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

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1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

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

 

I don't even know where I'd rank it.   I'd need some time away from the game first to see how much I miss it, haha.   It will never rank higher the BB because of the atmosphere of that game, everything else is flexible.

 

My main complaint is it's just too long,  they could have made two games out of this much content, maybe even three.

 

[Lostdragon]

This is just ridiculous ?

 

I have a supposed God-Slaying weapon, which does hardly any real damage on the Elden Beast. 

 

My highest defence Holy Damage Armour and Shield seem no more effective than the lower end stuff. 

 

Ditto with increasingy Holy Damage immunity levels. 

 

I'm hitting summon signs as soon as they appear, only to be told unable to summon. 

 

 

We, myself and co-op player got the Elden Beast to a finger of health and it stared spamming area attacks. 

 

Tried again and new help returned to his/her world as soon as phase 2 started. 

[Lostdragon]

3 minutes ago, zzip said:

I don't even know where I'd rank it.   I'd need some time away from the game first to see how much I miss it, haha.   It will never rank higher the BB because of the atmosphere of that game, everything else is flexible.

 

My main complaint is it's just too long,  they could have made two games out of this much content, maybe even three.

 

It's the padded out running time, feeling of over familiarity (Elden Beast fight environment feels straight out of Dark Souls). 

 

They could of made the main game shorter, put  some of the optional bosses side quests etc into DLC. 

 

My concern is that due to press fawning over it, calling it a masterpiece, sales being so high for it, it's the direction the studio will follow now. 

 

?

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3 hours 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.

Just finished off Malenia with help from co-op.   After more attempts I see she does have some bullshit moves she pulls out from time to time like turning into the flower and landing next to you giving you no time to get away

 

It is a strange fight, sometimes it's relatively peaceful and I barely take damage until late in the fight, other times she was much more aggressive and I'm healing constantly having a hard time getting hits in.

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3 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

My concern is that due to press fawning over it, calling it a masterpiece, sales being so high for it, it's the direction the studio will follow now. 

yeah,  and other studios will be like "guess we have to make 200 hour long games too!"

[Gentlegamer]

Elden Beast is weak to physical damage, I melted it with Pest Threads.

[Lostdragon]

Finally ?

 

198 hrs 26 mins playtime, a level 130 character. 

 

2 game crashes, like how many patches has this had now? 

 

 

And thanks to 2 legendary online players who did all the work on phase 2 of the battle, I literally just stayed alive.. 

 

The Elden Beast is Defeated, game completed. 

[Razzie.P]

2 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Finally ?

 

198 hrs 26 mins playtime, a level 130 character. 

 

2 game crashes, like how many patches has this had now? 

 

 

And thanks to 2 legendary online players who did all the work on phase 2 of the battle, I literally just stayed alive.. 

 

The Elden Beast is Defeated, game completed. 

Congrats!

 

Enjiy NG+.  ?

[Lostdragon]

5 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

Congrats!

 

Enjiy NG+.  ?

I can't really take any credit for final boss. 

 

Got in a few guerrilla style hit and run attacks on phase 1.

 

 

But was so fortunate to have 2 superb online players do the work for me in phase 2.

 

 

I was still expecting both to die, then have to use my Mimic to do phase 2.

 

 

NG+ just isn't going to happen. 

 

 

First Soulsbourne game that i completed that i have absolutely zero desire to spend more time with (gave up on Sekiro on first boss). 

 

 

This has been another Witcher 3 experience for me.

 

 

Far too unbalanced, no desire to wrap up things, side quests i never completed. 

 

 

Messaged my friend who's barely started the game, just said start a new game from scratch, build a magic caster build if your still serious about playing through this and get playing whilst servers are still busy. 

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On 5/14/2022 at 8:04 AM, Lostdragon said:

Finally ?

 

198 hrs 26 mins playtime, a level 130 character. 

 

2 game crashes, like how many patches has this had now? 

 

 

And thanks to 2 legendary online players who did all the work on phase 2 of the battle, I literally just stayed alive.. 

 

The Elden Beast is Defeated, game completed. 

Congrats!

 

I just defeated Maliketh last night,  hope to wrap the game up by the end of the week.

[zzip]

On 5/14/2022 at 10:33 AM, Lostdragon said:

But was so fortunate to have 2 superb online players do the work for me in phase 2.

I really hate how so many of these late-game bosses need strong spell-casters to take them on, and they end up doing most of the work for you.   Like with Maliketh,  I try to rush in and get my sword hits in, but he does bleed damage to me in the process then leaps away,  way out of my range-  then I have to run off quickly and heal so I can stay alive and keep the battle going.

 

On 5/14/2022 at 10:33 AM, Lostdragon said:

I was still expecting both to die, then have to use my Mimic to do phase 2.

You can do that?   I thought once you consumed a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see summon signs you could no longer use spirit ashes, even if you couldn't find a player to summon?

[Lostdragon]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Congrats!

 

I just defeated Maliketh last night,  hope to wrap the game up by the end of the week.

Thank you. 

 

Here's to your game going well

 

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

I really hate how so many of these late-game bosses need strong spell-casters to take them on, and they end up doing most of the work for you.   Like with Maliketh,  I try to rush in and get my sword hits in, but he does bleed damage to me in the process then leaps away,  way out of my range-  then I have to run off quickly and heal so I can stay alive and keep the battle going.

 

You can do that?   I thought once you consumed a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see summon signs you could no longer use spirit ashes, even if you couldn't find a player to summon?

If I remember correctly, I had to nullify the fur calling finger remedy after they both died then went into inventory and simply used spirt Ashes. 

 

 

Try it. 

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On 5/9/2022 at 11:08 AM, zzip said:

Not sure,  I remember in the other Souls games (and Bloodborne) where you'd be on a narrow beam and you'd have to jump down to the next beam then the next one and the next one..   nervewracking as hell.   There's some of those in Elden Ring, but they don't go down as many levels as the other games did.

Spoke to soon..   There's a hidden area beyond the Cathedral of the Forsaken in 'Subterranean Shunning Grounds'   that has one of the worst of these areas I've seen,  not only do you have to jump onto beams, but then you have to platform between stones hanging off the wall that are easy to overshoot/undershoot.   And it's a long way down.    All this to find an NPC.

 

Speaking of,  how are you supposed to complete most of these NPC quest lines without resorting to looking up the answer?    They'll move to random areas of the map and you'll only stumble across them by chance.   Or maybe you'll return to them later to find them dead and you don't know what you did or didn't do.

[Lostdragon]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

Spoke to soon..   There's a hidden area beyond the Cathedral of the Forsaken in 'Subterranean Shunning Grounds'   that has one of the worst of these areas I've seen,  not only do you have to jump onto beams, but then you have to platform between stones hanging off the wall that are easy to overshoot/undershoot.   And it's a long way down.    All this to find an NPC.

 

Speaking of,  how are you supposed to complete most of these NPC quest lines without resorting to looking up the answer?    They'll move to random areas of the map and you'll only stumble across them by chance.   Or maybe you'll return to them later to find them dead and you don't know what you did or didn't do.

Tell me about it. 

 

An early NPC wanted me to deliver a letter to her father, never found him, later found her dead. 

 

Have no idea what I was supposed to be doing with that foul mouthed witch cursing me, fused to a wall.. 

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1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

An early NPC wanted me to deliver a letter to her father, never found him, later found her dead. 

Was that the girl in the shack outside Stormveil Castle?    If so she's supposed to ultimately go to Roundtable Hold and upgrade your Spirit Ashes.   It's a big loss if she's dead.  

 

Or was it the girl near the bridge to Weeping Peninsula?   I think she dies even if you do manage to find her father.

 

I'm trying to find Nephali.    Last I saw her she said she was leaving Roundtable Hold, but I never ran into her after that.    I found out you can summon her as an NPC for later boss fights if you complete her quest.   So now I'm backtracking.   But can't find her in any of the places she is supposed to show up.   I wonder if I wrecked her quest?

[Lostdragon]

16 hours ago, zzip said:

Was that the girl in the shack outside Stormveil Castle?    If so she's supposed to ultimately go to Roundtable Hold and upgrade your Spirit Ashes.   It's a big loss if she's dead.  

 

Or was it the girl near the bridge to Weeping Peninsula?   I think she dies even if you do manage to find her father.

 

I'm trying to find Nephali.    Last I saw her she said she was leaving Roundtable Hold, but I never ran into her after that.    I found out you can summon her as an NPC for later boss fights if you complete her quest.   So now I'm backtracking.   But can't find her in any of the places she is supposed to show up.   I wonder if I wrecked her quest?

The second girl, the one that tries to talk the blacksmith into leaving Roundtable Hold was alive and well and upgraded my spirt Ashes fine,thank goodness. 

 

A lot of these NPC's went off on personal quests, I never found them again. 

 

Think it was a little too easy to wreck quests without even realising you had done so. 

 

Game lacked focus in many areas like this. 

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1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

The second girl, the one that tries to talk the blacksmith into leaving Roundtable Hold was alive and well and upgraded my spirt Ashes fine,thank goodness. 

 

A lot of these NPC's went off on personal quests, I never found them again. 

 

Think it was a little too easy to wreck quests without even realising you had done so. 

 

Game lacked focus in many areas like this. 

I get they don't want to be like other AAA games and keep a journal for everyone you meet and what they want from you.   But still the NPCs should give you a better idea of where they're going in case you do want to follow their progress,  because sometimes they go to places you've already explored and have no reason to go back to.  

 

Like that blind girl who eats "grapes"..   lost track of her after the encounter in the ruins.    One day I decided to look up what happens to her.    I had no reason to visit her next location because I already been through it.  But I finished her quest only because I looked it up.   Same with Alexander the Jar guy.   Same with Ranni.   I tried to do the same with Nepheli, but I think I failed on that one.

 

Maybe this NPC model worked in the older souls games that were more linear and focused so you would be more likely to run into NPCs again, but it doesn't work so well in an open world game.

[+GoldenWheels]

I love that the game doesn't help you with direction. I am not a git gud player, I overlevel, and still suck. But the world feels kind of real to me. I was mad that I locked myself out of a few things...but they'll be for NG+ for me. I am pretty sure I messed up Jar Alexander somehow myself, can't find him in ANY of the EIGHT spots he is supposed to be in. Oh well!

 

I am struggling in the Haligtree now. Whole week has been bitterly slow progress there and alternately getting freakin' handled by Placidusax. Right now my STR build with the Ruins Sword (goddamn that special skill! Wow!)  is not making up for my lack of skill.

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17 minutes ago, GoldenWheels said:

I love that the game doesn't help you with direction. I am not a git gud player, I overlevel, and still suck. But the world feels kind of real to me. I was mad that I locked myself out of a few things...but they'll be for NG+ for me. I am pretty sure I messed up Jar Alexander somehow myself, can't find him in ANY of the EIGHT spots he is supposed to be in. Oh well!

I thought I messed him up too,  couldn't find him near the Carion Study Hall where he was supposed to be after Radahn.   But I didn't look for him until much later in the game.   I eventually did find him in the lava pool near the Seethwater River Terminus site of grace in Mt. Gelmir.   You might have to kill the magma boss first if you haven't already.  He was in an alcove behind a rock so it wasn't immediately obvious that he was there, and you have to walk through lava to get to him.     But I did hear his voice as I approached.

 

In general I don't mind From's subtle approach to these things, but if you have to resort to a wiki to finish the quests, maybe they are too opaque?

29 minutes ago, GoldenWheels said:

I am struggling in the Haligtree now. Whole week has been bitterly slow progress there and alternately getting freakin' handled by Placidusax. Right now my STR build with the Ruins Sword (goddamn that special skill! Wow!)  is not making up for my lack of skill.

Yeah some of the late game enemies can make even maxed out weapons feel useless.    I decided to skip the dragons in Azula.   Sick of dragon battles!

Are you stuck in Miquella's Haligtree, or Elphael Brace of the Haligtree?

 

[Lostdragon]

16 hours ago, zzip said:

I get they don't want to be like other AAA games and keep a journal for everyone you meet and what they want from you.   But still the NPCs should give you a better idea of where they're going in case you do want to follow their progress,  because sometimes they go to places you've already explored and have no reason to go back to.  

 

Like that blind girl who eats "grapes"..   lost track of her after the encounter in the ruins.    One day I decided to look up what happens to her.    I had no reason to visit her next location because I already been through it.  But I finished her quest only because I looked it up.   Same with Alexander the Jar guy.   Same with Ranni.   I tried to do the same with Nepheli, but I think I failed on that one.

 

Maybe this NPC model worked in the older souls games that were more linear and focused so you would be more likely to run into NPCs again, but it doesn't work so well in an open world game.

Exactly. 

 

I love the Soulsbourne games as there is no hand holding, you dive into the lore via the NPC's and items you encounter, but they had a far more linear story path.

 

It was straightforward enough to know either where to look for an NPC later in the game.... or you'd stumble into them once you progressed to a new area and found them in a spot of difficulty once more. 

 

Elden Ring should be a learning curve for From, there's an awful lot of customer feedback to shift through from passionate players who aren't shy in terms of openly discussing what worked and where the game fell very short and why others abandoned it before the end. 

 

 

Like yourself, i ended up simply skipping the multitude of dragon battles, simply because they were so common place, fought a few, got the dragon powers you want as a result, why waste time on the rest? 

 

 

I was up against the clock as it was, my PS+ sub ends this week, so very relieved I got Elden Ring done and dusted in time. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Lostdragon

[+GoldenWheels]

20 hours ago, zzip said:

I thought I messed him up too,  couldn't find him near the Carion Study Hall where he was supposed to be after Radahn.   But I didn't look for him until much later in the game.   I eventually did find him in the lava pool near the Seethwater River Terminus site of grace in Mt. Gelmir.   You might have to kill the magma boss first if you haven't already.  He was in an alcove behind a rock so it wasn't immediately obvious that he was there, and you have to walk through lava to get to him.     But I did hear his voice as I approached.

 

In general I don't mind From's subtle approach to these things, but if you have to resort to a wiki to finish the quests, maybe they are too opaque?

Yeah some of the late game enemies can make even maxed out weapons feel useless.    I decided to skip the dragons in Azula.   Sick of dragon battles!

Are you stuck in Miquella's Haligtree, or Elphael Brace of the Haligtree?

 

I for sure killed the magma wyrm in that lake, eventually. But now I wonder if I have been looking in the wrong spot. Everything I read said you could "talk to him from an island in the lava" but there ain't nothing in that spot. Tonight I go looking for an alcove! (I rode around Radahn's damn area for what seemed like hours already!)

 

I def think they are too opaque, but for whatever reason (maybe because I enjoy the world so much) I was loving finding things "on accident" or through a serious detective guesswork, as opposed to getting frustrated by what I missed. I haven't put 100+ hours into a game this fast in YEARS, and even when I blew my top I keep coming back. I think they just "got me" with this one.

 

I am not sure of the exact spot in the tree I was in but just last night I found my way to Miquella. I did it cheap, by throwing my corpse down a shaft to activate an elevator that WON'T work by the lever from the top. So I somehow skipped the part with the damn ballistas and the narrow bridge that was giving me fits. Miquella has been..interesting. I snickered at how easy phase 1 was. Like, I am looking over at my son saying "man this may be a first time win bud"....ahem. Then there was that second phase....

[zzip]

2 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

I for sure killed the magma wyrm in that lake, eventually. But now I wonder if I have been looking in the wrong spot. Everything I read said you could "talk to him from an island in the lava" but there ain't nothing in that spot. Tonight I go looking for an alcove! (I rode around Radahn's damn area for what seemed like hours already!)

Yeah I searched all around the Rahdan area too.  But I guess if he's there, then he's supposed to be near the site of grace.   Next place is supposed to just south of the Carian Study Hall, near where you drop down to get to Jarburg,  but he wasn't there either.   I didn't notice him the first time I checked the lava pool,  but I have this habit of not walking through lava...     Fortunately this lava doesn't do huge damage and you can easily survive it.   He was near a rock or island where you could stand to get out of the lava.   I think that helped hide him so you couldn't see him from the shore.

 

2 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

I def think they are too opaque, but for whatever reason (maybe because I enjoy the world so much) I was loving finding things "on accident" or through a serious detective guesswork, as opposed to getting frustrated by what I missed. I haven't put 100+ hours into a game this fast in YEARS, and even when I blew my top I keep coming back. I think they just "got me" with this one.

True, but detective work needs clues and some of these encounters require way too much chance.  Maybe the game could send clues your way..  if you haven't visited an NPC in awhile maybe someone  in the Hold or Melina could mention something about them to remind you they exist, or you have a dream sequence when you rest showing one of them in peril which might motivate you to seek them out.

 

2 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

I am not sure of the exact spot in the tree I was in but just last night I found my way to Miquella. I did it cheap, by throwing my corpse down a shaft to activate an elevator that WON'T work by the lever from the top. So I somehow skipped the part with the damn ballistas and the narrow bridge that was giving me fits. Miquella has been..interesting. I snickered at how easy phase 1 was. Like, I am looking over at my son saying "man this may be a first time win bud"....ahem. Then there was that second phase....

I guess I missed that battle.   It did seem like I got through the Miquella Haligtree portion too quickly,  but I wasn't really motivated to go back there and explore more either

 

7 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Like yourself, i ended up simply skipping the multitude of dragon battles, simply because they were so common place, fought a few, got the dragon powers you want as a result, why waste time on the rest? 

If my best weapons could barely put a dink in the dragon's health, then I would just skip it.  Because with all the flying they do makes it hard to get hits in for melee players.    Sometimes I'd return and kill them later when I was higher level and the fight was more fair.   That's what I did for the frozen lake dragon, and the dragon in the center of Caelid.

[zzip]

I did complete the game last night!

 

First time I attempted the final boss battle, I only took the black knife tiche ashes and we almost beat it,  had Elden Beast down to 15% health or so when I died.    And it seemed like an unexpectedly peaceful battle.

 

So I figured if I could get that far with spirit ashes, then it would be cake with a pair of NPC players.   hahaha.. no!     Most NPC summons were pretty useless against it, and suddenly the battle wasn't so peaceful anymore.   I got to a point where I said I'd give NPCs one more go and then I'll go back to using the Tiche ashes.   This time I got two NPCs wielding large hammers, and I was using a large hammer and we pounded both phases to death fairly quickly.

 

I got what is supposed to be the rarest ending too!   But not exactly a happy ending..   oh well!

[Lostdragon]

16 hours ago, zzip said:

I did complete the game last night!

 

First time I attempted the final boss battle, I only took the black knife tiche ashes and we almost beat it,  had Elden Beast down to 15% health or so when I died.    And it seemed like an unexpectedly peaceful battle.

 

So I figured if I could get that far with spirit ashes, then it would be cake with a pair of NPC players.   hahaha.. no!     Most NPC summons were pretty useless against it, and suddenly the battle wasn't so peaceful anymore.   I got to a point where I said I'd give NPCs one more go and then I'll go back to using the Tiche ashes.   This time I got two NPCs wielding large hammers, and I was using a large hammer and we pounded both phases to death fairly quickly.

 

I got what is supposed to be the rarest ending too!   But not exactly a happy ending..   oh well!

Fantastic news ?

 

Yeah, the game just loved having you come sooo close to defeating the last boss, before pulling the rug out from under your feet. 

 

 

Regarding the missing NPC characters, i used to find this was a huge issue in the Fallout and Oblivion games and one of the Deus Ex Reboot games. 

 

 

Side quests would require you to find and talk with an NPC, quest marker would have them at a fixed location, get there, they were missing. 

 

Bugs to blame, but I missed out on large chunks of the games because of it. 

 

 

My Elden Ring ending cutscene was  usual Soulsbourne type i honestly have absolutely zero idea what difference to anything, me joining the Volcano Manor and completing all it's side quests, actually made.