Have you been exploring the depths of Stormveil castle yet?

chase128 said:

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Have you been exploring the depths of Stormveil castle yet?

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IDK... I thought i've gone pretty deep. There is still one little area behind a door I can see, but can't find a way to it from the outside.

I dont know how they hold up later on but in the early to mid game those claws are absolutely disgusting with how powerful they can be especially with leap attacks. Quickstep also really helps with letting you stay close range and just stacking bleed damage. I just wish there was more variety and choices for claws.

After playing with them for a bit i decided to make a Prophet character to test our the Faith fist weapons in roundtable hold.

You said you found the crit dagger, that's the Misercorde you're referring to?

I've never played any of these games before. Would the learning curve be crazy hard for me?

chase128 said:

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You said you found the crit dagger, that's the Misercorde you're referring to?

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Yep. And the spear is in the same room, as is the wet stone. The wet stone allows you to adjust the affinities when you add a Ash of War, which is awesome.

Okay, cool. There's a long ladder by that room that goes somewhere way down. Pretty crazy stuff going on down there. I was worried about spoiling stuff, but it sounds like you've been around that area.

That Misercorde is fun. I have it as a back up weapon for my mage and I have it scaling off my INT using a magic Ash of War. It's useful to stealth backstab enemies and save FP. With that Iron Whetstone blade I could technically have it scale off INT with any Ash of War. I'll have to keep my eye out for anything interesting.

spag.ag2003 said:

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My buddy just picked up Elden Ring as his first Souls game. He got his ass kicked for the first few hours but is now like 20 hours in and addicted to it.

There is a bit of a learning curve but while the combat is demanding it is not complicated (no crazy button press combinations).

You will die though. If this bothers you and fighting a boss 20 or 30 times is not appealing to you, it might not be your thing. If you look at those attempts as investment to raise your skill cap, you will love it. Progressing through these games is very satisfying and fun.

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I'd like to add that how you build your character's stats is critical. Having an understanding ahead of time of how you want to build your character is important, know which stats you want to focus on. Being a "hybrid" class, where you mix magic and physical attributes, can be tough to pull off for newer players in my opinion.

When I first started playing Souls games, I had no idea about Equipment Load. If you equip heavy armor and a shield and a beefy sword, you'll move and dodge roll extremely slow.

It's safe to say there is a steep learning curve with this game. You'll have to learn the combat tricks (1h or 2h, how to parry dodge and block, how to block + counter, jump attacks, jump attacks with dual wielded weapons) and you'll have to learn how stats work. Thank goodness combat doesn't have crazy button combos, timing your attacks and dodges is hard enough.

If you are dying 20-30 times on a boss, you need to re-evaluate your strategy. There is no reason to be dying over 20 times, unless you are fighting them incorrectly. Also, the game is really forgiving with the shrines and such, to make the attempts much quicker.

For beginners, it will always be a challenging start. The Soulsborne games are just punishing, and enemies don't hold back. Mobs of enemies don't attack you one at a time. You have to play smart and carefully. Every group of enemies is an encounter to be taken seriously, unless you become a seasoned player and just know the rhythm of the encounter well enough to fly through. New players are used to playing games where you shred through enemies, and these games just aren't that... unless you are playing a in a lower leveled area.

Bosses are generally always hard, but they take strategy. Every boss isn't, "imma run in there and just start swinging!" Take into account all your spells, potions, ashes, etc, when fighting a boss. I generally start out by avoiding the attacks and getting to learn the bosses 4-5 moves. That will give me the idea of the pattern. I also may die a time or two, just trying to learn the moveset. From there, I determine if this is a Twin Imp, Dual dagger fight, a spear fight, or a bow fight. I have used all three in my fights, with different ashes, because the fight would have been so much harder with another weapon or skill.

I think Elden Ring is a great intro to the Souls games, because you can hit a hard boss, decide to go do something else, then come back. There are some ways to do that in the other games, but not in the same fun way.

Also, I don't understand the critique of the game being too open world and big. If you don't want to explore the open world, then just follow the path. There, you have a standard Souls game where you actually travel to the next level. I love the exploring and open world aspect of the game.

Don't get me wrong. I love the exploration and "finding" stuff. Just getting tired of fighting the same handful of bosses over again at the end of each dungeon. In the grand scheme it is a minor complaint. I actually like that there is no quest log. One pet peeve I have with some open world games is my map turns into a giant checklist. Kind of a relief not to have that here.

Also if you just take the critical path you will be woefully under leveled. You need to either level up by exploring and doing dungeons or by farming the same enemies over and over.

Finally found the last little area in Stormveil I hadn't been to. You really have to be on the lookout for ledges and things to platform on. Granted, the area I found just got me a heavy shield, which I can't use.

I'm so bad at this game, but it's so fun lol

Made it into the academy and took down a couple of the evergaols today.

For better or worse with all of the spawn points in this game I find myself rushing through areas ignoring the enemies and just getting to the next spawn point to progress. Couldn't really do that in previous ds games.

What did you think of the boss in the basement/crypt area? That was a messed up looking thing. Plus, the melted face at the end of the room was creepy AF.

Finally got my second great rune... though there are still somethings in the academy I haven't found. Also, running into that thing where the game gives me options to do things, but I have no earthly idea what they are to make that decision.

DallasTeleAg said:

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Finally got my second great rune... though there are still somethings in the academy I haven't found. Also, running into that thing where the game gives me options to do things, but I have no earthly idea what they are to make that decision.

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Got to the academy boss tonight… man, this boss is easy… then BAM.

Also eff the guy guarding the boss room in the academy.

And the guy guarding the unique staff. But mainly the guy guarding the elevator to the boss.

Yeah, she was a 2-shotter. Then I spent 8 attempts on a guy in the church of vows.

I just beat Rennala last night as well. The Academy had a ton of upgrades for my mage. I was so glad to get the mage knight armor set, it looks amazing.

The crazy looking machines with the buzz saws are hilarious and terrifying at the same time. If they "eat" you, you get teleported to a volcanic area.

The knight guarding the final boss's elevator was definitely tricky. Took me a bit to get him figured out. What worked for me was playing very defensive when he had his shield out, I only used Ambush Shard since his shield would negate any magic. When he swapped to his staff, I went more offensive and moved in with Carian Slicer.

The worst thing about the final boss fight wasn't her, it was the run back. I was surprised there wasn't a point of grace by her elevator, or even a stake of marika by her mist door. The fight itself wasn't difficult. The first phase didn't take me long to figure out, and her second phase was just figuring out how to time dodge her spells and when I could fit in a Rock Sling. It's a slow cast time, but that spell has been critical to defeating tough enemies for me.

I duplicated her Remembrance so I could get her staff and the full moon spell. Can't use either yet, my Int is in the low 50s.

The knight guarding her was easy, for me. My strategy on heavy enemies with shields, like that, is to keep some distance, wait for the attack, and then do a jump power attack with my spear. After about 4 or 5 of those, I stagger them and get a critical attack. One shotted.

For Rennala, she was just no match for my Fanged Imps and my daggers. I've got my Fanged Imps leveled to +4, right now.

My problem with him was I'm using claws so and in the middle of combos all of a sudden he puts his shield out and parrys me to then one shot me. I ended up just making him fall down the elevator shaft.

Did Rennala summon any monsters when yall fought her? On one of my attempts, she summoned a dragon, a troll, and a blood knight (just like the guy you fight in a gaol who scurries around and has a curved 2h sword). But that only happened on one attempt.

My demi human bonk squad kept her busy I guess on most of my attempts and she didn't summon but that one time.

bbattbq01 said:

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My problem with him was I'm using claws so and in the middle of combos all of a sudden he puts his shield out and parrys me to then one shot me. I ended up just making him fall down the elevator shaft.

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Oh yeah....

There's a place further in the game I ended up where you can fight 3 summons in front of a giant pot. One of those summons had a small bandit shield. Anytime he pulled that thing out, he would parry me and one shot me. I just started backing away and avoiding him until he put his shield away, then I would go to town.

Also, I tried the claws a bit. They are too slow, for me. I like extremely fast attacks, especially to buildup Bleed. Dual daggers with the rune to increase the last attack in a sequence, along with both daggers applying blood loss is absolutely devastating for certain enemies. However, the heavy shielded ones are definitely a Spear fight, for me.

What Ash of War do you have on your daggers?

Reduvia has it's dedicated Ash. My bandit dagger just has a random one that I could change the affinity to Keen, which is more powerful than its natural state.

Don't think I've found any spears yet.

Maybe I'll try daggers again. I do notice the claws slowness sometimes, but seemed like blood was applying faster than daggers, but think only one of my daggers had blood on it. Need to check if I have an ash that causes blood.

bbattbq01 said:

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Don't think I've found any spears yet.

Maybe I'll try daggers again. I do notice the claws slowness sometimes, but seemed like blood was applying faster than daggers, but think only one of my daggers had blood on it. Need to check if I have an ash that causes blood.

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What did you start as? The starting weapon for the Bandit has Blood Loss on it. Reduvia has much more. The starting dagger for the Bandit is still such a fantastic weapon.

You can get the Bloody Slash Ash of War off a boss somewhere, then duplicate it and put it on multiple weapons. I believe the Blood Loss number on it is 60. Unfortunately, putting it on will reduce your normal damage for that weapon. I am working on my back-stabby dagger right now, to get that up to the same upgrade level.

The spear I use is fantastic, has built-in bloodloss, and is found somewhere in Stormveil. Before that one, I used the one I got after killing patches.

I beat the academy tonight then found and beat a dragon kin while looking around for where to activate her rune. Found some kind of pole weapon from some monsters around the dragon kin, need to check stats if I can use it once I get kiddos asleep.

I started this character as the wretch, so didn't have any starting weapons.

Haha... nice.

I've never started a soulsborne game, that way. It's only really worth it the first play through. After that, you know where all the good gear is, anyways.

I do love my Bandit Dagger, though it is hella powerful, as is my Spear. You should be able to find a merchant to buy the dagger from, somewhere. I've found a few that sell the other classes' gear. I definitely love my dual wielding dagger. I'm so used to bloodborne, I don't need a shield to play a Soulsborne game. I would get bored if I constantly had my shield up. I always go for the Dex build.

I'm now level 67, was able to respec, and found myself ported to the extreme east side of the map to an aread that was so cool, it game me goosebumps. Also reminded me of how huge this game is. I have 52 hours in it, now, and i've only uncovered just over 1/3 of the map.

Was exploring the capital city today and met the ghost of someone who is important to the story. Decided I'd come back later after getting stomped a few times lol.

Pretty much running around blindly at this point. I've still got the first two great runes… have fought one of the other demigods but decided to come back to him (one in the dunes).

Cleared out a village of demonic grandmas earlier this evening, that was disturbing. Have so much exploring to do, feel like the dungeon density after the first area isn't nearly as dense, so I'm pretty sure I've missed a lot of mini dungeons I need to find to level up. I'm still not sure what exact kind of class I want to go for. I've been swapping back and forth between daggers and a giant curved sword lately.

Should I play blind? It's so tempting to read about some of the stuff y'all are talking about and watch videos, but I've tried to stay away from any spoilers. I don't know much except from the trailers and that it's a huge world, with a horse, and enemies that will put you on your ass. And also some type of tutorial level.

texsn95 said:

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Should I play blind? It's so tempting to read about some of the stuff y'all are talking about and watch videos, but I've tried to stay away from any spoilers. I don't know much except from the trailers and that it's a huge world, with a horse, and enemies that will put you on your ass. And also some type of tutorial level.

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You should always play as blind as possible.

Have you ever played a From Software game?

DallasTeleAg said:

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texsn95 said:

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Should I play blind? It's so tempting to read about some of the stuff y'all are talking about and watch videos, but I've tried to stay away from any spoilers. I don't know much except from the trailers and that it's a huge world, with a horse, and enemies that will put you on your ass. And also some type of tutorial level.

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You should always play as blind as possible.

Have you ever played a From Software game?

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DS1 is probably my favorite, hated DS2 (played a few hours), loved DS3, Demon Souls, Bloodbourne. But never went in to them without some knowledge of things.