The Shattered Elden Ring Thread: Tarnished Edition - (Shadow of the Erdtree p. 85)

[Dalisclock]

Cool I look forward to your impressions. I'm way behind you but using the Fextralife progress guide's recommended levels to help check if/when I'm at what levels for what.

I mostly spent yesterday in the underground night city and aqueduct areas while being in the 70's and at this point my feeling throughout this game is that I'm at appropriate level for everything except bosses for which I'm just always feeling underleveled. Summons, co-op, cheese, wikis... that's the only way I'm getting through these bosses so my leveling and such is really about the caves, catacombs and dungeons.

Yeah, I've used ashes and co-op pretty liberally for the bosses and it's working out fine, like it did in previous Souls games. I'll give it a few runs on my own but once I'm feelng comfortable and I'm not really making any progress, then I'll summon someone or an ash to help out and usually I need like one or two attempts to push me over the line. Really, having that extra breathing room a summon provides tends to make all the different to me, as long as they don't die quickly.

I mean, really, anytime i see that little Spirit gate icon show up, I both get super cautious and be mentally ready to summon if needed because SOMETHING is probably about to show up to ruin my day.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I was just riding around Altus randomly and came across the Draconic Tree Spirit. Because I'm a brat and I read internets and spoil myself, I knew this was an Important Boss to Progress the Story. But what the hell, I fight him a few times, get my ass kicked, whatever (the fire ball he has tracks insanely too good, better than freaking dragons!).
I look around and I see two gold summon signs including my favorite girl Millicent. And it lets my summon! Man it was fun being part of an unfair gank squad instead of a being a victim. I'm tossing black fire balls while my team is going ham, it's great.

But... I hate the boss fights, lol. I mean... I dunno, I did like 5 this morning, some are fine, like in this one cave I found it was an omen killer and a plant. These double bosses REQUIRE summoning, as far as I'm concerned, otherwise it's not fair. Just to give me an INCH of breathing room to take out one then the next.

But then I'm also the guy that never beat Orenstein and Smough solo. I don't even understand how that is possible, and I've watched the youtubes. To me it's like one a scientist explains quantum mechanics and it all makes sense at the time but then ask me to explain it 5 minutes later and you will only get a blank look in my eyes.

I just finally be Godskin Apostle. That boss can seriously go f*** itself right in the eye. All it does is fly around the screen and I can't see it and then I die. Like a lot of bosses. The only other person I've seen complain about this is Yahtzee and I feel like he and I are the only two sane people in the world. These boss moves are goddamn insane and make me question why I play video games (but then immediately something cool and beautiful happens, don't mind me, complaining about From games is part of the fun for me).
You know how I beat this guy? Don't worry I'll tell you.. my main girl Millicent, and Uchigitana+15 with some magic chill ash I put on it for some reason, and scarlet rot dragon breath. Just every g-dm thing I can throw at it. Fighting it "normal" is just impossible, it hits me once and then I can't move and then it just keeps hitting me and I'm dead, what kind of bs game is this.
I even looked up "cheese" strategies like using sleep pots and sneaking around and using poison mist and none of them work, lol.

Same with Goderoy whatever, the dude that's in "gaol" and same fight as Godrick phase 1. I beat Godrick with my other main girl Nephili and summons and such, now I have to fight him "legit," ok. He swings, I dodge... then he swings all over the screen 3x and I can't move or see, wtf!

FromSoftware boss fights used to be "learn their movesets, practices, and you can respond." And I did that for 6 games, minus only handful of bosses that I felt were totally nonsense (Demon of Hatred!). Now they make a game where every boss is Demon of Hatred. OK.

Like I said I'm enjoying the game but I seriously worry that with it getting such universal praise and success, FromSoftware is learning the lesson that they should just make boss fights more and more insane and impossible for us regular folks. If that is the case, this will be my last one.

Also, unrelated, this:

Turn off motion controls in Elden Ring to avoid accidental gestures

It's very easy to accidentally do a gesture in Elden Ring on PS4/PS5 unless you turn off motion controls — here's how to do it.

www.destructoid.com

I just waited way too long to actually figure this out, so I'm a dope.

 

[Dalisclock]

I was just riding around Altus randomly and came across the Draconic Tree Spirit. Because I'm a brat and I read internets and spoil myself, I knew this was an Important Boss to Progress the Story. But what the hell, I fight him a few times, get my ass kicked, whatever (the fire ball he has tracks insanely too good, better than freaking dragons!).
I look around and I see two gold summon signs including my favorite girl Millicent. And it lets my summon! Man it was fun being part of an unfair gank squad instead of a being a victim. I'm tossing black fire balls while my team is going ham, it's great.

But... I hate the boss fights, lol. I mean... I dunno, I did like 5 this morning, some are fine, like in this one cave I found it was an omen killer and a plant. These double bosses REQUIRE summoning, as far as I'm concerned, otherwise it's not fair. Just to give me an INCH of breathing room to take out one then the next.

But then I'm also the guy that never beat Orenstein and Smough solo. I don't even understand how that is possible, and I've watched the youtubes. To me it's like one a scientist explains quantum mechanics and it all makes sense at the time but then ask me to explain it 5 minutes later and you will only get a blank look in my eyes.

I just finally be Godskin Apostle. That boss can seriously go f*** itself right in the eye. All it does is fly around the screen and I can't see it and then I die. Like a lot of bosses. The only other person I've seen complain about this is Yahtzee and I feel like he and I are the only two sane people in the world. These boss moves are goddamn insane and make me question why I play video games (but then immediately something cool and beautiful happens, don't mind me, complaining about From games is part of the fun for me).
You know how I beat this guy? Don't worry I'll tell you.. my main girl Millicent, and Uchigitana+15 with some magic chill ash I put on it for some reason, and scarlet rot dragon breath. Just every g-dm thing I can throw at it. Fighting it "normal" is just impossible, it hits me once and then I can't move and then it just keeps hitting me and I'm dead, what kind of bs game is this.
I even looked up "cheese" strategies like using sleep pots and sneaking around and using poison mist and none of them work, lol.

Same with Goderoy whatever, the dude that's in "gaol" and same fight as Godrick phase 1. I beat Godrick with my other main girl Nephili and summons and such, now I have to fight him "legit," ok. He swings, I dodge... then he swings all over the screen 3x and I can't move or see, wtf!

FromSoftware boss fights used to be "learn their movesets, practices, and you can respond." And I did that for 6 games, minus only handful of bosses that I felt were totally nonsense (Demon of Hatred!). Now they make a game where every boss is Demon of Hatred. OK.

Like I said I'm enjoying the game but I seriously worry that with it getting such universal praise and success, FromSoftware is learning the lesson that they should just make boss fights more and more insane and impossible for us regular folks. If that is the case, this will be my last one.

I don't think anyone is really meant to fight O+S solo. There's a reason Solaire has a summon sign right outside the door and you even meet him down the hall from their door, just chilling. I'm sure they're meant to be a Summon boss, but some people are going to insist on soloing every boss if possible. You aren't the first one to bring this up, that ER bosses are kinda nuts and trying to fight them solo is extremely difficult in some cases. One video mentioned how FROM really liked the Sekiro bosses but ER doesn't do combat like Sekiro so it doesn't really work and that's an interesting argument. Sekiro has much fewer bosses(even if some of them are repeats) but the fights are tuned to the attack/parry/deflect playstyle so solo feels very doable.

It does feel like FROM wants to have bigger and badder boss fights with each game but at the same time, this makes soloing more and more difficult to do. That's why AI summons have been more plentiful as the series has gone on and now they introduced the Spirit Ash system in the same way. I think the days of most people being able to reasonably Solo most if not ever boss are probably over at this point, as FROM moves to faster and crazier bosses. It's tricky to tune those to all the different bosses to every possible playstyle and build and that's the rub here, whereas earlier games were slower and tighter, though apparently Demons Souls bosses were also custom tuned, apparently being more like gimmick bosses and thus having a preferred way to kill them(I haven't really played Demons Souls so if I'm mistaken, I apologize).

I have no qualms about using summons/ashes/weaknesses(I beat Gael with help of like 2-3 other people and I had a blast), and very few of the bosses have given me much trouble. I can reasonably learn their moves and tune my attacks solo to get a boss halfway like 90% of the time, but usually I'll call for help to get most bosses all the way dead and I feel no shame for that (I tried soloing the lichdragon in the deeproot area a couple of times to get a feel for it's attacks, but then I called in the mimic to help me fight it for real and it went down after a rather pitched battle ). People who want to solo every boss....I mean, that's the way you want to play, so good luck.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I was just riding around Altus randomly and came across the Draconic Tree Spirit. Because I'm a brat and I read internets and spoil myself, I knew this was an Important Boss to Progress the Story. But what the hell, I fight him a few times, get my ass kicked, whatever (the fire ball he has tracks insanely too good, better than freaking dragons!).
I look around and I see two gold summon signs including my favorite girl Millicent. And it lets my summon! Man it was fun being part of an unfair gank squad instead of a being a victim. I'm tossing black fire balls while my team is going ham, it's great.

But... I hate the boss fights, lol. I mean... I dunno, I did like 5 this morning, some are fine, like in this one cave I found it was an omen killer and a plant. These double bosses REQUIRE summoning, as far as I'm concerned, otherwise it's not fair. Just to give me an INCH of breathing room to take out one then the next.

But then I'm also the guy that never beat Orenstein and Smough solo. I don't even understand how that is possible, and I've watched the youtubes. To me it's like one a scientist explains quantum mechanics and it all makes sense at the time but then ask me to explain it 5 minutes later and you will only get a blank look in my eyes.

I just finally be Godskin Apostle. That boss can seriously go f*** itself right in the eye. All it does is fly around the screen and I can't see it and then I die. Like a lot of bosses. The only other person I've seen complain about this is Yahtzee and I feel like he and I are the only two sane people in the world. These boss moves are goddamn insane and make me question why I play video games (but then immediately something cool and beautiful happens, don't mind me, complaining about From games is part of the fun for me).
You know how I beat this guy? Don't worry I'll tell you.. my main girl Millicent, and Uchigitana+15 with some magic chill ash I put on it for some reason, and scarlet rot dragon breath. Just every g-dm thing I can throw at it. Fighting it "normal" is just impossible, it hits me once and then I can't move and then it just keeps hitting me and I'm dead, what kind of bs game is this.
I even looked up "cheese" strategies like using sleep pots and sneaking around and using poison mist and none of them work, lol.

Same with Goderoy whatever, the dude that's in "gaol" and same fight as Godrick phase 1. I beat Godrick with my other main girl Nephili and summons and such, now I have to fight him "legit," ok. He swings, I dodge... then he swings all over the screen 3x and I can't move or see, wtf!

FromSoftware boss fights used to be "learn their movesets, practices, and you can respond." And I did that for 6 games, minus only handful of bosses that I felt were totally nonsense (Demon of Hatred!). Now they make a game where every boss is Demon of Hatred. OK.

Like I said I'm enjoying the game but I seriously worry that with it getting such universal praise and success, FromSoftware is learning the lesson that they should just make boss fights more and more insane and impossible for us regular folks. If that is the case, this will be my last one.

Also, unrelated, this:

Turn off motion controls in Elden Ring to avoid accidental gestures

It's very easy to accidentally do a gesture in Elden Ring on PS4/PS5 unless you turn off motion controls — here's how to do it.

www.destructoid.com

I just waited way too long to actually figure this out, so I'm a dope.

They really should be stepping away from this type of game and doing something completely new to gain some perspective. After seven of generally the same game type only so much can be done.

Having said that, I haven’t yet run into a boss that felt bs. Maybe the Ulcerated Tree Spirit in the small room underneath the starting area came close, but he glitched and gave up half way through for me to finish thankfully. There was another like it in Altus that I used Torrent nicely for hit and run stuff.

So far there’s been another way for me if one tactic wasn’t working. I never rely completely on melee for dragons for instance. So far three rock slings to the face will bring them down for a critical strike.

Speaking of, finally took down the glintstone one last night, and of course the key I was looking for was sitting right behind it. I hadn’t seen this dragon since I first scoped out the Lakes, when it assertively let me know I shouldn’t have bothered it yet.

The Raya Academy was fine enough at level 67 (those mages are quite relentless though) and the red wolf beast was no match for my wild strikes and wondrous physick combo. Rennala was nicely presented and felt like a cross between deacons from DS3 in the first phase and ROM from Bloodborne in the second. Easier than either of those for me though too, as I was probably quite a bit over leveled by this point.

Now that I’ve gotten Iron Fist Alexander’s quest line progression to the mountains I’m off to Shaded Castle. Really digging both the character and atmosphere respectively.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Oh good luck with Shaded Castle! It's... poison. You know... you know, you know. I did that one the other day for my main homegirl Millicent.

Yeah that whole thing about Sekiro+ bosses but not having the combat is exactly right. And if you have or will ever get a PS5 I think you would like Demons Souls, I was pleasantly surprised by what people call "gimmick" bosses. To me they're not gimmicks, they're thematically relevant and interesting. I had never played the original and coming to it after 3 Dark Soulses was interesting, there's a lot there that was great. It's like when you discover a band late in their career, go back to the early records, appreciate their evolution but realize the lost that something special that got them started.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Elden Ring files appear to reference Dark Souls-style covenants

A player has uncovered messages referencing factions and a rank system

www.gamesradar.com

Elden Ring's Let Me Solo Her hero slays Malenia 1,000 times, restarts the game

Let Me Solo Her bows out on a high

www.gamesradar.com

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Oh good luck with Shaded Castle! It's... poison. You know... you know, you know. I did that one the other day for my main homegirl Millicent.

Yeah that whole thing about Sekiro+ bosses but not having the combat is exactly right. And if you have or will ever get a PS5 I think you would like Demons Souls, I was pleasantly surprised by what people call "gimmick" bosses. To me they're not gimmicks, they're thematically relevant and interesting. I had never played the original and coming to it after 3 Dark Soulses was interesting, there's a lot there that was great. It's like when you discover a band late in their career, go back to the early records, appreciate their evolution but realize the lost that something special that got them started.

If you’re replying to me yeah, Demon’s was my first FROM game and it got me hooked. Definitely will be checking out the remake whenever I get a PS5, but I’d think that’s a ways off yet. It will be a nice trip down memory lane to see what Bluepoint has done to spruce up the place. Latria in particular has incredible atmosphere and verticality. Some of my favorite boss designs are also from that game. Phalanx had me white knuckling the controller and Leechmonger terrified me with its domain’s appoach and the way that thing moved, but I loved how fire-coated blades just destroyed it.

 

[Dalisclock]

Explored most of the Giants mountaintop and WTF are those CAELID DOGS doing up here? Seriously Miyazaki? Anyway, killed the Weeb invader near the giant and got his sword. Also did Castle Sol, which wasn't that bad but man, that boss was something. I think I had more issues with him then Morgott. Finally took him down with some help and got the other half of the Haligtree medallion. Kinda cool how you end up using it, though less cool where it takes you. Oh man, Squid abominations everywhere. Thanks, FROM, I hate it. Well, at least I don't need to go to Castle Sol anymore.

Really, the Mountaintop isn't that bad compared to anything else I've come across so far. It's still not as fucking awful as CAELID considering and yeah, it's desolate but it's a fucking mountaintop region.I mean, we've had ever other region type in the game, why not a frozen ass mountaintop?

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Finished Shaded Castle last night, but after a half dozen tries decided to save that boss for later. Too tanky and aggressive for me currently. The castle itself was fun to navigate, what with the sunken bits and swampy poison encouraging expediency. Too many dogs though, and those flame casters can fuck off. One ain’t bad, but two or three feels like Fuck You City. Atmosphere is delightfully FROM though.

I also found a nice new katana in Caelid to try out. Apparently it really helps with another boss that’s given me trouble; the Fallingstar Beast outside the temple in Altus. I already beat one in one of the caves but that particular bastard takes the cake so far in my encounters.

 

[Dalisclock]

Finished Shaded Castle last night, but after a half dozen tries decided to save that boss for later. Too tanky and aggressive for me currently. The castle itself was fun to navigate, what with the sunken bits and swampy poison encouraging expediency. Too many dogs though, and those flame casters can fuck off. One ain’t bad, but two or three feels like Fuck You City. Atmosphere is delightfully FROM though.

I also found a nice new katana in Caelid to try out. Apparently it really helps with another boss that’s given me trouble; the Fallingstar Beast outside the temple in Altus. I already beat one in one of the caves but that particular bastard takes the cake so far in my encounters.

I found my way down there hunting down a contract for volcano manor(mostly to progress the Snek quest), took a look around, saw a lot of poison but no grace site and decided it wasn't worth my time. Maybe I'll check it out at some point in the near future but for now I've got 3 main things to focus on: 1.) The Journey to the Haligtree 2.) The FIre Giant and the Critical Path and 3.) Lower Lyndell and the Sewers.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I found my way down there hunting down a contract for volcano manor(mostly to progress the Snek quest), took a look around, saw a lot of poison but no grace site and decided it wasn't worth my time. Maybe I'll check it out at some point in the near future but for now I've got 3 main things to focus on: 1.) The Journey to the Haligtree 2.) The FIre Giant and the Critical Path and 3.) Lower Lyndell and the Sewers.

It wasn’t as bad as some of FROM’s signature swamplands. What made it challenging was the enemies here and there. I mentioned the flamecaster (Perfumer) dudes who love to light you up cinder style, but the Cleanrot knights are no pushovers either. Then there’s a few of those freaky grafted Revenant A-holes that skitter around quickly and puke more poison on top of what you have to watch out for on the ground. Not my favorites by any means.

I did take down the boss tonight though. This Meteor Ore Blade I just picked up works well, upgraded to +6 so far. Can stagger as easily as the Morningstar and its 2H charged R2 is basically an Ichimonji from Sekiro. Also tested it initially on that Fallingstar Beast in Altus to good effect. Now I might as well check out the capital as much as it’ll allow for now. Not sure what normal progression is between that and Mt. Gilmir but my attention will probably be split between them both next.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Well yesterday I "gave up." So far, not on the whole game but on actually fighting any where fair if I can help it. I'm not talking about summoning (ashes or NPC or other players, I was already going that), but even with that I just can't handle these bosses any more. I'm done.

Because I encountered Astel, Natural Born of Shitting My Pants Because I Literally Can't See Where He Is Ever

And someone on the internet killed him with a giant blue laser cannon in two hits so, you know, I'm gonna try that. If this doesn't get me past bosses, I may have to call it in. Astel finally broke me.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Apparently it really helps with another boss that’s given me trouble; the Fallingstar Beast outside the temple in Altus. I already beat one in one of the caves but that particular bastard takes the cake so far in my encounters.

Falling Star Beast in the cave is the perfect example of the lack of care that From has put into the side content in this game. That boss does NOT work or fit in that room and it isn't the only boss that's like that in the side shit. Some of his attacks are literally unavoidable in that room because it's too small and the only way it's avoidable is if the boss happens to do it against a wall, and you are on the other side of the room completely.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Falling Star Beast in the cave is the perfect example of the lack of care that From has put into the side content in this game. That boss does NOT work or fit in that room and it isn't the only boss that's like that in the side shit. Some of his attacks are literally unavoidable in that room because it's too small and the only way it's avoidable is if the boss happens to do it against a wall, and you are on the other side of the room completely.

I had less trouble with that one than I did the Altus one outdoors. For some reason it seemed more aggressive there, or maybe because it had more room to be mobile. I did take it down last night with my new sword, saving the last few hits for mounted combat. Otherwise I only used Torrent to avoid the purple explosions.

For the cave one, agreed it's odd seeing that thing in such a small arena, even though lore wise I suppose it makes sense being in a crystal cave. Still possible to beat no damage though.

 

[Dalisclock]

Well yesterday I "gave up." So far, not on the whole game but on actually fighting any where fair if I can help it. I'm not talking about summoning (ashes or NPC or other players, I was already going that), but even with that I just can't handle these bosses any more. I'm done.

Because I encountered Astel, Natural Born of Shitting My Pants Because I Literally Can't See Where He Is Ever

And someone on the internet killed him with a giant blue laser cannon in two hits so, you know, I'm gonna try that. If this doesn't get me past bosses, I may have to call it in. Astel finally broke me.

Admittedly I'm starting to feel burn out myself I'm at about 60 or so hours and up to the fire giant(but I also need to do the Haligtree and go back and do the Lyndell Sewers), but I'm really starting to feel torn on wanting to see all the good stuff but also wanting to just get it the fuck over with.

I know there's a lot of other people who did like multiple playthroughs and 100+ hours and good for them, but games like this for me start feeling a bit done around the 60 hour mark. I can only imagine playing 100+ hours, probably over a much shorter period of time then I have.

Don't get me wrong, I love the world and level design, not to mention the lore and such, but even then I'll be ready to hang it up once I've finished the game. At least until the DLC comes out.

 

[sXeth]

Admittedly I'm starting to feel burn out myself I'm at about 60 or so hours and up to the fire giant(but I also need to do the Haligtree and go back and do the Lyndell Sewers), but I'm really starting to feel torn on wanting to see all the good stuff but also wanting to just get it the fuck over with.

I know there's a lot of other people who did like multiple playthroughs and 100+ hours and good for them, but games like this for me start feeling a bit done around the 60 hour mark. I can only imagine playing 100+ hours, probably over a much shorter period of time then I have.

Don't get me wrong, I love the world and level design, not to mention the lore and such, but even then I'll be ready to hang it up once I've finished the game. At least until the DLC comes out.

Leyndell was around where I started getting tired of it too. Its also coincidentally the last zone with any unique enemies (other then legend bosses everything else on is duplicates).

It almost feels like the devs hit the same point, given the lack of new enemies after that point. And the drastic dropout of side content in the areas beyond that (Forbidden Lands has 0, MotG has like, 2. Snowfields has one dungeon, Dragonbarrow has 2 (1 is barely a 3 room cave), etc).


There's also like, an art to the "But wait theres more" rug pull on having your game take on extra length after you've reached the main objective. And ER doesn't really have that. In Ocarina of Time, you can clearly tell that the story hadn't built up fully (to say nothing of the obvious 70% empty gear menu). In Final Fantasy 6 you had a major dramatic climax (this holds true for most of the era FFs). Elden Ring is just "Well you got to the Erdtree, too bad, go do these other 5 addon tangents now". And thats 30-50 hours (maybe more) into the game, with basically no characters or story arcs to develop on or hinge that kind of epic reveal around.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I had less trouble with that one than I did the Altus one outdoors. For some reason it seemed more aggressive there, or maybe because it had more room to be mobile. I did take it down last night with my new sword, saving the last few hits for mounted combat. Otherwise I only used Torrent to avoid the purple explosions.

For the cave one, agreed it's odd seeing that thing in such a small arena, even though lore wise I suppose it makes sense being in a crystal cave. Still possible to beat no damage though.

At 0.55, the monster goes up in the air, turns into the ball, the camera goes NUTS.... at this point, I had no idea where it was going or where it would land. This player dodged it like it was a scrub skeleton pathetically swinging a sword.
And this is where I'm like... yeah, if you can do this, great, but I just can't.

Look, I'm not JUST being salty here (although, a little salty, sure). I actually beat this fight! Like on the first or second try, I think. I dunno how, probably just spirit summons, panic rolling and wild swinging "under" its body, and chugging health flasks like cheap beer at a frat party. But it's just not satisfying to win that way.
And now y'all are telling me there's a harder one of these somewhere.... ugh.

I know there's a lot of other people who did like multiple playthroughs and 100+ hours and good for them, but games like this for me start feeling a bit done around the 60 hour mark. I can only imagine playing 100+ hours, probably over a much shorter period of time then I have.

Sure if you love a game... I mean I put like literally a thousand hours in Witcher 3 and plan on doing a replay in July. But that game is easy, though, so it's fun.
This is where "Elden Ring is just Dark Souls 4" comes into play for me. Some people like Yahtzee and Jack like to replay Dark Souls over and over and it's comfort food. Well, not me, it's still hard as shit even though I got platinum. But that's fine, I enjoyed completing it! Yes, the second half is infamously lesser but it's not that bad and the whole things is much less so the difference between the "good" and "bad" parts are practically much less exaggerated.


So... I spent yesterday switching my build again back to spellblade to try the Comet Azur cheapness and the results are... mixed? I followed some guide to do some side quests and get the stuff to maximize the ability to blast bosses. Actually the fun part was completing Sellen's quest. It is one of those side quests I dunno how someone is supposed to figure out without internet, but the end is actually pretty cool for the character, I highly recommend it.

I also found the "chicken farm" rune farming spot and, while listening to Slightly Something Else, used it to level up my character to 120 for the purposes of raising endurance high enough to be able to wear real armor and to get INT high enough to use Comet Azur. So now I'm sporting the armor of the guy in Roundtable that tries to kill you after a while and the crown from the "sorcerer" that gives you Comet Azur; TWO katanas, the Moonveil of course and a cold-infused regular; and Lusat staff.

With this I went to Astel and after a couple of tries was able to kill it by summoning my mimic tear and blasting its stupid f***ing face with my new laser cannon.
Now I will be continuing to play the game for the sole purpose of seeing how many more main bosses I can laser cannon to death.

As you guys say, the need for extra side stuff is drastically less. Limgrave, Lake, Altus were great fun to explore until I encountered Godskin Apostle. The night city parts were by far the most intriguing but that was expected, it's the most Bloodborne-y.
At this point the only side stuff I'm interested in is:
- Anything that will give me upgrades to my weapons (so, regular highest level smithing stones for my cold katana, somber smithing stones for my moonveil, and gravehort or whatever for my mimic tear, which likely means I'll need to do some really horrible cave(s)).
- Anything that is gets a trophy so, yeah, Melania and whatever. But only if I still make it that far because I may just quit.

I am not "letting" myself quit until I at least complete the capital, that just seems like super-important.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Leyndell was around where I started getting tired of it too. Its also coincidentally the last zone with any unique enemies (other then legend bosses everything else on is duplicates).

It almost feels like the devs hit the same point, given the lack of new enemies after that point. And the drastic dropout of side content in the areas beyond that (Forbidden Lands has 0, MotG has like, 2. Snowfields has one dungeon, Dragonbarrow has 2 (1 is barely a 3 room cave), etc).


There's also like, an art to the "But wait theres more" rug pull on having your game take on extra length after you've reached the main objective. And ER doesn't really have that. In Ocarina of Time, you can clearly tell that the story hadn't built up fully (to say nothing of the obvious 70% empty gear menu). In Final Fantasy 6 you had a major dramatic climax (this holds true for most of the era FFs). Elden Ring is just "Well you got to the Erdtree, too bad, go do these other 5 addon tangents now". And thats 30-50 hours (maybe more) into the game, with basically no characters or story arcs to develop on or hinge that kind of epic reveal around.

You know it's funny, I do play big games with huge worlds and TONS of repeated enemies so it would be hypocritical of me to complain about that in ER. But with DR, for me this is where the difficulty and the repetition creates like an exponential reverberation of frustration. It's not just "oh, another two of these," it's that I know I'll be spending the next 4 hours trying to beat them. At least in Ubisoft games, I can dispatch the 40th iteration of "big dude with ax" or whatever and move on.

Sure I was just complaining about Astel but I am assuming it is a unique boss and there isn't just going to be some Astel randomly in the world (there are other bosses like that). So, it was cool to see at least and as frustrating as the fight is, at least it's a unique/special thing I did in a game. So that is great! But then I encountered another Omen Killer randomly in the world and it's like... ok, you're gonna smash me up 10x and then I'll kill you, and that's what happened, and I was just... tired, so tired.

 

[Dalisclock]

You know it's funny, I do play big games with huge worlds and TONS of repeated enemies so it would be hypocritical of me to complain about that in ER. But with DR, for me this is where the difficulty and the repetition creates like an exponential reverberation of frustration. It's not just "oh, another two of these," it's that I know I'll be spending the next 4 hours trying to beat them. At least in Ubisoft games, I can dispatch the 40th iteration of "big dude with ax" or whatever and move on.

Sure I was just complaining about Astel but I am assuming it is a unique boss and there isn't just going to be some Astel randomly in the world (there are other bosses like that). So, it was cool to see at least and as frustrating as the fight is, at least it's a unique/special thing I did in a game. So that is great! But then I encountered another Omen Killer randomly in the world and it's like... ok, you're gonna smash me up 10x and then I'll kill you, and that's what happened, and I was just... tired, so tired.

Yeah, it's shocking how few of the bosses are Unique. There's an excuse for Margit/Morgott, the godskin fucks....sure, why not, but it feels like there's a lot of bosses that they just hit the copy/paste button because it was 4:59 and the bar was about to open. I didn't like it in Dark Souls 2 and I don't it here either.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Still possible to beat no damage though.

Just because it's possible doesn't make it right.There are people who can solo Melania at level 1 with no damage, no rolls, no parrying and no farting. But that doesn't mean her Water Foul Dance isn't bullshit . It's still incredibly bad placement for such an enemy, but the same way putting those big tree serpents in tiny fucking rooms is also bad. There are loads of issues with putting monsters in places they don't fit, not only because of the actual fight but also because Fromsoft's camera is still rather terrible.

There are people who can solo Melania at level 1 with no damage, no rolls, no parrying and no farting. But that doesn't mean her Water Foul Dance isn't bullshit .