What games are you playing now?

Not sure if he's supposed to be that hard, or if I was just underleved, but it felt like a considerable challenge. Though, I was really happy I managed to best him after only 7-8 tries.

Anyway, besides the tense fight, the best thing about the game so far is the exploration. Just amazing. And I love how they hide smalled hidden holes everywhere in the castle. I love that. I hope they keep this great level design throughout the whole of it.
I believe he is supposed to be hard for low level characters. The obvious reason is, that it is a souls-like, which is expected to be hard. But the second idea is that you get destroyed, if you try him too early, and go leveling and exploring a little bit after that experience. This is a little bit like the way Gothic prevents you from going to certain areas too early. It is a clever way to make a game open world without dynamic level scaling.

And yes, exploration is very good. You should try to find all secret areas in Stormveil Castle. There are clever hints to such secrets, for example by doors, which can only be opened from the other side or by goodies, which seem to be unreachable. You have to make clever use of the third dimension in order to find all ways. You can spend a few hours by finding all of these in Stormveil castle alone. I don't remember any other game, which made exploring a building so much fun.
 
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Yeah, I'm familiar with how Fromsoft gates their areas with difficult bosses, but I never know if it's meant to be particularly difficult, or I'm just underpowered.

But nevermind, I spoke too soon. I went back and tried to actually beat the Tree Sentinel after Margit, thinking I'd be strong enough, and man, he makes Margit seem like a breeze. He's so freakin' aggressive and has an insane reach from atop that horse.
 
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FROM game fights are the sort of thing that seems very hard until it doesn't. At least that's always been my experience. A boss often feels too fast, too aggressive, etc at first, and then as you fight it and get its rhythms down, the fight slows down and gets easier. It's not just a matter of increasing your physical skll, your abiltiy to press THIS button at THAT time. It's very much a mental thing. For me, it was a process that didn't require much conscious thought, though there is some of that (like choosing to use a different weapon because it's faster, gives you more reach, etc)
 
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But nevermind, I spoke too soon. I went back and tried to actually beat the Tree Sentinel after Margit, thinking I'd be strong enough, and man, he makes Margit seem like a breeze. He's so freakin' aggressive and has an insane reach from atop that horse.
Yes, the Tree Sentinel is much harder. Probably he is placed there at the very beginning as a reminder to be humble and not try every enemy on first sight. Tip: You can fight enemies in the open world differently from those in arenas.
I started as a bow fighter (which a prefer in all RPGs anyway) and shot him from a high position on the nearby church, which I reached by horse. If you want to fight in melee you should also be able to summon a spirit there.
However, you need not be ashamed, if you come back much later...
 
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Well, I managed to beat the Tree Sentinel, without any other leveling or using any other items that I had on me. I used a combination of the +7 Spear I had found before (it's around the same damage as my +4 big sword, but its range is much longer and it's faster in speed). On which I casted the Armament buff for more magic damage. I summoned the wolf spirits that did manage to keep him busy for a little while. But I think the big improvement was basically just dropping almost all armor off me. I was bare-chested and only had my pants on since I wanted to have fast rolls. And that made real quick work of him, just with regular light attack that was both fast and far enough.

And even though I beat him, I'm kind of disappointed. This happened in previous Dark Souls games I think. It kind of kills the immersion for me when I'm much strong naked and with a cannon in my hand, than by using armor. And I think I'll need a lot of strength to actually keep armor on me and not have a slow roll. I wonder if there's any chance to have a fast roll but also have some decent armor on. Not that I found any armor so far. I'm still rolling with the samurai armor from the start. In all slots.

I kind of hate this fast/slow roll mechanics in Dark Souls/Elden Ring. I liked it much better in Bloodborne and Sekiro where you're just fast by default all the time.

Now I'm at an impase; if I should spec for strength or dex, since the spear is obviously so very strong. But I'm already around 8 points further deep into strength. Maybe I'll do both. That's another thing I loved in Sekiro and Bloodborne a lot more. The fact that you stick with your weapon a lot more, it would seem to me. I'm kind of scared of going dex, since the spear is already +7 and I imagine I will be maxing it out very soon, and would then likely stumble onto something else, probably strength based.
 
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Well, I managed to beat the Tree Sentinel, without any other leveling or using any other items that I had on me. I used a combination of the +7 Spear I had found before (it's around the same damage as my +4 big sword, but its range is much longer and it's faster in speed). On which I casted the Armament buff for more magic damage. I summoned the wolf spirits that did manage to keep him busy for a little while. But I think the big improvement was basically just dropping almost all armor off me. I was bare-chested and only had my pants on since I wanted to have fast rolls. And that made real quick work of him, just with regular light attack that was both fast and far enough.

And even though I beat him, I'm kind of disappointed. This happened in previous Dark Souls games I think. It kind of kills the immersion for me when I'm much strong naked and with a cannon in my hand, than by using armor. And I think I'll need a lot of strength to actually keep armor on me and not have a slow roll. I wonder if there's any chance to have a fast roll but also have some decent armor on. Not that I found any armor so far. I'm still rolling with the samurai armor from the start. In all slots.

I kind of hate this fast/slow roll mechanics in Dark Souls/Elden Ring. I liked it much better in Bloodborne and Sekiro where you're just fast by default all the time.

Now I'm at an impase if I should spec for strength or dex, since the spear is obviously so very strong. Maybe I'll do both. That's another thing I loved in Sekiro and Bloodborne a lot more. The fact that you stick with your weapon a lot more, it would seem to me.
What you describe is simply a tradeoff between being fast and wearing heavy equipment. This kind of tradeoff is also used in many RPGs, where wearing heavy armour has a cost (e.g. makes casting spells harder). You need to increase endurance for higher equipment load, but there are also items to increase the allowed load. Depending on you build you will prefer either rolling or blocking with a shield (what is better also depends on the enemy, of course). Note that second and third weapons in your left and right hand also count for equiment load, so you should equip only one weapon if you want to reduce load. I assume that the Samurai is meant as a fast character using light armour. Normally you shouldn't be overloaded with the starting equipment. May be you have too many additional weapons equipped in the secondary slots?
However, increasing endurance for robustness and vigor for life is not a bad idea anyways.
With regard to the weapon stats: As a samurai you start with an Uchikatana, which levels with strength and dex. Spears also level with strength and dex, but some types more with dex. So investing in dex should be good for both. I stayed with the utchikatana for a long time and changed to another katana later, so I used that for most of the time. (And the bow, of course.)
That the spear is so much better than your starting weapon depends on the +7 upgrade. Once you upgrade your katana to that level, it will be as good.
Note that I played none of the other FROM software games because usually I don't like arena boss fights and similar console mechanics. So I can't compare Elden Ring with those.
 
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Now that you mention it, I should've just upgraded the Uchikatana instead of the Dismounter. I wasted a lot of smithing stones on that, and it turns out I'm not gonna use it since the spear is much better. I wasn't really thinking of upgrading and used the first better weapon to replace it. So it is, a not-so-optimal playthrough. But no problem; after watching Dunkey's Elden Ring video I've decided there's no way I can just play it once; seeing the size of this thing. It is absolutely massive.

A slight disappointment. I found the little sewer right near the starting swamp, and was not so pleasantly surprised that they reused a trick from Bloodborne. Namely, taking you to a late-game area of the game, just to shock you a little bit. It felt a bit underwhelming. Both that Bloodborne did it masterfully in comparison. And the fact that you very quickly get back to being able to teleport yourself back home. Plus, it being an open world, I already got to that late-stage area of the game on my own. With little difficulty. So, I appreciated the nod, but again, Bloodborne did it in such a way that I still remember my skin crawling when it did that. An absolute fantastic moment. God, I wish they'd bring it over to PC.

Oh, and if you go back to the same sewer/chest, it does the same thing again. Meh, that really makes it feel a bit cheap. It would've been nice just as a one off thing. Again, like Bloodborne did it. Anyway, a very small blemish on what looks like a great game. I can't get over how fantastic the combat system is. So solid and tight. Even on horse-back. It truly is the culmination of all their games.:D
 
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I haven't been gaming as much as usual due to work and sickness (since the borders have opened/restrictions relaxed we've been catching everything going).
However, I have started playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker again. Last I played I was doing the Vordakai quest sequence, which I found incredibly frustrating. Finally past that, and things seem a bit better. Maybe I'll actually finish this thing one day.
 
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSyRf8rAjTs


hilarious video.

I find it fascinating how FromSoft's gameworlds are just great to explore even without any strong narrative dragging you along. You just want to see what other encounter they come up with. I constantly find myself just clearing the map, exploring every nook and cranny, without any particular quest or objective in mind. The level itself is the reward. That's a sign of strong level design.
 
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Great find, thanks. I watched it and found that it is a complete series, they are all hilarious. E.g. #14. By the way: did you meet a runebear yet? :cool:
Oh yeah. I went to unlock one of the map monolyths, and stumbled onto one I think. He blasted me. And upon returning to get my runes back, he chased me while on horseback for a very long distance.
 
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Oh yeah. I went to unlock one of the map monolyths, and stumbled onto one I think. He blasted me. And upon returning to get my runes back, he chased me while on horseback for a very long distance.
Yes, as far as I remember they are the only enemies, who are as fast as your horse. And they are more dangerous than some of the bosses.
 
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@danutz_plusplus Out of curiosity, are you playing with K+M or a gamepad?
M&K. No gamepad for me. Works fine aside from them defaulting to moving the mouse cursor to switch among targets once you lock on. You have to not move the mouse if you want to stay locked on one enemy. Aside from that it’s pretty solid.

Oh, and there’s inconsistency to how you cancel operations. Sometimes Esc and Q are interchangeably used. The UI itself outside of combat takes some getting used to. But in combat it’s perfectly fine aside from the accidental target switching if you move the cursor, I mentioned.
 
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Yes, as far as I remember they are the only enemies, who are as fast as your horse. And they are more dangerous than some of the bosses.
There was a poll on the subreddit at one point asking about "your toughest enemy" and the runebears won. It was a while before I could take them on without my wolves, and there never came a time when fighting one was a casual undertaking.
 
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Started Assassins Creed Odyssey, lev 11 or so and put level scaling to heavy; i hope i will finish it but dont think so, was looking at the map and holy shit, its bigger than world of warcraft :LOL:
 
Started Assassins Creed Odyssey, lev 11 or so and put level scaling to heavy; i hope i will finish it but dont think so, was looking at the map and holy shit, its bigger than world of warcraft :LOL:
That's what I keep hearing, that it's one of the biggest and most stuffed of content. I don't know if it's meaningful content. But I generally heard good things. Valhalla on the other hand, I hear mixed. It's similar in size, but some say it's worthwhile. Others are saying not so much.

I've only basically finished the first AC game, and started the second but never got too far. And now, even though I pretty much own all of them (aside from Valhalla, since it never came to steam), I don't know if I'll ever get to them. There's so many of them. It's similar to how I feel about Marvel movies. The backlog is already huge even without them. But being OCD I'd feel I wouldn't get the most of them without going through them all.

Personally, I've been at it with exploring Elden Ring, and avoiding any of the main fights or places. And I just stumbled onto an area that is in keeping with previous FromSoft games, but even though I saw it before it thematically, it was still pretty impressive and really made me feel little. The world is just enormous. It's called the Siofra River, for those that know it.
I'm talking about the long elevator to the "underworld". I love the star-riddled sky that you see even though you're deep into the earth. Cool stuff. I love these physically impossible places that Fromsoft likes to pepper their world with.
 
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I've only basically finished the first AC game, and started the second but never got too far. And now, even though I pretty much own all of them (aside from Valhalla, since it never came to steam), I don't know if I'll ever get to them. There's so many of them. It's similar to how I feel about Marvel movies. The backlog is already huge even without them. But being OCD I'd feel I wouldn't get the most of them without going through them all.
The AC games are a nightmare for OCD people. They're all packed full of useless challenges and collectibles.

Of the ones I've tried, and I've tried most of them, I think Odyssey is the best. That's mostly due to the setting which I really like there.

It's a very overrated series imo. If you ever do decide to go back to it, don't feel compelled to try to play them all. The overarching plot is silly as hell anyways. Just treat them as standalone games and play the ones where the setting appeals to you
 
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