It’s amazing how good this game is considering its design flaws. Particularly the upgrade system, which makes most of the things you earn from killing bosses meaningless, and forces you to use an online guide to figure out the best weapon and ash for your build, because you can’t just try all your new doodads to see how they work.
But still, it’s probably the best game I’ve ever played. Go figure.
It reminds me of Diablo 2, in that I just accept the design annoyances because they don’t feel like design choices, but idiosyncrasies of a real place that actually exists. Yeah, it sucks that if I put the runes in in the wrong order the thing doesn’t work, but that’s just how the world works, what are you going to do? It doesn’t feel a game some sweaty programmers made in an office building somewhere, it feels like a real place you can go to. It’s not like you’re going to go to France and critique the design choices of France.
Crucible Knights are best to just run past. A couple are in enclosed spaces which make it really hard to use magic on. There is one in an evergoal south of Stormveil Castle. Give him a try.
I beat Malenia last night after a few tries. Then I tried myself a s a gold summon using the pools thing, and boy is that lucrative. I did not recall making that many runes when Elden Ring came out. Did they boost that? I wish they would let you join the co-op pool from anywhere so I could adventure and kill stuff while waiting to be summoned.
Also fought Malenia a few more times as a gold phantom. Let me tell you, if multiple people have bleed weapons, Malenia goes down fast. Really fast. I have been using Eleonora’s Poleblade, and I fought her with 1 other person, who also had the same weapon. She went down in seconds and due to the fast pounding she was getting, she kept getting knocked down. The second phase as a little longer because she was flying and casting those rot flower explosions, but it only took slightly longer to kill her the 2nd time.
I finished the Cliffbottom Catacombs this morning. Excellent dungeon. First of all, it introduced me to a new enemy, who is really tough and also fun to fight. Secondly, I got rewarded for my efforts not in runes (I died enough that I eventually lost all the runes that I accumulated in this dungeon), but in loot and player experience. I got two different types of Ash spirits and two weapons that I’ve not seen before.
Btw, @TurinTur, I’m loving this anchor. It doesn’t do as much poise damage as the large club I was using, but it swings much faster than that club, so I really like the timing of it.
The rusty anchor is such a fun and unusual weapon. I think it does pierce damage. I find that if I close with an enemy, I can pretty much beat them down. I’m doing a 4th playthrough and I’m switching between the anchor and an executioner’s axe.
I haven’t gone back to play this since I beat it, but I do enjoy watching pros play it. After beating all 165 bosses in a no hit run, this guy just did another 40 no hit runs with joke builds. Insane.
Watching that no hit, especially Elden Beast, reinforces what I don’t like about ER, it’s a game about avoiding, not attacking. I just don’t find that as fun. Amazing game, but I still find the boss mechanics to be pretty tedious to deal with.
Well yeah, that’s basically every action game that is somewhat hard. It is
avoid
avoid
avoid
…hit? no, avoid
avoid
hit
hit
start over again.
Even in something with a different perspective and mechanics, like an old school FPS, like Doom, applies too. Movement (avoiding fireballs and projectiles from the enemies) has priority over firing at them. You can fire at them some seconds later, but a Cyberdemon rocket HAS to be avoided first.
edit: although in a shooter, the difference is that you also can attack (ie. shoot) while you are defending, so it’s less frustrating.
After watching this I went back and farmed up the halo scythe. It took about fifteen tedious minutes. The weapon is great. I upgraded to +9 and plan to keep using it for a while. I’m at level 85 on my latest playthrough. I also ended up farming a whole set of clean rot knight armor, so I look like one now.
Is it just me or are the Subterranean Shunning Grounds the worst designed “dungeon” in the game? So much Dark-Souls bullshit in that area, was really frustrating to get through. It’s not even especially difficult, just unintuitive. Also, running into a pack of basilisks in a tight place when you have no idea where you need to go is not fun.
It’s not great, but it’s also no Hero’s Grave all of which are specifically designed to waste your time.
Oh look another instant death thing. Better do everything all over again, haha.
Fuck that shit and everyone responsible for it.
The level of disrespect for the player’s time just gets to me. Doing a Hero’s Grave is almost always going to take multiple hours. Which is why I stopped doing them. Until there is some piece of gear you need from one, then that’s what you doing for your whole play session.
“Here is where I spend 8 minutes waiting for a chariot to roll around again.”
It is typically a DS area. Every game has one. The basilisks can be run past. Also, if you want all the shiny stuff, just figure on a suicide run or two. Both the basilisks and death in general were treated worse in past DS games.
People speed run this game in about an hour without using any glitches. If you’re good enough at the combat, you can zoom through it.
But it’s an open world game, and it has hundreds of hours of optional content. I don’t see that was “not respecting the player’s time.” It’s replay value. It’s an easier path for those of us who aren’t great at soulslikes, and need to outlevel the bosses. It’s also just a huge playground for people who like to explore and solve puzzles.
I’m starting to understand why there is some criticism of the ending sections of this game. I kind of feel like it should have ended when you burn the Erdtree, and the transition after that happens feels a bit awkward. I’ve looked ahead in a wiki and it looks like there are still about a half dozen major bosses i need to defeat to finish the game. I will probably try to get as far as I can, but it seems more and more like a slog.
That said, even if the ending it a bit rough, the journey to get there is absolutely amazing. Best open-world game I’ve ever played, without a doubt. With some notable exceptions, the level and enemy designs are fantastic. I can’t wait to see how it affects AAA game development in the future.
