• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

ELDEN RING |OT| One Ring To Rule Them All

I will do NG+, and collect as much as possible before going 2nd Run+.
One thing, I have seen players with Level 700 on youtube, how they can do that ? Ok, you can do rune farming, but 700 in a single run ? After level 200, you need something like 320k runes to make 1 level up, and required runes go up level after level.
Probably some sort of duplication glitch
 
There’s an area wheee you can net tens of thousands of runes in minutes if you use certain swords. Its a pretty lame way to play the game though imo.

I vote for NG over NG+ too. Its kinda fun to try new weapons etc. out but there’s no sense of progression.
 
Well, I managed to get "spoiled" for the Lapp ending by a damned youtube video suggestion when I was looking for where to find him last. I put spoilers in tags because I had guessed his big mystery. Honestly, my fav char in the series. All I have now is Midir and Gael, I think.

why the heck would you put lapp in as a yt keyphrase suggestion for patches, vaati? Or is the algo just wanting to spoil it? I mean, I guessed he was because the voice makes it apparent - and the previous generosity lmao
 
I finally got to the
egg
and decided to finally watch link in the spoiler related

was one of the best moments in froms games. TRC pisses me off with a lot of its intentional "fuck you, player" design, but the story stuff is extremely good. Possibly the best in the trilogy. Up till now, 2 was my fav lore wise.

That being said, I still think that ER may be a continuation of the Souls 2 canon lol
 
Whelp, just beat Gael. Im usually pretty chill about summons and embers and shit, but I wanted to beat gael unembered and without any assistance. It was a really fucking good fight. My first try (I was on a steam deck) I got him to 10% hp, most of the way through his third form, and I had to plug in my steam deck mid fight, which I did successfully.

On to Sekiro again. I didnt beat Isshin.

Is there a From Soft general OT? That would be good to have, as From Software have ruined video games for me besides from soft games and being able to talk about all of them in one place (while being on topic) would be cool.
 
Whelp, just beat Gael. Im usually pretty chill about summons and embers and shit, but I wanted to beat gael unembered and without any assistance. It was a really fucking good fight. My first try (I was on a steam deck) I got him to 10% hp, most of the way through his third form, and I had to plug in my steam deck mid fight, which I did successfully.

On to Sekiro again. I didnt beat Isshin.

Is there a From Soft general OT? That would be good to have, as From Software have ruined video games for me besides from soft games and being able to talk about all of them in one place (while being on topic) would be cool.
Congratulations! I couldn't beat Gael yesterday but I think I can do it. I equipped the Hollowslayer Greatsword and a big-ass rectangular shield (I forget the name) to be able to block some attacks without losing all my stamina. I did pretty well without an Ember but I died, and then after using an Ember I started playing more recklessly which allowed Gael to make quick work of me. Lmao. Is it just me or is the second phase the easiest? The first phase is damn hard with the lunge attack and the combo that baits me into dodging and attacking, only to get punished.

Meanwhile Midir is way, way harder, most players say it's best to stay in front of him but the unstable camera and the attacks that deal tons of damage make that strategy akin to suicide.
 
Congratulations! I couldn't beat Gael yesterday but I think I can do it. I equipped the Hollowslayer Greatsword and a big-ass rectangular shield (I forget the name) to be able to block some attacks without losing all my stamina. I did pretty well without an Ember but I died, and then after using an Ember I started playing more recklessly which allowed Gael to make quick work of me. Lmao. Is it just me or is the second phase the easiest? The first phase is damn hard with the lunge attack and the combo that baits me into dodging and attacking, only to get punished.

Meanwhile Midir is way, way harder, most players say it's best to stay in front of him but the unstable camera and the attacks that deal tons of damage make that strategy akin to suicide.
I honestly didn't fight midir. Tbh I was pretty burnt out by the end. Second phase is pretty easy - I think he has a more varied and telegraphed moveset in phase 2, whereas phase 1 is just a bunch of hard hitting non flashy stuff.

Vordts hammer works really well on him because he's weak to frostbite. I was using fugs but it ate too much stamina for the fight (for my comfort)

You absolutely can do it! Took me a few days of just like 15-20 minute sessions. For the really hard bosses that's my preferred way to do it tbh. I was actually zonked out on zzzquil when I beat him and thought that it would just be a practice session because I was far too fucked up to actually beat a boss that hard.
 

Soodanim

Member
Meanwhile Midir is way, way harder, most players say it's best to stay in front of him but the unstable camera and the attacks that deal tons of damage make that strategy akin to suicide.
It's been too many years for me to remember my exact strat, but I know it was a case of me dying spectacularly until I was good enough to win, then I won easily. No "Just about got through it" middle ground at all. One thing that might help if you have the stats is Pestilent Mist, or whatever it's called. With Midir not moving around much and being so big, he will take the full damage of that constant life drain. Other than that, watch a video or two to pick up positioning and dodge tips. And never lock on, as with all large enemies.

I always found Gael harder with his erratic moveset, at the time that was a real grind for me.
 
Finally beat Gael! Whew!

Dark Souls Bare Fists GIF


First try today. Not sure how many attempts it took me in total, at least 15-20. It’s so satisfying, I’m glad I didn’t give up.

It took me a lot of patience, discipline, and calmness under pressure to manage distance, choose the right time to attack, and avoid getting greedy. Essentially I kept a safe distance and waited for Gael to finish a combo to get close and punish with one strike. Not two or three. Rince and repeat. Third phase was very hard but I got used to the large cape sweep, the deadliest attack imo. This wasn’t a spectacular fight on my end but I’m proud to have beaten Gael with no summon or cheese (if that’s even possible), just a duel fair and square.

I was recording a video but for some reason it stopped at around 12 minutes even though I still have some storage space. What a shame!

Amazing fight, in my top 5 for sure.

Midir, you’re next!
 
Last edited:
Finally beat Gael! Whew!

Dark Souls Bare Fists GIF


First try today. Not sure how many attempts it took me in total, at least 15-20. It’s so satisfying, I’m glad I didn’t give up.

It took me a lot of patience, discipline, and calmness under pressure to manage distance, choose the right time to attack, and avoid getting greedy. Essentially I kept a safe distance and waited for Gael to finish a combo to get close and punish with one strike. Not two or three. Rince and repeat. Third phase was very hard but I got used to the large cape sweep, the deadliest attack imo. This wasn’t a spectacular fight on my end but I’m proud to have beaten Gael with no summon or cheese (if that’s even possible), just a duel fair and square.

I was recording a video but for some reason it stopped at around 12 minutes even though I still have some storage space. What a shame!

Amazing fight, in my top 5 for sure.

Midir, you’re next!
Congratulations! The gael fight is so cool and the lore that leads up to and follows it is the best part of the souls series IMHO
 
Its so cool to see this OT kind of spiral into a Souls Community thread. Haven't posted in awhile but still read these comments.

ValiantTraveler ValiantTraveler - big congrats on a Gael victory. Always well earned. Once you wipe Midir are you considering playing DS2?
Thanks for reading! Sorry but I don’t think I’ll play DS2 in the foreseeable future, not because some people say it suck, but because of a few reasons: after 70 hours and counting of DS3 I want to play different games and advance through my backlog while I’m at it. And the DS2 UI bugs me 😂 it would be nice if it got remade. I might start either Bloodborne or Sekiro eventually after the Elden Ring DLC comes out.
 
Last edited:

Soodanim

Member
Thanks for reading! Sorry but I don’t think I’ll play DS2 in the foreseeable future, not because some people say it suck, but because of a few reasons: after 70 hours and counting of DS3 I want to play different games and advance through my backlog while I’m at it. And the DS2 UI bugs me 😂 it would be nice if it got remade. I might start either Bloodborne or Sekiro eventually after the Elden Ring DLC comes out.
You dodged a bullet there mate
 

DelireMan7

Member
Congrats ValiantTraveler ValiantTraveler for Gael ! Hope you soon can defeat Midir.

On Dark Souls 2 : It's also my least favorite. At the end of my first play through I was a bit disappointed. Lot of uninspired bosses, a color palette extremely cartoony for me, loss of heavy and slow gameplay and the lore is always dodging its connection to the previous game while still making vague allusion to it. I never now where to put it in the "timeline". The DS3 approach was a welcome one, where it clearly connects to the first game.
That being said, I still did several playthrough and consider replay it at one point. I think with time my opinion get worst and worst and I guess the game is not that "bad".

Actually I want to do a Soulsborne marathon at one point (Play from Demon's Souls to Elden Ring) to reenjoy FromSoftware masterpieces :). Maybe later this year after Final Fantasy XVI
 
Good, from deserves it. I hope they made boatloads of sales. It may be time for me to do another run, with mods this time. Anyone have any mod suggestions?
 
I don't know why I don't get notifications for this thread anymore... anyways.

I keep forgetting to post a final update about Dark Souls III... I'm done with this game, only thing left for was Midir, no matter how much I tried I could never beat him, best I did was get him down to 15% hp. I wanted to move on to other games (Ace Combat 7 and Tales of Arise) so I beat the Soul of Cinder on first try and got the End of Fire ending. Here's my boss ranking:

1. Twin Princes: brother characters always hit me in the feels. I love their look and moveset. The intro/phase 2 cutscenes are amazing too. They were hard but not unsurmountable, the difficulty hits that sweet spot where you can get better while still struggling. The theme if my favorite track in the game.
2. Gael: The perfect boss to conclude the last DLC of the last Dark Souls game. Very hard but you get enough leeway to observe and learn his patterns. Requires a lot of patience too - no NPC, no cheese, you just have to git gud. And my God what a varied and epic moveset. His health bar is ginormous but I'll take that over a second health bar.
3. Soul of Cinder: I love the idea of a boss that changes his weapon and moveset on the go. The arena is beautiful and the music outstanding, particularly when it changes. Fitting final boss for the trilogy, I guess he hits in the feels harder for veteran players. I would have loved an intro cutscene, though.

Honorable mentions: Abyss Watchers, Sister Friede, (edit) Nameless King, Dragonslayer armor, Dancer of the Boreal Valley.

Okay so now I played a little bit of Elden Ring after discussing it with a friend who has been playing it daily for more than a week and is already at the end. And guess what? I thought of getting of Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch, and after hesitating between it and Dragon's Dogma (heard a lot of praise for it), I decided to buy the former. So I'm back to another Souls journey! Any tips to keep in mind?
 
Last edited:

Boneless

Member
It's interesting, the more games I play, the more I appreciate how awesome Elden Ring was. I already thought it was awesome in the beginning, but having played Diablo4, FFXVI, I appreciate it all the more, the graphics, the endless gameplay flexibility, the challenge.

Truly a game of a generation.
 

Soodanim

Member
Okay so now I played a little bit of Elden Ring after discussing it with a friend who has been playing it daily for more than a week and is already at the end. And guess what? I thought of getting of Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch, and after hesitating between it and Dragon's Dogma (heard a lot of praise for it), I decided to buy the former. So I'm back to another Souls journey! Any tips to keep in mind?
Souls 1 tips...hmm.

- 4 way directional rolling when locked on means you're better off going unlocked a far amount of the combat, and I got better at the game when I learned to stop locking on so much.
- In general the game is slower than everything that came after it, and everything takes some adjusting. Parrying is much easier than later games as a result.
- Stay under 50% equip load for medium roll and 25% for fast roll. Fast roll is best roll.
- The map design of DS1 is nothing like its sequels - nothing ever matched it. There is so much to discover. So many secrets, routes, and optional areas.
- Hit walls if they look suspicious, they may be illusory.
- Humanity is very useful. Its primary use is for reverting to human state at bonifres when hollowed. but it can also improve bonfires (more estus), provide hidden stat bonuses when held (top left counter), and more beyond that. It comes in consumable form and can also be gradually gained from killing enemies. It's recovered alongside souls when you die.

That's all I have right now
 
I don't know why I don't get notifications for this thread anymore... anyways.

I keep forgetting to post a final update about Dark Souls III... I'm done with this game, only thing left for was Midir, no matter how much I tried I could never beat him, best I did was get him down to 15% hp. I wanted to move on to other games (Ace Combat 7 and Tales of Arise) so I beat the Soul of Cinder on first try and got the End of Fire ending. Here's my boss ranking:

1. Twin Princes: brother characters always hit me in the feels. I love their look and moveset. The intro/phase 2 cutscenes are amazing too. They were hard but not unsurmountable, the difficulty hits that sweet spot where you can get better while still struggling. The theme if my favorite track in the game.
2. Gael: The perfect boss to conclude the last DLC of the last Dark Souls game. Very hard but you get enough leeway to observe and learn his patterns. Requires a lot of patience too - no NPC, no cheese, you just have to git gud. And my God what a varied and epic moveset. His health bar is ginormous but I'll take that over a second health bar.
3. Soul of Cinder: I love the idea of a boss that changes his weapon and moveset on the go. The arena is beautiful and the music outstanding, particularly when it changes. Fitting final boss for the trilogy, I guess he hits in the feels harder for veteran players. I would have loved an intro cutscene, though.

Honorable mentions: Abyss Watchers, Sister Friede, Dragonslayer armor, Dancer of the Boreal Valley.

Okay so now I played a little bit of Elden Ring after discussing it with a friend who has been playing it daily for more than a week and is already at the end. And guess what? I thought of getting of Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch, and after hesitating between it and Dragon's Dogma (heard a lot of praise for it), I decided to buy the former. So I'm back to another Souls journey! Any tips to keep in mind?
I am disturbed by the lack of Nameless King in that list...

As far as Dark Souls Remastered is concerned:

1) You should decide whether you want an early Great Demon Hammer (needs 31 Strength) or easy access to all of the early game areas with the Master Key gift. To get the weapon I recommend Black Firebombs gift for dispatching first boss unarmed. To get both you must choose Thief class as they get a free Master Key. The other gifts are useless.

2) You cannot warp between bonfires, but you can level up at them. You must rest at a bonfire to respawn there as simply lighting the bonfire is not enough.

3) Like most of the game, the graveyard by the Firelink Shrine has some good loot, but death awaits those that venture into it. For new areas suicide runs with nothing in possession are ideal.

4) Take the elevator below Firelink Shrine and cross the bridge to collect the first Firekeeper Soul from New Londo entrance and give it to the Firekeeper at Firelink Shrine to increase Estus recovery.

5) Human form is lost when killed so make sure to use your humanity counter at a bonfire to kindle the flame. Otherwise one humanity must be used to reverse hollowing and regain the form.

6) There are NPC invaders in some areas of the game that only show up when you are human and disappear when the area boss is beaten.

7) All the dragon bosses have some weapon that is only available after destroying their tail. If you cannot get them before the final hit retry. The gargoyles are similar, but also have 2 drops.

8) Save your soul items for the Artorias Crest (20,000) as the area it unlocks makes it easy to farm souls.

9) The upgrade system is complicated. Special weapons use twinkling titanite, boss weapons use demon titanite, dragon weapons use dragon scales, and regular weapons use titanite until +5. From there every blacksmith has a unique upgrade path and affinity with which the +5 regular weapon can be imbued. Most of those paths are not available without the right ember. Every blacksmith has a subset of embers they can work with.

10) You will not be able to make boss weapons until the very late middle of the game, but it would be wise to keep the boss souls anyways.

P.S. There are some great early weapons in the game that require a bit of work to acquire but make the game much easier. Let me know if you want more info on them.
 
Last edited:

DelireMan7

Member
I don't know why I don't get notifications for this thread anymore... anyways.

I keep forgetting to post a final update about Dark Souls III... I'm done with this game, only thing left for was Midir, no matter how much I tried I could never beat him, best I did was get him down to 15% hp. I wanted to move on to other games (Ace Combat 7 and Tales of Arise) so I beat the Soul of Cinder on first try and got the End of Fire ending. Here's my boss ranking:

1. Twin Princes: brother characters always hit me in the feels. I love their look and moveset. The intro/phase 2 cutscenes are amazing too. They were hard but not unsurmountable, the difficulty hits that sweet spot where you can get better while still struggling. The theme if my favorite track in the game.
2. Gael: The perfect boss to conclude the last DLC of the last Dark Souls game. Very hard but you get enough leeway to observe and learn his patterns. Requires a lot of patience too - no NPC, no cheese, you just have to git gud. And my God what a varied and epic moveset. His health bar is ginormous but I'll take that over a second health bar.
3. Soul of Cinder: I love the idea of a boss that changes his weapon and moveset on the go. The arena is beautiful and the music outstanding, particularly when it changes. Fitting final boss for the trilogy, I guess he hits in the feels harder for veteran players. I would have loved an intro cutscene, though.

Honorable mentions: Abyss Watchers, Sister Friede, Dragonslayer armor, Dancer of the Boreal Valley.

Okay so now I played a little bit of Elden Ring after discussing it with a friend who has been playing it daily for more than a week and is already at the end. And guess what? I thought of getting of Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch, and after hesitating between it and Dragon's Dogma (heard a lot of praise for it), I decided to buy the former. So I'm back to another Souls journey! Any tips to keep in mind?
Congrats.

Soul of Cinder is not only changing weapons, it represents several build from previous game (especially Dark Souls 1). It also has lore implication but don't want to spoil.
Fighting Soul of Cinder after you beat Dark Souls 1 hit differently...
Actually they are several moment in Dark Souls 3 that are very special for those who beat Dark Souls 1. You'll experienced it in the reverse order but this is also cool. Love how 3 and 1 are connected.

Really happy that you go for Dark Souls 1. Still the best game ever made for me.

No tips for me. Just go blind and enjoy its beauty.
 
Last edited:

Soodanim

Member
I am disturbed by the lack of Nameless King in that list...

As far as Dark Souls Remastered is concerned:

1) You should decide whether you want an early Great Demon Hammer (needs 31 Strength) or easy access to all of the early game areas with the Master Key gift. To get the weapon I recommend Black Firebombs gift for dispatching first boss unarmed. To get both you must choose Thief class as they get a free Master Key. The other gifts are useless.

2) You cannot warp between bonfires, but you can level up at them. You must rest at a bonfire to respawn there as simply lighting the bonfire is not enough.

3) Like most of the game, the graveyard by the Firelink Shrine has some good loot, but death awaits those that venture into it. For new areas suicide runs with nothing in possession are ideal.

4) Take the elevator below Firelink Shrine and cross the bridge to collect the first Firekeeper Soul from New Londo entrance and give it to the Firekeeper at Firelink Shrine to increase Estus recovery.

5) Human form is lost when killed so make sure to use your humanity counter at a bonfire to kindle the flame. Otherwise one humanity must be used to reverse hollowing and regain the form.

6) There are NPC invaders in some areas of the game that only show up when you are human and disappear when the area boss is beaten.

7) All the dragon bosses have some weapon that is only available after destroying their tail. If you cannot get them before the final hit retry. The gargoyles are similar, but also have 2 drops.

8) Save your soul items for the Artorias Crest (20,000) as the area it unlocks makes it easy to farm souls.

9) The upgrade system is complicated. Special weapons use twinkling titanite, boss weapons use demon titanite, regular weapons use titanite until +5. From there every blacksmith has a unique upgrade path and affinity with which the +5 regular weapon can be imbued. Most of those paths are not available without the right ember. Every blacksmith has a subset of embers they can work with.

10) You will not be able to make boss weapons until the very late middle of the game, but it would be wise to keep the boss souls anyways.

P.S. There are some great early weapons in the game that require a bit of work to acquire but make the game much easier. Let me know if you want more info on them.
Mate he wanted tips, not ways to break the game on the first go! Some solid stuff in there, but I would ignore 1, 4 & 8. Let's not forget that the game is designed to be beat by following the encouraged path. The game is best experienced not pre-planned, that can come later if he chooses. If VT is struggling then he can look up the classic "How to be OP in 10 minutes" type videos, but that's not at all necessary especially with previous Souls experience. Once he finds the game's rhythm he's not going to need to intentionally exploit or abuse anything.

A much softer form of 3&4 is that it's worth exploring a little bit when you finish the tutorial area because there's places with no enemies but items.

7 is very much a key point, as it's a mechanic that was unfortunately dropped after this game and is definitely worth doing.

ValiantTraveler ValiantTraveler I want updates! After 1 you'll probably want another run through of 3 with all the new context.
 
I am disturbed by the lack of Nameless King in that list...
I don't know why I forgot him, maybe it's the trauma of dying so many times.

Thanks a lot for the tips Soodanim Soodanim NeverYouMind NeverYouMind and gaming_again gaming_again ! Appreciate your time. I didn't take the Master Key, I chose the Tiny Being's Ring instead. And I don't mind getting an advantage or two as that makes up for my clumsy play -- DS1 being slower is going to take some time getting used to.

I'm honestly impressed by the amount of detours and hidden corners available. I reached the Taurus Demon and got thrown over the bridge. It's a bit shame that you go hollow after each death, cause I made my character a cute female knight for a change.
 
I chose the Tiny Being's Ring instead. And I don't mind getting an advantage or two as that makes up for my clumsy play -- DS1 being slower is going to take some time getting used to.
Ironically, you chose the noob trap. The 5% max health boost is absolutely useless and a waste of a ring slot. Even the Old Witch Ring would have been a better choice lore wise. I forgot to mention an obnoxious bird past the first boss to trade items with. You drop something in the nest, exit the game, reload, and you receive something back. There is a certain unlockable elevator shortcut to the Firelink Shrine and a well timed jump from it can lead you back there at some point.

I reached the Taurus Demon and got thrown over the bridge. It's a bit shame that you go hollow after each death, cause I made my character a cute female knight for a change.
There is a reason that the updated version of the original game was called Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.

If you find Ash Lake before finding a certain very useful thing relating to bonfires, whatever you do, don’t activate the bonfire there.
Terrible advice, a sprint back is easy and the covenant items/dragon weapon there is worth the trip. Not that he will go there due to the two illusory walls and foregoing the Master key. This also reminds me that dragon scales are needed to upgrade dragon weapons. I added it to the original advice.

Mate he wanted tips, not ways to break the game on the first go! Some solid stuff in there, but I would ignore 1, 4 & 8.
I am not telling him how to do a Black Knight weapon build or Giant Dad build or Soul Level 1 Chaos Pyro build. I am not telling him how to exploit the physics of the game to get earlier access to locked off areas. I am not even mentioning any of the traps the game sets up for new players. Just giving a few tips to improve the experience.
 
Last edited:

DelireMan7

Member
Have not played the game and probably will not play - my reflex is pathetic - but I like the lore very much.
Honestly you don't need to be that good to beat the game. It's challenging but nothing crazy.
And there is plenty of way to make it easier (offline summons, summoning other players, some build like magic can makes a lot of stuff easier).

The lore is pretty great. I don't think Elden Ring is above game like Dark Souls 1/3 or Bloodborne in general but the lore is much really deep and more "constructed" than previous game.
 

DelireMan7

Member
Thanks, but my reflex is REALLY pathetic ;)
haha. As you wish :)

You might know but Vaatividya has a big Youtube channel where he breaks down the lore. And his edits are quite good.

There are several others channels but he might be the most "cinematic".

Hours of fun if you want to learn about the lore
 
Top Bottom