Official Elden Ring Thread

[MoragaBlue]

Until Elden Ring, I had never played any of the Souls games. Wow, was my missing out! For me, ER is the best game I've ever played and spent more time on it than any other game, half of which were probably devoted to boss fights--easily my favorite aspect of the game.

Finished the DLC twice and have some thoughts. As with ER, my initial couple of playthroughs were blind without any guides, absent any summons, and with the Nagakiba, utilizing unsheathe or double slash, depending on the fight.

While I'd score the original game a 10 and my personal favorite game of all time, by far. The DLC is a solid 9.5, not quite as fulfilling as the original. Some say it's too hard, it's not. Anyone who played the original game without summons should find the DLC challenging, but certainly not "too" difficult.

Fromsoft had to make this hard, otherwise it would be too easy. If we go back to the original game, those bosses are so easy now. Even Malenia is basically a two trick pony. Once you learn how to dodge waterfowl dance (round around under and she'll miss, then dodge & dodge) and scarlet bloom (unlock and dash underneath), she's easily bullied. So, they really had to overtune the bosses otherwise I suspect their core fanbase would be disappointed.

Elden Ring isn't only game of the year, but game of the century, far as I'm concerned. Even the DLC while not perfect, IMHO, is easily the game of the year.

Spoiler alert
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For those who have played and had become engrossed in ER and the DLC as much as I, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the DLC.

1. Rellana - easily one of my favorite fights of all time. Between the music and the dance like engagement, this is probably the boss I had the most fun. The Milady with the Wing Stance made this fight so much with the quick double R2 and Wing Stance attack. The first time, I used all dodge. During the second playthrough, I used all parries. The dodge is more fun, while the parry is a little easier. Only criticism is her left handed sword attack is so quick, it's impossible (at least for me) to parry in time without guessing. IMHO, the notion of "hard but fair" shouldn't have attacks where one couldn't react to with the naked eye.

2. Bayle - One of my complaints during the initial game were the dragons. There were too many, the heads were frustratingly difficult to hit, and I mostly had to resort to locking off and just poking its feet. With Bayle, they corrected those shortcomings and it's the best dragon fight ever created. Period. My first playthrough, I ran pass the ancient dragon (hate fighting them as I mentioned above), and headed straight towards Bayle. Top notch fight and I really have no complaints.

3. Radahn - Ah, phase one was fun and pretty easy to parry. Phase 2 was like a Star Wars light show. I realize at this point the original bosses seem easy, and they had to turn up the difficulty, but IMHO, they over did phase 2. I literally had no idea what was going on, how I was dying, or even how to avoid any of the AOEs. Unlike with any other boss fights, I decided just to cheese phase 2. I respeced my character increasing endurance, carried the Black Knight shield on sacred with 100% holy damage, along with my parry shield. After phase one, instead of learning or practicing to dodge, I'd just switch to it to block all the holy damage. When he was done, I'd switch back to the parry shield and bullied him around. The light show and Miki's hair made this fight very hard, since I really couldn't see and parried from memorization. Oh, also used deflecting hard tear you get from the first golem. Not one of my favorite fights because of the light show and, in my view, disappointing story line. Radahn was my favorite character from ER, and they turned him into an undead zombie type thing.

Anyway, the other bosses I really don't know too well, since I just beat them with reactions without really learning their mechanics. Except for Gaius, which probably took me a while to learn how to dodge some of his combos, though I can't quite get the timing of his charge. While I don't think I'll play the DLC as much as the original, Rellana & Bayle I'll probably keep fighting, since I enjoy them so much.

 

[Majcric]

Nostalgia aside and even with some of its faults. I agree that Elden Ring is without a doubt one of the best games to date, if not the absolute best.

I can't tell you how many years its been since I wanted to come home and game after work. Or think about it while I'm away. With ER this happens. Not a 1:1 but I get Vanilla WOW vibes playing ER.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Nostalgia aside and even with some of its faults. I agree that Elden Ring is without a doubt one of the best games to date, if not the absolute best.

I can't tell you how many years its been since I wanted to come home and game after work. Or think about it while I'm away. With ER this happens. Not a 1:1 but I get Vanilla WOW vibes playing ER.

Agreed!

This game has got to be amongst then best $50 - $60 I've ever spent, since according to Steam, I've played over 1,200 hours! While I hadn't realized it during the time, a benefit (at least for me) was starting ER fresh never having played any prior Souls or Fromsoft games.

To this day, Margit is still the single most difficult, most satisfying, and most rewarding experience I've had in a video game. If anyone had ever told me I'd feel such elation over defeating a video game boss, I'd never have believed it. Since I played blind without any prior knowledge, I just assumed following the signs of grace was the thing to do, and it lead me to Margit. I just assumed I had to beat him or should to get to the other side. After 10+ hours over several days, I finally beat him with that initial Prisoner build. It was such elation and rewarding with the then astronomical 10K runes!

Not sure if the developers had intended it, but this ordeal had given me a fundamental basic understanding of the game's combat mechanics, namely when to roll, strafe, jump, back up and/or crouch. Margit if fought extensively teaches a new player most of what will be necessary to enjoy the game, in my view. Even now, I've yet to experience a boss which has been more difficult and time consuming for me to overcome than Margit. For my money, Margit will be the greatest boss of all time, bar none.

Limgrave is, in my view, the single best area of any video game. I still enjoy going through it and likely will never tire of it. Whenever I need a break to sell stuff or reorg, I always return to the Church of Ellah--my favorite spot of the entire game.

No game is perfect, of course. But with ER, I haven't played any other games since and have let my Xbox one 2-year membership go unused. I had planned to play BG3, but after ER, I probably won't even bother, since it can't possibly be as rewarding of an experience. For me, this is like the game that ended all games. It's almost as if the devs made this for me.

All I can say is if anyone whose yet to play this, do yourself a favor and play it asap! You won't regret it!

PS - Initially, during the tutorial I almost couldn't get pass the Godrick soldier and died almost 50 times to the Beastman in that initial cave. During those initial several hours, I found this game probably the hardest I had ever played. Basically, I was getting killed by everything in this world!

 

[Oyeve]

After becoming super frustrated with the end boss in the DLC I stayed away for a couple of weeks. Went in early this morning, re-specced my character and finally took him out. I must say the ending is pretty lackluster. But, still my favorite game ever. Now to play the DLC in journey 2! I have several saves and all are either journey 6 or 7. But the last playthrough I did specifically for the DLC, I started the game from the beginning and at the end of the playthrough I am level 309. So journey 2 on that save should be a breeze. It will be my 77th playthrough!

 

[jpiniero]

Just beat Mesmer. I have to admit, using the Mimic Tear is kind of cheap.

 

[Majcric]

Just beat Mesmer. I have to admit, using the Mimic Tear is kind of cheap.

I agree my Mimic Tear seams way overpowered. I used it for one boss fight to see how it works and doubt I'll ever use it again. And I'm a casual player, FWIW

 

[MoragaBlue]

In my view, the brilliance of ER is Hidetaka Miyazaki's insistence on staying true to his vision of creating a game pushing the limits and challenging a gamer's skill & persistence with the boss combat, while very elegantly expanding the in-game options to allow the game to be enjoyed by 25 Million gamers worldwide. If that doesn't make it the game of the century, I can't imagine what would; even Time Mag placed him in the 100 most influential people of the year. I can't recall ever seeing a game developer in such a list.

I was an avid gamer during my youth and basically stopped playing or buying any games for about 10 - 15 years, because they made it too easy to expand their audience. I'd be happy to invest in their company's stock, but I would never consume the product since I inferred they were no longer interested in making games for me. Well, until ER. Had I known Miyazaki was making games for me (or people like me) I would have been playing every single Dark Souls game. As they say, better late than never, and I will be eternally grateful for finding Elden Ring, their DLC, and look forward to any game he makes in the future. I'm just hoping Miyazaki's doesn't call it a career and ride into the sunset. I desperately want another Fromsoft game.

Case in point. I've never preordered a game in my life, except for the DLC. I will preorder the next Fromsoft game. Heck, I've even gotten so desperate after the DLC that I've picked up Lies of P (great game), Lords of the Fallen (takes some getting use to) and Dark My Wukong (fun combat system but a little on the easy side).