Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree [split topic]

[druss]

His name's Analsex

I wish I could remember this.

[falafel]

When you beat him you get an Analsex Glove

[Mobius]

Well that's NG+ done.

Managed to see a lot more npc/quest stuff this time. At the end of the game I had the choice of every ending, so felt like a good run. I also managed to get the achievements for the talismans/armaments/sorceries which I'd managed to miss before. Somehow still discovering the occasional new grace.

I just need 1 more ending now to plat that game. I've never done that before on a game but feels worth it considering the hundreds of hours I've put in. Still annoyed ps5/ps4 version trophies aren't shared.

Also went down a hole of watching loads of YouTube lore videos and that which really enhance your enjoyment of the game I find 

[druss]

Any in particular you'd recommend? I've watched lots of lore videos for the other games but quite difficult to know where to start for Elden ring as there's so much!

[Noodle Lizard]

I've been trying out loads of different builds with my original character (50-80 in every stat), doing invasions and spending far too long in the Coliseum (despite how frustrating and unsatisfying it often is).

While I found a lot of new weapons and ashes enjoyable (Stormcaller on a Cold Nightrider Glaive feels like cheating), I eventually ended up back as a boring knight with a shield and a Claymore.

So I've started another sword & board run from scratch, which was the most fun I've had with the game. Lordsworn Straight Sword, Claymore, Heater Shield and the Knight's set.

I'm going more strict this time: no magic whatsoever (including buffs and Physick Flask), although I'm allowing some of the more "basic" ashes of war. I'm going to stick with Square Off as much as I possibly can, but I'll allow things like Spinning Slash or Sword Dance later on if I need them.

I'm also going to try and stick to the main path, keeping my level fairly low. I'm around Level 30 now and just arrived in Liurnia (killed Godrick on my first try this time, I'm proud to say, but surprisingly struggled a bit with the Grafted Scion before him!)

Love it. In a game this overwhelming in choice, it's so nice not having to worry about missing out on anything as you get pretty much all you'll need within the first hour or so.

I'll be back to my OP cheese builds for the DLC, though, I'm not mad.

[druss]

Square off is great! I decided a while back that I was never going to die at the beginning of the game again so taught myself how to parry grafted scions. I usually manage to kill the one at the beginning now meaning that any later in the game seem laughably easy by comparison. Not sure how I would manage the starting one without a shield though.

[Poobum]

Zullie the witch is good for Elden Ring lore. I'm endlessly fascinated by Godwyn, was so happy when finally got to him in the deep root place.

[Noodle Lizard]

Square off is great! I decided a while back that I was never going to die at the beginning of the game again so taught myself how to parry grafted scions. I usually manage to kill the one at the beginning now meaning that any later in the game seem laughably easy by comparison. Not sure how I would manage the starting one without a shield though.

Not so bad with the uchigatana, I recall, Unsheathe melts through most of the early game. I remember how proud I was when I managed to beat that first one on my second run; thought I'd broken the game, devs raging at my impossible skillz. But then you just fall off a cliff anyway.

[Mobius]

Any in particular you'd recommend? I've watched lots of lore videos for the other games but quite difficult to know where to start for Elden ring as there's so much!

As poobum said, Zullie's videos are cool. Vaadivatya or whatever is the well known one. Really in-depth lore. I'm also enjoying this guys channel called "Rusty" he does stuff like "ranking all spirit summons" and "ranking all dungeons" whilst going increasingly mad ranking inane things. He's quite funny, but also goes real deep into mechanics and stuff sometimes.

watched a good one the other day, some guy just like using ever glitch and stuff available, to bypass areas and bosses and do everything arse about tit. on the ps5 too, so no mod nonsense. how the hell do people find half this stuff, like jump off a cliff at this exact point then quit your game and you'll end up somewhere else.

[druss]

I've watched loads of Vaati but never watched Zillie, I'll check them out.

[Thursday]

I like her stuff as it's a pleasant contrast with a lot of other stuff. Short videos all told in text. Usually picking some classic Zelda music as the backing. A nice format.

[Chollis]

My main is in NG+, that means everything in the DLC is going to be NG+ and harder than normal doesn't it

[Noodle Lizard]

My main is in NG+, that means everything in the DLC is going to be NG+ and harder than normal doesn't it

Traditionally yes, but they seem to be incorporating a separate difficulty scaling for this one anyway, so I don't know how NG+ will play into that.

[Arbiter]

Elden Ring truly puts the Elden -ring- in 'Elden Cringe'.

Having recently gone back to Demon's, DS1, DS2 & Bloodborne, and having restarted this and got promptly bored, I feel it's painfully lacking in identity and focus in comparison. It's Now That's What I Call FROM and little more. Crazy that this has ended up being their most successful game by a mile, except it's not because it's a meaningless mish mash of fantasy spod entry level fodder.

If you bought it digitally, the PS4 download does still perform much better than the PS5 version, if you enjoy picking up berries at a solid 60fps. I did enjoy this for about thirty or so forty hours in my first playthrough but in hindsight, so much of that was the anticipation and surprise at the scale and variety. It was only in the second half that I started to feel it was all so bloated and disconnected. Yes, it's fucking big but I don't see that as a strength of the game at all. There's a hell of a lot of absolutely nothing. Give me Undead Burg or Central Yharnam or even the fucking Forest of the Fallen Giants any day.

The best FROM game is still the Hong Kong import of Demon's Souls on PS3 before anyone else had it.

[chutnut]

I wouldn't go as far as that, but I've trying to replay it too before the DLC comes out and I'm not really enjoying it that much tbh. My first playthrough was one of the most immersive experiences I've ever had gaming, but the open world format makes going back to it feel like a bit of a chore imo

[Thursday]

It's been quite weird for me watching this forum go on a burst of Souls enthusiasm and replaying it recently, because I've been feeling a real fatigue. I'm sure once I'm immersed in Shadow of the Erdtree it'll be great, but I wasn't feeling much excitement when the trailer released. I'm looking at it thinking, "God this just seems like a lot of work. I've done all this before." Elden Ring lore just has me rolling my eyes at this point.

[Chollis]

Might just be because it's only been out 2 years. I loved (almost) every minute of my first playthrough, didn't get any of the fatigue towards the end that most people seemed to experience. But I have no desire to revisit it at all yet, still far too fresh in the mind.

I'm sure I'll enjoy it but my excitement for the DLC has waned in recent months, especially after loving DS3's main game but losing interest during that DLC.

[Cuellar]

Elden Ring truly puts the Elden -ring- in 'Elden Cringe'.

Having recently gone back to Demon's, DS1, DS2 & Bloodborne, and having restarted this and got promptly bored, I feel it's painfully lacking in identity and focus in comparison. It's Now That's What I Call FROM and little more. Crazy that this has ended up being their most successful game by a mile, except it's not because it's a meaningless mish mash of fantasy spod entry level fodder.

If you bought it digitally, the PS4 download does still perform much better than the PS5 version, if you enjoy picking up berries at a solid 60fps. I did enjoy this for about thirty or so forty hours in my first playthrough but in hindsight, so much of that was the anticipation and surprise at the scale and variety. It was only in the second half that I started to feel it was all so bloated and disconnected. Yes, it's fucking big but I don't see that as a strength of the game at all. There's a hell of a lot of absolutely nothing. Give me Undead Burg or Central Yharnam or even the fucking Forest of the Fallen Giants any day.

The best FROM game is still the Hong Kong import of Demon's Souls on PS3 before anyone else had it.

I agree.

[The Crumb]

The sheer bloody length of Elden Ring highlighted an issue with their combat for me. Although there's a massively broad range of builds, equipment etc., once you've actually settled on a build the range of options you end up using in an encounter feels relatively narrow and static. Even getting new spells and miracles is largely minor variations on a theme. The recent Nioh 2 thread made me fondly remember available in each encounter is so much deeper and also evolves significantly throughout your build.

Also given it's been a massive giga success, there's probably no way they're going to address things in future games like the stone age NPC scripting and the fact that all the open world bits between the cool giant fortresses look like they were made by someone who's never been outside.

[Noodle Lizard]

I dunno about all of this. Perhaps it's because I started with Elden Ring, but that's the easiest and most complete world for me to go back to and simply spend time in, even if the actual campaign isn't quite as satisfying as something like Bloodborne (I'd argue each of the Souls games have just as many low points, proportionally speaking).

As for them not being inclined to address or evolve certain elements on account of its success, I think that's doing From a bit of a disservice, since they've done just that with each release. They're hardly set in their ways. Indeed, I think the unexpectedly large and more varied playerbase Elden Ring brought in makes it even more likely that they'll change things up a bit based on some common complaints. One of the most popular Elden Ring mods (Reforged) successfully addresses a lot of the most frequent issues people have, and I'm sure the team over there are paying attention.

I agree that the open world is perhaps a bit too vast, although it's ridiculous how much there is in it. I'm still finding new things two years later. When you get a bit into the lore and such (with the help of YouTube, naturally), it can be fun just going on an archeological tour. I have high hopes that the DLC will be a perfect marriage of the open-world approach whilst retaining the intricacy of previous entries' level design. A game like Bloodborne feels open-world to me anyway.

[druss]

Yes, it isn't perfect but it still seems like a pretty phenomenal game in my opinion. "Fromsoft greatest hits" is fine by me!

Sounds like the dlc will be a little bit more focused too, whilst still retaining some of the open world feel. 

[Arbiter]

Repetition.

[how do you like apples]

Yes, it isn't perfect but it still seems like a pretty phenomenal game in my opinion. "Fromsoft greatest hits" is fine by me!

Personally I prefer the huge ambition and scope while not perfecting every single element of it than the smaller (relatively speaking), more focused efforts like BB and Sekiro. Yes maybe there are too many catacombs with a copy-pasted field boss at the end which drops a useless spirit ash you'll never use, but I think its highest highs clear every other From game. I don't think any of the mandatory content, big dungeon levels or main side-quests are lacking in any polish or focus.
Also believe the Lands Between and its lore / history / characters are much deeper and more interesting than people are giving it credit for.

[druss]

Personally I prefer the huge ambition and scope while not perfecting every single element of it than the smaller (relatively speaking), more focused efforts like BB and Sekiro. Yes maybe there are too many catacombs with a copy-pasted field boss at the end which drops a useless spirit ash you'll never use, but I think its highest highs clear every other From game. I don't think any of the mandatory content, big dungeon levels or main side-quests are lacking in any polish or focus.
Also believe the Lands Between and its lore / history / characters are much deeper and more interesting than people are giving it credit for.

Agree with most of that although I would still probably prefer their future games to be a bit more focused.

The side content isn't even comparable with the chalice dungeons of Bloodborne which are probably the worst things I've played in any Fromsoft game. Not all of the random caves or catacombs have a unique or interesting concept, but enough of them do that I was always excited to explore a new one.

Also don't see any issues with the lore, although I have not got as much of an understanding of it as I do for Dark Souls yet so that may change.

[Arbiter]

I think its highest highs clear every other From game.

Genuinely interested to hear what these are, in your opinion.

I can't even begin to imagine what they might be.

[Cuellar]

The revelation that Radagon IS miquella or whoever the fuck was absolutely stunning.

[druss]

Genuinely interested to hear what these are, in your opinion.

I can't even begin to imagine what they might be.

The best bosses in Elden Ring are probably the best bosses in the series although they are not as consistently good as Dark Souls 3.

[The Crumb]

I really didn't gel with the bosses in Elden Ring. I've said it before, but there's just too much variability in the experience depending on your level, build, spirit summons etc. Almost none of them felt well tuned compared to Sekiro or Bloodborne. Also not really a fan of 'the lumpy grey humanoid starts doing anime shit' they went for with a bunch of them.

The most genuinely novel and exciting one for me was pre nerf Radagon. Riding around a massive battlefield summoning allies trying to avoid getting obliterated by his superpowered attacks was tense and thrilling. Second time round post-nerf he went down easily in one from just riding round his ankles hitting him.

I found the side content in ER worse than chalice dungeons in a lot of ways. At least those had some atmosphere, nice design bits and differing visual effects as you got deeper. They also tie into the game's lore well. The Elden Ring equivalents are incredibly bland. Even the most interesting layouts rely on how monotonous the appearance of the places are.

[Thursday]

In general I didn't particularly mind some boss repetition, like it makes sense there can be a few dragons or a few burial watchdogs, but it was really dumb to have multiple Astel, Naturalborn of the Void's. It subtracts a lot of the coolness of an extended optional sidequest having a unique boss when you find another of the fuckers in a random dungeon.

[Poobum]

The Stars of Darkness Astel was the closest I came to fucking off a boss fight, was losing motivation to beat an infuriatingly tougher version of something I'd already done. That version should have just been the real version and be done with it.