Elden Ring

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Marlew
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

I'd say if you've done Stormveil, you can keep heading through.

I also spent an hour this morning evening mopping up bits of Limgrave and various night time bosses I'd not come across before, including one particularly brutal fella who gave me a ball bearing. I'm somewhat over levelled for Limgrave at this point so I just rode round firing comets at him.

Also mopped up a handful of catacombs etc. I really like how compact they are because I generally hate the tombs and shit in these games, too repetitive and endless and, well, basically I can't handle the stress and claustrophobia so I really enjoy these little traps and mini puzzles and then, boom. Here's a boss and here's a cool item. This point was made almost word for word on the new episode of Bonfireside Chat but I had been thinking similar so was good to have it reinforced!
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Cornelius_Smiff
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Cornelius_Smiff »

30 hours in and finally cleared Stormveil (goodness me what great level design). Godric is vanquished and for me the biggest brick wall were those bloody knights (f***ing hate them!). Once I was able to get past the first few and get to a respectable grace point it was pretty good progress, albeit careful and methodical. The sense of satisfaction I get from finally making it to the second main area is hard to explain, but I am not frustrated. If anything I am eternally grateful for the game allowing me to turn back and do other stuff, get stronger and have some fantastic mini stories along the way.
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Alex79
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

I spent most of my three hours on last night just using the "send summon signs to all local boss areas" item and helping people beat bosses. It's terrifically satisfying knowing you've helped someone get past a boss they'd potentially been banging their head against for hours (because I've been there enough times!) And besides, I'm seeing it as atonement for all the times I've ruined someone else's boss attempt by invading them... :twisted: :lol:
Marlew
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

Done major bosses two and three over the last two evenings and both were fantastic. Very tough at first, similarly so, but once I got into the rhythm, they were very distinct and incredibly satisfying nuts to crack. Third boss is up there with the very best for me. Also, whereas much of the game feels like a development or refinement or expansion of a previous FROM idea, this felt like something genuinely different. I'd love to do it again this evening. Also, I've clearly started a side quest that I'd heard about as something pretty special and it's brought another fantastic element to the game, and a bit more of a narrative impetus.

More than anything, though, is that I'm still discovering new areas and they're still distinct and thrilling and bringing something new and I can't believe what they've achieved here. I never thought anything would top Dark Souls 1&2 for me, but this gives me a feeling I haven't had with a game since I first played them, and moreso in many ways. It's consumed my imagination and I'm feeling blown away or thrilled by something every time I turn it on. It's also much less frustrating and restrictive when you hit a wall. There's so much else to do, I never feel like I'm grinding the same enemies to level up, I just explore another area until I feel ready to come back.
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Alex79
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

I got caught in a second transporter trap and was amazed how far away I'd landed! The map keeps getting bigger!
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Still loving every aspect of this game. I just did the second Great Rune dungeon and boss and I dug both even more than Stormveil and Godrick. The art design and labyrinthine corridors of the environment itself, the spectacle and high concept of the boss... this is truly From at their best, tying together so much of what makes their games obsessively absorbing.

Also got a month of PS Plus and did some bro-op with my brother, great excuse to go back through Stormveil and deck Godrick again. We also encountered lots of invaders, fought some off which was satisfying, but then got killed trying to catch an invader who was running off ... due to the fact we were simultaneously being pursued by a gigantic lobster who eventually caught up. Very goofy fun and I can't resent that as a loss at all. Might drop my summon sign and do some random sunbroing, maybe some invading, since I can get online now.

That competes with the inexorably compelling pull into new and lethal areas that this game is still capable of.

Spoilers below for major "side quests", character beats and area names directly after Liurnia:
Spoiler: show
I finally bumped into Blaidd and have also reunited with Ranni. So this has ended up sending me back to Siofra River and Blaidd is now suggesting we fight our way through Caelid to track down General Radahn.

I put quotes around "side quests" because this is some of the most direct storytelling outside of Sekiro they've done, and feels like it gives a proper narrative shape to this next act of the game. I had been meaning to return to Caelid anyway but now I'm going there on a mission with the intrepid Blaidd and it feels like my little Tarnished has found new purpose in this world, beyond the cryptic and (to me) untrustworthy Roundtable inhabitants. Really exciting and I can't wait to see where this is going to go.
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Caligulas Horse
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Caligulas Horse »

Alex79 wrote: March 5th, 2022, 1:17 pm I'm about 22 hours in now and just defeated Godrick the Grafted last night. He wasn't so tough, took three attempts, and his second phase is brilliant!
God, I wish I could agree! He and Margit both had me on a death loop for at least a couple of hours. I think I'm pretty bad at getting the patterns down. I'll say to myself "OK, you have to dodge that move next time"... then die the exact same way on my next try.
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Alex79
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Haha, I think I was a bit OP by the time I got to him.

Was just playing earlier in a smaller dungeon, being chased by two big trolls. They'd already killed me twice so I thought I'd run past them and up the ladder. Made it to the ladder thinking I was safe so stopped to look back, and there they were right behind me climbing up the ladder :lol:

Found an awesome enormous underground area earlier too, and defeated Dragonkiln Soldier of Nokstella. That was a cool fight.
Marlew
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

I've completed two very substantial optional side quests this weekend and my Astrologer is now doing absurd damage. Various gear spoilers:
Spoiler: show
I got the Moonveil katana and the Moonlight Great Sword (or whatever it's called in this) and got both up to +9. I'm up to 70 INT and got loads of sorcery buffs. Best talisman is the one which cuts FP use on Weapon Arts so the Moonveil magic slash is wrecking everything I come across, I hardly use the regular moveset. I'm hoping I can finish the game before they nerf it!

From range, I've got a charge attack boost talisman and I'm laying down a Terra Magus for the extra damage, chugging my Magic DMG+ and Free FP Physick and going ham with either Loretta's Bow or the Azur Comet. There's some dragon on a bridge in the mid game which kept one shotting me again and again so I crept up, set my buffs and blew a hole through it with the comet in about three seconds. I've put a shift in to get the gear and still get one shot by many enemies, so I'll gladly take the insane payoff. Crystal Cannon.
One of the most remarkable things about the game is how big and varied it is. There's so much stuff that I could have missed and I'm sure I'm missing and I still don't feel I've rinsed any one single area, even Limgrave, there's always so much to go back to and yet so much to pull me further along. It kind of reminds me of Skyrim or Oblivion now more than anything else (not played Morrowind, sorry Jon!), the sense of scale and place and the thick atmosphere. It's very very gamey, like Skyrim, and feels a little breakable, and I love that alongside this vast, enchanting world, full of personality.

I keep remembering areas I've been and I'm like holy shit, that was this game...It's not just the size, it's the scope and variety and different kinds of environments. There's still so much classic Souls area design to it, awesome forts and ruins and poison lakes and hellish underground areas and what the fuck even is this place and yet they even somehow infused the open areas with that same sense of trepidation and wonder. It also absolutely reeks of Berserk in many many fantastic ways and it's got me reading that again, when I'm not playing this. It's not for everyone, but it is for me.
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Alex79
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah it continues to amaze. I'm on about 48 hours now and just venturing out in to Liurnia. I spent the last two nights in this huge underground area, a whole world down there, stars in the sky (!?), a brilliantly designed boss (Ancestral Spirit or something) and even a light puzzle!

I've hit the first point in the game though where I'm not really sure how to progress the main route. The gate at the Academy is sealed, and I'm not sure how to get in. I'll give it another couple of nights before looking it up, though.
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Rhaegyr
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Rhaegyr »

Alex79 wrote: March 13th, 2022, 11:41 pm Yeah it continues to amaze. I'm on about 48 hours now and just venturing out in to Liurnia. I spent the last two nights in this huge underground area, a whole world down there, stars in the sky (!?), a brilliantly designed boss (Ancestral Spirit or something) and even a light puzzle!

I've hit the first point in the game though where I'm not really sure how to progress the main route. The gate at the Academy is sealed, and I'm not sure how to get in. I'll give it another couple of nights before looking it up, though.
I made this exact same mistake this weekend until a friend reminded me I picked something up at the gate that helped me get in.
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Michiel K
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Michiel K »

I bit. Got the PC version via Steam (thank you Leon and Jay for the birthday funds!) and only dipped my toes in a bit so far. Obviously very keen to play more once my agenda opens up a bit!
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Pconpi
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Pconpi »

My Starscourge Radahn experince:
Spoiler: show
I got wrecked the first few times, as you do with Radahn, and went off to finish more of Caelid thinking with a few more levels and weapon upgrades I would have him. Came back (at level 71 for reference which I think is plenty high) and started to figure the fight out. Dodging the initial arrows, summoning all of the NPCs, letting the NPCs take aggro, and firing arrows at him from afar on Torrent. I would consistently get to the second phase after he launches into the air like a meteorite but kept dying, almost always from the four purple orbs he summons around his head which are instant kills. I eventually figured that I shouldn't bother fighting him when he summons the orbs but should keep finding the NPCs and wait for him to send those purple balls at them. But it would get to the point where I either couldn't find anymore NPCs to summon or at some point they don't respawn after so many deaths? So I realized I was killing him too slowly by dinking him with arrows and my friends were dying too quickly so in that second phase they wouldn't respawn (I'm not sure if that is true but it felt like that). So I made some blood grease, mixed my Physick flask with the damage reducer and stamina recovery, grabbed my sword and said he would be mine. By this point I had died about 40 times and spent 3 hours fighting him. With this method I got to the second phase so much faster and my NPCs hadn't had a chance to die. The time I beat him I actually got his health down to 25% before he did his meteorite dive by wailing on him during his transition stages. Definitely not as safe as on horseback but you can find the windows to really bring his health down. Lesson learned to switch up my method a little sooner (I swore the arrows from a distance would be the way to go!). This one will be remembered for a long time though. Amazing boss fight.
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Cornelius_Smiff
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Cornelius_Smiff »

Hoarfrost Stomp is so OP.

That is all!
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Nupraptor
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Nupraptor »

Lost 80000 runes to a glitch last night. Beat a (superb) late game boss and then hung around afterwards to do some beneficent Co-op fingering.
When my character came back from the host’s world, the game re spawned me in a location outside of the game’s parameters and I died instantly, with the runes lost forever.

(It’s still the best game ever though!)
Marlew
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

I'm at the last boss now, 75 hours in. Not sure how long it'll be until I take it down or if I ever will but the game has been utterly immense. I haven't been this absorbed in anything since Bloodborne. There are a couple of grim spikes around 80-90% of the way through (FG, GD) which nearly soured me on it but it's picked up again massively and the last few bosses have been incredibly good fun. Rock hard but you always feel you're getting closer, just right in terms of challenge for me.

The world and exploration and sheer scale and variety of the thing have blown me away. I went back exploring a few areas I'd half forgotten about and found several new massive paths to new areas and new quests to unlock further areas. There's so much I haven't done yet that seems really cool and I've fucked up at least two thirds of the NPC quest lines. The map just keeps zooming out and out and out, it's amazing how enormous yet dense and carefully designed this is. I know FROM are massive and mainstream these days but I would never have imagined this was possible for them.

This feels like the culmination of the best games of the last two generations, from Skyrim and Dark Souls to BotW and Bloodborne. I can't say it's necessarily original but - for me - it's a staggering refinement and unparalleled achievement in open world games.
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Alex79
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Alex79 »

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).
Marlew
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Marlew »

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.
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See Mi Yah
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by See Mi Yah »

Sorry if this has been asked already but has anyone played it on the base PS4? I've read some discussion online saying it's on par with Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro i.e. hovering around the 30fps mark and with poor frame pacing. I'm sure that's correct but I would really like to hear from the Cane and Rinse team/community on the matter.

I'm afraid it's been a lean couple of years, what with starting my own business the week before we went into lockdown!, so I'm gonna have to grind out the rest of the year with my PS4 slim and get ready for the big upgrade next year (PS5 and my first experience of proper 4K screen and true HDR).

Anyway, it's an impossibly subjective question but I'll ask it anway - should I go ahead and play it on PS4, performance warts and all, and considering I still very much enjoyed all of From's other PS4 releases, or should I keep my powder dry and enjoy it at (near) 60fps next year with all the visual bells and whistles?
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See Mi Yah
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by See Mi Yah »

See Mi Yah wrote: March 26th, 2022, 3:27 pm Sorry if this has been asked already but has anyone played it on the base PS4? I've read some discussion online saying it's on par with Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro i.e. hovering around the 30fps mark and with poor frame pacing. I'm sure that's correct but I would really like to hear from the Cane and Rinse team/community on the matter.

I'm afraid it's been a lean couple of years, what with starting my own business the week before we went into lockdown!, so I'm gonna have to grind out the rest of the year with my PS4 slim and get ready for the big upgrade next year (PS5 and my first experience of proper 4K screen and true HDR).

Anway, it's an impossibly subjective question but I'll ask it anway - should I go ahead and play it on PS4, performance warts and all, and considering I still very much enjoyed all of From's other PS4 releases, or should I keep my powder dry and enjoy it at (near) 60fps next year with all the visual bells and whistles?
Two hours is a long time in Hollywood. I went ahead and purchased it as soon as I realised it includes the PS5 version. So at the very least I'd have it sitting there for when I do upgrade.

But I won't be waiting that long. For a game that is pretty much the dying breath of the last gen (along with GT7) , it looks and feels good and is an improvement on Dark Souls III. To pack in more game and yet have it performing better than its predecessors is surely a victory of sorts for From.

It's very early days but my immediate impressions are that this is a game that I literally cannot wait to play. Of course I'm gutted that my Series S and gaming monitor had to be sacrificed on the alter of debt management but right now I'm happy playing this on last gen hardware.
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