Elden Ring journeys and experiences

[Thiraury]

Glad to hear it . Never got into Nioh or Sekiro. The whole ninja/samurai theme never did it for me.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Glad to hear it . Never got into Nioh or Sekiro. The whole ninja/samurai theme never did it for me.

I was only comparing Lies of P to non-FromSoft souls/borne-likes. Sekiro is on another level. Loved it but it's level of challenge is insane.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Took me much more than I imagined it would, but I finally defeated King's Flame, Fuoco. What an annoying fight.
And it took me about 5 tries with the summon. And on the last attempt I managed to get him only because I managed to stagger him with my heavy attack, which apparently pretty quickly lead to a fatal attack that took off a serious chunk of his health.
Otherwise it would've been another failed attempt.

In a few of the attempts when I got him under 50%, he switched to his blunderbuss (as he usually does) but a few times he absolutely mowed me with constant blunderbuss fire.
That was really surprising, to be taken out from a distance. And if you get hit once, chances are each other one will hit you since they lock you in place for a split second while your character recovers. So annoying.

He also chews through those summons like you wouldn't believe. I had to constantly reposition behind him, so that his strikes at least wouldn't hit both of us.
Anyway, I think it was mostly a fluke that I got him. And I kind of dread what I'm hearing are coming up. Apparently this one is the last easy/manageable one.

I think the most annoying thing about these fights is the enemy's "undodgeable" attacks (when they glow red). And I say in quote because even though the game says they're undodgeable, sometimes you can get out of the way. I guess they mean you can actually dodge, and they're not counting movement or sprinting as a dodge.
But regardless, they're annoying because aside from running away you really only can escape it by performing a perfect deflect/parry/whatever. Hitting block at the perfect time.
They sort of merged Sekiro's avoiding chip-damange mechanic, and merged it with Sekiro's unblockable attacks. Weird.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Motherfucker of a game. I accidentally entered the sell menu option of a trade, instead of buy.
And saw three moonstones in the listing, and I thought I was buying. But I was fucking selling.
And I think due to my ultrawide I didn't even catch the UI in the bottom right saying sell. I just hit space and space.
So I sold 3 stones and I could've had another weapon upgrade when I fight the fucker I'm about to face.
Dammit why do these fucking games not implement a buyback feature for anything you sell.
And of course the game autosaves every little thing, and not even hitting alt-f4 soon after I realized, did anything to help.
Oh well, it's just gonna be a one degree more annoying.

 

[Redglyph]

No buyback in a game like that is a glaring omission.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

No buyback in a game like that is a glaring omission.

I'd even settle for just keeping the item I just sold in the inventory of the seller, for me to be able to buy back even at an increased price.
But no. It just disappears from my inventory into the ether and that's it.

 

[Redglyph]

I've played Elden Ring for a little under 20 hours and I'm level 24-ish, playing a samurai style. I first thought I'd try a couple of other classes, like confessor and astrologer but I haven't (yet).

The world is vast, and as soon as you think you've got a vague idea of how large it is, you discover a huge underground area that tells you it may be even bigger.

It's exciting but badly punishing. I found my way to the Tableround Hold, which I'm told is a non-combat area, and talked to the few NPCs there. No journal, so it's best to write down a few things. And that's when I jumped down that balcony and saw there was such a thing as 'NPC invasions'. Maybe a misplaced relic of MP and MMO games. Be that as it may, I tried to survive Mad Tongue Alberich (or its red hologram, at least) and failed miserably, many many times, ultimately losing a few hour's worth of runes because there's no opting out nor any way out of that location that I saw. Heh.

Not being able to save and reload manually and the huge difficulty spikes makes the game very special. I'm not walking casually into a dungeon just to see what happens next. I'm actually almost scared to enter dungeons. It's also exhilarating to defeat the more difficult enemies (at my humble level).

I'm playing K+M but I'm not entirely satisfied with my current layout. I'm using Shift-click for the strong attack and skill, Alt for dodging, and the azerty equivalent of WASD. It's usually OK but not always a comfortable position for the fingers, especially when using both Shift, Alt, the movement keys and the mouse (for ex. fighting on Torrent). It's also difficult to roll quickly because you have to start moving a little before tapping the dodge key, plus the delay because the same key is used to dash. So I'm still quite lame in fights, and I'm not sure I have what it takes to fight bosses in this game.

 

[sakichop]

You should be able to open your map and fast travel to any site of grace you’ve unlocked to leave round table hold.

 

[sakichop]

Took me much more than I imagined it would, but I finally defeated King's Flame, Fuoco. What an annoying fight.
And it took me about 5 tries with the summon. And on the last attempt I managed to get him only because I managed to stagger him with my heavy attack, which apparently pretty quickly lead to a fatal attack that took off a serious chunk of his health.
Otherwise it would've been another failed attempt.

In a few of the attempts when I got him under 50%, he switched to his blunderbuss (as he usually does) but a few times he absolutely mowed me with constant blunderbuss fire.
That was really surprising, to be taken out from a distance. And if you get hit once, chances are each other one will hit you since they lock you in place for a split second while your character recovers. So annoying.

He also chews through those summons like you wouldn't believe. I had to constantly reposition behind him, so that his strikes at least wouldn't hit both of us.
Anyway, I think it was mostly a fluke that I got him. And I kind of dread what I'm hearing are coming up. Apparently this one is the last easy/manageable one.

I think the most annoying thing about these fights is the enemy's "undodgeable" attacks (when they glow red). And I say in quote because even though the game says they're undodgeable, sometimes you can get out of the way. I guess they mean you can actually dodge, and they're not counting movement or sprinting as a dodge.
But regardless, they're annoying because aside from running away you really only can escape it by performing a perfect deflect/parry/whatever. Hitting block at the perfect time.
They sort of merged Sekiro's avoiding chip-damange mechanic, and merged it with Sekiro's unblockable attacks. Weird.

Most Red attacks are easily dodgeable due to long wind ups. They are, however not blockable with a normal block. You can only block them with a perfect block.

I’m in chapter 7 now and enjoying it quite a bit. The mini bosses have been much harder for me than the actual bosses. The clown before the king of puppets boss was outrageous.

 

[Redglyph]

You should be able to open your map and fast travel to any site of grace you’ve unlocked to leave round table hold.

You can't teleport during invasions, apparently.

Since then, I've seen 3 different tricks but it's too late anyway, so I haven't tried them. After dying, you can get back to the lower area, quickly get the runes back, then

Spoiler

1) go under the balcony and die. After respawning, you can drop off the balcony, get the runes back, and teleport because the invasion doesn't trigger so close to the balcony.
2) go near one of the doors, die, respawn, take the stairs down past Hewg, go near the other side of the door, and get the runes back through the door (better watch a video to see which doors).
3) leave the game, then reload it and you'll spawn near the round table instead.

 

[purpleblob]

I've played a little more of Elden Ring with hubby - finally killed the first boss (Margit). It was quite easy this time, we got it in first go - according to hubby, we were severly underlevelled last time. So I guess grinding is a thing in this game.

Only played just over 4 hours at this point - still enjoying it enough to continue but I don't feel this is something I will love. Brutal combat I can see I will learn to enjoy but its the "exploration" part I dislike. I wouldn't know how to progress without hubby - e.g. had to run & jump at specific location to land at certain position to move on. Dying to mobs and bosses I can live with, dying while trying to figure out where to go will annoy me immensely.

 

[Shagnak]

I've played a little more of Elden Ring with hubby - finally killed the first boss (Margit). It was quite easy this time, we got it in first go - according to hubby, we were severly underlevelled last time. So I guess grinding is a thing in this game.

The best advice I got from someone was to head South to start with.
By the time you get back you'll be good enough for Margit.
That's not exactly grinding - you'll spend most of your time exploring between combats.

 

[JDR13]

It's exciting but badly punishing. I found my way to the Tableround Hold, which I'm told is a non-combat area, and talked to the few NPCs there. No journal, so it's best to write down a few things. And that's when I jumped down that balcony and saw there was such a thing as 'NPC invasions'. Maybe a misplaced relic of MP and MMO games. Be that as it may, I tried to survive Mad Tongue Alberich (or its red hologram, at least) and failed miserably, many many times, ultimately losing a few hour's worth of runes because there's no opting out nor any way out of that location that I saw. Heh.

Wth?... I somehow missed that during my playthrough. For some reason I never thought to jump off that balcony.

I'm surprised that's the first invader you've encountered though. I recall one in Limgrave not far into the game.

 

[Redglyph]

Wth?... I somehow missed that during my playthrough. For some reason I never thought to jump off that balcony.

I'm surprised that's the first invader you've encountered though. I recall one in Limgrave not far into the game.

Maybe your self-preservation instinct is sounder than mine.

Strangely I haven't encountered any other NPC invasion. I explored a good part of Limgrave except the NW where I only went twice. And I've only been in a very few caves and dungeons yet. I'm not sure the invasions are my favourite feature, but it's OK.

On the other hand, what's great is the different encounters between day & night. I've trained fighting (without Torrent as much as possible) all the enemies on the road east of the Gatefront Ruins, all the way to Mistwood and Fort Haight at the SE, and when I rode back at night I met Night's Cavalry on the bridge north of the lake. I'd crossed that spot a few times before so it was a complete surprise. I almost had him, but one blow instantly killed both Torrent and me. When I respawned he was gone.

 

[Redglyph]

Only played just over 4 hours at this point - still enjoying it enough to continue but I don't feel this is something I will love. Brutal combat I can see I will learn to enjoy but its the "exploration" part I dislike. I wouldn't know how to progress without hubby - e.g. had to run & jump at specific location to land at certain position to move on. Dying to mobs and bosses I can live with, dying while trying to figure out where to go will annoy me immensely.

Yes, it's disorienting because there are very powerful enemies next to weaker ones. I never know if I'm at the right place except by trying and (often) dying. There are also very helpful items that you only find by luck. Only the main quest is indicated by the sites of grace.

I think it's a game for which you need to ask around or read info and advices, but not too much to avoid spoilers. There are a few seemingly good guides here, videos, and I found that this interactive map was helpful. I think there's also an official strategy book that @danutz_plusplus got, which contains valuable information on the locations and quests (not sure it's still sold though).

 

[purpleblob]

Yes, it's disorienting because there are very powerful enemies next to weaker ones. I never know if I'm at the right place except by trying and (often) dying. There are also very helpful items that you only find by luck. Only the main quest is indicated by the sites of grace.

I think it's a game for which you need to ask around or read info and advices, but not too much to avoid spoilers. There are a few seemingly good guides here, videos, and I found that this interactive map was helpful. I think there's also an official strategy book that @danutz_plusplus got, which contains valuable information on the locations and quests (not sure it's still sold though).

Hubby reckons that I won't be able to fully appreciate the game since he is providing full guidance on where to go and how to deal with enemies, but I reckon I will ragequit without his guidance. So we've found our compromise - I will decide on where to go and he will provide me with limited guidance - hopefully it will work out lol

 

[largh]

Fun to read your experiences @Redglyph and @purpleblob I also played with my partner. We got to the second legacy dungeon, died 100 times against that annoying fox and moved to other games. I felt at that time that if Elden Ring was the only game in the world, I would quit gaming - and still feel that way half a year later. Grinding to pass the first legacy dungeon was still fine, although I did not enjoy the grinding (enjoyed the dungeon, though). We grind and explored a lot after the first one only to find out that we stood no chance in the second legacy dungeon. We probably did something wrong. Anyway, I am happy that there are other games to play when Elden Ring burns you out. It's a great game obviously but not for everyone. I bet both of you will kick that foxes' ass

 

[Redglyph]

Hubby reckons that I won't be able to fully appreciate the game since he is providing full guidance on where to go and how to deal with enemies, but I reckon I will ragequit without his guidance. So we've found our compromise - I will decide on where to go and he will provide me with limited guidance - hopefully it will work out lol

We all have our own personal way to appreciate games, I guess.

It must be true for hardcore players who aren't put off by a lot of exploring, grinding, and dying, but I'll never be able to appreciate it that way. A game like BG3 or Skyrim, sure, but they're nowhere near the same difficulty and size.

There's also the mood of the game. Miyazaki feels that the best way to show beauty is to surround it by misery, so the world is pretty depressing to see and oppressing to live in, even if it's beautiful. I like it, but I'm sure I'll need a break now and then. And when I'm in, I prefer to have some guidance to improve the experience.

 

[JDR13]

Strangely I haven't encountered any other NPC invasion. I explored a good part of Limgrave except the NW where I only went twice. And I've only been in a very few caves and dungeons yet. I'm not sure the invasions are my favourite feature, but it's OK.

Spoiler: Minor spoiler

Near that road from the Gatefront Ruins, there's a path that goes down into the swamp. If you stay to your left, you'll find a valley. There are a couple of small caves down there and an invasion.

I liked the invasions. There aren't a lot of them, but the NPCs fit the setting. Multiplayer invasions would be different. I don't want to see "Invaded by BigDick_Joe!" on my screen.

 

[Hastar]

Steam has a sale going on right now for Elden Ring. I'm considering getting it but the boss fights have kept me away. I can get really stubborn and keep doing the same battle over and over. Could be bad for my blood pressure .