Elden Ring

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Marlew wrote: March 26th, 2022, 9:27 am
Alex79 wrote: March 25th, 2022, 10:19 pm I'm about 55 hours in now, just going through Caria Manor, and the game really does feel like it's massively favoured towards magic users. Almost everything cool I find has a high intelligence or faith stat to use it. I shouldn't be 55 hours in and still using my starting Uchigatana (even if it is now +11).
I definitely think they're encouraging mixed builds with this one. You need both options.

Some bosses are pretty trivial with a pure sorcery build and others are impossible to take down in the same way because of speed or resistances. I ended up with like 80 INT but mostly using a magic katana (Moonveil) with Rogier's gear. I had to really explore and complete a few lengthy side quests to get the proper banging spells and gear.

Without making any particular effort, I seem to have about thirty incantations and cool mixed Faith/Arcane things. I also really want to try the dragon stuff next time around. One of my favourite things in this is summoning or invading and seeing some mental builds that'll other players have set up, shit I've not even seen in my 75 hours. Defo seems like a lot of cool strength weapons but as you say, usually they've got some healthy Faith requirements or whatever.

I also just finished the last boss this morning. It's another one where I actually had to mix it up between melee and ranged because of its movement. I couldn't have done it without Black Knife Tiche (the GOAT summon) but by the time I got there, maybe my tenth attempt or so, I had most of the moveset down pretty well. Not jumping into NG+ yet, if I do at all, I'm going to look up the areas I've missed and go and take down the bosses I bottled previously. I also heard that M is the hardest boss they've ever made, so I want to go and tackle her and see how painful it can be!

It's been something I won't forget, a real peak experience in gaming.
Hmm, yeah I wish I'd put a few early points in to intelligence, as I've got tons of spells with that as the requirement. I can use a couple if I'm boosted with a rune arc, but otherwise not. I might respec slightly. I've piled most my points in to Dex and Endurance. Doing up to 300 damage per slice with my Keen Uchigatana+11, but would like more options. I've never played a magic build in a From game - ever. It's nice to know there's a whole new game waiting for me once I finish this with a totally different play style I guess.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

See Mi Yah wrote: March 26th, 2022, 5:46 pmTwo hours is a long time in Hollywood. I went ahead and purchased it as soon as I realised it includes the PS5 version.

...right now I'm happy playing this on last gen hardware.
Haha I'm the same - ask a question then go ahead and buy it anyway. Glad you're enjoying it so far! Anecdotally I'm aware of plenty of people loving it on PS4 so don't think there's too many issues with it. I'm getting poor frame rate occasionally on Series S, but it's only a couple of seconds here and there, so I don't think any version is 100% perfect.
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by ratsoalbion »

I'm playing the PS4 (Pro) version on PS5, which is the only way to get 60fps pretty much 99.99% of the time.
You lose some resolution and foliage compared to the PS5 version as a trade-off.
User avatar
Jon Cheetham
Member
Posts: 524
Joined: October 29th, 2019, 12:49 pm
Location: Singapore
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Runs absolutely great on PS4. I have had no qualms. You hear about the ungodly loading times of Bloodborne at release, there’s none of that and to my eyes it runs smoother than Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3. Only some stutters in a couple of the more complicated or spectacular boss fights recently when I’ve had my summons and lots of spells going off.

Also, Faith is my main damage stat and I’m loving the diversity of incantations and weaponry open to me. At a glance that seems the case for every starting class - there are so many permutations of build, people will be getting creative with this for years to come.
User avatar
markfm007
Member
Posts: 193
Joined: September 18th, 2016, 9:35 pm

Re: Elden Ring

Post by markfm007 »

Had a good couple of sessions this weekend. Managed to make my way through the majority of the second legacy dungeon up to the boss, beat the boss in the secret area down the long elevator (begins with an S), and a bit of side stuff. I hadn't planned on it taking over my weekend but I was having such a good time I couldn't put it down.

Both areas were beautiful, fun to play, full of unexpected twists and turns. Think I enjoyed the second dungeon even more than Stormveil. The boss designs were both incredible. Haven't properly fought the dungeon boss yet as I want to clear up some more stuff around that area. The one I did beat was beautiful though, gorgeous music, I felt bad having to kill it.

I'm doing a dex/int build, I'm a bit of a jack of all trades at the moment, but I'm enjoying mixing up my strategies. Just picked up a nice weapon with a frost bonus I want to try out. I'm still using the uchigatana too lol, maximising the bleed on it can be lethal.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

markfm007 wrote: March 27th, 2022, 10:24 pm Managed to make my way through the majority of the second legacy dungeon up to the boss, beat the boss in the secret area down the long elevator (begins with an S)
Hang on, are you talking about the Academy of Raya Lucaria? There's a secret boss there!?
User avatar
markfm007
Member
Posts: 193
Joined: September 18th, 2016, 9:35 pm

Re: Elden Ring

Post by markfm007 »

Alex79 wrote: March 28th, 2022, 12:16 am
markfm007 wrote: March 27th, 2022, 10:24 pm Managed to make my way through the majority of the second legacy dungeon up to the boss, beat the boss in the secret area down the long elevator (begins with an S)
Hang on, are you talking about the Academy of Raya Lucaria? There's a secret boss there!?
Sorry no, I was trying to be clever here and just made it confusing lol. I meant
Spoiler: show
Siofre River Bed
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Ah I get it, loved that area, probably the prettiest I've seen so far in the game.
Marlew
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: August 22nd, 2020, 11:00 am

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

Doing a mop up after taking down the last main boss and I realised how much of the game I hadn't seen, probably another 15-20% there, at least. There were four separate named areas, one of which is massive and dense, and a good half dozen major bosses. I then looked up some other secret/missable bosses and had another half a dozen. One of them was possibly my favourite fight in the whole game, Malenia, but there were quite a few other absolute crackers, including a brilliant revision of the Yhorm boss concept from DS3.

It's berserk how much carefully designed game there is here, how much variety there is and how consistent the quality is. I also know there's a still one massive area I've only dipped my toe into related to the Dung Eater quest line and at least one other ending where I've only once seen the NPC whose quest you follow. I also legged it through Siofra and Nokron and will have missed stuff there. I never came across a reindeer fight, for example. I 'finished' the game at 75 hrs but I've put another 15 in since and I still have areas to explore, as I say.

I've also enjoyed that I've hardly done any grinding except when I've been close to levelling up and wanting to bank hard earned runes. Largely, I've just played it as it's come and levelled consistently. I think I finished around Lvl 110 but now up to 150 with all the boss runes, close to half a million for some fights, and loads of lucrative areas in the late game where you get 2k for regular enemies. I genuinely don't want it to end and I might just keep this character where it is for when DLC comes around. I think I'll start again with a FTH/ARC build, go full dragon arm and see how that goes.

If Bluepoint ever plan to remake this one, they might as well start now.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Spoilers for immediately after the Manor near the Raya Luca Academy.
Spoiler: show
I found an area with three towers and a dragon. Got the dragon to about half health and it buggered off, no idea where. One of the towers culminated in three ghost forms of NPCs talking to me, including Blaidd who seemed to be advising me to meet him by the deep well in Mistwood. Checked all around the area and down the well but he's nowhere to be seen. Wondering if it's because I've already cleared out that area and the boss... Might have to consult a guide to see where he's gone.
I wonder if some of the quests lock you out of others? I've pledged allegiance to at least 3 people now! Wonder if it affects the ending, too. I'm not really sure where to head now. The 'main' guy at the Roundtable Keep is saying I can carry on to an area I wasn't allowed to enter before and that the maidens will grant me passage or something, but I've only done two main rune bosses and want to do the others first before progressing the main storyline. Think I'm going to search for Radahn, who I believe may be somewhere around the area you ended up after the first transporter trap to the mines....?
Marlew
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: August 22nd, 2020, 11:00 am

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

From doing my post-completion mop-up, I've been surprised that I've hardly been locked out of anything as far as I can tell. I've already chosen my ending, so there's that, but many of the NPC quests I hadn't even touched are still good to go. I also just found another castle and main boss that I'd never been to and somehow missed on the map in the previous 90 hours, despite the garish colours!

For info, I never saw Blaidd in the location he suggests, I beat Radahn and that questline remained open for me. It was one of the highlights of the game.
User avatar
Feirsteax
Member
Posts: 280
Joined: September 11th, 2013, 4:18 pm
Location: Belfast

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Feirsteax »

Alex - spoiler for that part with Blaidd:
Spoiler: show
Have a look down in Siofra, near the cliff edges, a little way into the place. He'll be there.


That questline has been a highlight for me of this game, Blaidd in particular is such a great character, and any time he asks me to join him in going somewhere and beating up some dudes I'm so on board.
User avatar
Feirsteax
Member
Posts: 280
Joined: September 11th, 2013, 4:18 pm
Location: Belfast

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Feirsteax »

I'm 130 hours in and still not finished. I've been obsessed with this game. It's so good. I think it could be From's best (out of the ones that I've played, which is just the Souls games).
In particular I'm finding the quests and characters all brilliant, there were times in previous games where they were a bit too sparse with it that the world could feel a bit empty or something, but this one feels alive, full of scheming weirdos and factions that are all trying to pull one over on each other.
It also does that cool thing where it feels like the world and things around you progress and evolve as you play through the game, including a few mind blowing moments. The game is so weird and full of surprises. I love it.
Marlew
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: August 22nd, 2020, 11:00 am

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

I totally know what you mean about the evolution, seems there's stuff constantly shifting and opening up and hinting at something to come.

Two more things I really like about it - the weather system and the traversal. I think it's inspired how every reset or death shifts the clock along and the weather is always dramatic or accentuated. Golden Hour is amazing, overcast is gorgeous, night is spooky and mysterious, midday feels bright and optimistic.

As for just getting around the place, it's taken so many great lessons from BotW and almost none from the Ubi copybook. Just getting to places you can see is a puzzle, a tease and a bit of a challenge. Horse platforming - somehow - is actually fun with the double jumps and instant mount/dismount and you rarely feel like you're just covering flat ground, there's so much elevation and alternate routes and stuff. It makes one of the most boring bits of open world games into something that occupies your brain constantly.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Feirsteax wrote: March 29th, 2022, 2:43 pm Alex - spoiler for that part with Blaidd:
Spoiler: show
Have a look down in Siofra, near the cliff edges, a little way into the place. He'll be there.


That questline has been a highlight for me of this game, Blaidd in particular is such a great character, and any time he asks me to join him in going somewhere and beating up some dudes I'm so on board.
Ah thanks, found him! Yeah I really like him, even though in my head he's called Blade rather than Blithe! Found a helmet that's a replica of his face too, and it happened to be better than the one I was using so I'm running round with that on now. Finally making my way in to Caelid after almost 60 hours.
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Rhaegyr »

Horse platforming is not fun in a lot of places where precision is required!
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Rhaegyr wrote: March 30th, 2022, 11:48 am Horse platforming is not fun in a lot of places where precision is required!
Yeah, but the game never asks you to do that. Any time you're balancing precariously on the edge of a cliff on a horse, it's because you've chosen to do so in order to try a sneaky shortcut or area skip or something.
User avatar
Jon Cheetham
Member
Posts: 524
Joined: October 29th, 2019, 12:49 pm
Location: Singapore
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jon Cheetham »

That’s part of the fun though. Feeling like you’ve done a little sequence break by taking Torrent up a non-obvious route is great.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

I was in a boss fight last night and I thought to myself poison would be useful here, so I checked a guide to see if poison grease was a thing. Turns out it is, but I'd missed the cookbook to craft it. So I then spent a couple of hours with a guide hoovering up all the cookbooks I'd missed so far (up to number 15). Ended up back at Stormveil Castle seeing loads of stuff I'd missed! Running round the rooftops and activating the big central lift with a tough enemy at the bottom. I was amazed I spent so many hours in that place and still found entire new sections!
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Elden Ring

Post by Rhaegyr »

Alex79 wrote: March 30th, 2022, 7:42 pm
Rhaegyr wrote: March 30th, 2022, 11:48 am Horse platforming is not fun in a lot of places where precision is required!
Yeah, but the game never asks you to do that. Any time you're balancing precariously on the edge of a cliff on a horse, it's because you've chosen to do so in order to try a sneaky shortcut or area skip or something.
There's definitely a few of areas I wouldn't have been able to reach if not for Torrent and his double jump (or his fall damage) - there's one area in particular you can't get to without doing this (as far as I know) and it was a pain in the arse.

Sure you don't have to do it but there's a lot of things you don't have to do in this game that are still a lot of fun!
Post Reply