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

[Bloodeyes]

You can be casual and beat every Souls game.

Elden Ring took me something like 170 hours. How can someone play a game that long and be considered "casual"? I haven't played the others but I know they're a lot shorter. Still, to have played all of them you'd have to redefine casual. That's a pretty big time sink, not something one does casually.

 

[somerandomdude]

I just had my first taste of PVP. A friend and I played co-op for an hour or so in NG+ with our ridiculously over levelled characters. My character was level 181 from having killed every living thing in NG at least once. His character was 190 something from grinding Mogwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. We slaughtered a couple of early game bosses and he handily dispatched a crafty invaded who baited me into an ambush with great arrows then nearly killed me with glintstone sorcery.

Then we fought a duel. Him with ROB, me with the guts greatsword. I absolutely fucking dumpstered him. Like, killed him in seconds. He complained about me using the guts so I grabbed a couple random straight swords from my inventory and duel wielded them. Forgot to change my talismans or physick, just jumped in and fought. Don't know what ashes they had, I didn't use them. This time the fight lasted probably 25 seconds. He hit me a bunch with that WA and procced bleed for half my health, but I still won pretty convincingly.

I asked him how much vigor he had "45". I have 60. I also explained I had mad damage negation from armor, physick and my boiled crab. He aked how much HP I had. "2134" I told him. He was mad and said he had to log off because his wife will be home soon.

This dude isn't a casual. He's played and beaten every Fromsoft game. I won my first duel!

Only a total scrub would complain about getting dumped in PVP by a Guts GS. Congrats on your first win + butthurt received from a salty casual. The reason why the "souls" community is toxic isn't because of git gud memes, it's because people get seriously butthurt when they lose in this game, but somehow the blame is placed by many on the ones who mock, meme, laugh at and ridicule the butthurt manchildren.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I just had my first taste of PVP. A friend and I played co-op for an hour or so in NG+ with our ridiculously over levelled characters. My character was level 181 from having killed every living thing in NG at least once. His character was 190 something from grinding Mogwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. We slaughtered a couple of early game bosses and he handily dispatched a crafty invaded who baited me into an ambush with great arrows then nearly killed me with glintstone sorcery.

Then we fought a duel. Him with ROB, me with the guts greatsword. I absolutely fucking dumpstered him. Like, killed him in seconds. He complained about me using the guts so I grabbed a couple random straight swords from my inventory and duel wielded them. Forgot to change my talismans or physick, just jumped in and fought. Don't know what ashes they had, I didn't use them. This time the fight lasted probably 25 seconds. He hit me a bunch with that WA and procced bleed for half my health, but I still won pretty convincingly.

I asked him how much vigor he had "45". I have 60. I also explained I had mad damage negation from armor, physick and my boiled crab. He aked how much HP I had. "2134" I told him. He was mad and said he had to log off because his wife will be home soon.

This dude isn't a casual. He's played and beaten every Fromsoft game. I won my first duel!

Only a total scrub would complain about getting dumped in PVP by a Guts GS. Congrats on your first win + butthurt received from a salty casual.

Yeah he was mad all right. Its kind of satisfying because when I told him a couple days ago my favorite build is STR/FTH he told me "DEX/Arcane is the strongest build". DEX/ARC is fine, but Vigor is the most important stat. I beat him twice with no L2. Strongest build my ass.

 

[somerandomdude]

In Dark Souls 3, I used to troll people at Pontiffs with a character named "Raype Face", I wore no armor except for the thrall hood, and the only weapon I used was a dagger 2h'd for quick step. One of these fools literally chugged all their estus, as the host, and then suicides off the edge after getting stabbed 50x rather than fight like a man, and lose to a dagger stab. Then in comes a steam invite where they message me just to tell me I'm a boring player and they're blocking me, LOL. The funny part is, they seriously believe after getting their ass kicked the entire match and chugging all their estus, that walking off the edge somehow means that they didn't lose.

 

[somerandomdude]

This pretty much sums it up. I've heard at least 20-30 more excuses for "Why I won".

 

[NJClaw]

Him with ROB, me with the guts greatsword.

[...]


He complained about me using the guts

 

[Major_Blackhart]

This community sounds amazing. And the game designers sound fantastic for trolling constantly.

 

[Caim]

You can be casual and beat every Souls game.

Elden Ring took me something like 170 hours. How can someone play a game that long and be considered "casual"? I haven't played the others but I know they're a lot shorter. Still, to have played all of them you'd have to redefine casual. That's a pretty big time sink, not something one does casually.

Just because something takes a lot of time doesn't mean that it's not casual. It's the approach, not the method. If you just want to kick back an hour or two every day or so to explore the Lands Between, see its sights and get your shit pushed in until you git gud doesn't mean that you're hardcore, you're just someone who puts in a lot of time. If you decide to get sweaty, grow out your neckbeard and blaze through in like 40 hours or less doesn't mean that you're a casual for playing the game less than the average player.

 

[Bloodeyes]

The most challenging challenge run?

 

[Mauman]

The most challenging challenge run?

When I saw Rick, Soldier of God, flashstep behind the player....I knew this was worth a watch

 

[Bloodeyes]

I'm thinking of doing a challenge run myself. This was my first souls title so I really struggled with it at first, but I've put a lot of time in and I still play daily. At this point I've become competent and I'm trying to get good. Progress has been a slow process in that regard. I don't think I've been pushing myself enough. I've stayed too much in my comfort zone, relying on knowledge of the game rather than player skill. I'm trying to change that.

Right now I'm doing a no summons, no level grinding (Haven't actually done level grinding in ages, but its worth mentioning), no OP ashes run. By "OP" ashes I just mean anything that doesn't require timing or skill to use effectively. So no Lion's Claw, no Wild Strikes.

Basically I never met Ranni in the church and never got the spirit calling bell and I'm bashing my way through the game using the Guts Greatsword with Determination, though I've also used Golden vow a bit. Notable kills are Margit, Godrick, Rennala, Radahn, ghost Godfrey, the black blade kindred, the Valiant Gargoyle and Decaying Eczykes. So far its been no different from any other playthrough. Not having Lion's Claw available to me is much harder than not having summons but determination has been fine and the Guts has such a good R1 that I don't even really need an ash.

It's still not significantly harder than any other playthrough. I thought I would be lost without my jelly fish but I haven't even noticed her absence. I need to make my challenge run more challenging or I won't improve as a player at all.

I've been playing this game daily for six fucking months and I still haven't gotten good. By daily I mean daily. I can't remember the last time I didn't put in at least 2 or 3 hours. Not with the goal of getting good, just because I enjoy the game that much and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. But I think after all that I should be good at what I do the most, so its time to add more restrictions.

Here's what I'm thinking:

- No summons of any kind for any reason
- No rotten breath
- No OP ashes.
- No shield except parrying shield if I want one (though parrying is still a lost cause for me)
- No colossal sword/colossal weapon
- Must stay light equip load
- My vigor cannot be higher than my main stat at any point in the run, and cannot exceed 40.
- Stop levelling at 125.

I'm thinking I'll use Death's Poker. Its ash is very strong but takes skill and timing to land. That's a challenging challenge run I think. That should make me get better faster.

Edit: Ok I'm doing it. I started as Vagabond. Lost to the Grafted Scion but beat the tree sentinel. Just using my longsword for now.

Edit 2: Fuck yeah first try on Margit. I thought no shield would take like 50 tries. It turns out light roll is actually a much bigger advantage than a heater shield against him. He was actually easier like this than with both my shield and jelly fish.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Beat it for the first time today. Severely overleveled unfortunately. I beat it at level 245.

Of the big bads, I think Dragon Lord Picadusax was my favorite. The guy was a fucking kaiju.

 

[Bloodeyes]

Beat it for the first time today. Severely overleveled unfortunately. I beat it at level 245.

Of the big bads, I think Dragon Lord Picadusax was my favorite. The guy was a fucking kaiju.

A win is a win. Congrats. Have you killed Malenia? Even at 245 that should still be difficult to say the least.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Yep. For the first time thru I killed the demi gods in relative order.

Godfrey in Stormcastle
Then went to Liurnia and beat Rennala.
Then went thru the castle and did some work for Ranni.
Then offed Radahn.
Then did a ton of work for Volcano Manor, but didn't kill Rykard until after I completed all the assassination jobs.
Then Morgott the Omen King.
Then Praetor Rykard.
I went thru the under earth in the capital and killed the lich dragon.
Then went thru most of the Mountaintop of the giants to castle sol.
Then went thru the hidden snowfields to the tree of Miquella to kill Malenia. That honestly took 4 or 5 tries.
Then killed Mogh, who was insanely easy as he's not immune to bleed.
Then the fire giant as the big bad, but he was also fairly easy.
Then dragon lord of farum azula, who I died once against.
Then Malekith.
Then Gideon.
Then Horah Loux.
And I killed both Radagon and the Elden beast first time thru.

My load out varied but I used one of the following depending:
Bloodhound fang- this was my first true love, and I think I used this for a lot of bosses early on.
Great Mace- I still love this thing. Max out strength, heavy, and lions claw. And beating on guys like Sauron is a big plus.
Sword of Milos- completely underrated. Easily tied for my favorite weapon.
Giantcrusher Hammer- put trolls scream on it at first, but then at the end switched it up with lions claw and was just dominating enemies.

In boss fights I always used a shield, be it brass, gilded greatsword, or fingerprint.

And my armor was always heavy, going full banished knight, then bull goat, then tree sentinel, and then switching up between Lionel and Omen, but mostly sticking with Omen.

One of my favorite moves if the enemy was vulnerable to bleed was to dual sword of milos and a blood enchanted +25 lordsworn greatsword and summon mimic tear. Then switch to a fingerprint shield. That way is have protection. I'd get bleed off at least twice a boss fight.

In the end, that's how I beat Malenia too.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So I have to ask, how hard is NG+? Is it exponentially?

It's kind of fucked up, but the tree dragon guardian before malekith gave me a harder time than malekith or the fucking kaiju king. I mean, that thing just beat my ass over and over until I started dodging a bit. But fuck me lightning protection did NOTHING. Couldn't tank shit from him.

Also, I love making the faces. Here is the guy I beat the game with, Gromman. Aside from having a face for radio and a skin condition, he firmly believes that dad bods are cool and leg days are for fags.

https://imgur.com/a/n077ywK

 

[Bloodeyes]

So I have to ask, how hard is NG+? Is it exponentially?

It's kind of fucked up, but the tree dragon guardian before malekith gave me a harder time than malekith or the fucking kaiju king. I mean, that thing just beat my ass over and over until I started dodging a bit. But fuck me lightning protection did NOTHING. Couldn't tank shit from him.

Also, I love making the faces. Here is the guy I beat the game with, Gromman. Aside from having a face for radio and a skin condition, he firmly believes that dad bods are cool and leg days are for fags.

https://imgur.com/a/n077ywK

Its piss easy on NG+1 then gets gradually harder until it plateaus at NG+7. NG+7 is extremely difficult. I've not been beyond +1 personally but a Twitch chick I watch was getting two shot by Godskin duo with 80 vigor on NG+6.

In my own game:

My get good run is progressing. This was a great idea. Its a challenging challenge run but not so difficult as to be unfun. I'm still in the kiddy pool (Limgrave and surrounds) but I've killed the Erdtree avatar, Margit, the crucible knight, the bell bearing hunter, the Ancient Hero of Zamor, the night's cavalries, the death birds, all the NPC invaders the bloodhound knight and most of the mini dungeon bosses. And Patches, for the light roll drip.

Most of these things weren't harder at all because I know their patterns decently well. Things that are more difficult are the trolls and giant bears. They aren't a genuine threat because of the low damage in this area, but I'm taking a lot more damage fighting them. And imps. Fuck imps.

I'm swapping between using a +5 broadsword with square off (OP, but no hyperarmor so requires player skill) and a +4 morningstar with determination. I also have a +0 shortbow, patches spear and a +3 sacred blade longsword.

Notable stuff that's left in the area: The dragon, the Dragonkin soldier, the deer (lol), the two grafted scions in the dungeon at the start and the boss of that dungeon. Hardest thing will probably be those grafted scions as I've never learned their patterns. I'm genuinely terrible at fighting them. Also Godrick. I suck at Godrick because I've only soloed him once before.

Edit: I was not wrong about the grafted scions. They were an absolute nightmare and took me a couple dozen attempts at least. In the end I realized that fighting two grafted scions with nothing but a broadsword and a cloth robe was too far beyond my skills to be possible this run, no matter how many times I tried it. So I went and killed the magma worm in Gael Tunnel (Easy first try). I used the runes to level int and got the Demi Human Queen staff as well as Carian Slicer and Glintstone Pebble. Using sorcery isn't really in the spirit of the challenge but it's not against the rules I set myself. Pebble won the day against the scions and I was able to progress to the boss which I beat easily with the broadsword.

No shield or summon makes little difference against enemies whose patterns I know, in places where I'm free to roll around without going off a cliff. Next is Stormveil Castle and Godrick. I want to pick up the iron whetblade so I can make my weapons keen. I've got 20 DEX and I'm not really getting much from it yet. I just levelled it so I could level vigor to 20.

Also, in Elden Ring a trilby hat weighs as much as a sword or a heater shield. No wonder everyone has neck problems. This was meant to be a shieldless run, not a hatless run but sadly I think it's going to end up being both.

 

[randir14]

Someone's working on a texture improvement mod. Kind of a massive file size though, multiple parts and most are over 10gb.
https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/2431?tab=files

 

[Bloodeyes]

My "challenge run" is progressing fine. Its not actually feeling like much of a challenge at this point TBH. I think I underestimated myself. Two shardbearers are down and I'm almost finished clearing all the bosses and dungeons in Limgrave and Liurnia. Despite having fairly low vigor and now negations my character has felt quite strong. I take scary amounts of damage but light roll and my low time to kill mean I don't actually get hit that much. It all evens out. Except with dogs. Fuck dogs.

I'm working on a Dex/Golden Order build using Death's Poker. I've been loving the weapon. My main strat has been to trigger the R2 variant of Ghostflame ignition inside enemies for massive damage and instant frostbite, then use O flame to reset the frost and do it again.

Here's how my build will look when its done:

Spoiler

 

[Major_Blackhart]

There's one thing that I'm unsatisfied with, and that's the godslayer weapons.

Edit: the heavy thruster is great but the damn gleam eyed queens sword does my str build no good

 

[Bloodeyes]

There's one thing that I'm unsatisfied with, and that's the godslayer weapons.

Edit: the heavy thruster is great but the damn gleam eyed queens sword does my str build no good

You confused me a bit calling it that. I thought there was a weapon I missed. Yeah the Godslayer's greatsword has awkward scaling for a colossal. Its cool but I've never used it for that reason and probably never will.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I've hit a brick wall with the Black Blade Kindred. With a strength build I can solo this guy at level 70 or so and I always do. It isn't easy and I never do it first try, but with the great mace and lion's claw I can kill gargoyles. I'm even getting kind of good at it. This time I can't beat him. I don't mean I feel like I can't but if I try harder or try something else I can. No I actually can't. I'm level 81, so not under levelled for the fight.I have 38 vigor which is only 2 less than I normally have when I fight this guy. I have no armor, but I have boiled crab. I'm strong enough, I'm just the wrong build.

My only physical striking damage is from flails and hammers, and Death's Poker +5 does jack shit to this guy.

I've tried using both incantations and sorcery. Black flames gave the best results but it took a very, very long time and I ran out of blue flasks (base mind) with him still having a quarter health. I would need to use all blue flasks and I can't no-hit this guy. I'm just not skilled enough. If the fight was shorter I could do it eventually, but it takes so long to wear down that health bar with my shitty dex/int damage I get fatigued and start fucking up. Once I've been hit I'm almost dead or dead. Panic sets in, I fuck up again, get hit again. I've been doing this for hours.

Tomorrow I'm going to try again using starscourge heirloom. I can 2h the greatmace with that, and I'll use STR knot. Hopefully between that and ash of war determination I can get him. I think this fight is almost impossible to solo as a DEX build.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Which black black blade kindred? Beast sanctum or the lift?

 

[Bloodeyes]

Which black black blade kindred? Beast sanctum or the lift?

Sanctum.

I don't really want to use items to make myself a STR build. I want to win with the build I'm playing. I'm like that. I like my builds and I consider it a kind of failure if I have to change to something else to beat an enemy. So I've been trying everything.

Before I quit I had a moment. I said to myself "Your character is naked with Misericorde and you're trying to use the butt slam to kill black blade kindred. How has it come to this?" I was trying to use blue dancer charm to up my damage and ground slam is actually a solid ash, but the whole thing just seemed quite absurd in that moment.

Anyway today is a new day and I'm going to farm some runes to upgrade the flamberge to +12 and try with giant hunt. Its the wrong damage type but I'm hoping the raw damage is enough that I can kill him like that anyway. If that fails I'll just use use the talisman to 2h the hammer.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I wish the souljars of fortune did more damage.

 

[Caim]

I wish the souljars of fortune did more damage.

Or at least double their number. Lemme pick them with the same intent I pick the GLA in C&C Generals.