Elden Ring

[Mr EliteL]

Apparently Great Claws isn't even a weapon and was an error in the survey, yet those 8 people still voted for it, perhaps thinking it was a different type of Claw weapon, but all of them must just fall under the Claw category only.

As I've pretty much dropped Elden Ring for now, my own opinions for a survey won't mean much so no point saying what I'd except for my starting class was Hero and I was prioritising Vigor a bit more than the other stats, but was planning on building Strength more which would've taken over Vigor eventually. Tree Sentinel getting so high on the "Enemies that left the strongest impressions" isn't too surprising, as it was probably the first time players of Souls voting that.

[Moonface]

It's crazy that barely over half the surveyed folk did not give a shit about the music. There are some really good tracks in that game, and it's a shame people are half and half on it.

I can't say I'm surprised on this one. I don't think the Souls games I've played had bad music, but I can't remember a single track because I just never really notice it during gameplay. I'm focusing so hard on what the boss is doing so as to avoid attacks and take advantage of openings that the music just fades away for me. The only time I've ever really noticed how good the music can be is when I'm watching someone else play a Souls game on stream and so I can pay attention to things other than movements, such as character appearances and music. So it might not be a case of people voting music low because they think it's bad but they are just some in the same boat as me where they just don't really notice it enough to remember what it actually sounds like.

Apparently Great Claws isn't even a weapon and was an error in the survey, yet those 8 people still voted for it, perhaps thinking it was a different type of Claw weapon, but all of them must just fall under the Claw category only.

As I've pretty much dropped Elden Ring for now, my own opinions for a survey won't mean much so no point saying what I'd except for my starting class was Hero and I was prioritising Vigor a bit more than the other stats, but was planning on building Strength more which would've taken over Vigor eventually. Tree Sentinel getting so high on the "Enemies that left the strongest impressions" isn't too surprising, as it was probably the first time players of Souls voting that.

Ah, so then Fists would fall as the true lowest weapon type then, but at least the gap between those and the other lower ranking weapons isn't as great as the one seen on the mistaken Great Claws. I'm not surprised most of the really up-close weapons ranked low; I tried some fist based weapons in Demon's Souls and just hated having to be practically up an enemies arsehole to land a hit, especially on enemies that have an AoE style attack. x.x

Do you think you'll try out another game in the Souls series instead or has Elden Ring turned you off enough for the time being to just leave the genre alone for a bit?

I'm personally still excited to get this game one day but mostly because of the exploration aspect. I love that about BotW so I expect to love it in this game; I just hope I don't come across anything that sullies the experience like others here have had.

[Moonface]

Free Colosseum DLC for Elden Ring Announced; Releases Tomorrow
FromSoftware has announced that the long-rumoured colosseum DLC is indeed real, and will be releasing tomorrow for all players at no cost.



Unsurprisingly, this DLC is focused around PvP battles, which from the information released so far seems to involve 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and free-for-all battles.

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I find it interesting this came out two days before The Game Awards, and wonder if it's because there's a bigger DLC announcement for this game coming at that event or maybe something else from FromSoft. I can't believe Keighley wouldn't just happily have this announced at The Game Awards if there is truly nothing else already put by for the event.

As for my interest in it (ignoring I do not own the game yet), I'm not interested in PvP most times and certainly not for a FromSoft game because I know I'd get my arse kicked all the way back to Demon's Souls. To be honest the main reason I posted this news was because I wanted to share my thoughts on it being announced today instead of two days from now.

[Mr EliteL]

I'd be willing to spectate but that's about it, wouldn't mind watching a 3v3 match. Not to participate, unless I was actually good at the game then I'd consider entering 3v3, but not 1v1, maybe 2v2.

[Moonface]

I watched a streamer try it out yesterday and today, and oof... FromSoft should have really sorted out whatever netcode they're using for this game because the amount of lag I've seen in battles is really bad. I dunno if that's been a typical thing for PvP in Souls games or not but either way, having a mode built entirely around PvP just really highlights the lag issue and I'd expect it spoils it for a lot of people. Then again, you don't win or lose anything for doing this so the lag isn't going to cost you anything, but since the mode is entirely relying on being fun to keep people coming back I can't imagine it would be fun to keep dealing with lag.

[ShiraNoMai]

Miyazaki seemed to hint at more content coming to the game, so this may not be the only DLC we get to see. Hopefully it'll be single player experiences, a la "Artorias of the Abyss" "Scholars of the First Sin"

I wanna sink my teeth into this game. Just no life it for like 3 days straight.

[Dragon Lord]

I watched a streamer try it out yesterday and today, and oof... FromSoft should have really sorted out whatever netcode they're using for this game because the amount of lag I've seen in battles is really bad. I dunno if that's been a typical thing for PvP in Souls games or not but either way, having a mode built entirely around PvP just really highlights the lag issue and I'd expect it spoils it for a lot of people. Then again, you don't win or lose anything for doing this so the lag isn't going to cost you anything, but since the mode is entirely relying on being fun to keep people coming back I can't imagine it would be fun to keep dealing with lag.

Netcode in the Souls games has always been a little sus at times. Dark Souls (PS3) was god awful, Bloodborne is god awful, and Elden Ring is just beyond god awful.

Dark Souls had other ports that were good though, Bloodborne was amazing DESPITE the multiplayer being poor quality, but Elden Ring is just... low tier in every aspect along with having low tier multiplayer.

[Moonface]

Finally started this game, but can't really give much in the way of thoughts yet since I only just left the tutorial area you get sent to if you're a scrub like me and die to the first boss.  That said, control wise I need to get used to using triangle to interact with things because of playing so much God of War where that is done with circle, and I'm also sure Bloodborne and Sekiro don't use triangle for that stuff either and used X instead. I'd say so far the interaction/collect mechanic is the one thing I'm not liking in the little time I've played so far because even when I'm standing right on something to get the interaction/collect prompt, my character will instead do a gesture which is tedious to keep sitting through.

For anyone curious what class I went for, I chose Hero since it matched best with the character I quickly hobbled together, who is lovingly named Nando and looks a bit like the short-haired eye patch wearing version of MCU's Thor. I was going to call him Nandor after the name of the vampire in What We Do In The Shadows who used to be a conqueror, but took the R off to make the name match the UK restaurant just for the fun of it. Therefore he is fully referred to as Nando the Cheeky Conqueror.

[Dragon Lord]

Yeah, the default control scheme in Elden Ring is absolute ass. I mean, the game is just Dark Souls 4 with a different name slapped on it, so why they didn't just use the Dark Souls control scheme, I don't know.

[Moonface]

I've died to the Tree Sentinel four times so far because I keep hitting the crouch button thinking it's sprint or trying to parry with the shield like I'm playing God of War. It's going great so far.

I would consider remapping the controls but I have no idea what to move yet and if it would actually be better or not. If nothing else I just hope this game doesn't attach too much stuff to triangle like some games do when every other button does a main action so everything else gets dumped into the interaction button for lack of other choices.

[ShiraNoMai]

I'm anticipating playing this myself when I get a chance. I've been meaning to get my hands dirty with this title after seeing multiple playthroughs of it, all with varied styles and takes.

[Moonface]

So I've finally gotten used to the controls and found that to stop my character from posing every time I want them to interact with something I just had to remove all the motion controlled poses that are automatically assigned when you start the game.

I also finally just defeated Margit after exploring other places and coming back to him at level 38. The game definitely wants you to go explore a lot before actually tackling him.

My biggest complaint with the game at this point now is I think it does a terrible job with using Melina to inform you of things in the early hours. She first appeared for me at the Gatefront site of grace, but her second appearance is programmed to be at the Stormhill Shack SoG to tell you how the SoG's will guide you to your next main objective in an area, which means if like me you go the opposite way you end up walking around aimlessly not knowing anything from her until you go the right way, but it's funny how she tells you how to go the right way only after you start actually going the right way to begin with. Also not a fan of the game intending you to bash your head against a wall with Margit until you use a SoG to have Melina tell you about the Roundtable Hold where you can upgrade your gear. Just feels like stuff that should've been better delivered that would make the early game less tedious.

[Moonface]

Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion in Development for Elden Ring
FromSoft have announced that an expansion is currently in development for Elden Ring, titled Shadow of the Erdtree.

No further details were given beyond what can be seen in the tweet, so until we get any all we can do is go wild with hopes and speculation.

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Ooh dang! I'm not surprised about this game getting a DLC considering how well it sold, but this was such a random announcement drop about it happening. XD

Apparently that's Miquella riding on Torrent in the image, and people are commenting that the colour scheme of the image matches that of deathblight. I don't really know what to make of that information though since I'm still working my way through this game.

[Moonface]

I did it because I greatly dislike the game and the thought of playing through it two more times made me nauseous. Going through for the endings would be relatively quick. Elden Ring is a game that is bloated with so much shit that doesn't have any impact to the game whatsoever that it's not even funny. If I was going to do it legit, I would have just done Ranni's ending first (since that quest line takes the longest and requires going through several annoying areas and an annoying boss in Astel), then would have done the normal ending, and last and certainly least, the third ending. Going through the game only doing the required stuff would be fast as hell though, but I just didn't want to waste any more time on the game right now than I had already done.

That's why when I do my platinum speed play through on PS5 I'm going to use a super cheesy 1-shot build using Rykard's weapon and just obliterate everything in the game. I can't believe that weapon never got nerfed into the ground considering how stupidly powerful it is. Good for me though, will make for a very fast platinum (and yes, I will save scum the endings on PS5 too).

Decided to bring this here since it's a more suitable spot.

I do agree that there's far too much content in the game that doesn't really matter, especially for things that I feel should have mattered. Only having to beat two of the bosses that have remembrances to get into Leyndell and open the path to the end of the game is such a waste even if it does make replays for trophy endings significantly faster. It reminds me a lot of how Demon Souls let's you just go to the end boss right away on NG+ where it makes a lot of the other areas feel pointless except to level up enough to not get your shit shoved in by the final boss, except in the case of this game it exists right from the start of just getting to ignore more content than I think the game should allow for.

I don't recall if I tried using the serpent weapon you use in the Rykard fight on other enemies or bosses, but I do know I leveled it up to maximum to fight Rykard because I got tired of going through his phases. XD

Since you did it, how did you find the Malenia fight?

[Dragon Lord]

I just felt like that the game could have been quite a bit smaller, yet much higher quality. A lot of the dungeons were just pointless. The bosses were just regular enemies with HP bars, the Ashes you got from them were mostly useless (then again any Ash that isn't the Mimic Tear feels useless), and most of them didn't have anything in them worth a damn. Only a handful were actually worth doing, such as the mine where you get Moonveil.

I feel like if the game had ended at the first trip to Leyndell, it would have been the perfect length. Everything after that felt like such pointless filler it wasn't even funny. It doesn't help that there were absolutely no new enemies outside of the bosses. When you go to the snowy area, you'd expect to find some cool snow/ice themed enemies, but instead it's just the same old. Even the fight with that one dragon on the frozen lake is just an ice version of the previous dragons. It was just disappointing to see new areas like that and Farum Azula and the just fighting the same old enemies that I've been facing the entire game. Then of course they gotta get one last boss recycle in there and have you fight another Draconic Tree Sentinel before the boss of Azula.

If they would have put some more effort into making those areas feel fresh, I don't think I would have felt like they were such a waste of time, but with how it stands as is, I just feel like the game should have ended at Leyndell and it would have been several points better for me. I was already feeling extremely burnt out on the game by the time I got to Leyndell, but then you find out you have two more gigantic areas to get through before you're done.

As for the weapon I mentioned, it's not the sword you use to fight Rykard, but the sword you get from Rykard's remembrance. I think it's called the Blasphemous Blade? The weapon art on it is apparently stupidly OP and can easily wipe out any boss in the game with minimal effort. Seems like the easiest weapon to go with if you want to just speedrun the end-game bosses and get things done with quickly. Can go a step further and set up all the buffs to do a one-shot on bosses like Malenia or Radagon/Elden Beast.

As for Malenia, she was a very lazy fight. She herself is not a hard fight, it's the lazy aspects of her that are difficult to deal with. Outside of her Waterfowl Dance move, she also has next to no recovery time on her attacks, stupidly long range that doesn't feel like it should be a thing, has attacks that can hit you through your roll (this is one of the laziest thing Fromsoft does that I despise, they did it with at least one boss in Dark Souls 3 as well) and she is definitely programmed to read player inputs. She'll constantly side step as soon as you hit R1 (or whatever you're doing), and it's especially apparent when you back off to heal and the moment you hit the button to heal, she's immediately doing a cross-arena lunge at you. It's very lazy boss design and it was a pretty common theme with a lot of Elden Ring's bosses.

You can abuse her AI though, at least in phase 1. I used Marais Executioner's Sword against her and due to her AI in phase one being programmed to just slowly walk up to you, I was able to consistently use the Weapon Art of the sword to stunlock her in the full combo, which would knock her down at the end, allowing me to back off and get in position to lure her into it again. It was a bit trickier in phase 2, since she moves faster and comes right at you, but in the end it was still pretty easy to trap her into it.

My first however many attempts at her were with dual Twinblades on a bleed build, but I quickly found out that for some reason her hitbox is really wonky when you're trying to spam jump attacks at her, and it wasn't working out too well for me, so then I switched it up with MES and after a couple of deaths to Waterfowl Dance in phase 2, I ended up getting here where I wanted her.

Overall one of my least favorite boss battles in the game. It's just lazy and that ends up making it boring. Though at least you can see her and what she's doing. That's more than I can say about that joke of a fight against the Fire Giant where you can't see what the hell it's doing 95% of the time. That boss was just idiotic. FromSoft has always sucked at making giant bosses good because their camera is always too shit to work for them, so then they're like, "Okay, let's not fix our shitty camera from the last 14 years, but make the biggest boss we've ever done anyways."