Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Jackson]

2 minutes ago, carlospie said:

You know what, I take back my snide comments about this looking like dragon's dogma. So what. It oozes atmosphere and ultimately, that's far more important.

 

My online is borked though, it always says failed to connect and so I get no messages or back up. 

 

The reason I said il stop until it's fixed is one of my favourite gaming moments of all time. The dark souls ' well of treasures'. I jumped straight on in to that mofo and laughed me head off. 

Are you using quick resume? I've had some connecting issues solved by closing the game and reopening it properly.

[Captain Kelsten]

1 minute ago, Jackson said:

Are you using quick resume? I've had some connecting issues solved by closing the game and reopening it properly.

No, I asked him that already (since I’ve experienced the same as you, and not just on Elden ring)

 

I did read that for some people it’s because the game hadn’t updated to the newest version. If yours has then I really can’t think what’s up. 

[StephenM]

Couldn’t resist giving this a whirl. Downloading now! Apologies for what is probably a common question…

 

I played Demon’s Souls remake (didn’t finish it) as a magic guy because I heard that’d make cheesing stuff easier if times were hard. But I also felt like I was missing out on actually improving using a sword. 
 

Is the right starter choice for me ‘anything but magic’?

 

 

[Uzi]

1 minute ago, StephenM said:

Couldn’t resist giving this a whirl. Downloading now! Apologies for what is probably a common question…

 

I played Demon’s Souls remake (didn’t finish it) as a magic guy because I heard that’d make cheesing stuff easier if times were hard. But I also felt like I was missing out on actually improving using a sword. 
 

Is the right starter choice for me ‘anything but magic’?

 

 

People who dictate to you what build to play are idiots.

 

Do you want to play with magic? If yes there is your answer. If no, choose something else.

[Captain Kelsten]

6 minutes ago, StephenM said:

Couldn’t resist giving this a whirl. Downloading now! Apologies for what is probably a common question…

 

I played Demon’s Souls remake (didn’t finish it) as a magic guy because I heard that’d make cheesing stuff easier if times were hard. But I also felt like I was missing out on actually improving using a sword. 
 

Is the right starter choice for me ‘anything but magic’?

 

 

You can’t really go “just” magic, so have fun double dipping with both magic and melee - it’s a lot better than going one extreme or the other. 

[Len]

1 hour ago, Mike S said:

 

It runs pretty much perfectly for me.

 

Very rare loading judders that are barely noticeable and certainly nothing like rendering the game unplayable.

 

Same. 

[Len]

5 hours ago, Jamie John said:

Fuck me this is good.

 

I keep telling myself I'm going to carry on with the main quest, but then I find something else I want to go and explore. The area to the north-east is brimming with proper nightmare fuel shit. I go to a place, have a look, laugh with terror and shake my head, then immediately ride away again. I'm basically roleplaying as Brave Sir Robin from The Holy Grail.

 

This is the place I mentioned earlier that gives off RE4 gone completely bonkers vibes to me. 

 

I got the map and to the other side and area(s) and decided to come back later, much later. 

[Alan Stock]

More progress:

 

Spoiler

Finally killed the NPC invader in the Roundtable, keeping at midrange and using my broadsword square stance charge to engage. Explored the island, bit disappointed to find its just a shrine but I'll have to come back once I slay a dragon! Ported back to the cave and continued down the beach to fight skellies (good old skellies). Then rode the boosters with Torrent back to the start. Explored the tutorial again but nothing new to find in the cave, although I did spot an item up high you can see jut after you drop down.

 

Went back down the path to the beach and took on the tentacled monstrosities with Torrent. They are really cool enemies, I chopped off the tentacles by sprinting past with the horse, then dismounted and backing off from its charge used my own broadsword charge to damage the beak. After some damage it retreats into the body allowing you to critical hit. They drop body parts as do the small ones which should be handy for crafting health boosting items which I can use on bosses. I did die a few times by getting Torrent flattened by them leaping onto us. On the final attempt I accidentally had the torch equipped, but it turned out to do great at setting the beast on fire, so I must remember to utlitise it elsewhere.

 

Further along the beach were the mysterious circling glowing footprints, but nothing attacked so I went to the end of the beach to find another mysterious swordsman who wasn't friendly and required some broadswording to the face to silence. Curious as to what his deal is, no lore to find, maybe he boated over from another part of the world I'll find later.

 

Finally I decided to attack the footprints as they went past, and rather than facing some horrible boss I was rewarded with a weapon skill. I still haven't applied any of the weapon skills or upgraded my broadsword, I'm waiting to find a better weapon I can actually wield with my stats. So far I've only found 3 or 4, including a 30 Faith fist weapon past the invader in the Roundtable, which I'm planning to eventually have enough Faith to equip! I feel like I might try and find a better weapon before facing Margit again, and maybe some better medium armour as well. I also upgraded some of my summons with the girl in the Roundtable. I also haven't spent any of my collected rune objects, I always push as far as I can without using them and then spend 'em all in one go, so probably the Margit fight will provide a reason for breaking those open too. I bought some new spells from the priest in the hub too, a very close range fire spell (it was great against the slimes on the beach), and a better heal which also heals allies - hopefully that applies to spirit summons too, which should help me keep my cannon fodder alive longer when I return to Margit.

 

Next I think I'll check out the flooded area to the right of the starting area in the hopes of finding more gear, and check all the vendors for weapons and armour I couldn't afford before. I want to stick with medium armour and swords for now, I'm double-handing my broadsword and enjoying it, not using the shield if I can help it - because I spent the last two mainline Souls games with a shield and am a bit bored of it (DS1 remastered and Demon Souls remake).

 

Having a blast though exploring, just need to take breaks now and then to pace things out!

 

[CrichStand]

Headed back down on the lift I found.......finally the game is doing what makes these games so good - tightly focused intricate level design, challenging combat, risk/reward, tense exploration etc. The open world itself has been absolute shite so far, and doesn’t add anything to the gameplay. This is what these games are all about and when it gets into the swing of making the most of its strengths, instead of trying to be more like other games, it’s absolutely fantastic.

[robdood]

2 hours ago, Moz said:

still miles away from playable.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Margit is down 

 

Got a couple of heavy hitting summons and Patches gizmo.  Still a close run thing though since I'm squishy as fuck.

[El Spatula]

Moz is somewhat prone to hyperbole and mysteriously seems to get all the worst bugs in every game ever somehow.

[Kevvy Metal]

It boggles the mind how anyone could dislike the open world in this, the sense of place & discovery is off the scale! 

[ChewMagma]

5 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

It boggles the mind how anyone could dislike the open world in this, the sense of place & discovery is off the scale! 

 

I think some people have landed upon an opinion mostly based on the first few hours in the starting area and are unwilling to re-assess that when they get further into the game for some reason.

[ChewMagma]

Question on Great Runes:

 

Spoiler

Do you have to equip them in some way to get their benefits or do they just need to be in your inventory?

 

[moosegrinder]

5 minutes ago, ChewMagma said:

 

I think some people have landed upon an opinion mostly based on the first few hours in the starting area and are unwilling to re-assess that when they get further into the game for some reason.

 

People don't like admitting they're wrong.

[Kevvy Metal]

7 minutes ago, ChewMagma said:

 

I think some people have landed upon an opinion mostly based on the first few hours in the starting area and are unwilling to re-assess that when they get further into the game for some reason.

Even that area is outstanding though…

[Majora]

About the delivering a letter sidequest in the peninsula...

 

Spoiler

I delivered the letter from the blind girl to the guy in the castle. Went back to the girl and she's dead! Did I do something wrong in typical From abstruse fashion or is that literally just how it ends?

 

[Jamie John]

47 minutes ago, Len said:

 

This is the place I mentioned earlier that gives off RE4 gone completely bonkers vibes to me. 

 

I got the map and to the side and area(s) and decided to come back later, much later. 

 

I was getting more TLOU vibes, to be honest. 

Spoiler

The fungus infected creatures you find in the swamp are very Clicker-like.

 

[Hawklord]

8 minutes ago, Majora said:

About the delivering a letter sidequest in the peninsula...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I delivered the letter from the blind girl to the guy in the castle. Went back to the girl and she's dead! Did I do something wrong in typical From abstruse fashion or is that literally just how it ends?

 

Spoiler

Me too 😥

 

[Cyhwuhx]

Been map hunting now I know how to get the map pieces and…

 

The sights I’ve seen… I’m equal measures delighted and horrified. How on Earth is any game supposed to top this this year?

 

[CrichStand]

29 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

It boggles the mind how anyone could dislike the open world in this, the sense of place & discovery is off the scale! 

Try exploring for the best part of 10hrs, whilst one shoting endless bog standard enemies and finding absolutely nothing! 
 

Alll the good stuff I’ve played so far is the classic Souls stuff, it’s where this game shines, not the open world. You can separate it out into individual levels like Demon’s. You can try and interlock it all like Dark. Or you can piece it out over a giant open world like this. I’ve been playing for 13htrs and been right across the map. The actual open world is adding nothing new or worthwhile to the gameplay at all so far. 
 

Fed up of the BOTW comparisons but.....when Zelda jumped to BOTW a lot of the gameplay changed, the game world itself allowed for new gameplay, brand new stuff was introduced. That’s not happened here which is another reason I’m not feeling the open world design. It currently feels like a missed opportunity. Obviously, if my opinion changes at some point, I’ll be happy to say so. The open world aspect was one of the things I was really looking forward to.

[footle]

2 minutes ago, CrichStand said:

Try exploring for the best part of 10hrs, whilst one shoting endless bog standard enemies and finding absolutely nothing! 
 

Alll the good stuff I’ve played so far is the classic Souls stuff, it’s where this game shines, not the open world. You can separate it out into individual levels like Demon’s. You can try and interlock it all like Dark. Or you can piece it out over a giant open world like this. I’ve been playing for 13htrs and been right across the map. The actual open world is adding nothing new or worthwhile to the gameplay at all so far. 
 

Fed up of the BOTW comparisons but.....when Zelda jumped to BOTW a lot of the gameplay changed, the game world itself allowed for new gameplay, brand new stuff was introduced. That’s not happened here which is another reason I’m not feeling the open world design. It currently feels like a missed opportunity. Obviously, if my opinion changes at some point, I’ll be happy to say so. The open world aspect was one of the things I was really looking forward to.

if you’ve only played thirteen hours I’m pretty sure that:

a. You’ve not been “right across the map”

b. You’re not oneshotting all the enemies.

 

if you think you are, then you need to get out of the starting area and head north past the castle.

 

(it’s a better open world than Zelda, simply because there isn’t a single repeated “climb this to show the map” and a far wider variety of biomes and enemies)

[Benny]

I've been playing like a Paladin and buffing people right at the start area trying to fight

 

Spoiler

Tree Sentinel. So far nobody has been able to beat him as the hosts keep dying .

 

I'm level 16 at the moment. Beat him on my own already...

 

I really want to help these newbs, it's my new mission in life 

 

 

[Curtis]

50 minutes ago, ChewMagma said:

Question on Great Runes:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Do you have to equip them in some way to get their benefits or do they just need to be in your inventory?

 

I don't really undertand how to

Spoiler

equip the soul and use the Rune Arc to activate. I do know there's a new NPC at the Round Table who trades Great Runes for boss weapons. 

 

[englishbob]

Could someone let me know what I am doing wrong here please (with the storage chest) because I don't understand. Thanks

 

 

[Anne Summers]

What's with the bit in Stormwhatsit castle where you enter through a side entrance and 

Spoiler

There's a sort of throne room (well a big chair) and you can't use your sword (like in the round table area). Doesn't seem to be anything to do in there? 

 

[CrichStand]

1 minute ago, footle said:

if you’ve only played thirteen hours I’m pretty sure that:

a. You’ve not been “right across the map”

b. You’re not oneshotting all the enemies.

 

if you think you are, then you need to get out of the starting area and head north past the castle.

I went off exploring right from the start, kicked the shit out of everything in the opening area. Wandered around, found a chest that transported me right across to the other side the map. I then ran all the way back to the start. Did the first dungeon and mini boss, which was awesome. Did another mini dungeon and boss. Cleared out a camp. Got my horse. Kicked the shit out of the big lad that jumps down. Headed South. Walked along the entire coast searching for interesting stuff and found nothing. One shotted everything on the way with my base character and base Halberd. Got bored. Headed inland. Found a lift, headed down......area is fucking amazing. Top level design. Threatening enemies. Lots of tense rewarding exploration. Been leaving loads of msgs helping folk all through my travels and getting endless appraisals which is really cool and makes a huge difference to the game. Currently still there exploring the area.

[Sexton Hardcastle]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

I don't really undertand how to

  Hide contents

equip the soul and use the Rune Arc to activate. I do know there's a new NPC at the Round Table who trades Great Runes for boss weapons. 

 

Great Runes

Spoiler

Once you have it powered from the tower, you can just enable it in the menu whilst resting at a Grace. The first one seems to give a boost to your stats when you use the Rune arc consumable.
 

The old woman at Roundtable will trade the bosses soul in for 1 of 2 weapons  

 

[Number 28]

Looks like a bug @englishbob I've not tried storing anything. What's the point if you don't have a weight limit?

 

I'm about 8 hours in and only just realised you can place beacons on the map. I was putting markers down, but that's so much more helpful...