It remains a constant annoyance, but nothing game-breaking for me.
I am only 8-10 hours in, but I’d say the tone and storytelling are more or less the same. Still sparing in words, still abstruse, a little insane and not exactly lifelike. When I first read of his invovlement I thought they would create a new IP, make a new kind of game. Maybe they figured out conventional (fantasy) storytelling isn’t something that fits the Dark Souls characteristic as they deciced they would in fact make another Dark Souls game. (I am glad they did what they did :-)).
Scuzz
1712
So I saw my first WTF! thing in the game today involving another player. I was helping someone at the opening to church fight the Tree Sentinel. The guy summoned me and barely had any health. Then he summoned another guy and we went into battle. Me and the other guy were going at it with our swords when suddenly the boss literally exploded and died. Battle over. The Host had done something and one shot the boss.
The only thing I can think of is the guy was already on NG+ and had some kind of glass canon build with some sort of spell. Or they were hacking. Seems damn early for that. All I know is they couldn’t have done that with anything I have seen in the game so far.
Also, do you need to equip a catalyst of some sort to cast faith based spells like heal? I haven’t seen what other DS games used for that yet. I do have a casting rod but it doesn’t work for that. I do have the required INT and FTH.
SamS
1714
On bows, the flighted arrows you can craft are actually really good. I spend a lot of time killing sheep and birds to get feathers and bones.
Kolbex
1715
Yes. My Prophet came with one. I think you can buy the same one somewhere but I’m not exactly sure where. I got a different one (whose reqs I don’t meet but that doesn’t stop me from equipping it or casting spells, though it might decrease their efficacy) from somewhere else.
Two crashes while I was playing after yesterday’s maintenance. And zero crashes before then, despite playing daily. Not sure if it’s bad luck or some new technical issue, but what happens is a steeze or frutter is happening and then…nope, not a steeze or frutter but a hardcore freeze and now I’m looking at a still image for a while before…POOF…back to my desktop.
-Tom
I am just happy that you are still playing it and hopefully having some fun.
Scuzz
1720
My play was a little stuttery yesterday but today I had no problems. I even did some co-op boss stuff without problems.
That’s not quite the word I’d use, and not because of my normal objections. It’s a fascinating design, one that I’m not sure works for me, but I’m enjoying discovering it and all its foibles, well after the point I would have normally thrown in the towel (this is longest I’ve played a Dark Souls game, but that’s only been possible because of Elden Ring’s open-world structure).
But a big part of the draw for me is how much my friends are enjoying it, including the folks in this thread. It’s a bit like when you like a boardgame not necessarily because of the boardgame, but because of how much the other people playing it like it. An important difference is this game is actively hostile to letting folks play with their friends, unless you do so in a very limited way and on the game’s weird terms. It’s been as deeply frustrating as it’s been fun.
So I don’t know how much longer I’ll be playing. I feel like I’m on the verge of deciding a) I’ve had enough, or b) I’m all-in and probably won’t play anything else for a month. I’d lay equal odds on both options. :)
You’re not playing, are you, @chappers? I don’t recall if you’re a Dark Souls guy, but it’s not something I remember us talking about.
-Tom
I love it, been waiting for this game for many moons, just ask McMaster. Just need to find some time to play it, only got in 5 hours so far. (I hope you pick option b)
I think we’re ALL enjoying the game. Aren’t we everyone? Let’s all say it out loud, please! So much fun!
(I’m secretly hoping for that 3/5 review to really crash Metacritic…)
Kolbex
1724
I had another disconnect helping someone with the second big boss. :P One of three or four tries.
I was kidding about the quest log and the objective indicator, of course. I’m into it. “Lack of hand-holding” seems to be the biggest thing separating old games from new games. I’m not even saying old games were harder… they often were, but they were often just tedious… the real difference is taking paper notes. That’s the coolest thing about Elden Ring. You have to take notes.
I just wish that Garriott’s vision of a living RPG world had lived into the 21st century. It’s dead. Completely. Elden Ring isn’t an open world. It’s an amusement park. Go to Space Mountain, and if the line is too long, go somewhere else. Disney World is fun, and so is Elden Ring. But I dreamed about realer worlds…
(I’d say the same about the likes of Skyrim, btw. At least the Souls games lean into the gameyness. They know they’re games. I actually prefer this to things that have delusions of grandeur and fail.)
When I put ashes in a weapon does it just add whatever benefit to it or do I have to activate it every time? It says it’s a new skill but I don’t see how to activate it.
Scuzz
1727
I haven’t figured those out either. Although I have changed weapons and so the ash may not have followed.
one of the most interesting improvements are, that killing a group of enemies will replenish your flasks … that helped me alot not to respawn the sniper dudes and troll in storm gate.
So, you don’t run out of juice like in older souls games. You can keep moving forward even if you don’t find a lost grace.
Also, still working on Tree Sentinel. My dex char is just not hitting hard enough. I had best results on horse… eh, I will get him finally.
