Elden Ring journeys and experiences

[JDR13]

New patch added Ray tracing which is somewhat of a surprise. Anyone try it yet? I still haven't upgraded my GPU.

 

[Shagnak]

I noticed that. My GPU is below the minimum rec (6700 xt vs my 6600 xt), so no go there.
The game already looks rather beautiful most of the time, so I imagine it'll be almost orgasmic in some locations with ray tracing

 

[JDR13]

The game already looks rather beautiful most of the time, so I imagine it'll be almost orgasmic in some locations with ray tracing

My thoughts exactly. I expect the performance hit must be massive.

 

[JDR13]

As I expected.

Elden Ring just got ray tracing, but you might not want to use it

People stubbornly sticking to 1080p monitors have been vindicated once again.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[SirJames]

Looked at some youtube comparison videos. I'm unimpressed.

 

[Shagnak]

I've been busy spanking and getting spanked.

Finished the Farum (weird floating stuff) area. Lots of fun. Maliketh only took three attempts, but omg, that Draconic Tree Sentinel just outside his gates took many many attempts. Not the first time that I've found minor bosses way more difficult than the major bosses that they're worth a fraction of the runes of.
There's a secret boss I fought once and failed, that I'll return to later.

Did the optional side area with the Consecrated Snowfields, etc, and worked out how to get to the Haligtree. That was a fun twisty place to explore. Lots of falls, and lots of annoyingly placed enemies. Killed Loretta on second go, but gave up on Malenia. Got her within 25% at one point, but mostly died terribly. Might return later, but she seems like a nice lady and maybe I shouldn't have interrupted her rest.

Such a large, substantial area, amazing that it's very easy just to not go there or even be aware it exists, except for the interwebs and certain helpful people.

So, now the final stretch to the final boss. Hint: Make sure you did everything you wanted in the Capital before you do a certain thing in another area involving burning a tree.
Killed Gideon (second attempt), the Godfrey (second attempt), but the next boss might need some thinking about because he spanked me.

I'll come back later, because I don't want to finish the game before returning to some areas that I think I wasn't thorough enough with. Every time I do I find new stuff. Also, there's an underworld area I haven't found my way to yet (internet says it's Mohgwyn Palace?).

Really getting my money's worth with this game. Over 170 hours so far ("real" hours, be a dozen less than that in-game due to deaths).

 

[bkrueger]

I'll come back later, because I don't want to finish the game before returning to some areas that I think I wasn't thorough enough with. Every time I do I find new stuff. Also, there's an underworld area I haven't found my way to yet (internet says it's Mohgwyn Palace?).

You can play on after defeating the final boss, if you avoid to choose "Start a new journey." So you don't need to try and find everything before fighting the boss.

 

[Shagnak]

You can play on after defeating the final boss, if you avoid to choose "Start a new journey." So you don't need to try and find everything before fighting the boss.

Ah, good to know, cheers!

 

[Shagnak]

I think I've almost done all that I can do without beating the final boss(es).
I found my way to Mohgwyn Palace and beat Mohg, Lord of Blood. Took about 10 attempts. I kept getting him to almost dead, and he'd

Spoiler

do that healing/health drain thing and go into the second phase and things would start to go bad. I eventually killed him by making sure he didn't get that far.

Killed a few left over dragons, including Borealis, the Freezing Fog, and Dragonlord Placidusax

Spoiler

(in a hidden area in Farum).

Spoilers about end bosses...

Spoiler

Finally managed to defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella. I was in the middle of celebrating, and then she turns into the rot goddess... things did not go well for me.
Also finally managed to beat Radagan, but then turns into the Elden Beast. That's an annoying fight because he won't stay still.

So, I'm stuck on the second phase of the two hardest bosses.
Might play a little longer, but I won't feel bad about not finishing it properly. 190+ hours was value for money, and I can see myself one day starting again with a completely different build.

 

[JDR13]

Some of that is a little spoilerish.

I finally started playing again last night. It took me a little while to get used to the combat again, and I wish I hadn't stayed away for that long. I'm also not quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

I have Limgrave, Weeping Peninsula, Liurnia, and two of the underground maps completely cleared except for a few bosses. I have some of Caelid explored as well, but something tells me I'm not really supposed to be there yet.

 

[Shagnak]

Sorry, edited.

 

[bkrueger]

Some of that is a little spoilerish.

I finally started playing again last night. It took me a little while to get used to the combat again, and I wish I hadn't stayed away for that long. I'm also not quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

I have Limgrave, Weeping Peninsula, Liurnia, and two of the underground maps completely cleared except for a few bosses. I have some of Caelid explored as well, but something tells me I'm not really supposed to be there yet.

Simply go on exploring.
There is no rule, that you are not supposed to be somewhere.
If you come to a place, which you can't enter yet, the game will tell you why.

Edit: Also, get back to the NPCs you have met in the past. From time to time they have something new to tell you. Or they have moved to another place. In particular check the "home base" from time to time...

 

[JDR13]

130+ hours in, and I just realized it makes a lot more sense to equip seals in your off-hand.

 

[bkrueger]

130+ hours in, and I just realized it makes a lot more sense to equip seals in your off-hand.

Depends on what you have in the other hand...

 

[JDR13]

Depends on what you have in the other hand...

I'd say it probably depends more on your build. Spellcasting is something I only do occasionally and usually just to buff.

I always had a sacred seal third in queue after my melee and ranged weapons for my main hand. Then I got the Poison Armament incantation and I couldn't figure out how to use it.

I felt pretty stupid when I finally realized it's because I need to hold the seal in my left hand while I had my melee weapon in my right. Until then, I had always just switched away from my other weapon whenever I needed to cast an incantation. For a melee-tank build, that's not ideal.

 

[bkrueger]

I'd say it probably depends more on your build. Spellcasting is something I only do occasionally and usually just to buff.

I always had a sacred seal third in queue after my melee and ranged weapons for my main hand. Then I got the Poison Armament incantation and I couldn't figure out how to use it.

I felt pretty stupid when I finally realized it's because I need to hold the seal in my left hand while I had my melee weapon in my right. Until then, I had always just switched away from my other weapon whenever I needed to cast an incantation. For a melee-tank build, that's not ideal.

What you describe is completely right and also, what I wanted to say: If you fight with spells primarily and have for example a shield in the other hand, you will have your spell casting tool in the right hand. If you are primarily a melee fighter, you will have the weapon in the right hand and the casting tool in the left hand. There are even other combinations if you use ranged weapons heavily.

 

[JDR13]

Does anyone know if they tweaked the leveling in the last patch? I seem to remember that I would get +1 only in some stats in half of my level-ups and +1 in all of them in the other half.

Now I'm getting +1 to every defensive stat on every level-up. Either it changes once you reach a certain level, or they changed it in that last update.

 

[bkrueger]

Does anyone know if they tweaked the leveling in the last patch? I seem to remember that I would get +1 only in some stats in half of my level-ups and +1 in all of them in the other half.

Now I'm getting +1 to every defensive stat on every level-up. Either it changes once you reach a certain level, or they changed it in that last update.

I don't know, if and what they changed in the patch. But I do know that increase of the defensive stats may also depend on the decision, which of the attributes you increase.

 

[JDR13]

But I do know that increase of the defensive stats may also depend on the decision, which of the attributes you increase.

For me, it's leveling all of the defensive stats regardless of which attribute you increase.

 

[bkrueger]

For me, it's leveling all of the defensive stats regardless of which attribute you increase.

Interesting. In the Elden Ring wiki they say that e.g. Vigor increases fire resistance and immunity, Endurance affects robustness, Strength increases physical/strike/slash/pierce defense, Intelligence magic resistance and so on. May be levelling as such also adds something and the other stats don't change something at every level up but only after a few points were spent?