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

[Bloodeyes]

Crumbling Farum Azula is really cool. Mountaintop of the Giants was OK, but probably my least favorite area visually. I thought the dungeons were really cool though, especially the spiritcaller snail cave. It definitely had its moments, and I don't think the area was made so sparse and short because of time constraints. It fits tonally with what's going on with the plot.

The sense of elevation, emptiness, desolation. They could have done some unique enemies for the area though. Reskins of all the cuntiest stuff I've met across the world was a bit disappointing - though it did show how powerful I've gotten, given I was able to knock the shit out of all of them with little trouble. Plus more powerful reskins of enemies in the late game are a fairly standard videogame trope. Can't really complain about that one. Still, I'm glad it was short and I've moved on to somewhere a bit more on-par with the rest of the game aesthetically.

I was a little sad to see Melina go. Only a little though. I haven't actually interacted with her very much so it's not like we actually bonded. She's the levelup chick. I may have talked to her 5 or 6 times in 170 odd hours. That's the thing about this game - you talk to NPCs two or three times and then they drop dead. Every time. Are you supposed to be heartbroken? Someone you've hardly spoken to and learned nothing about, have no actual connection to, just died for no obvious reason. At least they usually drop loot.

The only NPC I actually liked was the boiled crab guy, but obviously I had to jump attack him because it was too far to walk to buy crab.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Here's a good example of the difference of knowing what the hell the game is talking about. I was reading the description of loot i got from the Scion, and the shield mentions Serosh, who i now know all about it. The first time i read it i was like, random made up fantasy lore? Lol who cares.

 

[Lyric Suite]

So some dude in PvP dropped 999 golden centepes.

This is lame it's basically all cheaters in Limgrave. Was low level PvP like this in previous Souls games?

The only souls game I played on pc was 2, and I played a lot of pvp in that, I rarely came across cheaters. Maybe a couple per week.

I didn't come across cheaters through out my entire time with my first character, however thousands of hours that was. I mean sometimes i got one shotted without knowing why but could have just been some overpowered weapon art or something. The vast majority of time the fight seemed normal, including in Haligtree which seems to be PvP central.

However, ALL PvP summons i got in Limegrave were with twinks or cheaters, no exceptions. Even the one that seemed fair the guy had magic pebbles, poison throwing crap, crystal darts etc.

It's really strange in a way, and also hilarious since the twinks are fighting each other which seems to me it kinda defeats the purpose. What's the point of twinking your character if you are fighting other twinks? Might as well do late game PvP and be done with it.

I never tried "low level" PvP in other Souls games which is why i was wondering if this is a thing.

 

[NJClaw]

I'll definitely try buff stacking and powerstancing when I see her. I've got the recipe for bloodboil aromatic. Never used it before. I've found the ash for seppuku. I don't have the white mask but I'll jump attack Varre next time I see him and take it off him. I won't be able to do much until I run into the last bell bearing. I think I won't over think things too much actually.

Killing Varrè would prevent you from ever getting the mask in this playthrough. The invader in Mohg's area drops it and he only spawns if Varrè is alive.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Still not sure why so many people want to kill NPCs.

I get getting gear early but sometimes there's nothing to gain (and a whole lot to lose) and they still do it.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Still not sure why so many people want to kill NPCs.

I get getting gear early but sometimes there's nothing to gain (and a whole lot to lose) and they still do it.

This game is really long and the NPCs are basic mannequins that spout nonsense at you. The quests are either "Talk to them a couple of times then they die" or you need to use a walkthrough to find them. Sorceress Sellen for example. No idea WTF is going on with her. I may go back and kill her just because I'm annoyed about that. Both of her. Boc too.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Just use the wiki man. Eventually the game will kill them for you anyway so you get the best of both worlds.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

No shields, I just used some of the most broken tools the game gives you. The build isn't fully optimized and the character is SL1, so I'm sure a proper character could do it with 0 dodges (entirely skipping phase 2):

This is the high effort way to beat Mogh without dodging. In my sorcery playthrough the first time I faced any boss I tried to see if I could kill them with the cerulean hidden tear + comet azur combo because it's hilarious when it works, and Mogh was the definitely the most amusing victim. He slowly walked up to me, went "TRES DUO UNUS" then died right as my FP bar ran out.

 

[Kruno]

https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/428

Look at what I found!

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, so the first thing the merchant Vale talks about is how "madness" spread through the land.

Ho Miyazaki, you sly bastard, making the story incomprehensible until you play the game twice.

 

[Lambach]

 

[Haplo]

Huh that's interesting maybe I misjudged it

Big time.
I actually mostly stopped using it, except vs some large groups, because spamming the art makes the game a cakewalk, while regular attacks, while strong, are too slow (slower then other colossal swords).
Well, I did use it as a Power Stance pairing with my Gratsword for a while.

 

[Haplo]

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.

Yeah, I've played it. A whole half an hour or so...
Was really impressed with the maps...

 

[Haplo]

Ok... so with my normal greatsword and two buffs I'm doing 2630. That's... rather shit actually. This is with the sword at +22 and my STR at 74 of a planned 80. That means if I just fought her as I am I'd need around 10 hits to get the kill. That doesn't sound like much but it's a lot to pull off a buffed jump attack in a boss room, especially against an aggressive boss that can one shot you.

I'll definitely try buff stacking and powerstancing when I see her. I've got the recipe for bloodboil aromatic. Never used it before. I've found the ash for seppuku. I don't have the white mask but I'll jump attack Varre next time I see him and take it off him. I won't be able to do much until I run into the last bell bearing. I think I won't over think things too much actually.

I'll just respec before the fight and dump everything into getting 60 vigor and 99 STR, smith my greatsword and troll's golden sword to +25 (Don't want to waste ancient dragon stones on weapons I won't re-use actually, I've only found 1 so far) then throw on a few stacking buffs, summon my jellyfish and have at it. If my plan is too complex I won't be able to concentrate on fighting her.

I have respect for your noble art of bonking enemies in the heads untill they die. But perhaps after all that bonking gets old, you'd like to try comboing sword attacks? Could discover a fun playstyle there. And not really inferior, just different.
I found it refreshing in end game (although I wasn't using that many jump attacks or Resolve/Determination).

If you would like to try that, I heartily recommend getting yourself a Watchdog's Greatsword. IMO its better then the Guts Greatsword (particularly R2s), despite slightly lower AR.

 

[Lambach]

I'm in Nokron right now, on my NG+ run, following Ranni's "quest"line. I had intended to re-spec into a DEX/INT build primarily focused on Sorceries for this run, but a couple of YT videos later, I decided to go for a STR/INT build instead, and holy shit, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I got the Royal Greatsword to +9 as well as that colossal sword they call "The Guts Greatsword" to +24, Infused with Magic and the "Waves of Darkness" Ash of War, switching between them as needed.

Being much slower than my previous Dual Bleed Katanas + Incantations build took some getting used to, but goddamn, colossal swords stagger enemies like crazy and have some awesome Weapon Arts inately, so I'm having a blast bonking most enemies to death and/or sniping them with Night Comet if I don't want to get too close.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Ok... so with my normal greatsword and two buffs I'm doing 2630. That's... rather shit actually. This is with the sword at +22 and my STR at 74 of a planned 80. That means if I just fought her as I am I'd need around 10 hits to get the kill. That doesn't sound like much but it's a lot to pull off a buffed jump attack in a boss room, especially against an aggressive boss that can one shot you.

I'll definitely try buff stacking and powerstancing when I see her. I've got the recipe for bloodboil aromatic. Never used it before. I've found the ash for seppuku. I don't have the white mask but I'll jump attack Varre next time I see him and take it off him. I won't be able to do much until I run into the last bell bearing. I think I won't over think things too much actually.

I'll just respec before the fight and dump everything into getting 60 vigor and 99 STR, smith my greatsword and troll's golden sword to +25 (Don't want to waste ancient dragon stones on weapons I won't re-use actually, I've only found 1 so far) then throw on a few stacking buffs, summon my jellyfish and have at it. If my plan is too complex I won't be able to concentrate on fighting her.

I have respect for your noble art of bonking enemies in the heads untill they die. But perhaps after all that bonking gets old, you'd like to try comboing sword attacks? Could discover a fun playstyle there. And not really inferior, just different.
I found it refreshing in end game (although I wasn't using that many jump attacks or Resolve/Determination).

If you would like to try that, I heartily recommend getting yourself a Watchdog's Greatsword. IMO its better then the Guts Greatsword (particularly R2s), despite slightly lower AR.

Yeah you already suggested I get one of those. I'm intending to grab two when I get the chance so I can see how they powerstance.

I'm already cooling on the jump attacks and realizing I can't beat the whole game by just using them. For FP/Stamina to damage it's my most efficient move, but I need to do other things too. When I was in Commander O'Neil's castle the frost Olegs kept killing me while I was setting up. It doesn't work great against really aggressive foes. At the moment I've just switched out my gear so I can have some poise and DR. I've ditched the shield and secondary weapon and I'm just trading with the aggressive ones, counting on my damage to carry me through. A faster sword would be brilliant though. I'll be trying both the Iron Greatsword and the Watchdog's Greatsword when I can.

 

[Haplo]

Eh, they are not exactly the best for powerstance (not that they are bad). But in powerstance they won't do anything a Greatsword + Ruins wouldn't do.
Well, except both being able to be enchanted, which the Ruins cannot, I guess.

As a single blade, the R2 is really neat though - and allows you to duck under a surprising amount of enemy attacks.

 

[Haplo]

I'm in Nokron right now, on my NG+ run, following Ranni's "quest"line. I had intended to re-spec into a DEX/INT build primarily focused on Sorceries for this run, but a couple of YT videos later, I decided to go for a STR/INT build instead, and holy shit, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I got the Royal Greatsword to +9 as well as that colossal sword they call "The Guts Greatsword" to +24, Infused with Magic and the "Waves of Darkness" Ash of War, switching between them as needed.

Being much slower than my previous Dual Bleed Katanas + Incantations build took some getting used to, but goddamn, colossal swords stagger enemies like crazy and have some awesome Weapon Arts inately, so I'm having a blast bonking most enemies to death and/or sniping them with Night Comet if I don't want to get too close.

Waves of Darkness ARE pretty awesome ...just in case your regular swings and Frostbite procs didn't stagger enough...

 

[Bloodeyes]

I'm in Nokron right now, on my NG+ run, following Ranni's "quest"line. I had intended to re-spec into a DEX/INT build primarily focused on Sorceries for this run, but a couple of YT videos later, I decided to go for a STR/INT build instead, and holy shit, I'm having a lot of fun with it. I got the Royal Greatsword to +9 as well as that colossal sword they call "The Guts Greatsword" to +24, Infused with Magic and the "Waves of Darkness" Ash of War, switching between them as needed.

Being much slower than my previous Dual Bleed Katanas + Incantations build took some getting used to, but goddamn, colossal swords stagger enemies like crazy and have some awesome Weapon Arts inately, so I'm having a blast bonking most enemies to death and/or sniping them with Night Comet if I don't want to get too close.

Try Royal Knight's Resolve on the Guts. It's an incredible ash and does great work on a big slow weapon like that where you're mainly setting up big single attacks anyway. I've tried it with both fire and heavy affinities and it seems to hit harder heavy. I think that's because of resistances because the total AR is higher on fire. Not sure if that would be true for magic/cold affinities.

Greathammers bonk brilliantly as well and are a bit faster than colossal swords. So if you're used to powerstancing that might work well for you. I've got a greatmace that I switch to sometimes. Really cool looking weapon and it hits like a truck with RKR 2h jumping heavies.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Well, except both being able to be enchanted, which the Ruins cannot, I guess.

That's huge for me though. I've never been able to stick with a somber weapon. The ability to change affinity and ash as needed, or just when I get bored makes smithing stone weapons much better IMO. Even the strongest ash gets boring after a while, or you run into something that shuts your whole game down and need to change.

 

[Lambach]

Try Royal Knight's Resolve on the Guts. It's an incredible ash and does great work on a big slow weapon like that where you're mainly setting up big single attacks anyway.

I don't have enough Strength to make that worthwhile, I went too heavy into Intelligence, Endurance and Mind. When it comes to using any kind of special ability other than just jump + bonk, I want it to be as flashy as possible, because in this playthrough, I'm LARP-ing as Marvel's version of Gandalf with two ridiculously oversized fuck-off swords.

That said, I have to share something else here. As I stated in my previous post, I was in Nokron, which meant doing a fight against the Mimic Tear. In my first playthrough, I chopped that bitch up no problem, and I actually felt a wee bit insulted by the game for making me by far the easiest "Great Enemy Felled".

So in this playthrough, I decided to simply sit the fight out and see how a solo summon would do against, well, myself. I summoned +10 Tiche and ran away to the furthest corner of the arena so that the Mimic Tear would focus exclusively on Tiche.

Contrary to my expectations, he completely kicked her ass. It was unreal. That same summon without whom I'd have never beaten Malenia in my original playthrough got smashed to fucking pieces by a significantly lesser, dumber version of myself. Mimic Tear was catching Tiche out mid-mother-fucking jump and staggering her with offensive Sorceries (mostly Night Comet and Magma Shot), he was using the Royal Greatsword Weapon Art relentlessly and chunking ridiculous amounts of her heath with it, he was successfully dodging every single one of her Blade of Death casts and doing a lot of stuff that I myself probably couldn't do.

At the end, Tiche was dead and the Mimic Tear had more than 3/4 of HP remaining, so I just bonk-ed him a couple of times and that was that, but my god, I did not expect he would annihilate the summon that can almost solo Malenia's first phase.

 

[Üstad]

I keep hearing about this game but never bothered to check it. Is it like new Skyrim?

 

[Bloodeyes]

I thought I was over levelled because most people finish the game around 150 and I'm 182. Now I don't think over levelled can even exist in the game. Those frost archers are mother fuckers. I've been trying to grind them for their gear set. I've got the hat and the robe. That will have to do. They melt my health bar. I have to use my physick just to fight the wolf riding ones. Utter bastards. Brilliant new enemy but fuck I hate fighting them.

I love the Consecrated Snowfield though. Really fun area with so many tough things to fight. My greatsword is +25 and I have 80 STR! I feel complete. Now I need 50 endurance and 60 vigor... maybe 40 mind too... but then, then it will be enough levels.

Edit: Is there any known way of stopping the Dragonkin Soldier ghosts from appearing? There's a sleeping ablinauric in the church. I figure the summons are her dreams. I got the archer chick I found ages ago to talk to her. Will this stop it? I'm thinking I could just kill her. I can't attack in the church but if I stand outside and cast rotten breath...

Edit 2: Nope. I was able to get up quite close to her and cast rotten breath through the window. I'm certain I hit her on the side of her neck but no health bar appeared. She isn't killable.

 

[Multidirectional]

Wow, I was at Consecrated Snowfield when I was level 98 I believe. I guess I might've missed a bit of content. Still cannot be arsed to continue Mohg. Maybe I'll just get my ass summoned for him few times first, as a warm up.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Wow, I was at Consecrated Snowfield when I was level 98 I believe. I guess I might've missed a bit of content. Still cannot be arsed to continue Mohg. Maybe I'll just get my ass summoned for him few times first, as a warm up.

He's really not that bad if you either chug the shield flask thing right before he starts his countdown curse or if you basically chug after each number. The flask is better because then you can beat his ass while he's doing nothing to you.

I mostly mention that in case you used the flask before the battle starts - not sure if that shield expires, but if it did before his countdown starts, it would be a waste.