Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I hear they are working in mulltiple titles. Let's hope at least one of them has a Mooonlight Greatsword!

Fextralife did a video on this very subject.

@JohnnyShoulder Thanks for the link man, I'll have a look at it later or at some point in the next few days hopefully.

@Th3solution Sharing some early impressions of ER as you said you'd be interested. At the site I am currently farming at, some stealth-like mechanics have been employed/are necessary in order to farm properly, as there is an enemy who will alert the whole camp if he sees you before you kill him, and another more powerful enemy who it is best to kill with two backstabs, running away/out of range in between them as he will most likely kill you at this early stage in the game if you try and tackle him directly. So maybe that is something inspired by Sekiro, as I hear there is a lot of stealth in that game - also it has a fast-paced action feel to it (the direct combat in the game as opposed to the stealth-related combat - most likely inspired by Dark Souls 3/Bloodborne).

Edit: It is also harder to farm at first, it's taking me longer to level up than in previous games as the fodder enemies drop like 60 souls each, apart from the aforementioned big bad who drops 260 , and I am not yet powerful enough to farm the 1000 soul dropping enemies who languish nearby.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN There will be certain places where the enemies will be too strong for you, but the beauty of Elden Ring is than you can generally just go off in another direction and find some enemies that you are better to dal with. Just watch out for thr rune bears, as they can pack a punch.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN That’s really notable about the lite stealth mechanics. Having not played Sekiro, I actually didn’t know there was substantial stealth in the FromSoft library. There’s some rudimentary stealth in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 with the thief ring and the spells the reduce enemy detection, but I’d never consider it much of a stealth option to rely on. More like it’s just a few tricks to get you past a tough encounter from time to time, but nothing you could build a character around.

And I’m not surprised that the game as a more action-heavy combat style like Bloodborne/DS3. I think the slower combat of the earlier games is more niche. The mainstream gamers want things more dynamic.

@JohnnyShoulder I've actually toyed with the idea of getting the DLC recently, as I thought Maliketh's Black Blade, fully upgraded, with a fully upgraded Mimic assisting me might be enough to get through it. Looks like a viable str/faith build. Thoughts?

Edit: All dependant upon reaching and defeating Maliketh, later in the game, of course.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Yeah I would say go for it. It came in handy for a particular 'enemy' in the dlc.

I found for late game, that I needed to boost my faith build so had to respec to use some spells and a decent greatshield.

The Blasphemous Blade is supposed to be OP for the DLC.

@JohnnyShoulder Thanks, duly noted about the BB.

@Gunnerzaurus He is horrendous for sure, and the only boss in the DLC that I had to summon help for. This was pre-patch, and it still took about 10-15 summons to find someone else that was solid enough for the 2 of us to take him down!

I understand he has recently been nerfed though and is slightly easier? Albeit still rock hard

@Gunnerzaurus Congrats! I'd love to have the chance to try him again (post-nerf) and see if indeed From did make him easier. He's no slouch thats for sure, well done

My impression so far of Elden Ring's environments is that ,individually, they're not actually that big, each piece of the map seems to be about as big as a DeS level, but, arguably, the game as a whole seems a lot bigger b/c there are a lot more them than there are in previous Souls games.

@Yagami Probably each level pertaining to an DeS Archstone. I just love the open-world feeling to the game as well as the 'Light Souls' aesthetic of the game, based on what I've played so far, as I'm not trying to see every thing in the game I'm sure I won't face a similar form of burnout.

Edit: If that is, indeed, what you have experienced.

@Yagami Yeah, it's definitely not balanced for solo players, you are intended to use Spirit Ashes for sure. But I feel that FromSoft wanted to do something different with this game, and make it more accessible for new players, if that means trivializing boss encounters for some, it opens up new doorways for other ,some would say more "casual", players.

@Yagami @BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN This is an interesting discussion and you've both nailed my only real problem with Elden Ring. There's no happy medium in terms of the difficulty, it's either batter them with ashes, or struggle for absolutely ages with some of the bosses. I wouldn't think it's a reflection on your skills either - without wanting to boast (but I'm going to anyway) I solo'd the Dark Souls trilogy and managed it all right, with only a handful of massively problematic bosses (hello Manus). Elden Ring is still a great game, but Dark Souls 3 is still my favourite.

@Gremio108 Yeah I solo'd most bosses in Dark Souls, Dark Souls 3 & Bloodborne as well (defo had to summon for Ludwig though). And I also solo'd all the bosses in Demon's Souls (2020) w/ the exception of Penetrator (shout out to my homie, Biorr, for that one!) but admittedly Dark Souls 3 has the hardest bosses.

In terms of overall enjoyment ,I would rank the games as follows:

1)Dark Souls 3
2)Demon's Souls (2020) - w/ a caveat of that being it wouldn't have been half as enjoyable w/out my Dragon Bone Smasher+3 & Curse Weapon to hand for the latter stages of the game.
3)Bloodborne (would be interchangeable w/ 4) if it wasn't for Ludwig's Holy Blade & character's not being able to 'hollow'
4)Dark Souls (only 'cause I don't like the way my character looks when he's hollowed)

(Didn't complete Sekiro or DS2 b/c I didn't find them as enjoyable and Miyazaki specifically said, as I've said elsewhere on here and been rebutted for, but he did say it, that Sekiro wasn't intended to be a Souls game or Soulslike, and DS2 wasn't directed by the legendary Miyazaki-san).

I think I've explained that thoroughly enough, heh heh heh.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Funnily enough my list would probably look very similar to yours, with a couple of differences - I'd probably swap Bloodborne and Demon's Souls around, having replayed them both recently (Demon's Souls is ace and dripping with atmosphere, but feels a bit short when you've played the others) and it sounds like I enjoyed Dark Souls II a lot more than you did lol. So I'd pop that in there somewhere, near the bottom.

How far did you get with DS2? Just wondering because I didn't like it at first either, but it seemed to get better the longer it went on.

As for the Sekiro question, that's an interesting one. It didn't massively click with me and I struggled through it, although the combat and game world were very well-realised. So it wouldn't make my list, although I can see why that would be a controversial view!

@Gremio108 I did No Man's Wharf early, got the Greatsword, and then just decided for whatever reason - i.e enemy placement, enemy types compared to Dark Souls enemies etc. that I didn't like the game, I also did that famous cheese on that early boss that you can manipulate into falling to his death.

I think that was the last boss I beat in the game, the second after the first Giant one.

Also, I'm not sure where I'd place Elden Ring as I haven't completed it yet, but, yeah it could dethrone Dark Souls 3 for me if the sum of it's parts is as good as the polls say, but Idk how many people who've contributed to those polls only really played ER and maybe a bit of Bloodborne/Sekiro and DS3.

And yeah, DS2 does get a lot of hate, presumably a lot of it is unjustified ,and the DLC is widely regarded as top-quality, so if you're gonna get any version of it, I hear SOTFS is def the one to go for - I did get that one, but, as I say, didn't make it to the DLC.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I mean, at least you know DS2 is always there if you fancy another go, it's not going anywhere. I'd agree that the DLC is excellent. Another thing it did well was new game+. New items, different enemy placements, bosses suddenly jumping out at you in random spots, that sort of thing.

I forgot to put Elden Ring in my list, I'd probably put it second behind DS3, that game just resonated with me for some reason.

@HallowMoonshadow I've never gone full faith before. Dabbled with it in Elden Ring and the original Dark Souls, it was quite fun. Enjoy, let me know how you get on!

@HallowMoonshadow Whoah, are you going try to play BG3 and Elden Ring in tandem? Those are two enormous epics to try to juggle! I know, because I’ve got both of them on my backlog list. 😅

I’m giving ER a wide berth until I get to Dark Souls 3 later this year though. But I’m glad to hear ER is proving to scratch that itch. Even though it’s a long and complex RPG, its action focused combat might be different enough to be a good diversion between time in BG3.

@HallowMoonshadow Do you normally farm in Souls games? Just asking 'cause that's the approach I took back when I was playing them. If so, I can recommend some good farming spots, early on. Otherwise I'll trust that your swords/spells and skills will be enough to carry you through the game! You appear to be quite adept at the games from what I've read of your previous progress, so compliments there!