Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[NexivRed]

Fuck me. Started watching Limmy do his play through, and watching him take on the The Golden Shitehawk right out of the gate is a thing of beauty. How it’s meant to be done.
 

It’s nice to be able to actually enjoy the fight as well, rather than constantly shit myself through it. I am a massive appreciator of accurate animal animation, and the horse looks superb. 

[CrichStand]

And that’s the 2nd Dungeon Boss down. A low point for me that. Well dodgy boss run on it. Felt like it took 5mins or so to get to the actual boss itself. Thankfully it was a piece of piss, with easily avoidable attacks and got smashed to bits after one shoting me on my first go.. God help anyone that gets stuck there, having to go through the run, wait for lift, ride the lift, pointless 1st boss phase, loading screen, cutscene combo over and over and over.

 

Don’t think the dungeons are anywhere near as good as the first half of Dark Souls so far and definitely not as memorable as Demon’s. Feel a bit small and simplistic, especially when compared to the exploration of the open world. Feel like that’s the real star of the show here.

 

[Stoikovich]

Speed runners have started logging runs sub-1 hour.   That’s to get the credits to roll.

 

meanwhile I’m scrubbing about in the Academy, 30 hours + level 40ish…

[JPL]

6 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Yeah, I found that first, too. Thinking about it, I really must go back and see if I can work out what that stuff with the grapes was, back there. 

Ha, I got confused by that as well, but figured it out yesterday.

 

When I say figure out, I really mean stumbled across.

 

Let me know if you want a hint.

[Rayn]

5 hours ago, Broker said:

Finished my map! It's taken 85 hours and there's still one place on there I'm pretty sure is a location but I haven't been to yet, but all the pieces are filled in

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Just ahead of me then. Did you kill

Spoiler

Fire Giant? I was stuck on him for two hours last night. I'm assuming I need to take him down to unlock the western part of the mountain?

 

Actually got a bit fed up with that boss last night. I struggled with him for over an hour. I had him down to 1% hp on his second phase. I dodged one of his attacks but rolled off a cliff and died just as my summon killed him. It didn't register as a win  After that I even struggled to reach phase 2 so I gave up around midnight. Hoping to do him after work tonight. 

[PeteJ]

Nearly smashed Godrick on my second try, quite pleased with that. In fact my whole run through the castle, other than a knight very early on in a small dark room who killed me about 15 times (*), was done pretty much without a single death (maybe one or two silly ones). Perhaps it's clever design but I also managed to critical path it to Godrick without realising.....I've missed so much....

 

I look at all my stats and I want them all upgraded, my character is becoming such a jack of all trades! They all feel underlevelled as a result. 

 

* - cheesed the hell out of this fight. Ran out the door and he couldn't fit through, so clipped my sword through the door until he died. Good night stupid knight. 

[Melon_Bread]

4 hours ago, CrichStand said:

And that’s the 2nd Dungeon Boss down. A low point for me that. Well dodgy boss run on it. Felt like it took 5mins or so to get to the actual boss itself. Thankfully it was a piece of piss, with easily avoidable attacks and got smashed to bits after one shoting me on my first go.. God help anyone that gets stuck there, having to go through the run, wait for lift, ride the lift, pointless 1st boss phase, loading screen, cutscene combo over and over and over.

 

Don’t think the dungeons are anywhere near as good as the first half of Dark Souls so far and definitely not as memorable as Demon’s. Feel a bit small and simplistic, especially when compared to the exploration of the open world. Feel like that’s the real star of the show here.

 

If you are talking about Godrick there is a grace point right next to him. Or you mean Rennala, you can jump across to the bridge and run back without fighting anything.

[robdood]

This thread is moving way too fast for me to keep up.  Ah well, probably for the best as I'm missing on minor spoilers etc

 

Poor Rennala, this was only my second attempt..  Raya Lucaria was a fab dungeon!!  I *think* I rinsed it all.  Took me waaaaay too long to realise you can jump over to the broken staircase after the Debate Hall grace site!!  

 

Spoiler

She did some amazing summoning the first time, I was steeling myself for a tough battle.. but er... lol..  God bless my Demi humans, they're tricksy little bastards

 

 

 

[Hexx]

Does anyone know if you respec you go back to your starting class split, or back to level 1 across of the board?

 

[Anne Summers]

1 hour ago, JPL said:

Ha, I got confused by that as well, but figured it out yesterday.

 

When I say figure out, I really mean stumbled across.

 

Let me know if you want a hint.

Sure, please hint men up!

[Captain Kelsten]

14 minutes ago, Hexx said:

Does anyone know if you respec you go back to your starting class split, or back to level 1 across of the board?

 

Only to your starting class split, I’m afraid. You can’t take a stat lower than what you started with. 

[Broker]

11 hours ago, Kzo said:

What rings you got bithc?? 

 

What talismans is everyone using? Currently using (as have respecced to faith build for now) :

 

+5 faith

 

+ jumping attacks (I dual wield so do a lot of these, also have armour that boosts them) 

 

Slow heal (swap this out for various things for bosses, usually the one that buffs stats but take more damage or the stamina regen turtle) 

 

I’m using:
 

Increased Equip Load

Increased HP, Stamina and Equip Load

Enemies drop more Runes

 

In the last slot I swap between:

 

Improved damage on horseback

Ash attacks cost less FP

Kills restore FP

 

10 hours ago, imp said:

Holy Fucking Marika @Curtis, you were not joking about M*****, B**** of M*******! Took me about 4 hours to get her down and was fighting a headache by the end as well! Have you got her yet?

 

Moonveil +10, Mimic+10 and a Level 140 character with 40 VIT and it was still a STRUGGLE. My flask improves stamina regen and improves damage negation. I have 65 INT (+5 from a talisman), and about 35 DEX. The bleeding effect of my katana does most of the work!

 

Video in spoilers.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

That boss is INSANE. I’m level 135 and I feel like she can shred away all my health in about two hits. Amazing.

 

1 hour ago, Rayn said:

 

Just ahead of me then. Did you kill

  Hide contents

Fire Giant? I was stuck on him for two hours last night. I'm assuming I need to take him down to unlock the western part of the mountain?

 

Actually got a bit fed up with that boss last night. I struggled with him for over an hour. I had him down to 1% hp on his second phase. I dodged one of his attacks but rolled off a cliff and died just as my summon killed him. It didn't register as a win  After that I even struggled to reach phase 2 so I gave up around midnight. Hoping to do him after work tonight. 

 

Didn’t bother with him last night.

 

Spoiler

From what my mate said, fire giant is the next part of the main path, whereas the area in the last map fragment is optional. It was defeating the castle sol boss that eventually lead to the last map area, though not directly. 

 

[Captain Kelsten]

Has anyone else done Ranni’s questline? Takes you to some interesting places. 

[Sumire]

I am 90 hours into this now. It is such a good game and still has not become repetitive unlike stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn (which was great still) or Assassins Creed, which is testament to how good it is. I still feel like everything is interesting and exciting to explore. 

 

If I was bring picky, obviously the game engine isn't exactly the best of the best for such a high profile game. I went for a pure magic build and am still using pretty much the same clothing I had when I started - hopefully some better will come. Also those ruins/cellar type boss rooms do seem a little cut and paste I suppose.

[scottcr]

37 minutes ago, PeteJ said:

Nearly smashed Godrick on my second try, quite pleased with that. In fact my whole run through the castle, other than a knight very early on in a small dark room who killed me about 15 times (*), was done pretty much without a single death (maybe one or two silly ones). Perhaps it's clever design but I also managed to critical path it to Godrick without realising.....I've missed so much....

 

I look at all my stats and I want them all upgraded, my character is becoming such a jack of all trades! They all feel underlevelled as a result. 

 

* - cheesed the hell out of this fight. Ran out the door and he couldn't fit through, so clipped my sword through the door until he died. Good night stupid knight. 

I did the exact same cheese haha

[mr_woo]

The boss in

 

Spoiler

The War-Dead Catacombs, which is north in the arena you fought Radahn in is a real pain in the arse.  Fucking one hit kill move where it grabs you and chomps you to death with scarlet rot is annoying as fuck

 

I'll get them eventually but the whole place has been a pain in the arse.

[Captain Kelsten]

I don’t know what level range Caelid is supposed to be, because it feels like any time you go there you find something that will ruin your day, regardless of what level you are

[Broker]

5 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

Has anyone else done Ranni’s questline? Takes you to some interesting places. 

Yeah it’s brilliant. One of only about three NPC quests I’ve done though

 

5 minutes ago, Sumire said:

I am 90 hours into this now. It is such a good game and still has not become repetitive unlike stuff like Horizon Zero Dawn (which was great still) or Assassins Creed, which is testament to how good it is. I still feel like everything is interesting and exciting to explore. 

 

If I was bring picky, obviously the game engine isn't exactly the best of the best for such a high profile game. I went for a pure magic build and am still using pretty much the same clothing I had when I started - hopefully some better will come. Also those ruins/cellar type boss rooms do seem a little cut and paste I suppose.

The armour is definitely loaded into the second half. I had very little for the first 40 hours, just used my starting gear. Since then I’ve found 20 nice sets, can’t even keep track of them now.

[Captain Kelsten]

I’m getting full sets of awesome armour thrown at me left and right now. Got some awesome looking mage sets I’m not even going to use, and more heavy armour than I can wear. At this point the stat differences are so minor I’m just wearing what looks good instead of what’s statistically better.

 

[Davros sock drawer]

6 hours ago, NexivRed said:

Fuck me. Started watching Limmy do his play through, and watching him take on the The Golden Shitehawk right out of the gate is a thing of beauty. How it’s meant to be done.
 

It’s nice to be able to actually enjoy the fight as well, rather than constantly shit myself through it. I am a massive appreciator of accurate animal animation, and the horse looks superb. 

I’m watching it too. You wait until he does the Crucible Knight, it’s *chef’s kiss*.

 

I had such a nice few hours with this last night. I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed, running through Caelid or wherever, screaming, and had a strong urge to go back to previous areas. So I picked Weeping Peninsula and made notes on every location, even if it was just to say for example “Tombsward Catacombs - Clear”. I found lots of goodies I’d missed (including the bloody Claymore FFS!) and if not for gravity I wouldn’t have died the whole time. It was just lovely, therapeutic, relaxing gaming. There’s so much stress in pushing forwards some times, and I needed that bit of gentle admin I think! 
 

 

[robdood]

33 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

I’m getting full sets of awesome armour thrown at me left and right now. Got some awesome looking mage sets I’m not even going to use, and more heavy armour than I can wear. At this point the stat differences are so minor I’m just wearing what looks good instead of what’s statistically better.

 

That's how you should do it from the very beginning!

[Ste Pickford]

Added a couple more pages to my journal.  It's still pretty early game stuff, but I'll spoiler it from now on, just in case.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[jonamok]

Lovely illustrations. I also spotted the Friedrich similarity.

[Davros sock drawer]

Glorious.

[John0]

Amazing stuff @Ste Pickford! Are you putting these anywhere that isn't twitter by any chance?

[Davros sock drawer]

To anyone who is struggling with this btw, do consider a bow and/or a crossbow. Sounds obvious, but it's easy to bang your head (or rather your sword) against enemies and get flattened. I have a longbow at + 6 and loads of standard arrows, and was able to clear the whole courtyard of mobs at Morne Castle very easily and calmly without getting a scratch.

 

These games have a rep for being hard, but there are tools at your disposal to make it easier.

[Girth Certificate]

Yeah even if you don't do much damage they are invaluable for pulling baddies away from groups so you can kill them one-by-one.

 

although watch out if you use Big Shot (or whatever it's called) on the way to a boss and then don't have enough FP to summon in your ghost pals you'll be all like 'fuck' and have to take them on in a fair fight  

[Captain Kelsten]

1 minute ago, Girth Certificate said:

Yeah even if you don't do much damage they are invaluable for pulling baddies away from groups so you can kill them one-by-one. 

I’m sorry, what? I don’t understand what you mean. Does one by one mean running in and swinging your biggest weapon at everything, all at once? If so, then yes. One by one is what I do. 

[K]

I'm finding the sheer openness of the game a bit overwhelming, to be honest. It reminds me a bit of old RPGs like Ultima, Rings of Power or the Faery Tale Adventure, where you start off in one part of a huge open world and can just wander off wherever you like. When I played them back in the day, I'd always find that scale and lack of a direction a bit daunting, and in this, the fact that the world is so big and detailed and the way that open world bits are relatively easy to push through means that it's absolutely exhausting at times.

 

I almost want there to be some gating, just to make it a bit more manageable. There are a couple of bits where it feels like there should be more of a roadblock, like the bridge to the weeping peninsula to the south or the broken causeway and castle to the north, but you can just go straight through or around them. I feel like my brain is overflowing with Elden Ring.

[Hexx]

Just seen my first blood stain with a group circle round - near a beast in the Capital

 

The capital is lovely - so many routes/dead ends, I expect the "main path" is actually quite short, but you can get lost for ages exploring.

 

It absolutely rains Rune items on you though - I assume this is because you could be a variety of levels by time you get here and there's an absolute beast of a boss coming up. Eeek.