Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@MaulTsir Good work! There’s still plenty of work to be done yet though and plenty of different directions for you to be going in now.

More on my Journey to becoming Elden Lord, I've fought a couple of night birds or death birds I think thier called, went in to the dungeon with the chariot(that was...fun) and now I'm entering Raya Lucaria. Repping the bloodhound fang still but messed about with a few weapons, really like the samurai move set.

@MaulTsir There’s a handful of areas with those chariots and they’re a pain in the arse in all of them!

The blood weapons are great though and have some fantastic skills attached to them and the ones that use health to attack being really cool risk/reward moves.

And good luck in the academy, I remember quite liking that area and there are some good boss fights to come!

@Thrillho yeah I'm enjoying it more than Stormveil, I do like trying out a lot of the weapons but I'm so comfortable with the Bloodhound Fang now that at any point I feel intimidated by a new enemy or area I revert straight back to it.

Great news about there being more chariots 🤦‍♂️ lol.

The boss in that section with the chariot back near the first step was a right pain as well, it wasn't hard but I had to Google it in the end because was getting right frustrated with not being able to work out what to do 🤣

@MaulTsir Honestly, I used to look up the vague plan on how to beat catacombs and the areas where the chariots were as some of them were so obtuse. Later in the game I just looked up what the reward was from those areas as I felt most of the time it wasn’t actually worth the time for the reward.

And it’s always a problem with these games that you can rely on a weapon as you get so used to it, plus in the early game you don’t have enough resources to risk levelling up another weapon to then find you don’t like it.

I usually put all my points in strength, but all the fun weapons seem to be dex. So I’m basically using gear I found in the first 20 hours all the way to end game. Couldn’t even change it up if I wanted to for much benefit since I’ve used limited consumables to upgrade it.

I know there are plenty of options to try new weapons and builds, I wish it was a bit more accessible though? Or if it just came a bit more naturally through the game? Eh, maybe it’s just the way I play them. It was the same for the Souls games.

@kyleforrester87 I agree in that I wish there was an easier way to have access to upgrade most weapons, it's great you can respec your character but unless you put a mad amount of time in to it resources to upgrade weapons are limited so your stuck with what ever you choose first really, I have though used the resource sparingly and tried to upgrade a strength weapon, qaulity, magic ect to have a play about. But my main focus has been on the Bloodhound Fang.

I have beaten Rennala and Radahn now, I've got through most of Cailed and I'm now entering into Nokron I believe it's called, I'm starting to piece together the story as I'm getting more npc dialogue but my theory could still be far off!

It's just so easy to spend time in this game and honestly I do feel like it's going to leave quite a hole when I'm done, which still isn't going to be for a long time!

@MaulTsir You do get loads of upgrade materials later in the game and I seem to remember you unlock a merchant you can buy them off too.

@Thrillho I might be wrong, but I am sure you can only buy up to a certain level though - and some of the resources to improve are not unlimited??

@kyleforrester87 There are 13 Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones that can be found in the world in one playthrough, and one or two can be bought (only in limited quantities though). You only need one to upgrade from +24 to +25. I think that is plenty.

@JohnnyShoulder ah, ok

@kyleforrester87 Forgot to say, everything else before that can be bought eventually from the twin Maiden husks at Roundtable Hold.

How is the ray-tracing? I just redownloaded to try and finish this amazing since it got the update.

I am going through Ranni's Quest line, and I've currently just gone through the Lake of Rot, what a nice place that is!.

This game is massive! There's just so much to do, I've logged 60 hours now and I think there's easly another 60 to go

I am at almost exactly the same point as you. I just completed Ranni's Questline last night, after a few sessions where Astel made me rage quit.

I played Elden Ring last year for ~70 hours, but the only souls game I had played previously was Bloodborne and by the time I made it to the royal capital I was really struggling with the build I had gone for. I know you can respec, but I had upgraded specific weapons to +18/20 and couldn't figure out how to change my build to use another weapon.

Since then I've played through DS1 and DS3 multiple times each, and recently decided to start ER from scratch with a new character. I'm enjoying it more this time with a few more souls games under my belt.

I've gone for a pure strength build this time. I have played through both DS1 and DS3 with a magic or strength build - DS1 was easier with magic and DS3 was harder. I figured that the magic mechanisms in ER are similar to DS3 so went for strength. Currently using the brick hammer and a greatshield.

@woollypump I managed to beat Astel last night, he was probably the toughest fight I've come across for a melee build at the moment, alot of his AoE attacks did some serious damage but after 2 tries I managed to sus his movements.

Sounds like your making good progress, similar to you but with different games, I finished Bloodborne and Demon Soul's and I feel like it's given me an "extra edge" when playing elden ring, I just seem to understand everything a bit more.

I'm glad your enjoying it, it's really an amazing game.

After 2 tries! I reckon I was 20+ for me, also melee. I think sometimes I just bash away hoping to get lucky though, particularly if it's been a hard day and concentration is lacking.

That said, I now have Lions Claw on the Brick Hammer and I think Astel might have been easier if I'd got that first! The Dragonbarrow evergaol boss went down after a few L2's

@woollypump One of the most interesting things about this game is where different players hit stumbling blocks!
For instance, I didn't have too much grief with Malenia (who I understand is a pretty common boss to wreck you) but I lost days of my life trying to beat the Fire Giant.... which apparently most people smoke pretty easy?!

Radahn was a big problem for me also, although I played at release and understand he might now have been nerfed somewhat?

Such an awesome game though, and I have the fondest of memories playing this. My absolute GOTY 2022 without doubt.

@CJD87 Yeah Fire Giant I did on like the second try (nice pun btw), which is rare for me on most bosses in similar games.

I always find it amusing when some one thinks they have struggled when I see that have like 5 goes at a boss. They it pretty normal for me! Try multiplying that by 10, then you know a real struggle! 😂

I'm approaching where I got to on my first playthrough but having seen a lot more. Tonight I did a few things I missed on my first attempt; the divine tower of Caelid, which I just could not figure out on my first playthrough and gave up on without managing to get inside, but did fully tonight, top to bottom. Also found Goldmask, and have just started the Shaded Castle.