Elden Ring: a thread specifically for spoilers

I actually did this already. Your posts about it were a big inspiration. The hoarfrost stomp is pretty powerful.

I care a lot about From’s stories because it’s clear they do, too. I don’t like watching videos (although I know a lot of people swear by this guy…I wish he’d release his scripts because really most of the time the visuals are just unnecessary), but this game is more obtuse than most of them, so I’ll make an exception for this, I think. I have only watched a little but already learned a couple of interesting things. It predates the game so I don’t think there will be any major spoilers:

The boss reusing is getting… shameful.

“It’s the same boss you’ve fought 6 times, but this one hits for 1k!”
“That’s not more fun, it’s just annoying and tedious.”
“Also no summons and it inflicts Scarlet Rot constantly!”
“Just kill me.”
“Running back takes 4 minutes because stakes are random!”
“I’m gonna go explore literally anywhere else for a while.”

Yeah, @TimJames has been beating the “enemy reuse” drum almost from the beginning. They really are recycling bosses crazily. Maybe the world is just too big for them.

“Do you love Crucible Knights?”

“No.”

“Did he say yes?”

“No.”

“Did he say he wants to run through two dozen gargoyles and ride Willy Wonka’s five minute elevator everytime he wants to fight them?”

It is. Some reuse is acceptable, but it gets ridiculous as you go on, where it just thematically sticks out.

I want to finish it first, but this isn’t a 10/10 game, I don’t think (as stupid as number scores can be in general). I feel like I want to get to a place where more people have finished it before getting too analytical, but the reuse is one of the biggest problems with the game.

Yeah, one of the coolest things about the old games was that (almost?) every boss had a reason to be there, even if it wasn’t obvious. Hell, almost every enemy had a reason to be there. If you saw something unusual or that seemed out of place, like as not someone would be able to explain why they were there with some obscure bit of lore. This game, though, I don’t see how that’s possible. A couple of times I’ve wondered why a certain enemy was where it was, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get a “good” explanation for it.

Yeah, I’m finding the lore in this game to be very interesting, and easier to follow than prior souls games.

For me it’s starting to make a lot of bosses feel bad.

For example:

The first time I fought a fox-wolf mage, it was crazy. It was awesome. A giant fox jumping around casting spells? That’s memorable as hell and after I beat it, I was all “man, what a cool fight”.

The 2nd time I fought one randomly in some fucking field, it was… a lot less cool. Why is there a wizard wolf down here? Like the original was in a wizard academy, there is probably some insane lore about how it learned magic or something, I thought. But here is one just randomly underground roaming in a field. Well that feels less awesome and special.

The THIRD time I fought one I was utterly annoyed. Wizard Fox Wolf is now one of the dumbest fucking things I’ve ever seen. Who thought it up? Why did I ever think this was cool?

The FOURTH TIME I ran into one I just swore at my computer screen.

This is the pattern for every thing other than say various knights. They’re knights, so of course they have some of them floating around or whatever. That’s fine. I think I’ve fought at this point 7 Ulcerated Tree Sprits. They don’t even bother with health bars for them anymore. The latest one causes Scarlet Rot because fuck you. Like, they were never super fun to fight because it’s a Camera Boss encounter every time. There are so many particle effects and random thrashing around that you can’t tell what is happening half the time. The SR version is so bad I literally can’t tell what is even happening. My entire screen is often red and yellow particles and then I’m up in the air or something, fuck if I know, I already don’t want to fight this fucking thing again.

Now all that said, the game is amazing. Like constantly. Cool shit, cool environments, all sorts of cool stuff. But holy fuck are some bosses past their welcome. Your game shouldn’t have five of the same boss (where like 3 of them “aren’t bosses”). Your game sure as FUCK shouldn’t have EIGHT. That’s beyond the pale. And padding their stats doesn’t make it more fun, it makes it even more tedious and annoying. Let me face roll them. At least then I might overlook the fact that they’re so overused.

Agreed, and the Ulcerated Tree Spirits were really the ones that broke the spell for me.

Oh, you’re walking around in city streets?

Pulls something random out of filing cabinet labelled “enemy designs”

Guess this will work as well as any other enemy here! For no reason, and even though it’s at total odds with the atmosphere of the surrounding area!

The keyword here is more. It certainly feels like there’s far more unique stuff in this game than in previous entries. It also feels like there’s a lot more reuse.

I just renamed Alecto to Black Knife Biche. The bonk continues to dominate. No one escapes the bonk.

That’s an understatement. I just killed Magma Wyrm in about 5 seconds with it. Previously I was using some random ash because I can apply cold with any it seems, but after seeing this…wow. This has to be bugged. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before it gets nerfed into oblivion.

Watch out using that on bosses you want to fight, because it is bugged. Any large enemy with complicated hitboxes will get hit multiple times by it. I put my hoarfrost stomp in a glass case that I’ll break if I need it to finish the game lol.

Yeah, I will do the same. Even regular packs are oneshot with one cast, it’s insane. I wonder if it’s bugged for enemies too, I know that I avoided this thing at all cost on one of the duelists in front of the Great Jar.

I really think first balance pass will severely tone down bleed and frostbite procs also, they are just too strong considering the investment.

edit: I just realized I need to take it off my weapon completely, otherwise my Mimic goes triggerhappy with it.

I’m up on the Atlus Plateau now. Even though I “had” to go to Caelid first, it feels like I’m supposed to be here instead of Caelid because every damn thing in Caelid takes too long to kill, and everything here feels more or less equal in power to me.

I did warp myself to Castle Redmane. I figured I wasn’t ready for it, but I wanted to find a grace site so I could return easily. And the whole castle felt strangely empty. There were two guardian lions roaming around and almost nothing else. I’m assuming it was just due to the timing of when I showed up, but it was really eerie.

I mean he is fire.

I see a weird thing with it fairly often where it kind of goes into the ground instead of along it and misses the enemies altogether. Sucks.

I literally just had this exact thought. I’m lvl 110 now, having finished everything before Altus (including entire Ranni’s questline, which was probably the hardest piece of content so far, and most rune rewarding too), and it feels like I went back to Limgrave. I only have to look at regular mooks and they fall over.

The interesting thing about Caelid is it never really feels like you’re meant to fight most of the things there. They don’t give you much of anything and hit way above their paygrade. It’s really like a survival horror level more than anything else. Either that or I’m just a huge coward.

So should I keep playing and try to figure out how to open that sigil door? I admit I’m pretty stumped on it and assumed it would only open later.

Anyone know whats up with the invisible ugly guy near some sheep early in the game?

If it’s the one I’m thinking of (near the Gate front Ruins), then…

Hit one of the trees/bushes.