Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

I keep getting tempted to switch from faith to int as a secondary stat, because I keep finding int-scaling weapons. That's probably just because I'm exploring Liurnia though. I'm interested in a status effect build but that'll probably take awhile to put together.

i'm not sure what to focus on, with faith, because you also need mind (more FP) and having decent INT helps too, because there are some incantations that require both FTH and INT. and then, if you do all that, you're extremely weak and squishy, so you need some VIT as well.

however, as soon as i started listening to the advice to focus more on leveling up weapons, i started to get more powerful more quickly. a little frustrated right now because smithing stone [1] are so hard to come by, while i find loads of [2] and [3]s.

In Liurnia you can eventually unlock the ability to buy them (1 and 2) from the roundtable, which helps. I'm constantly running back and forth between the weird vendor twins and the blacksmith.

Also I realized that it's not even worth trying to explore if I just have 1/2 an hour on a weeknight, so I'm just invading and experimenting with builds.

I marvel at how quickly you lot are getting along. I find it hard to put more than an hour or 2 a day into this and I'm just getting nowhere, I'm still not even L20 yet.

it really helps to be retired

with no children

xp jordan oh nice! i won't worry too much about it then, knowing that at some point i'll just be able to buy them, thanks!

so far, the answer to most of my troubles in this game have been "it's ok, just wait a bit"

found liurnia via the shortcut, and then doubled back and did godrick. am being a lot happier to call on co-op for bosses than in previous games. you do miss the rush of defeating them single-handed a bit, but life is short, work is busy and elden ring is loooong.

also been to raya lucaria briefly, via…. a gateway i think? or was it a treasure chest entrapment?

loving liurnia and the way you can unintentionally lose your way off the submerged road and become disorientated by the lamps. in fact trotting through caelid and the rot with its fantastical landscapes and quickly tucking off the main road when a mounted knight appeared in the distance reminded me v much of when characters stray off “the main road” to avoid getting seen only to get in a serious pickle by encountering something that is also off the main road, for other reasons.

the way ER landscape and design naturally lead you to behave in this classic fantasy way is v clever - i guess it’s the way they spatially manage dramatic narrative. the way caelid initially just feels like the lands of limgrave have become a bit sick and unhealthy before ending up in deranged transformation and soldiers fighting beasts is v much the same feeling of “as they travelled on, the lands become increasingly bare and inhospitable”.

i’ve gone through stormveil castle a couple of times now. ridiculous number of interlinking paths and routes round. still don’t think i’ve found everything. classic dark souls thing of packing a lot of exploration and experience into a confined set of routes through a high level of interlinking complexity.

tempted by jordan to try some invading but i know i will be terrible at it.

oh and enjoying the autumnal feel of it - a bit like sekiro political and social structures are still present although substantially decayed. ofc bloodborne is even more spectacular in this respect where all that is left are the religious and warped physical/spiritual symptoms of a long distant decay, and an ancient set of social, spiritual and political ordering principles that have totally lost any reason inherent in their original construction, but i like the variation here.

miyazaki is good on this in relation to the erdtree here

First of all, just as something that's visually striking and enticing on the screen, in the world itself, something that draws your attention, something that stands out, this tree with golden glowing leaves is something that fits my ideal for something that represents the world physically. It's something that burns that image into your mind, but it also stands as something that represents those rules and an order of the world that we talked about earlier.

What can represent these rules and order but also not be absolute? That was the question that ran through my mind when I created this image. And the tree really fits the bill nicely for that because the tree is something that's alive, it's something that grew, it's something that will eventually wither and die. And this really fits the role of something that can then bestow this order, control these rules, and enforce these rules on the world. Because these too are things that will grow and will change and will wither and die as well.

in fact i’m tempted to say miyazaki has got to be considered as one of the best exponents of the fantasy genre ever.

Wow, so this is an open-world game with side quests but no quest log?! That's pretty rough.

I'm about 10 hours in and it's a delight. Only last night that I really got out of my souls mindset - stay tight, go careful, farm/hoard runes to levelling point - after I realised that you can bomb off on Torrent in a new/random direction & gamble on finding a grace, or at least somewhere sane to die if it goes to shit. I'm not needing From's tense, focused you-died cycle right now, so the safety net makes it for me.

Slowly softening my no reading attitude. I'm not really going to have time to muddle through in total ignorance.

I went back to Stormveil last night to pick up an item I missed. And proceeded to come across a ton of stuff that I totally passed by the first time around.

Worth a revisit.

After dumping most of my points into Vigor, Endurance, and some in Strength, I'm slowly ticking up Faith. I normally don't mess with casting much, but I feel like I'd be missing out a bit in this one.

There is so much to explore in Stormveil. So many hidden paths. That said, I felt like I'd come to a dead end last night. Reticent to fight the knight stomping around that sort of library place or the knife wielding giant crab, but not sure where to go next. I've found a ton of items and even found myself back at the front gate but behind those soldiers who shoot you with the mounted crossbows if you try to go in that way.

I could definitely do with a bow or some sort of ranged weapon. Only got a few knives, but I'm using them on the bloody knife eagles

Renala beaten! Minor spoilers Actually a really easy fight once you figure out what's going on. Reminiscent of the giant maggot creature in Bloodborne with less of the annoyance. Probably loads more to find in Reya Lucaria but that's maybe for another time.

tempted by jordan to try some invading but i know i will be terrible at it.

You should! The worst that can happen is that you die, and someone else gets a thrill out of beating an invader with their friends. Although don't invade with too many runes, because you do lose them if you die (and have to pick them up wherever you died in the host's world).

If you want to practice the basics, try playing unlocked and being able to run in one direction with the camera pointing in another (also aiming attacks without locking on). That's like 80% of it tbh.

After dumping most of my points into Vigor, Endurance, and some in Strength, I'm slowly ticking up Faith. I normally don't mess with casting much, but I feel like I'd be missing out a bit in this one.

Same. Using Godrick's great rune to boost my stats let me experiment with some incantations that I can't normally use, that was helpful.

my int/dex build basically became an int build because spells have ended up being way more powerful than any melee for me. I got a couple talisman that boost stats, so that was enough to convince me to put a couple extra points in faith and run some minor incantations. Then again, I just got an incantation that requires like 40 faith where you basically create a big planet above you and throw it at someone so at some point I might respec as a faith build

the only thing i've seen people complain about is some of the flashier later-game magic being very difficult to use due to long cast times & lack of poise

that's dismaying to hear, because even in the early game i've been having trouble pulling off even my low level incantations due to the same thing - long cast times, lack of poise. often, using magic (in the early game, at least, or maybe just for me, because i suck) feels like being a Support character without anyone to support - there's one else to buff, and no Tank standing in the way to distract the enemy, so you end up just barely pulling an incantation as the enemy swaggers up to you and is mid-swing. I've had much better luck when I'm able to summon some wolves or just anything else to distract the enemy, but in a one on one situation (like a boss, often) all the magic sometimes goes out the window.

I had that issue earlier on, but it's really about spacing, timing and what spells you have. When I was having trouble with this stuff I dumped a bunch of points into upping my fp and used a melee weapon with quickstep, so I could quickstep and roll when casting spells (also backstab if I was close enough)

It makes sense to me, giant apocalypse spells shouldn't be fast and have poise, there need to be tradeoffs somewhere. If you're going to cast an "I win" spell, you at least need to pick your moment and make it exciting.

Also I just found out about the wondrous fizzick ingredient that lets you cast for 10 seconds without using any FP, smh.

a melee weapon with quickstep, so I could quickstep and roll when casting spells

oh nice, i haven't thought of doing that! will give that a try soon, because yeah, even just being able to hop/dodge while casting would be a huge help

_tempted by jordan to try some invading but i know i will be terrible at it._

You should! The worst that can happen is that you die, and someone else gets a thrill out of beating an invader with their friends. Although don't invade with too many runes, because you do lose them if you die (and have to pick them up wherever you died in the host's world).

If you want to practice the basics, try playing unlocked and being able to run in one direction with the camera pointing in another (also aiming attacks without locking on). That's like 80% of it tbh.

It'll help with fighting mobs too, I guarantee. Now I feel like White-Faced Varre, sending you out on invasion missions.

My regular co-op partner is into the idea of cheap levelling, we've been talking about the dragon momma and the new videos about jumping ahead to Morg (or some similarly named dude) and some cheap kills there. I definitely enjoyed stalking some easy runes from Vulgar dudes the in Dragonbarrow once I prematurely warped there

But overall I'm finding that, I guess by dint of the fact that I'm taking the time to clear ruins and catacombs and I don't shy away from a fight, that I'm "well-levelled"? There've definitely been some fights I've walked away from (Preceptor Miriam was a big nope) and others I've summoned help for (that Revenant in the ruins near the Manor), but generally I'm finding this game perfectly balanced between challenging/not-challenging, don't feel any desire to superbeef my stats? idk! I'm very satisfied

I'm doing something off-book which is levelling Endurance more than I should because I'm enjoying the heavier armours and heavier weapons

Oh, there is a VERY frustrating bug that I ran into.

If you summon allies at the Summoning Pool prior to Rennala, when you enter into her lair, you'll find she's shieldless and her support staff isn't doing what they're supposed to. I kept entering the lair and having my allies leave without understanding why. Apparently the work-around, if you plan on taking her on with assistance, is to ensure that you enter the lair while one of your allies is still clearing customs.

I left a note that said "be wary of bug, and so try something" because there wasn't any flair text for "check online for why it's not working"

try butt
hole

It's funny

I hate all those sophomoric messages but whenever I see a cranny somewhere I think "fatty" lol

in the other ds' whenever anyone posted "feet" it was pretty funny because it didn't seem like a constant thing, but the messages in this one are unbearable

I think I've improved my messages somewhat by using the group keywords. In addition to 'ilg' and a friend group I'm using 'Guidance', from the Saint Riot/invader youtube community. Obviously there are still joke messages but a lot of actually useful ones too.

Although I also get lots of pop-ups saying "Someone in the II group has become a god" and I'm like O_O

SO, Ive been playing offline all this time and thought I'd log in last night just to see if I'd see any ghost players/notes. But nothing came up - is it cos Im set to friends only and Im ScottNoMates?

Also the LAG. While in online mode everything was stuttering like 90s dialup, I cant keep playing online if its gonna be like that (and ffs I have a 50mbps fibre connection with 5ms ping so its not my internet).

i've decided to take the plunge and buy this, the first AAA game i've bought new in years. the fomo was killing me. i also spent too much time watching playthroughs on twitch so i already know how a lot of stuff goes

i made it out of the tutorial area and like an idiot i keep taking a stab at the tree sentinel. i know you're supposed to wait until you get the horse, but i can't help it. i'm so terrible though, lvl 1 prisoner can't get his health down past 80% but i keep trying. in the beginning i thought it would just be good practice to get dodge timing down but i might just be dumb.

it's so hard to both dodge and get attacks off in your little windows, especially with a small sword. can't stay close enough to him. maybe i should try ditching auto-aim? i see YT videos of people killing him easily and i have no idea how they manage to keep within slashing distance.

reasons i'm terrible at fromsoft games:
-suck at timing dodges
-suck at timing parries (nbd in this one at least)
-suck at memorizing minor differences in attack animations and remembering what they entail (i have no idea how anyone does this)

Please leave him alone until later! I've played more hours of these games that I ever want to think about, and I was still getting wrecked by Tree Sentinel at the beginning because I didn't have the feel of this one yet (they're all different), and I was woefully underpowered. Came back later on and it was no problem. I would use less punishing enemies to practice your dodges. :)

I'm different I can fix him

Dodge-roll combat is slightly less failsafe in Elden Ring than previous games, in my estimation, less because of "a reduction in the number of frames in which you are invincible as you roll" and more because bosses/enemies tend to be more mobile, cover more ground. When I dodge-roll I find myself, like, far away from the enemy. (I haven't worked with sidesteps, backsteps in this game)

But shield combat is easy enough here to be almost a cheese, it's a real return-to-DS1 vibe. Guard-counters (keeping your shield up with L1, responding immediately to getting hit with an R2) are parry-lite, there's no timing involved and they're a pretty manageable way of doing combat.

Last night I fought a few Master Hand-alikes in a Manor somewhere, was powering-up my Brass shield with a very-powerful ash that immensely reduces the amount of stamina consumed in a block, fighting back with guard-counters, it was a pleasant and easy excursion

I'm also getting FOMO but if I absolutely sucked at Souls, is there any point in playing this? Also, I can do the remember-their-moves-and-dodge style of combat when it's easy, but I don't find it super fun. Are there other options to fighting in this, like in BOTW?

if you don't do what i'm doing and you have time to grind, it's a much more forgiving game from what i understand. you can overlevel for the hardest story enemies, summoning other players is easy and very encouraged, and magic builds can negate a lot of the twitchiness.

i'm consistently able to get to tree guy's second phase, and have gotten him down to about 30%. but there's still a lot of embarrassing "i should be better than this" failure runs between the good ones. another reason i'm a very bad gamer is i am just extremely impatient and once i can reach a milestone like "able to get past the first phase" i then try to impulsively rush the first phase instead of repeating the methods that worked before. an easier game would just give me a save point after the first phase i guess.

also i'm not sure i'm actually practicing dodge roll/iframe timing, i think a lot of his swings are just too wide to little old me! anyway back to the grind i am going to kill him

This is ridiculous but I salute you all the same

✖ I'd suggest you get in the habit of leaving some people be til later

There are a couple of murderful NPCs/smallbosses in the first section that I was like "no no I'm better than this" and kept dying and dying but I really wasn't, and it was still a challenge when I came back levelled up some 30 more levels and kitted out

Just came upon Academy Town at night, looking up at the main Erd tree in the starry sky was just... man.

I gotta install this on our 4K TV/PS5 combo and see what that looks like

Even Beastman was a challenge till I'd merked a few random smaller enemies and levelled up. Still haven't got anywhere with the Tree Sentinel.

Absolutely love playing Stormveil Castle. Such an incredibly designed map. I'm really getting used to the idea of the messages being left out for me on online mode (even if half of them are telling me to jump off ledges plummeting to nowhere). I especially like the bit where there's a long outdoor staircase leading up to a guard with a vuvuzela. You have to crouch down at the bottom of the staircase and wait till his back's turned before running up the stairs and attacking him before he can sound the alarm. It's a really great dynamic.

Also the LAG. While in online mode everything was stuttering like 90s dialup, I cant keep playing online if its gonna be like that (and ffs I have a 50mbps fibre connection with 5ms ping so its not my internet).

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 4:06 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

That seems pretty weird, Trayce - are you on pc? I had my own weird thing where I've been playing the PS4 version on PS5, with a PS5 controller...the controller died, so I went back to an old PS4 controller that I've been using to play Dark Souls 3 for years. But all the movement was super jittery and odd, like it was constantly getting bad inputs from the left stick. All of my PS4 controllers eventually stopped working in different ways, but I wonder if it was something about that setup.

Anyway I've got a new wonky build going on. I really liked the dual straight sword moveset with the Ornamental Straight Sword, but I wanted to experiment with status effects. So I was able to make two poison long swords, although I haven't been able to upgrade them to match my other weapons (and the scaling isn't very good with poison affinity).

So now I'm starting with the poison swords, which only take like two hits to poison someone, and then switching to the Ornamental swords for damage. The tricks are 1) being able to tell which one I actually have equipped, because 2) they use opposite buttons. With the Ornamental paired swords, R1 does a cool two-sword moveset and L1 just blocks. With the regular powerstanced swords, L1 does that cool moveset. I've definitely died because I can't tell what I have equipped and blocked instead of attacked, it's a good brain exercise though.

Anyway this is mostly for pvp, but I'm curious to see how well poison works on bosses, giants, and dragons!

Stormveil Castle is second only to Hyrule as my favourite castle design that I've played

Radahn is annoying!!

radahn is super annoying, but also my favourite boss fight i've come across so far in elden ring

xp i gotta try pvp

I watched a guy beat this in about two hours. It's amazing that even this newest FromSoft masterpiece allows you to completely cheese the bosses in stupid ways.