Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Nate Dogg III]

3 minutes ago, Hexx said:

 

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Ta but as magic not as much cold open to me.

Been doing Selina village instead and think underground areas are where I'll look next unless you have a suggestion :d

 

 

 

Ah yes, that would be a problem. In which case I'd suggest your next stop is 

 

Spoiler

Volcano Manor

 

[Majora]

Any magic users understand this situation with the staffs?

 

I found the meteorite staff early on which seems to be a bit of a beast. It only needed 18 INT and has S magic scaling. The sorcery scaling stat is something daft like 158 at the moment.

 

I've since found two other staffs which have way higher intelligence requirements but seem worse? I think one needs 28 INT but only has B magic scaling and the sorcery scaling is about 60. The other staff I found right at the end of an optional path in the second dungeon. It needs 52 INT(!) but again only has B magic scaling and sorcery scaling of about 60. The only notable thing about the latter staff is that it supposedly speeds up spell casting but I have a talisman for that anyway.

 

I'm not really understanding why this 18 INT staff is so much better than the others. The only thing I can think of is that you can't upgrade that staff whereas you can with the others. But if it already has S magic scaling does that even matter? I'd have to upgrade these other two staffs LOADS to potentially get the same damage output. 

[Hexx]

3 minutes ago, Majora said:

Any magic users understand this situation with the staffs?

 

I found the meteorite staff early on which seems to be a bit of a beast. It only needed 18 INT and has S magic scaling. The sorcery scaling stat is something daft like 158 at the moment.

 

I've since found two other staffs which have way higher intelligence requirements but seem worse? I think one needs 28 INT but only has B magic scaling and the sorcery scaling is about 60. The other staff I found right at the end of an optional path in the second dungeon. It needs 52 INT(!) but again only has B magic scaling and sorcery scaling of about 60. The only notable thing about the latter staff is that it supposedly speeds up spell casting but I have a talisman for that anyway.

 

I'm not really understanding why this 18 INT staff is so much better than the others. The only thing I can think of is that you can't upgrade that staff whereas you can with the others. But if it already has S magic scaling does that even matter? I'd have to upgrade these other two staffs LOADS to potentially get the same damage output. 

 

The  Meteor one can't be upgraded so has beastly base stats + S scaling.

 

The others will be worse, but can be levelled so may/will (depending on staff) over take Meteor when levelled up enough to increase base stats and scaling enough.

 

The Meteor staff is a early/mid game beast as far as I can see

 

 

[Davros sock drawer]

I’ve started watching Let’s Plays of this, when I’m not playing it. Limmy’s is pretty safe as he takes so long to do things (although he nearly killed the Tree Sentinel on his first attempt!) but even he saw something I hadn’t (at night). Forgotten Cowboy’s one then made me realise something about Roundtable that I hadn’t thought to try: 

 

Spoiler

You can drop down into the main hall. There’s a reasonably tough fight but also a decent looking Faith Weapon, which I don’t have the stats for

 

Faith users may wish to read the above.

Anyway I think the moral is that the game is so diverse in terms of where you can go early doors that watching anyone else play is risking spoilers, even if they’ve not done as much as you have. I noped out of YouTube for now.
 

[Ste Pickford]

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

[Qazimod]

12 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

There is no randomness to him at all. That’s why you can, technically, beat him as a level 1 wretch, with no summons or upgrades, without getting hit at all, whilst naked. 

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. When you don’t yet know if a move is something that can only end a combo (and let you get in) or something that potentially has a follow-up (and result in you getting punished), it can feel unpredictable.

 

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to read the boss - you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand. At the same time, I can’t say that a player can waltz in and know everything that’s coming on their first attempt. It’s all knowledge.

[Davros sock drawer]

5 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

This is the best thing to come out of the best game. Love it so much.

[Captain Kelsten]

6 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand.

 

Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying

[Anne Summers]

10 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

I’ve started watching Let’s Plays of this, when I’m not playing it. Limmy’s is pretty safe as he takes so long to do things (although he nearly killed the Tree Sentinel on his first attempt!) but even he saw something I hadn’t (at night). Forgotten Cowboy’s one then made me realise something about Roundtable that I hadn’t thought to try: 

 

  Hide contents

You can drop down into the main hall. There’s a reasonably tough fight but also a decent looking Faith Weapon, which I don’t have the stats for

 

Faith users may wish to read the above.

Anyway I think the moral is that the game is so diverse in terms of where you can go early doors that watching anyone else play is risking spoilers, even if they’ve not done as much as you have. I noped out of YouTube for now.
 

Think I've missed a lot of side areas and optional stuff so far because I keep forgetting about jumping while exploring. It's taking a while for my brain to get out of Souls mode - i.e I see a tiny knee-high barrier and think "nah, can't get over that".

[MikeF]

31 minutes ago, Mike S said:

It would be pretty great if, when we do find the scamp, we can shake him down for the stolen runes.

 

This is Stormveil?

 

Thief below

 

Spoiler

Did you get the main gate open, if so its that dude nicking them

 

[Melon_Bread]

18 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. When you don’t yet know if a move is something that can only end a combo (and let you get in) or something that potentially has a follow-up (and result in you getting punished), it can feel unpredictable.

 

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to read the boss - you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand. At the same time, I can’t say that a player can waltz in and know everything that’s coming on their first attempt. It’s all knowledge.

 

Yeah and let's see how many attempts it took that level 1 naked guy to learn the fight. 

[robdood]

 

19 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. When you don’t yet know if a move is something that can only end a combo (and let you get in) or something that potentially has a follow-up (and result in you getting punished), it can feel unpredictable.

 

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to read the boss - you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand. At the same time, I can’t say that a player can waltz in and know everything that’s coming on their first attempt. It’s all knowledge.

 

Yeah but you said this:

42 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

 

A little bit of both. What’s difficult to predict is whether or not he’s finished a particular string of attacks and given you an opportunity. Sometimes he’ll do a few moves and then nothing; sometimes the same moves will be part of a longer string.

 

 

 

Those extendable combos are predictable enough to know that you don't 'chance' going for him in the middle of one!! 

 

[John0]

I felt like this has finally clicked into place last night! I've got the hang of the Shield + Sword combat a bit more (Barricade Shield OP) and I'm starting to feel powerful and confident enough that all the enjoyment just started sort of flowing into the game, and it felt SO GOOD. I got transported to a weird area with man-sized lobsters but some sweet, sweet loot. I fought giant beasts and weird globulous.. er.. things! I fought tiny men who could still do damage through my shield (bastards!). I saw different biomes and went up very high and down very low. The sheer sense of excitement and adventure that I'd been waiting for has finally (27 hours in lol) been tapped! I lost 20,000 runes in two separate incidents to fall damage and wasn't even that bothered .

 

 

FUCK YEAH

[dug]

On the subject of mysterious rune loss, reading what everyone has written about it I guess I could be mistaken here, but I'm pretty sure it has happened to me a) not in the castle and b) without having died. I was carrying 8000 odd runes, which was enough to level up, so I rested at a grace point and went into the level up menu. I only had 6000 odd. 

 

Is this a separate thing to what happens in the castle? 

[Captain Kelsten]

3 minutes ago, Melon_Bread said:

 

Yeah and let's see how many attempts it took that level 1 naked guy to learn the fight. 

Again, kinda proving my point. Nowhere have I said people can waltz in and batter a boss with no prior knowledge. In fact, I’ve very specifically been saying the exact opposite; that it’s about patience and learning and knowing that nothing in the game is random, other than some loot drops. So yes, it probably took that dozens if not hundreds of attempts. My point was, it is possible because it is not random. 

[Qazimod]

11 minutes ago, robdood said:

 

 

Yeah but you said this:

 

Those extendable combos are predictable enough to know that you don't 'chance' going for him in the middle of one!! 

 

Sure, but on my first attempts I didn’t even know that the combos extended, which is what I’m getting at. You go to swing and then realise that there can be more hits after something that you originally thought was an ender. You can’t predict things when you haven’t seen that situation yet.

 

(I hope I’m not coming across as a dick here - I’m just pointing out the obvious; lots of things seem “random” and “unpredictable” when in fact you’re still seeing (learning!) new things.)

[matt0]

I don't know what it was I fought on the beach in Mistwood but I do know that A) It wasn't an octopus despite what the energy bar said and B) I now have it's ovaries for some reason.

[Hawklord]

3 hours ago, Bushtopher said:

Had what seems to be a weird bug earlier.
 

Was making my way through the castle and had 7,000 odd runes. Nearly enough to level up, so definitely the right figure. I died close to a point of grace, went to collect my lost runes by ended up with only 5,000 runes.
 

That’s not right is it?
 

Suppose I should be relieved I didn’t lose more I guess. 

 

2 hours ago, Sexton Hardcastle said:

There is someone in the castle who steals some runes every time you drop them. 

 

1 hour ago, Mike S said:

 

The rune loss happened to me too and I have a very strong suspicion who the thief is.

 

I may not spare him when I next find him…

 

37 minutes ago, MikeF said:

 

This is Stormveil?

 

Thief below

 

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Did you get the main gate open, if so its that dude nicking them

 

 

31 minutes ago, dug said:

On the subject of mysterious rune loss, reading what everyone has written about it I guess I could be mistaken here, but I'm pretty sure it has happened to me a) not in the castle and b) without having died. I was carrying 8000 odd runes, which was enough to level up, so I rested at a grace point and went into the level up menu. I only had 6000 odd. 

 

Is this a separate thing to what happens in the castle? 

I noticed this last night but it was also happening to me NOT in Stormveil. I even made a point of noting how many runes I had, then allowing myself to be killed and I had a lot less when I went to collect them

[amc]

I find myself and Torrent just galloping the land looking for the Yoricks with the golden eyes, the ones that give you golden runes. This is despite them giving me a now pitiful amount toward my points cost and already having a couple of sweet farm spots that give me thousands of runes in seconds.

 

Just get a little buzz every time I find one then eventually converting a massive cache into runes.

[Eighthours]

I finally beat Margit last night after deciding to devote some proper time to that bastard. My victory kinda came out of nowhere, tbh. I'd never had him below about a third of his energy bar before, but after using the shackle on him twice early doors (so useful!), I still had a magic flask left and enough jellyfish cover for me to spam him with magic attacks from a while away while he was distracted, which took quite a bit of energy off him in the second phase. I still had to be mindful, though - I rolled out of danger whenever he used one of his nasty cover-the-distance-absurdly-quickly moves. Ser Roderick had long since died and the jellyfish also succumbed eventually, but at that point I still had a health flask left and enough FP left to bring Margit's energy bar to just a few hits. Then I had to risk a few up close and personal moves with my sword - it was kill or be killed, and he hit me a fair bit as we exchanged blows, which led to me running around like a headless chicken as I used my last health flask. He hit me again and I legged it down the screen, sure I was about to die. I turned around and reselected my staff in desperation. Somehow I had one more shot available before my FP ran out - it hit Margit and the fucker fell! I couldn't have taken another hit. YEEEEESSSSS. So THIS is what it feels like!

 

A quarter of an hour later I noped out of the Banished Knight in the castle after dying to it a couple of times. Looks like I'll be doing this legacy dungeon another time, that guy seems too hard for me at the moment. I assume there's another way I can go. I'll try exploring some bits of the map I haven't been to yet.

 

I need to stop relying on blocking so much. I love the parry-riposte thing, but it's not great against more powerful enemies who can rip through my stamina bar and poise. I have to learn the i-frames timing of rolling towards enemies through their attacks so that I can do some damage.

[hmm]

2 hours ago, robdood said:

They're all over Limgrave, man!!  The specific ones I used were due east of the shack where you meet Rodericka on the way to Stormveil.  Or, they are due west of the grace point next to the guy who sells arts of war, if you know where he is. 

 

Hadn't actually run into any that I'd noticed, but then I randomly came across one this morning in the Weeping Peninsula, before you replied. He dropped the chest armour, but then I decided it didn't go with my helmet anyway. Tricky business, this Fashion Souls.

 

I had my first up-close encounter with one of the Minor Erdtrees after that and was a bit surprised that there wasn't more to it - I spent a while searching for a way in, but it seems that there's just the mini-boss?

 

That was also a slight non-event thanks to my faithful jellyfish. Now that I've upgraded my Ashes a couple of levels, they do seem rather overpowered at this point of the game.

[Majora]

Learning to roll towards enemies and timing your roll right at the very last possible milisecond is one of the toughest things to learn about these games as it almost seems counter-intuitive. I've played all these games now and usually use magic plus a basic sword plus shield combo so I'm much more adept at blocking than rolling. I think it's why I found Bloodborne the hardest game of the lot because it's dodge or bust.

 

Even though I use a fair bit of magic there are times when I actively force myself to use melee/dodging on a boss for a while because I feel strangely guilty otherwise. Almost like I'm not learning the boss fights properly, which isn't really fair. I know some people say magic is easy mode but for some bosses magic is not easy at all, especially when they are relentlessly in your face the whole time. But then there are other bosses where I have won by rolling backwards repeatedly and firing homing missiles at them where I do feel like I 'cheated' even though it's all fair game.

[John0]

Penny Arcades first little blog on this is quite nice... https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2022/03/02/elden-ring

 

"I don't know how you're supposed to "score" a magical wardrobe you found to a parallel world."

[Kryptonian]

50 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

 

Holy shit

[Kryptonian]

50 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

But that’s a player who already has the knowledge of every attack and attack string. When you don’t yet know if a move is something that can only end a combo (and let you get in) or something that potentially has a follow-up (and result in you getting punished), it can feel unpredictable.

 

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to read the boss - you just have to gain the knowledge beforehand. At the same time, I can’t say that a player can waltz in and know everything that’s coming on their first attempt. It’s all knowledge.

 

So yes, it's not random at all!

[Hawklord]

10 hours ago, therearerules said:

Wait, what? I thought I was pretty thorough with Stormveil but apparently not.

Someone earlier in the thread posted a screenshot of where I got to before going further down but I couldn't find it to let them know I'd now found that place. You can see it from the roof area with no clear way of getting there. There's a locked/one way door at the Liftside Chamber Grace, it's on the other side of that. Area isn't large but has a nasty enemy lol. 

 

Spoiler below is how to get there

 

Spoiler

Head to where I've circled and jump up on to the ledge at the back and work your way around Then just follow the path and it will take you to the locked door at the Grace which you can now open, then head down

 

Spoiler

 

 

There's also another one of these doors that I presume takes you to above the room with the Grafted Scion (there's an item and a chest that you can see above you in that room), but I can't figure out how to get to it

 

edit: Found it, wasn't worth it 😕 

 

[Parappa]

57 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

Wowzers - this is amazing.  14.2k likes on your original post might tell you that though! Great work 👍

[Ste Pickford]

1 minute ago, Parappa said:

Wowzers - this is amazing.  14.2k likes on your original post might tell you that though! Great work 👍

 

It absolutely knackered my twitter for a couple of days.

[Parappa]

2 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

 

It absolutely knackered my twitter for a couple of days.

Plenty of things happen on Twitter worse than that 🤣

[kempstar]

1 hour ago, Ste Pickford said:

A few more additions to my journal.  Only very early stuff so not spoilery or anything.
 

 

Did you actually draw those?? Wow. What a talent!