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

[NJClaw]

So my shield won't block much and I won't wear armour but my weapon will wreck everything. Spells will be a powerful but extremely limited resource, reserved for the toughest opponents. Sounds fun.

Drop the shield, embrace virility.

Playing without a shield allows you to either constantly two-hand your Death's Poker or use that and a staff at the same time. It would also make you experience the game in a different way, since you'll have to adapt more to enemies' movesets. Seriously, try it at least. It's easier once you're already familiar with the game.

To boost the ash of war damage, you can use the Spellblade's set (the one dropped by Rogier). It makes you look like a clown, but boosts your damage roughly by 10%.

I just expediated the process with Dung Eater. I'll need to use a walkthrough for quests in NG+. Either they're all meant to die or I've fucked this up royally lol.

They're all meant to die.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Drop the shield, embrace virility.

Playing without a shield allows you to either constantly two-hand your Death's Poker or use that and a staff at the same time. It would also make you experience the game in a different way, since you'll have to adapt more to enemies' movesets. Seriously, try it at least. It's easier once you're already familiar with the game.

To boost the ash of war damage, you can use the Spellblade's set (the one dropped by Rogier). It makes you look like a clown, but boosts your damage roughly by 10%.

I get where you're coming from. In my current playthrough I'm two handing more than 90% of the time, I just have my turtle shell on my back for the stamina regen. It looks pretty cool with the raptor's black feathers. Very anime and quite effective. My strat is to attack like crazy with WA's and jumping heavies and make things dead before they make me dead. It usually works. Still, there are some things I just can't deal with without swapping to a 100% damage negation shield and heavy armour.

Far fewer than there used to be, but I have no goddamn idea how I would have beaten the mature fallingstar beast without a shield in one hand and black flames in the other. I think I was around level 100 when I fought him and he was just demolishing me like I was level 10 with that charging back and forth. I only needed to get caught by 1 and I'd be killed before I stood back up.

I saw what you did to the tree sentinal in your LP... yeah that guy's on my shield list too. I don't fight him before I get 20 vigor and 15 endurance to be able to block a shot and survive when I screw up. Remember I haven't been playing souls games for the last decade, this is my first one. I've come a long way in terms of skill but have a long way to go yet. The shield has gone from an always equipped primary armament to a sometimes used secondary but I'll probably need to be playing Elden Ring 2 before I can do without it entirely.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I think i'm almost at the end, or at least feels like it. I'm standing in front of fog guarded by a draconic knight but before i go there there's a whole section i still have to explore plus from what i understand a dragon boss but i'll do that tonight.

 

[Yosharian]

Killing Dung Eater mostly means you can't do his ending, which is a dumb ending anyway so who cares

 

[cruel]

Some cool stuff shown, I wasn't aware of many of those. I'm definitely impressed with the amount of tools given for player's disposal:

 

[Lyric Suite]

So let me get this straight. For the whole game, From decided to put a grace or a statue of Marika nearby the boss, but for this one they decided to make you run five miles back, on a boss with random one shot from goofy hitbox:



At first i couldn't dodge that diving attack without taking damage from the trailing lighting. Not the first one, the other ones where he comes at an angle, but as an experiment i tried to see if i could block it, which didn't help lmao. Then at the last dive he makes i finally figure out how to dodge it, and i felt like the retard i am for not figuring out i had to roll on the side and not into him and right into the lighting smear he leaves on the ground. Big head slap moment.

For the rest it's not a bad boss, less annoying then the dragon you fight in Fia's quest, but the walk back with those ledges where it takes you forever to get moving again after landing onto one was really obnoxious. At least they didn't think of slapping a bunch of birds along the way.

As for the Beastman, i liked how he "reveals" himself he was Maliketh all along, and all i could think was "bitch, who?". Took me five hours to upload the fight with the dragon on youtube and meanwhile i did some co-op runs so i saw the reveal lul. Don't feel like doing it now tomoroww i'll get to it. Almost over, after more than two fucking months hahaha.

 

[Raghar]

Took a large pause after Melania or what's her face and i'm now trying to finally finish this lol.

Killed this faggot who did nothing to reduce my hatred of giant bosses:



So i guess now i gotta burn down the tree and i'm near the end. To say i'm actually looking forward to get it over with is an understatement lmao.

He's easy. You just summon black flame monk and after 40+ attempts you'd get that Fire giant.

 

[Child of Malkav]

 

[Sentinel]

In retrospect, this game was pretty fucking bad and the natural conclusion of every bad habit FromSoft fell into after Dark Souls 1.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Been trying to upload Maliketh video but it's been stuck in "HD" processing for two hours. Just deleted it and i'm now trying again. Fucking fuck.

I think bleed may have been a liability for this one as i played recklessly to get that proc but this guy is so spazzy i got more than a few nose bleeds myself. Won't be able to do that as SL1 that's for sure lmao.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, done:



Ok next...

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i got five achievements left (one being the Elden Ring one), but there's six endings? Don't they all count?

I'm totally going to back up my save to get them all btw. Fuck this shit. Get it done now so i don't have to think about it ever again.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Don't ask, my friend was with me and dared me to do it:



He kept distracting me at the last one to get me to fail but i still pulled through lul.

I also just killed Gideon by stun locking him with jump attacks and bleed him over and over. I had to look on youtube to see what he even did. I never liked the guy so fuck him, got what he deserved.

 

[NJClaw]

Alright, done:

Obligatory SL1 repost:



Another example in the "I took 1 hit because I'm gay" list.

Also Gideon was p. fun:

BTW, i got five achievements left (one being the Elden Ring one), but there's six endings? Don't they all count?

There are only 3 achievements for the endings. Multiple endings fall under the "Elden Lord" achievement.

 

[cruel]

I like when the game trolls me like that. I was SOO proud of myself when I saw those invisible assassins in Ordina - 'a-ha! I've read the merchant note, I know I need to use a torch, I win'. And then sudden WTF moment when the game tells you basically 'f#% you' - you can't use ANY torch, it needs to be one specific, special torch, only accessible in one specific place. Great. Ordina and Haligtree are the first times when the game world actually gets difficult it seems.

What's the consensus on vigor 40 vs 50 vs 60? In theory, the more HP, the better, but what I start to see is that higher life only gives you the initial advantage, and after that you're still dependent on the amount healed by a flask. At the same time, with vigor 50+, you're constantly missing the potential buffs from all the talismans that grant stuff like 'def boost at full HP'. I'm seriously considering dropping from 50 vigor to 40, and using Ritual Shield Talisman more - it boosts defense A LOT, and the first hit you get sometimes wrecks you a lot. With so much health, it's more difficult to stay at full health to be honest. I'm level 152, running a mix of Radahn / Tree Sentinel / Bull armor (36%+ physical defense); STR 85, VIG 50, END 50, Large Club +25 and Golden Greatshield. I could trade the 10 points of vigor for more endurance and maybe dual wield colossal swords? Decision, decisions...

BTW, true Mohg wrecks me nicely so far. If he keeps this up he will probably be the hardest boss for me up until this point, but few more tries before I can say that. I couldn't believe when he did his NIHIL thing, impressive. I'm wondering why the 'Omen' variant fell so easily in comparison.

BTW2 - 175h and still going with no ending in sight. Amazing amount of content. I could pay $200 for this instead of $60 and would still say I got my money's worth (compared to typical $60 AAA garbage that gives you 20h of playtime).

 

[NJClaw]

What's the consensus on vigor 40 vs 50 vs 60?

60 Vigor, Morgott's Great Rune, Erdtree Favor, and Crimson Amber Medallion. You can add the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman and Ritual Shield Talisman on top of that. Being able to tank ANYTHING in the game is priceless.

With so much health, it's more difficult to stay at full health to be honest.

I think this is just a psychological obstacle. Staying at less than full health and waiting to take a couple more hits before healing doesn't mean you're wasting your Ritual Shield effect, but only that you can take more hits before activating it again. You'll have this problem with any reasonable amount of Vigor, because most hits won't require your full flask.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Obligatory SL1 repost:

Wait how did you stagger him in the second phase? I rewinded the video a bunch of times and i can't tell what you did, all though i'm on my phone now so i can't see shit.

That weapon art is brutal, even though i used bleed i think i can say i went fairly vanilla and ignored a lot of broken shit which i'll definitely exploit in my SL1 run.

 

[NJClaw]

Wait how did you stagger him in the second phase? I rewinded the video a bunch of times and i can't tell what you did, all though i'm on my phone now so i can't see shit.

He can be stance-broken like any other boss, and the poise damage from phase 1 carries to phase 2. I wanted to stance-break him at the end of the first phase, but I missed a couple of opportunities to hit him with jump attacks.

Corpse Piler is so broken that breaking his stance doesn't really matter that much. Every time you can attack him, L2-L2 takes like 4 fingers off of his HP bar.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW i may have to go out of town for the next three days fuuuck i'm SO close. If i can't finish it tonight i'll have to wait thursday.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I came out of the subterranean shunning grounds furious. Just over bullshit in general. I gave up on the platforming at the end. I got the fingerprint shield but quit after that. I don't want the frenzied flame anyway. It will ruin my domestic harmony with my ghost GF.

So I made my way to the mountaintop of the giants. With some difficulty I jump attacked all the ice dudes in the ruin and got the bell bearing 3. Still couldn't really change weapons if I wanted to. My +22 colossal sword is starting to feel like a colossal nerf bat. I'm not going down to a +18. I'm also kind of realizing my plan to take off golden scarab and chill on levels at 154 isn't going to work. I need more damage.

60 STR won't be enough. I'm going to need 80, which means hitting 174. I'm also probably going to need to softcap endurance. Even with the green turtle talisman, the great turtle shell and 42 endurance I'm still running out of stamina rather quickly. My build plan has me getting 45 and the softcap is at 50. So that means level 179. I was hoping to trade golden scarab for the shard of Alexander once I get that. Probably never taking it off though. I just need too many levels.

So I'm generally in a bad mood after ruminating on the above. I decided to talk to Shabriri.

Shabriri: "May chaos take the world! MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!" Florentin: "Giant hunt, giant hunt, giant hunt. I'll have your gear now psycho."

I think I'll take a day off from this game. The late game is rough and I can only play in short bursts at the moment.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, so i get to Godfrey, and after several tries i beat his first phase, which is totally bitching, once you get going in the rythmn it feels great one of the best fights i've had in a From game. Then suddenly he just whips his fists and beats the shit out of me with his bare hands lmao and then asks me if i even lift.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, finally youtube managed to finish "processing" this thing (are they fucking me because i uploaded too many videos or something? All day with this crap):



I really liked this one and would have loved to learn the second phase properly but according to the wiki there's two more bosses after this and i gotta move on with my life. So in the second phase i just defaulted to the time honored tactic of just running away like a bitch. I actually made a back up of the save in case i want to learn him properly later on at my leasure lmao.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i got cocky and decided to try co-op a few times with that talisman that draws enemy attention to you but, first of all, the timing is all wrong what's easy to dodge solo somehow seems hard in multiplayer, which makes me wonder if it's some latency screw up going on. Second, i can't see shit with all the spells and weapon arts the host and the other summon throws at him. So i have to give up my hopes of vowing anymore with my dodge-fu skills. Fucking lame.

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I decided to grind a few levels. Just a few, seeing as I was frustrated and feeling not very good at the game after a few unfortunate encounters. I've been killing the frost guys in the Zamor ruins.

There's something gratifying about taking enemies that made me tear my hair out and then farming them for runes. I figured out they're actually really basic. If I use my golden vow, flame grant me strength and determination then jump attack it takes over half their health in one hit. So two jump attacks and they're done.

I had to stop myself, I was having too much fun getting revenge on those bastards... yeah I've got 67 strength now. This makes me feel a lot better about my build, and more positive about the game in general. I killed the whip guy for Volcano Manor and headed back there. Rykard was a bit of a spectacle.

I've never fought him before and was pretty worried that the spear I was given was +0. So I summoned Tiche. Tiche fucked him up. I probably took 1/2, maybe 2/3 of his health at most just hanging back and spamming that L2 while she cut him to pieces. It was really unnecessary overkill but also kind of funny.

Now I really will take a break, but I'm pretty excited to be in volcano manor. Can't wait to finally get Royal Knight's Resolve! That's been the plan for this build since I started using the Guts Greatsword back in Liurnia, before I even had the STR to one hand it. I'll probably look up where to find the Godskin Duo after that. I need that bell bearing. The sword is mighty but it must be stronger. Not levelling anything but STR now for the rest of the run. 42 endurance will have to do. 40 vigor... fuck it. I'll just burn rune arcs when I need more HP. I've got like 40 of them.

 

[Lambach]

Finished this last Friday. Gotta say, Maliketh,Godfrey/Horra Loux and Radagon are seriously a fucking masterclass in Boss design. Challenging, flashy and spectacular, but never feel unfair or straight-up bullshit (unlike fucking Malenia). Despite getting my ass kicked repeatedly by them over and over, I never felt so much as a tinge of frustration when dying to them (unlike motherfucking Malenia), and I really enjoyed learning all the ins-and-outs of their respective movesets. They're the definition of "git good" in all the best of ways.

One complaint, though, is that they kinda screwed the pooch on Elden Beast, it being simply an "OK" encounter that worsens the overall impression of the finale. Part of it is the fact that it's another "huge cunt that covers most of the screen when you get close, so hug its crotch" type of Boss that by its very nature is less interesting than their non-gigantic counterparts, and part of it is the fact I spend more than half the fight just running towards it because it constantly moves from one side of the (huge) arena to another and snipes you from a distance.

Starting NG+ now, with the intention of going through all the stuff (mostly Quests) I missed in this one. I'll probably re-spec once I beat Rennala, I want to try out a Sorcery-based build. I have enough levels and Talismans to keep my Dex very high and still put 65+ points in Int, so the idea is to mix the Hand of Malenia (i.e. the Waterfowl Skill on that weapon that she fucked me a 100 times with) with Sorceries and see how that goes. Not a very optimal build, but if I start getting my ass kicked, I can always re-spec again.