I didn’t play WoW, but I always hated that about the MMOs I did play, like Shadowbane and Dark Age of Camelot. I’d go to the big PvP battle areas, and be so frustrated that even my best skills at level 30 couldn’t even damage purple enemies who were several levels above me. I might as well have not been there at all.
Elden Ring is a real outlier when it comes to damage scaling, it’s very unusual. It’s another one of the reasons that ‘put a ton into health’ works, and tends to trivialize a lot of the game. The damage output you do from leveled weapons with frost or bleed, is plenty to beat the game with without investing in a “damage” stat, and the game doesn’t expect you to have 3k hitpoints.
Worked my way through the city, finally, at L80 or something. It was a cool place, but most of the time I was just wandering- I had no idea where I was actually tying to get to. Every time I’d fight my way ‘up’ through lightning knights and their hangers-on, it would just end up being a dead end. So it was down into the old/destroyed city. And then… up the dragon? Which turned out the right way to go? Wacky. And a sidetrack into the original roundtable hold? What was that about?
But anyway, killed Godfried or whatever (ghost dude with the axe), then on to Goddamn (all these God names get confusing) just across the bridge. Both went down without too much trouble, 5-6 tries each.
Still can’t beat Astel of the Void, though.
I’m level 198 and just recently fell to the rats in a sewer.
Maliketh…all I can say is…you’ve got to be kidding right? Man, what a frustrating way to end a great game, these last number of fights have just been absolute spam bullshit. These boss mobs that never run out of stamina, and have endless combos are just infuriating. As much as I loved most of this game, I’ll think twice before I buy the next one.
Scuzz
1669
Arrows for the bear and in the boss fight you take out the least obvious first.
Matt_W
1671
Well yeah. In addition to many other falls, I fell to my death about 1000 times trying to finish Hyetta’s quest.
Scuzz
1672
I recently did a very dark dungeon beneath Volcano Manor and without bloodstaines and messages it would have been impossible. Probably half the deaths were gravity based.
Matt_W
1673
Damnit. I skipped most of Volcano Manor by joining the resistance and being a cold-blooded assassin. (The dude with two whips was an absolute terror. I’ve been dual-wielding curved greatswords for like 50 hours now, but that whip action is pretty compelling. Is it worth it to farm stones and learn a new fighting style? Maybe.) Anyway, now the only reason to work through the Manor is for fun (and the items.) But the legacy dungeons in this game are all cool enough that it’s probably worth it. And wouldn’t hurt to level up a bit more before heading back to post-Leyndell content.
Scuzz
1674
I got transported here after meeting an NPC.
Cool area with a lot hidden content. I can’t imagine coming here at the level I was on the roads.
Matt_W
1675
Yeah, I know who you’re talking about. And there’s another way to get there as well beside just walking up to the gate (which is what I did.)
The legacy dungeons are all superb content so far (I’ve only seen 4 of the 6), so I’ll probably wander the Manor just to marvel.
Final boss down after having to respec because apparently they heal from Holy, which seems rather brutal if your build is completely focused on that. All I did was switch from winged scythe to solo wielding the scythe I had been dual wielding and take about 25 points from faith and mind to get more dex for physical scaling. After the respec I went instantly from never getting it below 80% to about 25% the first go. A few tries later it was over.
Can’t say as I liked the final boss much. It was so big and I was melee so it was just me racing around a huge arena after a teleporting boss and then swinging my scythe at a glowy mass while praying I got the timing down on the dodges because I certainly couldn’t really see what it was doing.
It also occasionally strung together attack patterns in a way that seemed pretty unfair. I do like that it had quite a variety of moves, but bad luck with getting certain ones after others can probably ruin a given attempt.
Overall one of my favorite games ever, and I’ll definitely be going on to a second build soon.
robc04
1677
I hate the super fast giant red foxes, at least for my astrologer.
Matt_W
1678
One of my favorite ASMRtists–a Swedish guy who specializes in reading, discussing, and drawing maps–has a new video where he draws Elden Ring’s map. Spoilers obvs for the map, even in the cover image, so I’m linking it rather than posting the video directly. Very soothing.
How did you get it so high? It’s interesting you say that because I’ve been leaning that way as well.
Based on vague readings of stuff, one can apparently finish the game while skipping a massive amount of content. I’m worried I might actually finish something and rope myself into the end-game sequence and I don’t want to do that. Is there anything I should avoid doing that’s going to mess up storylines or quests, or any concerns about doing an area I should hold off on?
robc04
1681
As far as I know, you can pivot to your possible ending of choice at the end if you’ve done the proper quests.
Don’t kill the fire giant in the Consecrated Snowfield until you are ready for some world-altering events. If you’re wondering which giant, you’re not at ‘the’ giant yet.
If you find a door that requires you to disrobe before passing it, don’t open it. That soft-locks you into a specific ending (there is a way out of it buried in an unrelated questline, but it’s super easy to miss).
Other than that, many of the quests have steps you can easily miss and fail them. That’s evidently the design. They’re meant to be obscure.
