Elden Ring

[The Fair Lady]

Finally got time to start playing last night. Died more times to the damn claw weapon guy than the lion dancer boss (which, granted, only took me two tries).

 

[YumeNoHero]

Been doing coop in shadow land for a week now, trying to help out some poor sod but the sight of full bullgoat with shield hosts dying in one hit to bosses because they have no scadutree level is fucking funny as hell. If I'm still alive by then and near where they died I'd just do a point down on them. My build is at 257 and if I'm fighting a boss that can be bled then Fire Knight Greatsword with gravity spin + bleed infusion, otherwise lightning perfume bottle with rolling sparks. It's a bit of a hassle to swap talismans between the two build but it's efficient enough when hosts have low scadutree levels.

 

[Asian tech support]

I'm fighting a boss that can be bled then Fire Knight Greatsword with gravity spin + bleed infusion, otherwise lightning perfume bottle with rolling sparks

Yeesh, at least let the poor hosts get a hit in.

 

[YumeNoHero]

Yeesh, at least let the poor hosts get a hit in.

Correct me if I'm wrong but to me it seems like the host's scadutree level also affect coop phantoms as well, so at the very least they can get a few hits in before getting incinerated by Bayle while my rolling sparks only deal like 70% of the damage it should be doing. Having 2 less crimson flasks just for the FP refills at 40 mind in case the fight drags out or host's internet speed is dogwater and your damage didn't register properly.

 

[FunPosting101]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GIRLS AND GIRLY BOYS, I HAVE TRIUMPHED. UP WITH THE DOLL-WAIFU AND DOWN WITH THAT FUCKING FEMBOY FAGGOT AND HIS FUCKBUDDY!
I'm actually rather disappointed that I had to resort to Blasphemous Blade L2 spam in order to beat the last boss, I wanted to use Milady for the whole fight rather than just getting the last few hits in at the end.

Now I'm going to try and find all the stuff I missed and grind for runes until my character is at level 401.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Finally finished the stupid thing. The short of it is that I had no trouble with any boss except for Radahn. The Gaius guy that everyone complains about I walloped on the second go - seriously people, just use defensives if you don't know the timings for attacks, lol. I got Bayle in like seven or eight shots - it just came down to figuring out the timing for his stupid flying double-laser.

Spoiler: seriously worst encounter they've ever made

Radahn is fucking something else, though. Every fucking string has a subtle little stance hidden away in it -- for a while, I was dodging through the first phase and then blocking in the second, so I was noticing little timing inconsistencies: homie straight up holds his big swings mid-air to catch you in roll recovery if you're spamming. That's really not all that uncommon for ER, though. My main grudge instead is that he cancels his recovery whenever he feels like it. Which means if you do anything other than a single R1 to the guy after he's done with his 30-hit combo chain, you're now rolling the bones on whether he cancels the recovery into an attack with startup or an instant attack, the latter of which will always hit you. This continues into phase 2, except that he adds the fucking tactical nuke to the list of things that he can cancel his recovery into, and since you're stuck in animation lock, it's literally impossible for you to get out of it. I was stacked to the teeth with defensives and making use of the ultimate holy protection spell, and he still hits like a fucking truck.

Then I used a greatshield. In phase 1, I used the golden order shield buff to just block all of his attacks and guard counter. This is probably less effective than just using barricade shield to the same end. In phase 2, you just deflect everything and memorize the maybe 2 attack strings you can actually guard counter after, because the rest of the time you'll be pushed back too far to connect with him and if you try to swing he'll anyways just smack you for half of your life. Mind, I had scadu +19 for this fight with 60 vig + 3 defensive talismans.

I really wanted to just use the black iron greathammer 2h and deflect->guard counter, which had worked out great on every other boss, but if you fuck up literally one deflection timing the guy drains all of your stamina and then slaps you for half of your life. Dumb.

Utterly tedious fight that genuinely soured the experience. I loved the rest of the DLC and think it's some of the best stuff that From has ever put out, though it has obvious low spots (abyssal woods is too fucking long and the gimmick is literally pointless because you never need to actually do it). If they touch open world again - they're very good at making layered maps - they should not put the souls formula in it. It does not work with open-world settings. About 4 of the questlines bricked because I did everything I could before Messmer and heavens forbid progressed through a legacy dungeon in an order they weren't considering. They need to port Bloodborne already, because I have zero interest in touching this game again for the next half-decade.

 

[ShiftyBoi]

Messmer's five snek barrage is rivaling waterfowl dance for my least favorite move in the game. It has even less windup, opens with an AOE that drains all your health, and then hits you with like five overheads, and then on top of that his aerial fire attack for good measure. I guess the saving grace is at least it doesn't heal him too. His second phase is ruled by a lingering fear that he's going to use the move without warning, it's literally just made to punish you for wanting to land an extra hit on him. You don't even get any time to punish it.

The series has had moves like this in the past but none with so little warning as Messmer's special look at me attack. I hope the next souls outing is a departure from this, they've been escalating difficulty by just making bosses hit harder and faster instead of doing something new, it's going to make the series very played out very soon. It feels like there isn't anything unique about Messmer, he has a second phase, he's related to Marika, he does flashy moves but this time with fire. Yawn. Sekiro was a step in the right direction in my opinion, no boss is difficult in the same way in Sekiro.

 

[Gondolindrim]

I finally killed something with my claws: Messmer. I see why people seem to think he's so easy, his second phase is a lot less insane than the first. Still terribly designed though, feels like the point of the boss is to watch his fancy fire animations over and over.

There's a lot of bosses that strike me as just not well made: Messmer, Gaius, Putrescent Knight, Dancing Lion. The only one I'd actually say is fair so far is Rellana because her combos, while long, are at least easy to block.

 

[ShiftyBoi]

I finally killed something with my claws: Messmer. I see why people seem to think he's so easy, his second phase is a lot less insane than the first. Still terribly designed though, feels like the point of the boss is to watch his fancy fire animations over and over.

There's a lot of bosses that strike me as just not well made: Messmer, Gaius, Putrescent Knight, Dancing Lion. The only one I'd actually say is fair so far is Rellana because her combos, while long, are at least easy to block.

A boss I've actually liked is Romina, the centipede chick. Despite her moves being kind of annoying her move pool is small and her tells are very readable, and she isn't constantly swooping around in order to disorient you.

Same with the dancing lion tho, her boss fight would be improved a little if you could lock onto her torso and her centipede body

 

[Coldgrip]

They already did. Scadutree blessings now have slightly more of an effect across the board, and a noticeably higher effect at lower levels of blessing. Basically people who don't explore and just slam into the bosses with 2-4 levels of blessing don't get fucked as as hard. I'd also expect a patch later that buffs some of the spells because a bunch of them are completely useless e.g. divine bird feathers.

I should of been specific, when is From going to balance and fix some of it's weapons?
Also, would it kill them to slightly rework the 'Poison Flower Blooms Twice' ash so we could use it in the air? It's neat but I hate how that back-hop looks kind of janky and that I can't use it mid-jump.

There's a lot of bosses that strike me as just not well made: Messmer, Gaius, Putrescent Knight, Dancing Lion. The only one I'd actually say is fair so far is Rellana because her combos, while long, are at least easy to block.

I'd add the Scadutree avatar to that first list.

Midra is pretty fair if not actually somewhat easy.

 

[FunPosting101]

I'd add the Scadutree avatar to that first list.

Midra is pretty fair if not actually somewhat easy.

The only problem with the Scadutree Avatar, for me at least, was that I had to kill it three times in a row to actually win the fight. Then again, I do summon the Mimic Tear for every boss fight I can, so my opinion of the game's difficulty may be a bit skewed.

Midra killed me 3 or 4 times before I finally got him, which is rather embarrassing to admit, I know.

 

[Coldgrip]

The only problem with the Scadutree Avatar, for me at least, was that I had to kill it three times in a row to actually win the fight. Then again, I do summon the Mimic Tear for every boss fight I can, so my opinion of the game's difficulty may be a bit skewed.

Midra killed me 3 or 4 times before I finally got him, which is rather embarrassing to admit, I know.

Scadutree and Radahn were the only bosses I actually had to re-spec to finally beat. I know choosing to use fist weapons only is going to make certain fights harder for me, I accepted that, but goddamn.

Midra got me once and that was it. But I also went out and gathered scadu-fragments. It helped, a lot.

 

[Tablet County]

There's a lot of bosses that strike me as just not well made: Messmer, Gaius, Putrescent Knight, Dancing Lion. The only one I'd actually say is fair so far is Rellana because her combos, while long, are at least easy to block.

Messmer's second phase is definitely mid. He's easier to dodge and block and his snek animations are all incredibly janky. Otherwise he's probably one of my favorite fights in the DLC next to Midra.
Gaius felt undercooked. I like the concept and the lore behind him but he feels like a particularly tough field boss more than a proper encounter. I'm 100% certain he definitely had an intro cutscene that was cut sometime in development.
The Putrescent Knight's another undercooked boss. His design reminds me of a Nuckelavee and that's cool, but some of his moves are pure unfiltered bullshit and frankly his lore doesn't feel all there. A mass of fucking human crude oil congealed into the vague shape of a man on horseback and became St. Trina's knight... somehow?

 

[Gondolindrim]

A boss I've actually liked is Romina, the centipede chick. Despite her moves being kind of annoying her move pool is small and her tells are very readable, and she isn't constantly swooping around in order to disorient you.

Same with the dancing lion tho, her boss fight would be improved a little if you could lock onto her torso and her centipede body

Yeah she's cool actually. Her moves aren't too crazy and it's a neat design. I just wish she wasn't so horribly out of place lol, why is a Scarlet Rot god hanging out in the Shadow Lands?

 

[74164978231]

but this mother fucker won't give me a second to breathe, let alone attack or heal.

"git gud"

Its clear a lot about this game isnt about genuine enjoyment and having fun but more about saying you accomplished a thing. Only a genuine autist thinks having to make 6-7 near pixel perfect dodges in a row just so you can maybe be in position to attack once is fun. Its like playing flappy bird so you can simply brag about getting to x level.

 

[Tablet County]

Its clear a lot about this game isnt about genuine enjoyment and having fun but more about saying you accomplished a thing. Only a genuine autist thinks having to make 6-7 near pixel perfect dodges in a row just so you can maybe be in position to attack once is fun. Its like playing flappy bird so you can simply brag about getting to x level.

Lol, casual.

 

[Gondolindrim]

The Putrescent Knight's another undercooked boss. His design reminds me of a Nuckelavee and that's cool, but some of his moves are pure unfiltered bullshit and frankly his lore doesn't feel all there. A mass of fucking human crude oil congealed into the vague shape of a man on horseback and became St. Trina's knight... somehow?

So the theory I've seen on /vg/ is that Putrescent was originally supposed to be a Godskin enemy. His data files name is "Knight of the Gloam Eyed Queen" which fits considering his head is the same as those little balls on Godskin cloaks. So you're right, he is undercooked because he's the last remnant of a storyline that is no longer in the game.

 

[Tablet County]

So the theory I've seen on /vg/ is that Putrescent was originally supposed to be a Godskin enemy. His data files name is "Knight of the Gloam Eyed Queen" which fits considering his head is the same as those little balls on Godskin cloaks. So you're right, he is undercooked because he's the last remnant of a storyline that is no longer in the game.

God damn it that would've been so much cooler.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

So the theory I've seen on /vg/ is that Putrescent was originally supposed to be a Godskin enemy. His data files name is "Knight of the Gloam Eyed Queen" which fits considering his head is the same as those little balls on Godskin cloaks. So you're right, he is undercooked because he's the last remnant of a storyline that is no longer in the game.

It feels like virtually every plotline besides Ranni's got cut down.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]