Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@HallowMoonshadow two all time classics you are juggling 😅

Elden Ring was my first souls game and I didn't really aim for a set build, but I really enjoyed giving my tarnished a "sword and seal" faith/dexterity focus when it became available, so it isn't like faith will tank your playthrough in any way, and levelling vigour and strength later on is a given anyway. It means you can kind of do everything, either ranged, mid range and up close depending on the situation. And I too loved exploring as blind as possible as it's easy enough to top up your runes if needs be and there game is phenomenal when exploring and making your own decisions

Enjoy, if your brain can handle so many good games rattling round in it 😁

@HallowMoonshadow Without wanting to give too much away, I reckon an all-out faith build is viable. Put it this way, incantations extend far beyond heaing spells in this one.

May the lord be with you sister.

@HallowMoonshadow Re-speccing is a bit easier than in previous games i beleive, but you do have to beat an early-ish boss and have a specific item. I defo experimented more than in their other games and must have re-specced at least a handful of times. But i did spend a loooooooong time in the game! Enjoy!

@HallowMoonshadow Congratulations on felling Margit! I used the jellyfish ashes against him, with my Nordic version of a Guts build, too! .I would appreciate being tagged in order to observe your continuing progress throughout the game.

@Hapless 60 Vig 66 Str 34 End Didn't level up much if anything else from what I can remember, Greatsword, gradually upgraded to +25, of course and Lordsworn Knight's greaves only - for fast-rolling. Used one of the standard preset models and gave him long white hair. Also used a Mimic+7 once I acquired it, but still had to summon for the remaining bosses after Fire Giant. You might not need to!

@Hapless Congratulations man, it seems your prowess in the game is evidently rivalled only by the minority of players. I used Lion's Claw Talisman, that was it, but apparently Shard of Alexander is recommended for the build I based mine off of.

@HallowMoonshadow those of such devout beliefs need not the mind to guide them, even in the darkest times the faith will surely find them.

Remember this, always.

Bohemond XIII wishes you well on your journey, sister inquisitor.

@HallowMoonshadow Well that might be my favourite post ever. Just reading this is making me want to fire it up, and I've got work in the morning.

The coastal cave leads to an island - bear this place in mind for later, as it offers an interesting path for incantation users...

Enjoy Stormveil, it's incredible.

You wouldn't believe much much early game stuff I subsequently discovered I'd bypassed completely on my blind first run. We're talking 60+ hours later lol

Your post was fun and well-written. I enjoy this sort of role-playing immersion in video games. The minimalism of FS games only adds to it.

Damn, this is really making me want to grab the DLC and do a whole fresh run of ER and the expansion, the latter of which I never played.

@HallowMoonshadow I really should. I keep waiting for the games to go lower in sales, but FS is like Nintendo and sets a high-ish limit of how much they're willing to devalue their own products lol

I've heard so many extremely questionable things about DS2, and I detest how DS3 just turned into medieval fantasy Bloodborne (at least, based on the footage I've seen), so I've never been hugely motivated to pick up either, but I probably should.

Which would you recommend first?

@HallowMoonshadow Very impressive progress, ifirc I was much deeper in the game before I had that many flasks, and I completely ignored the Tree Sentinel for fears of being obliterated again by him, it sounds like you are comfortably leveled for Stromveil!

@HallowMoonshadow @Ralizah I ended up really enjoying Dark Souls 2, for sure. But I also can see why people have been critical of it.

I looked through my posts over on the Souls thread and there wasn’t any concise impressions to point you to Ral, but overall there’s something about DS2 that really made me obsessed last year.

I think the biggest drop off from DS1 is probably the map and areas not being as well crafted as DS1 or even Bloodborne. The game does end up being much easier to travel around in though because bonfire fast travel is unlocked from the very beginning. So you can jump back and forth to hub anytime you want, and easily revisit areas.

The other complaint is often about the mobs of enemies, especially in the Scholar of the First Sin version. DS2 has a tendency to have enemies gang up on you. Another complaint you may see is about the inconsistent hit boxes, and honestly I didn’t really feel bothered by this. I’ve always considered the From games to have a little jank in this area.

The bosses are also not as diverse and creative, collectively speaking.

The game does some intriguing things though. The fast travel, as mentioned, the despawning mechanic after killing enemies several times, elemental weapon infusions, the hybrid of both refillable healing through estus flasks and also consumables which you can find and purchase like in Demon’s Souls, among other innovations.

Having not played DS3 yet, it’s hard to recommend it over DS3, but I can only report how much I enjoyed DS2. It was my favorite game I played last year and at one point I said it might be my favorite FromSoft game so far. I still don’t know how I feel about that though. There’s definitely recency bias with it. I would probably still say Bloodborne is my overall favorite, with DS1 and DS2 tied for a close second, followed by Demon’s Souls.

I have DS3 on the docket to play this year, then will finally get around to Elden Ring. I’m doing them in chronological order. And that brings up another point - if you care about the lore and story, there’s some narrative threads that build from DS1 to DS2 and so I assume the same for DS3. Honestly the story and lore isn’t why I play these games and I only saw connections when diving into YouTube videos and reading some of the wikis. I’m sure it’s fine to skip DS2 if you feel like you want to try the more traditional and universally accepted entry.

@Th3solution @HallowMoonshadow I've never been a gigantic fan of the interconnected level design in DS1, so the lack of that isn't really a hit to me. It's usually just confusing for me lol

I probably should consider the heavy level of criticism as well as coming from the cult of Miyazaki.

I'll give DS2 a chance. Thanks for the opinions!

@HallowMoonshadow @Ralizah My understanding is that Scholar is generally accepted as more difficult. The enemy placement and numbers will tend to be harder, but there are isolated exceptions to that also, with a few areas supposedly being easier. The big draw for Scholar, outside of the improved technical polish, is the inclusion of the 3 DLC packs, which are among the best parts of the game, imo. They could always be purchased a la carte with the OG DS2 though, should you prefer to get the original game. I look forward to hearing how it goes for you, if and when. 😄

Edit: Oh and to be clear, there’s still aspects of the interconnectivity and “open-linear” aspects of the DS2 maps, akin to the other FromSoft games, with discoverable short-cuts and whatnot. The hub home base, Majula, has some branching paths that can be done in different orders, and each of the individual areas can sometimes be approached from a few different ways, but its much easier to jump back and forth from bonfire to bonfire as opposed to DS1 where there was a lot of trekking through shortcuts instead.

@HallowMoonshadow @Th3solution Will 100% be playing on my Deck OLED. Even at 30fps, DS1R was such a neat experience on my Switch OLED, and as far as I can tell DS2 should run at a solid 50-60fps on the Deck (might cap to 45fps, which honestly still feels really good to me). Gotta have those deep, dark blacks again, and curl up around dungeons with a comfy handheld! And probably play offline again, because being able to stop and start the game at will is so much more valuable than random little death ghosts and cryptic messages that are either trolling or only useful after I've already messed up.

SotFS seems to be far more updated as well as the most optimized for decent play on the Deck. Plus lower MSRP and it goes on sale for the same price as base DSII on Steam, despite the former coming bundled with a bunch of extra DLC. So I'll be going with that version.

And that progression sounds perfect. DS1 had waaaaay too much twisty-turny interconnectivity for me, which, yes, meant bonfires often didn't take me exactly where I wanted to go.

@HallowMoonshadow Apologies for the late reply! Stormveil will still have tricky moments even if you're a little overpowered. Besides, you'll still be able to enjoy the sheer scale of the place. It's epic. You're probably already there actually!

@HallowMoonshadow IIRC you only need 3 runes to proceed to endgame? I agree that Caelid and also the Snowy Mountains are a big of a drag... but Farum Azula (near-endgame area) is breathtakingly good.

Agree though that Limgrave and Stormveil are just... immaculate. I think most of the game's best content is front-loaded, and I felt this way about the DLC as well.

Elden Ring is still a GOAT'd game, but Sekiro remains (IMO) a much tighter experience - and all the better for being more streamlined

@HallowMoonshadow I'm sorry to hear about your experience of burnout, with regard to Elden Ring. Might I suggest making some, perhaps limited, use of a guide to make your playthrough into a more streamlined experience? I did that. when I played it, myself, and felt little burnout or fatigue as a result.

@HallowMoonshadow Yep Caelid is grim.

I'm on my third playthrough proper of Elden Ring (although I've also messed about in Limgrave with a couple of experimental characters that didn't get off the ground) and each time I play through the game, I gain a new appreciation for an area that I previously disliked. On my second run it was Leyendell, on my third it was Liurnia. It hasn't quite happened with Caelid yet but I'm getting there.

I'd definitely stop for a bit. When you come back to it, hit Altus Plateau (the next area) and hopefully it'll be like a new game again. Or just dip in and out from time to time; look at it as a long-term project!

@HallowMoonshadow True, but it kind of makes sense in a way. Although Demons and Dark Souls threw those obstacles at you, it was always fairly focused in terms of what you had to do.

It's a totally different type of fatigue when you come to a new area in Elden Ring that doesn't land with you. Because then you're left thinking "oh god I've got to do all this again". Especially when the alternative is another massive area you don't like. So I get it! Definitely worth breaking the experience up into smaller parts if you're feeling that way.