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

[Silva]

Their previous, "legacy" gameplay had me 100% focused on careful exploration of tightly designed levels while minding scarce resources in a tense, survival affair.

Scarce resource management? You have infinite healing refills and nothing else matters. There's no resources to manage in a souls game, just optional items you may want to use but are barely worth it outside of elemental resins.

Man, when will you admit you never really played these games? It's clear you just keep regurgitating crap from your fave Tik Tok. Sigh..

But I'm a good person so lemme educate you:

See, in the early years of the series when only DS1 and DS2 (and Bloodborne) were around, there was this subtle resource management element to the design in the form of humanity, estus, weapon degrade, consumables, spell charges (with their Vancian system), etc. that made conquering every inch of the "dungeon" (level) a tense affair, usually presenting the player with the dilemma of pushing ahead just a little bit even if low on resources but risk losing everything you got so far - with the added tension of no easy teleporting out of the situation - and making every bonfire found (or new shortcut leading back to one) a big fucking relief. This is what makes a first playthrough of DS1 so tense and memorable, besides giving Lordran such a sense of place rare in the hobby these days, as this design forced the player to familiarize with each level in order to survive (well, at least until you get Lordvessel in the last third).

Fast forward a few years and DS3 is released, and this aspect of gameplay is watered down to pointlessness due to bonfires inflation, easy teleporting out, and focus on fighting more than exploration.

Fast forward a few more years and Elden Ring comes out and, sadly, keeps this DS3 trend. THAT's my point.

The class was free this time. You're welcome.

 

[Skinwalker]

Having replayed the Renalla boss fight, I'm almost entirely certain that the "Great Rune of the Unborn" is Ranni's rune. The rune is contained in the amber egg, and Ranni's voice and magic comes out of that egg for the second phase of the fight, creating the moonlit lake arena with an illusory Renala at her prime.

This means that you really fight Ranni in the second phase, and then take her rune when you win, although it's no longer tied to her life like with all the other runes.

 

[Caim]

Having replayed the Renalla boss fight, I'm almost entirely certain that the "Great Rune of the Unborn" is Ranni's rune. The rune is contained in the amber egg, and Ranni's voice and magic comes out of that egg for the second phase of the fight, creating the moonlit lake arena with an illusory Renala at her prime.

This means that you really fight Ranni in the second phase, and then take her rune when you win, although it's no longer tied to her life like with all the other runes.

The Renalla you fight is actually an illusion of Ranni's mother in her prime, which is why she goes from a barefoot welfare queen surrounded by her kids to "In the name of the moon I'm firing my lazor" despite not really giving off these vibes before or after her phase 2. And, you know, she's alive and stays alive after the fight.

 

[Silva]

But wasn't the egg a gift from Radagon, thus suggesting both it and the rune inside came from him?

On another news, I just got the Godslayer Greatsword and broke the game. Difficulty going from moderate to very easy the instant I step out of the tower where its found. But I guess that's ER 101 for you, well except if I limit myself to some pleb sword on purpose. EDIT: oh, the fight with skinny apostle is actually good, as he uses little to no super delays or helicopter moves. Just a fair, agile, hard hitting fella that's manageable once you memorize but can always one-two shot you if you sleep.

Btw, am I right to infer those windmill dancing grannies are worshippers of those Godskin apostles? I found a spirit asking clemency and saying her hide was dirty or something, implying it's those grannies who create the skin the apostles wear. I also found noble clothes in corpses suggesting the skins are not necessarily from gods but of nobles who could be their descendants?

 

[Silva]

I must say the narrative here is quite good for From standards (well, at least until halfway the Altus Plateau where I am now). But it's ABSOLUTELY predicated on players triggering Roger, D and Ranni questlines (even if not going all the way through on Ranni's, just pledging to her as Roger asked/to investigate Death is enough). If a novice misses those, the game becomes directionless and devoid of narrative punch. That was my case in the previous playthrough and what left me with a sour taste. This new playthrough is actually changing my perception of the game, at least from a narrative/setting/lore POV (gameplay aspect still leaves me with mixed feelings).

Edit: btw this narrative reminds me of Shin Megami Tensei (the original, not Persona) where the player is supposed to get exposed to, and pick one of, key NPCs "reasons" to shape the world. Only in SMT said exposition is obligatory at certain points in the story, while From makes then optional/misseable. I shold known better by now, as I remember missing all NPCs questilnes in my DS3 first playthrough too.

 

[Alrik]

I must say the narrative here is quite good for From standards (well, at least until halfway the Altus Plateau where I am now). But it's ABSOLUTELY predicated on players triggering Roger, D and Ranni questlines (even if not going all the way through on Ranni's, just pledging to her as Roger asked/to investigate Death is enough). If a novice misses those, the game becomes directionless and devoid of narrative punch. That was my case in the previous playthrough and what left me with a sour taste. This new playthrough is actually changing my perception of the game, at least from a narrative/setting/lore POV (gameplay aspect still leaves me with mixed feelings).

Edit: btw this narrative reminds me of Shin Megami Tensei (the original, not Persona) where the player is supposed to get exposed to, and pick one of, key NPCs "reasons" to shape the world. Only in SMT said exposition is obligatory at certain points in the story, while From makes then optional/misseable. I shold known better by now, as I remember missing all NPCs questilnes in my DS3 first playthrough too.

Halfway through Altus and you already have GSGS? That Apostle will have been the hardest boss you've fought in terms of scaling for quite some time, he has the same scaling as the penultimate boss of the game.

Doing a +0 run and I fucked up. Got extremely frustrated with Morgott, who with unupgraded weapons has been by far the hardest boss of the run so far, and decided to eschew the dodge and stance break strategy that got me 1 hit away from victory for the good old "slap Wild Strikes on Cold Great Stars and hold L2" and I won on my 2nd attempt. Sure I somewhat engaged with his moveset between flurries but just standing and wailing on each other was far less engaging than if I had succeeded with my initial strategy and I felt immediate regret after I won. I'll reserve Wild Strikes for fights with huge punish windows going forward, hyperarmor abuse isn't fun.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

https://steamdb.info/app/1245620

 

[Barbarian]

I will be very butthurt if they "announce" the dlc release date on 25th february and it is months away.

It is looking like it. Doesn't make sense for them to announce weeks before release.

 

[Cryomancer]

I will start my replay of this game and they will announce the DLC. Bookmark it.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Apparently you guys are unfamiliar with the absolutely insane shadow drops of past Fromsoft DLCs. I'm talking less than a week's notice.

It's coming in February. Guranteed.

 

[Caim]

Apparently you guys are unfamiliar with the absolutely insane shadow drops of past Fromsoft DLCs. I'm talking less than a week's notice.

It's coming in February. Guranteed.

February 25th is the 2nd anniversary of the game. If would make sense to release it then, but it could also be the friday or thursday before that so that people can play it over the weekend rather than just on sunday.

 

[Child of Malkav]

They'll announce it in february not release it. Isn't there a few months time between announcement and release?

 

[Barbarian]

They'll announce it in february not release it. Isn't there a few months time between announcement and release?

They announced the dlc more than a year ago actually(with a single image as promotional material).

They will announce the release date now. Not sure if they will actually release it in february. Usually companies give out the release date a few months before release and build hype through promotion.

Maybe From is different. No idea how was the release for old hunters. Cheesedragon117 can perhaps provide color commentary

 

[kites]

How much hype-up do they need? Sites explode when they are only updating the Steam depots. Looking back at DS3 DLC: Ringed City trailer was January 23rd, released March 28th. Ashes of Ariendel trailer was August 26th, released October 25th. I remember DS2's press also followed similarly for it's own DLC, but I don't want to look it up. Though I wouldn't be surprised if ER breaks older conventions, I'll hold my speculation for a concrete announcement.

 

[Child of Malkav]

They announced the dlc more than a year ago actually(with a single image as promotional material).

No no no. I'm referring to an actual trailer, showing some areas, bosses, gameplay, weapons, spells etc with backgroudn music, some NPC talking and stuff like that. Like their previous DLC trailers. Not just a jpeg posted somewhere.

 

[Skinwalker]

Wait, I'm still exploring Liurnia. Don't release the expansion just yet. At least wait until I've finished Caelid, the underworld, and Altus/Leyndell.

 

[Nathir]

But wasn't the egg a gift from Radagon, thus suggesting both it and the rune inside came from him?

Yes. Considering Ranni is the only Emyprean, together with Miquella and Malenia... I am certain she is actually also the daughter of Radagon/Marika.

 

[Skinwalker]

So Vyke is the only other Tarnished who had gathered two great runes before the PC... then went to the Three Fingers and joined the madness flame.

Any particular reason you fight and kill him twice? Did he clone himself at some point?

Also, how come Tarnished don't drop their great runes when you kill them, like the demigods?

 

[Nathir]

But wasn't the egg a gift from Radagon, thus suggesting both it and the rune inside came from him?

Yes. Considering Ranni is the only Emyprean, together with Miquella and Malenia... I am certain she is actually also the daughter of Radagon/Marika.

Skinwalker Why the fake news?

Considering Ranni is an Emyprean, who are explicitly stated to be beings born of a single god, It's true that Renalla can't be her mother. On second thought, Radagon probably wasn't involved actually.

I think Ranni got born from the amber egg, which is some kind of Marika magic. So she was born exclusively via Marika. It's also the reason why Ranni's rune can be found in the egg. And if you look at the great runes you can see all the siblings have similar looking runes. Mohg and Morgott have a line through the centre. Rykard and Radahn on the left side. And the ones with a line through the right side are Malenia and Ranni...

 

[Skinwalker]

Emyprean

Empyrean, you pleb!

Also, no, it doesn't say anywhere that empyreans have to be born of "a single god".

 

[Child of Malkav]

Yeah, you show him lore man!

 

[Silva]

Just beat Morgott in the capital. Some thoughts:

Morgott is such a badass. Shunned by everyone for it's cursed birth but kept loyal to the order until the very end, stepping up to defend the capital against all threats. Respect.

I found a place identical to Roundtable hold in the capital (Fortified Manor). I suspect it was the manor of Godfrey and his personal followers, who would be the first to become Tarnished later. Ergo the choice for the Tarnished to make their hold in it's image. Makes sense? Any thoughts on this?

Game keeps awfully (un)balanced. Just found another game breaking shit: Black Knife Ticha ash of war. I kid you not, this bitch trounces bosses alone. I play the support when I summon her.

Which leads to an actually good point: the ashes of war here have a mild tactical element. I'm using Wolves as scramblers, Headless Luthel for tank, Latena for sniping, and Ticha for pure melee. I could see this improved for next games.

Leyndel capital is insane. Easily the most impressive "level" From ever did.

I miss a black version of Catch flame. The blackflame monk has this, why can't I? Hope the DLC brings it.

 

[Efe]

Emyprean

Empyrean, you pleb!

Also, no, it doesn't say anywhere that empyreans have to be born of "a single god".

Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth.

 

[Skinwalker]

Emyprean

Empyrean, you pleb!

Also, no, it doesn't say anywhere that empyreans have to be born of "a single god".

Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth.

"All parrots are birds" =/= "all birds are parrots".

 

[Skinwalker]

Game keeps awfully (un)balanced. Just found another game breaking shit: Black Knife Ticha ash of war. I kid you not, this bitch trounces bosses alone. I play the support when I summon her.

Banished Knight Oleg and Latenna the Autistic are also OP.

Me, personally, I love this movie I try not to summon any phantoms unless it's a trash boss that's copy-pasted throughout the game 10 times, like the endless asylum demons erdtree avatards.