Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Announced

[Melon_Bread]

9 minutes ago, Number 28 said:

 

@Melon_Bread I'm pretty confused about the ending procedure for plat seekers. Somebody suggested earlier that to get all three you reload but still need to beat the last boss three times? At least that's what I thought they were saying. Is it easier than that, i.e. like Sekiro? The fact I have the three finger thing going on already might complicate things, but I'm on the way to removing it (after getting that ending).

 

 

I beat him once and got all 3 of the trophy endings.

[Jamie John]

9 hours ago, robdood said:

I don't really mind about the NPC quests, I like that I've run into a few during my first playthrough, no idea if I'm going ot complete them or not. 

 

But that's part of MY adventure.  I don't have to DO EVERYTHING.  Especially not my first time through. 

 

I get where you're coming from. For me, however, I really don't think I'll play this through again straightaway. I've been playing it almost exclusively for over a month now and am closing in on 100 hours, with (by all accounts) massive chunks of the game still to come. As much as I love it (and I do), I doubt I'm going to launch straight into NG+ and start it all again - it's just too long! As such, I want to rinse it for all its worth first time through and get all the achievements, and it really annoys me when games require you to use a guide.

 

What I find especially galling is that I've been keeping track of all the lore and the characters' dialogue so I can actually pick up on these sorts of hints regarding their questlines, but when some steps just seem to be entirely obscure or arbitrary, it feels like a waste of time. This is exacerbated further by the fact that you can all too easily go beyond the point of no return with NPCs and lock yourself out of their quests with no warning or indication, as has already happened to me with Rogier.

 

All it would take is for the NPC to mention or hint at where they plan to go next, or what they need, and while a lot of the time they do so, it's not consistent, hence my frustration.

 

Iron Pot Alexander is another example: 

Spoiler

How are you supposed to know he goes to the base of the Carian tower after helping you kill Redahn? He makes no mention of it whatsoever, and unless you happen to warp back to the grace site nearby you would have no idea where he got to.

 

Once you help him there, however, he *then* says that he's planning on going to the volcano, so at least you have that to go on, but by then you've probably looked at a Wiki anyway to find out where he was, so the satisfaction of figuring it out for yourself has already been ruined.

 

[Jamie John]

21 minutes ago, robdood said:

Lol just did Reykard first try, no damage!  Was that for real? 

  Hide contents

I mean sure, let's do a gimmick boss because they always do, but that was... trivially easy? A bit weird. 

 

I suppose the only way you'd fail is if you ran out of FP to spam the storm ruler's L2?

 

 

That was my exact reaction!

[joemul]

It really feels like the V gargoyles aren’t well suited to a melee build. 

[Number 28]

13 minutes ago, Melon_Bread said:

 

I beat him once and got all 3 of the trophy endings.

So there's a point after the fight that lets you save before choosing an ending? That sounds a lot easier, thanks.

[Lovelyman]

9 minutes ago, joemul said:

It really feels like the V gargoyles aren’t well suited to a melee build. 

Jump attack them

[Captain Kelsten]

34 minutes ago, robdood said:

Lol just did Reykard first try, no damage!  Was that for real? 

  Reveal hidden contents

I mean sure, let's do a gimmick boss because they always do, but that was... trivially easy? A bit weird. 

 

I suppose the only way you'd fail is if you ran out of FP to spam the storm ruler's L2?

 

I failed the first time when he was at about 5% health

 

Spoiler

I didn’t use the special weapon and just fought him straight - took bloody ages  

 

[jonamok]

2 hours ago, df0 said:

Tip: equip it - summon Mimic - unequip it. You Mimic is now your tank so you can attack without worrying

Damn that’s clever. Really need to make better use of mini-me.

[Mike S]

9 minutes ago, joemul said:

It really feels like the V gargoyles aren’t well suited to a melee build. 

 

 

Yeah, they are a real nightmare.

 

I am going to leave them until I can do more damage, or maybe experiment with other weapons, as my only hope/plan right now is wailing as much damage as possible on one whilst relying on a bit of luck to dodge the other (and the one I am concentrating on). Trouble is they are both so aggressive and have such huge range that it gets really hard to keep dodging them both, even when down to a light load.

 

 

 

 

[Parappa]

Godrick the Grafted is now Godrick the Shafted! 

 

Miles behind you lot but still loving it.

[smac]

2 minutes ago, Parappa said:

Miles behind you lot but still loving it.

 

I just ordered my copy. Will be here tomorrow. So yeah, bit of catching up to do, I expect.

[ox1973]

55 minutes ago, Nate Dogg III said:

-lategame is very boss-heavy — there is enough game out there that they could better space this lot out, surely — and damage from all sources got silly a while ago and is now so silly there is no word in the English language that can properly articulate its silliness. 54 vigor atm, still getting one-shot by the final boss.

 

This is a very minor niggle all things considered but I agree wholeheartedly. The end of the game is pretty much a boss rush and there isn't really anywhere left to explore when you get there so you have to bang your head against them until you win or you give up.

 

It's very much a niggle though - the game is an all timer for sure.

[Alan Stock]

I'm still doing low damage on the bosses I am stuck at, and its turning every boss fight into a huge endurance test which I lose eventually (especially as I die in one or two hits). 

 

Could anyone here tell me what kind of weapon levels and character levels they had when they beat the following bosses?

 

Spoiler

1 - Draconic Tree Sentinel in City Outskirts

2 - Godskin dude in the Volcano Manor Church

3 - Godskin dude guarding the bottom of Caelid Divine Tower

 

I have upgraded most of my standard weapons to +12 or +13, and my special weapons are on about +5/+6. That's about the difficulty balance for Caelid according to what folk say about the smithing stone drops, which I've done most of now.

 

My character is now level 71 with:

Vigour 18

Endurance 14

Dexterity 26

Faith 28

Arcane 17

 

Am I just trying to tackle things in the wrong order? Maybe I need to do some more dungeons and stuff? But even some of the dungeon bosses in the plateau I'm doing crap damage to. Note that I'm not using summons to supplement my DPS. And most of the weapons I'm using scale with Dex or Faith, or both.

[Number 28]

Random question; does anything change in the

Spoiler

capital sewers after the city becomes ashen? There's a big manhole that seems to point you in that direction, but when I dropped down I couldn't see anything different and didn't fancy trekking around to check.

 

[Hawklord]

2 hours ago, robdood said:

Omg the catacomb in Subterranean Shunning Grounds!  Sublime stuff!  

 

1 hour ago, robdood said:

Mohg the Omen DOWN.  I think I was a bit op for that encounter, I only had to hit him about 5 times.  My mimic somehow just constantly pulled aggro so I basically wailed on him unchallenged. lol

 

Funny enough I done him tonight also. Found him a few days ago and he destroyed me, got the hang of him tonight though after about a dozen attempts. The platforming afterwards made me switch off in disgust lol.

 

Spoiler

You do know there's another area down there after you beat him?

 

[imp]

1 hour ago, Nate Dogg III said:

So this is still an absolute all timer BUT:

 

-I don’t like that the game seems to be built around respecs, particularly late on. I appreciate having the option to do it but I don’t like feeling like I have no choice. I want to do a melee run, an int one, a faith and dex and whatever else one. I don’t want to do all three at various points in the game because it no longer feels like MY run and also I only get to play the game once which makes me sad. I’ve respecced three times so far, every time I’ve had to go missioning off somewhere for weapon mats, and I think I’ve fallen just a tiny bit out of love with it every time.

 

Oh interesting, where did you feel like you were forced to respec?

 

I've been through the game a few times now, each time with a different build and so far only felt the need to respec once with a faith heavy build that poked things from behind a big shield (it was too slow damage-wise to outlast some of the harder bosses), but generally I've been surprised at how viable every strategy seems!

[Ste Pickford]

Got Radahn down tonight, which I'm really pleased about as I was dreading him.  I was such a chicken, spending most of the time running around on my horse trying to find summon signs to resurrect the ones being killed to keep him occupied, as I was scared of getting squished (again).  By the end he seemed to be stuck on about 10% for 5 minutes as everyone I summoned did about 1 pixel of damage before dying, haha.  I got bored and decided to wade in, and he was dead in two or three slashes.  Doh, I could have been a bit more aggressive after all!

Such a relief, and now it's behind me, what an epic fight!

[jonamok]

And hopefully an epic sketch.

[Kryptonian]

34 minutes ago, jonamok said:

And hopefully an epic sketch.

Looking forward to the tiny horse

[NexivRed]

10 hours ago, cassidy said:

I'm fucked off with Niall still,

 

Nearly fucking got him this morning. Now decided to try later and carry on exploring the snowy mountains. 

I consider one magic branch on the dual wielding guy to not be cheating. It means you can enjoy the boss to yourself before you’ve gotten tired. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Alan Stock said:

I'm still doing low damage on the bosses I am stuck at, and its turning every boss fight into a huge endurance test which I lose eventually (especially as I die in one or two hits). 

 

Could anyone here tell me what kind of weapon levels and character levels they had when they beat the following bosses?

 

  Hide contents

1 - Draconic Tree Sentinel in City Outskirts

2 - Godskin dude in the Volcano Manor Church

3 - Godskin dude guarding the bottom of Caelid Divine Tower

 

I have upgraded most of my standard weapons to +12 or +13, and my special weapons are on about +5/+6. That's about the difficulty balance for Caelid according to what folk say about the smithing stone drops, which I've done most of now.

 

My character is now level 71 with:

Vigour 18

Endurance 14

Dexterity 26

Faith 28

Arcane 17

 

Am I just trying to tackle things in the wrong order? Maybe I need to do some more dungeons and stuff? But even some of the dungeon bosses in the plateau I'm doing crap damage to. Note that I'm not using summons to supplement my DPS. And most of the weapons I'm using scale with Dex or Faith, or both.

1.) 10-15 levels above you. 

2.) 100+ but I was mopping up and over levelled. I reckon around 85-90 would have been my “phew” point. 
 

Weapons about the same. 

[Timmo]

1 hour ago, Alan Stock said:

I'm still doing low damage on the bosses I am stuck at, and its turning every boss fight into a huge endurance test which I lose eventually (especially as I die in one or two hits). 

 

Could anyone here tell me what kind of weapon levels and character levels they had when they beat the following bosses?

 

  Hide contents

1 - Draconic Tree Sentinel in City Outskirts

2 - Godskin dude in the Volcano Manor Church

3 - Godskin dude guarding the bottom of Caelid Divine Tower

 

I have upgraded most of my standard weapons to +12 or +13, and my special weapons are on about +5/+6. That's about the difficulty balance for Caelid according to what folk say about the smithing stone drops, which I've done most of now.

 

My character is now level 71 with:

Vigour 18

Endurance 14

Dexterity 26

Faith 28

Arcane 17

 

Am I just trying to tackle things in the wrong order? Maybe I need to do some more dungeons and stuff? But even some of the dungeon bosses in the plateau I'm doing crap damage to. Note that I'm not using summons to supplement my DPS. And most of the weapons I'm using scale with Dex or Faith, or both.

 

You need to up your vigor, at that point it should be at least 30.

[El Spatula]

Is there many weapons that are Dex/Faith scaling? Most faith scaling things tend to favour str do they not?

[Captain Kelsten]

43 minutes ago, El Spatula said:

Is there many weapons that are Dex/Faith scaling? Most faith scaling things tend to favour str do they not?

You can use something like the uchigata with a faith ash of war such as sacred blade. Most faith weapons are strength/dex/faith scaling and a few favour strength but ones like the eclipse shotel prefer dex. 

[PikaStu]

14 hours ago, Number 28 said:

Chuck him down a lift shaft.

 

That had occurred to me, but he won’t come near it… 

[Broker]

I do feel slightly sad that the trophies are so easy. Normally at this point I’d be working through NG+ or a new file working out what crazy stuff I needed to find, but instead I did it all pretty easily within the first three weeks.

 

9 hours ago, Melon_Bread said:

 

I beat him once and got all 3 of the trophy endings.

 

How? I get how that would work with the standard one and Ranni’s, but doesn’t the third one lock you in when you find it and stop you doing the others?

 

9 hours ago, Jamie John said:

 

I get where you're coming from. For me, however, I really don't think I'll play this through again straightaway. I've been playing it almost exclusively for over a month now and am closing in on 100 hours, with (by all accounts) massive chunks of the game still to come. As much as I love it (and I do), I'm doubt I'm going to launch straight into NG+ and start it all again - it's just too long! As such, I want to rinse it for all its worth first time through and get all the achievements, and it really annoys me when games require you to use a guide.

 

What I find especially galling is that I've been keeping track of all the lore and the characters' dialogue so I can actually pick up on these sorts of hints regarding their questlines, but when some steps just seem to be entirely obscure or arbitrary, it feels like a waste of time. This is exacerbated further by the fact that you can all to easily go beyond the point of no return with NPCs and lock yourself out of their quests with no warning or indication, as has already happened to me with Rogier.

 

All it would take is for the NPC to mention or hint at where they plan to go next, or what they need, and while a lot of the time they do so, it's not consistent, hence my frustration.

 

Iron Pot Alexander is another example: 

  Hide contents

How are you supposed to know he goes to the base of the Carian tower after helping you kill Redahn? He makes not mention of it whatsoever, and unless you happen to warp back to the grace site nearby you would have no idea where he got to.

 

Once you help him there, however, he *then* says that he's planning on going to the volcano, so at least you have that to go on, but by then you've probably looked at a Wiki anyway to find out where he was, so the satisfaction of figuring it out for yourself has already been ruined.

 

 

It’s relatively quick the second time. Knowing where I was going and what I wanted I finished my playthrough for the third ending in 30ish hours over level 100, with most areas and bosses done. 

[Nate Dogg III]

7 hours ago, imp said:

 

Oh interesting, where did you feel like you were forced to respec?

 

I've been through the game a few times now, each time with a different build and so far only felt the need to respec once with a faith heavy build that poked things from behind a big shield (it was too slow damage-wise to outlast some of the harder bosses), but generally I've been surprised at how viable every strategy seems!

 

I'm sure every strategy feels viable if you're very good at the game, and all this comes with the caveat that I know you are very good at these things, and I am merely... quite good? I think over the years I have git ok, as it were, though age means I get a little less ok each time From puts out a new game. 

 

And my perception is admittedly a little skewed because I was using Sword Of Night & Flame with INT/STR when it got nerfed, so I respecced into bleed for a bit but it no longer felt like 'my' run, so I respecced back into INT/STR when I found a weapon I liked (Wings Of Astel). Then I respecced again a bit later when I realised I needed Vigor for the later game, sacrificing most of my STR to do so. Now I'm at the end and it's like, if I'm going to die this quickly do I really need all this health? Should I just go glass cannon? If I'm prepared to respec maybe I should just go for a build that does well against one of the three bosses I've got left between me and the credits?

 

The fact that the game throws so many Larval Tears at you (a dozen or so, isn't it?) suggests they either wanted to make respec a proper feature of the game or recognised that they needed to give players an out if they hit one of the game's many walls, especially late in the game when walls are pretty much all that's left. I understand the thinking and I'm not sure I could come up with a better alternative, but it does mean that I'm less inclined to do multiple playthroughs, because I feel like I've already dabbled in most of the things I'd normally focus a second or third run on. 

[Captain Kelsten]

I didn’t feel the need to respec at all throughout the game until the final boss, which was horrible as a pure strength build. Other than that, strength worked fine. And I agree that respeccing felt “wrong” for my character. 

[Lovelyman]

The best thing about these games is discovery and the sense of scale and wonder. 

 

Hearing that the end is a bit of a boss rush makes me worried I'll come away with a slightly negative taste of the whole thing. I think I have a ways to go yet though, so that's cool. 

[Melon_Bread]

9 minutes ago, Broker said:

I do feel slightly sad that the trophies are so easy. Normally at this point I’d be working through NG+ or a new file working out what crazy stuff I needed to find, but instead I did it all pretty easily within the first three weeks.

 

 

How? I get how that would work with the standard one and Ranni’s, but doesn’t the third one lock you in when you find it and stop you doing the others?

 

 

Beat the boss, save, upload save to cloud, do Ranni's, download save, do the second one from the statue, download save, go off and find the 3rd ending. That's what I did, then I downloaded the save again and finished off the rest of the plat.

[df0]

5 minutes ago, Nate Dogg III said:

The fact that the game throws so many Larval Tears at you (a dozen or so, isn't it?) suggests they either wanted to make respec a proper feature of the game or recognised that they needed to give players an out if they hit one of the game's many walls, especially late in the game when walls are pretty much all that's left. I understand the thinking and I'm not sure I could come up with a better alternative, but it does mean that I'm less inclined to do multiple playthroughs, because I feel like I've already dabbled in most of the things I'd normally focus a second or third run on. 

Can it be it's an underdeveloped feature? Or is it a necessary feature because as you said players can hit many walls? I know I did hit a wall when I went full INT with base VIG. I did similar builds in all Souls games, never encountered walls as high as the one(s) in Elden Ring.