Elden Ring: New Fromsoft rpg

[theshadowcult]

Backtrack down to Weeping Peninsula and level up some more. That’s an easier (still hard but easier) area to work.

I found that leveling vigor and stamina was best while searching for stones to upgrade equipment.

Generally, find the path of least resistance and keep leveling your build. You got this

Edit: What kind of build are you doing?

Str/Faith, i enjoy quality builds, but wanted to try a different way of doing it. Did Dex/Int in ds 3, and it sucked for too many enemies, so decided to try faith instead here.

Plus, i saw the bestial claw incantations, and it looks fun. I found the bestial seal and a couple deathroot, so im on my way

I do have a question though. Anyone find any str/faith weapons early ish? I managed to get a golden halberd off the knight at the start, but its slow and clunky, and requires special upgrade materials.

[Lazy8s]

Str/Faith, i enjoy quality builds, but wanted to try a different way of doing it. Did Dex/Int in ds 3, and it sucked for too many enemies, so decided to try faith instead here.

Plus, i saw the bestial claw incantations, and it looks fun. I found the bestial seal and a couple deathroot, so im on my way

I do have a question though. Anyone find any str/faith weapons early ish? I managed to get a golden halberd off the knight at the start, but its slow and clunky, and requires special upgrade materials.

Early game is kind of lacking for STR/FTH weapons to build around. They seemed to focus more on incantations for faith earlier and dex/int for weapons. That said, several of the great swords in this game are pretty good, even though it’s the same moveset from earlier games. The ashes of war come in really handy with dealing extra damage and keeping you alive…

It you could go for the winged scythe. I think that scales primarily off of faith, does bleed damage, and will carry you a long way.

Here’s a map link (no spoilers) to the location, which is in Weeping Peninsula.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Tombsward+Ruins

[Drexion]

**** me, margit was hard

If you're playing pure melee without summoning, then Margit is arguably the toughest boss you'll meet until another hundred hours until you get to the end game area. Like Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne, he's there to teach you to 'git gud'.

[theshadowcult]

Early game is kind of lacking for STR/FTH weapons to build around. They seemed to focus more on incantations for faith earlier and dex/int for weapons. That said, several of the great swords in this game are pretty good, even though it’s the same moveset from earlier games. The ashes of war come in really handy with dealing extra damage and keeping you alive…

It you could go for the winged scythe. I think that scales primarily off of faith, does bleed damage, and will carry you a long way.

Here’s a map link (no spoilers) to the location, which is in Weeping Peninsula.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Tombsward+Ruins

Serendipity, thats the area you suggested too. A faith scythe sounds cool. Dont normally use axes in these games.

If you're playing pure melee without summoning, then Margit is arguably the toughest boss you'll meet until another hundred hours until you get to the end game area. Like Father Gascoigne in Bloodborne, he's there to teach you to 'git gud'.

i beat him, he was just a bitch. i was using skeletons and the npc summon too, but they got destroyed every time well before half health. kind of glad to know they are one of the harder bosses.

[Meteor_of_War]

Nice! I had the same thoughts on that particular bit, although on the second phase of that fight I was grinning like an idiot lol. Something about just struck me as one of the coolest things I had seen yet.

You’re on the verge - very little left to do now

Ughh, these last few bosses have really tanked the game's rating in my mind. They are just awful. I now personally know what you guys mean by too many AOEs and the boss moving around the huge room.

I have been stuck on Elden Beast for a while now. I assume its the final one but this fight is just terrible! I'm starting to think my build just can't get this thing beat. Will give it a few more tries then maybe give it up for now and try again later. To say its no longer fun is an understatement.

[Mangler]

The elden annoyance is indeed the final boss.

**** it, and **** all other bosses that disengages you by moving to the other side of a HUGE arena.

[Meteor_of_War]

I almost have it. There is just one attack that still one-shots me pretty regularly unfortunately. Will have to give it some fresh tries later.

Have to stress though, this is From Soft's worst game in terms of boss design. Not even joking.

[Lazy8s]

I almost have it. There is just one attack that still one-shots me pretty regularly unfortunately. Will have to give it some fresh tries later.

Have to stress though, this is From Soft's worst game in terms of boss design. Not even joking.

What’s so frustrating is that we all know that they know how to build a good boss. I honestly don’t know what they were going for here. Trying to make sure people recognized this isn’t a Souls game?

Don’t know. The mix of reviews I’ve read on the bosses is really divided. Some call the final boss the best they’ve ever done. Well, it’s not the worst imo, but the best? Nah

[Lazy8s]

Serendipity, thats the area you suggested too. A faith scythe sounds cool. Dont normally use axes in these games.



i beat him, he was just a bitch. i was using skeletons and the npc summon too, but they got destroyed every time well before half health. kind of glad to know they are one of the harder bosses.

That scythe has a great ash of war too. I’ve seen players using on end game builds, but personally I think much better are available by mid game.

FYI on the spirit summons - the jellyfish looks pretty weak, but it’s not. It makes the Margit fight much easier.

[koralis]

Pretty sure I had a coperator on that Margit fight. Can't remember the details. So, may be that doing some quest gets you some help.

[theshadowcult]

That scythe has a great ash of war too. I’ve seen players using on end game builds, but personally I think much better are available by mid game.

FYI on the spirit summons - the jellyfish looks pretty weak, but it’s not. It makes the Margit fight much easier.

I dont have the ability to upgrade the summons yet, so for me the skeletons are easily the best bang for my buck. Them resurecting is way better than damage

[Meteor_of_War]

Game beat. Final boss probably took somewhere around 30-40 tries total. Maybe more, I don't know. Spent an hour this afternoon and then almost another hour tonight.

I had Radagon down pretty good since this afternoon. He's still a PITA, but I could reliably beat him every time. Its the Elden Beast that I struggled with for a good while. Its mobility is what causes the most problems. No boss that size should be able to move that fast, and the camera issues when you do manage to get close to it are horrendous. Another terrible camera issue is when locked on, if it starts firing any kind of projectile attack the camera will redirect your movement into the attacks! Then, once you do manage to get a handle on those problems you still have to master its dozen or so attacks it mounts at you. The rings were tricky at first until I learned to jump over them. Then figuring out how to time the rolls through the fast rune arcs it shoots at you from afar was another thing that took a while. I learned by the end if you can just stay within a certain distance it usually wont do certain attacks like that.

But I spent a lot of time between attempts mixing and matching spells, weapons, talismans, armor, and spirit ashes before I finally did it. In the end, I found the tried and true Flame of Frenzy with Godfrey icon was the fastest method to stagger it. If up close, I could get 3 flame of frenzies off pretty fast for a stagger, then quickly change to my sword for a critical before it could shoot off to the other end of the room again. By the last attempt when I beat it, using this method got it down to 1/4 health in less than a minute. The speed of that tactic was key. I even beat it twice in a row, after reloading a save backup to get two of the endings (I know there's a secret third one too).

I was really second guessing my build for a while, but I know now its just a crap boss design. I was also thinking I might have gotten it quicker with some of the dragon spells like rot or frost breath, but I never leveled arcane so I didn't get into any of them.




Here's my end game stats. I will probably make another post later with an overall post game review.

[Meteor_of_War]

What’s so frustrating is that we all know that they know how to build a good boss. I honestly don’t know what they were going for here. Trying to make sure people recognized this isn’t a Souls game?

Don’t know. The mix of reviews I’ve read on the bosses is really divided. Some call the final boss the best they’ve ever done. Well, it’s not the worst imo, but the best? Nah

I need to think about each boss more in hindsight, but my feeling is that they went more for flashier/showier bosses over good mechanical boss fights. Its a real shame, because they seem to be going more in the direction of form over function. Or maybe its something like the new inclusion of spirit ashes really messed with the balancing.

Of course I haven't seen every boss in the game yet, but honestly most of them have been pretty much trash. Out of at least the main story bosses I don't think there's more than three total I would consider good fun fights.

[Meteor_of_War]

Str/Faith, i enjoy quality builds, but wanted to try a different way of doing it. Did Dex/Int in ds 3, and it sucked for too many enemies, so decided to try faith instead here.

Plus, i saw the bestial claw incantations, and it looks fun. I found the bestial seal and a couple deathroot, so im on my way

I do have a question though. Anyone find any str/faith weapons early ish? I managed to get a golden halberd off the knight at the start, but its slow and clunky, and requires special upgrade materials.

Check out FightinCowboy's Elden Ring Let's Play on YouTube. I think he also did a STR/FTH build so you can check out what equipment he rolled with in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XghA...BpsWqE7szfd3gc

[Lazy8s]

I need to think about each boss more in hindsight, but my feeling is that they went more for flashier/showier bosses over good mechanical boss fights. Its a real shame, because they seem to be going more in the direction of form over function. Or maybe its something like the new inclusion of spirit ashes really messed with the balancing.

Of course I haven't seen every boss in the game yet, but honestly most of them have been pretty much trash. Out of at least the main story bosses I don't think there's more than three total I would consider good fun fights.

Is it sad that this is still my GOTD even though I feel the same way?

To put a finer point on it, I’m at the last boss in the Haligtree levels, and this fight has all the makings of potentially the best boss fight they’ve ever designed, but they’ve actually made it one of the worst. I’m only playing footsies with her because she’s hot and I like strong women On a serious note, she isn’t that complex, even though she is tough but, I’ve had her nearly dead within the first 2 attempts, but being locked on, and anywhere near a wall when she really aggros pretty much signs your death warrant. Camera issues in this game are horrendous, and unforgivable at this point, and this game is LOADED with them.

Then take an area like the Haligtree. It’s just a thing of art and beauty, every souls player’s dream level. Until you see how they set enemies in the level and it sucks the joy out. You clear it just because that’s what gamers do….

Meh…I still have a ton of enjoyed hours in the game, so I’m focusing on the good.

[koralis]

Stumbled into Astel and beat it. Realized I was doing the Ranni quest out of order when I googled the item I needed afterwards, then wrapped that up.

Alecto beating the hell out of me and gave up for now, marked him. Ironically, my first attempt was my best attempt. It just went downhill from there.

Now playing with a red wolf... very similar. Nearly won the first time out and now getting browbeaten. *sigh* Maybe I need a break.

[Lazy8s]

Stumbled into Astel and beat it. Realized I was doing the Ranni quest out of order when I googled the item I needed afterwards, then wrapped that up.

Alecto beating the hell out of me and gave up for now, marked him. Ironically, my first attempt was my best attempt. It just went downhill from there.

Now playing with a red wolf... very similar. Nearly won the first time out and now getting browbeaten. *sigh* Maybe I need a break.

I’d cheese Alecto. The summons you get is amazing, but Alecto is just pure frustration. Cheese her and save some grief.

[koralis]

I’d cheese Alecto. The summons you get is amazing, but Alecto is just pure frustration. Cheese her and save some grief.

Got tired of messing with the wolf. Without an ash, it's just too much distance/attention for me/my build. Just decided to blitz past and grab stuff. Problem solved.


As for Alecto

I ended up pushing her into a cubby surrounded by rocks which limited her ability to jump around and gain distance. Couple with the reach of the halberd and a hefty stamina pool I was able to chain stagger (before I'd need to recover stamina, take a hit and drink a potion.) Pretty sure that cubby is the "correct solution" to the Alecto puzzle that the developers intended. Awfully convenient. This is probably what I happened to do on my first fight that went so much better.



Ultimately successful! However, can't use the ashes... too much FP needed. *sad trombone* Ah well... maybe eventually. Not sure if I want to respec to use her. Maybe, but need more ghost gloveworts to make it worthwhile? Only at level 5 right now on the assumption that I'll use it.

Level 5 Tiche vs level 10 Mimic? Opinions?


Edit: Hmmm. You know I should respec anyway. As I have decided that I like the Cold damage, I'm leaving a lot of damage on the table with so much Faith rather than Int. Time for an overhaul... might as well make Tiche summonable at the same time.

[Lazy8s]

Got tired of messing with the wolf. Without an ash, it's just too much distance/attention for me/my build. Just decided to blitz past and grab stuff. Problem solved.


As for Alecto

I ended up pushing her into a cubby surrounded by rocks which limited her ability to jump around and gain distance. Couple with the reach of the halberd and a hefty stamina pool I was able to chain stagger (before I'd need to recover stamina, take a hit and drink a potion.) Pretty sure that cubby is the "correct solution" to the Alecto puzzle that the developers intended. Awfully convenient. This is probably what I happened to do on my first fight that went so much better.



Ultimately successful! However, can't use the ashes... too much FP needed. *sad trombone* Ah well... maybe eventually. Not sure if I want to respec to use her. Maybe, but need more ghost gloveworts to make it worthwhile? Only at level 5 right now on the assumption that I'll use it.

Level 5 Tiche vs level 10 Mimic? Opinions?


Edit: Hmmm. You know I should respec anyway. As I have decided that I like the Cold damage, I'm leaving a lot of damage on the table with so much Faith rather than Int. Time for an overhaul... might as well make Tiche summonable at the same time.

RE: Alecto - that’s literally the cheese strat. The summons is ultimately worth it though.

After doing a ton of play testing the best summons so far, given different scenarios are Dungeater, Tiche and the Mimic Tear (all +10) in no particular order. Each one just trivializes certain boss fights.

[koralis]

RE: Alecto - that’s literally the cheese strat. The summons is ultimately worth it though.

Not sure it's cheese in the way I'd define it (ie. a lame unintended glitch that players exploit), I think it's the "correct solution" that the developers intended. They're on record as saying that they want players to pay attention to the fights and deduce the correct strategy.

But yes, MUCH easier that way.


Just respec'd... nervous in trying to figure out how I'm going to fight now, new equipment, new spells, etc.


EDIT: Hmmm.. I expected Sorceries to hit harder considering the FP costs. For limited engagements, can really soften some stuff up, but not sure I'd be happy in a long dungeon, etc? Hmm Notice any FP management problems? Use Sorcery mainly for opening then melee?

[Lazy8s]

Not sure it's cheese in the way I'd define it (ie. a lame unintended glitch that players exploit), I think it's the "correct solution" that the developers intended. They're on record as saying that they want players to pay attention to the fights and deduce the correct strategy.

But yes, MUCH easier that way.


Just respec'd... nervous in trying to figure out how I'm going to fight now, new equipment, new spells, etc.

I just respecced my level 130 build to try new things. I’m getting my arse kicked and ready to go back to my comfort zone

One thing I can never figure out - several YouTubers put videos up of what are really over powered builds but they never show their stats. I wish they would. If they’ re showcasing a level 180 build…there’s no point to trying to use it at level 132. Aim for? Sure. But needing 120k runes to level makes it slow going….

[Mangler]

IMO, the intended strategy for regular people against alecto is guard counters mixed with some jump attacks for that stagger.

Plus some panic rolling when you see that attack coming, and her other jump attack is a free backstab if you want to get fancy and not just simply block it.

So for me, Alecto does not belong in the upper level of trash tier bosses, as she has a counter that does not require that much skill.

[Lazy8s]

Fextralife has an amazing interactive map of the game. I’ve been scrolling around and can’t believe how much I’ve still missed. I think I’m just going to spend some time clearing locations for now.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Interactive+Map

[Mangler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKoJQhB1JAk

[yt]yKoJQhB1JAk[/yt]

This guy beat the game by only using summons and healing them.

[koralis]

Just respec'd... nervous in trying to figure out how I'm going to fight now, new equipment, new spells, etc.


EDIT: Hmmm.. I expected Sorceries to hit harder considering the FP costs. For limited engagements, can really soften some stuff up, but not sure I'd be happy in a long dungeon, etc? Hmm Notice any FP management problems? Use Sorcery mainly for opening then melee?

Did some training at my leveling spot (the ramp up to the erdtree in caalid is work 10-14k a round) to get used to things. If I keep the sorcery mainly to an opener, it takes those guys down to half and lets me pull one by one, which makes the rest of the fight easier, so may not need nearly as many HP potions (yes, I could do the same with a bow, but often wouldn't because it didn't do that much damage, and the tedium of collecting crafting materials.)

Once I got comfortable, I shifted to a talisman that restores FP on enemy death for the longer jaunts, Fun-Fact. Watching someone kill themselves via a bloodstain restores some FP (as does killing deer and eagles.) Then went to do a cave that I only half-way completed because I had too many Runes at the time.

Between Tiche and the sorcery they were mauled with minimal risk on my part. Just stand in the back and throw rocks at em. Prior to that boss fight I was still doing my halberd/Guard retaliation thing and still worked pretty well, though didn't hit QUITE as hard since I was lacking some of my Faith buff spells. Overall, good tradeoff though. I can make this work. Went down to one of the wells and confirmed.

So, the next question... worth raising Int, for a staff better than meteorite and/or bigger spells, more Mind for FP, or chug along on durability? Hmm. Seems like Int is probably the way to go as it will increase melee modestly also.

[theshadowcult]

Check out FightinCowboy's Elden Ring Let's Play on YouTube. I think he also did a STR/FTH build so you can check out what equipment he rolled with in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XghA...BpsWqE7szfd3gc

Thank you for the link, but he did not. A hybrid faith int build, and a pure faith build, but no str/faith.

[koralis]

Thank you for the link, but he did not. A hybrid faith int build, and a pure faith build, but no str/faith.

Well, with the appropriate Ashes or Whetstone Knife you can make most weapons STR/DEX/FAITH. That said, I found it lackluster, but that's likely because I had all of those stats middling, so features like bleed/cold look better in comparison.

Getting to Golden Vow (faith 35?) will beef up your damage dealing and defenses somewhat, both for you and any companions. Stacks with Braggarts Roar if you go for straight up damage buffing, or stack with Sacred Blade or similar if you are inclined to rebuffing regularly.

[Meteor_of_War]

Thank you for the link, but he did not. A hybrid faith int build, and a pure faith build, but no str/faith.

How many episodes into that let's play did you get through? I just linked to his first episode. He absolutely does a STR/FTH build, you may just need to skip through ahead to later episodes to start seeing what he did.

I know he uses incantations not sorcereries, and ultimately uses the blasphemous blade which requires 22 STR and 21 FTH. That is a sick greatsword BTW. If i do FTH build i will want to try that weapon.

[Lazy8s]

How many episodes into that let's play did you get through? I just linked to his first episode. He absolutely does a STR/FTH build, you may just need to skip through ahead to later episodes to start seeing what he did.

I know he uses incantations not sorcereries, and ultimately uses the blasphemous blade which requires 22 STR and 21 FTH. That is a sick greatsword BTW. If i do FTH build i will want to try that weapon.

Yep. Cowboy did a build around that sword, and it’s my go-to weapon of choice right now. It’s murderous both up close and ranged.

For theshadowcult- I lean more towards STR/FTH in my builds, but keep yourself open to STR/dex as well. You can build a solid, tanky high damage build by mid game off of those stats and the added dex will give you solid ranged with a bow.

Some folks don’t think the bow is very good in this game. They’re doing it wrong with the wrong bows A simple long bow with power shot as of war is devastating to a large number of enemies

[koralis]

We are distributing this new update to fix a bug in patch 1.03.

The item included in the latest update
Fixed a bug in the balance adjustment of the boss "Starscourge Radahn" in update 1.03, in which the power of some attacks was unintentionally reduced.

New patch apparently buffed Radahn a bit.

[theshadowcult]

Well, with the appropriate Ashes or Whetstone Knife you can make most weapons STR/DEX/FAITH. That said, I found it lackluster, but that's likely because I had all of those stats middling, so features like bleed/cold look better in comparison.

Getting to Golden Vow (faith 35?) will beef up your damage dealing and defenses somewhat, both for you and any companions. Stacks with Braggarts Roar if you go for straight up damage buffing, or stack with Sacred Blade or similar if you are inclined to rebuffing regularly.

I'll keep that in mind.

How many episodes into that let's play did you get through? I just linked to his first episode. He absolutely does a STR/FTH build, you may just need to skip through ahead to later episodes to start seeing what he did.

I know he uses incantations not sorcereries, and ultimately uses the blasphemous blade which requires 22 STR and 21 FTH. That is a sick greatsword BTW. If i do FTH build i will want to try that weapon.

i watched a few, and then started skipping by ten through the whole list. His strength hit 34 for a tiny bit, then he dropped it to 21-20, and i dont remember seeing it go up again.

[Lazy8s]

I'll keep that in mind.



i watched a few, and then started skipping by ten through the whole list. His strength hit 34 for a tiny bit, then he dropped it to 21-20, and i dont remember seeing it go up again.

What you’ll see with several weapons that should be a STR scaling, is the attribute changes with weapon leveling. The blasphemous blade is a great example. When you first get it, it scales D in STR/DEX/FTH. At +10 though, STR/DEX stay at D, but FTH scaling goes to B. So added STR isn’t that helpful even though you’re using a weapon that would usually benefit from it. Here’s the wiki on that particular weapon.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Blasphemous+Blade

Fromsoft added split scaling (I hate that) to a lot of weapons and spells, so it actually pays off to look up whatever weapon you choose to see where the scaling will wind up.

[Meteor_of_War]

Yeah, since the blasphemous blade scales better with FTH he only needs to level STR to the minimum requirement to use the weapon. Then its better to keep leveling FTH to get the better scaling.

IMO, just decide what you want to focus on - sorcery, incantations, or arcane. Then find a weapon that scales with whatever you chose to focus on and just level STR to the minimum to use it. Its of course ideal to be able to use a weapon that scales with whatever spells attribute you're going to use. For me since I chose sorcery, for the first half of my playthrough I was using the meteoric ore blade because I like katanas and this one scales with INT, which is what I level for sorcery anyways.

I think that's the best way to go about it, at least to start. Maybe to save some aggravation, just look up all the weapons on Fextralife or something and choose one and go get it.

Also you can always respec later once you unlock that option - and yes you will get plenty of respeccing items. The game is loaded with them, so don't be afraid to experiment.

[Lazy8s]

Yeah, since the blasphemous blade scales better with FTH he only needs to level STR to the minimum requirement to use the weapon. Then its better to keep leveling FTH to get the better scaling.

IMO, just decide what you want to focus on - sorcery, incantations, or arcane. Then find a weapon that scales with whatever you chose to focus on and just level STR to the minimum to use it. Its of course ideal to be able to use a weapon that scales with whatever spells attribute you're going to use. For me since I chose sorcery, for the first half of my playthrough I was using the meteoric ore blade because I like katanas and this one scales with INT, which is what I level for sorcery anyways.

I think that's the best way to go about it, at least to start. Maybe to save some aggravation, just look up all the weapons on Fextralife or something and choose one and go get it.

Also you can always respec later once you unlock that option - and yes you will get plenty of respeccing items. The game is loaded with them, so don't be afraid to experiment.

Yeah I agree with this. Previous Fromsoft games were kind of limited with weapons choices (classes) but this game just throws variety at the player, so much so that it can be a little intimidating trying to choose just one or two weapons to fit your desired build.

I do think that (earlier game) weapons that scale primarily off of strength and faith are limited, compared to INT versions.

Edit: There’s a faith scaling weapon I’ve been grinding for and the bastards won’t drop it.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Envoy's+Long+Horn

I watched a player take down the Fire Giant with that, and it was I WANT IT!

https://youtu.be/cBY_yptqsNQ

[theshadowcult]

ok, maybe the misunderstanding was on my side. i was sure i had said i was diong a quality build, but maybe i forgot to say it. So 50/50 str faith, not just a little bit of str for weapons and then all faith for scaling. My plan is to use the bestial incantations, which with the seal you get, seem to scale from both str and faith fairly equally.

[Lazy8s]

I think quality builds are still a thing for pure melee, but Fromsoft changed up how stats are allocated and scaled a bit.

One of the YouTubers said early on that players who try to build and play based on Dark Souls memories would have a harder time of it…and that’s been true with me anyway.

My general rule of thumb right now is get base requirements in STR/DEX for the weapon and sink points into FTH or INT or ARC as required.

I have builds right now that are melee, FTH, INT, and ARC based, and that’s pretty much held through all of them

On the melee build though, I did sink enough into FTH and ARC to use certain buffs….

[Meteor_of_War]

Here's my informal brain dump of a review.

TL;DR - Its an incredible achievement of a game in its design. Finally bringing the great (but aging) Souls combat system into a true and (mostly) modern open world setting. It mostly succeeds, but also has some annoyances that have me questioning if I ever want to play another game of theirs like this if they release more without making some huge gameplay overhauls.

I took a couple days after beating the game to decompress and reflect before posting my final thoughts. I rolled the credits but haven't done everything in the game 100%, according to the achievements list. Regardless, I've seen even enough that I think I'm ready to get my final thoughts out.

Disclaimer, I did my playthrough almost totally blind, no guides for location progression or boss tactics. Just looked up info for certain weapons/equipment when needed simply to save time. Only towards the end did I look up the locations of the final few bosses because I felt I was mulling around aimlessly going on 80+ hours and was just ready to get on with the ending.

First point I would like to mention is I think one of the game's best achievements is the design of multiple different lines of progression players can go on. You are dropped in the world and can head out in seemingly any direction with almost total freedom. Later game bosses and areas are of course gated behind certain goals but getting there can be done in multiple ways. For example, at the start you need to kill 2 main shardbearer bosses for their "great runes" to get to the next main portion of the game. But there are I believe 4 total main bosses you can pick from to kill, so they are all optional and is up to the player to choose which 2 to go for. I think this is great because its interesting to see other people experiencing the game's progression in completely different ways. Its fun to hear people talking about bosses and areas they are dealing with that I haven't seen since I went a different direction. Wish more games were like this.

So Elden Ring definitely has a good implementation of non-linearity for an open world game. Admittedly I have started to grow a bit tired of From Soft's games over the past few years, but the change to open world and the way they did it here is exactly what I had hoped for. Absolutely was worth the playthrough to explore and experience the world design alone.

However, like I mentioned I am simply getting tired of the old Souls combat. I've definitely said it a handful of times already but they really need to update the fundamentals of the slow, deliberate combat system. It is definitely still much better than most other 3rd person melee combat based games you can play still. No doubt about that. But I just want to see some more significant improvements and updates. Despite all its additional features to the combat, Elden Ring literally still plays like Demon's Souls at its core, which is a 13 year old game at this point. Will just name drop Nioh here as a much, much improved combat system in a modern Souls-like. From Soft please take notice.

Now I will just rattle off some random good and bad I have about the game in general:

PROs:

-Elden Ring is the culmination of all From Soft's best game features in one giant open world adventure, and they mostly pull it off to make their greatest game
-World exploration is great fun
-Great non-linearity to the game progression
-Game is super big, way more content than I was expecting
-Final boss difficulties were worthy of a final fight
-Torrent (your horse) is a great new feature to accompany the change to open world and its well implemented
-Spirit ashes feature is a lot of fun
-Weapon skills (ashes of war) are plentiful and fun to play around with
-Some quality of life improvements to the old combat system like guard counters, and critical hits from staggering (not just parries/backstabs) are nice
-Other quality of life improvements like stakes of marika which are checkpoints right before tough areas are very much welcome and help to respect the player's time
-PC port while it has issues, was mostly stable for me in my 95 hour playthrough

CONs:

-Combat still very much the same old Souls combat (good or bad)
-Boss design mechanics are hit or miss. Mostly miss in favor of more flashier visuals IMO
-The spirit ashes and weapon skills features balancing may account for some staggering boss difficulty
-Use locations of spirit ashes are at developers discretion which can seem inconsistent
-Their obtuse quests and clues are something they will need to reevaluate going forward with open world design games
-Quantity over quality in a lot of spots
-PC performance is flaky at times with frame drops and stutters
-Still capped at only 60 fps

As for my playthrough, I focused on sorcery but my build was kind of all over the place with some unnecessary points in STR and FTH to swap to Sword of N&F mid-game and play with some incantations. Overall I think the incantations really trump sorcery in this game. Flame of Frenzy was an absolute MVP for me in the late game using the talisman that raises FTH. Sorcery definitely has some great spells like comet azur but I never leveled INT high enough to use any of the really good spells or staves. But this is typical of a first playthrough of a Souls-like for me, I tend to have a poorly focused build as I play around with things. But I just felt like the game's options for good incantations were better than sorceries. So yeah if I were to start fresh I would probably do a focused FTH build, with maybe a secondary focus in arcane for the dragon spells. Regardless, even with my messy build I was fine simply because due to the game being so massive I was over leveling through most of the it just from exploring. I only started to feel any real difficulty towards the end when I was rushing to the end game bosses at lvl 128. I feel to be comfortable at end game you probably want to be closer to 150 with a tight focused build and have whatever attribute that scales your primary weapon close to its 2nd soft cap for optimal damage.

Overall my feelings in a nutshell are its undoubtedly a great game. Maybe the best From Soft's ever done. Not my personal favorite, but definitely greatest and most ambitious and they for the most part pulled it off with minimal issues. I just personally am kind of getting tired of their games. I don't have the same fun and excitement playing them as I used to. Aside from the new open world exploration, the core gameplay feels more like work now than anything else and at times can just be down right stressful and no fun. This is mainly aimed towards some most of the boss fights. IMO, there's some kind of changes they must have been doing to their boss designs processes in Elden Ring and their old combat systems no longer work well and balanced against them in some instances. I suspect possibly the inclusion of the spirit ashes and so many different ashes of war forced them to take some drastic measures with boss aggression and evasion in order to balance things to keep their reputation of making the "hardest games." But if it sacrifices fun what's the point? As a comparison, in the Nioh series no matter how challenging a mission or boss was it was always fun and always had me addicted and coming back to keep trying and loving every minute. In From Soft's games now its often just a tedious chore and I at times want to just uninstall and never look at it again. Its the difference between awesome fun and enjoyment and miserable dread and despair. They need to do something about that if I am going to continue playing their games.

As it stands now I do still have some content left to do in Elden Ring. Not sure how much, will have to look up what areas/bosses I missed. But TBH not sure if I'm going to. Maybe after some time has passed I'll get the urge to jump back in to bang out what I missed. Or, I may just watch FightinCowboy or LobosJr's Let's Plays and experience it through them so I can just sit back and relax. At close to 100 hours I definitely feel I got my money's worth, and don't really feel any need to 100% the game.

[Lazy8s]

That’s solid review Meteor, and very much in line with my own thoughts and experiences

The only difference is I’ll keep playing just for the completionist and that I don’t have anything else I really care to jump into at the moment lol.

Good points buddy

[Meteor_of_War]

That’s solid review Meteor, and very much in line with my own thoughts and experiences

The only difference is I’ll keep playing just for the completionist and that I don’t have anything else I really care to jump into at the moment lol.

Good points buddy

Thanks. I don't want to sound too harsh of it. I really do respect it as being a great game. A lot of my CONs and complaints are very much subjective and personal preference related. I can totally see how many people would love everything about this game.

I might be just growing out of From Soft's style finally. I did really like Sekiro, but maybe that's because it was such a departure for them combat-wise and very focused in character build (love anything Samurai!) Both Elden Ring, and Bloodborne I just did not have the same fun playing. I think I need something new and different now out of a Souls-like.

[koralis]

I think I need something new and different now out of a Souls-like.

You could drop into the NG+ abyss in Nioh 2.

I took a break from Nioh2 to do Elden Ring. Still have a ways to go I think, but that's because I do as much as I can find. I don't go out of my way to figure out where secrets are offline or anything, but if I notice something, I'll probably do it unless it ends up killing me a half dozen times and I give up for the time being.

Combat in Elden is irritating and all of the unblockable damage pisses me off. The world exploration is top notch though.



Or maybe Nioh 3, eventually.

https://primewikis.com/news/nioh-3-s...es-team-ninja/

The Nioh team will continue to support the games through updates, but after that, the team will take on the challenge of developing other new titles….. l don’t know when it will be, but I want to utilize the experience the team gains from these new titles in order to create a sequel that will surpass both Nioh and Nioh 2.

Those other titles are under wraps, but may suit ya.

https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/01...r-ninja-gaiden

Team Ninja Is Working On "A Lot Of New Titles," Confirms No Nioh 3 Or Ninja Gaiden

...

For Ninja Gaidan hopefuls, Yasuda confirmed that there is nothing to announce "at this time." The good news? This wasn't as clear-cut as the Nioh 3 statement. While the producer did say that the team doesn't have anything to announce at this moment, he added that the Nioh franchise wouldn't exist without Ninja Gaiden, and the series is "really important" to the studio. He fanned the hope a little more by adding, "While we don't have anything specific to announce at this time, I would like to say just look forward to some potential news for some kind of announcement in the near future."

That "some kind of announcement" will be among several on the way, as the Team Ninja dev confirms that the team is working on several big games currently. We don't know when the reveals will begin rolling out, but Yasuda did make it sound like the first announcement could be arriving soon.