 30 square motherfucking miles in size.

You mean like in her dialogues where she tells you where she's going? Yeah, that'd be nice. Might require reading, but it would sure be useful.

The problem is when you get into the area month of real time later, you forget where she is. There is no log or whatever.

 

[Lambach]

The problem is when you get into the area month of real time later, you forget where she is. There is no log or whatever.

That is a problem. You could argue "well, why don't you write it down?", you know, be all old-school style.

But the problem is that very often, that dialogue is misleading. Even if you write it down and follow it ad-verbatim, it could still lead you to the wrong location. I'm not exactly sure what percentage of the """quest""" dialogue has this problem, but from personal experience, it's a pretty non-negligible number.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Yeah, honestly, the biggest areas I wish From would do a complete redesign of is their quests and NPC approach. It's dated and obtuse for the sake of being obtuse.

Second to that is stuff about combat like weird curving projectiles, the absolute retardation of the swing delays, etc.

 

[Multidirectional]

But the problem is that very often, that dialogue is misleading. Even if you write it down and follow it ad-verbatim, it could still lead you to the wrong location. I'm not exactly sure what percentage of the """quest""" dialogue has this problem, but from personal experience, it's a pretty non-negligible number.

It's a FROM game, I just assume quests are convoluted nonsense by default. Sekiro surprised me by having quests that are completable without looking shit up but clearly FROM was unhappy with that.

 

[Raghar]

I have bigger problems with finding ALL these bell bearings needed for smiting stones. There is basically NO HINT for most of them.

That meteor isn't that big of problem because the only time when it's really needed is for Ranni quest.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I have bigger problems with finding ALL these bell bearings needed for smiting stones. There is basically NO HINT for most of them.

That meteor isn't that big of problem because the only time when it's really needed is for Ranni quest.

Yeah, the "important" bell bearings are mostly in mines and caves which also have the stones themselves, but it's not well telegraphed and you do need them to upgrade more than a few weapons.

 

[Dhaze]

The weirdest part being that NPC quests in Elden Ring are arguably less convoluted and much easier to complete than they were in Demon's Souls or Dark Souls 1/2/3.

After my first blind playthrough I compared notes with a friend who, likewise, had gone in blind. And we were surprised to see how different were the steps we had taken in various questlines. You can skip entire chunks of questlines in Elden Ring without being deprived of their endings; whereas a single missed step in previous games could often lock you out of a quest entirely.

So FromSoft knows—at least to some degree—that their archaic quest design was unnecessarily convoluted, and they've improved that somewhat. But strangely enough, they don't seem to have realised what the open world nature of Elden Ring can do to some NPC quests; or perhaps they don't care and like that aspect of it exactly as it stands, which is entirely possible, because japanese devs are gonna japanese dev.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Despite its incredible length, Elden Ring really isn't made for taking long breaks, as these will result in the player forgetting vital information.

The actual location of the crater is p. much directly westward of where you fight Radahn. What, exactly, in these two images gave you the impression we're looking at a falling star that fell westward of the Tarnished's current position? That slight head angle towards the left side in the first image? The fact that the Tarnished is on the left side in the second image?

The Elden Tree, the most noticeable landmark in the entire game, is visible on the right side of the second image (if only via its branches) and would provide a rather direct clue as to the approximate direction of the meteor strike, especially since you can always look around after the battle with a compass conveniently displayed at the top of your screen.

Spoiler

Though FromSoft might have blundered in getting the direction exactly right, as I'm fairly sure the strike should be rotationally more counterclockwise than it appears in the cutscene.

 

[Dhaze]

Just thought of something, anent questlines.

During my first playthrough I met Irina in the Weeping Peninsula, who asked me to deliver a letter to her father in Castle Morne. I went there, defeated the Leonine Misbegotten boss, and received a sword. Only after this did I meet Edgar—Irina's father—for the first time, and his dialogue went along the lines of "I won't leave my post, not as long as my duty is not fulfilled, not as long as the sword of Morne is in the wrong hands." No matter I already had said sword...
Being familiar with the jankiness of FromSoft's quests, I rested at a grace site (thus resetting the world's state) before coming back to Edgar, and sure enough now he acknowledged my possession of the sword, so that his dialogue and questline progressed.

This was right when the game came out, playing on v1.02. Since then it has changed: Edgar will acknowledge your possessing the sword of Morne when you meet him the first time. I believe patch 1.03 brought that change.

For another thing, during my last playthrough (on 1.04), I could not tell Brother Corhyn of Goldmask's whereabouts if Corhyn had yet to leave the Roundtable Hold. So Corhyn told me he was searching for Goldmask, and I had already met Goldmask, but nonetheless was not offered the option to tell Corhyn—not before he moved out to the road on Altus Plateau.

So, since Brother Corhyn's quest is quite a lot more consequential than Edgar's but has not been touched, I can only suppose that FromSoft—who modified a quest here, a quest there—is fine with the ass-backwards way the first step of Corhyn's quest must be handled.

I'll forever be impressed with the way From can manage some of the most minuscule details in their games, yet with equal mastery can completely fudge even the most basic interactions with NPCs.

 

[Multidirectional]

Lambach indeed the music in Regal Ancestral Spirit fight was pretty cool. Boss itself was only a little harder than Ancestral Spirit, also went down on first try. Dragonkin Soldier was a little harder, managed to die couple times on that. Even that fucking orange wolf I encountered while lighting fires was harder than the Spirit. Mimic Tear acquired, was pleased to find out I won't need to raise Mind to use it as it consumes HP and not FP.

 

[Multidirectional]

Godfrey down on second try. Expected to rage and end up using ashes, based on how much rape Leyndell provided me with, but nope. His attacks were actually quite easy to dodge.

 

[Multidirectional]

Ok lol Morgott. I can already see from first attempt this dude ain't fucking around. No doubt it's gonna take more than couple tries. I had to derp and enter his room with 90k unspent runes, so gonna have to keep running back now.

 

[Yosharian]

Ok lol Morgott. I can already see from first attempt this dude ain't fucking around. No doubt it's gonna take more than couple tries. I had to derp and enter his room with 90k unspent runes, so gonna have to keep running back now.

90k? I'm surprised you think that's a lot for that stage of the game

 

[Multidirectional]

90k? I'm surprised you think that's a lot for that stage of the game

It's two level ups for me so I say that's enough to care. Anyway I did the ALT+F4 bitch move after grabbing them, so they're already spent. Realised it's gonna take way too many runs to do it properly, didn't have to worry about grabbing the runes every time I start the fight.

What the fuck, how many moves does this asshole have?? I really love it when I'm forced to play Souls but bosses are allowed to play Devil May Cry, fuck you too FROM.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Ok lol Morgott. I can already see from first attempt this dude ain't fucking around. No doubt it's gonna take more than couple tries. I had to derp and enter his room with 90k unspent runes, so gonna have to keep running back now.

Morgott is much weaker than many of the enemies on the way to him. He's got around 10k HP, -10% resistance to slashing and 0% resistance to elemental. Putting all that together he's going to die in no more than 5 jump attacks when I get to him. I think 4 because I'll buff before the boss door. I've killed him this quick before with a flame art Bainshed Knight greatsword. A fire guts greatsword will do even better I think.

I found him a surprisingly weak boss given what I went through to get to him. I'd rather fight him than the two crucible knights in the roller dungeon on the way into the city.

 

[Yosharian]

Two level-ups? Hmm. I guess you don't know about the rune grinding area in Mohg's place

 

[Multidirectional]

Morgott is much weaker than many of the enemies on the way to him.

I must've missed every single one of them then, because he's definitely the hardest boss I've met so far. In fact majority of bosses I've encountered up to this point went down on first or second try.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Morgott is much weaker than many of the enemies on the way to him.

I must've missed every single one of them then, because he's definitely the hardest boss I've met so far. In fact majority of bosses I've encountered up to this point went down on first or second try.

Well here's a tip: Margit's shackle that you buy from Patches works on him. I've never actually used this item but it says on the wiki it will stun him 3 times before phase 2, but that he can't be stunned in phase 2. That should at least let you get him to the second phase without needing to burn your physick or any flasks.

 

[Multidirectional]

Well here's a tip: Margit's shackle that you buy from Patches works on him. I've never actually used this item but it says on the wiki it will stun him 3 times before phase 2, but that he can't be stunned in phase 2.

No need anymore, just came back to him after a little break and killed him right away. Fuck me it seems there's yet another new area to explore awaiting. Sure, I was already getting afraid there won't be enough content in this game.

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I did a quick respec to try a couple of INT weapons. Just wanted to see if I should spec into STR/INT in NG+ or just keep adding stats to what I'm doing. I tried the Ruins Greatsword and the Royal Greatsword. I was baffled by the Ruins. Maybe it was just the enemies I was testing it on but the WA seemed to do almost nothing. I had STR at 50 and INT of I think 30 and I was doing something like 180 damage with the AOE. Direct hits performed better, but I think I must have been doing something wrong. Needed more INT? Is it crap against armored opponents? Or is the WA not the big deal about this weapon and I was missing something? I've only heard good things said about the Ruins so I'm certain I was just missing something there. The weapon was +8.

Anyway I liked the Royal Greatsword. The WA was a bit trickier to hit with than my usual favorites but the damage was on point and the looks are S+. Still, despite achieving higher numbers for attack rating with the Royal my heavy Guts hits harder. That's my WA and gear combo as much as the weapon itself, and the Royal is a somber so I can't change its WA.

I'd love to do a STR/INT from starting in future but this character will have to stay pure STR and just get stronger. I had no idea what I was doing with sorceries, just having dozens of the sitting there and not knowing what to use. Plus I didn't qualify for most of the powerful seeming ones as a mixed build and my Demi Human staff was way under levelled at +12. So it all seemed a bit crap. A STR/Faith combo seems a lot easier to achieve due to the comparatively lower stat prereqs of incantations. All my favorites can be had for 22 FTH and the Clawmark Seal is ok. It's the weakest scaling seal I've used, at least at 22 FTH, 50 STR, but it still gets the job done. If I'd played INT from a level 1 wretch I'd know what I am doing a bit better and probably love it. I think I'll have to do that.

I may not take this character to NG+ immediately. I'll easily exceed the level 154 stat targets I set for him and I'll definitely be finishing the game before restarting this time. Not tempted to abandon this character, it's the best one I've made. I do want to try INT properly though. I think the Royal greatsword could overtake the guts at high levels of both STR and INT but it would require daunting levels of investment to achieve this. It's still tempting though. It looks great. Still, I think starting with pure INT then progressing to they hybrid at high levels may be less frustrating.