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

[Abu Antar]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

 

[Grunker]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

At that point in the game I was pretty invincible, but he gave me trouble.

I do think both Melania and Elden Beast are way harder than him though

 

[Abu Antar]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

At that point in the game I was pretty invincible, but he gave me trouble.

I do think both Melania and Elden Beast are way harder than him though

It's more me than him. I still haven't fought Melania or the Elden Beast in this run. I'm going to pump up dexterity, and endurance a couple of levels more, to have some better armor options. I'll probably go from light load to medium load, too.

 

[FreshCorpse]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

I accidentally killed this guy with two (or three) summons. The only time I ever summoned randos (though I periodically put my summon sign down and did get summoned a bit).

I was having trouble with the mounted knight outside, summoned some signs (two or three? don't remember) for help with it because I didn't think of it as particularly significant and wanted to try out summon pools which I had finally figured out the point of. They utterly smash horsey boy, mostly before I realise that they've loaded into my instance.

They then wait at the yellow mist for me to enter the boss with them. Knowing it's rude not to kill the boss when you have summons, I enter, watch the cutscence (which must have outed me as a total noob lol). Upon entering the boss they then panic and scatter but largely tank aggro off me (a faith caster) and I absolutely wreck the guy with absurd faith shit I had in my loadout but that I don't usually get to use against aggressive mobs. Fully charged ancient dragon lightning hits, fully charged black fireballs, Ekzyke's Breath, etc - I'm just dumping my blue bar into this guy and he absolutely melts.

Great day for the parish tbh.

I know that some players run with summons pretty much at all times. When I've been summoned by randoms it's often been a party of 2-4 just going through content. I did most of Siofra as someone's summon before I'd done any of it myself. Probably one of the better ways to grind as you can't lose souls as a summon. That might be a fun way to replay the game actually. I know some bosses are rebalanced for co-op but mostly you steamroller things in a group because you have so many tactical options and usually someone's pet strategy works really well.

 

[Nathir]

This expansion is going to be From's Magnum Opus. I feel it in my bones.

Oh yeah totally, can't wait to fight Godwyn of all things. And ride along with Miquella (not sure if this website is on some kind of watchlist). Just like the ringed city DLC they added a....new Gwyn family member....
How these people manage to focus on the most uninteresting aspects of their games is something that's definitely beyond me.
They could have gotten a DLC about the Blood Star, Rot God, Formless Mother, Great Will itself not an avatar of it, Dark Moon, Frenzy Flame, Dragon Lord etc.
Maybe visit a Nox alien city on another planet and fight Astel like monstrosities, or go underwater in some ancient civilization ruins and fight aquatic or cthulhu type enemies (adding back swimming, diving and water combat from Sekiro) or...climb to the top of the erdtree and find Goldmask playing cards with the Great Will and you fight the Great WIll and shove Goldmask all the way down or something IDK but do something cool. All this lore and they focus on the fish man. Unreal.

1. You don't know anything about the expansion.

2. It being about Godwynn or Miquella or whatever else doesn't mean it will be inherently bad/good/boring/interesting.

 

[Nathir]

In general I was sad that the bosses were so easy, because their movesets and the flow of combat felt much better than Elden Ring bosses, who I felt often had these weird, unnatural delays on their attacks just to bait out rolling and dodging. In contrast, DS1 bosses felt more natural, and when I got hit I felt like it was 110% my own fault.

This essentially is the biggest difference of old vs nu-Souls (which culminate in Elden Ring).

Demon and Dark Souls 1 + 2 (somewhat, the newer the worse the problem is), in general when fighting anything, the information are fair and you are rewarded for being observant. Elden Ring bosses are just unfun shits with those delay and much more reflex twitch finger based

n the one hand, the level design is absolutely amazing. I also think the difficulty in the normal content is way higher - more ambushes, awkward arenas and such. The mobs themselves might often be easier than in ER, but in practice actually playing the game, DS1 felt much, much harder for me. This is in part due to encounter design, but also very much due to how many mobs you have to deal with between bonfires - and how the level-design demands more skill to figure out (meaning you stay longer in areas).

This is also notable change in design principle from older (From Demon Souls) to the newer games.

Very subjective opinion, and also a skill issue.

 

[Child of Malkav]

1. You don't know anything about the expansion.

Look at the picture, seems we're going into the dream lands or whatever they're called. Fits with the dream related cut content of a quest and making a dream potion. You see Miquella riding a horse, probably Torrent. Miquella being present means boos fight: either him or Godwyn or both at the same time or consecutively.
Could also add a rematch against Mohg or Malenia (their dream versions as Miquella remembers them or something), probably Malenia since she was a fan "favorite". I expect this DLC to be all kinds of bad.
The theme of the DLC will also probably deal with the deathblight since the erdtree in the distance looks dead and the field Miquella rides through has those ghostly symbols, the same appearance as the ghosts in the Mountaintop of the Giants.

2. It being about Godwynn or Miquella or whatever else doesn't mean it will be inherently bad/good/boring/interesting.

Hopium is copium.

 

[Skinwalker]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

Really? Beast Clergyman was laughably easy, it's the second phase (Deathbeast Metalclaw or whatever his name is) that almost had me screaming and spitting venom at the screen because of how twitchy and bullshit it was, with lazers and suspended gravity and jumping around in the air, and literally everything I hate about a soulsgame bossfight.

 

[Abu Antar]

I've hit a rock wall with the Beast Clergyman. I reached the second phase three out of 12 times. Time to do all side stuff that I know of. Grind, grind, grind.

Really? Beast Clergyman was laughably easy, it's the second phase (Deathbeast Metalclaw or whatever his name is) that almost had me screaming and spitting venom at the screen because of how twitchy and bullshit it was, with lazers and suspended gravity and jumping around in the air, and literally everything I hate about a soulsgame bossfight.

It was the second form that gave me the most problems.

 

[proxon]

What worked best for me was being defensive in first phase and aggressive in second. The longer the second phase lasts the higher chance you get fucked.

 

[Child of Malkav]

2nd phase was easiest for me. 1st phase is bullshit incarnate.

 

[Abu Antar]

Game is done. I just grognarded my way through the game. Leveled up to level 200.

 

[thesheeep]

I really find these discussions about which boss (or which boss phase) is easy or hard very fascinating.

At first I thought it was mostly down to builds, or down to players gitting gud or not.
However, multiple players who all have played through the game (so you can assume at least some minimal amount of skill) using almost identical builds will still give completely different answers about what was easy/hard for them.

IMO a sign of a good game if experiences can be so varied even within very restricted parameters.

 

[9ted6]

The basic impression i got is that Miyazaki isn't a deep writer and isn't even trying to be. He is a "gaming" writer for a lack of a better word. What he writes is intended purely to entertain or fascinate the player there's probably not a whole lot that is actually coherent in the "lore".

I don't know whether to attribute it to Miyazaki or not, but there is a lot more coherent lore behind things than one might expect. Not even hinted at, just outright unavailable to the player- things like internal names of enemies, or features of faces hidden underneath helmets that indicate a soldier is part of this faction or that. Yeah, you can grasp at straws and go too far with this stuff, but for example the rune bears have the same sort of eyes as the player attains when using dragon hearts, and dropped dragon hearts during the network test. That implies there was some sort of actual intention there, because they could have just as easily not given them special eyes which nobody will ever notice in a real playthrough. There's plenty of minor detail stuff like that which implies they thought about the background of the world and then implemented the logical conclusions of that background, rather than just slapdashing everything together without concern for major plotholes. The ants will attack their riders if dismounted, for example, indicating some sort of mind control. The gargoyles are actually two flesh bodies melded together, with a seam running all the way from the face to the legs. The cleanrot knights have insectile wings, implying a relation to the wingless pest knights that are also found in the rot infested areas.

I don't think they thought about it too much though, and a lot of it is there just to be weird, surreal, or fantastical for the aesthetics of it, not for any deeper lore meaning. Why are there living mushrooms in DS1? Because it's fantasy. Frampt and Kaathe look like sockpuppets as a tribute to Miyazaki's grandma, not because of a deep design choice. Things like that. Some of it is pretty clever and consistent though, while other stuff can be pretentiously vague or too weird.

 

[Skinwalker]

In summary, azns are weird.

 

[Abu Antar]

For me, it's more that I have very poor eye sight, and issues with depth of field. To be honest, I shouldn't even be playing these games, based on that alone.

Anyway, my ratings are:

Demon's Souls (probably not the best objectively, but I laughed at launch, but got it for cheap a year later, and loved it. Crow was eaten.)
Dark Souls
Elden Ring
Bloodborne

I haven't played DS2, DS3, or Sekiro, and I won't go back to them.

Demon's is probably my favorite due to its "accessibility". I always had 20ish grasses on me. I went in with 30 for the final boss. In Elden Ring, I had 14 for the first form of the final fight, and 9 for the second phase (on my successful run). Second phase was actually much easier.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

The basic impression i got is that Miyazaki isn't a deep writer and isn't even trying to be. He is a "gaming" writer for a lack of a better word. What he writes is intended purely to entertain or fascinate the player there's probably not a whole lot that is actually coherent in the "lore".

I don't know whether to attribute it to Miyazaki or not, but there is a lot more coherent lore behind things than one might expect. Not even hinted at, just outright unavailable to the player- things like internal names of enemies, or features of faces hidden underneath helmets that indicate a soldier is part of this faction or that. Yeah, you can grasp at straws and go too far with this stuff, but for example the rune bears have the same sort of eyes as the player attains when using dragon hearts, and dropped dragon hearts during the network test. That implies there was some sort of actual intention there, because they could have just as easily not given them special eyes which nobody will ever notice in a real playthrough. There's plenty of minor detail stuff like that which implies they thought about the background of the world and then implemented the logical conclusions of that background, rather than just slapdashing everything together without concern for major plotholes. The ants will attack their riders if dismounted, for example, indicating some sort of mind control. The gargoyles are actually two flesh bodies melded together, with a seam running all the way from the face to the legs. The cleanrot knights have insectile wings, implying a relation to the wingless pest knights that are also found in the rot infested areas.

I don't think they thought about it too much though, and a lot of it is there just to be weird, surreal, or fantastical for the aesthetics of it, not for any deeper lore meaning. Why are there living mushrooms in DS1? Because it's fantasy. Frampt and Kaathe look like sockpuppets as a tribute to Miyazaki's grandma, not because of a deep design choice. Things like that. Some of it is pretty clever and consistent though, while other stuff can be pretentiously vague or too weird.

You gotta remember that when japanese make western looking fantasy they are lacking the historical context westerners have of the european middle ages. It's not just about reading books, it's about the whole shared experience. It's not an exaggeration to claim that their brand of western fantasy is a mix of Disney, D&D and LOTR. So it makes sense they introduce weird details like those that raise eyebrows for western people, but for them it's just part of the toybox.

Also it's not deep, just a fantasy setting, not a thing where you'd look some sort of heritage like Tolkien did. Like Evangelion. The judeochristian shit is there because it looks cool, and that's it.

 

[9ted6]

The basic impression i got is that Miyazaki isn't a deep writer and isn't even trying to be. He is a "gaming" writer for a lack of a better word. What he writes is intended purely to entertain or fascinate the player there's probably not a whole lot that is actually coherent in the "lore".

I don't know whether to attribute it to Miyazaki or not, but there is a lot more coherent lore behind things than one might expect. Not even hinted at, just outright unavailable to the player- things like internal names of enemies, or features of faces hidden underneath helmets that indicate a soldier is part of this faction or that. Yeah, you can grasp at straws and go too far with this stuff, but for example the rune bears have the same sort of eyes as the player attains when using dragon hearts, and dropped dragon hearts during the network test. That implies there was some sort of actual intention there, because they could have just as easily not given them special eyes which nobody will ever notice in a real playthrough. There's plenty of minor detail stuff like that which implies they thought about the background of the world and then implemented the logical conclusions of that background, rather than just slapdashing everything together without concern for major plotholes. The ants will attack their riders if dismounted, for example, indicating some sort of mind control. The gargoyles are actually two flesh bodies melded together, with a seam running all the way from the face to the legs. The cleanrot knights have insectile wings, implying a relation to the wingless pest knights that are also found in the rot infested areas.

I don't think they thought about it too much though, and a lot of it is there just to be weird, surreal, or fantastical for the aesthetics of it, not for any deeper lore meaning. Why are there living mushrooms in DS1? Because it's fantasy. Frampt and Kaathe look like sockpuppets as a tribute to Miyazaki's grandma, not because of a deep design choice. Things like that. Some of it is pretty clever and consistent though, while other stuff can be pretentiously vague or too weird.

You gotta remember that when japanese make western looking fantasy they are lacking the historical context westerners have of the european middle ages. It's not just about reading books, it's about the whole shared experience. It's not an exaggeration to claim that their brand of western fantasy is a mix of Disney, D&D and LOTR. So it makes sense they introduce weird details like those that raise eyebrows for western people, but for them it's just part of the toybox.

Also it's not deep, just a fantasy setting, not a thing where you'd look some sort of heritage like Tolkien did. Like Evangelion. The judeochristian shit is there because it looks cool, and that's it.

It's interesting at least to see how they handle a fantasy setting that's almost exclusively West European with barely any Eastern influence. I felt like Souls was an autotranslated fantasy where the parts all look similar, but something still feels inconsistent or foreign from a Western perspective. That fits if you consider Miyazaki's commentary about him reading fantasy books in English as a kid, not understanding the majority of it and mainly inferring the stories from pictures and illustrations.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Dark Souls's lore felt more like it was based on an eastern religion than anything European.

 

[Grunker]

Dark Souls's lore felt more like it was based on an eastern religion than anything European.

The central powers of the world and the civil war between the orders are literally based on symbolism and theological splits leading to conflict in the orthodoxy of the russian church in the 1700s (the schism). This inspiration seems less hidden, more direct, than most shit I encountered in DS1. It smells like a GRRM-thing.

Seems you of all Codexers would be someone to figure that particular parallel out

I don't think they thought about it too much though, and a lot of it is there just to be weird, surreal, or fantastical for the aesthetics of it, not for any deeper lore meaning.

While I agree it's tempting to conclude that autistic fanboys who find connections between every detail are retards grasping at what is probably just coincidence straws or developer decisions made on a whim, someone like Miyazaki seems exactly like the kind of autistic writer who does make sure attention is paid to every detail, seeing how many connections are definitely there. So I'm not so sure

 

[biffthestiff]

I loved DS1 and enjoyed DS2, but after watching about an hour of Elden Ring videos, and having played it for 30 minutes at a friend's, I removed it from my wishlist. Large open-world games just seem so soulless to me, and designed around length rather than quality, and Elden Ring did nothing to shake off this stereotype. Probably not the right thread to state this, but idk.

 

[Grunker]

procrastinator is the "citation needed" with regards to the Russian schism? Just read up on it and it should be obvious that Elden Ring is directly inspired by the conflict. It's literally an internal religious conflict between people of the same faith, one group using the symbol of a hand with two outstretched fingers and one group using the symbol of a hand with three outstretched fingers. The central theological difference between the factions is even essentially about whether there should be one central source for the word of God (*the* bible as opposed to whatever weird version of the bible a local community would use) interpreted by the clergy governed by a strict authority, or many different versions, interpreted by the individual with clergy as assistance and community guidance.

 

[Grunker]

(With regards to that last part, recall that the defining difference between the Two-Fingers and Three-Fingers in Elden Ring is that the former has finger-readers and is clearly viewed as the primary source for the divination of the Greater Will, while the latter is *explicitly* "readerless")

 

[Perkel]

I really find these discussions about which boss (or which boss phase) is easy or hard very fascinating.

At first I thought it was mostly down to builds, or down to players gitting gud or not.
However, multiple players who all have played through the game (so you can assume at least some minimal amount of skill) using almost identical builds will still give completely different answers about what was easy/hard for them.

IMO a sign of a good game if experiences can be so varied even within very restricted parameters.

Souls intricate combat depends a lot on luck. It is mostly down to how little bosses have health and how short those battles are. If you just throw yourself at the boss 10-20 times you will more or less win regardless of skill.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

It's too visceral to be a dream.

That's why it's actually a nightmare