Elden Ring (George RR Martin and From Software)

MadYaker

The last dragon I bothered fighting was on a bridge in Caelid near a site of grace. I expected a load of runes from that, died 6 or 7 times but eventually got him. Only to be rewarded with 2k runes and he just respawns 😐️ Maybe other dragons give more runes but if they do they'll definitely be harder to fight and I don't need the hearts so I'll probably just run past them tbh. The erdtree guardians are more fun to fight but I've only come across 2 of them. I generally find the flying enemies in this game annoying to fight.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119291300#Comment_119291300

There are some small dragons in Caelid alright who are tough, but aren't bosses. But the larger dragons (with names and health bars at the bottom of the screen) can drop 50-100k runes. For example the bridge in North East Caelid leading to the Bestial Sanctum, there's a dragon on the bridge who drops 80k runes. He also isn't terribly hard to beat as he has a smaller fight area as he's limited to the bridge, so it's easier to stay close to him. There's also a minor erdtree nearby with a putrid avatar who drops 28k runes.

johnny_ultimate

Honestly I think the game is pretty manageable without much farming. I did a couple of runs at the farming spot outside the sanctum on the far side of Caelid during the mid-game when I wanted a couple of specific spells, but in general the game is pretty fair in terms of levelling you up naturally (as long as you're willing to explore a bit). Now if you're frequently running into roadblocks you're struggling to get past fair enough - your experience may vary. But the likes of spirit summons will usually help lower the difficulty curve significantly without the need for farming or grinding.

If there's a problem in the very late game is that there are one or two endgame bosses - especially the optional hardest boss - that may require a respec depending on your build until that point. Farming isn't going to be super helpful there though as you'll likely need to reconsider your build entirely.

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119291960#Comment_119291960

Agree with this. Exploring and working through the game naturally negates needing to farm.

Spirit summons really do make the game trivial at times compared to other Soulsborne boss fights.

The only part I got stuck on was a crucible knight early in the game. This may of course change later on towards the end game.

Dave0301

Definitely finding this the least enjoyable of the FromSoft games. Still a decent game but I won't be in a rush to play through NG+ anytime soon.

EoinHef

Man this game, im really enjoying it but for instance I didn't realise what was needed to enter the second dungeon and only figured it out yesterday after basically discovering most of the map.

Only I met a random guy in a church who told me what I needed I wouldnt have had a clue.

Seemingly I've progressed some side quests but hadn't taken a huge amount of note what the NPCs were saying and kinda got lost and with no quest book your goosed if you can't remember what they said.

I've held off looking online for solutions so as not to wreck the mystery but I feel like I'm spending a bit too much time just trying to figure out where next which can be frustrating.

I find the exploration aspect very enjoyable, I've beaten a good few random bosses from the different smaller dungeons now and while I still feel I've a long way to go to "git gud" I'm definitely getting better.

My vigor was at 12 but levelled it to 22 yesterday and much easier now. Id love to fully respec though.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119327529#Comment_119327529

You will come across the ability to respec at a certain point.

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119327529#Comment_119327529

You do get the chance to respec later in the game. Not too far in actually. Depending on your build, if doing melee you will about 40 vigor to take the damage off some late game enemies.

EoinHef

Finally managed to figure out how to use great rune, this game tells ye nothing😂

Vigor is 25 now and it's a world of difference. Got some good summons and ashes of war, well better than what I've had😁

At what point do you get weapons with good scaling? I've been using the twinblade at +5 but I'd like a change but everything seems to be D/E scaling. I know ashes of war can change scaling but with what I have I'm still not seeing great scaling.

I've a bunch of mats to upgrade a weapon, just need to get the right weapon.

Penn

Scaling only increases when the weapon is upgraded. If a weapon needs smithing stones to upgrade, it can be upgraded to +25. If a weapon needs somber smithing stones, it can be upgraded to +10.

Usually the best way to tell what way weapons scale is looking at their existing scaling and stat requirements. For example, if you have a base level weapon with E in Strengtg and D in Dex, and it requires 10 steength and 18 dex, chances are as you upgrade it the Dex will increase to C etc up to A or S. If you go to Master Hewg and check to upgrade a weapon, the stats that will improve with scaling should be in blue if it'll increase with the next upgrade (but it might not increase with every level).

Just stick with weapons that suit your build, and chances are the scaling will increase with those stats anyway as you upgrade the weapon.

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119342242#Comment_119342242

Weapon scaling can be a bit hit and miss sometimes. The twinblade can upgrade all the way up to+25. It would have good scaling if you are making a quality build. If you are making a strength build, you would look to upgrade a bigger weapon.

You should look to get vigour up to at least 40 as a priority, if not about 55 or 60 for late game.

EoinHef

Ah god so I'm level 51 and I'm only finding out now that scaling gets better with improving the weapon, i thought just as i get better weapons they would have better scaling🤦‍♂️

I actually prefer you can make the scaling better that way rather that specific weapons being better, just wish I wasn't such a moron and knew it sooner😂

I dont plan to stick with the twinblade, I've enjoyed using it and will keep it around but I just wanna experience different weapons, I must have 40 unique weapons at this point.

I also slept on the long bow for far to long, only picked it up yesterday, its sooo good. Have mighty shot weapon Ash which makes it even better, essential piece of equipment for me now.

Also I got teleported to the place after the lift against my will, got the site of grace but went back. Don't wanna go there yet. Good to know you can do that though!!

I will be making a magic toon at some point , nice to have all the for knowledge for a new character.

Dave0301

The repetition of catacombs/caves is starting to hit home. Appreciate they are optional but still, sometimes less is more.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119352450#Comment_119352450

Yep they're definitely relatively limited - more like the Chalice Dungeons of Bloodborne than anything. It shows the limits of the level of bespoke, authored content that can realistically be created - Breath of the Wild has the same issue with its shrine levels. It's a reason I'd be concerned when I hear Bethesda harping on about the size of Starfield: when even the two most rewarding, exploration-based open-world games have a certain amount of copy-and-paste content, exponentially larger games will inevitably hit the same barrier.

Penn

There definitely are a lot of similar caves/catacombs, but even ones that seem fairly similar to begin with can throw up some big surprises or interesting bosses.

Retr0gamer

My big annoyance was all the later dungeons had this fixation of being made from 2 or 3 areas that are exactly the same as each other but with different entrances just to confuse you where you are. It was fun and clever the first time it happened but every dungeon after it used the same gimmick and you just end up lost.

Dave0301

I think those areas will detract from my enthusiasm for a NG+ run, or I will certainly skip the majority of them.

There are some nice gimmicks in some of them and those cats can be a good challenge.

I've enjoyed the open world aspect of Elden Ring but overall, I think I prefer the layout of the Dark Souls series.

Markitron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119352981#Comment_119352981

I think I am one of the few that prefers the Demon's Souls approach (possibly the only). I love the fact that they can have these disconnected wildly different areas with no justification required to fit them together. They didn't get every area right in Demon's Souls but Boletaria Palace and the Tower of Latria are the best areas in the entire series IMO. Particularly in the remake.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119353380#Comment_119353380

I definitely loved the Demon's Souls approach, but it had its downsides too, especially as some areas and bosses can become very easy if you've done too many of the other areas first and are therefore overlevelled. Bloodborne was probably the best balance of all, where you do have a lot of different areas, but which are interconnected, and there's a more natural progression through it all.

Stone Deaf 4evr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119342670#Comment_119342670

I'm a few days late on this, but a handy way of checking if your weapon is holding you back, is to keep an eye on the values you get when upgrading.

for example, if you have a weapon that scales with DEX, and you go to level up your characters DEX, you should see an increase of greater than one point.

Once the increase drops to 1 point, you need to upgrade the weapon before you'll start seeing better results from pumping points into that stat.

hopefully that makes sense.

theteal

I just did Malenia - sound on the recording is bunched. It took about 15-20 attempts which is by far the most of any boss so far. I'm led to belive the last couple of bosses are easier so we'll see. I'm just trying to burst through it now, the fatigue is real, I've skipped a bunch of last few catacombs as I just can't be arsed

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119366431#Comment_119366431

I'm nearly at her as well. Just going through the last bits of the Haligtree. I'm hoping for a tough fight as I've not had too many issues so far.

keane2097

How do you kill those blue guys in the Haligtree? My Rivers of Blood doesn't do much damage to them.

Stone Deaf 4evr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119367945#Comment_119367945

blunt damage, so clubs, maces, etc.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119367945#Comment_119367945

Crystalline guys? The shield counter thing puts them in a stun state and attacking them that way will cause them to crack.

keane2097

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119368198#Comment_119368198

I actually think I might have had that happen once or twice alright

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119368236#Comment_119368236

I found that out way too late. Had massive issues with a triple Crystalline dungeon boss fight that was a **** show as my bleed weapons were useless.

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119367659#Comment_119367659

yes, gravity has been the games toughest opponent. Although I'm sure if I didn't use summons I wouldn't be so cocky

I'll post my video here (if anybody cares) as soon as I upload to youtube - apologies for sound in advance

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

EoinHef

I'm having a blast I have to say, everytime I turn it on for a few hours I discover some new thing.

Found a large underground area for example today, had no idea there were areas in the game like this one. Killed a few bosses got a few new weapons and items and really enjoyed exploring while doing it.

I will add I've played no where near this amount of time of any other fromsoft game so maybe its so new to me to get this far into one and all the tasty weapons items etc

I'm glad the summons are in the game, I get why people think there OP, cause they are. But they are optional and for me choice is the key for accessibility. People can make the game as hard as they like for themselves from what I see

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119368523#Comment_119368523

Nice clip. Took her down after a few goes earlier today. Found stage one more difficult than the second due to getting caught out with her Waterfowl Dance. Also took out Maliketh and Horah Loux as well, so nearly there!

Tried to do some co-op on Malenia but the host just gets obliterated every time!