Elden Ring

[RPS]

21 hours ago, King Ellis said:

Those shrimps with the homing attack are sure annoying when you play without a shield.

Yeah they are. 

I eventually escaped because you can kill the shrimp to the left of the door and than run out the bottom quickly. The problem is you have zero idea where is the exit so I would keep dying when I found more shrimp guys. I managed to always get my runes back but I died there a solid 5 times. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Basically plowed straight through to Margit and then repeatedly got my ass kicked, as the game intends. Spent the rest of my time playing yesterday wandering around collecting runes, leveling up, improving weapons. Hoping I stumble upon better armor before going back to that battle.

Also the cave, which has all the smithing stones, has that stupid fucking troll at the end. That'll teach me for daring to open doors. Lost a ton of runes.

[gunnar hendershow]

Figuring out as I gear up for Godrick my early push to strengthen myself with melee didn't suit my playstyle as well as I had hoped. Glad I have some decent melee punch but going to be really putting an outsized focus on casting now. Between summons and pelting with magic and fire (plus lobbing in poison arrows) I think I can take on most major battles. The melee is a really good "get out of trouble" option allowing me to reset when an enemy's stamina drops. It also makes plowing though soldiers and undead in dungeons and the map super easy.

But, yeah, a tip of the cap to anyone who does this game as a pure melee build and manages to beat the bosses.

I suppose once I get a bleed ash of war I'll be a little more courageous with melee as the rewards will outweigh the risks. But all I have are a pair of claws I found that don't do a ton of damage and I burnt all my smithing stones upgrading two swords thinking I'd dual wield more than I have.

[Ruki]

I beat Margit the first try, easy.

(I had a guy named Roger (RIP) help me along with my 3 wolves)

[gunnar hendershow]

I noticed for that and now Godrick that the game gives you an AI character to call in for co-op. It's nice of them to do that since, to my understanding, it's tough sledding finding co-op partners otherwise due to the demand vs supply. I opted not to use Rogier for Margit to add some difficulty to it, but so far have been using co-op help for Godrick because he's just so much stronger.

Anyway, I came pretty close to beating Godrick but ran out of FP and flasks, couldn't bleed him fast enough before he wiped me out. Some of my fights against him haven't even made it to the halfway point as he focuses in on me and I simply can't roll away effectively enough (I blame camera angles). Probably going to go gather some more runes to boost my endurance and some other stats, come back with stronger armor while still being a med. load. 

[apsham]

Summoning co-op can be a mixed bag anyways - the health of the boss scales in relation to any co-op partners you bring in (but not your own summons that you do with the summoning bell) - but if your partners can stay alive, giving the boss someone else to pay attention to can really break an encounter. If your partners leave though, you're just stuck with a boss with way more health than it should have.

Older games would often give you characters but it would be locked behind being in a condition that means that you would be able to be invaded, or you'd have to complete someone's quest line or both so it's nice to have the option there for some more of the challenging fights. It used to just kind of exist for lore purposes or if you really wanted to play offline but now that there's no real reason to play offline, I'm glad they're still doing it AND they made it kind of easier to do in the first place.

[Schlitzbrille]

Absurdly glitchy and break all the things

[gunnar hendershow]

Man I fucked up not killing off Gostoc before beating Godrick. So many runes... Gone.

[apsham]

2 minutes ago, damhausen said:

Man I fucked up not killing off Gostoc before beating Godrick. So many runes... Gone.

Spoiler

....holy shit. I killed him in my first playthrough and didn't really die in the castle during my NG+ runs. I started a new character recently and kept thinking that I was losing more runes than I thought. I didn't realize that was even a mechanic OR that he's the one who locks you in that room.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

1 minute ago, apsham said:

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....holy shit. I killed him in my first playthrough and didn't really die in the castle during my NG+ runs. I started a new character recently and kept thinking that I was losing more runes than I thought. I didn't realize that was even a mechanic OR that he's the one who locks you in that room.

 

Spoiler

I figured it out because there were messages around him saying "thief" and "traitor" but he had a shop so I *assumed* he did some shenanigans later on. I don't recall anything about getting locked in that room with the rusted key, and I killed the knight by luring him out of that room and pelting him with magic anyway. So I didn't catch that and while I did notice I was losing runes I just assumed for awhile it was a weird mechanic of the dungeon itself, and that all future dungeons would do the same.

I assumed his shop stayed open in perpetuity so felt it was kinda valuable to keep him alive, moreso than getting back some runes. But then he closes the shop once you beat Godrick. Dirty tricks from this game!!

 

[Maxx]

7 hours ago, damhausen said:

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I figured it out because there were messages around him saying "thief" and "traitor" but he had a shop so I *assumed* he did some shenanigans later on. I don't recall anything about getting locked in that room with the rusted key, and I killed the knight by luring him out of that room and pelting him with magic anyway. So I didn't catch that and while I did notice I was losing runes I just assumed for awhile it was a weird mechanic of the dungeon itself, and that all future dungeons would do the same.

I assumed his shop stayed open in perpetuity so felt it was kinda valuable to keep him alive, moreso than getting back some runes. But then he closes the shop once you beat Godrick. Dirty tricks from this game!!

 

Might be worth revisiting where Godrick died...

[Ruki]

I don't like Patches. First off, to get to that cave I got 'invaded' by that douche-y NPC who kept killing me. Then he has a big shield and I can't summon my puppies?!

[King Ellis]

I don't know if I mentioned this when I first found Patches but it did make me appreciate the player sign left outside the cave saying "Why is it always cleric?" which confused me at first.

And at least Patches isn't the way he is in Bloodborne... Speaking of which, those hand things in that one are the most terrifying things I think I've ever seen.

Patches spoilers

Spoiler

I did just run afoul of him which I'm surprised took so long but also I didn't see coming. This was at the edge of this cliff face with a bunch of coloured rocks around. Plus a hard coded sign taking about how they lead to prizes or something. I thought perhaps it was invisible paths or something so was getting ready to drop some stones to test it. Next thing I know I've got a kick up the arse and I'm in some ravine with a bunch of those curse frogs. Maybe if that sign that mentioned trinkets I would have been more suspicious...

 

[gunnar hendershow]

That damned Red Wolf of Radagon...

[Ruki]

I beat up that swamp dragon. It took a few tries, but on my last attempt I got lucky and didn't take any damage somehow. 5000 runes and a dragon heart? I was hoping for something cooler. Also got fucked up by a knight in a dark room in the castle. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Definitely struggling with Rennala in the Academy of Raya Lucaria. The Red Wolf became easier as I figured out his relatively predictable movements but getting through Rennala requires a lot more. Think I really need to find better armor at defending against magic. Beyond that a bit of luck because it's super annoying to roll away from a couple magic attacks and then be struck by one of her summons. Manage to hold onto enough healing options but I take too much damage to get them off timely, so again need some better armor.

[apsham]

13 minutes ago, damhausen said:

Definitely struggling with Rennala in the Academy of Raya Lucaria. The Red Wolf became easier as I figured out his relatively predictable movements but getting through Rennala requires a lot more. Think I really need to find better armor at defending against magic. Beyond that a bit of luck because it's super annoying to roll away from a couple magic attacks and then be struck by one of her summons. Manage to hold onto enough healing options but I take too much damage to get them off timely, so again need some better armor.

My build in my new game was having a hard time with it - I eventually brought in the wolves and only summoned them when I finished the first phase. They were effective enough to kind of stun lock her a little bit so she only got a few of her own summons off.

[gunnar hendershow]

9 minutes ago, apsham said:

My build in my new game was having a hard time with it - I eventually brought in the wolves and only summoned them when I finished the first phase. They were effective enough to kind of stun lock her a little bit so she only got a few of her own summons off.

You know I was going to try bringing in the wolves only after moving to the second phase. I mainly was using my archers I got in the Academy since using them makes phase one a breeze where I take no damage. But she wipes them out super quickly in phase two.

Think after work today I'll go back and bring in the wolves right after she gets off her first attack in phase two. And then maybe ride the perimeter pelting her with arrows to keep her stunned as best as I can? I do so much more damage when I get enough melee strikes in though thanks to bleed.

Will be interesting to play with but that sounds like a path forward.

[apsham]

1 minute ago, damhausen said:

You know I was going to try bringing in the wolves only after moving to the second phase. I mainly was using my archers I got in the Academy since using them makes phase one a breeze where I take no damage. But she wipes them out super quickly in phase two.

Think after work today I'll go back and bring in the wolves right after she gets off her first attack in phase two. And then maybe ride the perimeter pelting her with arrows to keep her stunned as best as I can? I do so much more damage when I get enough melee strikes in though thanks to bleed.

Will be interesting to play with but that sounds like a path forward.

A tip in that direction - if you defeat her first phase and instantly switch to the summon as she is in the summoning animation - you'll start the second phase with the wolves already out.

I've found too that for the most part - if she's doing magic projectile attacks/beam attacks - just lock onto her and run around her perimeter. You can get pretty lucky like that and it kind of holds true for most of the future bosses that do stuff like that as well. If she gets her dragon summon off it's a waiting game to see if it'll go away or if you can finish the fight asap though.

[RPS]

So I have purposefully not looked at strategy guides or tips, but I'm level 38 and I still only have my first two spells - Glintstone Pebble and Arc. Is this normal? I feel I should have more. I have 5 summons (rat, wolves, jellyfish, spores and knights). Pebble and Arc are fine but I absolutely know that there are stronger spells out there...