finally felt like picking this back up, not having much success at all against Niall at level 90ish with a maxed weapon, but then I’ve pretty much done nothing else in the snow area other than this castle
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I can’t touch this guy, surprised at not much discussion of him?
The big problem with him is just Banished Knights. They suck on their own and just make that fight really tough. A burly summon helps tho. I used my Mimic Tear, which some may think is trivial but it’s also kind of fun to build for and balance aggro against. In that fight it’s more like you just need something to shake the aggro from three super deadly foes, so I can imagine anything works.
I can solo the non-shield knight while the others are distracted no problem, but the summons don’t last long after that, and it seems like a really dull, tanky fight. I hope I just have the wrong weapon for him or something because he seems like kind of a shit sandwich
Right at the start I would run to place myself into backstabbing his summon I least enjoyed. Got that one pretty quick, and run away from the big guy to take the second one out.
Buy like always I use plenty of Barricade Shield and block counters. Still took around 6 or 8 tries to get him. Once he was alone I defeated him first try. Again lots of Barricade Shield and block counter to get those crits in (even if crits with magic based weapons are pitiful).
let your summon distract his summons and try and beat him down to half health as fast as possible, this desummons the enemies as he enters phase 2 and is generally a straightforward ‘humanoid enemy with no stamina to worry about’ fight at that point.
A terribly designed, boring bossfight, which this game has in abundance.
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I am much less effective when I’m bored, it’s true
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I RNGed my way through Niall. First try he sat totally still beating up my summon so I just lasered him repeatedly until dead. Most bosses are not so gracious, and I do not feel ashamed about this.
For his duplicate O’Neill I just kited him through poison swamp geysers until he died from it
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I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with two Mohgs before. The scale of this.
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Got very much humiliated by Malenia.
Decided to revaluate my life’s choices… Like exploring other areas and that.
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She better be the true ending
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Well it just so happens that you’re looking at the new Blade of Miquella. Some might say retooling my character to carry the best shield in the game just to block one specific attack and help my mimic fill the arena with Swarm of Flies is kinda unsportsmanlike, but Malenia very specifically complimented my prowess and “extraordinary strength” after the fight. She gets it. Sometimes you go 1-100, but if that 1 is for the championship then that’s all that counts.
Ain’t gonna be no rematch.
My review of her is this: it’s like I’m playing Dark Souls and she’s playing Bayonetta. Except when I play Dark Souls I usually use a shield as a crutch, and shields don’t prevent her from healing off of her attacks. She’s optional and I’m not gonna kink shame anyone who likes this boss, but she’s too punishing for the type of player that invariably makes a few mistakes over the course of a long fight.
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donezo, and it only took 84 hours! I really really enjoyed most of it.
I have been thinking about where I put this among my favorite of these games, and I’d say it’s probably at the same level of DS2, which rests above DS1 these days but waaaaaaaaaaaay below Bloodborne.
The most disappointing thing about Elden Ring for me was just how disinterested I was by all its story reveals and implications. Every bit of lore I learned and understood as a consequence or as consequent from something else in the story was never compelling. I felt like there was a serious failure to connect for players why any of the apocalyptic shit that happened to this world, or specifically to its major players, really mattered. Maybe it’s a problem of things being too big and too bizarre to really relate with (which could be interesting, a la some parts of Bloodborne) but I just think it’s a fatal problem when the final boss and choice in a Souls game doesn’t really mean anything to me.
“But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate. Without really knowing why…” was a line from Dark Souls 2 which felt poignant there but feels hollow in Elden Ring.
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putting this one on the backburner for now. it’s just way too much game and I play everything too slowly to not burn out. I’m over 100 hours and I just started the snow level. I’ve not enjoyed any of the bosses and the game seems to turn into a boss rush mode full of bullshit after this, so there’s little chance I’ll enjoy the final leg. there’s enough good stuff in here, but nothing to change the view I’ve had since the reveal that this is an entirely superfluous experience.
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I think you’re basically right. Maybe except for Haligtree, everything that comes after Morgot seems inessential and aggressively mediocre in my opinion. When I reached the frost mountains I suspected then, which was like 20 hours ago, that the best of Elden Ring really was over. The bosses are mostly bad after that (Maliketh and Melenia are cool I think) and like I tried to express in my last post the story is just not compelling and basically absent except for things which sound like they have interesting implications that we don’t ever see played out.
I feel really confident in recommending people this game, on the condition they don’t sweat dropping it if they start to feel burned at all after Leyndell. But I would basically beg all my friends to play Bloodborne all the way through Old Hunters. I even think the DLC of DS3 makes that game kind of an epic experience in the end, though I mostly dislike that game. This one just goes nowhere!
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The ability to do everything backwards is interesting. After Capital spoilers
Your Maiden tells you we gotta go to the mountains. I then had every NPC I meet go “You’re gonna commit a cardinal sin.” I don’t know what that means or why we are going to the mountains!
Then finally went back to the roundtable<>*</> and found the fingers silent and the old lady said oh that’s a cardinal sin to burn the ErTree…Do It.
Everyone going what you’re doing is fucked up, Do It! is pretty cool.
Asterix: can’t believe they pulled the safe space is all dead 3 (4?) games in a row. I don’t know what the deal is with This safe space.
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“Oops the building is on fire again but I guess it’s nbd”
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I wound up respec’ing into a comet azur + moonveil build (which I was 80% of the way to anyway) after the capital, can’t say it hurt
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A friend who chose this as their first Souls game bailed around Margit and for some reason decided to then try the Demon’s Souls remaster and is having a much more enjoyable (though of course still challenging) time and I’m happy for them. Hearing about it kinda echoes Grandpa’s recent DkS1 adventures and I wanna say those games are a better “hero’s journey” induction but maybe I’ve metabolised them too much to be objective. Elden Ring is really cool but doesn’t come close to touching the holistic brilliance of Demon’s for me (I will not defend this position here at this particular time!)
I’m at Niall as well but too damn stubborn to respec to a magic build (Manor Towershield, Lordsworn+12(I think?) with fire Eruption Ash of War, Darkmoon Greatsword+7 and Rot Breath with like one use before I have to refill FP…yeah I’m basic as fuck). Got the bastard’s health bar down to a centimetre twice with competent summons, I can do this. Boring ass fight though.
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I’m actually looking forward to getting my strength and faith back up since I gutted them for this… but I can’t deny it’s nice to just detonate some of the more annoying bosses for the time being and get to play with ranni’s dark moon while I’m at it, plus moonveil is almost as versatile a weapon as my beloved bloodhound’s fang (which, in fairness, I used for 45 hours already)
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Yeah, the further I get in this game, the lower it places in my fromsoft rankings. They really frontloaded the good parts of this game, even more than usual for from.
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