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Elden Ring (DLC Announced!)

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
Character 2 done with final boss at ~19 1/2 hours. Aside from the final boss being bleed immune, everything was such a breeze. Watching huge bosses' life bars get CHUNKED as bleed procs is just so satisfying. Could definitely see the power of bleed procs being nerfed in some way. I know they're dumb in PvP, but their power in PvE is also quite insane. The combination of % health damage, Arcane scaling both the proc chance and damage, and them getting stunned from it is silly.

Speaking of which, Maliketh can eat my entire ass. Had such a rough time on character 1 with him cause it was a wild goose chase trying to find out when I can hit him successfully with a greatsword. Meanwhile, character 2 made the squishy fucko pop to phase 2 in just a few hits and die immediately after as he deserves.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
So found out a BS tactic people are using in PvP. Hosts are getting in places where you can only get via horse, then using the Taunter’s Tongue, and then calling/summoning in blues. Here’s where the host was hiding. I got a few shots off before I guess his controller started to vibrate and so he switched back to his PlayStation on his tv and ran to the other side, I was trying to get an angle on the other side then fell to my death… lol. Anyway, here’s a picture of where he was hiding, and a link to me finally taking out 2/3 of the blue summons he summoned

18667

 

Saboteur-6

Filthy Casual
PvP in Souls is and always has been about scumbaggery though. Only time I've bothered with it is in Fight Clubs or covenant based Zone PvP in DS2.
 

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
So found out a BS tactic people are using in PvP. Hosts are getting in places where you can only get via horse, then using the Taunter’s Tongue, and then calling/summoning in blues. Here’s where the host was hiding. I got a few shots off before I guess his controller started to vibrate and so he switched back to his PlayStation on his tv and ran to the other side, I was trying to get an angle on the other side then fell to my death… lol. Anyway, here’s a picture of where he was hiding, and a link to me finally taking out 2/3 of the blue summons he summoned

View attachment 18667

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/tuda1q
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
PvP in Souls is and always has been about scumbaggery though. Only time I've bothered with it is in Fight Clubs or covenant based Zone PvP in DS2.
That has nothing to do with cheating though. And people who do this are cheating imo. Because unless you have the cannon or a certain weapon/AoW that allows you to essentially glide down to them, you cannot kill them if they’re in the right spot.

Aside from cheating, I don’t see PvP as scumbaggery at all. Yeah, it’s annoying invading and getting ganked 3v1, but that’s just how these games work. It’s a challenge as an invader to overcome the odds, just like it is up to you to overcome the odds in PvE. And it’s extra satisfying when you win 2v1 or 3v1. Then, if I want to have a good 1v1 duel, I can do that in fightclub areas or against players dueling in a discord server or something.

That said, I’ve seen A LOT of complaining by PvP’ers for this game. There’s this one content creator named “JeeNiNe”. He’s a really good PvP’er, but my god, every video he’s complaining about literally everything. Like, pretty much the textbook definition of a scrub mentality. He ridicules everything everyone else is using, meanwhile he’s also using super OP weapons and strats, but because what he’s using isn’t overused, and I guess since HE’S the one using it, it’s not a problem to him. But anyway, like I said, he’s still a great player, just can get annoying with how much he complains. And to be fair, there IS a lot of broken weapons, AoW’s and strats in PvP. But he uses the OP stuff too, as I said, he just doesn’t use the overused OP stuff. ¯\(ツ)

Amazing, love it! I unfortunately only had a bow that could reach the host in my invasion. Since I was only at RL 30 and hadn’t even beaten Godrick yet (or even Margit), didn’t have anything else that could get to him and/or kill him. I’ve progressed a lot more since then but only leveled up 10 levels, because low level invasions are so much more fun than level 100+ invasions. Yeah you can argue that most of the players aren’t as good at low levels, but it doesn’t matter how bad you are at the game, as long as this isn’t the first time you’ve ever played a video game, fighting an invader 2v1 or 3v1 is still gonna be relatively easy. Unless the invader is a really good PvP’er. I don’t consider myself really good, I haven’t played enough of the PvP yet, but I’d say I’m above average due to all my years of PvP souls experience. And plus, pretty sure this game is running on the same engine as DS3, so that familiarity definitely helps a lot!
 

Darth-Nero

Come Thunder! Come Lightning!
So found out a BS tactic people are using in PvP. Hosts are getting in places where you can only get via horse, then using the Taunter’s Tongue, and then calling/summoning in blues. Here’s where the host was hiding. I got a few shots off before I guess his controller started to vibrate and so he switched back to his PlayStation on his tv and ran to the other side, I was trying to get an angle on the other side then fell to my death… lol. Anyway, here’s a picture of where he was hiding, and a link to me finally taking out 2/3 of the blue summons he summoned



this is an afk runes farming exploit. hope they'll patch it soon.

also Radahn nerfs have been reverted.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
I feel like I've burned out on this game way too quickly, I don't think the combat is incredibly fun or rewarding. I can recognize the objective high quality of almost everything in the game. I like exploring and looking for stuff, but don't have all that much fun once I get in a fight.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
I feel like I've burned out on this game way too quickly, I don't think the combat is incredibly fun or rewarding. I can recognize the objective high quality of almost everything in the game. I like exploring and looking for stuff, but don't have all that much fun once I get in a fight.
Hmm, that’s definitely a new one. I very rarely see anyone complain about the combat in these games, as it’s by far the best part for most people. But I suppose it’s not for everyone. Some people prefer games like DMC or even games with crazier combat than that, where you have 50 different wild options of cool looking shining combat stuff. Elden Ring has a lot of cool Weapons and Ashes of War, as well as spells and incantations. Definitely the most out of any Souls games. But the combat is more skill based and skill oriented. Kinda like a fighting game. But also, if you overlevel, it trivializes everything, even the combat. Not to mention if you summon players or summon the Spirit Ashes.

The main things you “git gud” at is spacing, not only knowing the range of your attacks, but also your enemies, and studying their attacks and patterns. You also have to know when to roll. Rolling provides iframes, this is why heavy or “fat” rolling is so bad. Again, knowing when to roll is super important. This is also especially true in PvP (so is spacing of course). I never use a shield for blocking, only for parrying, which is why I generally only use the buckler, which is a tiny shield that actually has a quicker parry than a normal parrying shield.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
Hmm, that’s definitely a new one. I very rarely see anyone complain about the combat in these games, as it’s by far the best part for most people. But I suppose it’s not for everyone. Some people prefer games like DMC or even games with crazier combat than that, where you have 50 different wild options of cool looking shining combat stuff. Elden Ring has a lot of cool Weapons and Ashes of War, as well as spells and incantations. Definitely the most out of any Souls games. But the combat is more skill based and skill oriented. Kinda like a fighting game. But also, if you overlevel, it trivializes everything, even the combat. Not to mention if you summon players or summon the Spirit Ashes.

The main things you “git gud” at is spacing, not only knowing the range of your attacks, but also your enemies, and studying their attacks and patterns. You also have to know when to roll. Rolling provides iframes, this is why heavy or “fat” rolling is so bad. Again, knowing when to roll is super important. This is also especially true in PvP (so is spacing of course). I never use a shield for blocking, only for parrying, which is why I generally only use the buckler, which is a tiny shield that actually has a quicker parry than a normal parrying shield.
So my issues are that the game it’s self doesn’t tell you what level you should be at for each part, you need to look shit up for just about anything like that. I was just having fun exploring in limgrave for what felt like not that long, then I plowed through Margit, Goodrick, and Renalla. Felt like I got punished for going about the game at my own pace, which seems like what it encourages.

I don’t mind the challenge of the combat, it’s just not my preferred type. I like the combat of Sekiro a lot (gave it a try), to give you an idea of the kind of action games I like. Ghost of Tsushima on lethal mode is also a lot of fun to me.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
So my issues are that the game it’s self doesn’t tell you what level you should be at for each part, you need to look shit up for just about anything like that. I was just having fun exploring in limgrave for what felt like not that long, then I plowed through Margit, Goodrick, and Renalla. Felt like I got punished for going about the game at my own pace, which seems like what it encourages.

I don’t mind the challenge of the combat, it’s just not my preferred type. I like the combat of Sekiro a lot (gave it a try), to give you an idea of the kind of action games I like. Ghost of Tsushima on lethal mode and Batman on Knightmare mode is also a lot of fun to me.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
So my issues are that the game it’s self doesn’t tell you what level you should be at for each part, you need to look shit up for just about anything like that. I was just having fun exploring in limgrave for what felt like not that long, then I plowed through Margit, Goodrick, and Renalla. Felt like I got punished for going about the game at my own pace, which seems like what it encourages.

I don’t mind the challenge of the combat, it’s just not my preferred type. I like the combat of Sekiro a lot (gave it a try), to give you an idea of the kind of action games I like. Ghost of Tsushima on lethal mode is also a lot of fun to me.
Yeah that’s the downside of having an open world, pretty much non linear game. The levels become wonky especially if you do a lot of exploring and “side quests” and dungeons like I do. It’s why I made my 2nd character before I even beat the game on my 1st one. I was 100 hrs into my first character and I had overleveled, even though I was already planning on capping my character at RL 135, even that was too high for a lot of the areas I hadn’t been to yet. Basically, everything was insanely easy, even the bosses. So on my 2nd character, I capped myself at level 40 for a good bit. Now I’m capping myself at RL 50 for awhile, then my max level cap will probably be 70. This will be for both a challenge in PvE, but also for RL 70 invasions.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
Yeah that’s the downside of having an open world, pretty much non linear game. The levels become wonky especially if you do a lot of exploring and “side quests” and dungeons like I do. It’s why I made my 2nd character before I even beat the game on my 1st one. I was 100 hrs into my first character and I had overleveled, even though I was already planning on capping my character at RL 135, even that was too high for a lot of the areas I hadn’t been to yet. Basically, everything was insanely easy, even the bosses. So on my 2nd character, I capped myself at level 40 for a good bit. Now I’m capping myself at RL 50 for awhile, then my max level cap will probably be 70. This will be for both a challenge in PvE, but also for RL 70 invasions.
On one hand it’s such a strength for the game that weaker players can level up to make it accessible and stronger players can nerf themselves. But it does taint the first experience through the game imo, which is the most important one, and upon replays you now stick to your own set of made up rules and order of doing things, which ironically makes it more linear in a way. Great game just probably not my game.
 

BurdaA

Frost-Byte
Ok, so bleed/arcane does seem a bit silly in this game…

Switched from faith to arcane when I got the dragon communion seal and started wrecking everything. Changed back to Faith already as it’s more fun.

You can pretty much spec everything into survivability/arcane (excepting weapon/incantation requirements) slap occult scaling on some bleed weapons and shred through bosses like they’re regular fodder. The arcane scaling on the seal seems better than the Faith ones I’ve got too.

Sorry if this is all old news. I’ve been mostly ER media dark since launch, which is the actual hardest boss in the game.
 
I restarted midway through, in order to do a lv1 challenge run instead, because my original Str/Vigor approach just felt like I ended up brute-forcing through everything... Plus, I wanted to be able to use the cool summons without feeling like it was cheating.

Stupid thing is, the only weapon I like is Spiked Caestus, and they have ridiculous reach issues (and really limited available skills). But, it feels so GOOD to just pummel a giant enemy down. And obviously bleed is kind of necessary (because I get no stat-scaling to damage).
 
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On parrying:
It makes some things very easy (hey there, crucible knights), but most of the time you could just dodge and punish easier.
Base Parry sucks on everything that isn't a small shield. Annoying, as curved sword parry looks great.
Buckler's unique Buckler Parry is better than small shield + Parry.
Every other parry skill works the same regardless of whether it's on a small/medium shield, killing small shields completely.
So you can have 100 damage reduction block available to you, while you still get the biggest parry window in the game.
Golden Parry and Carian Retaliation have the best frames, with early activation and longest active window.
Golden Parry has hitbox issues + costs FP, while Carian Retaliation only costs FP if parrying spells.
Misericorde has 140 crit multiplier, so you are heavily incentivized to always switch to it to crit, which just feels bad.

In summary, for PvE, medium shield + Carian Retaliation is the best parrying option, with no downsides or trade-offs.
(Golden Parry better for PvP, because there's fewer giant-height vertical strikes for it to miss, and FP doesn't matter)

(I really hoped I could fist-parry my way through the game for the swag, but 13f start-up + 5f active window for weapon parries is just incredibly hard to land, while Carian Retaliation's 8f start-up + 14f active window makes even new enemies easy to react to)
 
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Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Ok, so bleed/arcane does seem a bit silly in this game…

Switched from faith to arcane when I got the dragon communion seal and started wrecking everything. Changed back to Faith already as it’s more fun.

You can pretty much spec everything into survivability/arcane (excepting weapon/incantation requirements) slap occult scaling on some bleed weapons and shred through bosses like they’re regular fodder. The arcane scaling on the seal seems better than the Faith ones I’ve got too.

Sorry if this is all old news. I’ve been mostly ER media dark since launch, which is the actual hardest boss in the game.
Yup bleed is definitely OP right now. That’s what I’m running on my 2nd character. Had 100* hrs on my first character, but overleveled to my cap (RL 135) earlier than I wanted to, which made the game too easy for me. Even though I don’t summon or use spirit ashes, it still was too easy. So my new characters max cap is gonna be RL 70, but for now definitely using a bleed build with the RoB as my main weapon until it gets nerfed. ¯\(ツ)
 

1man3letters

Alpha Tarkatan - Moderator
Moderator
170ish hours on 1st play through
What a game!
(Say about 10 hours of that was me hiding in bush or grace while went outside for a smoke but still)
 

Saboteur-6

Filthy Casual
Just finished my first playthrough after having some time today to push through several bosses and I feel like I do whenever I complete a souls game...confusion about the story...indifference about any character arc (including my own) ... and relief that it's over.

I might NG+ but I'll probably move on to Horizon Zero Dawn sequel.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
Just finished my first playthrough after having some time today to push through several bosses and I feel like I do whenever I complete a souls game...confusion about the story...indifference about any character arc (including my own) ... and relief that it's over.

I might NG+ but I'll probably move on to Horizon Zero Dawn sequel.
For any lore questions, there’s usually YouTubers whose main job is to explain the lore. The main one being VaatiVidya. There’s sooooooo much lore for this game, it’s wild
 

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
Just finished my first playthrough after having some time today to push through several bosses and I feel like I do whenever I complete a souls game...confusion about the story...indifference about any character arc (including my own) ... and relief that it's over.

I might NG+ but I'll probably move on to Horizon Zero Dawn sequel.
This was one of my bigger gripes with the game as well. I know Fromsoft's stories and story presentation style aren't straightforward and this worked just fine to me for Dark Souls 1-3. However, it feels like they dipped their toes into attempting something different with Elden Ring by having long quests that set up separate endings with potential huge implications but failed miserably on it. Every single ending is lackluster at best, disappointing at worst. Seems like not a lot of effort was put into having any sort of notable conclusion which feels like a let down after committing 100+ hours to a character.
 
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Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
This was one of my bigger gripes with the game as well. I know Fromsoft's stories and story presentation style aren't straightforward and this worked just fine to me for Dark Souls 1-3. However, it feels like they dipped their toes into attempting something different with Elden Ring by having this long quests that set up separate endings with potential huge implications but failed miserably on it. Every single ending is lackluster at best, disappointing at worst. Seems like not a lot of effort was put into having any sort of notable conclusion which feels like a let down after committing 100+ hours to a character.
I really really think they should start doing more of stuff like all the theatrics they did before the Radahn fight. That made that entire sequence and subsequent fight so much more epic and fun. Like, they even threw in a cut scene BEFORE the fight when that NPC was briefly explaining the backstory and everything. They absolutely need to do more of that in the future. I’ve always liked the way that Souls games did their story, but after the Radahn stuff, I 100% would want WAY MORE of that going forward.
 

Arqwart

D'Vorah for KP2 copium
I really really think they should start doing more of stuff like all the theatrics they did before the Radahn fight. That made that entire sequence and subsequent fight so much more epic and fun. Like, they even threw in a cut scene BEFORE the fight when that NPC was briefly explaining the backstory and everything. They absolutely need to do more of that in the future. I’ve always liked the way that Souls games did their story, but after the Radahn stuff, I 100% would want WAY MORE of that going forward.
100%. More explanatory, hype-inducing theatrics before notable bosses. Things like voice lines from Moongrum (maybe hinting at the war between the Golden Order and Raya Lucaria or hinting at what's happened to Rennala, both being reasons he refuses to let you pass) while you fight him just before Rennala, a cutscene chat with Melina before Morgott since she can be summoned for that fight, literally ANYTHING that indicates that Godfrey has come back instead of walking into the room to find him there and being wildly confused who the fuck it is, something to indicate why you're at / what you're looking for in Farum Azula (could just be lines from Melina at the Mountaintop or a separate cutscene), having specific NPCs you've worked with for whatever ending you choose showing up in the final cutscene to hit home what your choice has done, etc.

I don't need an excessive amount of hand holding nor do I expect it in a Fromsoft game, but hot damn give us something to draw us in when there's a very high chance there's 5-10 hours between a player's previous major story step to the next because they've been exploring.