Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Curtis]

1 hour ago, Nate Dogg III said:

 

I'll be interested to hear where the soft/hard caps are over time as I think they might be a good bit higher than we're used to. Would make sense given how much bigger the game is, I suppose.

 

My Dex is at 55 without the Great Rune buff, and its still showing an increase with every Soul Level, so definitely no diminishing returns yet.

[CrichStand]

59 minutes ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

Are the positive reviews and online hype for this purely from people who have played the other “Souls” games or something?

 

I bought this after seeing lots of thread activity here and elsewhere, and lots of “best game ever!” remarks, but not really knowing anything about it.

 

I’ve now played it for an hour and still don’t know anything.

 

Successes:

Picking flowers

Killing tortoises

 

Failures:

Everything else

Like some bloke told me to go to a castle on a cliff but nope that’s not happening. There’s seemingly no way of knowing what “level” a mob is so it’s usually trial and error of hit it and then run off if it did next to no damage, or stay and try to fight it and inevitably die.

 

I couldn’t even killed some Beastman thing after killing a load of wolves, and all the [annoying] messages on the floor nearby told me what a weak foe it was.

 

I’ve literally no clue how to obtain more spells, or items or what.

 

I just don’t think it’s for me.

 

If I have to watch an 18 minute YouTube video just to know anything about how to play a game, it’s not a good sign.

That’s part of what’s great about these games and particularly this one. You need to discover and learn stuff. The sense of not knowing what to do and then from that the sense of learning, discovery, progression and reward you get is phenomenal. You find items, spells, weapons, keys etc from exploring. You have to track them down and in doing so create your own adventures.
 

You know what level a mob is when you hit them or they hit you! That’s what creates a lot of the tension and risk/reward.
 

I agree about the messages. The system is obviously there so players can help each other or deceive each other. Instead the world is filled with crap saying “fort knight” and “two fingers, but hole”. It’s pretty depressing and spoils the experience a bit. However, you get the odd message where a player will gesture, pointing to something of interest, with a little hint and it’s cool as fuck.

 

Basically, these games are just the old kids TV show Knightmare in video game form. Throw in some top notch combat and Bob’s ya Uncle! 
 

I bounced off Dark Souls numerous times before finishing it. I don’t rate it as highly as others do. I enjoyed Demon’s Souls on PS5 far more and thought it was a far better designed game taken as a complete package. This on the other hand is on a whole other level. It’s one of the best games ever made. It’s worth persevering with and giving it a go. But it could be that it’s just not for you. Nothing wrong with that.

[HarryBizzle]

59 minutes ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

Are the positive reviews and online hype for this purely from people who have played the other “Souls” games or something?

 

I bought this after seeing lots of thread activity here and elsewhere, and lots of “best game ever!” remarks, but not really knowing anything about it.

 

I’ve now played it for an hour and still don’t know anything.

 

Successes:

Picking flowers

Killing tortoises

 

Failures:

Everything else

Like some bloke told me to go to a castle on a cliff but nope that’s not happening. There’s seemingly no way of knowing what “level” a mob is so it’s usually trial and error of hit it and then run off if it did next to no damage, or stay and try to fight it and inevitably die.

 

I couldn’t even killed some Beastman thing after killing a load of wolves, and all the [annoying] messages on the floor nearby told me what a weak foe it was.

 

I’ve literally no clue how to obtain more spells, or items or what.

 

I just don’t think it’s for me.

 

If I have to watch an 18 minute YouTube video just to know anything about how to play a game, it’s not a good sign.

It’s frustrating having people tell you to stick with it, but there’s not really much you can do other than that and to ask on here. 
 

But yeah, watch the beginners guide or whatever and ask on here lots. If you get stuck on a boss, maybe take a clip and ask what you’re doing wrong. The forum helped me figure out I wasn’t able to dodge an enemy’s attacks in DS3 because I had quite a lot of armor on, so wasn’t overencumbered, but couldn’t “fast” roll. 

 

I’ve not started ER ring yet, but I tried DeS, DS1 and Bloodborne and I never really understood any of them at the time. DS3 “clicked” with me thanks to the kind of help above and I’ve not looked back since. I’ve completed all of them except BB and DS2 now (and this, obviously). 
 

Once you get it, you’re in for some of the best gaming experiences out there. 
 

 

[Davros sock drawer]

Man, it’s so nice being back in Limgrave after an extended nightmare holiday in Caelid. The stuff I’ve seen (shudder)…

[robdood]

Fucking hell, tonight I thought I'd have a go at Stormveil Castle. It doesn't fuck about, does it? I suddenly feel like I'm actually playing a souls game! This is nails! Those fucking eagles man! 

 

Mad to think I'm over 30 hours and only just doing the first legacy dungeon. All the easy open worlding has softened me, I'm missing Torrent and refillable potions..! 

 

What a stupendously generous and amazing game. 

[Jamie John]

Godrick got got! Didn't take too long, thankfully. 

Spoiler

Hoarah Loux's daughter and I smashed him, which lends more credence to the idea that you and the other four Tarnished in the opening cutscene are, if not allies, then at least not enemies. Otherwise, why would she want to help you?

 

Anyway, the fight was mostly good fun. Lots of opportunities to squeak in big damage, although getting snagged on the scenery was a ballache.

 

And that guy afterwards, stamping on his head. What a hero! 

 

I know where to go next as I've been there before (the giant tower bridge with the golems on it). I've still got parts of the castle to explore, though. Tomorrow night I reckon I'm going to get backstabby in the Courtyard of Pain, now that I've found a way to sneak up from behind.

 

Best game. Wish I didn't have to go to stupid work tomorrow.

[Thor]

Add me to the "Godrick down!" Club. Almost had him on my first go, got greedy at the end. He's down now though. Great boss fight.

[Qazimod]

Spent most of the evening on the MW/CK tag team in Redman Castle. My current lame strategy is to do as much damage to MW before he tags in his boyfriend, but I've had varying success with this. The main trouble is that MW often staggers from hits and lets me go ham... until he doesn't, and then I pay for my recklessness. And even with my tanky build MW can blow through my defence, and he's got auto-tracking overheads because of course he has. I can get the critical strike on MW sometimes and I can almost kill him before CK starts his shit, but it's very messy.

 

E: and wasn't MW the thing down at Morne Mongrave? Who I already beat to get a weapon I can't equip?

E: oooh, I went elsewhere and found the special item lift!

 

Spoiler

the one that needs the Dectys seal or whatever it was?

 

[CrichStand]

4 minutes ago, robdood said:

Fucking hell, tonight I thought I'd have a go at Stormveil Castle. It doesn't fuck about, does it? I suddenly feel like I'm actually playing a souls game! This is nails! Those fucking eagles man! 

 

Mad to think I'm over 30 hours and only just doing the first legacy dungeon. All the easy open worlding has softened me, I'm missing Torrent and refillable potions..! 

 

What a stupendously generous and amazing game. 

Think I might head back there now. Been getting totally sidetracked to the point there’s just too much to take in and focus on. It’s absolutely bonkers! I’ve spent 42hrs wandering around the world, have unlocked huge amounts of the map but there’s still loads left to uncover. I’ve not really touched any of the stuff I’ve already found either. 
 

I just can’t comprehend how big the world actually is. The scope and scale of it is staggering and it’s visual design is constantly impressing. It’s an incredible achievement. Feels like you could play this for 100s of hrs and still not see everything it holds.

[Thor]

Holy shit! (area after Godrick spoiler)

 

Spoiler

 

Apologies for the phone pic, but due to the game's HDR implementation proper screenshots look washed out.  

 

Either way, that is a stunning vista (dogshit yellow trees and all ).

 

[Davros sock drawer]

Got to stop. So much done tonight. And to put a cap on it, I cleared the Limgrave Coastal Cave…

 

Spoiler

And didn’t warp out. I’m on the island! 

My map so far:

 

Spoiler

Can’t believe I thought that tiny bit in the middle was going to be most of it

[Number 28]

I can't find the cocking map piece for the north west area. There's no visible little pillar I can go to.

I ended up entering a cave up there filled with

Spoiler

sorcerers, once of which had a huge blue donking hammer. I managed to put him down but was destroyed by the later two bosses made of crystal...

 

[El Spatula]

Also twatted Godrick tonight! Onwards and... Oh I died.

[footle]

Godrick down.

 

Spoiler

Though I feel that a +2 disappearing spirit thing AND the npc did mean I cheesed it a bit.

 

and the underground area with the pillars cleared.

still can’t hold it together long enough to take the bloody tree sentinel down though.

[footle]

2 hours ago, Nate Dogg III said:

 

 

@Alan Stockre illusory walls: I've only found a few. There are several in one particular mining tunnel but they're not hidden passages so much as the only way forward, so it's sort of obvious. Another is in a certain location later in the game and an NPC nearby specifically refers to hearing noises behind the walls, which is your hint.

I found a lot in a catacomb earlier. 99.99% of the time they’re not illusory walls though.

[Number 28]

Just now, footle said:

and the underground area with the pillars cleared.

How'd you beat that insanely lively thing down there? I saw a message telling me to snipe it, which I tried from above, but it would move around after every single arrow hit and would take at least and hour to whittle it down that way.

[kensei]

Spent most of the night on jolly coop on Godrick and getting absolutely wrecked. The second phase is fearsome. Out of maybe 20 coops, three were successful.

 

I suspect that is in part due to the health buff he gets with two summons - it was really noticeable the difference between one and two and generally got a lot closer with two.

 

Of those three times, two of them resulted in a connection error once he died, so I got zero rewards. Ho hum.

[Melon_Bread]

Add me to the Godrick gang, fun boss, very much enjoyed exploring the castle, def missed a few bits and sort of want to farm those knights for some new armor, so I shall pop back tomorrow.

[dizogg]

2 hours ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

Are the positive reviews and online hype for this purely from people who have played the other “Souls” games or something?

 

I bought this after seeing lots of thread activity here and elsewhere, and lots of “best game ever!” remarks, but not really knowing anything about it.

 

I’ve now played it for an hour and still don’t know anything.

 

Successes:

Picking flowers

Killing tortoises

 

Failures:

Everything else

Like some bloke told me to go to a castle on a cliff but nope that’s not happening. There’s seemingly no way of knowing what “level” a mob is so it’s usually trial and error of hit it and then run off if it did next to no damage, or stay and try to fight it and inevitably die.

 

I couldn’t even killed some Beastman thing after killing a load of wolves, and all the [annoying] messages on the floor nearby told me what a weak foe it was.

 

I’ve literally no clue how to obtain more spells, or items or what.

 

I just don’t think it’s for me.

 

If I have to watch an 18 minute YouTube video just to know anything about how to play a game, it’s not a good sign.

What a fucking noob.

[Hexx]

So Caelid's horrible. Everything murders me

 

[Ravern]

30 hours in to this. In the first five hours or so I thought this was more like Dark Souls 4, but the longer I've spent with it the more interesting and different I've found it, especially mechanically.

 

The bosses are awesome. So varied in style, even with my character being very melee focussed - some suited to guard counters, some need aggro, some need classic roll and chip away. But (with another exceptions to be interesting) they are near universally aggressive. Even Margit is some Orphan of Kos-lite shit. 

[Number 28]

My character is a sort of Vincent Valentine cosplay, but with horns.

[Davros sock drawer]

11 minutes ago, Hexx said:

So Caelid's horrible. Everything murders me

 

Those birds. Utterly horrific.

 

They’re like the DS1 crow crossed with a Dimorphodon:

 

 

I’m not even close to killing one.

 

 

[Kryptonian]

2 hours ago, Kryptonian said:

 

Just found him!

 

Didn't like the look of the soldiers on the approach so didn't go that way ages back

 

 

 

Beat Margit. What a wanker.

[Kzo]

6 hours ago, Hexx said:

 

I don't recall anything specific examples where you're talking about but

 

  Reveal hidden contents

White smoke doors normally have Goblin statues to use Stoneshape keys (or close to that) to open don't they?

 

  

5 hours ago, Hawklord said:

 

 

You need the Goblin Stone Keys to get through. Beware tough these are tougher optional areas.

 

 

 

So turns out I was looking at the exit of one of these areas!

 

So starting to explore the castle and entirely by chance it seems I manged to take the most direct route through to the boss. Gonna backtrack a bit and explore this place first as it's massive and I bet there's loads of cool stuff. Want to take out all those guys in the courtyard too.

[robdood]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Holy shit! (area after Godrick spoiler)

 

  Hide contents

 

Apologies for the phone pic, but due to the game's HDR implementation proper screenshots look washed out.  

 

Either way, that is a stunning vista (dogshit yellow trees and all ).

 

I still love that you can still get that view via some diligent exploring and avoid the castle altogether! 

[Thor]

1 minute ago, Kzo said:

So starting to explore the castle and entirely by chance it seems I manged to take the most direct route through to the boss. 

Conversely, I got almost right to the boss grace point, but didn't spot it, turned back and went off all over the bloody castle. It was only after I died to Godrick that went back and "Oooh, what's up there? Wait, this looks ... Oh you are fucking shitting me!"

[Captain Kelsten]

Second major boss down!

 

Spoiler

Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

I redid all my stats as I was turning into too much of a Jack of all trades and I think it was starting to affect my power levels. Now much more balanced across strength, dex and vigor. 
 

The second legacy dungeon is absolutely gorgeous, and really tense and fun. Proper Soulsy stuff. Love it! 
 

33 hours, level 59. 

[Mortis]

Had a great session tonight doing lots of nothing but I took down

Spoiler

the tree  knight at the start and the lake dragon

 Now I need to take my skills and apply it to the 

Spoiler

Glintstone dragon

who is currently kicking my arse with one shot kills if I’m not careful. 
 Also got some magic on my sword - feels good

[therearerules]

3 hours ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

Are the positive reviews and online hype for this purely from people who have played the other “Souls” games or something?

 

I bought this after seeing lots of thread activity here and elsewhere, and lots of “best game ever!” remarks, but not really knowing anything about it.

 

I’ve now played it for an hour and still don’t know anything.

 

Successes:

Picking flowers

Killing tortoises

 

Failures:

Everything else

Like some bloke told me to go to a castle on a cliff but nope that’s not happening. There’s seemingly no way of knowing what “level” a mob is so it’s usually trial and error of hit it and then run off if it did next to no damage, or stay and try to fight it and inevitably die.

 

I couldn’t even killed some Beastman thing after killing a load of wolves, and all the [annoying] messages on the floor nearby told me what a weak foe it was.

 

I’ve literally no clue how to obtain more spells, or items or what.

 

I just don’t think it’s for me.

 

If I have to watch an 18 minute YouTube video just to know anything about how to play a game, it’s not a good sign.

What character did you choose, despite what everyone says, some make the early game far easier than other.