Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

yeah I'm up to 115 or so and VIG is definitely suffering from diminishing returns now

I don't feel like I have a good strategy for leveling, I've mostly been alternating boosting Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity. I have some Faith because I am a Confessor but haven't been adding much to it.

I sometimes chuck some runes into a stat I'm not bothered about in general if it offers a boost to core defence stats. I've not re-specced yet but there's always that possibility if things start looking weird

I mean, things in the Lands Between look pretty weird at the best of times but YKWIM

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Elden-Ring/twinsage_glintstone_crown_elden_ring_wiki_guide_200px.png

yeah I'm about to get to the point where I can respec and I prob have to do it because my stats are all over the place

one cool (broken) ash of war is the glintstone pebble. If it hits it staggers enemies, and if you follow it with a heavy attack it does a tracking thrust combo for a shitload of damage

I saw a reddit post about the value of leveling endurance & wearing heavy armor, that damage absorption can make a big difference in this game. But some enemies have different damage types (magic, holy, etc) so I prefer to have more raw hp and not worry about it. Plus light clothing has much better fashion choices than heavy armor.

I've been using glintstone pebble a lot! Great in pvp. I overlooked it at first because I didn't know about the follow-up combo.

My main ashes are that or Thunderbolt, good as a finisher or heal-punish (or just generally good in pve).

xp I've thrown some extra levels at END so I can wear heavy armour while wearing the Havel amulet. I like the Siegmeyer-style armour but that is a bit much as a full set

general question. i have a plain broadsword up to +12. should i be focusing my weapon upgrades on weapons that have unique qualities (eg they also do magic damage in additional to physical)? the thing about a weapon with innate properties is that you can't put grease or apply a incantation buff to it, right? As far as i can tell, the weapon has be in a "neutral" state before you can additional properties to it using items/spells?

just sitting here wondering if i'm throwing all my smith stones away on a boring weapon when i should be pumping up a magic weapon

you can imbue regular degular weapons with magic and other attributes when you find the right whetstones. you can make a boring weapon non-boring with normal smithing stones.

special magicky weapons use somber smithing stones.

that's what i mean, i sort of - i already have the ability to imbue weapons with certain qualities, so i can take my regular Broadsword (Physical damage only) and use ashes of war to add magic, cold, holy, or blood damage on top of the physical. so, i have a broadsword+12 that can be modified into those things pretty easily (and i can also use greases, if needed)

but then, i have some weapons that are unmodified (+0) that already have other effects built it (e.g., Lazuli Glintstone Sword, which is in the same Straight Sword category as a regular Broadsword, but innately does Magic in addition to Physical damage.

Are these innately magical weapons the ones i should be upgrading, in other words?

sorry, i know this is very situational too, probably

or maybe is should just be looking at the attribute scaling and concentrating on the ones that line up with attributes (like FTH and STR)?

if you make your broadsword holy i think it would leverage both STR and FTH, though it may not be like the most mathematically optimized approach, which of course is why we play games

i've got moonveil at +9 and an uchigatana at +15 with "cold" applied and it's stupid cheap fun. easy mode for most mobs and some bosses. which is fine because i am bad at games.

It's good to factor in minimum requirements. Like, you might be able to make a greathammer with 30 Str requirement into magic greathammer, but then those 30 points would be mostly wasted on scaling. Buuut if you really want to use it, why not? It's easy to mess around with the affinities and see what does the best (and sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story).

btw, I keep the beast-repellent torch off-hand from my shield, helps with dogs and rats, it's a real *cough* game-changer. You buy it from the merchant in Dragonbarrow, just jump the chasm and bear left

Have it equipped and they'll leave you alone, this includes the big dogs in Caelid

oh nice! i'll keep that in mind when i'm getting wailed on in Caelid later. i've explored it just a bit, but currently i'm at the edge of Caria Manor

i don't think i've exhausted Limgrave by any stretch, but it was very nice to visit again, post-Rennala, and kind of clean it out a bit, taking on old dungeon bosses that kicked my ass earlier and beating them, first try (finally OP!).

I'm 98 hours in, LVL 61. I think some of those hours were my console just sitting there as i went to the grocery store and stuff, but generally that seems accurate

Ugh I have had the beat repelent torch for ages and I keep forgetting to use it.

My END is low, so Ive never been able to actively equip much as I always carry a sword, staff and sheild and my prisoner helmet has such good poise and magic protecc I dont remove it even tho its heavy as fuq.

beat repelent = beast repellent obv, I am not averse to a beat.

*neal cassidy shuffles off in the twilight*

Ugh... I spent WAY too much time playing this game last night and got all the way through Ranni's quest. Beat the Blackblade KIndred at the Bestial Sanctum and also upgraded my Moonveil, Carian Regal Spectre and Mimic Tear to as far as they'll go for now (whihc involved a lot of running around fetching Gloveworts and Smithing Stones. So much for playing blind and doing it naturally. "Easy mode" is hard enough!

Also been looking into the lore of the game and there is SO MUCH I didn't understand. I highly recommend the videos by VaatiVidya for this as they provide excellent background without too many spoilers.

Definitely putting this down for a few days. It's taken over my life. I haven't exercised or gone food shopping in ages. There's no such thing as a "quick go" on this game.

I've been using a lot of bleed and magic so far, and I think that's probably the easiest and best way to play. But now I've got some rad greatswords, I'm toying with the idea of respeccing to a proper tank build just to see how that goes. It sounds a lot tougher mind you. Hurling rock sling at bosses from a distance while distracting them with my Mimic Tear (who even at a high level doesn't seem to do much but hang around in the background) has been my go-to strategy so far, A heavier, more melee style of play sounds a lot harder.

A problem I found was seeking out low-level Smithing Stones. I think I'd made the mistake early in the game of trying to level up all the different weapons I found, hence wasting the stones (which I didn't realise were finite). Luckily I eventually found some merchants who sold them

I don't how much you're avoiding reading around this stuff, but you can sort out an endless supply of smithing stones 1-4 fairly painlessly. I went out of my way to do it just yesterday - seemed a lot of fun being able to get any weapon to +12 without stress.

I believe there's a Bell Bearing you can get, but I haven't got it yet

I've kind of given up on playing totally blind as I'd originally planned. I've bird-farmed a couple of times just so as not to lose runes, and one time when I was a bit tipsy and feeling anarchic. Reading up on lore adds to the fun. And yeah, consulting guides to find out the locations of things like rare Smithing Stones doesn't take away from the enjoyment either

that's it - I checked where to find the first 2 bell bearings - didn't feel too bad about it given I already had a +12 weapon.

There are more for the next smithing stone levels but a) doesn't feel right in my own very fuzzy quality-of-life vs no-peeking calculus and b) they're probably not gettable by me at this point.

I largely gave up on blind play a while back. I'm still holding back but really I don't have the time & if I can't play during the working day, I want to read about it.

particularly doing this on builds at the moment as im gearing up for a respec. it’s all fine. the more i can explore and have fun with it the better. i enjoyed not reading up at first immersion but im there now. well, i will be once i beat f’ing starscourge radahn.

Elden Ring confession: I'm 100 hours in, lvl 125, and I never found Boc the cute tailor guy.

He's right at the start of the game and I would have missed him too if I hadnt looked up why I was hearing "hello? Why can't anyone SEE ME?!" coming from a bush. Hint: look for said bush. Gi'it a jab.

But if you're as far in as you are the entire questline's prob gone now cos I htink he's looped into some other stuff.

I'm loving the story of this legend that's been born.

https://www.thegamer.com/elden-ring-player-let-me-solo-her-becomes-community-legend/

People have already started making memes.

I love it, and the guy is clearly great and has learned the fight. However, with the response it's getting and the amount of times I've seen internet people describe Malenia as "bullshit" or "badly designed", I can't shake the feeling that with the amount of people for whom this is their first Souls game, they're used to brute-forcing every single boss fight? Leaning on high damage ash skills or spells that damage race or stun-lock the boss so that they never have a drawn out fight than involves lots of reads and dodging.

The classic approach in these games is to fail many times while learning the moveset of the boss, then know how to avoid each attack and when your openings to attack are. And while magic/ranged approaches have always been an option, ER makes alternate approaches way more viable (there are tons of strong skills, status effects, and the open world means you can level up in another area and come back later). Which is great! But it feels like when new players finally hit these end game optional bosses that are somewhat resistant to brute force approaches, they haven't learned the fundamentals or a more patient approach on easier bosses, so they get frustrated and call them broken or bad game design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqN2phpMWno

Anyway, that clip of Bjork in The Northman could totally be an Elden Ring cut scene, right?

How does Malenia compare to some of the fabled late-game Sekiro bosses? Malenia seems kinda like "critical mass in terms of testing one's patience" within this game design, like, that no-hit win relied on only two distinct windows for openings in either stage. I can't imagine From being able to make a harder boss and keep it within the realm of "this is fun", but I gave up on Sekiro hilariously early (couldn't even beat the first general)

She is definitely in the mold of Sekiro bosses, which are both fast-paced but also about patience, you can't really cheese them or rush the fight.

A big difference is that in Sekiro you would be expected to block/deflect her flurries, which would break her posture and leave her open for a big critical. In Elden Ring, if you block them, it gives her hp. So clearly you're supposed to dodge here (although I've heard that some gravity attacks can knock her out of the attack).

She's the one boss that I've seen a bunch of videos of without having fought yet, but I just got to the Haligtree.

Oh the Haligtree is so wonderful

Ha I can't tell if you're being facetious. The first area is a nightmare, and I assume you're supposed to run through all those enemies leading up to Loretta haunted house/Sonic the Hedgehog style. It's the first area where I've done that, there are just too many and they're all serious business. But I just got to Elphael last night, and that has some beautiful views and more room to breathe.

fuuuuck that first area. don't know how many times i fell off that tree trying to maneuver to or around those dopey mobs.

Not to mention that ants that actively try and push you off. I died soooo many times. And then the boss fight with Loretta was 100% Carian Retaliation, just sending back everything she threw at me. By far the most fun part..

...But it feels like when new players finally hit these end game optional bosses that are somewhat resistant to brute force approaches, they haven't learned the fundamentals or a more patient approach on easier bosses, so they get frustrated and call them broken or bad game design.

― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, April 14, 2022 10:02 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Or they never played Punch-Out!!

lol yes. I've beaten Sekiro, but never could beat Mike Tyson.

have you tried to beat tyson AFTER you beat sekiro though? it does seem like correlation would be high

but yeah, re: people whining about how hard the game is sometimes, it's like, dudes, play any 2D space shooter (gradius etc) and prepare to spend the next month of your life memorizing some INSANE shit

My thoughts exactly! Original SMB is harder than most of this stuff, not to even mention the Mega Men

Mega Mans?

And I wasn't being facetious re Haligtree. I didn't struggle with the platforming but I did die a few times to the awful ant corridor and to the scarlet rot envoy bubble trench run

And I think the first time I made that trench run I ascended to deal with the inconspicuous looking envoys above, unaware that Envoy #3 was a superenvoy who one-shotted me

The bizarre battlemages gave me far more trouble tbh idk why

I love that area though, really gorgeous and atmospheric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDd2q2fcAw

I love it, and the guy is clearly great and has learned the fight. However, with the response it's getting and the amount of times I've seen internet people describe Malenia as "bullshit" or "badly designed", I can't shake the feeling that with the amount of people for whom this is their first Souls game, they're used to brute-forcing every single boss fight? Leaning on high damage ash skills or spells that damage race or stun-lock the boss so that they never have a drawn out fight than involves lots of reads and dodging.

The classic approach in these games is to fail many times while learning the moveset of the boss, then know how to avoid each attack and when your openings to attack are. And while magic/ranged approaches have always been an option, ER makes alternate approaches way more viable (there are tons of strong skills, status effects, and the open world means you can level up in another area and come back later). Which is great! But it feels like when new players finally hit these end game optional bosses that are somewhat resistant to brute force approaches, they haven't learned the fundamentals or a more patient approach on easier bosses, so they get frustrated and call them broken or bad game design.

I grabbed Vordt's Greathammer ASAP and played the whole game with it, just to make sure I was doing it with the slowest weapon class that would have the hardest time exploiting boss punish windows... and yep, it's night and day. Not only do you attack faster than ER's Colossal Weapons, bosses actually let you hit them after the vast majority of attack chains - even the more crazy DLC bosses like Gael, and even with standing R1s, not just roll attacks. It's a back and forth dance that I rarely felt in Elden Ring when playing with a Colossal Sword and just barely with smaller weapons.

if newbies are complaining about the hard bosses for being hard i mean... from newbies have been doing that for every game release haven't they? that is just the chain of casual souls memes that can never be broken

anyway, i am somehow still doodling around liurnia about 80 hours into my game, determined to do everything possible before every area's legacy dungeon and taking as long as possible to do all of it. i don't know how people get through it so quickly. proud to say that after saying this:

reasons i'm terrible at fromsoft games:
-suck at timing parries

after the evergaol CK i was finally ready to take on stormveil and wanted to try to parry lord him, but screw needing two parries for a riposte. i hate how this went, because i kept dying to him but i felt like i could've beaten him eventually one on one. during one attempt, i got him down to his second phase but was doing bad on flasks and knew i wasn't going to beat him there, so i summoned ancestral follower just to see how effective it'd be. margit literally did not try to attack me once after that. i would smack him repeatedly, he'd turn for half a second and then ancestral follower would immediately re-draw his aggro.

i don't want to dip into the "you're not playing ER right if you use spirit ashes" discourse but they really do feel like a cheat code sometimes, and i've stopped using them unless i find myself dedicating half a saturday to some unfulfilling boss. i don't think spirit ashes are a very good mechanic, there's no depth to them for the most part... every summon is basically just two sliders for "how tanky are they" and "how well do they draw and maintain aggro." eventually you can add a "how strong are they" slider. there's a million of them in the game but so many of them are basically just cosmetic reskins of other ones with those 2 or 3 slider stats slightly nudged. it's a fun experiment but i'm not sure there was ever really a way to make it an interesting mechanic.

that said this is still the greatest game of all time