Elden Ring

[Asian tech support]

I think you guys just aren't really good with Comet Azur. People use it because it works. Its basically an "I win" button in most boss fights if you actually knew what you were doing, and you will always get at least one shot off if you use a mimic tear/summon as a distraction or just know how to dodge and keep distance. And even if you can't time it right, the high intelligence stats necessary to use it ensure that by the time you actually can, you probably have fifteen different fallback options anyway.

Like many high level magic attacks, it required proper setup and patience to know how to use in many fights and not just waste it. It is highly specialized, and you pretty much only saved it for bosses, but that's a good tradeoff for not making it completely OP. Shard Spiral is probably better for most situations, but you have to go through Sellen's quest line to get it, while Comet Azur can just be found if you know where to look. I'd say its both overrated and overhated. Its a niche spell that is extremely good in that niche. For big slow bosses, or those with long windups to attacks, go ham with it. For everything else, there's Comet.

Is this an obscure soulsfag copypasta? Because I'm gonna use it as one in the future.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Is this an obscure soulsfag copypasta?

No, if you're honestly asking.

 

[FatR]

Ranni simply rebelled. She took umbrage with being used for another's purpose and took action to stop it. Even her ending, is basically to remove the interference of outer beings and let the people of The Lands Between decide their own fate, for better or worse.

Man, we literally see an Outer God descending in her ending. The same Outer God to whom her entire culture had been devoted from the inception. We literally hear her proclaming that she's delivering the world to said Outer God. Not even touching on Ranni's character or track record here. Just, we're directly shown what she wants to do, almost as directly as we've been shown that the world dies with the First Flame. I swear "Ranni wants to remove the interference of outer beings" is a level of delusion that can only be explained by simping.

And, well, besides the whole lightshow at the end, she is literally a puppet, in an example of FROM's typical level of subtlety.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

Man, we literally see an Outer God descending in her ending. The same Outer God to whom her entire culture had been devoted from the inception. We literally hear her proclaming that she's delivering the world to said Outer God. Not even touching on Ranni's character or track record here. Just, we're directly shown what she wants to do, almost as directly as we've been shown that the world dies with the First Flame. I swear "Ranni wants to remove the interference of outer beings" is a level of delusion that can only be explained by simping.

And, well, besides the whole lightshow at the end, she is literally a puppet, in an example of FROM's typical level of subtlety.

The Moons are weird. There’s a bunch of shit about how magic turns you into a crystal (a star, the Mage Sphere’s are stars), but Renalla basically avoided that fate by using Moon magic. Her being mentally broken may because Marika stole her man or because Radogan revealed he was a pooner.

Ranni and her teacher fear the Dark Moon, but it’s like a Fear out of respect. Her being a puppet/ doll is odd because FromSoft never really portrays someone being used as a puppet literally. The plain doll is typically loyal to the player character. Characters being used are more like the guy who join the Valcano manner.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

I swear "Ranni wants to remove the interference of outer beings" is a level of delusion that can only be explained by simping.

This is literally what she says she wants. She wants a world where people choose their own fate, without the interference of the Great Will or other higher beings. She's putting herself in the position of the new Elden Lord in order to enact that world, a world where the gods don't interfere. We don't know much about the Moons as gods, to be honest, though Ranni was taught to fear them by her master.

but Renalla basically avoided that fate by using Moon magic. Her being mentally broken may because Marika stole her man or because Radogan revealed he was a pooner.

Renala is mentally broken because of all the shit she went through during the Shattering, with her husband leaving her, two of her sons fighting then dissolving into monsters, her daughter ostensibly committing suicide, and her own realm falling into civil war.

Her being a puppet/ doll is odd because FromSoft never really portrays someone being used as a puppet literally.

Her becoming a doll was a means to an end. She had to kill her own body in order to escape the influence of the Greater Will. She's a doll whose strings are cut. She serves no one but herself, and when someone (Seluvias) tries to control her, she immediately eliminates them. Notably, she's the one demigod the player can't really interfere with or truly fight in any way.

 

[DapperShark]

Man, we literally see an Outer God descending in her ending. The same Outer God to whom her entire culture had been devoted from the inception. We literally hear her proclaming that she's delivering the world to said Outer God. Not even touching on Ranni's character or track record here. Just, we're directly shown what she wants to do, almost as directly as we've been shown that the world dies with the First Flame. I swear "Ranni wants to remove the interference of outer beings" is a level of delusion that can only be explained by simping.

And, well, besides the whole lightshow at the end, she is literally a puppet, in an example of FROM's typical level of subtlety.

Ranni simps also tend to overlook that she's also 100% responsible for Godwyn being turned into this fucking abomination and the world getting fucked by undeath.

And unlike many of the other demigods he really didn't deserve such a fate, Godwyn was by all accounts one of the few actually heroic and morally good characters, his lore is he literally stopped the war between Leyndell and the dragons by befriending them. I wouldn't trust Ranni as far as I can throw her.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

I’ve started a new playthrough, and now that I’ve actually beaten the game once I have some thoughts.
My first actual build was a dual curved sword bleed/dragon cult incantation glass cannon, and when I picked up two twinblades I was moving like a demon. It made combat fast as fuck and it was a great time. Until Elden Beast. Fuck that fucking jello asshole. Not even that my build sucked for him, but because all he does is run away like a bitch. I could handle it if it was just a mismatch, but when he just runs away it’s horseshit. I never summon, but I eventually called in the Gank Squad and we all kicked his ass together.
Now I’m playing my first sorcery build where I’m a magic knight, and bro magic is fucking busted in this game. I don’t know what genius thought it was a good idea to give you a magical blue chain gun from step one, but holy shit it’s just easy mode. Sword and shield gameplay is tight, guard counters make melee combat really fun because you don’t have to just turtle, and when you have a staff in the off hand you can just pelt someone with rocks until you run up and kick their ass like a man.
My favorite boss so far was Godfrey. Any boss that just powerbombs you is an S in my book, and as a glass cannon it was tense. And Radahn is just the coolest shit ever, even though he’s easy the lore and the fight is lit.
So far, probably up there with Bloodbourne for my favorite Souls game. And I am hyped for the DLC, Fromsoft is one of the only companies I can excuse DLC for because they just make a whole bunch of new awesome shit for you that’s always been worth it.

 

[Asian tech support]

Forgot to post these yesterday

Apparently there's going to be some kind of Sekiro style attack scaling system. Whether it's going to scale you down, scale the world up, or something else entirely is unclear. The intention being to present the player with an appropriate challenge due to players likely waltzing into the new content with a cracked build.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Ranni simps also tend to overlook that she's also 100% responsible for Godwyn being turned into this fucking abomination and the world getting fucked by undeath.

Regardless of Ranni's ultimate level of involvement in Godwyn's assassination, him becoming an undead monster was, probably, unintentional.

And unlike many of the other demigods he really didn't deserve such a fate, Godwyn was by all accounts one of the few actually heroic and morally good characters, his lore is he literally stopped the war between Leyndell and the dragons by befriending them. I wouldn't trust Ranni as far as I can throw her.

Ranni's level of involvement in the assassination of Godwyn, and why she would have targeted him in the first place is one of the biggest question marks in the story. Ranni herself never explains that, and she's otherwise downright talkative about every other aspect of her plans, including her role in starting the Shattering. Background lore is opaque regarding the issue. The only thing for certain is that Ranni was the one who gave the Rune of Death to the Assassins that allowed them to slay Godwyn, considers everything she did to have ultimately been necessary in order to break the hold of the Greater Will, Two Fingers, and Golden Order upon mankind's destiny, and doesn't have any regrets. She considers everything she did, and does, to be a necessary evil. Notably, Melina and Ranni appear to be on good terms with each other, and Ranni's ending is the only alternative Outer God ending that she will support.

Also, while Ranni gave the Rune to the Black Knife Assassins, the Assassins themselves are ultimately loyal to Marika and the Golden Order, not Ranni, and the assassins will seek to kill Ranni and her compatriots towards the end of her questline for defying the Golden Order, while Ranni herself outright betrayed the assassins and imprisoned their leader. This leaves multiple open questions; was Ranni ordered to give the assassins the Rune of Death by Marika/the Golden Order/Two Fingers? Did she even know that Godwyn was a target when she gave the assassins the Rune of Death, since Ranni herself only needed the Rune to kill her own body? Did she divide the Curse Mark of Death with the assassins knowing that it wouldn't fully kill Godwyn, or was that done only so that she could kill her body?

As a final point, The Future Press guide, if you are willing to take it into account, does say directly that Ranni masterminded Godwyn's assassination herself, though it gives no reason for why she would want Godwyn dead, and there is no known canonical reason why she would target Godwyn specifically.

 

[Thomas Talus]

Also, while Ranni gave the Rune to the Black Knife Assassins, the Assassins themselves are ultimately loyal to Marika and the Golden Order, not Ranni, and the assassins will seek to kill Ranni and her compatriots towards the end of her questline for defying the Golden Order

I thought it was the wolf-headed Empyrean-minders (Baleful Shadows) that were trying to kill her, not the Black Knives.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

I thought it was the wolf-headed Empyrean-minders (Baleful Shadows) that were trying to kill her, not the Black Knives.

The Baleful Shadows were her initial hunters, meant to keep her in check, though, by the time of the game, there is only one left, and the player Tarnished kills that one himself. After that, doll waifu goes on to kill her Two Fingers, and you put a ring on her finger so she can recover. However, Blaidd and Iji are attacked by the Black Knives. Blaidd kills his attackers, but we are forced to kill him when he attacks our character, having gone insane. Iji realizes after this that Blaidd was indeed on Ranni's side, not the side of the Two Fingers, and decides to go out like a boss, killing more Black Knives in the process.

 

[Coldgrip]

As a final point, The Future Press guide, if you are willing to take it into account, does say directly that Ranni masterminded Godwyn's assassination herself, though it gives no reason for why she would want Godwyn dead, and there is no known canonical reason why she would target Godwyn specifically.

I'd wager it's because Godwyn represented the Golden Order. Marika may of been a god and it may of sprung from her, but it seems that Godwyn was the go-getter. With him in a state of undeath the Golden Order wouldn't have as much power to move against Ranni.

In her ending, she's suppose to remove the Outer Will's ability to interfere in the world, does that extend to the sealed rot god beneath the land? What about the Primordial Crucible which seemed to predate the Outer Wills and the Primeval Current?

 

[Estate]

Man, we literally see an Outer God descending in her ending. The same Outer God to whom her entire culture had been devoted from the inception. We literally hear her proclaming that she's delivering the world to said Outer God. Not even touching on Ranni's character or track record here. Just, we're directly shown what she wants to do, almost as directly as we've been shown that the world dies with the First Flame. I swear "Ranni wants to remove the interference of outer beings" is a level of delusion that can only be explained by simping.

And, well, besides the whole lightshow at the end, she is literally a puppet, in an example of FROM's typical level of subtlety.

You are simply wrong, but some of the fault lies in the bad translation.
Here's the japanese text and it's proper translation.

私は誓おう　すべての生命と、すべての魂に
“I shall swear to all lives and souls”

これよりは星の世紀
“From hereon is the Age of Stars”

月の理、千年の旅
“The laws of the moon, a thousand year journey”

すべてよ、冷たい夜、はるか遠くに思うがよい
“To all, you may think of the chill night as infinitely far away”

恐れを、迷いを、孤独を　そして暗きに行く路を　さあ、行こうか
“And now, let us go on our path of fear, doubt, and loneliness, into darkness”

Basically, she and you will fuck off on a thousand year journey into the dark of space and stay as far away from The Lands Between as possible. And since she fucks off with the Elden Ring also, she's also taking the Greater Will's influence with her.
And the Dark Moon you see in her ending, that's not an Outer God. Female Carian Royals all have their own Moon (Ranni's Dark Moon, Renalla's Full Moon), and you can either interpret that she's making this vow in front of her moon or is using the moon as a vehicle to fuck off.

Mic dropped, nerd slapped, simping achieved!

Ranni simps also tend to overlook that she's also 100% responsible for Godwyn being turned into this fucking abomination and the world getting fucked by undeath.

And unlike many of the other demigods he really didn't deserve such a fate, Godwyn was by all accounts one of the few actually heroic and morally good characters, his lore is he literally stopped the war between Leyndell and the dragons by befriending them. I wouldn't trust Ranni as far as I can throw her.

Ranni's level of involvement in the assassination of Godwyn, and why she would have targeted him in the first place is one of the biggest question marks in the story. Ranni herself never explains that, and she's otherwise downright talkative about every other aspect of her plans, including her role in starting the Shattering. Background lore is opaque regarding the issue. The only thing for certain is that Ranni was the one who gave the Rune of Death to the Assassins that allowed them to slay Godwyn, considers everything she did to have ultimately been necessary in order to break the hold of the Greater Will, Two Fingers, and Golden Order upon mankind's destiny, and doesn't have any regrets. She considers everything she did, and does, to be a necessary evil. Notably, Melina and Ranni appear to be on good terms with each other, and Ranni's ending is the only alternative Outer God ending that she will support.

Also, while Ranni gave the Rune to the Black Knife Assassins, the Assassins themselves are ultimately loyal to Marika and the Golden Order, not Ranni, and the assassins will seek to kill Ranni and her compatriots towards the end of her questline for defying the Golden Order, while Ranni herself outright betrayed the assassins and imprisoned their leader. This leaves multiple open questions; was Ranni ordered to give the assassins the Rune of Death by Marika/the Golden Order/Two Fingers? Did she even know that Godwyn was a target when she gave the assassins the Rune of Death, since Ranni herself only needed the Rune to kill her own body? Did she divide the Curse Mark of Death with the assassins knowing that it wouldn't fully kill Godwyn, or was that done only so that she could kill her body?

As a final point, The Future Press guide, if you are willing to take it into account, does say directly that Ranni masterminded Godwyn's assassination herself, though it gives no reason for why she would want Godwyn dead, and there is no known canonical reason why she would target Godwyn specifically.

I'd wager it's because Godwyn represented the Golden Order. Marika may of been a god and it may of sprung from her, but it seems that Godwyn was the go-getter. With him in a state of undeath the Golden Order wouldn't have as much power to move against Ranni.

In her ending, she's suppose to remove the Outer Will's ability to interfere in the world, does that extend to the sealed rot god beneath the land? What about the Primordial Crucible which seemed to predate the Outer Wills and the Primeval Current?

What we know from the lore is as follows.
Ranni stole the Rune of Death and it was used to fashion the Black Knives.
She timed the assassination of Godwyn with her own "suicide", so that both would achieve a form of half-death. Godwyn died in soul and Ranni died in body. This was done to unshackle herself from the Greater Will and the Two Fingers.
She imprisoned Alecto (Black Knife leader) into a gaol after they carried their assassination and fled the capital.
All Empyreans are assigned wolves by the Two Fingers and Blaidd was odd because he become loyal to Ranni. In the end he does insane, probably due to a conflict between his stated purpose and his own wants.
At the end of the quest, remaining Black Knives retaliate for the perceived betrayal and Ijji dies while fighting and killing some of them.
She goes into a journey into the stars and rids the world of the Elden Ring and Greater Will. How this effects the other Outer Gods is not stated, but we have the following line in her dialogue that could be seen as her ending all outside influence "I am the witch Ranni. I stole Death long ago, and search now for the dark path. That I might one day upend the whole of it, and rid the world of all that came before."


What I'm not sure about is the following.
Why was Godwyn picked for assassination? Was it random or specifically chosen?
Why betray the Black Knives? Was it a fail safe against a group she could not trust and control and who now had great power or was there some other intention?
Was Marika involved in this somehow?

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

In her ending, she's suppose to remove the Outer Will's ability to interfere in the world, does that extend to the sealed rot god beneath the land? What about the Primordial Crucible which seemed to predate the Outer Wills and the Primeval Current?

Since she's now the Elden Lord, and pretty much the Goddess of the (New) World, its implied that she now has the power to end all outside influence of the other Outer Gods. At the very least, they can't enact their own plans/endings, as that required the Tarnished to act as their Champion and usurp control over the Elden Ring for them, which the Tarnished did for Ranni instead.

 

[Estate]

Since she's now the Elden Lord, and pretty much the Goddess of the (New) World, its implied that she now has the power to end all outside influence of the other Outer Gods. At the very least, they can't enact their own plans/endings, as that required the Tarnished to act as their Champion and usurp control over the Elden Ring for them, which the Tarnished did for Ranni instead.

I've seen something similar said before, so let me use this opportunity to correct a few issues.
Greater Will is an outside force, but it's not stated to be an Outer God. If you're familiar with DnD, you can imagine it's something like Ao.
Elden Ring is basically a bundle of metaphysical concepts (i.e Rune of Death is the concept of Death). Initially, this was the Elden Beast, which is an entity that does the Greater Will's biding.
The Elden Ring needs a vessel to bring forth an Age and that vessel is usually a woman and that vessel becomes a god. Marika become the vessel of the Elden Ring and her age become the Golden Order and she become a god herself.
Every god needs a consort and that consort is given the title of Elden Lord. How and why, I'm not sure, but from available lore, every god in every age needed an Elden Lord to start it. My own pet theory is if the gods are "vessels" for the Elden Ring, then the Elden Lords are needed to tap (in more then one way lmao) into said vessel. Basically, a vessel can't use it's own power proper. This is why Ranni wanted to go alone into the stars and didn't need an Elden Lord. Because she wasn't planning to use the power, but rather flee with it.

So, to circle back to your post.
Ranni becomes the god of the Age of Stars and you become the Elden Lord.
She doesn't have that power actually. She's simply taking that power(and influence) and fucking off. While the end result may be the same, the distinction in the how is very important.
That's it and sorry to hijack your post for some nerdy corrections.

 

[Tenshi Eating A Corn Dog!]

I saw a cool hat and that's all I wanted.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

My Christmas vacation was basically beating Elden Ring. I don't remember the last time i marathoned a game like that, The first 40 hours i put in it were just like three days.

I basically explored a shitton and found out quickly that just running around with torrent, picking stuff and running away makes you really overpowered in early game, the game is extremely generous, you have lots of options to make hard areas and bosses easier and it favours exploration more than any other title from From so i never felt stuck or frustated but thats what i liked the most. The first half or so of the game is extremely comfy and loved just wandering around and feeling the mood.

I'll probably go back and replay it again someday and make a magic build, i never do magic in souls games but i got the feeling you could do really crazy powerful stuff in this one and make the bosses a lot more fun to fight. A lot of bosses in this game are fucking huge and love spamming Aoe attacks you can't even see being telegraphed up close because of the camera being covered by their huge asses. Doing a melee strenght build make some visually cool bossfights really akward just by forcing me to get close like that, the last boss being the worse of them all. Its why i didn't felt bad at all making those encounters easier with mimic tear, gameplay wise it was the least satisfying part of the game.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Greater Will is an outside force, but it's not stated to be an Outer God. If you're familiar with DnD, you can imagine it's something like Ao.

The Greater Will is never explicitly identified as an Outer God, but it effectively is one, for all intents and purposes, with how it interacts with the settings and other deities. Its really all academic at this point, since the game only goes into the vaguest of explanations about the Outer Gods, and a lot of what we learn is through the, admittedly, biased lens of the Golden Order itself.

I saw a cool hat and that's all I wanted.

If you side with Ranni, you do, in fact, get her cool hat at the end of her questline.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

There’s a lot of shit that never gets answered. Marika and Ranni’s connection is weirder because they share two things in common: both hated the Greater Will and both have an involvement with a moon. Marika is a numen and has a connection to Nokstella and it’s moon.

 

[ShitLurker]

There’s a lot of shit that never gets answered. Marika and Ranni’s connection is weirder because they share two things in common: both hated the Greater Will and both have an involvement with a moon. Marika is a numen and has a connection to Nokstella and it’s moon.

I mean, that's just standard From Soft that half the things never get explained. That the ancient lore was made up by lazy fat fuck does mean that it's probably more coherent than it's been in other from games but I also expect deeper details to just stay as implied things, never outright stated. I mean, speaking of Marika's connection with Ranni, there is also Melina's connection to Ranni since in the fires of madness ending her open eye has similarities to Ranni and it's also implied she's related to Marika. That's one of the mysteries I expect will stay as such. So I'm mostly just hoping we get more about Godwyn even if the DLC is Miquella centric.