Don’t you have to start Ranni’s quest to trigger the festival and Radahn fight?
I honestly don’t know. I do remember Iron Fist Alexander talking about before I even met Ranni (not counting the initial encounter at the church, after you get Torrent). Can you finish the game without killing Radahn? I know that medallion piece to access the lift is obtained elsewhere.
I’ve been trying to finish this game for 20 hours now and it just won’t end. Some NPC just came up to me doing the whole, “If you want the super cool secret ending, there’s a whole new area that just opened—” and whammo, I immediately murdered that poor NPC. No more new areas FROM! I’m over 100 hours in and ready to digest my experience, not sign up for seconds.
I will say that playing through at level 55 has been a strange, wonderful experience. I can’t think of another rpg where I can just forgo leveling and upgrade laterally instead, and have a blast.
Also, who is everyone’s favorite boss so far? I’m doubting at this point that Radahn will be topped. There’s probably going to be someone harder, but not better.
And was anyone disappointed/pleased with their build? Dex/Int has been a dream, and I don’t think I’m even using the weapons all the cool kids are.
You can certainly finish the game without killing Radahn. I’m not sure you have to do much of the game at all in order to finish it. The game says you need two great souls, but that’s the fingers telling you to do that, which makes me think it’s a misdirection.
Welcome back!
I initially started as a sorcerer but rerolled to pure melee after about 30h/lvl50. Playing with Nightrider’s flail (dex) and I’m just mowing down bosses. Most go down on first attempt, harder baddies 2-5 tries. Even though I’d say the game is harder than DS3 I’m having a much easier time learning the patterns and dodging their attacks. I will probably spec a bit into arcane and faith just to see some of the special (bestial, dragon) incantations, not because I feel like I need more power.
As for favorite boss so far…probably the guy guarding Gurrang in Caelid. Very tough, but methodical and unforgiving fight.
Awesome!
You’re just leveling your weapon then? I’m level 101 and I haven’t felt any significant change since about that time. The gains are so minor, and even pumping vigor is because I’m lazy and don’t want to have to pay attention.
I almost forgot about him. I got there pretty early and didn’t want to bother. Since I’m not going to push to the end of the game, I should go take out some bosses I skipped.
This is not the only instance of that. There is a whole underground area you can get no access to as well if you miss doing a certain side quest…
Hugs! Enjoy!
I 100% wanna do a dex/int build next run through, but a strong faith build with a backup of STR and guard/counter has been pretty darn easy. I love faith in this game! Having options for dark, fire, lightning, holy, all in one is awesome. And you kind of have a sub/faith thing going on where depending on the seal you use (faith weapon) You can specialize in a particular strain of incantations, so you can specialize in dragon, or god or beast… Very interesting and just saying I’m a faith build doesn’t really explain my whole setup like it did in previous souls games. I am basically a dragon cult faith/str build. (Funny side note, Dragon Cult is… lightning! not dragon spells which is Dragon Commune I think? or Ancient Dragon, or something…else)
Edit to add my favorite boss fight so far was Rykard, but only because I feel like From finally nailed a boss gimic fight and made it fun.
There are so many nonsense teleports that sometimes I can’t even remember which quest dropped me into which area. I just hope I can’t get locked out of access to that plateau in Liurnia. The requirement seemed pretty fundamental, like it was part of the main quest.
Agreed on Rykard. I can’t call it my favorite because it’s a gimmick and surely there must be a better one, but it was nicely done. Heck, I guess I still prefer Radahn because there’s more actual gameplay.
Rennala is probably the dumbest so far. From’s otherworldly visuals only help so much.
It just keeps going, man. I’m specifically avoiding whole zones on this playthrough, and it’s still going to end up being the longest single playthrough of any game I’ve ever done. The Witcher 3 with all DLC took me 120 hours, ditto with PIllars of Eternity. This is longer than that. It’s rather shocking.
Kind of. I’m not upgrading any weapons past +8/+4 for now either. Until I feel underpowered, I’m not going to progress via leveling and upgrading. But I want to make it clear I’m not a masochist! Through exploration, I’m constantly finding better weapons, better weapon arts, better spells, better rings … and I’ve found it awesome to become stronger by those means. I want to say that it’s a unique rpg experience. I dunno, maybe you guys can come up with another rpg where you can do this, but I can’t at the top of my head.
On top of that, playing through at level 55 has taken me on a journey through all of the systems in the game. I used to not use summoning (mostly because I didn’t know how that arcane bull**** worked!), but then I started making use of them in a big way around hour 70 or so. Now I’m using the crafting system which I previously ignored, and using status effects all the time, and cheesing some things when I can … I can’t say I’d be doing much of this if I was higher level, because it maybe wouldn’t be necessary, but at level 55 it’s really made me take everything the game gives me.
Funny you should mention that piece of work! Gurranq and that guy are the only things in the game thus far that I don’t feel I could beat in a reasonable amount of time at level 55. They’re both terrifying.
On a side note, has anyone seen the Bestial Sanctuary from different vantage points? I’ve noticed there appears to be a massive complex located on the cliff below the sanctuary, and knowing this game, there’s probably something down there …
Faith/Strength definitely will be my next build! Or maybe Faith/Arcane for Dragon stuff. Or maybe Arcane/Strength for that one sword… Oh god. So many great choices.
I’ve heard that a lot about Rykard! I’m not even doing Mt. Gelmir this playthrough. Looking forward to that on my next run!
I just found an invader by elden ring crashing while i was in the church of vows. I also had a bell bearing in my pocket, which might akso be required.
But logged back in, he killed me, went back he was gone. Waited tell night, gone…logged put again in the church, and was invaded again and killed him. Makes me wonder how much more I have missed just by not logging out, and back in different areas.
Yeah summoning definitely helps. It’s probably more useful than co-op to be honest, since a lot of people run glass cannon builds and die almost right away.
I had written that place off as having some weird teleporter that you need to get there that I wasn’t going to find on my first playthrough. I was wrong! One of the optional quests should take you there. something something Darkmoon something
I made it to the locked door. It’s the key that I’m wondering about. I’m confident enough that I’m going to press on!
Hilariously true. I am often one of those useless co-opers! At the very least I can make funny gestures and bring up morale!
To be fair, some fights are actually easier without summons. Bosses with weakpoints whirling around to stomp on my ghost friends cause more trouble than it’s worth.
God, I don’t even know which locked door you are referring to … the sigil one? Underground?
In the Carian Study Hall you dash in, run around the library and climb ladders to the rafter but then I am stuck. Messages want me to shoot arrows at something above but that doesn’t work.
Is it because I haven’t placed the item on the desk when you first enter the building?
Yeah the obvious one after the giant alien insect boss.
I just did this one and it seemed unusually frustrating until I realized I had my parry shield out. Pretty good after that, although I have to deduct points for the poor area to fight him in (small area with steps and other crap for him to get stuck on, or angled ground).
Yes, I had issues with that too - and I’m having it again now on the plateau south of Liurnia - some larger monsters with boss tier health that constantly fall down cliffs (without dying…), clip through terrain, attack through obstacles, etc.