Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

I'd go STR/FAI core and start pushing DEX alongside - I think that would get you a lot of fun new weapons to try.

Just getting into the perfume bottles and they are incredible fun.

this game would fill a couple hours a night that I’d otherwise be enjoying a pint, and I’m trying to shed some of that COVID weight

Love this rationalizing btw, lol. You should try playing Elden Ring on an exercise bike, that's how I justify it.

xp, definitely want to try a perfumer build at some point, although apparently now they are completely OP and will almost certainly get nerfed

Right - I'm not optimised like the real OP perfumers but even so it's very strong and absurdly good fun. Enjoying it while I can.

There's a popular Erdtree weapon you can find in a chest called Milady... it's a light greatsword that scales on STR and DEX.

So good. Keep coming back to milady - zippy moveset, hits hard, infusable.

i was thinking this game really wants me to be a perfumer and i may oblige!

Jordan how do you ride your bike? Leaning forward with arms on the handlebars holding the controller or more vertically upright? Kinda wish I had that setup

Excellent question, I go back and forth depending how lazy I'm feeling core-wise.

ok. dragon down second go. almost a shame. such a lovely boss.

not dragon. dancing lion.

I’ve found 3 forges so far with those big ogre dudes. Best to circle around them with shield up. After a few hits they’ll be stunned and you can get crit in.

Maliketh Black Blade seems to do a lot of poise damage.

Poking around with a paladin build, I just love a lance. Kinda boring so far? All the enemies act the same and just hit (much) harder. Did enjoy a v difficult duel against a beast claw fuck face, that took several deaths to deal with. At the Bahamut town now

ugh the deathknight at the bottom of the fog rift catacombs is a real dick.

i am close to him now i think. not a big fan of knights in general.

I kinda want that hammer and shield that they're using. They look fun.

always enjoyable when you return to a tricky enemy and manage to kill them on the first go. RIP blackgaol knight.

Rellana down! I've been really getting into parrying these bosses in a way that I don't remember doing much in the base game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6FaGiofuLQ

Also just killed Rellana after about 20 tries. Upgraded Milady to +25 and gave it ice power, me and my mimic frosted her to death (actually my mimic friend killed her during my own death animation - the most satisfying type of victory)

Yeah just killed Rellana now, about the fifth or sixth try. Some of those attacks, yikes. One seemed to blow up the entire arena.

I go in expecting to die like 20x while learning their timings, lol.

I'm very intrigued by the physick tear that lets you perfect block Sekiro-style and respond with a souped-up guard counter, going to have to start trying that on bosses.

This is fun. It randomly reminds me of BG3, some of the environments and the general design. Still hoping for some twisty delicious castle design, haven't seen it yet. Generally pretty dreary so far. Killed Blackgaol on my first try but I am struggling against that lion boss. Decided to try and explore around the main area and see about getting kitted up first. Upgraded the Black Steel Hammer and it is so much fun!

Do people use targeting? I haven't been using it in the expansion but I can't remember if I used it in the main game.

You mean, like lock on?

Yep

Oh yeah, I think it's de rigueur, but it's good to be able to go without it too (like for groups or to mess with an enemy's tracking).

I prob did use it, now I have turned it on. Tho as you say kinda easier not to use it when on horseback against groups. For whatever reason I am staying on Torrent a lot more in this expansion than I did in the original game. Maybe cos it's slightly harder so best not to get dragged into anything.

Just killed the Ghostflame Dragon, p cool fight.

the specimen storehouse is really cool, though i did fall off what seemed to be almost the very top after painstakingly fighting my way through.

noticing that being more aggressive seems to be effective this time around, especially with knights and stuff, i can stagger them fairly easily.

Murdered the lion. What the heck! It was like Maliketh and Placidusax’s angry stepdad. Tough tough fight

When I first got into the game, I recall not using lock on, probably because I forgot it was there. It's actually pretty essential in some fights, especially boss fights, and it made the game way easier and helped it "click" for me. Honestly felt like playing on "extra hard mode" until I started utilizing it properly, that and not fat rolling haha

Weird that the lion was so easy for me. The hardest enemies for me so far have been knights. The one in Fort Of Reprimand took me a few goes, maybe seven or eight, until I realised better to go more aggressive and stagger him. I also had forgotten about critical hit until a good few hours into this expansion.

Rellana down! fantastic boss. Ekzyke’s Decay spell still standing me in good stead.

i’ve given up on the fog rift catacombs deathknight. will come back later.

Got a real rush of base game nostalgia taking on the field dragons - find an awkward ledge for Latenna to shoot from, then gallop round haplessly slapping the dragon's feet as she does all the work. She's still got it.

loooool i had a bit of *session* this morning. as well as rellana also did ghostflame dragon which was very very tight.

but that describes my approach. i kept on riding round on torrent while my mimic tear did a load of stuff. and then periodically popped in for an R1 hack.

realised i’d missed an entire stage one area purely because i said to myself “i’ll come back to that later and if it hadn’t been for LG’s mention of the Fort of Reprimand i probably would have forgotten.

I still haven't found that. :(

Not using spirits or summons has me starting to feel like a grumpy 90s hardcore dude who refuses to listen to anything on a major label.

anything the game offers me i will take. i feel *slightly* like im not really feeling the pain, and will usually try without spirits for a few goes. i admit the mimic tear and something like ekzyke’s decay sort of feels like cheating. but no, im getting a lot of enjoyment from it and ill do whatever the game lets me do.

I have no problem with the knights and it’s nice to have proper strong standard stock enemies to fight again (I killed all the Crucibles in the main game)

Rellana is something else though. I’m appalled, so difficult. They really expect a player to get good enough to do a no-hit run, it seems, I’m two hits and dead

Real Q: are there any legacy dungeons in the DLC that come close to Stormveil/Elphael levels of quality?

So far I’m feeling kinda disappointed, the balance of exposition is all off. DLCs in previous games all felt like victory laps, “here’s the best designed area we can think of”. So far the locales are too featureless and broad

Rellana is interesting, the combos seem to want you to do something besides just dodging? I'm sure it can be done, but it seems to call for parrying, ranged attacks, guard counters maybe. Idk I honestly didn't think she was too bad, but I feel more comfortable with humanoid bosses usually.

I'm hoping for Stormveil-caliber areas too, but I do appreciate how all of the ruins and catacombs subtly defy expectations compared to the base game. Different formats, lots of verticality, connecting to other areas, etc

i quite like the way it’s open spaces tied together with these granny knot small legacy dungeons. it’s a very different feel to elden ring.

Well, finally went into the Shadow Keep, felt like I hit all the major areas before it. What a dungeon. It's Stormveil-esque but even bigger and more incredibly intertwined. I cleared most of it, but probably missed some key secrets and other spots.

Got completely bodied by Commander Gaius. Fuck that dude. Exploring the utterly gorgeous labyrinthine Ruins of Mauh now and they are brutal as well, going to need to take a break for a month while I'm away, so I guess here's as good a spot to chill as any.

Yeah Shadow Keep seems huge, the specimen storehouse is absolutely stunning and I haven't even seen the other parts yet.

Real Q: are there any legacy dungeons in the DLC that come close to Stormveil/Elphael levels of quality?

It definitely seems to amp up after Rellana. Almost everything since that fight has me going "wow" or "damn", including the difficulty. Nearly the entire first area is merely an amuse-bouche if you will.

Ok that’s good to know! I will persevere. My bf hates all rings that are Elden and hates that I’m playing again, so I wanted to make sure my transgressions were justifiable

Not using spirits or summons has me starting to feel like a grumpy 90s hardcore dude who refuses to listen to anything on a major label.

I'm mad overlevelled, I'll shout for mim the second that tombstone appears, all NPC boss summons welcome, if I spot a cheese I'll take it. I am a 90s dad thinking about buying an REM CD.

yeah I have no qualms about Mimic Tearing it any given opportunity, fighting is fun but exploring is better and sometimes without some help the former gets in the way of the latter!

I can't comment on dungeon design till I know things a bit better but I do think the first hours feel a bit too grimly monochrome till you crack into other areas like the ruins and the coast.