Elden Ring

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, there's an interesting line in From games. I've happily cheesed bosses in Souls games ... comforting myself in the fact that they can be cheap and nasty themselves. But I know what you mean about things like that farming glitch. I've always enjoyed the grind of levelling here and there ... and I always get twitchy carrying too many runes about ... I have to make sure I'm carrying as few as poss going into the unknown.

Interesting what you say about the quest with the invading requirement (I've never invaded anyone, ever). Any time I've been invaded by a human player in Elden they've been a pushover. I was feeling good about myself but maybe you've thrown more perspective on that I do like some of the random story/questing bits in this. It keeps the journey interesting and non-linear.

I did some more in Caelid and Liurnia last night. Firstly Redmane Castle and Radahn then up the Lift of Dectus into a whole new area. The map is huge!

Got stung early on losing a load of runes and I've constantly got one eye on my total to see if I'm ready to level up.
I was willing to use the bridge-jump glitch to get to somber smithing stone, but I feel that's different to glitch farming. Not sure why!

So, I spent a good chunk of time in Moghwhyn's Palace area last night.
Sorted out old White Mask for killing my maiden and paid tribute to her in the most noble of ways. I teabagged his corpse.
Then I thought I'd tackle the guy who was on the pedestal in the temple next to a chest, surrounded by Albinaurics.
Man, he killed me over and over.
Eventually, I took him and all the Albinaurics, but it took some doing!
I did it by running back into the preceding dark cave, falling off a ledge and calling my summon (I couldn't do that outside).
The by-product being that there were a zillion zombz that were taken out too, so I repeated the section of zombz and spawning rapiers and got enough runes to hit level 100. Boom.

The only thing left to do is fight the boss, but I hear he's one of the toughest, so took a break.

Revisited the red rot swamp area as there are a load of somber smithing stones I'd missed in the outskirts of the map.
Whacked on the immunity charms, ran to each location, got the stone and teleported back, apart from the last bit where I triggered the ruins to rise up and was faced by some lanky dude that got shown how the Bloodhound Gang roll. SPLAT.

Finished off the night in the same area as you, at the top of the lift.
Turned left, found a church with a cellar - got some loot.

funny how easy it was to kill them and all the enemies around the church were one-hitters, in contrast to the earlier part of the night where everyone took four hits minimum.

Will deffo explore here more!

[briareos_kerensky]

[QualityChimp]

Found a way to easily beat the Black Knife Ringleader! Boom!

[QualityChimp]

Mashed up this badboy for hella runes.
Drops some McGuffin to swap at the round table crone for a supersweet ultra spear.

Gonna upgrade it, but need level 27 arcane, which'll be a slog!

[QualityChimp]

I'm aware I'm spamming the thread and almost a year behind everyone else, but it's so lush and thematic, I'm going to keep posting pics on my journey.

Reaching the Altus Plateau.


These guys worship me, obvs.


Temple across the red rot swamps.


Testing the mimic tear with some zombz.


I love how you can just stop and drink in the view, and see all the intriguing places to investigate.


Windmills with the crazed women perpetually dancing.


A less inviting view, just before an erdtree boss battle. I used the archer summon to great effect here (see next post).


I'm coming to getcha!

[QualityChimp]

[Atticus]

I found a talisman yesterday called Radagon's Soreseal which ups all the stats I've invested in (vig, end, str, dex) but also raises the damage you take. I'm not feeling great about the extra damage but the increase in END means I can wear Radahn's full armour set and still be an a medium equip load keeping me pretty agile. I also have 4 talisman slots now which feels pretty ace.

Recent mooches have got me to Leyndell Royal Capital. Fools are hitting pretty hard. I've also explored two of the sub-levels ... one of which I bumped into the Valiant Gargoyle boss and got a slap for my troubles

[QualityChimp]

It's funny because it's so less linear than the Souls games, so you'll be one-shotting guys in one area, then cross a border and same-size creatures are taking like 4 or 5 hits to die!

Got some sweet gear now.
Got that Mohg's spear that does the bleed thing, so I'll try that on some bosses I've been struggling with after getting that last level to use it.
Did a quest with the samurai dude and he dropped his katana, which is supposed to be good. "Nagakiba"
Also have the Darkmoon Greatsword, which is supposed to be brilliant, but you need 38 intelligence and that's a stat I've been ignoring quite a lot.

That Valiant Gargoyle is a pain! Wait to see what happens if you get him down to half health...

https://www.windowscentral.com/elden-ring-best-weapons

[QualityChimp]

Ooh momma! Love dat spear!

[Atticus]

I made it through the Royal Capital last night, beating Morgott the Omen King ... then it was straight onto another boss (on a dark bridge).

Now there's a red map marker heading towards Rold. Might go and level up a bit first. I'm feeling quite tough at prez though (yes, that won't last very long). I found/equipped Lionel's Helm yesterday making my character a little tougher and looking pretty awesome too.

That Valiant Gargoyle is a pain! Wait to see what happens if you get him down to half health...

Haha, yes, just watched your vid I'll get back to 'them' at some point.

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, you're further along than me!

After beating dem gargoyles, you get in this coffin (as you do) and it takes you to the Darkroot Depths.
Enjoying being in a new area and not knowing what's there, but it's also terrifying!

Ended my session on a massive branch and I could see killer birds above me and ghost knights below me.

Has to call it quits to get my heart rate down before bed as it can get a bit tense, right?

[Atticus]

Right, so it’s not just a dead end/item after beating the ‘goyles? That means I’ll have to find the skillz to polish ‘em off and go explore. Darkroom Garden in Dark Souls was such a gloomy, oppressive environment. There hasn’t been as much of that in Elden … it’s more high fantasy than dark (compared to other From games). I love the difference tbh.

Yeah, you're further along than me!

Ah, apologies if there are any spoilers in my post.

[Lebowski]

lol your vid's crack me up chimp. the cheese you roll out is second to none, its interesting seeing these bosses again as a lot of them i only fought a few times, there where a few bosses that stopped me dead though, and its funny as the bosses you remember most are the ones that gave you the biggest headaches.

small spoilers about optional bosses

my biggest headaches where two open world bosses as you cant summon and a few of them are relentless in their attacks focusing on you constantly meaning healing isn't an option

The last Death Rite Bird on the Consecrated Snowfield was stupidly overpowered in that he could down me in a couple of hits, but i had to chip away at him as his health pool was massive, his curse build up was super deadly too. Not sure why he took me so many go's as all the other death birds had been a push over.

The last bellbearing hunter in Dragonbarrow had me banging my head as he was relentless, i should of come back when i was more powerful and cheesed him but i just couldn't walk away. He dose a 3 hit attack which requires you to dodge perfectly three time in a row, and when i battled him two hits form this flurry could kill me. He has a horrible grab and a horrible long range attack, he also wont let you heal as hes constantly on you, i remember learning all his attack patterns and when i finally got him it took all the parrying, and dodging skill that i could muster.



Malenia had me tearing my hair out too

[QualityChimp]

Right, so it’s not just a dead end/item after beating the ‘goyles? That means I’ll have to find the skillz to polish ‘em off and go explore.

Yeah, I thought the same thing, but it pops a site of grace then the coffin that takes you to the next bit.
There are loads of tree branches linking a crevasse and there are flying ants, so you have to be really careful not to fall off.
I actually used the archer summon and individually lured the bunch of ants away, just to pass to the next grace.

Darkroom Garden in Dark Souls was such a gloomy, oppressive environment. There hasn’t been as much of that in Elden … it’s more high fantasy than dark (compared to other From games). I love the difference tbh.

100% agree and regularly think this.
I remember being on Dark Souls, at the bottom of that waterwheel and these vile evil (palindrome!) daddy long legs were zipping about and I wished FROM would use this creativity on the Armored Core series, rather than putrid monstrosities.
Elden Ring definitely feels brighter, than DS, though and I'm regularly motivated to snap what I see as some of it is gorgeous. There are grotty areas too, but it's not all grotty.

Ah, apologies if there are any spoilers in my post.

Nah, no problems, I don't think talking about other areas is a problem.

Personally, I've watched so many videos, now, that I've seen glimpses of most areas.

As I crept to bad after another "just half an hour" marathon session, trying not to wake the wife, I thought to myself how I know the game has its claws in me because I'm constantly thinking about it, where to go next, what weapons to tackle enemies and researching tactics when I'm away from my PS4.

[QualityChimp]

lol your vid's crack me up chimp. the cheese you roll out is second to none, its interesting seeing these bosses again as a lot of them i only fought a few times, there where a few bosses that stopped me dead though, and its funny as the bosses you remember most are the ones that gave you the biggest headaches.

Obviously, this and a few FROM games start with an unbeatable boss killing you, then you start properly.
There are some players who genuinely git good and can beat the boss by rolling and chipping away for an hour.
Everyone else plays the game for a bit and levels up, then returns with better weapons.

That's cool, but I love out-thinking the game too, working on tactics that beat the AI.
Staying out of range, finding a sweet safe spot or abusing their weakness is part of the challenge for me.

It's still nerve-wracking because I'm not as tough as the bosses, which would make the game boring, IMHO, but you're combining your skills, loadout and knowledge of the environment to best them.