Julius Posted March 12, 2022 Author Posted March 12, 2022 (edited) Yeah, that's it, I'm 65 hours in, and I'm 99% sure now that this is going to be my GOTY. Honestly, it's going to take a game like BOTW2 dropping - which, well, I reasonably doubt is going to happen - and then being a 12/10 for to even be in the conversation. Still going to play a bit more later, but taking a break to eat and watch a film, so wanted to share my progress today, as I feel like there's been a lot... Spoiler Started today off a bit on edge, been a few days since I picked the game up and felt a bit out of the mood. Journeyed on through some of the Altus Plateau and around Mt. Gelmir, got chased out by a lot of things, found some cool and nicely hidden boss fights, and got a good chunk of the way through the Gelmir Hero's Grave before the murky goat-headed Minecraft Enderman dude screwed me over. Still hasn't clicked back into the loop, so left (no doubt I'll be back). Figured it was finally time to go find where that meteor fell that I guess Radahn was keeping afloat, didn't take too long, and eventually found myself in the beautiful Nokron, Eternal City. Some splendid views, that's for sure! Worked my way around, defeated my own mimic, got Mimic Ashes (which are now at +7 and are stupidly fun and OP to play with), eventually getting the Fingerslayer Blade. (EDIT: I completely forgot to mention that I also beat the Regal Ancestor Spirit, and yeah, nowhere near as special as the fight against the standard Ancestor Spirit. That fight was chill. This one was just...a bit too drawn out with it healing itself, and it's rolling move was pretty annoying. Also knocked it down a bit for basically being the same fight otherwise) Tried to find Blaidd as I know he was trying to find Nokron, couldn't find him at Ranni's Rise so just talked to Ranni instead, and turned out she wanted it. Cool. Looked around the area again to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and the magic gate on one of the towers was no longer there, so I went up and found a teleporter, which took me to another place on part of the Ainsel River, where I found a Ranni doll and I started talking to Ranni's...spirit?...at a Site of Lost Grace, learned some cool lore tidbits. Anyways, she wanted me to go ahead and beat up some guys, which led me to another place that I couldn't reach before: Nokstella. HOWEVER! At this stage I realised checking the map that I completely forgot to check out the northern part of Nokron, past the jellyfish. Warped over there, ran away from a Crucible Knight (screw those guys), wormed my way around and eventually came across some Gargoyles. Didn't go so well for me the first time - I don't know why, but I thought, maybe hoped, that From might have moved on from pairing these guys off - but the second attempt ended with some very aggressive attacks on my part after my Mimic fell. After slaying those guys, started wandering around the area and came to a Site of Lost Grace which pointed towards the wall. Thought it was a bit weird, so rested up, and the guidance of Lost Grace wasn't visible on the map weirdly. I headed over towards the wall and saw a coffin, and well...got Dark Souls flashbacks. And this took me out to the Deeproot Depths, way off and under Leyndell. At this stage I'm already using my second hand to count the "HOLY CRAP" moments just for today, but venture forth on Torrent's back, running in and out of caves, fully exploring the place, etc., before finding myself forced off by a Site of Lost Grace. Boss fight time? Boss fight time! Crazy imagery of a giant ant head and a...snake, I think?...before eventually a blue guy turns up, followed by a more familiar face, followed by three guys at once. Nothing too crazy with my Mimic to hand, but an interesting fight nonetheless. And, well, I spotted a portal before the fight which I could now use after resting up... ...and it's the second time I've been teleported over to Leyndell, but the first time to the ground floor inside the capital. Me flipping through every menu button except the map button kind of shows how excited I was I went straight ahead, started looking around, and well, this speaks for itself: I just can't even begin to fathom the macro- and microscale design of this game when we get treated to views like this. From have freaking nailed it. But it somehow gets even better, because I checked my map and realised that, wait, surely the only way to access this part of Leyndell can't be through the teleporter which I could have easily missed? So I went back to the room I arrived in, and immediately spotted a doorway I can't believe I didn't before, so I followed the path around to come out to a Site of Lost Grace on a rampart, facing down a golden fog gate on the other side. I know there are plenty of skippable bosses, but seriously, in a place as complex as Leyndell looks, and at one of its entryways? The game gave me chills. Now it's to decide what's next. I need to return to Nokstella to finish hunting down these assassins as Ranni requested, I'm facing a golden fog gate I nearly missed it its entirety (and my plan wasn't even to come anywhere close to entering Leyndell today, by the way!), and I still need to go back and check out what's upstairs in Volcano Manor. Oh, and I've got to go back to that temple area underground too where I was grinding! I'm 65 hours in and I'm about as excited as I was at the 10 hour mark. I can't really give an open world much higher praise than stating that. Kudos, From. Edited March 12, 2022 by Julius 2
bob Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 I keep coming in here and reading about how much fun everyone is having with this game, and how it might be the best open world game ever, and I LOVE open world games. But I know I will hate this game and will waste my money if I buy it. So I have to just read the posts in here and try not to be too jealous. 1
drahkon Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Julius said: I'm 65 hours in and I'm about as excited as I was at the 10 hour mark. Perfectly put. This is what elevates Elden Ring above and beyond every other video game I've ever played. I'm now 82 hours in and I still keep saying "wow". If the quality holds up right until the credits roll, it's gonna take top spot on my official favourite games list. Sorry Slay the Spire... Edited March 12, 2022 by drahkon 2
Hero-of-Time Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 21 minutes ago, bob said: I keep coming in here and reading about how much fun everyone is having with this game, and how it might be the best open world game ever, and I LOVE open world games. But I know I will hate this game and will waste my money if I buy it. So I have to just read the posts in here and try not to be too jealous. What is it that you think you'll hate? If it's the difficulty, it's easily the most accessible FromSoftware game, with many builds and options to negate a lot of the difficulty that their games are famous for. I adored the game and I'm still having conversations about it with people at work. There are a fair few of the lads playing it at the moment. There were originally only two of us but word of mouth is clearly doing its job. I'm seriously contemplating picking up the PS4 version of the game just so I can play and plat it again. 1
drahkon Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 @Hero-of-Time, I got a question: Spoiler Just reached the forge on the snowy mountain (Fire Giant was amazing, by the way). I talked to Melina and she asked me if I was ready to commit a cardinal sin. Now this sounds like some "point of no return thingy". Is it? If so, I will explore the world some more.
bob Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: What is it that you think you'll hate? If it's the difficulty, it's easily the most accessible FromSoftware game, with many builds and options to negate a lot of the difficulty that their games are famous for. I adored the game and I'm still having conversations about it with people at work. There are a fair few of the lads playing it at the moment. There were originally only two of us but word of mouth is clearly doing its job. I'm seriously contemplating picking up the PS4 version of the game just so I can play and plat it again. Well first off, i'm not taking difficulty advice from you. I'd need assurances from someone on my level, who plays on easy and then still needs to cheese the odd boss. The other reason I know i'd hate it and stop playing it is that I can't play creepy, dark or spooky games. The whole aesthetic of this, and all the other Souls games, just puts me off. I'm still really jealous though, because it sounds like the open world design is fantastic, and would absolutely be something i'd enjoy. I'll just live vicariously through others. 1
drahkon Posted March 12, 2022 Posted March 12, 2022 Whoever designed some of the bosses/enemies is...weird. So many times I literally said "what in the holy name of ass is this?" out loud. Case in point: Spoiler Fire Giant OH MY GOODNESS. A red-orange-haired giant with a nose, mouth and a red-orange moustache on his torso. YES, a moustache. The battle began, he threw a freaking avalanche at me. I got closer, he smacked me with his shield and in return I destroyed one of his feet. After a little more damage he ripped his wounded foot off and WHAT THE FUCK. His moustache is not the weirdest thing about him anymore Took me a few tries, but it was another one of those "I can't believe this just happened" and "that was fucking amazing" moments. Anyways, decided to explore an area that owned my ass earlier. Now I owned its ass. Think I've seen all there is and advanced to yet another area. And let me tell you: It was a "HOLY SHIT" moment Can't wait to dive in tomorrow.
Hero-of-Time Posted March 13, 2022 Posted March 13, 2022 5 hours ago, drahkon said: @Hero-of-Time, I got a question: BIGGY BIG BIG SPOILER (Hide contents) Just reached the forge on the snowy mountain (Fire Giant was amazing, by the way). I talked to Melina and she asked me if I was ready to commit a cardinal sin. Now this sounds like some "point of no return thingy". Is it? If so, I will explore the world some more. Yeah, don't progress any further forward from that point. There's still stuff to do afterwards but certain things become blocked off/missable. 1
drahkon Posted March 13, 2022 Posted March 13, 2022 5 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Yeah, don't progress any further forward from that point. There's still stuff to do afterwards but certain things become blocked off/missable. Thanks I still have one new area to explore so I'm gonna deal with that first. Not sure if there's much else I wanna do/can do after that.
drahkon Posted March 13, 2022 Posted March 13, 2022 Stuck at a certain boss. Not even sure if it's mandatory to progress the story (I assume not). Spoiler Malenia, Goddess of Rot Holy hell, she is tough. First phase is quite easy. I can stagger her a lot with my Katanas, but man...second phase? Half the time I die to her first attack. The other half ends with her million slash combo that owns my ass.
Hero-of-Time Posted March 13, 2022 Posted March 13, 2022 1 minute ago, drahkon said: Stuck at a certain boss. Not even sure if it's mandatory to progress the story (I assume not). Endgame boss spoilers (Hide contents) Malenia, Goddess of Rot Holy hell, she is tough. First phase is quite easy. I can stagger her a lot with my Katanas, but man...second phase? Half the time I die to her first attack. The other half ends with her million slash combo that owns my ass. It's the hardest fight in the game by a mile. Finish that and you're golden. 1
drahkon Posted March 13, 2022 Posted March 13, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: It's the hardest fight in the game by a mile. Finish that and you're golden. I WON! Still trembling I was so close to resort to summoning my mimic but no, I did it by myself. Had to keep sooooo much distance and carefully take my shots. The battle lasted for at least 5 minutes. Only used 2 health flasks. No need, I evaded all of the "instant death attacks" Now the choice...continue with the critical path or explore some more. If I decide to explore, I may have to resort to a guide/map, because I think I've seen/been to all of the "obvious" locations. Edited March 13, 2022 by drahkon 1
drahkon Posted March 14, 2022 Posted March 14, 2022 23 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Finish that and you're golden. Welp... Spoiler Draconic Tree Sentinel at Crumbling Farum Azula wrecks my shit. I love this game.
drahkon Posted March 14, 2022 Posted March 14, 2022 Looks like I've reached the endgame. And by the way: HOLY SHIT Depending on how smooth sailing it'll be, I won't crack the 100 hour mark for my first playthrough. Currently sitting at 93 hours.
Julius Posted March 14, 2022 Author Posted March 14, 2022 Turns out even From Software are human. I've come across a couple of bugs in my playthrough so far, but this one takes the cake, and relates to where I ended up last time I posted. Spoiler Figured, you know what, I'll start today's session with a boss fight, seeing as I'm already staring down the golden fog door. I walk over to it, snuggle up to it and get in tight, yep I can summon if I stand close enough to the door, so let's do that and get my Flask of Physick down the gullet. I press Triangle...nothing. Oh wait, there is something, some banana decided to stick a message in front of the door – my bad. How about if I just go a bit to the left and try again...wait, still nothing? And then, I walk over to my Mimic to say "hi", and we hear a bit of armour shuffling around. What in the world..? So, yeah. I take it I'm on the wrong side of this fog door through the long and convoluted route which took me here (through a coffin behind the Gargoyles, and through Deeproot Depths), meaning the boss and this fog door are a one-way ticket into Leyndell only, so I'll need to exit Leyndell and come in through the front door I take it considering how much damage I did smacking the Tree Sentinel with my sword, he's in for a whole lot of hurt when I get in there! Maybe they just didn't think players would want to head back like I did (like I mentioned before, I completely missed the route to this bridge and fog door originally), but I'm thinking they just forgot about the possibility of taking a huge detour to accidentally end up on this side first. Unless...am I the boss?! Anyways, the other main jank I've experienced is to do with being stuck floating in place (and then naturally dying) on a few occasions when summoning Torrent. You know, just standard open world jank No big deal, just thought it was worth sharing. I'm always intrigued when things like this slip through the cracks 1
drahkon Posted March 14, 2022 Posted March 14, 2022 Had that Torrent bug happen to me, as well. It was funny at first, but once I realized I've lost 150k runes...BOOOHHHHHH!
drahkon Posted March 14, 2022 Posted March 14, 2022 @Hero-of-Time I'm probably getting closer to the end. Got all trophies so far (aside from upgrading a weapon to its max and the remaining secret ones). Anything else you deem worthwhile? Just tell me stuff you found interesting and I'll see whether I've already done them or not Also: Is the final point of no return obvious?
Hero-of-Time Posted March 14, 2022 Posted March 14, 2022 20 minutes ago, drahkon said: Anything else you deem worthwhile? Just tell me stuff you found interesting and I'll see whether I've already done them or not Why you asking me for? I may have got the Platinum but you've probably seen more of the game that what I have! You've put double the amount of time into the game than what I did.
Julius Posted March 15, 2022 Author Posted March 15, 2022 (edited) This game has absolutely zero chill, yet another session where I come out of it going "well, that was awesome – what do I want to try tackling tomorrow?" Spoiler I mentioned in my last post that the Draconic Tree Sentinel was janked up because I got on the wrong side of the fog door, so the first port of call was warping out of Leyndell's walls and circling back around. Dude ate dirt pretty quickly once I got to him. Anyways, I figured hey, I'm in Leyndell, why not take a look around? I don't want to progress through the place fully but I've got a Volcano Manor quest to take care of, I'm here, let's do this. So, I started descending through the Leyndell rampart, quickly finding myself on the streets and in buildings. Died a couple of times (those knights should realise that faith means nothing and lay down their lightning armaments!), but got to know the area well enough where I was confident just sprinting through it all and getting back to my Runes, then carrying on. Eventually I came to the massive dragon husk (?) we'd seen in one of the trailers, and I started climbing up its wing. At this time I cannot confirm or deny that I accidentally leaped off in the middle of a fight here, nor can I confirm or deny that the exact same thing happened elsewhere during my visit to Leyndell. I then spotted this creeper from up on the wing protecting...the sewers/a basement/something on a lower level, but with it looking like Margit got it on with an Erdtree Avatar, I walked on by and stayed my course. Eventually, with a bit of sneaking around and some well-timed running away as a mob chased me - as of course the one soldier I decided to draw away from the others was the one with a horn! - I stumbled into this massive hall where my next Volcano Manor mission was. Killed the guys with the aid of my Tarnished-murdering buddy from Gelmir and got what to me is the coolest armour set in the game, at least that I've seen so far and from the marketing: I walked around the building a little more, noticed there was an upstairs and a whole load of items, but it seemed...weirdly empty. I couldn't believe that it was just for an invasion quest - I came in ready to take on a boss, so what the hell was going on? I head back outside, look around, and figure a way into the building's upper floor. I enter through the side of the second floor, head left, and head left again into a small room, which is the spitting image of Fia's room in the Roundtable Hold. Huh, this of all places is where From starts skimping out on building/room design and straight up copy and paste an existing - and recognisable - room from elsewhere in the game? Her bed is here, the entire room is furnished practically the same, how bizarre. Weird... ...and then I head out the doorway, turn right, and I instantly recognise where I am. HO-LY CRAP! Hewg would be on the right there smithing away, Roderika would be hunched over by that wall waiting to spirit tune... Massive smile on my face, that is absolutely a perfectly crafted experience from start to finish. Wow. You aren't down in the main hall that often, and there's pretty much no way in the Roundtable Hold that you'd be looking up at the balcony in the way you do when you enter this building: in fact, everything in the game had you looking towards the door that you enter, from the invading NPC to the warp point which gets you back up to the second level. Fia's room is the one I've by far spent the least time in, and so that being the first one I gravitated towards first for whatever reason...just genius incredibly melancholic but also weirdly nostalgic and out of place, that's one hell of a way to get my jaw to drop. Anyways, after that awesome experience, headed back outside and followed a huge root up to higher levels of Leyndell, and after a bit of sightseeing and leaping from root to root, eventually finding myself in a room face-to-face with Godfrey. Fun fight, but nothing too crazy, especially with me being overlevelled. i-framed the hell out of his axe swings. Then pushed on ahead after finding all the items I could, coming out to a bit of a courtyard, and looking out I saw that massive dragon again...and then I realised exactly where I was. I was somewhere way up in the main castle area of Leyndell (below to the left from my first - well, second - visit here): And again, just...wow. Massive landmarks just keeping things in perspective is always great, especially in a place as massive as Leyndell is. Anyways, headed on forwards. This assassin dude tried to slit my throat after grabbing me, which was fun, but eventually I came to another fog door, and this felt like a big one...you know, being built into the Erdtree itself and all. I summon Melina, because apparently she has some business here after saying I'd fulfilled my accord, and together we destroyed Morgott, yet another super fun fight. Then I go to push ahead afterwards, I can't, and Melina tells me I need to head towards the Mountaintops of the Giants so we can burn the place down. I mean, she's a little nuts, but cool, I'm down. I look on my map and yep, it pretty much lines up exactly with some of the spires and mountainous region I could see from certain places in Leyndell. After the fight with Morgott, I was treated to one hell of a view: Before progressing, though, I've got a lot to do, and so I first look around Leyndell to figure out how on earth I get to the lift and giant warrior I got to before. Checked my map for the Sites of Lost Grace, and eventually figured the way to it was through the original (?) Roundtable Hold, so I opened a door I walked by a few times the first time I was there, and came out to two Abductor Virgins. Hate these guys with a passion - I still need to go back and slaughter the two under Volcano Manor, actually - so naturally I aggro them into riding up against a half-opened door and blast them with magic. Again, screw those guys. Went past them, killed the giant warrior, teleported to an isolated Divine Tower that I couldn't open the door to, which is fantastic. Eventually headed back to the Roundtable Hold, talked to Fia (I don't know if we knew her name before, but if so I wasn't listening), she gave me a dagger which I tried to show to everyone and which D recognised. Awesome. Well, actually not, because he dies, and she dips. I tracked her to the Prince of Death's Throne in Deeproot Depths (after all, the boss battle there was with Fia's followers or something along those lines), but I have a hunch given the difficulty of getting to the location that it might tie into a quest or ending, which I don't want to muck up, so I'm leaving her there for now and will come back later. Anyways, went back to the Windmill Village which I'd run away from before after realising there was a boss up the top, and decided to destroy it. I did. Suck it, Godskin Apostle. I then went back to Ranni's quest in the Ainsel River Main, got through the area (small but takes a bit of time! And screw those magical boulders), destroyed the Baleful Shadow, got a key. I tried to find Ranni after she said to say bye to the guys for her, but couldn't find her at Ranni's Rise, so checked the item description and it said it was for a chest in the Grand Library of Raya Lucaria...which I completely forgot about, the one next to Rennala that's all locked up. Anyways, opened it, got a Dark Moon Ring, and the description is very suggestive of what my role might be to Ranni moving forwards. Went back to where I was before underground, carried on, and had a Demon Ruins moment coming out to the Lake of Rot: Expected to find a place like this underneath Caelid, so was very surprised to find it underneath Liurnia. Decided to bail for now for my own sanity - poison/rot is my kryptonite - as I've got plenty else to do! So, where I'm at now with what I can do next is... • continue through the Lake of Rot, which I guess would continue whatever Ranni's questline is heading towards. Something good I hope, it's pretty long! • go back to Volcano Manor and actually check out upstairs/the area properly. I also need to destroy the Abductor Virgins. Screw those guys. • head towards the Mountaintops of the Giants. That's where the next story beat is, I think that's where half of a medallion I need is, but eh, no rush, I've still got plenty to do on the map I've got so far. • go back and do some of the Hero's Graves/caves/catacombs that I've unlocked. I do think that if there's any aspect of the game I might say I'm burned out - or just aren't as interested in, given the direction of the story - it's these smaller spaces. Being overlevelled also makes me want to double down, but at the same time, I could be missing out on some cool bosses. • talk to Fia...at some point. Probably. Maybe. I don't know, she's a bit nuts too. Maybe being maidenless is a good thing... And that's where I'm up to now Also noticed something today which had me going: Spoiler I've been thinking about the names of many of the important characters in the game's story, that I've either come across or heard or read about, because they all seem to have a lot of similarities in their name structure. Margit. Morgott. Rennala. Miquella. Radahn. Ranni. Radagon. Melania. Marika. Godfrey. Godrick. Godwyn. Rykard. Melina. Gideon. Renash. A lot of M's. A lot of R's. A lot of G's. M. R. G. G. R. M. G. R. R. M. George R.R. Martin. You cannot be serious. Gave me a good laugh but also made me question Miyazaki's sanity Edited March 15, 2022 by Julius 1
drahkon Posted March 15, 2022 Posted March 15, 2022 @Julius Once you've beaten the final boss and decide to farm runes before starting NG+, watch this: Spoiler Trade the final remembrance for the sword and boom, ez gg. About 40k runes in 10 seconds Came across a familiar optional boss during my clean-up and I just had to: Spoiler 1
Julius Posted March 15, 2022 Author Posted March 15, 2022 6 minutes ago, drahkon said: @Julius Once you've beaten the final boss and decide to farm runes before starting NG+, watch this: Endgame weapon spoiler + rune farming (Reveal hidden contents) Trade the final remembrance for the sword and boom, ez gg. About 40k runes in 10 seconds Man that's nuts! I had it half spoiled for me that there would be something like that when I was doing my own rune farming seeing the spirits/whatever of other players: you'd have the people early on in NG just firing arrows off the cliff, and then you'd see the people clearly at the end of or later on in NG running towards the little cartwheeling freakos, doing that, and then sprinting back to the Site of Lost Grace. I'm actually on the fence about NG+ as of my session yesterday, mainly because I think this game has massive potential for DLC if what I've heard and read in the game about a certain NPC is right (waiting for it to be confirmed somewhere, I'm hoping with a boss fight or lack thereof with a bit of explanation) and I'd like to save my character in NG for that if it does come, and also because when I see credits roll - especially in open world games - I tend to be ready to put the game down. Now, Elden Ring so far is the exception to the rule. Even in my other favourite open world experiences, RDR2 and BOTW, I'd either started to feel a bit burnt out or taken a break by the time I was this far in, whereas that's just not happening with Elden Ring. I'll probably see where I'm at on Saturday before making a decision, but I might save scum for the Plat (assuming I haven't unknowingly messed it up by then! I'd just hate to burn out in a NG+ before seeing the other endings), see and do as much as I can, back my NG save up to a USB after I finish the game, and then dive into NG+ at the very least to wreck some bosses with OP weapons, gear, and magic, but with a lot less pressure on that playthrough. But yeah, I'll see what happens 18 minutes ago, drahkon said: Came across a familiar optional boss during my clean-up and I just had to: Optional boss spoiler (Reveal hidden contents) Oh man that's too funny Spoiler As soon as I started taking on the Mimic Tear boss fight in Nokron and saw a Mimic of myself, I quit the game immediately to test something. I walked back in with no weapons, and yeah, the dude spent the whole time just trying to punch me to death I actually think if you could find a boss where you've got the time to, that you could walk in with, for example, a magic get-up (staff/robes/etc.), spawn your Mimic and they'd be mage version of you, and then you can get changed into melee (or vice versa) for a whole range of coverage. Really fun possibilities I think with it! Also love the fact that it's going to lead to the Elden Ring fanbase having a similar discussion as the Pokémon fanbase does with Ditto!
drahkon Posted March 15, 2022 Posted March 15, 2022 And there it is: Spoiler Not quite 100 hours, but after 97 hours and 50 minutes I can say: Elden Ring is a masterpiece. If a game manages to constantly give me "holy shit"-moments it deserves that title. In recent months I've played three open world games. First was Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut. It became the best open-world game I've ever played. Then there was Horizon: Forbidden West. It became the best open-world game I've ever played. And now Elden Ring. It is the best open-world game I've ever played. It is also now tied with the best game I've ever played. Yeah...it couldn't remove Slay the Spire from the number one spot as that game is also a masterpiece in its own right. Even right at the end, Elden Ring managed to get an audible "wow" out of me: Spoiler While it was "just" a cutscene, it blew me away. What a grand picture with a comforting, yet apparently quite devastating meaning. For now, I've decided hold off on my NG+ journey. I'm not burnt out, I just want to play a different game for a while. 2
Julius Posted March 16, 2022 Author Posted March 16, 2022 Well, Bandai Namco officially have a hot potato on their hands in Elden Ring: the game has surpassed 12 million units sold in just three weeks! Let's just hope some DLC is cooking An update on where I'm at with the game: Spoiler Decided to venture on through the Lake of Rot, and so I did. Unfortunately, Preserving Boluses were a pain and I barely had any on hand, and I couldn't find a talisman on me - as you might expect - specifically for dealing with scarlet rot. Eventually stumbled upon an incantation which removed poison and rot, but I only had 9 Faith and it required 12, but thankfully had a talisman which gave me +5 Faith and had a seal to hand which would do the job. Eh...I'm never a fan of the swamps in these games. Maybe there'll be another (please don't let there be another!), but this wasn't anywhere near as painful as my descent through Blighttown or my journey through 5-1/5-2 in Demon's Souls. Ran around finding loads of items, stumbled into a Dragonkin Soldier boss fight, which took a couple of attempts with me not having the platforms set up for my first attempt, and then the platforms being awkward in the attempts after. Carried on. Eventually worked my way down into an area and jumped into a coffin to dive down a waterfall - because apparently my character is in midlife crisis mode? - and found myself face-to-face with a right freak: Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. Got it down to a slither of health on my second attempt, but took a few more attempts after that to actually get the fight done. Another fun one, but the arena is a bit too large, and so the fight itself just feels a little drawn out otherwise though, great atmosphere and a cool moveset (especially the gravity suspension slam!). Carried on through, ended up on the Moonlight Altar - the plateau in southern Liurnia I'd been so curious about some 30+ hours ago! Eventually found Ranni chilling down in a hole, gave her the ring, and for the first time in one of these games I finally got the Moonlight Greatsword. Looked around the area some more: long ass Evergaol fight, a dragon who disappeared on me, and a super buggy puzzle (the turtles - I had to look it up to make sure I was in the right spot for one and reload a few times just to get it to show up!). After that, decided it was time for vengeance, and so I went down under Volcano Manor to finally destroy those Abductor Virgins. Yes I used my Mimic Tear, and yes, we absolutely annihilated them. I'll say this for the last time: SCREW THOSE GUYS. Reward was a bit of a letdown, especially with the path not actually continuing into Volcano Manor proper. After that, decided to annihilate the Tree Sentinel at the start of the game. I went right on by when I started my journey as I'd already fought it during the CNT, and yeah, duly demolished - as ever in these games, feels so good getting to do that then I realised I had picked up an Imbued Sword Key somewhere, so went back to the Four Belfries, chose randomly from the remaining two, and found myself in a familiar spot...the starting location. Hilariously went to collect the butterflies from the cliff edge and fell to my doom - fair play, you got me From. Sauntered on up and destroyed the Grafted Scion from the start of the game - felt good! Second to last thing I did in my session today, decided to finally go back to Caelid and go through Sellia, but first I needed to get a needle. Found and took out Commander O'Neil, returned the needle to Gowry, spoke to the redhead up in the church, went back to Gowry to get the needle, gave the needle to the redhead, and boom like that she's fixed and wants to head out on her journey. I'm super suspicious of her: red hair, gold eyes, and I think her name was Millicent, so another character's name starting with 'M' -- a god, or a wannabe, I wonder? Anyways, before I could reach Millicent I cleared out Sellia with my wolves, which didn't take too long. Destroyed the Nox Priest and Swordstress, felt pretty weird taking on standard enemies from later on in the game as bosses, but then I guess it's just a reverse of my experience with some of the other early game bosses, like the Grafted Scion. Got a super cool and powerful staff for my troubles, which I've since made +9 (yet to test it out, but in terms of raw numbers, it blows my previous staff out of the water). I also got another Imbued Sword Key here, but the final portal was a massive letdown besides the cool view of Nokron, as it was just a talisman I already have a +1 variant of and a Crucible Knight. Hate those guys. Anyways, next on my agenda is either finally tackling Volcano Manor or heading to the underground area I was grinding in before. After those, unless I come across anything else - as I type this just realised there's a cool place on the map in Altus I want to check out, damn it! - I think I might finally be ready to move on towards the Mountaintops of the Giants! For now, I think I'll be taking a break from the smaller caves/catacombs/etc. - think I've had my fill for the time being (probably in part, as I mentioned before, due to being overlevelled) and, honestly, I'm really just enjoying the lore and finding more out about the history of The Lands Between. Nice job on the Plat @drahkon, been fun talking about the game with you as we went through, especially early on! you saying that it's now your (joint) favourite game of all time really gets me pumped for what I've still got to experience of the game! 3
drahkon Posted March 16, 2022 Posted March 16, 2022 5 hours ago, Julius said: Let's just hope some DLC is cooking There is, I'm sure of it Especially now with the sales figures coming out. I've actually thought about potential DLC and have come to the conclusion that I just need more areas. For each paid DLC gimme an area the size of Limgrave with more stuff. 15€, easy money. THANK YOU!
Julius Posted March 17, 2022 Author Posted March 17, 2022 (edited) New update available, and at a glance, there are some pretty big changes, including NPC markers on the map, new quest phases (for what I swear were quests that people thought were bugged, so that's a weird one), and a new NPC. Quote Major changes are: Added a function to record an icon and the name of an NPC on the map when you encounter that NPC. Added NPC Jar-Bairn. Added new quest phases for the following NPCs: Diallos/ Nepheli Loux/ Kenneth Haight/ Gatekeeper Gostoc. Added some summonable NPCs in multiple situations. Increased the number of patterns of objects player can imitate when using Mimic's Veil. Added night background music for some open field area. Bug Fixed Fixed a bug that prevented summoned NPCs from taking damage in some boss battles. Fixed a bug that sometime prevented the player from obtaining item after boss battle. Fixed a bug that causes dialogue to be skipped when talking to NPCs and using custom key configurations. Fixed a bug that causes the player to freeze when riding. Fixed a bug that causes arcane to scale incorrectly for some weapons. In situation where the player cannot obtain more than 2 talisman pouches, added talisman pouch to Twin Maiden Husks shop line up. Fixed a bug that prevented the user from warping to sites of grace from the map at the end of the game. Fixed a bug that prevented the player from moving to the next area after the battle with the Fire Giant. Fixed a bug which causes some weapons to have incorrect scaling after strengthening. Fixed a bug which causes some weapons to not use stat scaling. Fixed hang-ups in certain occasions. Fixed a bug which incorrectly displays multiplayer area boundary when playing online. Fixed a bug that allows player to activate Erdtree Greatshield’s weapon skill without absorbing an attack using a special combination of item and incantation. Fixed a bug which causes Fire’s Deadly Sin incantation to have different effect. Fixed a bug with the Ash of War, Determination and Royal Knight's Resolve, where the damage buff will also apply to other weapons without that skill. Adjusted the visual effect of Unseen Form spell. Deleted the Ragged armor set from the game which was mistakenly obtainable in previous patch. Fixed a bug that causes some hostile NPCs to drop Furlcalling Finger Remedy. Fixed a bug that causes incorrect sound effect to play in some situations. Fixed a bug which causes visual animation and hitboxes to not be displayed correctly on some maps. Fixed bugs which causes incorrect visual and behavior for some enemies. Fixed a bug that causes incorrect stat parameter for some armor. Text fixes. Other performance improvement and bug fixes. Balance Changes Increased the drop rate of Smithing Stone for some enemies. Added Smithing Stone to some early game shop line up. Increased shield’s effectiveness. Increased the damage for all offensive cracked pot items. Increased the damage for the following items: Spark Aromatic/Poison Spraymist. Increased the effect duration for the following items: Uplifting Aromatic/ Ironjar Aromatic. Increased HP healing for Torrent when using the following items: Rowa Raisin/ Sweet Raisin/ Frozen Raisin Reduced FP consumption and increased the damage of the following sorceries: Glintstone Cometshard/ Comet/ Night Comet Increased the damage of the following sorceries: Gravity Well/ Collapsing Stars/ Crystal Barrage Decreased FP consumption of the following sorceries: Star Shower/ Rock Blaster/ Gavel of Haima/ Founding Rain of Stars/ Stars of Ruin/Greatblade Phalanx/Magic Downpour/ Loretta’s Greatbow/ Loretta’s Mastery/ Carian Greatsword/ Carian Piercer/ Shard Spiral Raised projectile speed and range of Great Glintstone Shard Decreased Ash of War, Hoarfrost Stomp's damage and increase cast time. Increased Ash of War, Bloody Slash's self-inflict damage while slightly lowering the damage and increasing the cast time. Decreased weapon skill, Sword of Night and Flame’s damage. Increased FP consumption and lower duration of Ash of War, Barricade Shield. Changed FP consumption timing of Ash of War, Prelate’s Charge. Decreased the damage of spirit summoned when using the item Mimic Tear Ash and changed the spirit’s behavior pattern. Other enemy and weapon balance changes. Number one priority next time I load up is finding Jar-Bairn Edited March 17, 2022 by Julius 1
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