Elden Ring (George RR Martin and From Software)

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738721#Comment_118738721

That made me laugh when i read about it, taking damage from a hug, classic From.

Fia is fond of the cuddles alright but the conversation I just had with her wow!!!!

I agree with people asking for ledgers for side quests. Getting to a certain area triggered a tsunami of updates and I'm sure I'm going to miss something or forget about someone I met for 30 seconds 50 hours ago.

Also if you are looking for an explanation as to wtf that was under Stormveil right down at the bottom talk to Rogier in Roundtable.

Zero-Cool

Explored weeping peninsula, an area that looks completely optional and it's incredible. Minor erdtree boss taken down, fantastic walking mausoleum, a merchant selling a lantern you can tie to your waist as well as some handy loot at different sites. Found a dungeon, pitch black, good thing i bought the lantern. I basically legged it through, nightmare environment with nasties around every corner, picked up loot so panicked i didn't even know what i got. No idea where i was going and going myself Infront of the boss gate, took it out on first go and got a talisman that increases max stamina. Goddamn loving this.

Just found the hand balista, wtf! Worth going STR build just to use it, awesome looking thing.

Also, i entered a dungeon with skeletons and got a debuff, looked like a scroll with line down the middle and red x. Disappeared when i left the cave. Anyone know what that is? Fextralife has a ? Beside it.

Interested Observer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739025#Comment_118739025

Divinity Origin Sin has a really good journal, it will say something like "X character has lost his dog" but give you absolutely no other context or tell to where you go. It just is good for keeping track of who you've talked to and what outstanding tasks you have left. I don't see why Elden Ring couldn't have had something similar, googling stuff is a lot more immersion breaking.

Interested Observer

Is the second main area, Liurnia (I think it's called) a bit less dense than Limgrave? Find I'm spending a bit more time traveling and less time finding stuff. This isn't a complaint, just don't want to be missing loads of stuff. Exploring it is still a joy.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739812#Comment_118739812

Seems to be, but I think that's partly just due to the environment there, the flooded towns/plains. Haven't fully explored the Lowlands areas yet, but up on the higher cliffs there's still a few interesting things/enemies to find.

I'm working my way through the academy which is tough as hell. Died to an NPC invader about 10 times last night before quitting. F*cker has an insane parry that is a one hit kill on me.

F1ngers

Has anyone invaded another world yet?

A side quest requires it, but just saying "attempting to invade another world..."

F1ngers

Tried somewhere else, worked straight away.

shrewdness

Liurnia does seem a bit less dense than Limgrave alright, though I've still found that when I go back through it I'm discovering new things, even after beaten Raya Lucaria and moved on. There's more to discover among the mist and flood than I'd expected - for example a boss that popped up only when I was going through it at night. Also there's a good bit going on on the higher ground either side, and there's a chunk on the south west part that I haven't been able to get to yet.

Also there's a very interesting castle in the northern part of the region that is a must see...

gimli2112

I upgraded my summons and now he's better at the game than I am, not sure how I feel about it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118740557#Comment_118740557

I think it works like the summons, they can only be used within range of those statues you can respawn at, no idea what the range is but not huge in my experience.

gimli2112

I remember flying through bloodbourne, loving it when I encountered an innocuous looking mini boss called the undead giant that almost caused a mental breakdown. This game's undead giant comes in the shape of a massive hugely aggressive bear that you fight in a shoebox.

Andrew76

Took a break from Stormveil so decided to warp back out and just explore other areas - stumbled across

Spoiler Warning

Blaidd's

quest line and absolutely destroyed the mini-boss you can summon him for - I knew he was difficult from videos I'd seen but getting the summon via the quest makes him a peace of cake. Headed further south and came across a smaller castle with a tough optional boss (although wolves summon takes the sting out of the encounter a little). For anyone doing a strength build it's defo worth a visit.

Spoiler Warning

He drops the Grafted Blade Greatsword, needs Str 40 and weighs a mighty 21.0! Not sure how decent it is but looks pretty cool.

Seems you can't spoiler pics so won't post it. Also picked up the

Spoiler Warning

Greate Turtle Shell

which is pretty decent and pairs well with being a Samurai - serious TMNT vibe off the gear now. Found the magic enchantment for my sword so just need another level to get Int to 12 and use it.

Also, I just realised today that resting at a site of grace also refills your consumables - I crafted 10 of that Fire Grease and each time I rest I'm back to 10 again regardless of using them. Pretty handy that.

Really enjoying the game, it's such an improvement over previous souls games with how you can decide to go do something else - way more freedom.

ShaneU

Got absolutely wrecked by the Redmayne Castle boss, humbled big time! Might wander off and come back

Try using bleed ash of war and buff with rot grease assuming melee.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742121#Comment_118742121

I got that sword last night. Got him on the fifth or sixth attempt. Is he the main boss of that castle because I couldn't find any others in there.

cheezums

ya i keep forgetting about quests, i feel like i'm missing loads of cool stuff. a simple activatable item tracking quests would be great. doesn't have to be on your HUD.

Kiith

Got stuck into Stormveil caste this morning, and made a decent dent into it (i think). The Knight in the dark room pissed me off to no end, but other then that, haven't had too many issues. No bosses yet though (bar Mervil? at the gates).

Think i need to go elsewhere for a while though, as my weapons are weak. Still using the Uchi i started with, and its only +1. Have the Hookclaws, and a cool looking dagger (Reduva?), but need some magic stats to use it. Bit of a jack of all trades at the moment, with most stats in Dex and Str.

Still have no idea what Ashes of War are...do i just attach them to a weapon to gain a skill/spell? Any downside to equipping them?

Enjoying it a lot though.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739142#Comment_118739142

Is the icon that you can't fast travel out of it? Maybe the scroll on the icon is the map?

Speaking of dungeons, I found something amazing in one that I haven't seen so far in this game. A message on the floor saying to hit the wall for a secret passage, and it actually was a secret passage! Took 20+ hours to finally find a fake wall.

TitianGerm

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1500550251773673475?t=xeZElF8DGybSojfCijndmw&s=19

Got a good laugh out of this.

Penn

Saw this earlier too

Devs from Guerrilla and Ubisoft trying to come to terms with Elden Ring's success.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742641#Comment_118742641

The Ashes of War changes the special attack on the weapon as well as weapon scaling. I had an uchigatana with unsheathe, but changed it to a Keen Unchigatana with Quickstep, as the ashes of war to make it Keen meant the weapon scaled more with dexterity, so the more points I out into dex the weapon damage increases even more.

But I wasn't enjoying quickstep, so I found an ashes of war for unsheathe but that I could also keep the Keen weapon scaling.

Thanks to people here, I learnt you can remove ashes of war from weapons, and put them on another weapon I stead. So there's no real downside to using them. Just check out the weapon scaling and new skill.

McFly85

Schreiers article hit the nail on the head, for me.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-03-04/the-secret-to-hit-video-game-elden-ring-s-success-is-its-mystery

What makes it so engaging is that it genuinely feels like exploring. You can pick a direction and go, just to see what’s there, and theres usually something interesting at the end or on the way. And because it’s FromSoftware, having no idea if you’re prepared for what you might find there is part of the fun.

I love reading this thread to see the mini adventures other players are having from just exploring.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742262#Comment_118742262

Something I didn't realise until I was nearly bald was you can resummon the npc's. They are there to be used and part of the script for this one I feel.

Though the fight is borderline in terms of design choices for me.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118741636#Comment_118741636

I think I found him tonight.

shrewdness

That boss has been beating my ass this evening, the first boss in this game that has really started to piss me off in typical Souls fashion! It's not a bad fight, I've just been caught at the very end a few times now, and been wiped out earlier many other times. May come back to it another evening.

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118742395#Comment_118742395

I think he is, couldn’t find any other boss either. But now you’ve reminded me I need to go back there to progress Irina’s quest, totally forgot about it. Thanks! 😁

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118744004#Comment_118744004

Yeah, scoured that castle, just that boss with the coolest looking sword as a reward and Irina quest.

Stone Deaf 4evr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118743610#Comment_118743610

is this the one thats down in the cavern, beyond some rats?

I took him down on my second go, if anything, hes been the most like a traditional souls boss that I've fought so far - as in, get right in up close and wail away on him.

seraphimvc

Flew through the game since Friday (should have taken a week off for it) - goddamn this game just keep going lolol.

Play time near 50hours, at around SL110 (Vigor+Str build) and got my greatsword+20 (kinda stuck there because couldn't find enough smithing stone above [7]), and I feel like I am back to early game in these 'end game' areas that I get 2 shots by these enemies (they also look like early game enemies lmao). Ya overall, truly love it. The exploration is truly perfect - ER truly reminds me like a adult version of Twilight Princess (which is my absolute favourite). There is so much I haven't explored but this time around the "stories" are more available than any previous games if you followed the NPC quests. I will reroll an astrologer and go fully explore stuff NG+, once I figured out the endings/any missable items etc.

Late game stuff (ye spoiler alert)

Spoiler Warning

I was thinking that's near the end of game after defeating Margott at the Erdtree (his name changed lmao, i believe the first one is his delusion or something)? Ye i just brute force him no problem there, and then...the game keeps going lol

Proceed to burn the tree and somehow I scarified my wiafu...I wonder if it is possible to avoid that? (will read up everything before I go to my next game play) and then I thought oh maybe thats the ending...nope...proceed for more aha. The 2 areas truly gave me hell, both areas are accessed via the grand lift of Rold:

Snow high mountain of the giants - the (supposedly last?) giant fight was awesome but ya this is where I felt like the difficulty of the game jumped - feels like some 'post game' content. And ya you get FOUR dragons on the same part of the map, **** hell.

And then...The consecrated snowfield, WORST **** area omfg, i cant see anything due to fog which is bad enough, and guess what ya there are quite some amount of Dragonkin soldiers randomly show up and blocking the path etc lol.

And ye maybe I will finish it this weekend and then reroll character.