VideoGame_Discussion

Elden ring board game Kickstarter is up. Those prices. Lol. Fudge right off.

It's probably Steam Forged Games. No one buys their stuff for the game, just the minis.

Kommie wrote:

It is. The all in is almost $500. Looks like an extra bonus room is required to play it.

Kommie wrote:

They look quite nice in the Kickstarter. I can imagine putting together a badass Elden Ring D&D campaign.

I'm SO late to the party...sort of.

Played some Dark Souls Remastered on PS4 last summer. Absolutely hated it. Clunky controls, sloppy camera, bland graphics, uninteresting enemies, unfair difficulty (yeah yeah, flame me...but I'm not totally wrong about these things).

That being said, I still thought "maybe I'll like Elden Ring, because as a kid I REALLY liked trudging through Zelda 1 discovering all the cool stuff and going on adventures". I read the warnings...."this is STILL a Souls game!"...."if you hate Dark Souls, you'll hate Elden Ring"...

Well I gave it a shot anyway. Grabbed the PS4 version to play on my PS5 in BC mode (best way to play I hear) for $25 off Gamefly a couple of weeks ago.

Lo and behold...I'm loving this game. I can't stop thinking about it and wanting to discover more. The other comment people made about the game that made it different from Souls games is the fact that you can avoid the next big enemy and instead go level up and just enjoy. In Dark Souls, I felt like I HAD to get past the next area just to play the game. In Elden Ring, I can...avoid. I can go learn something on my own while enjoying it, rather than having education forced down my throat through 50 deaths.

It's not like I'm good at the game. I still die alot, in places I shouldn't die. The horse is a godsend. Love being able to run away in no time. I'm learning about spells and ashes and crafting...but have a long way to go. I'm 10 hours in, and PSN tells me I have 1% of the trophies

So I'm a super noob...willing to share stories and listen to you veterans. Who's still playing??????

DS1 is a pretty open game, but that is often the mental strain that it creates. One of my favorite parts about it is there are other places to go most of the time if you are struggling in a spot.

There are quite a few OP grind up spots early too. I guess the Bull on the bridge can be a roadblock if you aren’t willing to put in a little grinding.

@Admiral I was in the same boat as you. I generally did not enjoy playing the Souls series at all but loved Elden Ring. Some of the Souls vets say it's nothing special, but effectively having a difficulty slider through spirit summons eliminates that frustration brick wall that a lot of the other games have.

If you want to make the early game easier get a 100% physical block shield (I think Beast Crest Heater Shield is available early), the Meteorite Staff, and Rock Sling.

If you want to maximize NPC interactions this thread is essential: https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/tjmodv...

All the games have easy mode options but it requires a bit more looking into stuff in the others and as always you have to swallow your pride (that is an issue for some people lol).

And yeah there is always grinding like Feeb said.

Speaking of easy mode in DS… poor Sterling. They do it to themselves though even jokingly.

https://youtu.be/l-QJqr1Wh6U

This is fantastic

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/z7gzo5...

Gypsy wrote:

Maybe I misinterpreted how DS1's layout was then. It felt fairly linear at the beginning, with no real options other than the path I was trying to take....and it was ridiculously difficult and not fun.

If you mean "open" as in, many different areas to investigate, I suppose that could be true. But it definitely felt like the areas were small, closed off, tunneled, etc. Definitely not sprawling like Elden Ring (not news to anyone, I know....).

Admiral wrote:

It definitely has a designed path. And the lead up to the first boss may be the hardest part of the game “at level.” That’s definitely true. It doesn’t really open up and feel interconnected until you get going. If you tried to take the wrong path- catacomb etc. that’s oops.

Orlandu wrote:

That's certainly a benefit. Even random things like having friendly invasions from NPC characters to help out in certain battles is both cool and refreshing. Granted, maybe that ruins the experience for the vets...but I love it.


I have a large leather shield right now, but I haven't really checked it's stats Mostly because it's the one I have and I don't have much of a choice so why bother lol I have found a more recent merchant though that sells another shield. I'll look into that one too to see which one has a higher physical block. I'm still learning about all of the stats. Not many of the strategy guides / videos really talk about just HOW important it is to be knowledgeable on the stats numbers...but for non-souls people, I think all of the stats screens are way more important than in other RPG's that are easier.. I do need to look into something else. Do you parry much with your shield? I would love to get good at that, but I'm not sure it's in my skill set.


That's a great thread! So crazy how intricate the interactions can be...like visiting a person two, three, or more times back and forth just to get different dialogue. Like, how would someone know to do that?!?!?

Feeb wrote:



So DS1 is "open", giving you freedom to go anywhere...but everywhere is the wrong path except 1? lol

Admiral wrote:

Literally. If you’re really good you can branch out but there is a pretty straight forward “expected” first play through path. Through that crapty town with dudes on the roof and the bridge boss. You can certainly work around a bit but then I think you’ll end up at the goat butt-hole. It opens up after the gargoyles mostly. It’s definitely challenging the first time if you don’t over level. But you can grind all you want and almost trivialize the early bosses with the right build etc.

Feeb wrote:

After playing a few hours of DS1 last summer (and hating it), and now playing Elden Ring (and loving it), I really can't see myself playing any other kind of Souls game to be honest. What you are describing simply does not sound appealing to me It's fine...I'm just not that kind of player I guess. Grinding isn't even the problem really...I don't mind grinding in Elden Ring...or Dragon Warrior, or any other game that requires some grinding.

I also think one of the appealing parts of DS1 for Souls vets is the level layout. All of the hidden nooks and crannies, the slightly-out-of-camera jumps and passages and walking paths. You can easily miss them, and it's intentional this way. To me, that just feels...cheap in a way. Not super creative. I do suppose it forces the player to be more investigative and to keep their eyes peeled and REALLY look into every area. It does seem like there is almost too much to look at, and much of it isn't important, but then there are a handful of things you CAN'T MISS or you're screwed lol

Again, I am certain I didn't play enough of the game to really get it. But these are impressions I had, and things I don't think Elden Ring is doing to me.

Like Feeb is saying the path you are supposed to take is fairly straight forward for sure but the game world is very open. Just look at world maps.

DS1 is easier than DS3/BB/Elden Ring etc in terms of combat I say this as someone with 6+ playthroughs and hundreds of hours in most of these games.

Some quick hitter reasons why. Poise is busted, it's very possible to chonk armor and block your way through much of the game. The bosses are simply slow and much easier. There is nothing in the whole game including DLC that can touch the back third of Elden Ring at a minimum but even just much of DS3/BB/ER in general. Really the whole game is slow, you just have to learn it if you want to beat it.

First playthroughs w/o doing any research are too hard to rate because everyone is different. I will say the environment and arcane nature of DS1 is *probably* more difficult than the other games as well as the actual enemies within DS1 though. There are quite a few "gotcha" type things. Once you know everything, that removes the challenge around it. I don't want to bring up specific examples for spoiler reasons but DS1 has many such examples. Also as stated you can grind in any of these games. Any comments I'm making about difficulty are assuming no grinding/natural progression.

I am genuinely intrigued to see where you are at with Elden Ring once you hit the back third @Admiral . Looking forward to seeing what you think of many bosses in general.

Edit: And yeah I really enjoy the secrets in all of these games. Whacking walls, opening chests and warping, secret areas. I love discovering that crap but it's not for everyone and I'd never tell anyone they shouldn't look up how to find things if that is how they would rather play.

Gypsy wrote:



Uh oh.

So are some people giving up when it gets to this point? What's the secret here then? MAD leveling up? Certain weapons?

One of the things I don't like hearing about ER too is how you can miss SO much of the story, and items in general. I suppose that's the nature of Open World...but I'd hate to have that FOMO. Doubt I'd play through the whole thing again at any time after I beat it once.

Admiral wrote:

The bosses and even some of the regular enemies just REALLY ramp up imo. Some of the bosses are pretty optional however. Spirit ashes help a lot and it sounds like you are willing to use them. Some bosses are absolutely brutal w/o them.

And yes there is a lot you can miss I'd say if you are worried about that go here: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Elden+Ring+W...

Gypsy wrote:

Well, I'm around Level 25 I guess and haven't even attempted Margit yet I just don't think I'm ready skillwise. Should be QUITE a while until I get that far.


"Whacking walls" eh? Are there many walls to whack in Elden Ring? I kind of didn't know that was a thing...lol

Gypsy wrote:

Good to know. I appreciate the insight and the links

Admiral wrote:

Yeah it's a major thing more or less. Referred to as illusory walls.

You should revisit DS once you understand the systems and gameplay better. I played it at launch and struggled because I did not understand it very well. I had played Demon’s Souls quite a bit too- but didn’t understand the summons, magic etc. The learning curve will be mostly gone after ER.

@Feeb That's probably not a bad idea. You don't think it will feel too "archaic" by that point? People say the quality of life improvements in ER are really game changing (for better or worse)...

Not at all. It’s a boss battling game in the end. It’s just more of what is great about the series.

I personally had a BLAST revisiting DS3 (for a second play through), after my first ER playthrough. DS3 is the staple of the series, and absolutely worth playing more than the predacessors IMHO.

Admiral wrote:

I don't have a clue. That's why I used a guide when I played. Everyone says you can do that stuff on a second run, but I'd really rather my first run (which was 100+ hours) to be as thorough as possible. As for parrying I almost never did. I mostly blocked and dodge-rolled. There's one enemy that really should be parried but I kind of just brute forced my way through it. Moonveil is an incredible weapon that can interrupt quite a few enemy attacks with its Ash of War. Flame of the Redmanes is also a great way to stagger enemies. Between those two and spirit ashes I didn't run into a lot of scenarios that I couldn't cheese my way through.

Crap.

https://www.goodsmileus.com/product/figma-fluted-a...

MrBean wrote:

That looks nice.

Orlandu wrote:


I think that's the beauty of this game. Kind of how people would talk about Breath of the Wild and all the different ways to accomplish goals, Elden Ring allows everyone to find their own way of being successful.

I found that you can sit on top of some ruins and spam magic at the Tree Sentinel...he can't hit you. It's not a fight at all...super lame and cheesy, but I'm doing it. The Demi Human guy, I ran past him over and over on Torrent hitting him in the ass....killed him in about 10 minutes without taking a lick of damage. Souls vets would hate me for it, but it's how I'm winning

Thanks for the info on those weapons I'm finding that the Twin Blade and a staff for magic are my go to weapons for now. I have other, stronger weapons but I kind of just like it's power and speed. With a few hits of magic prior to having to fight, I'm finding I can take on most smaller enemies for now...and some dungeon bosses are REAL easy with magic too.

Magic is definitely the way to go for most of the game if you want to have an easier time. I definitely used he run away with Torrrent while casting spells strategy. There are a few bosses that input read spells (dodge immediately upon casting), but you can counter them with delayed activation spells like Rock Sling.

You pretty much nailed my strategy Send out the Wolves to annoy/distract the enemies (small bosses?), and spam magic at them. Usually works pretty well.

That will work for bosses the entire game. A spirit summon keeps them occupied long enough for you to get a lot of free hits in. After a while you learn to sort of bounce aggro with your spirit summon to keep the boss turning back and forth without attacking too much.

I keep seeing people in love with the Jelly Fish spirit...is that worth upgrading? I usually go with the wolves...I only have 5 spirits, and 2 of them I can't use yet (not enough FP I think).

The jellyfish was pretty OP at launch but they nerfed it I believe. I used it until I got the mimic. Then I used the archer from the wolf lady quest. Lots of really strong ones.

I played DS:Remastered a year ago and Elden Ring earlier this year. I'll play DS2, DS3, BB, Sekiro and DeS at some point.

@Admiral One spirit summon that works really well for most of the game is the Skeletal Militiamen. They can respawn if you keep a boss from hitting them while they're down. They're also cheaper to summon and a bit better than the wolves.

So obviously the mimic is cracked in half but if we ignore that because reasons I really liked Stormhawk Deenh. Has to be in the top 5 non-Mimic ashes. Lhutel and Tiche are right there too. In general the elite summons are better.