Elden Ring

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Re: Elden Ring

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Finally beat the Fire Giant (actually my son did), but I had to get to level 214 with Vigor of 58 and INT of 80. In the meantime I walked the earth and beat nearly every boss I previously ran from.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Against all my better judgement, I bought this today. :oops: Been looking for something that is a change of pace and while Fromsoft games don't generally jive with me, this one looks too cool to skip. I've been reading up and watching YT beginner guide videos while it downloads and am looking forward to giving it a go.

I'm coming in as generally a noob, having only played a couple hours each of Bloodborne and a couple of the Dark Souls games (3 and the original, I think). I'm going to commit to giving Elden Ring at least 10 hours, which would be far longer than I've lasted with either of the previous games I tried. Please feel free to bug me incessantly to hold me to that. :lol:

Here goes nothing...
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Re: Elden Ring

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Skinypupy wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 5:02 pm Here goes nothing...
Hmmm... did you buy a digital copy? Just asking. :D
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Re: Elden Ring

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The newbie areas are challenging while doable if you are cautious. There are guides that show how to get early items/armor. Strangely, I would recommend going with a wretch so you get to decide where to spend your points, and early levels are not that hard to gain.

Edit: I have never played any other DS games, but the open world sucked me in.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Beat the game a few days back. I think I was level 150 and it took me 141 hours. The last boss was pretty tough, but after 10 or so tries, I finally got a summoned cooperator who didn’t die in the first two minutes. But the hardest boss for me was Malenia; god I hated her by the end.

I stayed with my Int/Dex build throughout and mostly relied on spells that I got early in the game (Comet Azur and the great bow spells were the exception). I was jealous though of all the cool looking incantations that I could never used. They seemed much more diverse than my spells.

As for Skinnypuppy, I would not recommend the Wretch if you’re worried about bouncing off the game. I started as the Wretch but having no equipment or spells to start was rough. Started over after about five hours with a prisoner. Was *much* easier.
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Re: Elden Ring

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I’ve been running a confessor since day one and I’m using incantations quite a bit. The dragon communion incantations are my favorites so far. But I think spell casters are still the damage apex predators.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Finally beat Maliketh at level 222, or should I say I got to him and my son beat him. But I beat Rykard on my own to get the Blasphemous Blade. I am in no hurry to get to the final boss. This is the part of a game I enjoy most, where I can walk the earth slaying dragons and getting all the best weapons. Note: the Bolt of Gransax is ultra sweet, shoots lightning bolts.
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Re: Elden Ring

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hepcat wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 10:09 pm I’ve been running a confessor since day one and I’m using incantations quite a bit. The dragon communion incantations are my favorites so far. But I think spell casters are still the damage apex predators.
Yeah, I went Confessor as well. It did take me awhile to figure out I could equip my incantation item in the right hand on Horseback and use it tho...
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Re: Elden Ring

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Every guide I looked at said that if you're new to these types of games, start with either a Vagabond for melee or Astrologer for ranged. Most of them strongly recommend a Vagabond if you're a complete noob (which I am), so I went with that.

Made it through the first 3 hours last night, which is about double what I've spent in all my previous attempts with Souls-like games. I think I'm sorta getting the hang of the fundamentals, at least against basic enemies. I suck at dodging though, and need to get better about blindingly rolling around until I run out of stamina.

I did get my ass completely handed to me by what I'm guessing is the first boss though (the Beastman in Groveside Cave), so I'll probably need to come back to that after I get some more practice. I do have to admit it's frustrating reading "you'll have no problem getting past this easy boss" when I do, in fact, have rather significant problems. :lol:

I've even avoided getting overly frustrated/annoyed when I die, which is a paradigm shift I wasn't quite sure I'd be able to make. So...progress!
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by coopasonic »

You don't need to take any bosses out to get your first spirit summon that will make bosses much easier, providing a bit of damage and a distraction. There are lots of videos that give a "getting started" route that you can run in like 20 minutes to get the Jellyfish and upgrade your weapon a few times as well as a bunch of quick levels and other key resources.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Two small notes. Use your runes to level as soon as you have enough so you don’t lose them. Loot the back of the wagons at the first soldier camp. Also raid the cellar in that camp.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Skinypupy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 3:03 pm I've even avoided getting overly frustrated/annoyed when I die, which is a paradigm shift I wasn't quite sure I'd be able to make. So...progress!
Talk to me after a few hundred more times and then after you're level 120 and get killed by lowly rats!!
Last edited by stimpy on Fri May 13, 2022 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Skinypupy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 3:03 pm I do have to admit it's frustrating reading "you'll have no problem getting past this easy boss" when I do, in fact, have rather significant problems. :lol:
Ignore all of that. I guarantee those who wrote that weren't always masters of the game.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Skinypupy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 3:03 pm Every guide I looked at said that if you're new to these types of games, start with either a Vagabond for melee or Astrologer for ranged. Most of them strongly recommend a Vagabond if you're a complete noob (which I am), so I went with that.

Made it through the first 3 hours last night, which is about double what I've spent in all my previous attempts with Souls-like games. I think I'm sorta getting the hang of the fundamentals, at least against basic enemies. I suck at dodging though, and need to get better about blindingly rolling around until I run out of stamina.

I did get my ass completely handed to me by what I'm guessing is the first boss though (the Beastman in Groveside Cave), so I'll probably need to come back to that after I get some more practice. I do have to admit it's frustrating reading "you'll have no problem getting past this easy boss" when I do, in fact, have rather significant problems. :lol:

I've even avoided getting overly frustrated/annoyed when I die, which is a paradigm shift I wasn't quite sure I'd be able to make. So...progress!
Just remember not all bosses are created equal. Give up and explore is both fun and necessary a lot of the time. And there's a lot to explore...

Note. I'm still pretty much cold in this game, no videos/guides/walkthroughs generally, tho I will do quick searches to figure out how to do something (like use a bow, block/attack refresher as I suck at it, or cast magic spells as a faith-based Confessor).
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by stimpy »

I hate this game.
It's not enough to make it ridiculously hard and provide absolutely no direction at all.
No......lets throw in some random, Mario style platform crap while we're at it.
I hate this game.
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Re: Elden Ring

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stimpy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 6:59 pm I hate this game.
It's not enough to make it ridiculously hard and provide absolutely no direction at all.
No......lets throw in some random, Mario style platform crap while we're at it.
I hate this game.
I view that crap as Edge of Tomorrow. You're going to keep dying but get a little bit further each time.
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Re: Elden Ring

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A couple random noob questions.

1. Are the Ashes summons (wolf, jellyfish, etc) on cooldown timers? Or is there something specific I need to do to reset them? I fought a boss and summoned the jellyfish, but still died. When I respawned, I had a full FP bar but it wouldn’t let me summon them again. They were greyed out on the Quick Item slot.

2. I assume I should be using the bulk of my runes for upgrading skills in the early game. The only vendor I’ve found is the Santa looking dude at the very beginning, and I’ve bought everything I need from him. Just making sure I shouldn’t be keeping all the seed things (the ones you collect from glowing skulls, coffins, etc) in reserve for a super expensive doo-dad that I need to buy.

3. Help me understand the co-op summon system. I used one of the consumable fingers at the shrine thing right outside the boss. It gave me a bunch of people to select, so I chose one and nothing happened. I assume that means they declined the invite or something? Also, is there a way to avoid the “invaded by” PvP thing? There was one of those right near something I was trying to explore and it just kept kicking my ass every time. Is there a way to turn off PvP (something I have less than zero interest in).

Currently leveling Strength and Vitality for basic survivability. Will try to figure out if there’s a better path I should take later. I did beat the first dungeon boss, but the second one (that weird cat thing) keeps whooping me.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Pyperkub »

Regarding the invaded by xxx, note that there are a bunch that are preprogrammed AI, and not real invaders. I've run into at least three or four. YMMV tho.

FWIW, I did use the passwords upthread for seekers and qt3, so that may be limiting who can invade me... Not sure
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Re: Elden Ring

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I’m betting the invader is a game npc. You can tell if it’s the same named invader every time. There are at least a half dozen in the game that I can think of right off the bat.

As for summons, you can use them only when there’s a blue gate looking icon on the bottom left of the screen. And even then, I believe you can only use them once before resting at a site of grace (I may be wrong about that as I could swear I’ve been able to summon the same ash twice between resting). So I suspect you just weren’t yet in an area that allowed you to summon (like just outside a boss arena).

Spend those runes and level up. You’ll be able to afford whatever you need when the time comes with just a little grinding. But honestly, besides the recipe books and stone keys, you’ll be given most of what you need by enemies, NPCs, etc..
stimpy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 6:59 pm I hate this game.
It's not enough to make it ridiculously hard and provide absolutely no direction at all.
No......lets throw in some random, Mario style platform crap while we're at it.
I hate this game.
The game is ridiculously hard..until it’s not. I love coming back to bosses or enemies that kicked my ass after I’ve leveled up, then putting the smack down on them.

Alecto…you hear me? I’m coming for you.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Just came back and (my son) got Alecto. Nice summon from him.
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Re: Elden Ring

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I’m surprised that the guides suggested a Vagabond for people inexperienced with Souls games. Certainly it makes the game less complicated - just go and bash things until they die - but I think melee is *much* harder than ranged magic. Both for regular enemies and most bosses. But, of course, there are no real classes in the game: you can always put points into intelligence or faith to start using spells.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Ashes summon once per fight, so you can summon more than once before resting, just not in the same area.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Ralph-Wiggum wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 8:53 pm I’m surprised that the guides suggested a Vagabond for people inexperienced with Souls games. Certainly it makes the game less complicated - just go and bash things until they die - but I think melee is *much* harder than ranged magic. Both for regular enemies and most bosses.
I did wonder about that.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by hepcat »

Remember to revisit places from time to time. You’d be surprised at what can show up/change.

Also, if you’re going to use a shield but want to use your main hand’s skill, either use a shield that has No Skill listed for its skill, or find the ash of war called No Skill and equip it on the shield. Then you can just trigger your main hand skill with a pull of the correct trigger.

I just got my first great bow a few nights ago. It has the skill Radahn’s Rain (or whatever it’s called). I’m like a damn mortar now.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Note that it also takes runes to level up your summons, and weapons, and learn new spells, as well as buy items which increase your spell slots... . Sometimes that's more important than leveling...

I like that dynamic of having to choose between them
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Re: Elden Ring

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So, I've played for 10 hours and have come to two primary conclusions:
1. I now totally understand why Elden Ring has received the praise it has. It's a superbly crafted game, and...
2. It's absolutely not a game for me.

I'm someone who struggles with "here's a vague direction to head, now go make your own adventure". It's a format that occasionally works for me (Dragon's Dogma comes to mind), but when you combine it with the near vertical learning curve with "git gud" roadblocks at pretty much every turn, I just can't stay interested. My gameplay loop ends up as:
1. Guess I'll head that way, it looks like it might be cool.
2. Wander aimlessly (often dying to trash mobs) until I find a boss that kills me in three hits before I can even really tell what he's doing.
3. Try 20 or so times to kill the boss, Maybe figure out enough to whittle him down to 2/3 health.
4. Get annoyed.
5. Guess I'll head out in a different direction, it looks like it might be cool.
6. Repeat ad nauseum

I was hoping that the world would be interesting enough to stave off the frustration from my general lack of skill, but I don't really find it to be. There's lots of stuff, but with the focus on keeping pretty much everything overly vague and cryptic, I just don't really have any desire to try and piece it all together. While it doesn't need to hold my hand every step of the way, I do need more direction than this to enjoy a game. However, I'm sure that mystery and exploration are the primary drivers for others though.

All that said, I've spent just under 12 hours with it, which is 10X the amount of time that I've put into any other Souls-like game. So in that sense, it's a massive success. I also don't feel like it was $$ wasted either. I just hoped it might click and it kinda did for a blip...but not really.

I had been waffling between starting Elden Ring or the new Horizon. Went with ED because of the overwhelming feedback. I may still poke around with it a bit, but grabbed Horizon this morning and will be starting that up as well. I was hoping to wait until I had a PS5, but since that doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon...

All in all: Very cool game, just not my personal gaming bag.
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Re: Elden Ring

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Skinypupy wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 8:18 pm A couple random noob questions.

1. Are the Ashes summons (wolf, jellyfish, etc) on cooldown timers? Or is there something specific I need to do to reset them? I fought a boss and summoned the jellyfish, but still died. When I respawned, I had a full FP bar but it wouldn’t let me summon them again. They were greyed out on the Quick Item slot.

2. I assume I should be using the bulk of my runes for upgrading skills in the early game. The only vendor I’ve found is the Santa looking dude at the very beginning, and I’ve bought everything I need from him. Just making sure I shouldn’t be keeping all the seed things (the ones you collect from glowing skulls, coffins, etc) in reserve for a super expensive doo-dad that I need to buy.

3. Help me understand the co-op summon system. I used one of the consumable fingers at the shrine thing right outside the boss. It gave me a bunch of people to select, so I chose one and nothing happened. I assume that means they declined the invite or something? Also, is there a way to avoid the “invaded by” PvP thing? There was one of those right near something I was trying to explore and it just kept kicking my ass every time. Is there a way to turn off PvP (something I have less than zero interest in).

Currently leveling Strength and Vitality for basic survivability. Will try to figure out if there’s a better path I should take later. I did beat the first dungeon boss, but the second one (that weird cat thing) keeps whooping me.
The Ashes can only be used in certain places and then only the one time. You may not have been able to summon them again if you were not within a certain area. The icon on the center left should come up when you can summon them. If you summon another player you cannot summon your ash spirit. The ashes can be leveled up using items you find within caves or catecombs. The person who will do that shows up later in a specific spot.

Don't worry about saving runes unless it is for a level or a specific item. The glowing skulls are everywhere and often you can go back and collect them again. You don't lose inventoried runes upon death by the way.

You will not be invaded unless you summon a real person. If you do get invaded when solo it is a computer generated NPC, and there are some of those. You cannot turn those off, just treat them as another enemy. Outside a boss door if you use that item you should see gold glowy signs on the floor. Those are people wiling to help with the boss. The game has had problems with connection errors and so summoning real players has been rather hit or miss. Hopefully they get that fixed as it has to be a software problem.

I would recommend you take your time. Explore. Caves, catacombs and mines all have good stuff in them, but all will have some kind of boss as well. They range from fairly easy to very difficult. Don't worry if you die. If an area gives you trouble move to another area, it is a huge map. I would recommend exploring the opening area and then try going south past the guarded bridge. That area is designed as the second area to explore but most people miss it early on.

Have fun. It is basically Skyrim with real combat. And oh yea, don't expect much from the quest lines. FROM is terrible at quests.

I was level 174 when I finished the game and put around 220 hours into it. I am a bit of a completionist though so it can be done much quicker.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

It definitely may not be your thing, but I will again suggest you try a non-straight melee build before giving up on it completely. In my experience, that removed most of the frustration with combat early in the game. That said, the game definitely doesn’t ever provide any clear direction; most of the time I progressed in the game by just happening upon the main story line areas while exploring. But that was a good bit of the fun for me.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Skinypupy »

Scuzz wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 2:13 pm
Have fun. It is basically Skyrim with real combat. And oh yea, don't expect much from the quest lines. FROM is terrible at quests.
This stuck with me today as I put in another hour or so into ER, then was amplified tremendously when I switched over to the new Horizon. I think I finally put my finger on why it doesn’t click.

In the open world games that have clicked for me (AC Origins, Skyrim, Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Horizon), they’ve mostly done so because the world feels so vibrant and lived in. There’s bustling cities, there’s people doing things, there’s situations that need your help, etc. Elden Ring, ironically (since it’s a Souls-like), feels completely soulless to me. There’s lots of pretty things, but literally everything in the world exists simply for you to kill it for stat increases. There’s only the barest hint of an driving narrative, and the very occasional NPCs I happened to stumble across in 10+ hours were so vague that I honestly have no idea if it was just flavor text or they gave me a quest.

I was far more invested in my character, the world, and why I was playing in the first 30 minutes of Horizon than I was in the first 10 hours of Elden Ring. I quit ER today when I ran across a giant who kept lobbing tree-trunk sized arrows at me from 200 yards away…and I realized that I simply didn’t care to either find out why he was doing it or how to make him stop. I’m sure I probably would have gained a percentage increase to my stats or a new weapon if I spent an hour and died 50 times fighting him, but…why?

Anyways, not trying to bash ER. Just figured I’d throw in my $.02, as I was really struck by the differences in the two games. Different strokes, and all that. :)
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Re: Elden Ring

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The series has always had an issue with the narrative being buried under layers of secrecy. It’s probably one of the bigger complaints next to “too hard”. But for me, the exploration is incredibly satisfying. I never know what the hell I’m going to find….even when returning to areas I’ve already explored.

The combat is fun because I like a sense of achievement after I level up and return to kill something. I put more hours into this series than any other RPG thanks to this. It’s the only franchise that actually has a decent combat system other than Divinity series, imho.

But no shame in not liking something. There’s plenty of game to go around.
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Re: Elden Ring

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hepcat wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 4:50 am The series has always had an issue with the narrative being buried under layers of secrecy. It’s probably one of the bigger complaints next to “too hard”. But for me, the exploration is incredibly satisfying. I never know what the hell I’m going to find….even when returning to areas I’ve already explored.

The combat is fun because I like a sense of achievement after I level up and return to kill something. I put more hours into this series than any other RPG thanks to this. It’s the only franchise that actually has a decent combat system other than Divinity series, imho.

But no shame in not liking something. There’s plenty of game to go around.
Have you played Dragons Dogma? I really liked it with its party system and Baldur’s Gate like banter, and the combat and combat skills were fun.

I also really enjoyed Horizon Zero Dawn and look forward to the new one going to PC.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Eel Snave »

I've sunk more time into this game than I have into a LOT of other games. I started as a melee character and switched over to a mage. Personally, this is the most fun I've had with a game in a LONG time, and I'm realizing why I'm growing cold on video games now... they're mostly not that good?
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by hepcat »

Scuzz wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 9:43 am
hepcat wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 4:50 am The series has always had an issue with the narrative being buried under layers of secrecy. It’s probably one of the bigger complaints next to “too hard”. But for me, the exploration is incredibly satisfying. I never know what the hell I’m going to find….even when returning to areas I’ve already explored.

The combat is fun because I like a sense of achievement after I level up and return to kill something. I put more hours into this series than any other RPG thanks to this. It’s the only franchise that actually has a decent combat system other than Divinity series, imho.

But no shame in not liking something. There’s plenty of game to go around.
Have you played Dragons Dogma? I really liked it with its party system and Baldur’s Gate like banter, and the combat and combat skills were fun.

I also really enjoyed Horizon Zero Dawn and look forward to the new one going to PC.
I started Dragons Dogma three times between two consoles and two editions. The problem is that I'd get about 20 hours or so into it....then something else would catch my eye, and by the time I returned a better edition was available and I'd have to start over. I've got it on Steam and need to get back to it someday.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jaymann »

Eel Snave wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 9:57 am I've sunk more time into this game than I have into a LOT of other games. I started as a melee character and switched over to a mage.
I followed this path as well. Now at level 235 I am a true battle mage with 2299 hp. I saw a video on the importance of poise in avoiding stun lock. You want a minimum of 50, 56 is better. I went with the Veteran Armor set for a whopping 79 poise. It's a little weighty with my shield and two weapons, so I am working on endurance to keep to heavy load without dedicating a talisman slot to Great-Jar's Arsenal.

I'm coming for you Malenia.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Scraper »

Jaymann wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 4:17 pm
Eel Snave wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 9:57 am I've sunk more time into this game than I have into a LOT of other games. I started as a melee character and switched over to a mage.
I followed this path as well. Now at level 235 I am a true battle mage with 2299 hp. I saw a video on the importance of poise in avoiding stun lock. You want a minimum of 50, 56 is better. I went with the Veteran Armor set for a whopping 79 poise. It's a little weighty with my shield and two weapons, so I am working on endurance to keep to heavy load without dedicating a talisman slot to Great-Jar's Arsenal.

I'm coming for you Malenia.
If you can't beat Malenia with that set up then you might just want to call it a day on beating her.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jaymann »

Down goes Malenia!
Down goes Malenia!
Down goes Malenia!

Took about 40 tries, trying every weapon and spell at my command. What finally worked for me was summoning Black Knife Tiche plus the spell Adula's Moonblade. Tiche avoids being hit better than my mimic, limiting Malenia's regen. Moonblade has a wide arc so it rarely misses and has great frost damage.

Now I just need 3 more points in dex and I can use her blade.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by hepcat »

What Jay failed to mention is that he’s level 489. :P
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Jaymann »

hepcat wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 10:24 pm What Jay failed to mention is that he’s level 489. :P
There's no difficulty slider so I created my own.
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by stimpy »

I think I've decided I'm just gonna forgo trying to wrap up all of the various "side quests" and just try and get to "the end".
I've become much too bogged down in who/what/where and it's becoming a slag.

Now I need to try and decipher where the hell I am in the "story".
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Re: Elden Ring

Post by Pyperkub »

Pyperkub wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 7:22 pm
Scuzz wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 7:08 pm
Pyperkub wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 3:20 pm PS I was able to rump my way up to get past some of the flaming ballistae, but overall, it felt like a bit I needed to come back to.
This is the front entrance to Stormveil? Try approaching from the left. There are still lots of soldiers but the ballista won’t bother you. Just take your time, if you aggro too many just back up and pick them off. Go to the castle wall and follow it to the right.
Nah - this is *after* Margit (if you are talking about the ballistae and guards in the entrance to Margit's boss battle), if/when you get the gatekeeper to open the gate - there are two uphill slogs with border walls and no cover with multiple ballistae covering the approach. A fast zig/zag can get you up without taking a huge blow, but at least one also has a boss battle you can easily activate if you jump/run the wrong way at the top. I did get through that (and the boss battle) by healing my spirit, but when I charged the second one, I ran for a doorway and got surrounded by armored knights who unhorsed and pummeled me. I might be where I can make another run at it from onve of the graces there.

Got up to about lvl 51 over the weekend, FWIW.
Got all the way up to Godrick, but ran out of fire protection, so I'm going to have to go do some ingredient harvesting before I give him another go. I did get him down to about 25% in my first try, but my fireproof ran out. Oops. Need more beast livers (and thin bones for crafting trick arrows...). Still only around level 51/52. Kept losing runes on my way up, and then got sniped by a bird a couple of time on the way to getting my runes. Getting beaten by opponents you know you should beat is annoying sometimes!
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!

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