Onze

Redmane Castle has a couple of states. One is where there are no soldiers around the Castle grounds and one with soldiers. When the soldiers are absent then a few of the doors will be sealed off. I'm pretty sure the main gate can't be open.

Spoilers related to the boss etc.

3 minutes ago, Rayn said:

 

After beating EB and thus concluding with I'd finished the game to a point I no longer needed to avoid guides and tips, I sought out to find that much talked about katana, Rivers of Blood. For some reason I'd missed out on the invasion of the character that drops it, even though I'd been in the area numerous times. Folloing a YT guide I went there but apparently the invasion doesn't trigger if you've killed the fire giant. I was planning on respeccing for NG+ but now I'm wondering if I should just do another DEX run and try to get that katana instead. 

Using a +10 Rivers of Blood and a +25 Blood Uchigatana has made New Game+ a breeze. Here's a playlist of me smashing a few of the early bosses in NG+ just by mashing the Rivers of Blood weapon art. Feels like cheating.

Here are my Melania battle(s) on my original playthrough. I respec'd my character just for this battle and used the Rivers of Blood. I'm not sure what level I was but it seemed quite easy with me and my mimic wailing on her so I was probably over levelled. First time didn't go too badly but I didn't respect the AOE attack at all. Second time I still didn't respect the AOE too much hence the double KO. But a win's a win. 

I'm sure I could have made the fight even easier if I applied other buffs to my character or weapon etc. 

TLDR If you're struggling with Melania respec your character and use the Rivers of Blood with a Mimic summon.  

53 minutes ago, Lovelyman said:

I wish they added an icon to tell you if you’ve killed the boss in the catacombs/mines etc once you’ve found them. 

I just mark the map at the site of grace or entry the cave etc with the skull icon. 

It's simple and only takes a couple of seconds. Then when the boss is done I just remove the marker.

Same for bosses that are just roaming around the map. 

3 hours ago, mechamonkey said:

Urgh, I'm at

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Lake of Rot

it is literal hell. I hate HATE it here.

It's just stupid. Seems a waste of time. I started out equipping items of armour and talismans to counteract the status effect. Non of them seemed to make much of a difference.

In the end I just brute forced it with health potions and a spell to remove the status effect. 

Each time a just explored a different area and when my supplies were down I just warped back to the site of grace.

Stomp, stomp, stomp!

The AoW is so OP. It's now carried me through the bosses at the Capitol and a boss at the Hot Manor.

I barely use my weapon in the fights, my summon is the distraction and I stomp like a coward from the rear. 

I guess it helps that my weapon is +17 and the stomp scales with the weapon level.

I'm hoping it will have great success with an oversize boss on a tiny mount as other people have suggested.

I've got 80 hours on the clock and still struggling with the Capital and LilAggy has just speed run the game in less than 1 hour! 

Elden Ring could do with a few of these signs.

10 hours ago, Mike S said:

 

That was me!

 

I’ve been doing it forever in the previous games where the runs to bosses were considerably longer and harder so all time saved lessened the pain.

It’s a top tip!

It's a top tip until you think you've brought a lift up or down and you go into auto pilot and throw yourself down the shaft where you thought the lift would be.

2 minutes ago, SharkyOB said:

 

Cheesed that fucker last night, just murdered him with my bow from the platform above where he stands.  Perfectly valid tactic as far as I'm concerned 

I noped out on him and ran to take the lift to safety. Apparently he couldn't handle the rejection so he threw himself down the lift shaft. 

12 hours ago, Jamie John said:

Stormveil Castle question;

 

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How do I get down here?

 

 

There's a lift that goes down there in the rampart tower, but I can't summon it. Is it accessible from Stormview, or will I find the way later?

 

I think you're talking about the big lift near the Rampart tower site of Grace.

5 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

Am I right in thinking that if you buy PS5 version on disk, you don't have access to the PS4 version, so can't play PS4 version on PS5?

It looks that way. But I believe buying the PS4 version allows a free upgrade to the PS5 version.

ZX81. The ultimate demake. 

47 minutes ago, Ry said:

 

Yes. Xbox app on phone. Search for game. Click on game. Click on "install to console"

 

Brilliant, often overlooked feature. Saves all the waiting on launch day bullshit. 

Can I do this on the PS5? 

Xbox pre-order cancelled and PS5 edition pre-ordered. Looks like I'll be playing solo as I don't have PS+. 

1 minute ago, Ry said:

 

You can install before the disk arrives. 

 

But aye, it spins up for a second or two then silent as always. 

What is this witchcraft? I can install a game that I don't own? 

Damn! Those review scores, wow!

If I buy a physical edition of this for the Xbox Series X will it just install the game to the SSD and then do a small spin up of the disc drive each time it boots up? I love the silence of my Series X and I don't want to be listening to the drive spin when I'm playing. 

The harder word isn't even in the list on my instance of Wordle today using the NYT link. 

1 hour ago, Varsity said:

I believe there are two campaigns, one on GP and one you must pay for. 

 

Maybe people are trying to install the wrong one. 

Nah. It's just broken.

https://twitter.com/PlayCrossfireX/status/1491715167314399232

7 hours ago, Gigga said:

Mine came through after a few days.

I've actually got 3 of them left and I'm unlikely to buy 3 packs of beer before the end of the month so if anyone wants a code post here and I'll PM you one.

Thanks for the code. 

Looking forward to the Beers. 

11 minutes ago, strawdonkey said:

Has this been crashing a lot for anyone recently? I've not played for a while, and loaded it up today; first load, it wouldn't recognise controller input (after pressing A to load the game) and the second load, the game kept freezing, music stuttering, etc.

 

Been playing other stuff ok so I'm not sure it's the machine explicitly at fault and it recently had a full shutdown.

 

Disappointing to waste about 10-15 minutes on loading times to it today.

I'm not sure how but that sounds like you're on the old version. 

I've been playing it for most of the day and I've only had issues with quick start where the sound is non existent when quick starting.

I'm playing on a Series X 

Stock available for click and collect at several Smyths Toy shops around the UK. The following has been taken from their website stock levels @ 18.20pm.

Blackburn
 3 In Stock
Bournemouth
 10 In Stock
Crawley
 4 In Stock
Crayford
 15+ In Stock
Fareham
 2 In Stock
Hedge End
 2 In Stock
Loughton
 11 In Stock
Maidstone
 1 In Stock
Norwich
 2 In Stock
Rayleigh Weir
 15+ In Stock
Salisbury
 6 In Stock
Slough
 2 In Stock
Stevenage
 1 In Stock
Watford
 2 In Stock
 

What's the likelihood of this being legit.

Series X in stock on Amazon and has been for a couple of hours now. 

Hopefully the scalping bubble has now finally burst on it. 

1 minute ago, Ry said:

Windjammers 2 coming to GP day one on Jan 20th. 

 

New Sniper Elite day one as well. 

 

Windjammers is fucking amazing

 

 

Awesome news. When I saw they were releasing another Sniper Elite I thought, wouldn't it be great if it came to Game Pass on day one. This service just keeps on giving. 

@Profgoten