Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

I will probably throw in on ng+3 for playing around with a bonk build and do some different stuff in the DLC but I'll probably start finally moving on to a new game ha

I'm not aware of any other game so I guess I'll just keep playing this one.

Last night I found a whole fort (fog rift) and forge (Starfall Past) that I had missed, at this rate I'll never fight Radahn.

SOTE is fun, although I'm not sure how necessary it would be for me to replay it really, seeing how it's relatively linear with fewer diverging plots compared to the base game, and no trophy system either (which is a shame)

The game is now "let's parry Radahn". I can get to phase 2, oh, 2 out of 5 attempts. And that's about it so far, lol.

Oh you get a unique gesture for failing twice to dodge the grab attack, that's nice.

God, Enir Illim is not mucking about is it? Some of those enemies are tough tough tough - especially those lion-faced divine hornsent dudes; they can suck a fuck

I'm not aware of any other game so I guess I'll just keep playing this one.

#onegame

Definitely feel that at times. This game is a freaking drug. I don't think I've played any game more in my life.

Beat Bayle, boy that fight was fun! I am way low on scadu fragments though. Only level 15. Going to need to scour the map for the rest. Kinda surprised and not surprised that I missed so many - but to my eyes it appears I've hit all the areas in the map?? Lord knows what I've missed. Ugh

Maaan, phase 2 is so punishing. You miss one parry or roll and you're getting hit by the holy magic explosions and whatever the follow-up combo, and you're done. Meanwhile phase 1 is now down to a science and feels cozy. I think I need to stop panicking/rolling backward in phase 2 and start blocking if I'm not sure what he's doing (so many moves!). Well, I wouldn't want him to be easy.

I guess I could try and get scadu fragments for the last three levels but I'm in the same boat as you, I feel like I've now explored everywhere and I wouldn't know where to look (even watching a video with all of the locations, idk it all seems familiar and I don't know which ones I've missed). And it doesn't matter how much damage he does if you don't get hit. :)

Impressed I'm near the end game and managed to get up to scadu 19 without looking up guides

What is it with these games and the difficulty factor being all over the place towards the end game?
This isn't really anything new - it's something that's been prevalent since Demon's Souls and continued through that final boss rush in the base game of Elden Ring.
I struggled with the Divine Beast Warriors I'm Enir Illim, and actually had to cheese the last one who does stormcalling by luring him to the elevator and making him fall down it.
Then the Leda + allies fight was over before it had even started.
Now Radahn Consort is absolutely flipping impossible!

And despite being scadu-level 19, I still have only managed to kill one furnace giant. They just won't die. And I never seem to have enough materials to craft the pots you're meant to throw into them

A little thought:

I'm sure in one of the trailers they showed a kind of red roaring bear/lion hybrid (not the dancing lion, more like a bear but with a nig red mane). I don't think I've seen this creature, unless it's the bear you fight in the wooded area near the scorpion cave? Doesn't look the same though

Do you mean those lion knight things in Enir Ilim? They are harder than most of the bosses imo, in either DLC or main game.

2.06 in this video. Probably is just a regular bear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8k8R0Q2ubY

Xp yeah those Lion Knights are absolutely ridiculous and I've either had to sneak past them or cheese them for the most part

Jesus, can't believe I don't have to fight him anymore, hands shaking, etc. That was a properly epic From fight (very glad I got him out of the way before I leave on this work trip, lol).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkEhVTtMjrw

Those knights were so tough that I actually wanted to use their spirit ash, just to have them on my side.

they are one of the most aggro bosses in the game, like even running away is hard, they don't fuck around at all.

Well done LocalGarda!

I worry I'm never going to beat him. I suck at parrying and generally don't bother with it

I only killed one furnace fuckface with pots, the one next to the weirdguy church. The rest were simple? Just stay amongst legs and a little behind and time your jumps and run away on horse when it’s a two-leg jump

dog latin what’s your build and level? I was def respeccing for each endgame boss and found them all doable when the knowledge was imparted

dog latin what’s your build and level? I was def respeccing for each endgame boss and found them all doable when the knowledge was imparted

fgti I wish I could see your bonk fight vs Radahn, the recovery time with a big weapon is long enough that I think it would require even more precise timing than parries.

Oh I'm fairly high leveled, 180 with most of my money pumped into faith.

As I say, some bosses (Leda, Romina, Gaius) I've merked on first or second try. It's just the parrying stuff with Radahn really, but I've only given him one go. He seems a bit random and all over the place.

The two times I beat Radahn I was RL 220, 19 Scadu, wielding 2x bloody anchors, had 80 STR and 80 ARC (or thereabouts), rune arc’d, faith high enough for vow/black flame protect/bestial, armoured up extremely (I wear the heaviest gloves and greaves and then fashion the rest), summoned a mimic and Ansbach, claw braid dragoncrest poise, used the white perfume every time I could to bubble myself and my colleagues, used double damage prevention physick entering the second phase. It’s the easiest of easy modes and any video you’d see of my victory would just leave you disappointed in me

oh don't worry. i use all my mimics and that usually.

Also I’ve left enough witty messages lying around that I get appraisal bonuses every couple minutes, both my successful Radahn fights I’ve had an appraisal save my bacon

I leave helpful messages around fairly often, but they rarely garner more than about 1-3 appraisals. Might need to start "try finger, but hole"ing some more as those ones seem to get loads.

Although I did find a small section of the Cerulean Coast that looked uncannily similar to Majula in Dark Souls 2 and I wanted to say something about it. The best I could come up with was something like "Mage, or love" and I think about 7 people praised it.

I don't know about you all, but I have a personally policy of never rating low-effort messages (offer healing, therefore praise the message!). Gotta be either helpful or funny, come on now.

It's just the parrying stuff with Radahn really, but I've only given him one go.

I fought him at least 50 times (probably 2+ hours over a few sessions) before victory started to even seem like a possibility, so don't give up!

He feels similar to Mohg in that phase 1 is a tutorial for his basic moves, and phase 2 adds an extra explosion to everything along with some extra crazy moves designed to instill fear and panic. But once you figure out some strategies for those, it's just a matter of waiting for those familiar phase 1 moves that you know and love.

My helpful messages tend to get 20-50.

I've only ever left 2 low effort comedy ones - both were literally 'dog' (because it is the one meme trash message that can still make me smile) - but iirc they didn't do badly - the one next to shunning grounds dung eater def had likes trickling in for a while.

Left a heartfelt tribute to Alexander after whacking him in Farum Azula but that never did much.

Most players probably never finished his questline (most players are me).

I did! It's quite a satisfying quest, although it's one of the longest and most convoluted in the game. Kinda heartbreaking

Anyone here following the lore of the DLC very closely? I tend to try and get my quests in order when I play, following guides loosely here and there.

But there's lots of stuff I still don't really get, or am not sure about:

- I've seen bits and pieces online about the shaman and how Marika once belonged to a shaman village that was responsible for stuffing people in jars, and that this might have been the catalyst for her becoming who she was. But I've not seen much evidence for this in game... Like, I've seen the jars and I've been to Bonny Village, and I saw the practice of forcing people into jars mentioned. But very little about the shaman and Marika

- There's meant to be a bunch of stuff about Mogh, and I haven't beaten Radahn yet, so I don't know if that comes later, but apparently he was charmed by Miquella into kidnapping him and then somehow Radahn's soul was put into Mohg's body(?) or something?!?!? Well, other than a very short line from Ansbach towards the end of the game, I can't quite work out where people got this idea from, but apparently it's canon.

- And what exactly dictates why certain NPCs decide suddenly that they want to attack you? I get why Thollier decides to fight you after you speak to St Trina a bunch of times; but later he decides he's going to join your fight against Leda. Similarly, while Hornsent is never super keen on you, he does help you in the fight against Messmer. And then out of nowhere, he decides he's just gonna jump you in the middle of Rauh?!? And what aobut Freyja? She seems cool and nice with you, but then she joins Leda to fight you?!

- Speaking of which, why is it even necessary to fight Radahn and stop Miquella in his plans? You get called up by Leda to track him down, and then suddenly it's up to you to stop him becoming a god. But why is that a thing? I know St Trina says it's a bad idea and that god-hood would be like a prison for Miquella; but that seems to be the only reason.

- Who exactly is Romina? Who is the sunflower boss? I'd like to know more about Metyr as well.

I swear I read as many item descriptions as possible, and I'm pretty good at combing the lands for clues, but I'm amazed at how much of the tiny details in these games escape me sometimes.

- I've seen bits and pieces online about the shaman and how Marika once belonged to a shaman village that was responsible for stuffing people in jars, and that this might have been the catalyst for her becoming who she was. But I've not seen much evidence for this in game... Like, I've seen the jars and I've been to Bonny Village, and I saw the practice of forcing people into jars mentioned. But very little about the shaman and Marika

https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Queen_Marika_the_Eternal this is a tidy summation of a rather insanely convoluted plot

It is unclear as to whether Mogh's kidnapping of Miquella was a plot of Miquella's own devising, but regardless, when the Tarnished murders Mogh it allows Miquella to move forward with their Godhood plans and the Mogh/Radahn fuckboy resurrection scheme

It seems as if the inconstancy of the Miquellan-faithful (all the NPCs) and their wildly oscillating allegiances begins specifically when Miquella breaks the rune, and their blind devotion to Miquella becomes distorted and confused

idk anything about Romina or the Sunflower or any of that. I don't really know about the Finger Mother either.

I read a fun post on Reddit that sorted all the bosses into categories-- needed to die, were just in the way, mercy kill, shouldn't have been killed, etc. The post was oddly removed but it was here https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1f063xh/based_on_a_very_poor_understanding_of_the_lore/

Do you mean those lion knight things in Enir Ilim? They are harder than most of the bosses imo, in either DLC or main game.

have also left “dog” messages. mainly just try to be helpful if there isn’t already something there and get a fair bit of likes for that.

I did! It's quite a satisfying quest, although it's one of the longest and most convoluted in the game. Kinda heartbreaking

Only got as far as getting his summon via feeding him Selevus' potion. That was definitely satisfying! He was very helpful during the Commander Gaius fight. It's nice having him on your side, putting poxes on some bosses

So apparently I completely missed the Shaman Village ares of the game just off to the right when you come across the Hinterland before you get to the finger ruins.

Not hard to do that - but I was disappointed with how empty they were. Though I later realized that's how you get to the top of Rabbath's Rise

oh wait this is also making me feel i have not been to the shaman’s village even tho i saw the lore video. fuck.

There's a really great talisman there you'll absolutely want for the Elden Beast fight, so definitely make your way over!

It's hard enough to know you're meant to do that thing with the O Mother gesture to access that whole bit of the game. Maybe I missed something but there don't seem to be many in game hints

Xp Holy crap, I missed that too when i finally went there just now. Dang. I think this is a problem with these huge, largely empty plateaus- it can be quite disorienting and hard to know if you've combed the whole bit.

I just went to Charos' Hidden Grave area and it's much bigger than I first thought, but again it's another large section of pretty flowers with few distinguishing landmarks. Apparently there's a gaol there but I couldn't find it.

I'm a bit confused about how I'm supposed to craft pots in order to take down these furnace golems. I never seem to have enough ingredients. And I'm not too sure exactly which pots to use.
And even when i csn, and try to get one from above, it usually mashes me up with fire before I get a chance to aim and throw a pot at it anyway

Any ideas about the gigantic pit that you have to ride around in the Hinterland area before the Shaman Village? At first I thought that might be where the Mother of Fingers might have crashlanded as a star, but I'm not sure it's in the right place

I missed a bunch of stuff in Charo's that I had to come back to, great gaol.

And I'm not sure but I think only the golems with armored legs can be taken down with pots? Tbh it's hard to tell which ones those are sometimes, since you can't see their health bars very well when fighting them.

You can throw pota into the golem's baskets if you take them down by hitting their legs. But even at level 19 I'm having to hit them about 132 times before that happens.

I'm not really into these different pots even though the DLC really wants me to invest time in them. Feels like a very finite resource to have to grind for. Is it more for PVP?

Ohhh I see. The hefty pots are definitely powerful in pvp. They would probably be good to inflict status ailments on bosses, I don't like to rely on consumables though. I don't think anyone does, which is why they introduced all these infinite throwing weapons!

dog

Oh dear

dog latin you know you can crit the furnace golems for half their health once they fall down? Aim for the face

Oh for real? I didn't know that. I haven't been able to farm pots, so I've just been hitting them in the legs but it takes forever for me to get them to even half health, and the drain on my stamina means I struggle to time the jumps right. Ill try this