Elden Ring (FromSoftware)

[Rendakor]

I think my favorite part about elden ring so far is going on youtube and reddit channels mad about "teh gayz" in gaming and pointing out that Elden ring is super LGBTQ friendly (you don't actually choose a gender in the beginning, anyone can romance Ranni and the deathbed maiden, one of the main characters is clearly trans) and watching them angrily deny it, which I find weird and sad.

That's a weird thing to be your favorite thing about arguably one of the best games ever made.

I'm a small petty man.  Also the game itself is amazing!

Edit: It is just a pet peeve of mine that for some demographic reason my youtube feed is chock a block full of game/movie reviews by people who are apparently mad all the time about LGBTQ representation in games and movies (critical drinker, clownfish, etc..)  I block them but new ones keep popping up.  Not that I am some great crusader for gay rights but I just find the whole discourse around it tiresome.  There have been a bunch of reviews hailing Elden Ring as "the Great White Savior" of games that promote a "traditional narrative" when, at lest in my opinion, it is anything but.  Anyway I have derailed this thread enough.

If you're watching and leaving comments on these videos, the algorithm is going to keep giving you more of them. Even if you block them, you're interacting.

[Khaldun]

That's what I'm doing on my first run. 

I guess it's slow. Sure forces me to learn the fights.

[Trippy]

Patch 1.04: https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-ring/news/elden-ring-patch-notes-104

[01101010]

Ah yes, a metric ton of sorcery buffs - perfect for my strength build 

That said, looks to be a perfect opportunity to shift to magic user and test drive the finger wiggling.

[Rasix]

Ah yes, a metric ton of sorcery buffs - perfect for my strength build  

That said, looks to be a perfect opportunity to shift to magic user and test drive the finger wiggling.

Looks like they added some decent QOL for big, slow weapons and cast speed improvements for a number of their weapon arts. That's something.  

They buff sorcery and incantations because a lot of the skills just end up redundant or not used due to being slow, wimpy, or a combination of the two. I doubt any of these will take over Glintstone Pebble, Rock Sling, and Comet Azur cheese that you can get through the entire game with.

Do people even use the dragon incantations?

[Trippy]

Do people even use the dragon incantations?

Don't see them discussed much online except for Scarlet Breath (or Ekzykes's Decay) for its cheese potential against bosses that aren't immune to Scarlet Rot, including being able to inflict it through boss doors/fog gates. One reason may be you need a Faith/Arcane build rather than just Faith to get the most out them.

[Trippy]

Not specifically called out in the patch notes but they fixed the bleed dog bug and also the 9,999 HP illusionary walls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1onDylSUWGQ

[Khaldun]

They seem to promise improvement with colossal weapons but not seeing it much so far in my play tonight.

[Trippy]

Only some of the moves have significant changes. Here’s a side-by-side comparison: https://youtu.be/pFans4N1tt4

[Trippy]

The bird rune farm bird AI did get changed and is much less likely to run off the edge now. It's still possible to get it to do it but you'll probably have to change your firing spot and it'll likely be less consistent.

[amiable]

They seem to promise improvement with colossal weapons but not seeing it much so far in my play tonight.

I respecced into a a fingerprint shield/ fallingstar beast jaw build last night and it completely wrecked face.  I one shot Commander Niall which apparently people had a lot of problems with.  (I am a shit player who uses summons though so maybe that doesn't count).

[Teleku]

Do people even use the dragon incantations?

Don't see them discussed much online except for Scarlet Breath (or Ekzykes's Decay) for its cheese potential against bosses that aren't immune to Scarlet Rot, including being able to inflict it through boss doors/fog gates. One reason may be you need a Faith/Arcane build rather than just Faith to get the most out them.

I've been running a Dragon priest who uses breath attacks heavily, with other incantations for support.  Pretty much pure Faith with just a few points into Arcane to let me use the breath attacks I want.  It's pretty damned powerful.  Scarlet Breath melts bosses and packs of anything.  It also staggers most enemies while they are getting hit by it.  Downside is the long cast time, but I can plink away with lighting until I get range or lose aggro.

[Trippy]

Malenia is bugged right now and can self-heal during some of her attacks even if she doesn't hit anybody.

[Falconeer]

I finally killed her this morning, with 1.04, and I wonder if the bug only shows up online. I am playing offline, and no bug.

[Trippy]

Yeah seems like only in coop.

[Khaldun]

Trying to stop Let Me Solo Her?

[Trippy]

Didn't work -- he still is able to do it though it obviously takes a lot longer at ~15 minutes for a single summon vs ~9 minutes for a triple summon (can't find a single summon pre-1.04 video to check that time).

1.04 single summon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8-N-6PbJbQ

1.03 triple summon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqN2phpMWno (age check)

Edit: found one, a little under 6 minutes for a single summon : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_T5fvac7Bc

[Khaldun]

I think I'm closing in on the endgame--I went back and cleaned up all the bosses I didn't get to before (stick stuck on a few like those two fucking Crucible Knights in the Hero's Grave outside of Leyndell, etc.) and visited a few places I'd missed.

I still can't make up my mind what armor to wear--I have fairly high stamina, lot of strength w/the Greatsword as my usual weapon. I keep fiddling around trying to come up with something that's just right and never feeling very confident about what I settle on.

None of the quests end up very well for the people asking for help from me, do they? I'm trying to decide whether to even bother giving the sorcerer who wanted to get into the Academy the key he wants, because I just feel like it's going to be bad for him. I guess Ranni's quest ends up ok for me and her, not so great for Blaidd and Seluvis though. I get it, though--Souls games are always bleak like this.

[Trippy]

Yes things tend to go badly for quest NPCs in Elden Ring, though not always. E.g. I would say that Roderika is better off having meet you, with you (and Hewg) giving her a purpose in life.

As for Thops:

[Zetor]

I think Nepheli Loux's storyline concludes with a decent-to-good outcome for multiple people.

[Typhon]

I beat Melania! haha, it was pretty exploitative of how powerful the blasphemous blade and Tish are, and felt really lucky, but I did it!  Took forever to get myself to wait till the last second to roll in the beginning of phase 2.

And thank god, I am.  EVERYONE that is likeable that you try to help is dead or worse.  I can't bear to listen the smith talk now, breaks my heart.  I'm happy how Latenna turned out, I feel like I did her a solid.  I don't know that I could do NG+, knowing how bleak this all gets.

[Khaldun]

Oh man I just told Iji that I'd finished Ranni's quest a

[Trippy]

Oh man I just told Iji that I'd finished Ranni's quest a

We do know who killed them:

[Khaldun]

I guess that makes sense.

I can't really see why my Tarnished is especially motivated to do anything though. It does feel rather Moorcock Eternal Champion--you go on because you have to, not because you feel great emotional attachment. Or maybe you do sometimes but it's always betrayed or belayed. You're told you're committing blasphemy or asked to show loyalty and nothing seems especially sacred or worth your loyalty. Certainly the idea of being Elden Lord seems just kind of stupid--lord over what? It's a vast land of emptiness and suffering. Everybody's dead or mindless or has worms coming out their face.

[Velorath]

Can't say I've ever tried to figure out my motivation in any of the Souls games.

[Trippy]

I can't really see why my Tarnished is especially motivated to do anything though.

You are special, though, since you can still see the Guidance of Grace, unlike most of the other Tarnished.

[Trippy]

Oh man I just told Iji that I'd finished Ranni's quest a

We do know who killed them:

Actually...

[Zetor]

Can't say I've ever tried to figure out my motivation in any of the Souls games.

I think DS2 was particularly depressive about it, it felt like nothing you (or others) did had any chance of unfucking the world.

But yea, I agree with Trippy, think the motivation is extrinsic. The PC is the only one with agency in a turbofucked world where everyone else has completely lost their shit due to millenia of forced immortality (I guess the other Tarnished are also out there, but the PC is the only one who can do anything about this). And you CAN choose to go against the grace thing with one of the nonstandard endings instead of just becoming Elden Lord (which is an unsatisfying ending IMO).

[Khaldun]

I think this is the only one where I've wondered about why my character is doing what he's doing because it's an open world. Other Souls games feel more like some version of Saw or something--you go on through the murder maze because what choice do you have? But in this one there are moments where everything is just kind of beautiful and you think I wonder why my guy doesn't just round up some of those rolling sheep and pick a cabin somewhere near a merchant and just chillax, let someone else go do the Elden Ring things.

[Trippy]

The world is in a bad state when you (re)enter it with wars everywhere as the demigods fight for the Elden Ring fragments (the Great Runes). There are places of relative peace at the moment but no place is truly safe from the chaos inflicted upon the world by the shattering of the Elden Ring.

[Zetor]

One of the demigods is also literally holding the stars frozen/captive, I think that's pretty far on the "shit is fucked" scale.

[Falconeer]

Well, I finished it. 240 hours, and level 176 at the end. I have done everything that I am aware of. And this game is 10/10, if not 11/10.

Time to reward myself with the unofficial guide to the lore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYDs_Inzkz4

[Khaldun]

For some reason, the gaol with Vyke in it in Mountaintops really kicks my ass; I have no trouble with any of the others--I got Alecto on first try.

Fire Giant is also a bit of a problem.

I REALLY hate the roving wolfriders with the killer archery in Consecrated Snowfields.

I'm in the lower part of Ephael in the Haligtree now. The loop with guards gets you a lot of runes, but I have made the mistake of getting ambitious and dropping down for the multiarmed fuckers with the poison and all that, who really seem to have some bullshit positioning (they trap you a lot in corners/against trees/in little dark hallways when they come out of their teleports). I think I need to just do some loops multiple times and level before going down there again.

[Typhon]

The revenants (multi-armed enemies in the lower portion of Elphael) just didn't seem worth the risk*, whereas the loop is nearly risk-free**, once you know it.

*after the first time, there is a lot of good stuff down there
**especially if you can fight the rot knights from range (cough: blasphemous blade!)

Random Thoughts:
It's funny how the end-game became two distinct activities (for me) - leveling-up and exploring.  If I happen to get to a point while exploring where I have at least half the runes necessary to level, I go to a farm spot and level as soon as I find a grace point I could return to.  Thinking about it for awhile, it seems like the only way to recapture the tension of the first 50 levels is to start anew.  You don't have golden runes saved, and you might not be ready to stomp the vulgar militia yet.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, I'm not going down for the revenants again, they're fucking bullshit--but the gloveworts they drop on first kill are pretty essential.