Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

it took me a while to realise I could fast-travel out of Table of Lost Grace, I got beaten up by the sorcerer guy who spawns there a fair few times.

That guy is annoying! I got him down to two swings from death and then he chugged an estus. No idea if he provides any benefit in death other than an item which allows you to be invaded at any time which, lol nah cheers

I got kidnapped to the mines yeah, the gross millipede sorcerers are very, very annoying but it's not that hard to suicide run to the upgrade material drops and sprint downhill to the save point. Going outside and seeing the absolute state of the place you're in is a hell of a vibe

Mounted combat is giving me a lot of flashbacks to embarrassing air swings in mount and blade. When fighting mounted enemies I only ever use the horse for a quick first strike, if that, then just dismount and go carefully timed guard counters. The horse does make it feel like you're never really stuck in trouble anywhere when you're outside though

Sometimes, and only sometimes, I slay an enemy and get this kind of red glow about me as though I've drunk a potion - is that health replenishment? It's only happened once or twice. I do miss that mechanic from Bloodborne.

Sometimes if there is a group of similar enemies together on the map and you kill all of them, your stock of healing potions is replenished by x amount

If someone online approves a sign you've written it's just a straight one off health refill (I always get loads when I'm just leaving a bonfire for the first time in a session and rarely ever when I'm actually injured and in combat)

limmy streaming on twitch atm

making me realise mounted combat a *lot* easier when you’re not just armed with a dagger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVE1PZgCgqA
^useful non-spoiler info

great video, thank you! lots of good horse tips in there.

also, i have had very good look in just stumbling onto maps while exploring, but a VERY useful tip in that video is that there's actually a tiny little icon on your map, in the unexplored areas, showing you where you can find the map for that area.

so for anyone struggling to find a map still, take a good look at the map and see what pops out on the unexplored areas.

also, no surprise but holy shit this game must be big. i've warped to a couple places that are waaaaay far away and extend the map out that far to reveal it. *gulp*

god i hope i can beat this game

Didn't you say you never beat all the other From games? That's a bit like saying you can never finish a steak but are competing in one of those 72oz Texas-sized clean-plate competitions.

the real beating this game is the friends we made along the way

i will go try him myself before too long but how hard is the swamp dragon?

If you get that guard break thing where you get the parry sound and they fall to their knees, is there a bloodborne-style visceral attack that can be triggered from the front or are you just expected to circle round and backstab? I've just been getting regular swings coming out whenever I try to follow one up and it feels a bit anticlimactic

That's a bit like saying you can never finish a steak but are competing in one of those 72oz Texas-sized clean-plate competitions.

that is as good a description of what my life is like as anything else, haha!

i do think that this game is supposed to be easier, overall, if still challenging (for me). one big thing is that since it's open-world, it is usually very easy to escape a hairy situation and then just fast-travel to a totally different, easier, area. and also, the vastness of the world means that i'm not eventually "stuck" on a boss like i was in earlier souls games - there are so many other things to do that are slightly easier, so i can go back later.

the first boss in the stormveil castle (forgot its name, but it's the one on the big bridge with no sides near the gates) is kind of a good example of all this. i ran across it the first time and got completely stomped, classic YOU DIED style. i tried again a few more times, and it didn't take me long to get back into the boss fight since now you can re-spawn right outside it. i continued dying, so i explored the big island south of the starting point (forgot the name, sorry), and the area to the east (east Lind...horn? I'm writing this without consulting the internet or upthread to show the depths of how little I remember areas and names, lol. lindmane? east lindmane?). last night i tried the stormveil boss again and was able to get it down to 1/4 health a few times. so i'll just go do some more exploring and come back in another few hours of gameplay, and i think i'll be ready to take it down and keep going into Stormveil.

WHAT'SA it gonna TAAAAAAAAAAAKE?

sorry, spud infinity just came on and i'm the world's undisputed #1 fan of the song, so

It can be your "Eye of the Tiger."

Josh you should be playing this game right now! this is like when botw came out or mario 64 came out or ff7

also, i mean no one has even brought up the demigod that just wants to hold you, and to whom you just want to be held by

sigh. there is a better than average chance I might buy it after I finish horizon zero Dawn. But I'm not sure I've ever paid full price for any (not Nintendo) game, and I've got an epic backlog. Plus, a giant non-incremental progress open world game would probably drive my family crazy. Where is Dad? He's in the basement again, duh

i guess it's time to choose what's more important. elden ring, or your family.

i want to remind you that this game has already been rated a 10.0

at least youre not in the basement of the local bar! where theres another bar guess, it could just have two stories, or maybe its a restaurant that has a bar in the basement

that sounds nice, having a nice protein and carbs eating session upstairs, maybe pour out the poopsock, then head downstairs to grab a beer and play some elden ring

its like cheers except in the back room instead of pool theres console gaming

it's the white lodge to the cryptopawnshop's black lodge

WHAT'SA it gonna TAAAAAAAAAAAKE?

sorry, spud infinity just came on and i'm the world's undisputed #1 fan of the song, so

― dig your way out of the shit with a gold magic shovel! (Karl Malone), Monday, February 28, 2022 4:42 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Haha I'd left the album playing when I popped to the shop next door and was reading this thread as I walked back in the door to this song as I read this

you guys aren't kidding about that elevator ride, wow

ended up at siofra after choosing to explore rather than proceed through stormveil and it's really worth pushing through, the final boss fight down there is beautiful

Oh fr? I started exploring down there, but the insane ghost archers made me say "mmm, maybe later". I was able to beat Margit after doing the Weeping Peninsula and some more leveling/upgrading, so I think it's time for Stormveil.

Also I opened a chest and was taken to a tower far away, where I killed a giant lava golem and got an hp-regenerating talisman.

Speaking of, yes you can do a visceral/crit attack on big enemies after stunning them, although it's not always the head. I couldn't figure it out at first with that giant, but he had a glowing spot on his chest that worked.

did anyone participate in the open beta or follow it much? i'm curious how much of the map was open before launch day

there was no open beta

there was a closed beta, which i think is what he's referring to
https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-fromsoftware-varre-npc-dark-souls-bloodborne-1848589678

yep whoops, don't know why i added "open" on there.

also, i think most of my deaths come when i think i'm holding my shield up with L1, but in fact I am drawing my bow

It was a lot of Limgrave, and you could fight Margit.

Found a bridge with multiple giant lava golem where they kept hitting each other and knocking each other down so I could stab them in their hearts, it was hilarious.

restarted with vagabond rather than bandit and by god it’s so much easier. mounted combat? just get your halberd on and you’re done.

retraced most of my steps - tho there’s a shack to the north in limgrave i can’t find again. also got absolutely hammered by some reincarnating ghouls of some sort while lost in the mist in the woods. but made my way up through storm pass without any problems. well charged up and backstabbed my way back down anyway.

just took out leonine! very good times with the videogames these last few days

You can kill those reincarnated ghouls for good by hitting them as they’re reincarnating (they’re a remains glow blue). Same goes for Skellies.

Also wow Jordan you killed that night? I got one shot and got the hell out of there. Might go back and give him a go

This game is pretty amazing

okay, the fire golem wasn't actually that difficult. the ol' bloodborene strategy of hug the body, dish out hits, rolls even further into the body when he does his easily telegraphed move. Just cashed in Goldrick's great soul (still going to be using DS lingo until I master the new Elden Ring lore) for the grafted dragon head and it's balls fun. Very happy with my str/faith build, been swinging my scythe and black fireballing my way to the position of Elden Lord with a skip in my step. favourite part of this being open world is I feel like I have the time to try out so many different play styles/weapons. Plan to spend the next hour shield blocking before punching monsters in the face with a fiery dragon head. what more could you want from a video game?

Very glad they incorporated parts of Bloodborne's lovecraftian monster design. The massive squid balls on the beach, old mate boss cutting his arm off, the disgusting great tree monster. Realising my most desired from soft game would be this, except with Dante's inferno-esque lore in a bloodborne tone. Open world hell exploring would be amazing and feels like it would fit perfectly into the fromsoft repertoire. This raises the question, where do fromsoft go after this? I don't know if Elden Ring 2 as a straight rehash would hit the same with critics as much as this one (which isn't to say I wouldn't play the hell out of it). They've done fantasy, they've done horror. Based on video game tropes I am highly looking forward to the Elden ring: SPACETRAVEL expansion coming out at the start of this year.

Also I am so impressed at this game from a workload perspective. In awe at how much time and attention would have to be put in. Must have been a crazy increase in budget from their previous titles

it's time for them to make a new armored core

Man, bummed I’ve got a packed week and probably won’t be able to fire this back up until the weekend. Will have to live vicariously through you all.

Same! I beat Godrick btw, now I have a surfeit of different places to explore.

I think I explored too much. Stomped Goldrick first time because I’m level 46 lol

i have no idea where godrick is, and i'm level 33

I went all over the bloody world last night and I know I haven't even scratched the surface yet. Just kept going and going until I got OP'd by some sneak attackers. Lost a lot of Runes. There are also far fewer waypoints as you get further out. Still stuck on Margaret though - I get him down to second phase and then his glowy hammer just mooshes me. I'm probably around level 19 or something I think. The coolest thing about this game is that grinding doesn't really have to feel like grinding since you're generally exploring the world at the same time as killing random enemies and fauna; feeling the place out, trying not to You Died.

Ha, I have a friend playing this who has dedicated himself to riding about the entire world without actually doing anything yet, just picking things up, getting maps, and seeing the sites. I've toyed around with that approach but feel less overwhelmed when I'm doing the slow, thorough exploration approach (even though I'm clearly missing tons of shit, such as most of those stairways that lead to an underground treasure room from overworld ruins).

So I've been trying to figure out what the boss combat is trying to teach me. It definitely punishes you if try to just stay close to the boss and dodge through attacks, since many bosses have these extremely fast attacks that are basically un-dodgeable. Although maybe that's telling me I should be using a shield, lol. I've had the best luck keeping middle distance and using the big jump attacks or charged attacks/ash of war moves after avoiding a combo. Not to mention coming back later if I'm not getting close to getting them.

In the Souls games it always felt like you could avoid ever getting hit by bosses if you knew their moveset and could read them. Here it doesn't quite feel like that -- I wonder if the fact that you have additional options to approaching bosses (spirit summons, coming back overleveled, etc) means that taking some damage is inevitable, or if I just haven't quite gotten the hang of the new combat systems yet.

(and I'm not saying that I'm actually trying to beat bosses without getting hit or anything, just to play it like Elden Ring and not like Dark Souls)

my dex build is based on running in, jump attack, maybe get off a twinblade combo, then retreat and wait for another opening. supported of course by my good friend Ghostly Jellyfish

Are you lot playing online or offline? I find online a bit off-putting to be honest. Too many messages and the ghosts distract me

bloodstains next to an elevator shaft are too funny to pass up imo

Sorting out the troll vs useful messages is its own metagame.

(but yeah, there are a ton of messages right now, there will probably be fewer later on)

I can’t get the What stains to work for some reason. I wonder if it’s some sort of a glitch specific to my play through

are What stains blood stains? i would call them How stains, haha. :) anyway, if so, i'm having the same problem - i often click on blood stains, and i only see the manner of death maybe 1 out of 10