Topic: Soulsborne Series Thread

But we can all agree (At least for me so far) Godrick is like the best boss fight.

Don't think I've seen that if you did post it here, @Snatcher ..... You're liking it, anyway?

@Snatcher I'd say that Radahn is probably the best fight in the game both aesthetically and gameplay-wise. It's also got some cool lore attached to it and feels very out of the ordinary. It also rewards you for your exploration which is supposed to be the biggest appeal of Elden Ring. It's a shame there aren't any other fights on that scale in this game or with the same kind of meaning.

I think after Radahn the game certainly starts dipping in quality. They start copying and pasting large enemies everywhere to make sure you don't enjoy going through any area whatsoever. I don't remember for the life of me this being the case in any of the previous Souls game. They took what I consider to be the worst enemy in the game (the human spider) who stun-locks you and has attacks which can reach you from 20-30m away and it's impossible not to die if you get hit even once. In one of the last areas of the game there is a spot where 4 of these things spawn along with some knights jumping in for extra fun. Yes, you can summon your ashes but it's still absolutely ridiculous and a really bad part of the game.

I've noticed that even though this game is huge I think the overall quality of the content has nosedived from previous games. The hero's grave levels are a complete chore, a lot of the locations just have enemies spammed at you until you're certainly overwhelmed and in some parts traversal on the horse feels painful just because a wide open area has enemies which will charge at you from a major distance without stopping.

I honestly wish that after this game FromSoft take a break from these kinds of games because it genuinely feels like they're running out of ideas. If it's somebody's first souls game I can see how it would amaze them and they'd be completely blown away but as someone who's been a series veteran for 10 years now I can't help but feel completely disappointed.

It's still a good game, but I don't think it's a 10 at all and it's not even better than Bloodborne/Dark Souls which I consider to be the best of the series by far.

@Snatcher I'd say that Radahn is probably the best fight in the game both aesthetically and gameplay-wise. It's also got some cool lore attached to it and feels very out of the ordinary. It also rewards you for your exploration which is supposed to be the biggest appeal of Elden Ring. It's a shame there aren't any other fights on that scale in this game or with the same kind of meaning.

I think after Radahn the game certainly starts dipping in quality. They start copying and pasting large enemies everywhere to make sure you don't enjoy going through any area whatsoever. I don't remember for the life of me this being the case in any of the previous Souls game. Take what I consider to be the worst enemy in the game (the human spider) who stun-locks you and has attacks which can reach you from 20-30m away and it's impossible not to die if you get hit even once. In one of the last areas of the game there is a spot where 4 of these things spawn along with some knights jumping in for extra fun. Yes, you can summon your ashes but it's still absolutely ridiculous and a really awfully designed part of the game. Dark Souls 2 used to get a lot of hate for being challenging just because they throw in multiple enemies at once every single time and yet noone seems to be talking about this same issue in Elden Ring.

I've noticed that even though this game is huge I think the overall quality of the content has nosedived from previous games. The hero's grave levels are a complete chore, a lot of the locations just have enemies spammed at you until you're certainly overwhelmed and in some parts traversal on the horse feels painful just because a wide open area has enemies which will charge at you from a major distance without stopping.

I honestly wish that after this game FromSoft take a break from these kinds of games because it genuinely feels like they're running out of ideas. If it's somebody's first souls game I can see how it would amaze them and they'd be completely blown away but as someone who's been a series veteran for 10 years now I can't help but feel completely disappointed.

It's still a good game, but I don't think it's a 10 at all and it's not even better than Bloodborne which I consider to be the best of the series by far. Hell, it's not even better than DS1 or 3 which I think are great although also not without their flaws.

@Varkster I haven't gotten to him yet, but I will make sure to come back and quote this when I do.

Just wanted to pop in and update on my progress. I'm about 180 hours in, level 124 and have reached what looks like a point of no return, so now I'm re-treading old ground and completing side quests. I'm running a Strength (45) and Faith (60) build and as a result have ignored Vigor (10) and Endurance (12). Which means I get one shot by bosses and two shot by everyone else. Tempted to carry on in this way, but I can't see myself lasting the whole hog in this manner, so a re-specialisation is on my agenda. Still loving it all though.

I have different thoughts about some of the bosses being re-used, but I just want to fully agree with Radahn being the best in terms of design and concept.

Just the fact that he drags along an emaciated horse with his phenomenal weight, then it mystically speeds whenever he needs it adds to the mystery and macabre nature of the boss—to the point that it's disturbing. I also like how it's set up; you get to meet several characters in the castle plaza before actually fighting him. This is something fresh off the beaten path in Elden Ring where you are solitary 90% of the time in the game.

Close second would be Margit, just for the fact that he's your first major boss and Stormveil castle preps the encounter with tension and grandeur.

@JungleHeart I do think some of the fight is quite silly though. Let's be honest ultimately the horse makes him seem almost goofy instead of tragic and it doesn't have the same weight to it as Artorias. The camera can't keep up with him a lot of the time and I think having 2 overpowered one hit KO moves is a bit much. Lastly I also hate the fact that you have to summon the NPCs. I get that it's just the jank of a FromSoftware game but couldn't have they found a cooler way to implement this idea? All of these warriors came here to fight him but you have to summon them onto the field for some odd reason...just weird.

The more I let this game sit the more I am soured by the experience. Wouldn't want to ruin it for anybody else but the bosses here were a massive downer.

Radahn was a cool spectacle but I think that's all I like about him in retrospect.

@Varkster fought a really annoying duo boss fight, did I beat it? No, but it’s the worst fight in the game so far in my opinion.

@BruceCM I know that any boss is do-able without summons, that's not the point. In a story sense why do we have to summon anybody at all? The game said that it was a big festival where everyone gathered and we're ready to fight. When the fight with Radahn starts, did they forget they were supposed to be fighting?

Ah, OK, @Varkster .... Can't say I thought about the 'festival' once I was fighting him!

I wrestled with this post, but I am just gonna go ahead and post it. This is not bait, I appreciate me saying that especially with my reputation on here makes it seem more like bait, but it is genuinely not intended to be that. With that out of the way...

I played Elden Ring on launch, I actually thought the game in the moment to moment wasn't as hard as I expected, but Margit was this astronomical difficulty spike over everything else and being forced to grind for however many hours it took to be strong enough to beat them or just being forced to try and cheese the fight was not for me. I put the game down for the best part of two months, but with Wonderlands running dry, I was looking for something else to play.

Before I did, I took a quick glance at a certain website and to my joy, there it was. I downloaded an easy mode mod for Elden Ring. Now I am enjoying the game truly for the first time.

This mod, crucially, only adjusts the damage values of things. I know this is something we will never agree on, but to me, you can still have the full experience if things do less damage, because you are still managing all the same mechanics. There are loads of mods which make you invincible or give you access to things you wouldn't otherwise have access to at the point I am in the game or whatever else, I didn't want any of that. I just wanted the choice to be able to play Elden Ring, but for my skill level.

It is still overall harder than other games I play on average and I could probably do with tweaking some values, but it is overall in a good spot and I am having a great time. Elden Ring has some really cool weapons, some awesome boss battles, lots of RPG depth and just generally some great systems that allows some wonderful flexibility for builds. For a while I was enjoying using a big rusty anchor as my tool of choice, but I am now messing around with magic instead (some of the magic here is super cool). I think it is a shame that without mods this is all locked behind an oppressively difficult or oppressively grindy (to make it less difficult) wall. However, I know for some of you that is the whole point and that is fine, we will never agree here.

However, like I say, now that - to me - unnecessary barrier has been removed I can now finally just appreciate and enjoy this experience - and what an enjoyable experience it has been so far.

I'm not sure I'd call it 'grinding' if it's exploring the area available before Margit, @Pizzamorg .... But I'm glad you're enjoying it more now with a mod! So, where have you got to with it now, then?

I mean I explored all I could find, was almost level 30, Margit was still absolutely destroying me, think it was almost ten hours by that point and I hadn't even got beyond the first major boss. Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot of grinding to some and that is fine, but I do not have that level of tolerance for this stuff. I might not have kids or whatever, but I am still a grown adult who works full time, ten hours can sometimes be an entire weekends worth of gaming time, that I would feel like I wasted if I made no progress at all. I know we won't agree on this but just making it clear what I mean.

After beating Margit I beelined through Stormveil, not really intentionally it is just that as the game is fairly aimless, it is difficult to know what you missed, until things are already in the rear view mirror. I beat the next major boss to then get access to the Lake location I believe it is and I have honestly just been taking my time experiencing that place. It is full of "ooo what is that" landmarks that are now fun to go and check out, because I no longer have to fear being inexplicably one shot the moment I get there.

I beat some like giant robot dudes, they were pretty tough - especially the one with the crossbow. I beat this giant lobster thing, that absolutely kicked my ass and I barely beat it. I also beat like this ghost thing in a boat that gave me a new summon I haven't been able to try yet.

Oh, yeah, I'm glad that's helping you enjoy it, @Pizzamorg .... I'm not sure how long I spent looking around the area available before heading towards Stormveil! Keep me posted, please

@Pizzamorg If you're not hindering someone else's enjoyment by playing a game on your terms I don't see how it's a bad thing.

The Souls community can overall be quite unpleasant in this regard and quite unwelcoming to new players. Once you finish this game I suggest uninstalling the mod for NG+ and being quite surprised at how much you will have improved by just learning the game mechanics your way. It might even incentivise you to start a completely fresh game with a new build without the mod and get the 'full' experience later on.

I pushed further along, got to two locations with Bellum in the title and another with maybe like Uln or Uld in the title? Weirdly, even with my mod, the difficulty seems to have ramped up really sharply here. Things like the bears and the horned dudes do massive damage and are unrelenting. The bears also like just do not deagro. You can run over what feels like half the map and they are still coming after you. Just really annoying. I dunno how you would ever get through these areas at the regular damage values.

There are also these magic knights walking around, one type with like the magic spear thing is an absolute damage sponge, the other like glowing one fills a meter as it hits you and if that meter gets full it is instant death regardless of how much health you have. Both of these are just not fun to fight and when I have see these in the wild, I have ran around them.

I made it into some catacombs, everything hit extremely hard in here and the skeletons might be the most annoying enemies in the game as trying to hit them when they are broken to stop them respawning is super awkward and frustrating. Especially when they position like archer skeletons or those ones that throw those insanely over tuned explosives out of reach and you are trying to kill the skeleton permanently and you keep getting momentarily stunned and bumped as you are hit from afar. Annoying.

I hit a locked door pretty early in here, survived the skeletons and the traps only to then find myself at a dead end on the other side, I dunno how to progress further here so I just abandoned it. I did get this cool axe though which can summon like three skeletons to do this massive attack. Very cool.

After going back outside, dodging the bears and the knights, I tried mounting those walking house things but you can't go inside them or damage them, so I am not really sure what they are for. Worried I was now completely lost, I noticed a bunch of gravestones sticking out of the cliff and began to platform my way down. I died many times trying to do this, the fall damage is very punishing.

I eventually made it down to a big gate with the barrier over it. Some lady asked to look at my fingers and when she looked at them, she gave me some cryptic message I will never remember. Either way, I couldn't get beyond the seal on the gate but the sites of grace are pointing me in the opposite direction anyway, so I will just follow those.

Yeah I play this all in offline mode, just in my own little pocket.

I also didn't know this game had a NG plus! Yeah I might have to try that modless at the end and see how I get on.

Well, I spent a lot of time exploring the areas available, @Pizzamorg .... Bellum Church & highway, presumably? Maybe you mean Dragonbarrow, that's a tough dungeon

I think the location was called like Dark Blade Catacombs or something? Had a big giant crab in the basement and these like pendulum traps and necromancers on the way, plus that instakill knight dude guarding it. But I found my whole way down and then the lever was on the other side of the door for some reason and I had no idea how to get there and just gave up.