Elden Ring: YOU DIED on a horse

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.

Yeah like others I use any and all help freely. Not particularly good at games but also if I have to repeat a section a lot I could easily just lose patience and turn it off.

hit shadow keep entrance rather early before doing a lot of the available areas before so went back to do rauh base / temple ruins and related areas, and also rather dutifully clear out prospect town - a very dull area - and see if there are any other early game areas i should visit first on those elevated gravesite plain plateaus.

jordan, did you say you were using dryleaf arts? struggling to see how you can generate enough killing power with them.

mainly using the massive anvil forge hammer especially for enemies that are resistant to hack n slash weapons - absolutely smashes poise to bits.

I had a few minutes so I popped into Shadow Keep too (New Londo vibes, just got to the first grace), although I don't think I've found those other areas you mention, lol.

I haven't tried the dryleaf arts yet, though a friend was talking about putting different ashes of war on them which sounds like it has a lot of potential.

I'm still using that hammer too, it's ridiculous (and swapping with the backhand blades, which are the polar opposite playstyle, zipping around and slicing enemies up before they can start up their hyperarmor - the weapon art is great for bigger enemies and shield users too).

xp
I want to use the forge hammer but my principled 'not a single point towards INT' position means my guy is just too stupid to lift it.

if I have to repeat a section a lot I could easily just lose patience and turn it off.

Heh this is my favorite part of the game, and if I get help I feel a little empty afterwards like I lost my chance to figure it out. But I totally get that the exploration and lore is the best part for others, and that the combat is just a smaller part.

I mean, don't get me wrong, it is amazing and satisfying when you kill a boss after loads of attempts, but I don't like having to retread through a load of dummies. I've sometimes just been sprinting past them in this expansion, when that happens, which I don't think I did in the main game.

I like those sections more than figuring out bosses, like the Elphael run out of the prayer room - learn where the little guys are, work out how to pull the cleanrots, figure quick sideroutes for getting to the hard men, conserve flasks, try and edge forward run by run till you can make another grace, all deaths died by sloppiness. It's no fun if you're a trash mob killing machine tho - has to be danger throughout.

Had about a week off as I've been at Glastonbury. Decided I was going to just make sure the Gravesite Plain area was fully explored before moving on, and fuck me, I found a whole new area I'd not discovered yet(!) Wowzers!

Can be hard to know which way the critical path is meant to be. My friend apparently got locked out of a bunch of NPC quests by accidentally skipping ahead, which is really easy to do

A friend of mine did his thing where he rode around the entire map before beating any bosses, apparently he found all sorts of backdoor paths. Wouldn't be surprised if he broke some things too.