Elden Ring (George RR Martin and From Software)

gimli2112

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118820889#Comment_118820889

I'm also wearing said hood.

I really need to up my endurance, at the moment if I equip a bow I fat roll.

Zero-Cool

Finally found Mimic Tear, yay. The Siofra aquaduct does not **** around, those Knights are ridiculous.

Also, I've been using my Uchi+9 for ages, have a ton of smithing stones +4 and over but need another 4 stones +3 to get it to 10. Only seem to be picking up +4 and over, might have to go grinding for them.

J. Marston

30-ish hours in and I find my first...

Spoiler Warning

Illusory wall. I had seen countless message saying "hidden path ahead" hit the wall and nothing. I just presumed there was none in this game. Then I went into a catacombs, saw the same message I'd seen a million times, hit the wall and it faded away. I actually went "Ho hoooh! and ran back to applaud the message.

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118820889#Comment_118820889

There should be something in this list that takes your fancy. 🙂

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Armor

Penn

Final boss is down.

By which I mean; Final boss is downright kicking my ass. What a prick.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821255#Comment_118821255

It gets worse, much worse and I fully endorse the cheese. As melee this won't work so summon help it's not worth the blood pressure, which is what I had to do.

Spoiler Warning

Run up to him from the fog gate, to his left side and stop as you hit him and he'll stop dead as long as you don't move you can cast your most powerful spell into him till he's dead then summon mimic and say some prayers to the stamina gods!!!!!

Markitron

What level do people seem to be finishing this on? I just got to Leyndell Capitol at level 155, did everything possible before going through the gates.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821321#Comment_118821321

I finished at 151 and that was doing everything and consuming all the runes I'd collected right at the end. You've a way to go yet.

As it happened I left myself at the site of grace after the boss, having recovered the cloud save so I have the option of doing any DLC in NG rather than pushing that save to NG+

johnny_ultimate

Armour is definitely relatively limited in the early game here. I didn’t change my default Astrologer’s set until maybe 45-50 hours into the game (other than the Glintstone helms, which look endlessly amusing in cutscenes)! Have several better options now but definitely wasn’t arsed for a very long time.

Took down Commander Niall tonight. Not the hardest or most novel fight in the game, but just a good old school boss battle. Reading the attacks and dodging at just the right time… felt almost reassuring and calming 😅

Also: LOL that there’s a major enemy just named ‘Niall’.

CptMonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118820130#Comment_118820130

I’m around 37

Zero-Cool

Found some stones (3) and was able to upgrade my heavy uchi from +8 to +16 in one go with all the rune stones and smithing stones i had. As i was in the round, said I'd try it out on mad tongue, absolutely wrecked him. Also boosted my mimic ash to +5. Me and my twin doing serious damage. Arrived at Atlus Plateau, absolutely beautiful. Might go back to Ranni's quest though. Went to the carian study and getting wrecked by the mage, that was with by old uchi though.

seraphimvc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821660#Comment_118821660

I did the normal and inverted carian study last night ha - after playing hide and seek when she enters her phase 3 for awhile, i said feck it and used rock sling - destroyed her - worked even better for the inverted tower. Would recommend to long range that mofo lol, extremely annoying teleportation + high damage arrow (2-shot me).

I got the Wing of Astel weapon that i want, respecced to Int60 and Vig and some End - said goodbye to my sword of night and flame that served me so well until now. Currently at lvl80 and with the Wing I can deal 2500dmg with the ash of war - I am going to go back murder those gargoyles ha. Should finish Ranni questline today as well.

So second time playing I understand Seluvis questline now (ties in with Ranni questline), and that talisman from him is so easy to miss if you are not careful (first discover his shaddy underground lab -> talk to him/finish his quest before you gave the sword to Ranni). And ya his plot is more evil than I initially thought lol

Spoiler Warning

Seluvis is a puppet himself!

I didn't link the dots together - like we could still 'talk' to him to buy stuff after he died at his tower - but second playthrough I discovered there is a NPC (Pidia) nearby his tower and goddamn it is obvious that he is the one actually manipulating Seluvis all along. So basically after Ranni left, something happened to the doll manipulating power of Pidia - he was killed right when I was visiting him again after Seluvis is 'dead'.

I am trying to see if it is still possible to get Dung Eater ashes since Seluvis/Pidia no longer alive (but maybe i can still buy it from Seluvis corpse).

Or, the real Seluvis is still out there somewhere - maybe he is actually manipulating the dolls to kill Pidia. In my NG+ i am going to kill Pidia and see what will happen to Seluvis lol

johnny_ultimate

The mage at the study hall is a bit of a pain all right as the attacks are relentless. I ended up luring them down the lift (to avoid their summons) and they just fell down the shaft when I went back up.

Second encounter was much, much easier as I just took the mage down from range as I had rock sling by the point.

Penn

Rock sling didn't help me too much with him because after a few hits, he'd go out of range. By the time he got to the top circular area, I could hear the Benny Hill theme playing in my head as I was trying to chase him round it.

Zero-Cool

One thing annoying me so far is that nearly everything i find is geared towards Int/Dex. Finally found a Greatsword last night and it's Int based. I might just be unlucky but tempted to respec into Int until I can find some proper Str gear. I've no interest in starting to go through the different spells though so not sure if I should just keep plugging away at Str or not. Some recent bosses have been an absolute pain constantly jumping away from me and hitting me with range, to the point i skip then and look for something else to do.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822964#Comment_118822964

I've kinda found that it shifts in the other direction in the second half of the game, where Strength/Faith becomes more prominent in terms of equipment/spells you get. Nearly every big reward I got from bosses or chests in late-game were incantations, and remembrance of bosses tend to be Strength weapons or incantations. But I do think there was more focus on Dex-builds in this game compared to previous Dark Souls games, probably because they always felt a bit more niche.

johnny_ultimate

I was flicking through my weapons last night and it's comical how many options there are. Dozens and dozens of weapons to choose from, and most players will only ever use two or three of them!

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823113#Comment_118823113

Yeah I went back into my storage chest a few days ago and started noticing weapons I'd put in it that I've since heard are meant to be really good. Plus given the amount of bell-bearings you get late-game and can just buy upgrade materials in the Roundtable, I've upgraded a few too. However I'm probably too late, as I'm at the end boss and have been using the Moonveil too much to switch from it now.

seraphimvc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822932#Comment_118822932

For normal or inverted building version? For the normal version I went melee all the way til the top circular area and use pebble or rock sling at the right timing (using the handrail to block her arrow, i couldnt go near her anyway so annoying). For inverted version, right after I entered the first big space (killing a few hand spiders), i rock sling and killed her when she is over the opposite bridge/arc area - she couldnt hit me but rock sling has enough range haha.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah I haven't gone near any other swords, daggers etc other than the Moonveil, although I upgraded the weapon for the Volcano Manor boss fight a couple of levels and one of the ones that had a bleed special skill for the slumbering dragon in Caelid.

Staffs I've upgraded a few though. Currently using the one that has quicker casting at +8 or 9 (I'm only now finding the final level smithing stones), but I might finally go find the increased damage one as that seems to be the popular choice.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823236#Comment_118823236

Inverted was okay if I remember, but I did that version first. It was only after that I did the normal version and he went to the circular area upstairs. He just kept his distance and between his short teleport, railings and ghost soldiers, only maybe one of the rocks would hit him, if at all. I think I finally beat him by killing most of the ghosts, getting up the ladder to a ledge and being able to hit him with rocks from up there.

seraphimvc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823264#Comment_118823264

Aha good one. Oh god she was ultra annoying keep teleporting so far away from me. Good to know she is still available after inverted version is killed first.

Also, is a she right? 🤣 Name is Miriam or something

J. Marston

Finished work early, sun is shining, time to lock myself away for the evening with this.

ShaneU

Servers down?

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823916#Comment_118823916

New patch out on PlayStation, that have something to do with it?

dr.kenneth noisewater

what level were people entering Raya Academy? On level 42 was going to enter

Penn

https://twitter.com/ThatSamWinkler/status/1490070305859162113?t=88ach1oFVUdPG-pAbFX6sA&s=19

...

Cordell

No one plays this for the lore and story but still, as shallow as they may be they are still better than a lot of "story driven" open world games.

Retr0gamer

Well I thought Dark souls 1 was a bit of a masterpiece in narrative design. It built of Demon's Souls were the mechanics fed into the game and the ambiguity about what was happening and leaving the player clueless unless they really did some detective work complimented how everyone was lying and manipulating you. The only game that comes close to it is Valkyrie Profile and I wonder if that's had any influence of Miyazaki.

None of the other From games have come anywhere close to that although their lore is still way better than the likes of the guff spewed out by bioware. Going in blind for me is the perfect way to play them as the mystery and eeriness adds to the atmosphere of the game and it's more about the environmental storytelling. Go in not having a clue and just wallow in the atmosphere and soak it in.

As I said before, story is probably the least important thing in a videogame.

johnny_ultimate

I only have a vague idea of what's happening in Elden Ring, but the atmosphere and environmental storytelling is endlessly evocative even when the lore and specifics are elusive. Things like the battlefield outside the Capital tell a story all of their own, and even your typical ruined fort or castle will have an eerie, tragic and violent vibe that's quite potent.

The cutscenes are rare but often incredible. Things like taking the Grand Lift really feel like epic, momentous and mysterious events worthy of the often arduous and long path to actually get there. And some of the story events that occur later on truly feel like they have a huge impact on the world you've been exploring and even locations you're already familiar with.

I fully agree the overarching lore is elusive and understated to the point of nearly invisible if you're not paying close attention. But at the same time I personally find the overall 'storytelling' here (encompassing atmosphere, environment, direction as much as plot beats) much more evocative than many other games with far more traditional stories. Playing Horizon Forbidden West just before this, for example, I couldn't care less about the endless stream of overt story being constantly thrown at the player.