Topic: Soulsborne Series Thread

@Pizzamorg thanks, I will try that.

That's pretty good going, @Snatcher .... Don't worry, though, there's plenty more bosses you can fight! Make sure to hunt down Malenia a lot later, she's tougher than the 'final' boss, lol

@BruceCM lord noooo!

Or look up videos, @Snatcher .... That's the great thing with this one, about 3/4s of the bosses around are completely optional! Of course, you get a lot of runes & various other good things for defeating them but it is optional In fact, you have to look pretty hard for the most difficult bosses, like Malenia, who you may remember being shown in reveals & who's got a statue in the collector's edition

@BruceCM ah my bad, yeah I'm in a better spot now trying to figure things out. I was losy in the sewers for hours lol. I climbed the giant dragon thing before but i didnt realize how far back you could go. So i went back there, and found a site of lost grace and thats where i stopped. Im excited to pick it up tonight. Im level 70ish and i cant determine if im over or under leveled.

@Snatcher they do both actually. They will give your weapon an additional move, and they can also change how your weapon scales. Any changes would be reflected in red or blue text.

@Losermagnet How do I activate the move? I have this one called war cry I think, and I just don't know how to activate it, I feel like i'm missing out on good damage.

@BruceCM Oh im doing the side bosses, I love that you don't have to do them if you don't want to.

@Losermagnet How do I activate the move? I have this one called war cry I think, and I just don't know how to activate it, I feel like i'm missing out on good damage.

@BruceCM Oh im doing the side bosses, I love that you don't have to do them if you don't want to.

Right then, you'll 'have to' do Malenia, as one of those, @Snatcher .... Hmm, I think you're a bit under-levelled, @Losermagnet, so have you missed areas? Or dungeons, etc, in other places? Maybe I'm remembering wrong but it sounds like you're most of the way through the story part

Fired this up for the first time last night using the Wretch class. I'm in love with the game, the exploring, the cool monster designs, the weapons you can pick up, the summons. So, so good. Can't wait to dive back in tonight.

I actually have a significant hint for anybody struggling with a boss. I used to do this when I played my first Soulsborne game and got stuck and it helps and honestly doesn't feel like cheating at all.

It's as simple as looking up a video of somebody beating the boss. The thing is, visual learning is key in these games and when you're stressing out it may be very hard to focus to see which animations are playing. If you are a dodge build like myself this makes fighting most bosses trivial.

Once you have a build going that you like and you get used to the way enemies and bosses in the game fight (it typically takes a slug-through of the first couple of areas), the latter areas become a complete breeze. I may look up from time to time to see where the intended route is by level but Elden Ring is very much like Bloodborne/Dark Souls in its design as in when you hit a certain level the game opens up and youre able to traverse in multiple directions.

It is also sometimes genuinely helpful to put a buff on your weapon and read up what a boss may be weak to. Some bosses are moreso "gimmick" bosses where you're supposed to use a certain element or do something specific like with the crystalline bosses where you have to knock them down.

I'm taking my time with this game so far as I explore areas pretty thoroughly before I move on, so I will likely be one of the latter people to actually be done with it and that's okay.

@Varkster Thats what I do for a lot of bosses actually, I just need to see it, just so I have a idea on what to do, and it hasn’t failed me yet.

So, apparently, Elden Ring has sold 12m .... &, not surprisingly, there'll be more to come!

Just beat the Godskin Duo and I have to say this is the worst designed boss I have ever seen in any video game.

Not only are they literally the same enemies you've seen the entire playthrough a multitude of times but also they spam attacks together at the same time never giving you a chance to attack. Summoning is literally vital in this unless you get really lucky or find a way to cheese them with spells. They're supposed to be the Ornstein and Smaug of this game but honestly they have to be the worst possible versions of it. They also respawn for some stupid reason and the round guy at some point will go into his rolling attack and he will hit you, it's almost impossible not to take loads of damage. Speaking of damage, their damage output is insane. I am quite a bulky character but they will kill me in 2-3 hits easily and given that their attacks just don't stop 2-3 hits is just one stun-lock away.

I also gotta add that the run to this boss although short is very annoying because you're likely going to lose some health to the knight on the staircase.

This was an awful fight and not the only boss fight that I feel is lazy and unneeded. There are heaps of fights where they will just throw 2 bosses at you without actually scaling their AI so that the fight makes sense single player. I understand that a game this big will have reused assets left right center but it's also quite evident they're copying and pasting ideas and movesets straight from DS3/BB/SSDT. After playing a ton of this game I can comfortably say that I like it but it is absolutely not a 10/10. I'm nearing the end and I can't imagine the ending will be so amazing it's gonna change my mind.

@Varkster yeah I’ve been a bit disappointed in the reuse of bosses and things like caves. It’s like a weaker version of the Chalice Dungeons. I can’t help but wonder if I would enjoy the game more if they cut out a lot of the sandbox-style excess. I think, with the exception of the shard bearing bosses, I’ve had repeat fights of almost all the other encounters. That sucks.

The boss that really disappointed me was (mid game spoiler) Morgott. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got to the Erdtree, but it sure wasn’t the Fell Omen formerly known as Margitt. And fine I know he’s got a different weapon so it’s not a straight rehash, but I checked out mentally regardless. Up to that point I wasn’t really summoning for boss fights because I wanted to learn the patterns one-on-one, but for that one I said “screw it” and summoned Oleg and Mellina. I’m guessing there’s prolly a lore related reason why Morgott is there and why he resembles Margitt but I almost don’t care.

While I think the game is a lot of fun and I’m glad people are enjoying it, I still prefer the design of the other Souls games. More or less what you get out of the legacy dungeons. The rest feels like padding to me. Although I will say I really like the NPCs in Elden Ring. That’s something that makes sense to have in a larger sandbox game, and I get that same sense of discovery and accomplishment when I’m able to continue a particular quest line.

@Varkster Are they one of those side bosses or are they apart of the story? because if not, I would like to know where they are so I can give them a shot.

Those 2 are part of the story, @Snatcher .... You can't progress beyond the relevant part without defeating them
The most difficult to find optional 'superbosses' are Malenia & Loretta

@BruceCM Dang it, guess I wont have a choice. Thanks for your help.

Yeah, @Snatcher .... See how you get on when you reach them & I'm sure we can give some tips if needed But if you are going to do the optional ones as well, some of those are really tough, so....

@BruceCM I will when I do get to them. That does remind me, did I ever post my thoughts of the game on here? I have a whole thing written out on push square, but idk if I posted it on this site.

@Losermagnet The reuse of bosses and assets honestly becomes very jarring once you get closer to the end. It's like the Monster Hunter syndrome where each enemy has a certain skeleton and if you recognize that particular skeleton then you pretty much already know what moves they will use. In this game's case though they're not even reskinned or recolored. They're the same bosses there is just now 2 of them. It's so boring and uninspired.

The old Souls games had much less clutter and I feel they were much more tightly designed. Perhaps because they had less of a deadline and because obviously with the world being smaller they could also focus on making the bosses unique and memorable as well as filling each locale with items which don't seem irrelevant?

There are many bosses in this game which I honestly find very disappointing or aggravating for the wrong reasons. Mohg, which is one of the major bosses of the game is also quite poorly designed as it's pretty much impossible to win the fight without taking a load of damage. Souls games always felt challenging but fair. If you had enough skill you could pass through any battle unscathed with any kind of build. With bosses like these it seems implausible because of the RNG of the attacks and being completely unable to predict what's happening on screen. Also a lot of this fight the whole screen was just exploding with effects and it was really hard to actually concentrate on the enemy himself. After I finished the boss fight I genuinely wasn't feeling satisfied, it felt really bad, honestly.