Elden Ring

[Moonface]

Yeah, a lot of the minor dungeons are forgettable with very few having something unique enough to them to stand out. They remind me a lot of the shrines of BotW, where a lot of them feel the same with a handful having something unique to them that stands out. Bosses have the same problem too, with some being relied on far too much across the game. Crucible Knights are fought 16 times, Ulcerated Tree Spirit (including the Putrid variant) is fought 14 times, Erdtree Avatar (+Putrid variant) is fought 11 times, and Night's Cavalry is fought 9 times, just to name some of the ones that have a lot of encounters. If a boss is going to be fought that much it should have been done like Runebears are, where one is an actual boss fight and then the rest are field enemies.


I agree with you about everything post Leyndell (First Trip) feeling a lot like padding, and even a lot of the bosses aren't new either. I think what I really hate is when you get back to Leyndell, the area becomes so incredibly shit. Nothing interesting actually happens to the area; it just becomes 90% empty ash fields with like one enemy and then yet more Ulcerated Tree Spirits tucked off in a side area. I loved the first visit to Leyndell and was excited to see how it was going to be on the second visit expecting it to be harder, have new stuff to discover, etc. only for it to be easily the most deflating moment in the game for me. If you have nothing left to do elsewhere, the end portion of the game is a boss rush of Maliketh >> Gideon >> Godfrey >> Radagon >> Elden Beast with nothing breaking them up really except a short walk between the first three.

Ah, I'd have to see what that weapon is then. I know I likely have it, but I think I spent most of my first run using the Bloodhound's Fang. I think I dabbled in a few other weapons briefly but I don't think I ever ended up swapping to something else as my main weapon over that one from what I recall.

Yeah, Waterfowl removed I think Malenia is an okay boss to fight, but to open a phase with a new move that can one shot you felt incredibly cheap to me. I hate any boss that does multiple phases and opens a phase with an attack so powerful you'll likely die to it and get zero chance to learn the new phase, forcing you to repeat the first phase over and over again to try and get back to the second phase and live long enough to start learning what to do. I'd rather second phases do stronger attacks that are similar to a phase one attack string, so you have an idea of what to do but you get punished more if you screw up because you're expected to be facing a tougher challenge after beating the first phase. At least it doesn't pull a Lies of P and just make phase two a whole new boss except for a few rare instances in the end-game.

Fire Giant never bothered me much with the camera but I also never bothered with locking on and tried to always keep close enough that most attacks just naturally missed. The bosses that gave me the most trouble with the camera are definitely the Ulcerated Tree Spirits, especially when you fight them in dungeons because the rooms are so small that they take up 75% of the space. They never feel like fights to me and more like dodge blindly and watch the boss miss repeatedly because you're always forced so close to it that a lot of attacks will miss, and then smack it with your weapon more times than I feel I should be able to because the boss is trying to position itself to attack me but keeps getting screwed over by the tiny room it's been put into.


Do you think you'll bother with the DLC or will this be (presumably) the first Souls-like by FromSoft where you don't touch the DLC?

[Dragon Lord]

I actually never did the second DLC for Dark Souls 3, so that was the first Soulsborne DLC I never played. Though I did always meant to go back and do it, I just never got around to it.

As for Elden Ring's DLC, I will probably give it a try at some point in time. Though I don't know if I'll go in blind or watch streams of it to see what it's like first.

[Moonface]

Huh, I never knew FromSoft had done more than one DLC for any of their Souls games. I always thought each game just got the one.

What was your favourite area(s) in the game btw? Got curious after recalling you pointed out disliking a lot of the late game areas.

[Dragon Lord]

Nope. Dark Souls 2 had three DLCs and Dark Souls 3 had two.

Hmm. I actually don't know if any area in the game was so amazing that I was like, "This is it." All of the areas were just kind of... meh to me. I guess in terms of environment, I'd give it to Mountaintop of the Giants, just because I love snowy areas in games. Could have done without the extremely limited vision in the lower area of the place though, aside from that I did really like the area. Was just really disappointed that the enemies were all just recycled from the rest of the game and there was no unique snow/ice themed enemies to match the area.

Siofra River was also a nice looking area with the starry sky, though aside from that the area was pretty boring, and I really hated that two of the bosses in the area were the exact same, with one just having one or two new moves (Ancestor Spirit and Regal Ancestor Spirit).

As for more like "dungeons" rather than regions of the game, Stormveil Castle really gave me some good Demon's Souls vibes, which I liked.

Also whoever came up with the Lake of Rot can burn in hellfire. Especially when they decided to put bosses in the lake, or that Ulcerated Tree Spirit at the bottom of that waterfall of rot.

[Moonface]

Oh yeah Lake of Rot has to be up there as an example of really questionable area design. I don't think making a puzzle of trying to get from spot to spot was too bad, but that boss in the middle of the area and trying to reach anything far off the beaten path is exceptionally painful. I think what irks me the most about that area is you can come across it without having the means to deal with the scarlet rot buildup, which is something that happened to me and put a complete halt on me going further because going into it blind, I had no clue if I was going to survive the trip across it so I just opted to go find the consumable that deals with rot buildup before coming back.

Siofra River is definitely my favourite area when it comes to visual aesthetics because the sky is stunning, and I also found it a very memorable area because of how it reveals itself to the player. I think the early game areas all do a great job of creating these visual moments of awe for the player when you: leave the starting building and see Limgrave, leave Stormveil and the camera pans out after the narrow doorway over Liurnia of the Lakes, and come down that elevator into Siofra River. I think Leyndell is the last area to maybe have such a thing; I don't really recall much stuff after it leaving an impression on me with a sweeping vista like those early areas did.

Seeing you mention it, I was curious how many enemies are in the game that have some element of frost/ice to them. Taking a quick look it seems only 8 enemies in the entire game can even inflict Frostbite, and of those 6 are in Mountaintops of the Giants/Consecrated Snowfield and of those only 2 are unique to either of those areas.

[Moonface]

I wonder if we're gonna start to finally hear/see something about the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC soon? I just saw that a new Elden Ring DLC package has been added to the games files on Steam for the first time since launch, and I don't see what else it would be other than something for SotE. There was also apparently a leak from merchandising partners that there was going to be a huge marketing push for Elden Ring starting next month or March although I haven't seen anything besides people mentioning that leak happened, but I can believe it since next month marks the two year anniversary of the game. I hope if the DLC does release soon that it doesn't happen close to Dragon's Dogma 2's release though; it'd be a shame if that games sales take a hit because attention gets diverted into this game. Although I guess it would make a change from the Horizon franchise usually being the one to suffer from releasing at the same time as another big open world game.

[Dragon Lord]

So I've been pre-planning my builds for my PS4 and PS5 platinum runs of the game. Of course since the goal is to platinum them both as fast as possible, that means I'm going to break out the sweatiest, most broken builds possible.

I'm thinking maybe on PS4, I'll go with the Death Poker and have some fun with that. Either that or do a dedicated INT build with the Darkmoon Greatsword, although the fact that there's a lot of enemies/bosses in the game with high magic resist, maybe not.

PS5 I'm thinking will be the father of all bullshit broken builds, and that is of course the Blasphemous Blade.

[Moonface]

I tried using Death's Poker at one point in my game but for everything good I'd heard about it, I never managed to find it was doing anything better than my Bloodhound's Fang that you can get super early on.

Also something I'm curious about, is do save files made on the PS4 version not work if you try to run the game with the PS5 version? They're the same game really so I'd expect they would work but with the separate trophy lists it makes me question it because I've never had this thought before.

[calamarik]

I don't know about you guys, but after a while, this game gets quite easy, maybe it's because I started to have muscle fever from all that dodging, but seriously now.

[Moonface]

I don't know about you guys, but after a while, this game gets quite easy, maybe it's because I started to have muscle fever from all that dodging, but seriously now.

I think that's how FromSoft games are in general. At first you have no idea what any of the enemy attacks are and you're also generally levelling up at a rate similar to the enemy scaling, but once your level and experience surpasses the baseline expectation from the game the difficulty will continuously drop off. However, that's what encourages people to start doing stuff like Level 1 runs, or trying out different builds, because it creates new challenges to learn and/or overcome.

If you've never played it and have any interest in it, Sekiro is definitely the most balanced game FromSoft have put out when it comes to difficulty. You can't level up in that game until you defeat a main boss, so there's no way to end up being over leveled in that game compared to this game, Bloodborne, or any of the Souls titles.

[Moonface]

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | Trailer Drops Tomorrow
The first trailer for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will air tomorrow at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT.

---

HOLY SHIT!!!
I was not expecting this news to just drop out of nowhere like this. And of course I have class when this will air, dammit! 

[Moonface]

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | Gameplay Trailer and Release Date
The Land of Shadow.
A place obscured by the Erdtree. Where the goddess Marika first set foot.
A land purged in an unsung battle. Set ablaze by Messmer’s flame.
It was to this land that Miquella departed. Divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage. Of all things Golden.
In the Land of Shadow, Miquella awaits the return of his promised Lord.



Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will release on June 21st, and comes with two editions:

Base Edition - $39.99

• Shadow of the Erdtree (DLC Expansion)
  
• Bonus Gesture (Pre-Order Bonus)
  

Premium Edition - $49.99

• Shadow of the Erdtree (DLC Expansion)
  
• Shadow of the Erdtree Artbook & Soundtrack
  
• Bonus Gesture (Pre-Order Bonus)
  

[Dragon Lord]

Looked like they are bringing back the twin sword weapons from Dark Souls 3. Will be interesting to see how they are in Elden Ring, as they were pretty damn good in DaS3.

Overall didn't get too excited watching the trailer. My overall meh opinion of Elden Ring prevents me from getting excited for the DLC, but I will of course get it and try it.

[Moonface]

Yeah, the trailer was neat but I can't say it really did anything that would make me expect to see a $40 price point for it. Then again, I don't know how much the DLC's were for any previous FromSoft games so maybe it lines up pretty well with their existing track record for DLC pricing.

[Moonface]

Famitsu had an interview with Miyazaki about the DLC and there's some interesting stuff in it:

Q: What kind of fields will appear in the DLC?
A: We have prepared something new that is different from that seen in the main game. It includes not only open fields but also legacy dungeons and smaller dungeons. It is larger and more diverse than Limgrave in the main game.

Q: How do you access the DLC?
A:  The entrance is either a large cracked cocoon, or a withered arm hanging from it, which was the stage of the battle with "Mohg, Lord of Blood." Also, in order to go to the field of this DLC, you need to defeat "Mohg, Lord of Blood" and "Starscourge Radahn".

Q: Are there any new elements unique to DLC?
A: Yes, level-up elements limited to the DLC have been added. They work similarly to the "Attack Power" system in "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice", where you have to defeat a boss to increase your attack power. This will help to keep the DLC challenging for players regardless of their already established character level, as well as prevent anyone from becoming over leveled for the main game if they complete the DLC first.

Q: Are there any weapons, magic, or prayers that will be added?
A: Yes. Many weapons, magic, battle techniques, etc. will be added. That's one of the selling points of this DLC. Especially regarding weapons, 8 new weapon types will be added. Of course, there are also additions to existing weapon types.

Source: https://www.famitsu.com/news/202402/22335199.html

I really liked the Attack Power system in Sekiro, because it was the only way to level up in that game. You couldn't be over leveled for anything in the game because you have to defeat compulsory bosses to progress, and defeating them is the only way to level up your attack power. I just wonder how it'll work when put alongside the existing level system Elden Ring has because obviously they're not gonna dump everyone down to Level 1 stats yet it seems the stats we have won't be enough alone to kick arses.