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

[Wunderbar]

Summons? Why would I ever summon anything?

 

[Morenatsu.]

Haven't played this but in DS1 I was a shield-using dexdragon. Because sword and shield is a timeless classic chosen by all true warriors, and two-handing is what homosexuals do with their massive cocks.

 

[Wunderbar]

True chads use drake sword.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

What's the current cheese for PVP? My old build isn't as gay as it used to be, I need more power.

 

[Late Bloomer]

What's the current cheese for PVP? My old build isn't as gay as it used to be, I need more power.

Fingerprint Stone Shield plus poke.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Anything less bitchmade? I hate shields.

 

[NJClaw]

Never in my life have I equipped a shield in these games

Roll spammer spotted, initiate parry supremacy sequence.

 

[Bigg Boss]

If you are not playing with a guitar hero controller with a giant club with no armor your penis is small and not good for pleasing womenfolk.

 

[Jasede]

Yeah, I realize in retrospect how that sounded.

But these games are all about playing them "your way" - if you have more fun using all the tools you can find, go ahead and do that. If you want to never get hit, go do that. If you want to use a shield, that is fine too - it plays quite differently so it's fun to try out. It just never clicked for me.

I still feel like the game feels much 'emptier' than other From Software games. I am just so tired of the "lots of things happened in the past and now everything sucks and is slowly decaying" premise every single game in this series has. I love that sort of theme and mood but I do not need it in every game. I would be so happy if we could just get a new King's Field, or an entirely new series (that isn't Dark Souls again.) But then, why would they do that? They are sitting on a golden goose.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I think it's fair to complain that playing without a shield is much, much harder.

No it's not. I always play full strength heavy armor sword/board but my go-to for tough bosses up untill mid-lategame is dropping all heavy gear and go full roll/two-hand. Yes, when you are all statted up with a good shield it becomes ez mode, before that blocking just complicates things compared to roll/hit. Always feels great when you cross that line although ER's power curve kinda forced me back to two-handing a couple times near the end, which was a shame.

 

[Morenatsu.]

To be fair I am retarded with equipment and stats, so any build made by me is probably not EZ mode. Poking things with a stick and blocking with a piece of cardboard in no armour because I'm a dragon. Manus buttraped me over 9000 times and I had to git gud and roll everything and learn the frame-perfect item button-mash strat and not block most of the time because I'd be instastunkilled, meanwhile some strengthfag with a big sword and heavy armour walks in and hits him a few times and it's over.

What I'm saying is the best ways to play are subpar retard and level 1 full-naked broken sword only. Anything else is like, are you even playing?

Also, I never parry. It's scary to parry.

 

[Lutte]

I dislike the game so far... the bosses are not too hard and it just all seems like every Souls game ever. Again. Do you guys even read the dialogue? I skip all of it. At this point the NPC archetypes feel so played out. If I meet another ambiguously amoral mysterious person I will scream. Oh cool, a cave with summoning ashes in it.

Summons? Why would I ever summon anything? That is what shield users do. Fuck them.

Elden Ring is both the best and the worst game From has ever made. Some of the level design I still think of very fondly (mainly some legacy dungeons and underground maps), months after I've been done with the game, while some of the content just shouldn't have existed, like all the open world repeated "activities" some of which are even more boring and annoying than Bloodborne's randomly generated Chalice Dungeons.
If you do a completionist playthrough then easily 70% of the game time spent is trash, absolutely trash. I have PTSD of the amount of time I spent looking at my horse's butt.

And like you said, it really doesn't do anything the formula hasn't overdone before, it's called Elden Ring but you could call it Dark Souls 4 and pretend the lands between are the world that was given birth to after Dark Souls 3's apocalyptic Dark ending and no one would be able to distinguish it as a new franchise. It's """open world""" dork souls. A mistake.

Btw, the music which usually adds some atmosphere and theme to boss fights was so severely lacking here, a first time for From IMHO, although the uniqueness of the music declined game after game, Elden Ring is where it truly became one hundred percent generic jewlywood trash. I also don't understand why they went with constant background music when they can't be arsed to make it good, the silence while exploring environments in previous games supported by nothing but environmental sounds added to the vibes of the games.

I sometimes sort-of wanna replay it, just to experience things like the leyndell sewers again (yes, a sewer level has become the best level ever), then I recall the amount of time lost to watching your character horse on an empty map and.. no, I'm not reinstalling this game, done is done.

I hope someday someone makes a mod that removes the entire open world and just makes you teleport from level to level from a hub ala DeS. Just keep the underground open world because they're also more like legacy dungeons than the rest of the game content. And litter said dungeons with the items you'd get in the open shite.

 

[Caim]

Honestly, what's the best gameplay mod so far? I've seen mods that crank the difficulty past the point of what is reasonable, as well as meme mods that turn the Tree Sentinel into Shrek and stuff like that. But is there some of that Good Stuff out there?

 

[Late Bloomer]

Anything less bitchmade? I hate shields.

Dual Wield Cross-Naginati slap some bleed or occult on them.

 

[Dadd]

Would it be possible to make an isometric, fixed-camera mod of ER?

 

[Bloodeyes]

I think it's fair to complain that playing without a shield is much, much harder.

No it's not. I always play full strength heavy armor sword/board but my go-to for tough bosses up untill mid-lategame is dropping all heavy gear and go full roll/two-hand. Yes, when you are all statted up with a good shield it becomes ez mode, before that blocking just complicates things compared to roll/hit. Always feels great when you cross that line although ER's power curve kinda forced me back to two-handing a couple times near the end, which was a shame.

How does dropping your shield help with bosses? As far as being all statted up I'm not sure what you mean. I've never needed or wanted more or less than a heater shield with the no skill ash. Heavier shields have more guard boost but they are heavier. Stamina regen and stamina management make it not necessary to have them for me. I'm used to it.

I always play like this. Endurance helps a lot in the late game. I like 35 in the late game but can deal with 28. 20-25 for mid game. Min 15 for early game, before I even take vigor as nothing much can one shot in the starting area. Only time I find the shield a liability is against things that riposte. when the daggers come out I two hand.

Here's a pretty representative stat progression for how I play a shield user:

- Get 15 - 18 endurance then take a weapon prerequisite and switch the broadsword to secondary status. Usually a greatsword but I'm really loving the zweihander in my current run.
- Then 20 - 25 vigor.
- Then main stat to 20.
- Then vigor to 40.
- Any other prereqs like spells + any mind I'm taking (usually not much). If I'm going to go for a colossal I'll likely do it now as well.
- Next, main stat to 40 ish or 50 and take endurance as needed for equip load, eventually ending up at 35 or so.
- Then finish levelling vigor before continuing main stat until the build hits the level I planned it to.
- Get bored of the build 5 - 10 levels before its done and restart the game with very slightly different take on the same build

I never feel weak. My shield never feels like anything other than a huge benefit.

Here's an example build. It's actually the one I'm levelling now and it kicks ass. Purpose is PVE primarily but I want to dip my toe in PVP eventually as well. I think I'm ready. Probably. Whatever it's not like I die in real life if I lose.

Spoiler

Wretch start.

Vigor: 58

Mind: 17

Endurance: 35

Strength: 70

Dex: 11

Int: 11

Faith: 15

Arcane: 12

Talismans change situationally except green turtle and great jar's. Physick is health regen and STR to hit the soft cap for boss fights.

Uses a heavy zweihander and soft swaps to a cold broadsword for things that the broadsword excels at. Ash doesn't matter on the colossal, it's golden vow but I seldom use it. Broadsword has square off and I spam it. It's fucking broken and I love it. Lots of hard swap alternate armaments for situational use like a dagger with glintblade phalanx to stance break big stompy bastards and a sacred blade longsword to one shot skellys. Clawmark seal with only non scaling buffs, curatives and a couple seldom used but extremely situationally handy offensive spells.

Been using a heater shield in every encounter since I walked up the hill from the tutorial cave and picked it up. I've gone straight at every boss nearby to me, haven't gone away to level first for any of them and I've been killing all the bosses. Not just the shardbearers. Everything. I haven't died much except to the dragonkin soldier when quite under levelled and able to be one shot but I got him eventually. The shield was a lot less useful against him, but even there it at least gave me a chance to recover from what otherwise would have been a OHKO.

The shield turns what would be massive damage or death into a stagger when you fuck up and don't notice an attack coming. Staggers can lead to death but it's not like I'm trying to block big hits. If I can dodge or space them at all reliably that's always preferable. But mistakes are made frequently and the shield makes them no big deal at all. Whoops rather than oh fuck!

 

[HeatEXTEND]

How does dropping your shield help with bosses?

It circumvents all this:

builds

As far as being all statted up I'm not sure what you mean. I've never needed or wanted more or less than a heater shield with the no skill ash. Heavier shields have more guard boost but they are heavier. Stamina regen and stamina management make it not necessary to have them for me. I'm used to it.

I always play like this. Endurance helps a lot in the late game. I like 35 in the late game but can deal with 28. 20-25 for mid game. Min 15 for early game, before I even take vigor as nothing much can one shot in the starting area. Only time I find the shield a liability is against things that riposte. when the daggers come out I two hand.

Here's a pretty representative stat progression for how I play a shield user:

- Get 15 - 18 endurance then take a weapon prerequisite and switch the broadsword to secondary status. Usually a greatsword but I'm really loving the zweihander in my current run.
- Then 20 - 25 vigor.
- Then main stat to 20.
- Then vigor to 40.
- Any other prereqs like spells + any mind I'm taking (usually not much). If I'm going to go for a colossal I'll likely do it now as well.
- Next, main stat to 40 ish or 50 and take endurance as needed for equip load, eventually ending up at 35 or so.
- Then finish levelling vigor before continuing main stat until the build hits the level I planned it to.
- Get bored of the build 5 - 10 levels before its done and restart the game with very slightly different take on the same build

I never feel weak. My shield never feels like anything other than a huge benefit.

Here's an example build. It's actually the one I'm levelling now and it kicks ass. Purpose is PVE primarily but I want to dip my toe in PVP eventually as well. I think I'm ready. Probably. Whatever it's not like I die in real life if I lose.

Spoiler

Wretch start.

Vigor: 58

Mind: 17

Endurance: 35

Strength: 70

Dex: 11

Int: 11

Faith: 15

Arcane: 12

Talismans change situationally except green turtle and great jar's. Physick is health regen and STR to hit the soft cap for boss fights.

Uses a heavy zweihander and soft swaps to a cold broadsword for things that the broadsword excels at. Ash doesn't matter on the colossal, it's golden vow but I seldom use it. Broadsword has square off and I spam it. It's fucking broken and I love it. Lots of hard swap alternate armaments for situational use like a dagger with glintblade phalanx to stance break big stompy bastards and a sacred blade longsword to one shot skellys. Clawmark seal with only non scaling buffs, curatives and a couple seldom used but extremely situationally handy offensive spells.

Been using a heater shield in every encounter since I walked up the hill from the tutorial cave and picked it up. I've gone straight at every boss nearby to me, haven't gone away to level first for any of them and I've been killing all the bosses. Not just the shardbearers. Everything. I haven't died much except to the dragonkin soldier when quite under levelled and able to be one shot but I got him eventually. The shield was a lot less useful against him, but even there it at least gave me a chance to recover from what otherwise would have been a OHKO.

The shield turns what would be massive damage or death into a stagger when you fuck up and don't notice an attack coming. Staggers can lead to death but it's not like I'm trying to block big hits. If I can dodge or space them at all reliably that's always preferable. But mistakes are made frequently and the shield makes them no big deal at all. Whoops rather than oh fuck!

I am a souls retard and just level strength, stamina and health evenly untill stamina and health gains drop off and that's that lol. Serious shield stamina management sucks vs bosses compared to light rolling, not worth it for me untill it becomes ez mode later on.
And yeah the heater shield is good, maybe too good; same for the vagabond armor, itemization was as good as non-existant for like 75% of the game. Picking up the golden greatshield was fucking sweet

 

[Zurbo]

Btw, the music which usually adds some atmosphere and theme to boss fights was so severely lacking here, a first time for From IMHO, although the uniqueness of the music declined game after game, Elden Ring is where it truly became one hundred percent generic jewlywood trash. I also don't understand why they went with constant background music when they can't be arsed to make it good, the silence while exploring environments in previous games supported by nothing but environmental sounds added to the vibes of the games.

Yeah, I hardly recall the boss themes, while in the previous games many of them have made an impression on me.
The one, which stood out for me was the Godrick theme. It added a lot to a fight. Played well with his moves.



Godskin Apostles one was also nice.

 

[Lutte]

Oh yeah, the godskin apostle one was the most memorable but.. it really feels a little too much like a rehash of this.

 

[Wunderbar]

Godskin Apostle's theme was the most memorable for me as well. Arriving to Divine tower of Caelid severely underleveled and underequipped helped too, since it took me ages to beat the flexible cocksucker.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I spent 63 hours trying to like this game, but as an elitist Souls-like veteran who has beaten all the games by this developer (including King's Field), I would have to say that Elden Ring is the worst game in their catalogue. It has the worst boss design out of them all, an incredibly boring open-world, and a design mentality that seems like it wants to maximize wiki-crawling when it comes to discovering the lore and the "right way to play". This is nothing like the previous games in the series. I think they made a mistake by trying to clone Breath of the Wild. The quantity-over-quality approach just doesn't work for this genre. Ofc, the game was massively successful due to the mindless gaymer scourge who likes to eat shit (both literally and figuratively), so I guess we can write FromSoftware off going forward. They are unlikely to go back to smaller scope games after such success. I was also quite disappointed by how they removed universal character death. In previous Souls games you could kill any NPC and there was consequences to doing so. In this one a lot of RPG elements are removed or streamlined, and it makes this yet another open-world action-adventure game instead of an RPG, imo.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

a design mentality that seems like it wants to maximize wiki-crawling when it comes to discovering the lore and the "right way to play".

Huh?

 

[cruel]

But... You don't need a wiki for this game, not at all. You won't miss much by skipping some of the npc quests, and all important stuff is available through regular exploration. The only exception is probably Ranni's questline, it's worth going through.

The most important advice is probably this: make sure to do a one week break from the game around 60-80h mark. You will enjoy it much more when coming back after this.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

But... You don't need a wiki for this game, not at all. You won't miss much by skipping some of the npc quests, and all important stuff is available through regular exploration. The only exception is probably Ranni's questline, it's worth going through.

The most important advice is probably this: make sure to do a one week break from the game around 60-80h mark. You will enjoy it much more when coming back after this.

The experience is just subpar.

 

[Ysaye]

I thought Hoarah Loux's and the Dragonlord's themes were pretty memorable.