Soulsborne thead (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne)

[Lostdragon]

51 minutes ago, zzip said:

Even the early-game bear in Mist Wood gave me trouble yesterday,  I'm around level 90 now and can take everything else in the area out with one swing

3 of us and the other 2 players well above my level, kitted out with armour and weapons i could only dream off, tried taking down the dragonbarrow cave bear, it wiped the floor with us, yet stealth moving past it, reach the cave boss and boss fight over in seconds. 

 

 

Madness. 

[zzip]

1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

3 of us and the other 2 players well above my level, kitted out with armour and weapons i could only dream off, tried taking down the dragonbarrow cave bear, it wiped the floor with us, yet stealth moving past it, reach the cave boss and boss fight over in seconds. 

I haven't ventured into dragonbarrow yet,  but I'll keep this in mind when I meet the bear.

 

 

[zzip]

On 4/8/2022 at 12:06 PM, Razzie.P said:

it seems you (and me, on my NG+ run) got lucky with Radahn.  The patch 1.03 nerfed him quite a bit, but now they have 1.03.3 that makes him a pain in the butt again.

 

I hated that boss first time through.

I beat Radahn over the weekend.   I think the best strategy if you are hosting the battle is to focus on summoning NPCs and ranged attacks-  stay out of his way so you stay alive and let the NPCs and other human players do the heavy lifting.

 

Yeah it sounds like slacking, but I don't feel bad because I helped quite a few others beat the boss before taking him on for myself,  so I paid my dues...

[Gentlegamer]

5 hours ago, zzip said:

I haven't ventured into dragonbarrow yet,  but I'll keep this in mind when I meet the bear.

 

 

When you do, you will cross an invisible line of difficulty where the mobs gain +200% health and damage output from the previous zone.

[Lostdragon]

Hit a wall with it again. 

 

First time playing after a short turnaround set of nightshifts yesterday, felt ready to play. 

 

The 2 new areas after the stars fall to the ground, are absolutely handing me my backside, suddenly my character feels extremely underpowered. 

 

Only found one person with a summons sign down in one area, he died within seconds. 

 

 

Ended up helping another player with a boss fight I was struggling with, he died pretty quickly. 

 

Then just grinded enough runes till I could level character up another level. 

 

I just want to finish the sodding thing now ?

[zzip]

5 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Hit a wall with it again. 

 

First time playing after a short turnaround set of nightshifts yesterday, felt ready to play. 

 

The 2 new areas after the stars fall to the ground, are absolutely handing me my backside, suddenly my character feels extremely underpowered. 

 

Only found one person with a summons sign down in one area, he died within seconds. 

 

 

Ended up helping another player with a boss fight I was struggling with, he died pretty quickly. 

 

Then just grinded enough runes till I could level character up another level. 

 

I just want to finish the sodding thing now ?

Do you mean 'Nokron Eternal City' and 'Siofra Aqueduct'?

 

I didn't find Nokron too bad,  but I am struggling with Siofra Aqueduct.   A couple of enemies there are overpowered and the Gargoyle Boss is just insane.

 

Sometimes summoning Spirit Ashes is enough if you can't find other players,  they at least keep enemies distracted enough that they aren't pounding you constantly.   But against the Gargoyles they don't last long,     And I can't find human summons in the gargoyle area.  

[Lostdragon]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Do you mean 'Nokron Eternal City' and 'Siofra Aqueduct'?

 

I didn't find Nokron too bad,  but I am struggling with Siofra Aqueduct.   A couple of enemies there are overpowered and the Gargoyle Boss is just insane.

 

Sometimes summoning Spirit Ashes is enough if you can't find other players,  they at least keep enemies distracted enough that they aren't pounding you constantly.   But against the Gargoyles they don't last long,     And I can't find human summons in the gargoyle area.  

Yep, both those blighters. 

 

Keep finding more spirt ashes to add to my arsenal, but no matter which I level up and use against bosses now, they don't last long. 

 

Yeah, tell me about human summons in Gargoyle area... 

 

 

3 unable to summon fails, followed by one who arrived, died before getting to boss. 

 

Ended up putting my own sign down, myself and another assisting a player, but he died before any real samage done to the gargoyle. 

 

I'm also struggling with an optional boss, Ancestor Spirit, in Siofra River. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zzip]

47 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Ended up putting my own sign down, myself and another assisting a player, but he died before any real samage done to the gargoyle. 

I'm usually the one who dies to the gargoyles when I try that-  usually by poison because I get trapped when he breathes it.

I did some research on that boss fight this morning because I feel completely helpless against it.   Apparently there is a nearby NPC you can summon that will help a lot.  I'll put more details on what I read in a spoiler tag in case you don't want the details.

Spoiler

There is an NPC who sits nearby on the balcony.   When I talk to him, he gave me a gesture but says nothing.   

 

"This is D, Beholder of Death, and the sibling of D, Hunter of Death. You’ll likely have met the latter in Roundtable Hold. If you haven’t already, progressing Fia, the Deathbed Companion’s quest can aid you in this fight. 

Speak with Fia in Roundtable Hold a lot (easily done while completing Rogier’s quest line) until she gives you the Weathered Dagger. Remember to use Baldachin’s Blessing each time you let her hold you to remove the debuff. Hand the dagger over to D and, the next time you visit Roundtable Hold, you’ll find Fia has killed him in a new room near the Blacksmith. Grab his armor set, then return to Nokron. You can hand the Twinned Armor over to D, Beholder of Death, though be warned that this will impact the end of Fia's quest line. You can still complete it an unlock an ending, but you'll need to move quickly when you meet her again."

 

After you give D the armor, his summon sign should appear right outside the Gargoyle mist wall.  Sounds like you can still use Spirit ashes if you summon him.   I have not tried any of this yet.   I've mostly avoided Fla until now  because she gives me the creeps.

 

Also it sounds like it might be easy to cheese the gargoyles by getting them to back up over the edge of the waterfall. 

 

1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

Keep finding more spirt ashes to add to my arsenal, but no matter which I level up and use against bosses now, they don't last long. 

I've found them useful in quite a few situations,  but none have lasted long against the gargoyles.   Which ones have you tried?

 

1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

I'm also struggling with an optional boss, Ancestor Spirit, in Siofra River. 

I managed to beat that one after only a couple of tries.    I used either the Ancestral Follower or Marionette Soldier spirit ashes-  i forget which, but both spam arrows into the foe knocking it off its game.   Also had a bleed ash of war attached to my sword.     Most annoying part it this boss tries to regen health after awhile so you have to be kind of aggressive to stop that.

[zzip]

2 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Keep finding more spirt ashes to add to my arsenal, but no matter which I level up and use against bosses now, they don't last long. 

Also the Mimic Tear Spirit Ash is nearby in Nokrom, if you haven't found it already.   It's supposed to be the most OP Spirit Ash, but it seems kind of overrated to me

[Lostdragon]

14 hours ago, zzip said:

Also the Mimic Tear Spirit Ash is nearby in Nokrom, if you haven't found it already.   It's supposed to be the most OP Spirit Ash, but it seems kind of overrated to me

OK Spirt Ashes.. 

 

 

I've been randomly finding and upgrading them and have:

 

 

Wandering Noble+5

Noble Sorcerer +5

Putrid Corpse 

Skeletal Militiaman +5

Skeletal Bandit

Winged Misbegotten

Lone Wolf+6

Rotten Stray+5

Giant Rat

Lone Squirt+5

Spirt Jellyfish +5

Fanged Imp

Greatshield Solider+4

Page

Marionette Solider+4

Avionette Solider+1

Mimic Tear+5

Kaiden Sellsword +1

Mad Pumpkinhead+2

Ancestral Follower+1

Kindred Of Rot+1

Twinsage Sorcerer +1

Goldrick Solider +1

Banished Knight  Engvali+5

Perfurmer Tricia+5

Lhutel The Headless+5

 

 

Im all for choice, but feel like i am drowning in them, no idea which are worth upgrading, where and when they are best used. 

[Lostdragon]

https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/16/elden-ring-is-the-worst-soulsborne-ever-except-dark-souls-2-16478135/amp/

[Razzie.P]

20 hours ago, zzip said:

Also the Mimic Tear Spirit Ash is nearby in Nokrom, if you haven't found it already.   It's supposed to be the most OP Spirit Ash, but it seems kind of overrated to me

 

I'm about half to 3/4 through NG+ (haven't played a lot, lately) and there hasn't been a single enemy, bosses included that my (fully upgraded) Mimic Tear couldn't easily handle by itself at this point.  ?  I'm sure they're out there, and the game will get harder toward the end, but at this point, I've sat back a few times to watch just for giggles, and yeah, it's something.

 

 

5 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

OK Spirt Ashes.. 

 

 

I've been randomly finding and upgrading them and have:

 

 

Wandering Noble+5

Noble Sorcerer +5

Putrid Corpse 

Skeletal Militiaman +5

Skeletal Bandit

Winged Misbegotten

Lone Wolf+6

Rotten Stray+5

Giant Rat

Lone Squirt+5

Spirt Jellyfish +5

Fanged Imp

Greatshield Solider+4

Page

Marionette Solider+4

Avionette Solider+1

Mimic Tear+5

Kaiden Sellsword +1

Mad Pumpkinhead+2

Ancestral Follower+1

Kindred Of Rot+1

Twinsage Sorcerer +1

Goldrick Solider +1

Banished Knight  Engvali+5

Perfurmer Tricia+5

Lhutel The Headless+5

 

 

Im all for choice, but feel like i am drowning in them, no idea which are worth upgrading, where and when they are best used. 

 

That’s kind of related to something I said a while back –

 

On 3/21/2022 at 10:24 AM, Razzie.P said:

I stuck with the same basic axe for the first 60 hours of my playthrough, and only changed it up toward the end bits.   It always seemed to be too much of a pain to start over with a new weapon, because the damage was always much lower than my axe, and way too time consuming to farm for stones.  That's actually been a gripe I've had with all the Souls games, really.  They never seem to encourage playing around with different weapons until after a few patches makes it easier to do so.

 

And on that note... one of the things from the new patch is "supposedly" it's now easier to farm stones to upgrade weapons.  So that should help.

For this game, that same thought goes for Summons, too.  I feel like they give you lots of summons, but the resources to upgrade them were so scarce, you couldn’t really waste them on random ones to experiment.  Near the end game, it’s a bit easier to level and experiment, but up till that point, I was always afraid to spread the love, like you seem to have done.  And that’s a shame really, because there’s so much variety with weapons and summons, that it should be encouraged to play around with them at a high, useful level, in my opinion.

I ended up using the first ones I got (Wolves) for much of the game, and they were great. But, since I was stingy with the upgrades, they were always probably a bit more overpowered than they should be at any given time, acting as a great diversion, taking lots of damage, and staggering the crap out of enemies and bosses.

Later in the game, once I found Latenna and Mimic Tear, I started using those a bit, too.  Since I was stingy and only leveled up the Wolves, I was able to level these pretty high as soon as I found them, so they were useful immediately.   Latenna was great for wide open areas, and Mimic was (and still seems to be) an overpowered beast at high levels that can beat lots of bosses by itself, if you wanna take that approach.  I think Mimic’s effectiveness, though, depends on how you’ve built your character, so could be different for each. 
 

 

Edit:  You may have seen this already, but could be useful

https://www.windowscentral.com/elden-ring-best-spirit-summons

 

[Lostdragon]

Not sure if it's been a day of progress, or 3 steps forward, 2 back. 

 

Started well enough. 

 

Took out 2 catacomb bosses with absolute ease. 

 

 

Demi-Human Queen in around 15 seconds.. 

 

 

Cave Digger Troll under a minute. 

 

 

 

Then started exploring, found The Shaded Castle.. 

 

Elemer Of The Briar....gets added to long list of bosses yet to take down. 

 

 

Sold off a stack of accumulated weapons last night, never going to experiment and use them, lacking the incentive to try them. 

[Lostdragon]

Set the Ranni quest in motion this afternoon. 

 

 

Obtained the Carian Inverted Statue and used it to turn Carian Tower upside down. 

 

Not been so glad to reach a site of grace in ages, after getting through that. 

 

 

 

 

Auriza Hero's Grave though as an area which would have me pulling my hair out, if I'd not shaved my head. 

 

 

[zzip]

On 4/15/2022 at 12:09 PM, Lostdragon said:

Yeah, tell me about human summons in Gargoyle area... 

I finally beat the Gargoyles over the weekend.   First I did the stuff to unlock the NPC summon in the area.    Then on my successful run, I summoned the NPC only with no spirit ashes at first--    it's always demoralizing to watch your spirit summon die only 25% into the battle, if that.   So I decided to wait.   

 

The NPC and I fought the first gargoyle near the top of the waterfall to the right.   Gargoyle soon fell off..  darn it! ?   NPC and I were still in good health.   At this point I brought in an ancestral follower spirit in.   I decided to let Ancestoral Follower and NPC do most of the battle with me keeping my distance but getting strategic hits in when he got close to me.  Resisting the urge to get greedy with the hits, and healing whenever I take damage.  I always get greedy and it's my downfall.

 

At 25% of its health, the second gargoyle fell off too, battle over!  couldn't believe it.   

 

But then the Deeproot area after the Gargoyles isn't much better..    Easy to earn runes, easy to lose them.   I've been pretty good at preventing huge rune loses in this game so far, but I've lost tens of thousands in the Deeproot area already.   It's not that the enemies are particularly tough, but there are so many of them and it's easy to get mobbed if you're not careful-  or you'll get knocked off a high area to your death.

 

On 4/16/2022 at 5:11 AM, Lostdragon said:

Im all for choice, but feel like i am drowning in them, no idea which are worth upgrading, where and when they are best used. 

Yeah same,  I've focused on upgrading a few favorites.

Marionette Soldiers - not very powerful,  but they will spam a ton of arrows that will distract enemies and throw them off their game

Ancestral Follower - because who doesn't want a personal minotaur assistant? 

Kaiden Sellsword - Just started experimenting with this now that I have enough FP to summon him.   Liking it so far.   Lasts much longer than the others, and it should for the extra FP it costs

 

On 4/16/2022 at 5:21 AM, Lostdragon said:

https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/16/elden-ring-is-the-worst-soulsborne-ever-except-dark-souls-2-16478135/amp/

Heh, well I like Dark Souls 2!   Although I do agree there is too much in Elden Ring that got carried over from the Dark Souls games.   I'm tired of fighting Basilisks, respawning skeletons, etc.   It's a new name, I'd like to have seen a cleaner break.    That said the game is so ambitious and large that they probably had to reuse old enemies and items to get it finished.

[zzip]

21 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Obtained the Carian Inverted Statue and used it to turn Carian Tower upside down. 

 

Not been so glad to reach a site of grace in ages, after getting through that.

I just did that area as well..    It was odd.   So many enemies in the lower part, but then you get to a point where enemies just stop and the "crossbeam platforming" is what?  two levels?  Unnervingly simple for a From Game!   I was sure I was going to to get ambushed by something else horrible before reaching the grace, but didn't thankfully.   

[zzip]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:02 AM, Razzie.P said:

 

I'm about half to 3/4 through NG+ (haven't played a lot, lately) and there hasn't been a single enemy, bosses included that my (fully upgraded) Mimic Tear couldn't easily handle by itself at this point.  ?  I'm sure they're out there, and the game will get harder toward the end, but at this point, I've sat back a few times to watch just for giggles, and yeah, it's something.

I'm sure eventually mine will get to that point.   But right now he just rushes into battle- does decent damage, but never seems to heal himself and gets taken out far too quickly.

 

On 4/16/2022 at 11:02 AM, Razzie.P said:

For this game, that same thought goes for Summons, too.  I feel like they give you lots of summons, but the resources to upgrade them were so scarce, you couldn’t really waste them on random ones to experiment.  Near the end game, it’s a bit easier to level and experiment, but up till that point, I was always afraid to spread the love, like you seem to have done.  And that’s a shame really, because there’s so much variety with weapons and summons, that it should be encouraged to play around with them at a high, useful level, in my opinion.

Yeah, I always have a ton of weapons I never use, and always have this nagging suspicion that there's a better weapon than the ones I'm using but always afraid to spend the resources in case something better comes along.   I suppose this is one thing Bloodborne does better because there are fewer weapons to experiment with.

 

For Ashes,   I'll try them out in an un-upgraded state, and if they impress me then they are worth upgrading.   I also keep finding more crypts in areas I previously explored and they are a great source of ghost glovewort for upgrades.   Also you can buy ghost glovewort from some merchants who seem to have unlimited supply. 

 

On 4/16/2022 at 11:02 AM, Razzie.P said:

I think Mimic’s effectiveness, though, depends on how you’ve built your character, so could be different for each. 

Right,  I'm a melee build, I wonder if mimic would be much better if I was a spell caster.   I think it wouldn't die so foolishly

[Lostdragon]

37 minutes ago, zzip said:

I just did that area as well..    It was odd.   So many enemies in the lower part, but then you get to a point where enemies just stop and the "crossbeam platforming" is what?  two levels?  Unnervingly simple for a From Game!   I was sure I was going to to get ambushed by something else horrible before reaching the grace, but didn't thankfully.   

My fears exactly ?

 

I kept thinking any minute now, they are going to throw hordes of goes at me or I'll be invaded... but nothing. 

 

Reached grace and phew.... 

[Lostdragon]

44 minutes ago, zzip said:

I finally beat the Gargoyles over the weekend.   First I did the stuff to unlock the NPC summon in the area.    Then on my successful run, I summoned the NPC only with no spirit ashes at first--    it's always demoralizing to watch your spirit summon die only 25% into the battle, if that.   So I decided to wait.   

 

The NPC and I fought the first gargoyle near the top of the waterfall to the right.   Gargoyle soon fell off..  darn it! ?   NPC and I were still in good health.   At this point I brought in an ancestral follower spirit in.   I decided to let Ancestoral Follower and NPC do most of the battle with me keeping my distance but getting strategic hits in when he got close to me.  Resisting the urge to get greedy with the hits, and healing whenever I take damage.  I always get greedy and it's my downfall.

 

At 25% of its health, the second gargoyle fell off too, battle over!  couldn't believe it.   

 

But then the Deeproot area after the Gargoyles isn't much better..    Easy to earn runes, easy to lose them.   I've been pretty good at preventing huge rune loses in this game so far, but I've lost tens of thousands in the Deeproot area already.   It's not that the enemies are particularly tough, but there are so many of them and it's easy to get mobbed if you're not careful-  or you'll get knocked off a high area to your death.

 

Yeah same,  I've focused on upgrading a few favorites.

Marionette Soldiers - not very powerful,  but they will spam a ton of arrows that will distract enemies and throw them off their game

Ancestral Follower - because who doesn't want a personal minotaur assistant? 

Kaiden Sellsword - Just started experimenting with this now that I have enough FP to summon him.   Liking it so far.   Lasts much longer than the others, and it should for the extra FP it costs

 

Heh, well I like Dark Souls 2!   Although I do agree there is too much in Elden Ring that got carried over from the Dark Souls games.   I'm tired of fighting Basilisks, respawning skeletons, etc.   It's a new name, I'd like to have seen a cleaner break.    That said the game is so ambitious and large that they probably had to reuse old enemies and items to get it finished.

My utmost respect for beating the Gargoyles, might have to try your strategy on my next encounter. 

 

 

Dunno what's up with the game this afternoon. 

 

 

Decided to spend a while helping others. 

 

Game crashed halfway through one playthrough. 

 

Reloaded, summoned again, then game froze me on the spot, before killing me, most odd. 

 

 

Took out that decaying dragon last night I never use the dragon powers per say, it was just doing my head in. 

 

 

Getting tired of encountering variations of the same foes, so starting to take them out just for the sake of it. 

 

But yep, with a game of this size, you have to expect heavy reuse of enemies. 

 

 

Whilst it was the weakest in the series i would take DSII over Sekiro any day ?

[Razzie.P]

3 hours ago, zzip said:

Right,  I'm a melee build, I wonder if mimic would be much better if I was a spell caster.   I think it wouldn't die so foolishly

Mine's a melee thumper through n' though.  All strength, endurance, and vitality.  To dumb even do a card trick and can barely use a bow.

 

I'd say pretty much anything is "better" as a spell caster though.  Those are usually pretty powerful.  In past games, I've always beaten them at least once with melee and once with magic.  Played co-op through Demons Souls with a buddy and it felt like we were playing a shooter

 

 

[zzip]

11 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Mine's a melee thumper through n' though.  All strength, endurance, and vitality.  To dumb even do a card trick and can barely use a bow.

 

I'd say pretty much anything is "better" as a spell caster though.  Those are usually pretty powerful.  In past games, I've always beaten them at least once with melee and once with magic.

I've never played through any of the games as a spell caster or faith build.   I always assumed it would be more difficult-  you run out of FP then get pounded to a pulp ?  But I guess that's not true?

 

Eventually I raise my melee character's stats enough to use some spells-  probably too much of a mixed build for some purists, but it works for me.  

[Lostdragon]

Had a 'getting there" couple of hours play. 

 

Found another catacomb by pure accident, took out Grave Robber Duelist with ease. 

 

Can add Soldjars Of Fortune Spirt Ashes to the inventory. 

 

Just taken out Draconic Tree Sentinel 

 

Levelling up my Marionette Soldier Ashes now,alongwith Mimic Tear one's. 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Lostdragon

[zzip]

Whenever I get stuck, I go back and visit areas I've been through.   I always find new stuff!

 

In Caelid those annoying giant crows dissuaded me from exploring very far off path, I guess, found tunnels leading out to previously inaccessible parts of Limgrave and powerful items.  Also a new boss I missed.    An Invisible scarab that yields an awesome item if you catch it.

 

Near the Grand Lift, found a picturesque village that has some weird light in the sky that inflicts madness if you don't take cover,  it's kind of reminds me how it felt going into the Nightmare of Mensis area in Bloodborne for the first time with that frenzy-inducing sound

[Lostdragon]

OK, so... 

 

Maiden has now departed, as I got her to her destination... 

 

 

Just took down Godfrey The First Lord, with realitive ease. 

 

Next location Queens bedchamber and looks like another boss from there. 

 

 

I've got to be near the end now... Right? 

 

 

My character is level 102.

 

I have been playing over 146 hrs 25 mins. 

[Gentlegamer]

2 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

OK, so... 

 

Maiden has now departed, as I got her to her destination... 

 

 

Just took down Godfrey The First Lord, with realitive ease. 

 

Next location Queens bedchamber and looks like another boss from there. 

 

 

I've got to be near the end now... Right? 

 

 

My character is level 102.

 

I have been playing over 146 hrs 25 mins. 

Nope.