Elden Ring - From Software + George RR Martin

Chris said:

ER is lacking in boss music, cut scenes and casual replayability imo. The other things are genre defining yes.

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Lol wut?

I am up to the last boss. Watched my coop pal do it alone. He respecced into fingerprint shield and chicken leg club, eventually changing to the blood fork. Took a while but he literally just turtle counterpoked his way to victory at zero risk once he slotted the fork. I don't feel like repeccing out of my build entirely just to do the last guy. But aside from a couple Forges and two Mausoleums, I have knocked everything else major out. Impenetrable Thorns makes Comet Azul look like Falling Rain of Stars, at least for all but the last boss (which its still pretty good but the windows are so small in phase two its impossible to cast anything at all). That shit along with Fire Knight GW and the backhand dagger dash ash are going to be nerfed hart, I would expect. The bugged hitboxes on the porcupine sword from the madness guy are completely fucked in PVP as well. I get that balance is going to be off at release, but these are all things that were going to be largely easy for players to find (other than the bb dash art) and should have been caught in test.

The mass fight right before the endboss is cool, but you would have to have next level autism to beat that shit without a summon or cooperator. Kung Fu Dan and Thorn Poker Cunt can pretty much chain lock you down and chase relentlessly, while fatso keeps scarlet rotting your ass the entire time. And oh yeah, they all heal. Maybe the best co-op fight since the ice guy at the end of the DS2 DLC, though.

Chris said:

Did you read my post after that when I explained it, or did you see it and fire off a reply without finishing?

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I read it and rank it up with your steam power derail in terms of Chris hot takes.

The game is immensely replayable, even if you have seen every inch of it. Simply going through with an entirely different build (and there are tons) is a complete new experience. What makes it replayable is the mechanics, since the story is entirely optional. Unlike witcher which always is the same "best weapon plus spam 2-3 same spells" and the only real change is which ho bag you shack up with at the end and what happens to Ciri. W3 is an amazing game, but I have never once felt compelled to replay it. Generally with ER (or BG3) I am actively planning my next play while enjoying the current one.

Vinjin said:

I've spent the last hour+ trying to finish off Commander Gaius. I once got him to around 60% on my 4th or 5th try so decided to keep at it. Eventually got him to 50%, then 30-40% numerous attempts and finally around 15% or so.

The majority of the time that he kills me it's from a boar attack and not one of his. But talk about absolutely fucking infuriating to be at 50 Vigor and full health with 15% of his health left and get one shotted by a slightly mistimed dodge roll to a boar stampede. Fucking brutal.

I'm 12/8 on Scad Blessings so I don't think that's an issue, although more is probably helpful. Also, I'm trying out a light load for faster dodge rolls, which seems to be helping.

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He melts to several caster strategies... if you have a summon or co-op. I think I one shotted him with Ancient Rancor and I was not even expecting him when I found him. He is basically the mounted Black Knight fights with the dials up to 11. If you are melee, this is a good time to get a shield (for the trample specifically) and maybe stack bleed, which he seems to be very weak to. If you are Dex, quickstep and similar arts are your friend here because he kind has shitty lateral adjustment compared to other enemies. If you are dual daggers or whips, well then you hate yourself and I can't help you (my solo play is currently attempting this) except to say backhand blade arts or Reduvia might be the way to go here as it lets you keep some space open to give you more read time and visibility.

Myself as a dual FTH INT caster, I waled in the door saw him and dropped poop man. I ran like a little girl until Poop man picked up the argo and then burned him down with Ancient Rancor spam from maximum distance. I have seen people also kill him with Impenetrable Thorns in like 4 trigger pulls, but that is likely getting nerfed to hell and back soon. My co op pal soloed him with dual bleed gargoyle twinblades like he was a trash mob. I think the key seems to be to read the charge and just burn him to the ground.

Phazael said:

I read it and rank it up with your steam power derail in terms of Chris hot takes.

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Yikes

Bald Brah said:

That's the bad thing about the expansion though. If you can only beat the bosses with fingerprint poke spam it kind of kills the idea of replayability.

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No argument here, but I think that really only applies to the end boss (bad I agree) and maybe Bayle (who is optional so ... meh). The real issue is the MP/Summon scaling being fucked. At least I hope they address that, because I cannot get my wife to play this casually with me in its present state of scaling.

uh, how come i never heard of Flame, Grant Me Strength and it being just outside of Limgrave?

Dafuq, **firing up Elden ring rn**

Its in Caelid, at the fort with the shortcut to outside Rahdan's palace, but on the backside between to flame thrower carts (you can sneak in and grab it if you need to). Its not much for stat reqs (think Cleansing Flame) and has a massive impact on certain fights and weapons. Blasphemous Blade, in particular, is nuts with it active. You can get it without a fight if you yolo in there for it and dont care about surviving afterward, but the tower iself is worth brooming for the Starscourge Talisman, the shortcut, and the other random drops.

Phazael said:

The game is immensely replayable, even if you have seen every inch of it. Simply going through with an entirely different build (and there are tons) is a complete new experience. What makes it replayable is the mechanics, since the story is entirely optional. Unlike witcher which always is the same "best weapon plus spam 2-3 same spells" and the only real change is which ho bag you shack up with at the end and what happens to Ciri. W3 is an amazing game, but I have never once felt compelled to replay it. Generally with ER (or BG3) I am actively planning my next play while enjoying the current one.

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Eh, I agree and disagree.

The first time I played through the game on my own, no spoilers, just doing whatever. Struggled a lot obviously, still had a total blast and wanted to replay almost immediately, but life got busy.

In prep for the DLC, I'm working through another playthrough where I'm doing everything (well, at least as much can be done - since some quests break other quests) I can, doing all the "optional" shit, etc. It has given me a newfound appreciation for the game and just how goddamn massive/deep it is. There are also a TON of weapons I didn't get the first time I'd love to try builds for. Problem is, I don't know that I'd ever want to do another playthrough like this again. Staring down 100+ hours again is pretty daunting, despite how much I love this fucking game. Then when you throw in another 40+ with the DLC?

Eh, not sure I'd be all that thrilled about doing that. I guess if I skipped all the underground shit and maybe some portions of Liurnia?

Kirun said:

Eh, I agree and disagree.

The first time I played through the game on my own, no spoilers, just doing whatever. Struggled a lot obviously, still had a total blast and wanted to replay almost immediately, but life got busy.

In prep for the DLC, I'm working through another playthrough where I'm doing everything (well, at least as much can be done - since some quests break other quests) I can, doing all the "optional" shit, etc. It has given me a newfound appreciation for the game and just how goddamn massive/deep it is. There are also a TON of weapons I didn't get the first time I'd love to try builds for. Problem is, I don't know that I'd ever want to do another playthrough like this again. Staring down 100+ hours again is pretty daunting, despite how much I love this fucking game. Then when you throw in another 40+ with the DLC?

Eh, not sure I'd be all that thrilled about doing that. I guess if I skipped all the underground shit and maybe some portions of Liurnia?

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Largely agree but the key is two fold. First, take a couple twink items from your comprehensive play to dump to your new guy. Second, just skip anything not relevant to that specific playthrough. You always need to run the bell bearing stuff (and Ranni quest at least long enough to get the stones and glowarts), but you can skip shit like tracking down weapon arts or magic that your not going to spec for. Most of the mini dungeons are skippable, as is the Manor quest chain if you dont want the end drop from it. It cuts down the tedium and lets you have fun with a new playstyle fairly quickly.