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

[Lostdragon]

On 5/9/2022 at 5:16 PM, zzip said:

I spent most of the weekend in Consecrated Snowfield.   This place is like the "greatest hits" of Elden Ring,   lots of familar enemies from earlier areas,  the giant bears, giant crabs, giant rats, giant trolls (both the 'abominable snowman' type, and new cloaked ones that emit frenzy-- yay?)  

 

Oh and a mausoleum with enough weaponry to make the Death Star jealous---  wtf??

 

At least the bosses in this area are fairly easy to take down and drop lots of runes.   Almost makes up for the other crap..   almost.  

 

Actually you could get to the exit fairly easily by going straight down the middle of the map and solving one puzzle and avoiding most of the enemies.   But I always feel like if I don't explore, I'll miss something cool or important.    It also seems like a good area to quickly grind runes and level up.

 

Also beat the Black Knife Ringleader in the Evergoal in Liurnia and got the "Black Knife Tiche" spirit ashes-   supposedly one of the best in the game.

Just reached here, after one main  boss battle, a minor crypt boss etc. 

 

 

[zzip]

Made it to "Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree".   This place is beautiful!   But there is such a grind after the "prayer room" site of grace.   I can't find another site of grace in the area.   I've made a bunch  of "mad dashes" to explore different parts of the area,  killed most of the enemies at least one time,  found some hidden areas but still don't see a site of grace.

 

Now I did find a way out of the area, but it seems like a cheese and I can't believe it's how they would expect you  to get out so I'll post it as a spoiler below.

Spoiler

If you jump on one of the beams and drop down to the edge of what looks like a pillar,  you will find an elevator shaft.   But it's not functional as you haven't unlocked it from the other side.   It's also very deep so there's no way to fall and not die.    Still if you do jump and land on the center of the elevator, it will activate although you die in the process.   You can freely use it from then on.

 

[Lostdragon]

Maliketh Of The Black Blade Defeated, thought game had crashed soon after it played another cutscene. 

 

 

Game is definitely way too padded out for my liking. 

 

That snowfield was just cheese central. 

 

 

How much more before this game can be wrapped up? 

 

 

[zzip]

17 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Maliketh Of The Black Blade Defeated, thought game had crashed soon after it played another cutscene. 

 

 

Game is definitely way too padded out for my liking. 

 

That snowfield was just cheese central. 

 

 

How much more before this game can be wrapped up? 

 

 

It looks like there's only a few areas left after the snowfield from my counting.

 

From the snowfield you can reach Mogwhyn Palace and Miquella's Haligtree.   Mogwhyn's Palace was short.   The two Haligtree areas have been more interesting than other recent areas in the game.  After that I think there might be two more areas?

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

It looks like there's only a few areas left after the snowfield from my counting.

 

From the snowfield you can reach Mogwhyn Palace and Miquella's Haligtree.   Mogwhyn's Palace was short.   The two Haligtree areas have been more interesting than other recent areas in the game.  After that I think there might be two more areas?

I've just cleared 2 more bosses. 

 

One minor.. 

 

And just done the God Of War-esq:

 

Godfrey,, First Elden Lord! Hoarah Loux. 

 

It's gotten ridiculous now, bosses galore and the plot is just dragging itself out, proving yourself time and time again fit for the throne here. 

 

Won't be doing NG+ that's for sure. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Lostdragon

[zzip]

16 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

And just done the God Of War-esq:

 

Godfrey,, First Elden Lord! Hoarah Loux. 

The names in this game are so confusing.    Godfrey, Godwick, Godefroy.   Margit, Margot, Morgott   Malenia, Melina

More than once I've entered a boss battle and thought "Didn't I fight this guy?"

 

16 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

It's gotten ridiculous now, bosses galore and the plot is just dragging itself out, proving yourself time and time again fit for the throne here. 

 

Won't be doing NG+ that's for sure. 

Heh!  I may start NG+ to test out my high level gear in beginning areas, but no way am I doing a complete playthrough.   I doubt I'll ever replay the game on regular level, it's just way too long.   When I need a fix I'll probably do DS3 next, been awhile since I played that one, but that won't be anytime soon.

 

I'm on the Malenia boss now,  and honestly she doesn't seem to be as hard as everyone makes her out to be.   No Fire Giant, that's for sure!   I've helped a few others this morning so I can learn her moves, and we took her down first try.   I'm also getting more and more jealous of the magic users,  some of them I summon or join at this point in the game have these crazy OP spells that a great for enemies that can make great leaps or fly, (which it seems like every boss at this phase can do)

[Razzie.P]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

The names in this game are so confusing.    Godfrey, Godwick, Godefroy.   Margit, Margot, Morgott   Malenia, Melina

Same.   I've beaten the game twice now and still don't know which of those is which, other than Malenia, because --

 

1 hour ago, zzip said:

I'm on the Malenia boss now,  and honestly she doesn't seem to be as hard as everyone makes her out to be. 

This is the only boss I couldn't beat during my playthrough.  I didn't' have much luck with co-op, so I played virtually the entire game solo, but Malenia was the only boss I couldn't take down by myself.   I even came back right before fighting the final boss to make sure I was leveled properly and carrying "end game" gear, but couldn't do it. 

 

NG+ --- I'm guessing I spent an embarrassing 50+ tries at the end before giving up, and most of NG+ felt like "easy mode."   I was finally able to summon someone and they did the work for me, which is kinda sad but oh well  ? 

 

 

Edit:  I misremembered --- I thought it was my 1st playthrough where I had help with Malenia and won, but then I remembered I just gave up entirely during that round and did try again on NG+

 

 

 

[Gentlegamer]

20 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Maliketh Of The Black Blade Defeated, thought game had crashed soon after it played another cutscene. 

 

 

Game is definitely way too padded out for my liking. 

 

That snowfield was just cheese central. 

 

 

How much more before this game can be wrapped up? 

 

 

Now that you have Destined Death rune, you can finish the game by going to the ashen capitol if you like.

 

Edit:

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Gentlegamer

[Gentlegamer]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

The names in this game are so confusing.    Godfrey, Godwick, Godefroy.   Margit, Margot, Morgott   Malenia, Melina

 

All of the important characters names begin with GRRM . . .

[zzip]

27 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Same.   I've beaten the game twice now and still don't know which of those is which, other than Malenia, because --

All this time I saw people talk about the Malenia fight,  I thought "oh so the guide/maiden girl turns on me in the end?  guess I shouldn't trust her!"

[Austin]

27 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Edit:  I misremembered --- I thought it was my 1st playthrough where I had help with Malenia and won, but then I remembered I just gave up entirely during that round and did try again on NG+

I struggled with Malenia at first too, until I discovered it's super easy to keep her pinned down. Just about every attack staggers her a bit so you can interrupt her attacks easily. An ash like the Mimic Tear can help keeping her stunned. Same goes for her second form.

[Gentlegamer]

I respected to bleed and spammed Rivers of Blood/Corpse Piler to kill Malenia. And I don't care.

[Austin]

Generally in the Souls games I try to do everything 100% solo and with melee primarily.

 

However, with Elden Ring, the game was so long-winded I just said "screw it" halfway through and began relying on my ash summons. Game's too damn long to treat it like a normal Souls game, IMO.

[zzip]

29 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

This is the only boss I couldn't beat during my playthrough.  I didn't' have much luck with co-op, so I played virtually the entire game solo, but Malenia was the only boss I couldn't take down by myself.   I even came back right before fighting the final boss to make sure I was leveled properly and carrying "end game" gear, but couldn't do it. 

Yeah, I used to pride myself on getting through these games without having to resort to co-op.   Finished BB with no help and only minimal help in the other Souls games.

 

But Elden Ring been has too long of a game to spend a lot of time struggling with bosses.   I'll try the boss solo at first to see if I stand a chance.   If not I have no qualms about bringing in Spirit Ashes, NPC or player summons.    And Co-Op is kind of fun.       

 

And I'm a melee user, my best bows and spells don't inflict that much damage.   Some of these bosses jump or fly away as soon as I get close, then instantly turn around and pull some maneuver that wrecks me because I'm in their range.    So I'm glad when I get a strong spellcaster to help with strong ranged attacks because I don't see how I'd ever beat them, at least not without respec-ing my build and becoming a mage ?

 

[Razzie.P]

18 minutes ago, Austin said:

I struggled with Malenia at first too, until I discovered it's super easy to keep her pinned down. Just about every attack staggers her a bit so you can interrupt her attacks easily. An ash like the Mimic Tear can help keeping her stunned. Same goes for her second form.

My mimic's issues were probably related to my build.  It's a badass, and I'm convinced I could sit back and watch it solo most of the bosses through NG+.  But with Malenia, he gets stupid and she just used him as an easy target to heal.  SO it was one of those rare cases where having the "help," actually made it harder for me.

 

 

[Austin]

2 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

My mimic's issues were probably related to my build.  It's a badass, and I'm convinced I could sit back and watch it solo most of the bosses through NG+.  But with Malenia, he gets stupid and she just used him as an easy target to heal.  SO it was one of those rare cases where having the "help," actually made it harder for me.

Well you're not supposed to just stand back and watch. You need to work alongside it, haha. Between the Mimic and yourself, you can keep her pinned down pretty well. The life she gets back when it takes damage will be pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things.

[zzip]

34 minutes ago, Austin said:

I struggled with Malenia at first too, until I discovered it's super easy to keep her pinned down. Just about every attack staggers her a bit so you can interrupt her attacks easily. An ash like the Mimic Tear can help keeping her stunned. Same goes for her second form.

Yeah I can get in close and easily get several hits on her before she retaliates, and my shield blocks most of her early fight hits.     Her "flying" phase doesn't seem to trigger until around 25% health.

 

Maybe they nerfed her?   But so far she doesn't seem to be anywhere close to as much of a pain as Fire Giant, Mohg, Rahdan, or the damn Twin Gargoyles (after many tries, my gargoyles eventually fell off the cliff, by 'accident' of course  )

Edited May 13, 2022 by zzip

[Razzie.P]

9 minutes ago, zzip said:

Yeah, I used to pride myself on getting through these games without having to resort to co-op.   Finished BB with no help and only minimal help in the other Souls games.

 

 

Oh, make no mistake, me playing solo wasn't a pride thing.  I wanted to summon help a LOT, but it just wouldn't work for me.  ?  Constant "unable to summon" messages, and as I progressed through the game, it got to a point where I rarely saw any summon signs (I did plow through pretty fast, so I guess there wasn't a lot of action late game yet)   And it was pretty late in the game before I found about about mimic, so low level wolves providing a distraction was my go-to

[Razzie.P]

6 minutes ago, Austin said:

Well you're not supposed to just stand back and watch. You need to work alongside it, haha. Between the Mimic and yourself, you can keep her pinned down pretty well. The life she gets back when it takes damage will be pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things.

Oh, I helped.  I didn't just watch.  ?   I'm just convinced that I sucked at that fight and the mimic faithfully mirrored my suckiness.

[zzip]

2 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Oh, make no mistake, me playing solo wasn't a pride thing.  I wanted to summon help a LOT, but it just wouldn't work for me.  ?  Constant "unable to summon" messages, and as I progressed through the game, it got to a point where I rarely saw any summon signs

Yeah I had that issue too.   In some locations almost all summons fail,  other places I can't find summons.   Lately I've been finding lots of summons.    I also added some "group passwords" that I found online, don't know if that helps or hurts chances of finding people.

 

6 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

And it was pretty late in the game before I found about about mimic, so low level wolves providing a distraction was my go-to

My mimic kept dying fairly quickly and foolishly at first.   Now that he's fully levelled up he's much better.    I recently found out about the "Black Knife Tiche" ashes,  that one is pretty powerful and has been my go to recently. 

[Austin]

Yeah the mimic can last a long time if you have it maxed out. I honestly didn't even realize until near the end of the game that I could upgrade my ashes. ?‍♂️

[zzip]

7 minutes ago, Austin said:

Yeah the mimic can last a long time if you have it maxed out. I honestly didn't even realize until near the end of the game that I could upgrade my ashes. ?‍♂️

Makes me wonder if there's some way to upgrade my armor that I missed?

[Lostdragon]

2 hours ago, Gentlegamer said:

Now that you have Destined Death rune, you can finish the game by going to the ashen capitol if you like.

 

Edit:

 

Assume I took on the final boss last night, stage 2 saw it mutate into the Elden Beast. 

 

Weak boss design, looked like something out of Child Of Eden. 

 

 

Got nowhere with it on second stage mind. 

 

Will try again tonight. 

 

Honestly at stage where if this isn't the last boss to finish the game, I won't be bothering past it, the games padded itself out from Fire Giant onwards. 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Lostdragon

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, Austin said:

Yeah the mimic can last a long time if you have it maxed out. I honestly didn't even realize until near the end of the game that I could upgrade my ashes. ?‍♂️

Trick I found is have it mimic you with one strong weapon whilst you switch to another, also if you mimic yourself wearing a charm that attracts enemy attention, then take it off once mimic formed, foes target the mimic leaving you alone. 

[Lostdragon]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

The names in this game are so confusing.    Godfrey, Godwick, Godefroy.   Margit, Margot, Morgott   Malenia, Melina

More than once I've entered a boss battle and thought "Didn't I fight this guy?"

 

Heh!  I may start NG+ to test out my high level gear in beginning areas, but no way am I doing a complete playthrough.   I doubt I'll ever replay the game on regular level, it's just way too long.   When I need a fix I'll probably do DS3 next, been awhile since I played that one, but that won't be anytime soon.

 

I'm on the Malenia boss now,  and honestly she doesn't seem to be as hard as everyone makes her out to be.   No Fire Giant, that's for sure!   I've helped a few others this morning so I can learn her moves, and we took her down first try.   I'm also getting more and more jealous of the magic users,  some of them I summon or join at this point in the game have these crazy OP spells that a great for enemies that can make great leaps or fly, (which it seems like every boss at this phase can do)

The names the plot, it's just become a snorefest clusterf#ck 

 

 

Give me the focused lore of Demon's Souls and Bloodborne any day.

 

 

In fact I rate both far higher (Demon's for the impact it had on me) far higher than Elden Ring

 

 

 

I'd go:

 

 

Bloodborne

Demon's Souls 

DSIII

DS1

DS2

Sekiro.