Elden Ring

[mcbigski]

That Smith I found.  As it turns out, i didn't have enough lvl 1 stones to get my magic shortsword to +3, and didn't have my +3 staff equipped, so I mistakenly thought he was limited like the smithing bench in the first area.   Oops.

[RumHam]

Just found my first illusory wall. I'd seen lots of false messages about them and was starting to think they weren't in the game.

Spoiler

In the "ray liotta" magic Acadamy (I'm not great with names.) near the classroom bonfire, right where you find the scroll.

Also, going back to the first castle to kill the grafted scion I found an item that was not there before. Like last time I was there there was a different item there.

Spoiler

It's a crimson hood, where the crystal memento was on that pile of bodies with the two dogs off of the grafted scion room.

 

[Fez]

Got the key to enter the lake region's big legacy dungeon; though I chickened out and ran past the guarding boss to pick it up rather than fight (in my defense, it has a huge range AOE that one-shots me). I haven't entered the dungeon yet though. I've finally started to find some of the caves and other locations in the lakes to explore. They're well-hidden because of how big the area is (and also, the map doesn't show that there's a big section of the area that is dual-layered; it only shows the top layer), but there's some weird, cool stuff. Like this male siren whose song sounded really good. It wasn't even a boss, it was a slightly tougher than normal enemy that seemingly FromSoft recorded a song just for it.

I also found a teleport to get to that cliff island off the coast of Stormveil Castle. I was wondering if I'd ever get there or if it was just for show. Should've known better. But the boss there seems hella tough.

[Mexal]

23 hours ago, Kalibuster said:

There's a special spot that you can get to from limgrave which cheeses rune farming to an absurd level - 1952 runes per run, can reset and do it again in less than a minute, no combat required (only torrent).

https://www.windowscentral.com/elden-ring-best-way-farm-runes

The above does a decent job of describing where it is, this does a good job of showing the right turn

 

This is very easy wow.

[aceluby]

Didn't get too much time last night, but enough to take down the boss in the castle in the south, this dead flying bird thing, a couple more of the smaller dungeons, and Margit before I decided that it was a good night.  Got my twinblade up to +12 and my +3 wolves are basically a cheatcode for these early bosses.  Also got some side stuff like the ability to buy level 1&2 upgrade materials at the roundtable, bought all the spells I could, bought all the ashes I could, and got myself to level 28.  I have a few bosses ready to go that I might try out - one in the mountains that I've traversed through, one underground, and a few smaller dungeons. 

[Fez]

Speaking of the roundtable,

Spoiler

Has anyone else been attacked when they warped to it? I went there last night and the lighting was different and that silent guy leaning against the wall by Gideon's room was hostile. After killing him, the area reloaded to look like normal and Gideon gave me a weird half-apology for what happened.

Not sure what triggered that, but it makes me suspect those other Tarnished aren't all good. Hopefully the ones who sell stuff don't ever turn hostile though; unless there's replacements for them later.

Also, killing that guy gave me his full set of armor. It's too heavy for me and the stats aren't great enough for me to start investing in endurance, but every single piece increases HP regen. I wonder if it would make a noticeable difference for someone able to wear all of it.

 

[RumHam]

15 minutes ago, Fez said:

Speaking of the roundtable,

  Hide contents

Hopefully the ones who sell stuff don't ever turn hostile though; unless there's replacements for them later.

 

Spoiler

When I killed patches he dropped a ball bearing. You can give it to the statue like lady at the roundtable and then access his shop from there. I assume it's the same with all merchants but I'm not sure. 

 

[RumHam]

4 hours ago, Fez said:

Speaking of the roundtable,

  Reveal hidden contents

Has anyone else been attacked when they warped to it? I went there last night and the lighting was different and that silent guy leaning against the wall by Gideon's room was hostile. After killing him, the area reloaded to look like normal and Gideon gave me a weird half-apology for what happened.

Not sure what triggered that, but it makes me suspect those other Tarnished aren't all good. Hopefully the ones who sell stuff don't ever turn hostile though; unless there's replacements for them later.

Also, killing that guy gave me his full set of armor. It's too heavy for me and the stats aren't great enough for me to start investing in endurance, but every single piece increases HP regen. I wonder if it would make a noticeable difference for someone able to wear all of it.

 

Spoiler

I had that encounter at the roundtable. Then I found the "rose church" in the lake region and had a conversation, you may want to head there if you haven't. I just happened to be going back to kill that key guarding dragon when I found it. 

 

[RumHam]

Level 77 
Vigor  - 25
Mind   - 20
Endure - 13
Str    - 14
Dex    - 17
Int    - 51
Faith  - 9
Arcane - 7

Spoiler

I've only killed two "ring fragment" bosses. I respec'd  ~20 strength points to intelligence but kept the 17 dexterity required for Richards rapier +8 that I got from him after I beat godric. I've upgraded it to +12. It keeps things stunned as I stab them. probably the only reason I was able to handle those 1094 rune farum greatbirdge guys so early is because they have low poise and it stunned them over and over. 

Anyway I kept notes and used the map markers, so I've just been checking shit off since I beat the second major boss. 

 

[Fez]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

Level 77 
Vigor  - 25
Mind   - 20
Endure - 13
Str    - 14
Dex    - 17
Int    - 51
Faith  - 9
Arcane - 7

  Reveal hidden contents

I've only killed two "ring fragment" bosses. I respec'd  ~20 strength points to intelligence but kept the 17 dexterity required for Richards rapier +8 that I got from him after I beat godric. I've upgraded it to +12. It keeps things stunned as I stab them. probably the only reason I was able to handle those 1094 rune farum greatbirdge guys so early is because they have low poise and it stunned them over and over. 

Anyway I kept notes and used the map markers, so I've just been checking shit off since I beat the second major boss. 

 

You're much further along than me now. I'm only level 41 I think and still in the Academy. Going for a very similar build though. I was thinking I'd put some more points in Dex and spread a few points around some other stats. But then I found a spell that requires Int 52, and I doubt it's the only crazy high stat required spell. So I guess Int will remain the primary focus. I use a whip as my melee weapon; not much damage but it staggers almost any non-boss. Good range too.

I've got a new favorite spell, Carian Slicer. Only downside is its a melee spell, but it's crazy fast, very damaging, good stagger, and only costs 4 FP per swing.

[RumHam]

Just now, Fez said:

You're much further along than me now. I'm only level 41 I think and still in the Academy. 

I only recently finished the academy. I just went to town on the farming spot it's like 20k in ~10-20 minutes depending on how quickly you can kill them.  Ride the horse towards one, target it, hop off and stab to stun, continue stabbing. 

It started with a self imposed rule that every time I lost >1000 souls I had to earn them back there. I can remember losing ~7k back when that would have been like 1.5 levels. I hate that shit. 

At this point every time I'm over 20K I teleport over there to level up and then continue exploring. 

 

[Fez]

31 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I only recently finished the academy. I just went to town on the farming spot it's like 20k in ~10-20 minutes depending on how quickly you can kill them.  Ride the horse towards one, target it, hop off and stab to stun, continue stabbing. 

It started with a self imposed rule that every time I lost >1000 souls I had to earn them back there. I can remember losing ~7k back when that would have been like 1.5 levels. I hate that shit. 

At this point every time I'm over 20K I teleport over there to level up and then continue exploring. 

 

I sit on a stockpile of golden runes rather than using them all up. Whenever I'm more than 2/3rds of the way to a level, I top off the next time I reach a grace and level up. So I'm generally not losing more than a few hundred runes whenever I die while exploring new areas or hitting a boss for the first time.

I haven't done much in the way of farming. I went to Kal's site and ran it a couple times, but it was so dull I decided I wasn't going to bother unless I got truly stuck. And I haven't so far. I only started the Academy tonight, but I made good progress; including beating the first boss on my first attempt.

[Slurktan]

There's a trapped chest at the tower of return in Southern limgrave that sends you to the capital to a spot that appears to be after you turn on a giant elevator.I've been throwing myself at the giant there but I don't do much damage and he basically 1 shots me if I get hit as I'm level 25. Fun though.

I also went exploring the region I will call the blight with the weird red vegetation and giant wolf/bird dinosaur things. And a feathery dragon. 

I like just running around lol

[Fez]

13 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

There's a trapped chest at the tower of return in Southern limgrave that sends you to the capital to a spot that appears to be after you turn on a giant elevator.I've been throwing myself at the giant there but I don't do much damage and he basically 1 shots me if I get hit as I'm level 25. Fun though.

I also went exploring the region I will call the blight with the weird red vegetation and giant wolf/bird dinosaur things. And a feathery dragon. 

I like just running around lol

If you haven't seen it yet during the fight, to the right of that giant there's a chest with a pretty sweet talisman. I took it and ran away like a coward, that giant was scary.

Also, it legit gave me chills to see the Erdtree so close by when it's otherwise always been far off in the distance.

[RumHam]

I found something weird I hope isn't a glitch. Another version of an NPC stuck to a wall moaning but I can't interact with them. 

A friend clued me into a secret area in the first castle

Spoiler

If you go to the liftside chamber and walk out of the room there's a spot you can carefully drop down. I never would have found that.

 

[briantw]

Finally made my way to the big castle to face off with Margit the Fell Omen.  I went in at level 32 armed with the Meteorite Staff and the Rock Sling spell.  

Beat that fucker on my first try, although he came pretty close to killing me three different times.  I summoned Rogier to help out and used the jellyfish ashes.  I was mostly content to hang back and let Rogier get his ass handed to him while I pummeled Margit with rocks.  I caught his aggro a few times and once almost got boxed in once, which would have led to a quick and painful death, but thankfully I just barely managed to get away in time and heal up and he switched his aggro back to Rogier and the jelly.

That was an intense, fun fight.

[Fez]

23 minutes ago, briantw said:

That was an intense, fun fight.

I've really liked all the bosses, big and small, that I've fought so far. They certainly vary in difficulty, but I haven't encountered that I thought were just bullshit the way some in other games are (e.g., looking at you Capra Demon). Just seem really good combat designs.

Visually too. I really wish there was some sort of codex where I could look at models of enemies after beating them. There's some very interesting designs that I've barely seen because I can't focus on that.

[briantw]

5 minutes ago, Fez said:

I've really liked all the bosses, big and small, that I've fought so far. They certainly vary in difficulty, but I haven't encountered that I thought were just bullshit the way some in other games are (e.g., looking at you Capra Demon). Just seem really good combat designs.

Visually too. I really wish there was some sort of codex where I could look at models of enemies after beating them. There's some very interesting designs that I've barely seen because I can't focus on that.

The only boss I haven't cared for so far was the Pumpkinhead one below, I believe, the Waypoint Ruins.  The reason I didn't like it was because of how goddamn small the fight arena was.  It made it tough for a squishy class like mine to stand a chance, especially since my pebble spell would always inexplicably target his head, which did approximately zero damage to him.

Once I remembered that I could summon wolves, though, he went down easily.  But the fight itself wasn't really any fun.

[RumHam]

Three great runes down. Charging the third was more annoying than the boss.

Spoiler

Fuck the divine tower of Caelid. Maybe there's a way in from the bottom? There's definitely a bonfire down there but I can't get to it. I went in by scaling the side and it was some of the tensest moments I've had so far. I do not like heights. 

A warning about an NPC merchant who leaves at some point:

Spoiler

The guy who sells incantations at roundtable just warned me he was leaving. I bought what I could but my faith isn't high enough to use most of them. 

I tend to avoid being hugged by the creepy lady but she had some new dialogue options when I did it this time. 

[aceluby]

Have you fought the huge bear in its lair?  That one was a big PITA for me, even with the wolves that have trivialized almost every other boss, including Margit. 

I feel like with all the souls games (not including Sekiro) once you get to the point that your character is actually "prepared" for the fight, the bosses go from "how is this possible" to almost trivial.  The cool thing is a lot of things can move the needle, whether it be leveling, upgrading, getting a new spell, or using a different weapon/strategy completely. 

I'm gonna get 4-5 hours tonight after the kids go to bed, which should be a good session.