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

[Ezekiel]

Still stuck on the first required boss Margit months later. I really don't like how inbred this series became. Because they have used the same system again and again for fifteen years, because they refuse to reinvent, because the system actually has nothing more to offer, they now rely so much on these tricky animations. Prolonged windups, sudden quick attacks as soon as you attack, attacks that change direction at the last part of a second... I want to see the world that's behind the next fog gate, but also just don't care enough to figure this guy out, when I know there will be more. I'm embarrassed that I praised the clunky controls and camera as much as I did. Loved everything until Dark Souls II, beat those first three games many times. Beat Bloodborne (in 22 hours) and Dark Souls III, but could already see the rot. Quit Sekiro's final boss. Find the worlds rather depressing after so many games. How can you make a giant open world and only put silent hostiles in it? Makes the world feel so dead.

 

[kites]

Still stuck on the first boss Margit months later.

Have you cleared out Limgrave and especially the Weeping Peninsula area down south? To me he seemed like a wall that was meant to encourage you to explore more and upgrade weapons/flasks/ashes. The area just past him is one of the better ones in the game, I would at least cheese his fight to get past it..

 

[Anonona]

Still stuck on the first boss Margit months later

Did you try using spirits, summons and to upgrade your weapon of choice? Those things really help. Also is very important to level your Vigor, I cannot stress this enough, it makes difficulty more manageable, at least until endgame. You can also ignore the boss and go somewhere else and come back when your character is stronger. You can even complete the game without doing that dungeon, you can find a path around it. Upgrading you weapon is your main source of damage early on, so you can ignore your main stat and focus on leveling Vigor, Endurance and Mind, in that order, until you have a weapong with good scaling. Finally, you can always go for a bleed build, at least to kill Margit. Is really effective through the game and after Margit is dead you can change to something else if you prefer. There are multiple choices for a bleed build in Limegrave that work very well against Margit.

Now, if you don't like Margit's design, then you probably won't like many bosses of the game. Margit is a bit of an outlier as he feels closer to a midgame boss than a early boss. The final boss of Stormveil Castle for example is a lot more simple, and so is the boss of the second dungeon. Some of the early bosses will be manageable and closer to older titles in execution, but the more you progress the more bosses' pattern ramp up and the more you can find the things you just criticized, so it may not be even worth it if you don't enjoy it.

 

[abija]

Quit Sekiro's final boss.

You are not a gamer (or a man for that matter) and should refrain from commenting on the quality of games.

How can you make a giant open world and only put silent hostiles in it? Makes the world feel so dead.

Exactly?

 

[Lyric Suite]

I liked this track. Only one that really stood out to me. Reminded me a bit of Sekiro with the flute.

I'm personally tired of that style and i think it should have stopped with DS3.

Armored Core could have used a few more bangers but i appreciated how different it actually was. Granted different game and different setting but hey, at least it didn't sound like YET another variation of the main menu theme from DS3.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Quit Sekiro's final boss.

You are not a gamer (or a man for that matter) and should refrain from commenting on the quality of games.

Codex seems to be filled with functional retards as of late.

Isshin is one of the most fair bosses FromSoft ever did. He is challenging sure but he is the most bullshit free fight they could have possibly designed.

 

[Anonona]

I would like From's next "souls" game to go back a bit more to the roots of Demon's Souls and perhaps go for a more grounded dark fantasy setting and have a soundtrack similar to it. It was very unique and perfectly encapsulated that mix of horror and fantasy.





Also the ones in charge of the remake can kindly go fuck themselves for changing the ost.

 

[MasPingon]

I liked this track. Only one that really stood out to me. Reminded me a bit of Sekiro with the flute.

I'm personally tired of that style and i think it should have stopped with DS3.

If anything, this particular piece has strong Sekiro and Bloodborne vibes.

 

[Silverfish]

Still stuck on the first required boss Margit months later.

Jellyfish summon can spit poison and can tank with surprisingly high early game HP. Then you just sit back and spam Reduvia's weapon art.

 

[Ezekiel]

Still stuck on the first required boss Margit months later.

Jellyfish summon can spit poison and can tank with surprisingly high early game HP. Then you just sit back and spam Reduvia's weapon art.

I have summoned on one attempt, which was super lame for exposing how broken the AI is. Margit kept getting stun-locked as he couldn't deal with me at the rear while fighting the friend in front.

 

[Ezekiel]

Still stuck on the first boss Margit months later.

Have you cleared out Limgrave and especially the Weeping Peninsula area down south? To me he seemed like a wall that was meant to encourage you to explore more and upgrade weapons/flasks/ashes. The area just past him is one of the better ones in the game, I would at least cheese his fight to get past it..

Couldn't tell you how much I explored these areas. Don't know what most of them are until I warp there again.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Do not pamper the scrubs. Let them learn on their own and if they can't then they don't need to be playing. They can wait for Vailguard or some other piece of crap made by talentless homosexuals.

 

[kites]

Couldn't tell you how much I explored these areas.

That island you’re starting to see south is the true beginners area, with quite a few notable upgrades. That little grave-shaped thing under the castle on the right is an area map, doesn’t show specifically what things are on the map but it does show you hints of things such as mines for smithing stones.

Do not pamper the scrubs.

You’re posting videos of you fighting bosses with the mimic tear; I think you’re compensating a bit much with your attitude on the game’s difficulty.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Do not pamper the scrubs.

You’re posting videos of you fighting bosses with the mimic tear; I think you’re compensating a bit much with your attitude on the game’s difficulty.

I'm one of the best to ever play these games. And in the end...

 

[Stoned Ape]

So, reached Rellana and got my ass handed to me for about 30 minutes trying to kill her with my Greatsword, then decided to cheap out again and went to farm runes from albanaurics in the Mohgwyn Palace. Grinded out 5 levels and invested them to END to bring it up to 40 (I'm level 171 now), before crafting my Seluria's Tree Greatspear up to +9 and the Fingerprint Shield up to +25. Went back in and poked her to death first time (with the help of the Needle Knight cover-girl NPC).

Thing is, I know I'm utter shit at this game but if I can cheese my way through it with a bit of grinding and some luck, literally anyone can.

I really can't see how far more accomplished players than me can be struggling so hard and writing such bad reviews...

 

[Mortmal]

Every Dark Souls game DLC was much harder than base game. Elden Ring is no different. People who complain about difficulty should try to find a better strategy and learn from their mistakes like I'm doing. And yes, I play as an caster, I use high poise armor and mimic. I don't care about people who like to dictate how other people play their game.

Have you finished the game ?

So, reached Rellana and got my ass handed to me for about 30 minutes trying to kill her with my Greatsword, then decided to cheap out again and went to farm runes from albanaurics in the Mohgwyn Palace. Grinded out 5 levels and invested them to END to bring it up to 40 (I'm level 171 now), before crafting my Seluria's Tree Greatspear up to +9 and the Fingerprint Shield up to +25. Went back in and poked her to death first time (with the help of the Needle Knight cover-girl NPC).

Thing is, I know I'm utter shit at this game but if I can cheese my way through it with a bit of grinding and some luck, literally anyone can.

I really can't see how far more accomplished players than me can be struggling so hard and writing such bad reviews...

Rellana is one of the easiest one by far...

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Couldn't tell you how much I explored these areas. Don't know what most of them are until I warp there again.

IIRC, you should have sufficiently explored Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula to have obtained four golden seeds (enough to increase the number of flask charges from 4 to 7), have obtained four sacred tears (upgrading the flask effect from +0 to +4), have obtained enough smithing stones to upgrade your preferred weapon to +6, and found a number of useful weapons, armor, items (especially the green turtle talisman), ashes of war, and spirit ashes (including the jellyfish).

 

[Ezekiel]

How can you make a giant open world and only put silent hostiles in it? Makes the world feel so dead.

Exactly?

What are you fighting for? Who are you fighting for?

 

[Cryomancer]

Have you finished the game ?

The game? Yes. The DLC, no.

 

[Retardo]

I got repeatedly smacked around by him using my INT heavy build. I had 60 VIT and 25 END with decent armour, but he seemed to completely resist being staggered when 2-handing his sword and attacked slightly quicker than I could with my Dark Moon Greatsword. He could also reliably kill me with 2-3 hits. Additionally, he seemed to input read so I'd get auto hit as soon as I tried to attack him if he was idle. Bitch even grab-critted me to death a couple of times.

Interesting, I'm running a 85 INT 50 VIG nightmoon/night comet/darmonblade build, and my experience was completely different. He indeed has shitton of poise, and is rather fast for a hevay armor guy, so my usual "hit both with the special and the blade" tactic failed.
So I've switched to the comet, which completely trivialised the fight:
1) run to the side to avoid the crossbow
2) spray him with comet for all fp while he's approaching
3) run to the other side of the room, drink bottle
4) goto 1

 

[Stoned Ape]

Interesting, I'm running a 85 INT 50 VIG nightmoon/night comet/darmonblade build, and my experience was completely different. He indeed has shitton of poise, and is rather fast for a hevay armor guy, so my usual "hit both with the special and the blade" tactic failed.
So I've switched to the comet, which completely trivialised the fight:
1) run to the side to avoid the crossbow
2) spray him with comet for all fp while he's approaching
3) run to the other side of the room, drink bottle
4) goto 1

I had bad luck with trying to cast Night Comet as soon as he spawned then unloaded his crossbow at me so I pre-emptively decided it wouldn't work and resorted to various attempts at melee with the Darkmoon, then swapped to a Cold Zweihander then a Magic infused Godskin Stitcher with Brass Shield. Maybe my DEX was too low for Night Comet to cast quickly enough? I think I had around 18 or 20. Either that or I should have persevered with spells for longer before trying something else...

Still, Giant Hunt seemed to do the trick in the end.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Been playing a lot, explored almost all the map, still have one area to go through, collect equipment etc. Fought some bosses...yeah, the map/world, legacy dungeons are the best parts of this DLC, the only ones. I finally upgraded with those shadow blessings because dying in 1 or 2 hits from random mobs is simply put.. retarded. Now it's back to normal damage and resistances and everything. The whole thing is stupid: reduce the player damage/defenses by 50% when they enter the DLC and have them collect pieces of it to get it back. They truly have no idea how to make the game harder.
As for bosses, I'm done commenting on them. What I said previously remains true. Pure anime spectacle with no sense or reason for anything except they saw that one speedrunner shitting on Malenia and that made Memehackzaki very angry. And now we're stuck with this. There you go, the whole boss design philosophy in effect at From. Thank God the map is vertical and beautiful cuz that's about the only thing this game has going for it.
The church district on shadow keep is also very New Londo inspired. Pretty cool.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I've beaten every boss except the last one and I'm really struggling to see how this dude isn't getting nerfed into the floor with the first patch. But I want to beat him at full power even with his bullshit. His phase 2 is absolutely ridiclous. I'm at upgrade level 15 and my summons are at level 7. I'm thinking of finding all the upgrades to take me to 20 because it feels really difficult to get past this boss other wise. He has quite a few moves I don't see a good way of avoiding damage from and multiple instadeath moves even with heavy armour and 60 vigor.

Musing on the final boss

Are you supposed to use the summons you got along the way? I only have one of them but the gank squad implies you're supposed to be summoning a group. And it's Radahn so is that also a hint? I don't like using sign summons so I doubt I will but I'm pondering if it was intended.

Sounds like everyone else is still quite a way back so I'm trying not to spoil things.

And for the record. I think Elden Ring was already pushing the limits of souls combat and this DLC pushes it to absolute breaking point. It was clear there were issues as far back as Dark souls 2 and now it's at the point where you're not learning bosses as much as bursting them down to avoid learning them. The days of rolling and dancing with a boss are long gone and now it's time for arena sized AOEs being common place and 2nd phase bosses causing significant screen covering spam. It's very hard to say I really enjoyed any of the DLC bosses or content in general because it's just Elden Ring pushed to the breaking point. Remember how annoying it was to follow the map to find the edge of a cliff and no obvious way down? Well now almost every location is accessed through hidden caves that look like they head in another location. The map is near useless which is a real problem if you're trying to find the last map piece. There are some great moments in the DLC and some amazing looking bosses but it's hard to recommend. As a good souls player I'm really struggling to find what the games expecting of me because it's become increasingly difficult to learn bosses and I don't think it's fair to expect players to find every single stat upgrade in a map this large and complex. So we're in an awkward situation where Elden Ring DLC is being made for people who like Elden Ring's flaws more than it's strengths. Which wouldn't be an issue if not for the fact that it's highlights are not lining up with player expectation.

And so we're crystal clear here... FUCK BLOODBORNE. You will know what I mean if you know. If not play more DLC and you will agree with me.

 

[Crayll]

I'm working on him as well now, had him down to 30% a few times. I can see why NG+++ people are crying about it, the chip damage is pretty insane. Feels like Miyazaki trolling SL1 runners.

I've been using a shield with the deflecting hardtear and barely any rolling to pretty much fight him as a Sekiro boss, perfect deflecting with it up causes no stamina loss and reduces the chip by a lot. Could probably do the same without the tear with just a greatshield and enough endurance.
Tried the NPC summon and it just made it harder, he didn't contribute enough to make up for the boss HP boost.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I'm working on him as well now, had him down to 30% a few times. I can see why NG+++ people are crying about it, the chip damage is pretty insane. Feels like Miyazaki trolling SL1 runners.

I've been using a shield with the deflecting hardtear and barely any rolling to pretty much fight him as a Sekiro boss, perfect deflecting with it up causes no stamina loss and reduces the chip by a lot. Could probably do the same without the tear with just a greatshield and enough endurance.
Tried the NPC summon and it just made it harder, he didn't contribute enough to make up for the boss HP boost.

Last boss spoilers

I'm using the Ant shield which is doing a fine job of blocking. It's hard to block the super saiyan attack spam with the holy strikes following up. It's just too much shit. And his gravity pull is bullshit because the AOE will randomly hit you even if you run or roll into him while other times it won't.

The summons depend on what you did pre-burning. I think you can have quite a few of them but I only got the poison guy.