Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@JohnnyShoulder it’s hard to tell where anyone is, what with all of the different orders everything can be done in! Leyndell is a real treat.

@Mega-Gazz ahh, okay. I’ve been quite thorough thus far (at least, I think I’ve been) so might still have a bit to go but thanks for clearing that up 😄 I was thinking of taking break for a minute there!

@Jimmer-jammer That is true. So far I've cleared out Limgrave, Liurnia of the Lakes, Ainsel River, Siofra River and most of Caelid (but not Dragonbarrow). I've also explored most of Altus Plateau, but only done a few caves and catacombs, and been through Mt. Gelmir only to get a map fragment. I'm currently in Nokron, Eternal City. It is crazy there is a massive underground area under the 'normal' map.

I finally made it to Ranni's Rise after 70 hours

@JohnnyShoulder now that you’ve beaten Radahn, the Nokron area that you’re exploring is about to get even more interesting! I’m really not much farther ahead than you, with only Leyndell and The Forbidden Lands between us (though Leyndell is huge). Like @Thrillho was saying, the amount of content is nuts. I think I was also about 70 (maybe 60) hours before I got to Ranni’s Rise. I actually quite enjoy finding and exploring all of the little caves, and some have some real surprises up their sleeves.

@Royalblues There’s been rumours to that effect for ages now. Personally I’d not be happy, the games have a huge following on PC and Sony’s strategy for that platform is spotty at best. Besides, they’re doing well for themselves at the moment, I can’t really see any feasible benefits from Sony buying them up.

@Royalblues On a personal level I would celebrate, but I just don’t see it happening. From Software’s largest customer base is the PC crowd and they’ve built a very solid history with their usual publisher, Bandai Namco. I believe FS essentially funded Elden Ring’s extended development with game of the year winner Sekiro (with a different publisher) which shows me they are very self sufficient and have excellent business sense. I’m not sure what Sony could offer them, outside of alienating their largest fan base. Stranger things have happened though.

Edit: I didn’t even consider that the games could still release on PC. I think it could be a good relationship actually, though it’s preferable to see a studio’s success cement it’s independence.

I'm not sure I'll ever finish this game, even though I think its bloody brilliant! Everywhere I prod, just reveals huge new areas! I just found that volcano Manor has a huge dungeon you can access by getting in one of the rooms. Along with making my way in the capital and finding a whole underground area underneath the capital and a copy of the round table hold . I'm level 80, 46 hrs in and still feel like I'm figuring things out! I am changing things up a bit though, I've been putting more into intelligence since I've been rocking the moonveil katana and I'm going to respect a bit and check out some more magic.

I progressed Fia's (the hug-a-lot lady) quest line a bit. Yeesh, that did not end well for D. But, wait he has a twin brother?! Got a cool armour set out of it though.

@JohnnyShoulder I just had the same happen too, as well as meeting a new character in Roundtable by the Twin Maidens.

@Thrillho The grumpy so and so who tells you to bugger off? It is probably the one character in the game I can most relate to!

@JohnnyShoulder Aye, I think he’s officially called Dung Eater.

I had Commander Niall down to a literal sliver of health, decided to heal instead of being greedy. Meant to use Crimson Tears, accidentally used Cerulean Tears, ended up with Sodium Tears. This guy is one tough cookie.

@Jimmer-jammer Ha, my classic one is summoning the wolves in a boss fight and forgetting to change my quick item back to health.

So when I hit square, instead of getting a health boost I get a message if I really want to get rid of my summon which you need to get rid of before you can do anything else.

I’ve done this far too many times. I really ought to map them to triangle and a direction instead..

@Thrillho That's what I found way more effective as it was a pain cycling through items on the quick menu when in the middle of a fight. I had Crimson Tears and Wondrous Physick on the quick menu but Cerulean Tears and the summons on triangle + direction. It was confusing at first but worked loads better in the long run.

@Thrillho Classic! …The things I’ve learned to do with my hands in this game could give an octopus a run for it’s money.

Edit: @render That’s a really good idea!

Found the Valiant Gargoyle's fight in Siofra Aqueduct definitely the hardest so far. Even when one of them fell off to its doom I still mucked things up with the second one. 😂

Anyhow, managed to beat them in the end, but boy did that feel like some hard graft to there.

So when is the Radhan fight best to do?

I’ve spoken to Blaidd and done the mini quest for him and he’s now spoken about heading to Redmane but instead I’ve been up into the Altus Plateau and got even more sidetracked on Mt Gelmir.

I’m around lvl80 now I think.

@Thrillho I’d say that’s a fine time to do it. It’s a unique fight in that you can bring in multiple summons if you so choose, so there is some agency with the difficulty there.

@JohnnyShoulder Well done! I found that fight brutal as well! Such a cool area though.

@Thrillho I would say so as I was about that level when I faced him. I think just by going to Altus Plateau you unlock the festival to fight Radhan. Good luck!

@Jimmer-jammer @JohnnyShoulder Thanks both. I decided to go for it this evening and got past him pretty quickly. On about my third or fourth go I managed to get big frost damage and then stagger him so he went into stage two with only about 25% health which was quickly whittled down.

A damn sight easier than the Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast that I'd been attempting (unsuccessfully) for quite a while up on Mt Gelmir beforehand!