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

[abija]

In all seriousness I don't understand how you're supposed to approach a game like Elden ring as your first souls like. I know of people who struggled with base game playing through it again to level up for the DLC and I can't see any way they will over come these bosses. I've been at this since PS3 Demon's souls and I've never seen anything as bad as these bosses. I've never thought I'll have to eat shit on this attack because there's no reasonable way to avoid it.

A new player should breeze using summons and weapon art spam while being overleveled and not concern himself with ethical bullshit. And by the time he gets to dlc he has 100+ hours of "dark souls" under his belt.

 

[Silva]

In all seriousness I don't understand how you're supposed to approach a game like Elden ring as your first souls like. I know of people who struggled with base game playing through it again to level up for the DLC and I can't see any way they will over come these bosses. I've been at this since PS3 Demon's souls and I've never seen anything as bad as these bosses. I've never thought I'll have to eat shit on this attack because there's no reasonable way to avoid it.

A new player should breeze using summons and weapon art spam while being overleveled and not concern himself with ethical bullshit. And by the time he gets to dlc he has 100+ hours of "dark souls" under his belt.

So, avoiding interacting with the bosses altogether. That's the problem with From bosses these days, they're designed to be cheesed. It's analogous to designing this super intricate level and then giving the player a flying carpet option to ignore it altogether.

 

[Hell Swarm]

In all seriousness I don't understand how you're supposed to approach a game like Elden ring as your first souls like. I know of people who struggled with base game playing through it again to level up for the DLC and I can't see any way they will over come these bosses. I've been at this since PS3 Demon's souls and I've never seen anything as bad as these bosses. I've never thought I'll have to eat shit on this attack because there's no reasonable way to avoid it.

A new player should breeze using summons and weapon art spam while being overleveled and not concern himself with ethical bullshit. And by the time he gets to dlc he has 100+ hours of "dark souls" under his belt.

I have 2,000+ hours of Dark souls under my belt. I have the weapon from the hardest boss in the base game and I have a mimic tier with 2 healing items it can use to fully restore it's health. And I'm thinking the last boss seems mighty difficult having +15/7 of DLC upgrades. Which is just unreasonable levels of expectation. I know he'll be nerfed within a month but that's really not the point. I'm not having fun cross referencing a map to check what pick ups I have/haven't got because Elden ring's map SUCKS and it's too big and complex to run around randomly and expect people to find the majority of upgrades.

Here's my problem with From design where we are now.

Crystal lizard runs away and disappears if not hit > Crystal lizard teleports around or explodes > Crystal lizard is now a normal looking shadow enemy holding a pot surrounded by 10 other enemies (3 holding pots) and disappears but it contains essential upgrade material

This is just bullshit escelation when no one stopped to ask "If this fun any more?" because it's got to the point where it's tedious to explore an open world because you're missing 20% of your potential damage/armour and the games expecting you to have it.

I played some on the Steam deck and the journos are talking the usual garbage about From games. Rock Paper Shotgun have an article on how great it is on the deck. It keeps usually above 30 FPS and some times even hits 50! WOWZERS. Except when you start fighting later bosses you will hit 15-20 FPS on their bigger attacks and you will have to try and time your dodges with the game visibly slowing down. It doesn't have the texture cache stuttering problem but it does have unacceptable frame rates on moves that 1 shot you. And that's without the increased input buffering/dropping inputs and other shit the lower FPS problems cause.

 

[abija]

So, avoiding interacting with the bosses altogether. That's the problem with From bosses these days, they're designed to be cheesed. It's analogous to designing this super intricate level and then giving the player a flying carpet option to ignore it altogether.

Why is everyone exaggerating this subject so much? Summons aren't trivializing fights unless specifically built for it.

The reason they do anime bosses with absurd moves is that they think it's cool. Same for the miriad of tools you get in the game. There's not some hidden agenda behind the design to get 100 more deaths from streamers that finish the game in 1 weekend anyway. Might be that their internal team is slightly better than they estimate for balance. But I'd rather have that than the actual trend of piss easy games.

 

[Dr1f7]

Most of the DLC bosses have felt like this for me, pistol being me + spirit ashes. I wonder why they didn't disable spirit ashes for certain boss fights. Like, this is a git gud boss encounter. You have to master it. Isshin style. Hesitation is defeat.

dingchads where u @

 

[Hell Swarm]

So, avoiding interacting with the bosses altogether. That's the problem with From bosses these days, they're designed to be cheesed. It's analogous to designing this super intricate level and then giving the player a flying carpet option to ignore it altogether.

Why is everyone exaggerating this subject so much? Summons aren't trivializing fights unless specifically built for it.

The reason they do anime bosses with absurd moves is that they think it's cool. Same for the miriad of tools you get in the game. There's not some hidden agenda behind the design to get 100 more deaths from streamers that finish the game in 1 weekend anyway. Might be that their internal team is slightly better than they estimate for balance. But I'd rather have that than the actual trend of piss easy games.

You should try reading some of the guides for how to beat bosses in Elden Ring. I opened one yesterday to check I'd beaten all the bosses before I started the last one and they had difficulty ratings by them and literally every boss guide was "Use Comet Azur and summon mimic tear". That's the entire strategy the game journos have been using to beat the game.

Dark souls 2 marketing confirmed From are aware of their reputation and they keep ramping up the difficulty and complexity to keep the reputation going and because they have to escalate. Froms community have done so many stupid challenge runs they've had to make the games keep up with that challenge to keep those people entertained. The problem is now we're at the same point as Everquest got. Where the hardcore raiders started to define the new content, which they would finish in a week and complain it was too easy and needed to be more raid (boss) focused. So eventually the game becomes 1 week of hardcore grinding for the 0.1% of the community grinding who then bitch there needs to be more content for them while everyone else is left behind. Eventually you end up with a series only those people can beat and everyone else stops even trying any more. I'd like for those people to have super bosses to fight, designed to fuck with them but I don't think the first boss of the DLC should make you think "Well that's bullshit" multiple times in a fight where your best option is damage racing it rather than learning to dodge through it's attacks.

 

[Reinhardt]

if anything there need to be more boss fights where you go offensive instead of "roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, attack ONCE(if you missed this opportunity - roll 20 more times until next window. if you tried to attack more than once - you are dead.)"

 

[Ramnozack]

Milady has got to be my new favorite weapon I love this thing, so good

 

[Stoned Ape]

Messmer Soldier's Greatspear seems pretty good. Infusable, similar length to the Treespear and has the double hit charged R2. Not quite as long as Siluria's Spear or Mohg's trident thingy, but looks much nicer than either IMO. Can be dropped by the two Messmer Soldiers with spears sitting around a fire to the South West of the Castle Front Site of grace. Took me a long time to get it to drop though...

 

[Hell Swarm]

if anything there need to be more boss fights where you go offensive instead of "roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, attack ONCE(if you missed this opportunity - roll 20 more times until next window. if you tried to attack more than once - you are dead.)"

I don't disagree but it needs to be properly balanced. I got to an early knight bosses's second phase twice and died to it. Next time round I burst them down so fast they never got to play the 2nd phase animation. If you get some decent moves you can burst bosses with bleed or frost. It's sad that From have balanced the DLC around proccing status like these and then some times you get massive bursts because bosses get stuck in a long recovery move twice in a row.

Milady has got to be my new favorite weapon I love this thing, so good

I really liked it but it's guard counter is pretty terrible. Some of the new enemies are best blocked and countered until you get a stagger. It's boring but it's the best option if you can't pancake them. No homing fireball while a 5 hit combo plays out if you counter off the first hit and get a stagger.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

The blessings do help but you need to get it to around 15+ before it starts to make an actual difference.

Oh really? At +9 I kill everything fast except for those big stupid furnace giant guys who I might just skip entirely. I can also tank about 4-5 hits.

 

[Hell Swarm]

The blessings do help but you need to get it to around 15+ before it starts to make an actual difference.

Oh really? At +9 I kill everything fast except for those big stupid furnace giant guys who I might just skip entirely.

Sure you do faggot. You're too drunk and pissing yourself to play the game but pretend you do any way.

 

[Mortmal]

Then you will change your mind toward the end: many unfun bosses with questionable hitboxes and full AOEs all over the place. It's doable; I did it, but it was unfun. Additionally, in all the DLC, there isn't a single new sorcery I found worth using. I had to resort to Rock Sling to stagger bosses or just an ice build on Mesmer. Not a single new thing was of use to me.

I have heard that one finger sorcery is great to stun lock enemies but didn't got it yet.

So far the hardest boss that I beat is mesmer. He was quite hard. Took 14 tries for me to beat and I had to unequip the ring who makes me deal more mag damage and take more damage and use the defense boost + easy to stag in the mix to win against him.

I just tried using a Larval Tear to get 80 INT and 80 Arcane, and a fully maxed Maternal Staff to boost Finger Magic, plus the Magic Robe (altered). The Fingernails spell is like Star of Ruin but a lot more cost-efficient, though sadly slower. The Fleeting Microcoms spell has good damage and throws enemies around, but it only affects small enemies, which you won't have trouble with in any case. However, it works and is cost-efficient too. Cherishing Fingers is too situational and slow for my taste as you need to charge it to full effect. It works, but I don't think Finger Sorcery is worth switching builds for; you do just as well with normal sorcery. I don't see any bonus in it.

 

[Dobkeratops]

In some alternate universe where Fromsoft failed to up the ante with this DLC, the entire internet is crapping on them for losing their touch. I'm not especially happy with Rellana but people really dive into the diva histrionics over everything these days.

Since Demon's Souls this series has always been about getting killed by some bullshit, raging and persevering (by abusing the numerous tools available) to muddle through. I wonder if Fromsoft is at all taken back with how many people are screeching about the game having the audacity to kill them while they're doing some variety of self-challenge run.

I think the DLC's bigger issues are as some have already mentioned: blessings being a crappy mechanic that won't age well on subsequent plays, map exploration being funneled through caves, a lot of the new loot being of questionable balance.

 

[abija]

You should try reading some of the guides for how to beat bosses in Elden Ring. I opened one yesterday to check I'd beaten all the bosses before I started the last one and they had difficulty ratings by them and literally every boss guide was "Use Comet Azur and summon mimic tear". That's the entire strategy the game journos have been using to beat the game.

Why would I care about retards that read guides before playing a game or journalists? Neither does From considering the amount of exploring in their games that has absolutely 0 value for that crowd.

Dark souls 2 marketing confirmed From are aware of their reputation and they keep ramping up the difficulty and complexity to keep the reputation going and because they have to escalate.

They keep ramping up the complexity because their tooling got better and better and more and more of their ideas can be implemented.

I don't think the difficulty went up (unless you self limit) and certainly ER has the most hand holding early on.
And for the people that self limit and want to master the games, having harder and harder challenges should be a plus (that is if they do it out of pleasure and not because all the cool kids are doing it).

 

[Multidirectional]

 

[Child of Malkav]

Dark souls 2 marketing confirmed From are aware of their reputation

Dark Souls 1 Prepare to die edition

 

[Crayll]

Personally I would much rather have a game that's too difficult initially, even if it feels unfair, than one that's too easy. You can sleepwalk through nearly every game out there because they're intended for the majority of the audience to be able to complete, and the modern gamer is functionally retarded. It's nice to have at least one game that slaps your shit in at first without having to resort to doing challenge runs that remove 90% of the fun.

Finding the difficulty sweet spot was always going to be difficult for From as people expect more and more of a challenge as their games go on. I'd like to see a slower game with more punishing mechanics and resource management like DeS, but I'll take what I can get out of the modern gaming shitshow.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

If you don't like how hard the games are then don't play them. Simple!!! Go play something more accessible and hand holdy like the rest of the losers. I sincerely hope that anybody who tries to get my games nerfed dies in a fire.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I don't think the difficulty went up (unless you self limit) and certainly ER has the most hand holding early on.
And for the people that self limit and want to master the games, having harder and harder challenges should be a plus (that is if they do it out of pleasure and not because all the cool kids are doing it).

I've always played From games the same way. Shield + dex weapon (usually a katana because I like how versatile they are). I roll and I hit stuff with my katana until it dies. I don't use buffs, I don't use player or NPC summons and I don't abuse exploits. In Erdtree I have run into stuff I would call bullshit more often than not. Even with mimic tear I'm struggling to say these bosses are fair. I know this is release week and next patch will nerf the fuck out of them like they did with Radahn in the base game. The problem with the current difficulty is you can't dance with the bosses the way you used to because so many have cinematic attacks they blow up the whole area. They're annoying to learn since they usually 1 hit you and they're difficult to read how to avoid. I don't like having to put my shield up and accept a chunk of life lost but some of this stuff is barely readable explosions.

Personally I would much rather have a game that's too difficult initially, even if it feels unfair, than one that's too easy. You can sleepwalk through nearly every game out there because they're intended for the majority of the audience to be able to complete, and the modern gamer is functionally retarded. It's nice to have at least one game that slaps your shit in at first without having to resort to doing challenge runs that remove 90% of the fun.

Finding the difficulty sweet spot was always going to be difficult for From as people expect more and more of a challenge as their games go on. I'd like to see a slower game with more punishing mechanics and resource management like DeS, but I'll take what I can get out of the modern gaming shitshow.

I agree I would rather have a difficult game than an easy one. But I would like From to do difficulty in unexpected ways not just the roll catches and huge AOEs with awkward dodge windows. I want a boss that requires you to dodge their stuff and find openings between attacks. But I want them not to be designed to punish you for reacting instinctively. A good boss should flow with the players intentions once the player knows what to do while these ones don't.

I'll even say they actually went backwards in this one. The final boss has a design flaw from a Dark souls 1 boss. It's a fun attack to see but it sucks how it's balanced because you can't commit to attacking into it in case it's the multi attack with the same start up animation.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Been exploring legacy dungeons and other places in ER lately and I switched it up. Basically I went in quietly with the intention of clearing an area by eliminating threats one by one without resting at any bonfire.
Used Mohg's spear ash of war to kill enemies through walls, floors, ceilings and as such prevented ambushes, used arrows to draw enemies one by one to me, used poisoned arrows to kill enemies that's couldn't get to me, used great arrows to push enemies off ledges, used assassin's gambit to traverse areas and reposition in a more tactically advantageous location, used sleep pots on enemies to either get by them or kill them easily, used bewitching branches on enemies to turn them against one another, used fingerprint shield with antspur rapier and other weapons in case of direct confrontation, used spells like ancient death rancor and ancient dragon lightning strike from up close on groups of enemies as well as adula moonblade and so many other tools for different situations or enemy group compositions.
Anyway, the amount of fun I had while doing this cannot adequately be put into words. This kind of gameplay is what I like in souls games. Plus it gets intense after a while.
Way better than any boss fight.
Imagine if ER world/map had the same sense of danger and hazards and traps as DeS/DkS1/DkS2 and 60% less bonfires so that it forces you to weigh the risks and rewards of infiltrating or assaulting a location despite being overwhelmed numerically by the enemy.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Been exploring legacy dungeons and other places in ER lately and I switched it up. Basically I went in quietly with the intention of clearing an area by eliminating threats one by one without resting at any bonfire.
Used Mohg's spear ash of war to kill enemies through walls, floors, ceilings and as such prevented ambushes, used arrows to draw enemies one by one to me, used poisoned arrows to kill enemies that's couldn't get to me, used great arrows to push enemies off ledges, used assassin's gambit to traverse areas and reposition in a more tactically advantageous location, used sleep pots on enemies to either get by them or kill them easily, used bewitching branches on enemies to turn them against one another, used fingerprint shield with antspur rapier and other weapons in case of direct confrontation, used spells like ancient death rancor and ancient dragon lightning strike from up close on groups of enemies as well as adula moonblade and so many other tools for different situations or enemy group compositions.
Anyway, the amount of fun I had while doing this cannot adequately be put into words. This kind of gameplay is what I like in souls games. Plus it gets intense after a while.
Way better than any boss fight.
Imagine if ER world/map had the same sense of danger and hazards and traps as DeS/DkS1/DkS2 and 60% less bonfires so that it forces you to weigh the risks and rewards of infiltrating or assaulting a location despite being overwhelmed numerically by the enemy.

I largely agree with you. The most fun part of the game for me is exploring locations and using the tools the game makes available for dealing with any issues I encounter while doing so. For me the boss battles are more of a road block to bypass than an aspect of the game I look forward to engaging with.

 

[Vorark]

They released a newspiece just to tell players they're fucking dumb to explore and look for those seeds/crystals/whatever.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1245620/view/4175480871073659336

Tips: How to strengthen your character in Shadow of the Erdtree

In the expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, players can be strengthened by collecting and using “Scadutree Fragments” and “Revered Spirit Ash.”

If you get stuck in the game, explore various areas and look for the items “Scadutree Fragments” and “Revered Spirit Ashes”, which are necessary to strengthen your character in the Realm of Shadow.

Note: This enhancement is only available in Expansion areas.

 

[Stoned Ape]

Just poked the dancing lion to death with my new greatspear while hiding behind my shield. With the help of the Redmane ally I did it first time without dropping under half health at any point.

I don't expect this tactic to work against every boss, but so far it's been extremely effective:

1) Buff (flask of Wondrous Physik with defence buff and stamina regen tears, then Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength)
2) Hide behind shield and poke until boss' stance is broken
3) Blackflame Tornado Ash of War or crit
4) Drink a heal flask if necessary, then return to step 2

Talismans are Great Jar Arsenal, Green Turtle, Greatshield, Dragoncrest Greatshield.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Doesn't make you right

Perhaps, I never claimed to be unerring
But at least I try to contribute to the discussion with logically coherent criticism