Elden Ring

[Deathhappens]

Speaking of pain, apparently I've been beating most bosses underleveled and with an "unacceptably low" amount of Vigor. So far it's been working out for me with my tried and true DS1 method of "heaviest armor you can carry+ good old greatsword", but tough foes that don't stagger easily are still the bane of my existence. Fortunately so far most named bosses have been on the easy side, especially the ones with NPC summons. Can't wait for Malenia BLADE OF MIQUELLA to squash me into the dust for my arrogance.

[Nanaya]

I was super hyped for fighting Radahn, but they had to make it a dumb horseback battle+ all those NPC summons make it a joke. Sure, I could ignore those things and just go solo and on foot, but I can only enjoy so much pain.

He was nerfed. His hitboxes reduced and shit from launch. I love how Patches just peaces out right after you summon him. Takes one look and Nopes as he leaves you hanging out to dry.

[Deathhappens]

Funny experience today: Lost a bunch of souls to #baddecisions in the FUCKING LAKE OF ROT, so I decided to do some multiplayer to recoup my losses. Put up my golden effigy for a while, somehow every host I got managed to eat oneshots from random field mobs (despite my valiant attempts to draw aggro AND heal them at the same time). That, or they got twinked by an invader. Fuck it, I said, let's try the other side of the coin. And so I put up my bloody finger instead. I spawned somewhere in the Stormfoot Catacombs... more specifically, somewhere inside the floor of the Stormfoot Catacombs... and bob's your uncle, 15 seconds later the game mercykilled me and sent me back. Upon which point I found out if you invade someone and die, YOU LOSE ALL YOUR SOULS. So that was a lesson painfully learned.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, I'd done invasions before (just for Varre's quest) but either I won them all or I had too few souls (sorry, runes!) to notice or care.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually no, I definitely lost before because I remember my very first invasion took me in front of the First Steps vs a host with Moonveil spam and another guy throwing out every sorcery under the sun. I was like, level 30 at the time.

[Nanaya]

It's fun, I haven't played in a while but it was easily the most fun I had in years. I enjoyed farming and leveling up all the items.

[WorldForgot]

Yesh, that rabbit hole of lore might lure me back into Dark Souls Remastered, which I never finished.

I love playing multiplayer co-op on this game -- it's pretty fun if you have an hour to spare to just pop into other people's worlds and help them out. Depending on whether you choose "Near/Far" or just your area, though, if you're late game you're going to get summouned to the final two bosses a bunch.

[Kamera]

Oh yeah. DLC hype or something.

[Deathhappens]

Not much to hype about yet. But it does mean my NG+ journey might come sooner rather than later.

Actually, I'm undecided between NG+ (harder bosses, but less bullshit looking for anything I might need for a new build) and plain NG (new build, new character, new experience, but much more time-consuming). I generally don't much go for replaying games I still remember, tbf, but not at least checking out some of the builds I didn't go for the first time would be a shame.

[Petrikow]

Maybe I'll play it in Japanese the first time around for the DLC...

[Kamera]

English Dub with Japanese Sub is probably the intended way to experience any Fromsoft games anyways.

[Petrikow]

It's more for the item descriptions. The dubbers tend to do a good job, but it seems the same oversight isn't given to the item descriptions.

[Deathhappens]

English Dub with Japanese Sub is probably the intended way to experience any Fromsoft games anyways.

I was going to say "you mean the other way around?" but yeah, Fromsoft games are pretty much like that (Sekiro excepted).

[mAc Chaos]

Bloodborne's dub was pretty good.

[Deathhappens]

Instead of starting that NG+ journey, I somehow ended up picking up DS3 on the Steam Sale. Other than constantly trying to jump with A, integration went fairly smoothly and I can proudly say I didn't get filtered by Gundyr (and in fact managed to oneshot him, though more because he has pitiful little HP than through any particular expression of skill on my part). Vordt of the Boreal Valley (and especially the run up to him) proved a bit tougher, but after five or six tries I gave him what for and moved on to the Undead Settlement. The gameplay loop really doesn't feel like it's changed much between this and ER, and maybe it's just the gitting finally approaching gud but overall I've found the game to be at least somewhat easier so far. Even the "tutorial area boss that's there to smash your face in if you try to fight in unprepared" in that big titanite lizard-thing is eminently more beatable than the bullshit that was the Erdtree Sentinel.

[Kamera]

The Erdtree Sentinel equivalent in DS3 is not the titanite lizard, it's the Dancer (somewhat secret shortcut boss)

[Deathhappens]

I tried to avoid looking up stuff so I didn't find it, but if I didn't find it it can't really be the Erdtree Sentinel equivalent (since that's literally the first enemy you see in the game after the tutorial).

[Spinach]

DkS3 was basically the entire framework for ER. ER is basically just DkS3 but made into a completed game with much better gameplay systems.

That said, we do have a DkS thread buried back in this subforum...

[Deathhappens]

I forgor

[Deathhappens]

Thus does my second journey (NG, because NG+ is for the birds) as a whizzarrrd begin. Knowing where the good places to go and stuff to do are is such a major, underrated boon. Lacking memory slots is a surprisingly big issue starting out, and knowing how to get at least the first couple memory stones helps immensely, as does getting the Flask of Physiks and finding the lantern vendor. Sorcerer in general is an interesting take for me, since I'm intentionally trying to avoid my usual "heavy armor, big shield, and big sword" stereotype and realising I still have a lot of survivability by sheer dint of killing stuff faster. Godrick Castle Banished Knights were a much less nightmarish enemy than before, the Crucible Knight died easily, and I took off 90% of the Grafted Scion's HP without even getting close. Carian Slicer has, surprisingly, been a major component to this; the spell fucking slaps anything I can survive getting into melee with and is cheap and fast to boot. Coupling that with Ambush Shard for various 'can see but can't reach' pissant enemies, like the ballista wielders in the castle's front gate, makes for a much smoother fight against tough enemies, and Glintstone Arc takes care of groups and dodgers very well.
(On that note, I never quite realised how going through the gate skips like 90% of the castle's content).
Buckler in tow and Rogier's rapier in hand it feels like I'm playing a different game.

[eddyak]

Carian Slicer is disgusting. A spell with near greatsword damage and near dagger level spam speed, and basically zero mana and stamina cost.

I've been meaning to do a casting only run- just ban myself from using melee weapons entirely and see where that leads, but I still hate the Fromsoft formula of making you pick between health flasks and casting flasks.

[Deathhappens]

Yeah, that's definitely not viable for the early levels. I ran out of mana waaaay too easily despite putting points in MND early to use Lhutel The Headless.
She's pretty good when she remembers there's a fight going on.