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

[Basshead]

Shieldspear? wtf lol

They're "Stechschilde"– thrusting shields.

Medieval fight book. Nice reference. Very interesting history to that manuscript. In the Holy Roman Empire its author used it as a catalogue to show techniques on how to win trials by combat. There are also pictures of really cool devices he could conceivably produce for a noble. There’s even a scuba suit made by connecting a tube to a waterproof diving apparatus that had air pumped into it using a bellows. Fascinating stuff that was much more advanced than what most people imagine when they think medieval.

Anyway, entered the expansion on ng+ tonight. I tried to make a new character but didn’t want to slog through. Thus far I think that it’s a big improvement over the base game. Enemies aren’t so annoying, the aesthetics and design are improved, the narrative is more coherent. Even the music is better. I can’t wait to play more.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

iTs tOo HaRd

 

[Silva]

So, is it shit?

 

[smaug]

anyone want to co-op this with me?

 

[Suicidal]

Can anyone who's playing the DLC confirm that you can start the DLC with an old char on which you finished the game but haven't started NG+?

Want to give it a try, but don't feel like playing the whole game from the start.

 

[gabel]

I'm not playing it but like 99% sure that's the case.

 

[Lyric Suite]

iTs tOo HaRd

Doesn't look any harder than any of the other dragons, but that damage and health.

Did you try the level scaling?

 

[mediocrepoet]

Fingers crossed. I'd like to know what it is about the newer GPUs that they can optimize a game for lower end hardware but it ends up running like shit on more powerful systems. It seems to be a somewhat common theme these days up until a patch cycle or two (or more) pass.

Something I noticed on a newer GPU with elden ring, due to the low requirements and max 60 fps the card would throttle down a lot and everytime it needed a bit more power it would stutter. Check if forcing full performance or other settings helps.

Well that's interesting. I'll have to try that tonight.

Also, if you didn't, check if offline works better.

I did. It doesn't.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Ravielsk]

So, is it shit?

So far? I would say its too good to fall into the category of "shit" but until I finished it I reserve the right to change my mind. So far I would say its a step up in terms of level design and story delivery. There is significantly less of this "WTF is going on and what am I even doing here" situations than in the base game. From finally added FP regen talisman so a "mage" character is now theoretically makeable(practically you still need to mod the game to make it even semi-enjoyable but credit where credit is due).

That said the balancing is still an utter shitshow. I get the impression that the guy making the monster stats and the guy making items have never met or have some kind of a beef with each other. Because every piece of armor or weapon I find is just exactly tuned for where the game was in terms of powerscale around Leyndel, which means that they are about 25-50% bellow where the DLC is and where the endgame is. Seriously the Rellana swords are such a cool piece of equipment but unfortunately I have to force myself to use them because they simply do not deal enough base damage nor enough poise damage(which we still do no see so I have no idea if I am just playing poorly or if the sword just sucks) nor do they cause any build ups so regardless of how much I like them they simply play second fiddle to my moonlight greatsword. And this applies as far as I can tell across the board.
The moveset is great, the skills rock but the numbers attached to them are hot garbage. Its like they designed them around the player having maxxed out blessings and never tested them outside of the DLC.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Not gonna lie. Im finding it a bit dull going back to DS3 combat. Hope FS puts this floaty combat out to pasture after this.

 

[Ivan]

Early thoughts:

I've liked the small dungeons in the overworld: new traps, new enemies, unique boss fights that are really cool (props to the Death Knight).

Overworld exploration has felt like more of the same. A pretty weak opening area IMO but it won't be long before you hit the castles proper.

Wandering open world tanky enemies are kinda boring, but they do require patiences and discipline to take down (talking about flame heads)

Still not a fan of fighting dragons w/melee by attacking their feet, mostly. They all play out the same. Kinda makes me miss the DS3 dragon platforming fight.

Lion boss has me stumped so I'm exploring other areas.

So far, it's alright. I hope/expect it to get better.

Invading isn't as fun as in Souls as most ppl play the game in coop with 2 or 3 companions.

Frame rate is still in 40s for overworld, 60 in interiors.

 

[gabel]

Not gonna lie. Im finding it a bit dull going back to DS3 combat. Hope FS puts this floaty combat out to pasture after this.

They've been doubling and tripling down on this ever since Bloodborne.
Unlikely there's a way back to more grounded combat after all the success they're having.

 

[Crayll]

What level is everyone doing the DLC at? Sitting at 130, debating if I should level any more or just use the DLC progression items.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

iTs tOo HaRd

Doesn't look any harder than any of the other dragons, but that damage and health.

Did you try the level scaling?

They eat bigger chunks of your health and take a bit longer to kill but yeah it's pretty much the same.

Lvl scaling?

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Can anyone who's playing the DLC confirm that you can start the DLC with an old char on which you finished the game but haven't started NG+?

Want to give it a try, but don't feel like playing the whole game from the start.

That's what I'm doing. I'm level 189 on a 200 hour save file no way I was starting over. Fromsoft DLCs are always rough so I purposefully never went to NG+. Figured it would be better to be overleveled than under.

 

[Dr1f7]

Invading isn't as fun as in Souls as most ppl play the game in coop with 2 or 3 companions.

Frame rate is still in 40s for overworld, 60 in interiors.

this has been a huge problem since ds3? really miss the ds1 where you just invade one person, rather than invading a group of 3 people and they all just gangbang you in a hallway
not that it matters with their ridiculous netcode lmao



10/10 goty tho miyazoko can do no wrong

 

[Silva]

Lvl scaling?

Getting the new, DLC exclusive stuff that increases attack power/damage resistence.

 

[Caim]

Out for now to avoid spoilers. See you after the DLC's been playtested.

 

[cruel]

Last night, Elden Ring worked as usual, frame capped and smooth. Post patch, it's unplayable stuttery dog shit. It's like watching a claymation doll have a stroke. Tried a bunch of stuff to sort it out, but it's either something in the patch or beefed up EAC bullshit. This is actually worse performance than the base game had at launch and I haven't even entered into the new zones which are supposedly even worse.

Good times.

Check if the game silently forced Ray Tracing on. I had 60 fps in 4k before on RTX 3080, after installing the DLC, suddenly the game was stuttering. It turned out that Ray Tracing was silently enabled, making performance ass and everything looked bad. After disabling it completely I'm back to 60fps again.

 

[Ravielsk]

What level is everyone doing the DLC at? Sitting at 130, debating if I should level any more or just use the DLC progression items.

Go to 150 as a bare minimum, 200 if you are not into getting one shoted. Unless the majority of your points went to Vigor and nothing else you will die in 1 hit to almost everything. I attempted the DLC with 41 points of vigor and the weakest enemy needed around 5 hits to take me down.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Last night, Elden Ring worked as usual, frame capped and smooth. Post patch, it's unplayable stuttery dog shit. It's like watching a claymation doll have a stroke. Tried a bunch of stuff to sort it out, but it's either something in the patch or beefed up EAC bullshit. This is actually worse performance than the base game had at launch and I haven't even entered into the new zones which are supposedly even worse.

Good times.

Check if the game silently forced Ray Tracing on. I had 60 fps in 4k before on RTX 3080, after installing the DLC, suddenly the game was stuttering. It turned out that Ray Tracing was silently enabled, making performance ass and everything looked bad. After disabling it completely I'm back to 60fps again.

I had it capped with RT set to max before. Post patch, it didn't matter if it was at max or off, same performance.

I suspect the earlier tip about the power consumption is it though. As I recall I changed a setting to run more power efficiently a few weeks back. Didn't screw me on anything until now.

Thanks though.

 

[Dr1f7]

developers take notes: this is what great gameplay looks like

10/10 another grand slam miyazeeka

 

[Puukko]

Last night, Elden Ring worked as usual, frame capped and smooth. Post patch, it's unplayable stuttery dog shit. It's like watching a claymation doll have a stroke. Tried a bunch of stuff to sort it out, but it's either something in the patch or beefed up EAC bullshit. This is actually worse performance than the base game had at launch and I haven't even entered into the new zones which are supposedly even worse.

Good times.

Check if the game silently forced Ray Tracing on. I had 60 fps in 4k before on RTX 3080, after installing the DLC, suddenly the game was stuttering. It turned out that Ray Tracing was silently enabled, making performance ass and everything looked bad. After disabling it completely I'm back to 60fps again.

This wasn't the case on my end, though I did notice a moderate increase in stutters over the fairly smooth experience I've had thus far. My 5800X3D can push about 100 fps in the overworld, and in practice I'm mostly in the 65-80 range (6800XT+4K+Reshade), yet I get enough stutters to where it bothered me enough to investigate whether I could improve it. Not really, and the minimums drop into the 40s fairly often. I'm playing lightly modded (not sure how much my HD textures affect the new area) until Reforged is brought up to speed, and also always offline.

The new area does appear more demanding, and the bit you start off in is vegetation heavy. Expect maybe a 10-20% performance drop vs base game.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Invading isn't as fun as in Souls as most ppl play the game in coop with 2 or 3 companions.

It's not even that, they changed the mechanics so invading only works on people with a co-op summon, except in specific zones. Too many players complained after DS1.

 

[Ivan]

Invading isn't as fun as in Souls as most ppl play the game in coop with 2 or 3 companions.

It's not even that, they changed the mechanics so invading only works on people with a co-op summon, except in specific zones. Too many players complained after DS1.

you sure about that? I recall invasions being fine 1 v 1 in the DS2 SOTFS days