Topic: Elden Ring Hype Thread

@Th3solution Mate it's gone right out of the window. I've nearly finished Yakuza 3 - just got to finish off the last few minigames and then do the legendary difficulty playthrough. But I find it quite draining to play because the combat in that game is notoriously awful so I have to keep having a break and playing something else and then going back.

Unsure about Final Fantasy. I know most of them so well that I can finish them quickly, especially by the time I hit VI, VII, VIII, IX and X. I could easily do all of those within a month. The problem is waiting for the Pixel Remasters and not wanting to wait to play XVI. I wanted to play all the games in order but I don't think I could finish them all before XVI. So that might be off.

Regarding Elden Ring, no, there's no rush at all killing the bosses now. It's a different experience. I often think about Souls games and playing one over again because there's a feeling when you stroll into a boss room and you're on the edge of your seat fighting it and then you finally triumph. It's something that few games replicate. The only none Souls game that gave me that feeling was Returnal, which I also think about replaying quite a bit.

That feeling playing Elden Ring the first time can't be replicated, although I did get something close to it playing the second time co-op with my girlfriend who was playing it for the first time because to her it was all new and the fights were still hard. Now when we're both in new game plus that feeling is totally gone. We're up to the Altus Plateau and I bet we've died more from falling off cliffs than from bosses.

But while the dopamine rush from narrowly defeating a boss is gone, it's been replaced with the fun of adventure and exploration. Elden Ring is tense even when wandering about because you never know when something awful is going to pop up. Without that threat it's quite a fun game to just run around in exploring, not worrying about losing your runes, not worrying about what's around the corner. It's enjoyable in a totally different way.

@woollypump I'm at the capital now after spending a good 5 to 6 hours in the atlus plateau and the outskirts of the capital, there's just so much to do, every time I think I should progress on with the main game I find a cave or a church or something to distract me!.

@johncalmc Honestly I can understand, the way you play the first time not knowing what's around the corner or what secrets a place may hold makes the game so tense and exciting at the same time, the game has so much more to offer than just the surprise factor and has plenty of replay ability but you could never replicate that first playthrough again.

I started Mountaintops of the Giants last night. I still have Deeproot Depths and Volcano Manor to do. Currently trying to decide if I try to do both of those before progressing in the Mountaintops. My final Volcano Manor contract is somewhere in the Mountaintops so going far enough to do that, and then finish off all Volcano Manor quests before going further.

I'm level 95 at the moment with +20 Great Stars equipped with Lions Claw - with +10 Stormhawk Deehn it sometimes feels a bit too powerful.

@MaulTsir Definitely. I got the platinum when I played it the first time and I was doing stuff last night that was totally new to me. I got to an area I'd never even seen and fought a boss I didn't know existed. I spent 100 hours with it and got every trophy and I'm still finding new things pretty regularly.

@Th3solution congratulations on beating Dark Souls Remastered and making it through the DLC! Long time no speak. I have finally gotten around to approaching Elden Ring in a casual way (about an hour per session when I do play it.) And was hoping that you and @Jimmer-jammer could advise me on various ways to make the game easier for myself, I already have a rough plan to use a Strength build and get the Mimic Tear Ashes and then upgrade the Mimic Tear to +10 ASAP in order to get through the game with as few headaches as possible. My previous Souls games took me a few months to a year to complete individually, so this one should go on for two to three years, lol as it is much longer and I am only playing casually, but then again I hear most the content is skippable so maybe I can complete it in about a year after all.

@LieutenantFatman Long time no speak. At long last I am delving into Elden Ring, playing slowly and casually with a Strength build based on Kanye West (controversial I know due to his recent statements but I choose to relate my build to his past self before any of the ugliness that was presented in the news, and I'm a huge fan of his earlier music - focus on the art, not the artist). Have you beaten this game yet? I think that strength builds may struggle in this game but if I can get a plus 10 mimic as soon as possible i should win.

@TheBrandedSwordsman Hey buddy! I’m glad you’ve found some time to jump into Elden Ring. Unfortunately I haven’t actually started it yet. I like to drop in on this thread because I’ve become something of a “Souls stan” as @colonelkilgore termed it, and I like to read how everyone is getting along with the game. I still am very excited to play it, but I enjoyed Dark Souls Remastered and Demon’s Souls Remake so much that I want to try for the full Dark Souls run first. I’m hoping to get to DS2 Scholar of the First Sin by end of year.

I’ll be curious to hear how your Elden Ring playthrough goes though. It’s a fantastic game by all accounts.

@TheBrandedSwordsman I’ve got to ask, what’s a Kanye West build exactly 😂

@kyleforrester87 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWwAxg1FnXY That's what I used.

I am getting to the point where I have more runes than I know what to do with them - 420k runes for Mohg! Mohg was a fun fight.

Almost done - at the Ashen Capital, and if I save scum I can get the platinum on this playthrough. What an experience, just awe inspiring. There wasn't an area that I couldn't appreciate - even if the consecrate snowfield was the one I found least fun. I didn't mind the recycling - but then I enjoyed the Chalice Dungeons I was impatient and summoned help for Malenia and Maliketh - felt like I'd done my time on the other FS games and I don't feel bad one jot

108 hours 47 minutes and 37 seconds, that is the official save time on my game! And I am the Elden Lord!!!
Where to start with this absolute master piece. I started back in February and finished on the 2nd of June! It's been probably one of the longest games I've ever played on sheer scale of things to do. A couple of breaks in between, work and life have slowed my progress but the journey continued every time I turned on the Ps5, Elden Ring was there, the one constant.

For Soul's fans this game is basically everything you love about Soul's game and more, there's so much to do, sometimes it feels like there too much to do, Enemies are varied enough and some boss battles are so brilliant that it's well brilliant. So many weapons and builds to try that it can and does get a bit overwhelming and at times you feel like your missing out by not trying every weapon or spell. By the time end game comes though I had enough weapons upgraded and I felt comfortable enough to try them out although my trusty bloodhounds Fang got me through 90% of tough situations.

Fantastic game but a real commitment to play and especially plat, I used a guide for alot of the trophies to make sure I didn't ruin the plat or need a second playthrough and I did the save scum for the 3 endings (judge me all you want I am Tarnished after all)

Will definitely be back for the DLC but for now i can't wait to play something else for a while, a long while!

@MaulTsir Brilliant, mate! And congratulations! I’m really looking forward to playing it in the future. I haven’t wavered from my plans of clearing the Souls games first, but your comments definitely tempt me to skip on to Elden Ring.

Are you going to go back for the Dark Souls games now? Or perhaps some other non-From Souls-likes? It will be interesting to see if the other games live up expectations since ER is such a pinnacle of the genre. It’s the reason I continue to lean toward ‘saving the best for the last’, as it were.

@Th3solution Thanks mate! I'm going to have a break from the Soul's games for a while now, I'll definitely be back for more I have fell really in love with the style of gameplay, I use to fear it but now having got the plats in Bloodborne, Demon's Soul's and ER there's just something about getting through the "struggle" that's so appealing. I think Sekiro will probably be my next one but like I say it will be a while away.

The one thing with ER is it is such a considerable Time sink, especially first time around and especially if going for the plat, but there's so many bosses that are not required for the story that are well worth it. I hope you enjoy it when you eventually get around to it.

Might be unlikely but I'd love to see our first teaser of the DLC at Summer Game Fest. Maybe it's still too early in development for a release date but who knows? It might be just what I need to jump back into the game again.

@MaulTsir I hear you, after completing a Souls game there’s a weird contradictory desire to take a break and replenish your health and stamina, so to speak 😜, but also a feeling of emptiness without the game and a temptation to jump back into another one or another playthrough.

After I completed DS1 I played the first hour or so on NG+ just out of sheer curiosity and inertia, and I got a complete dopamine rush from decimating the introductory boss which causes you so much trouble at the very beginning of your first playthrough. It’s a great feeling, but I stopped after that to move onto another game. I’m already back into a Souls-ey game with Jedi Survivor, but it’s not quite the same as FromSoft’s work. Still good, but doesn’t quite scratch the itch in the same way.

I’ve pretty much got a second character ready for the DLC, Mohg and Radahn beaten, flasks near max and a couple of fully upgraded weapons (dagger and a seal)- could probably do with a few extra levels to be endgame ready. The character from my first playthrough for the platinum a year or so ago is saved just before the ending (so not NG+, backed up from a cloud save). I’ve gone faith/dex this time, so will have a level 120 faith/dex and a level 140 strength/melee build ready for when the DLC releases. I have really been enjoying replaying it. Prob won’t play past Leyndell on this character pre-DLC so I can try use DLC gear for the reast of the main game.

I'm going with my character that I finished the game with, maybe with a respec as I did that before the final boss. So i don't remember how balanced it is or anything. Will most likely fire up the game a week or so before Shadow of the Erdee drops, to dust off some cobwebs.

I original beat the game (and got Platinum) on release, played on PS5 and loved it. Since then, with travel resuming post-pandemic, I am essentially limited to handheld-play due to working overseas a lot...

So I purchased ER+DLC bundle on Steamdeck, started a NG character and had a blast! Managed to steamroll 100% achievements in around ~55hrs, focussing purely on achievement/trophy actions + anything that would support my build.

Got my character to level 160, and now putting it down until DLC. I have 2 x Bloodhound Fangs, both +10 level, and am basically powerstancing - with large emphasis on the jump attack L1 (uses both fangs). After the initial jump attack I follow up with the weapon art (Bloodhound Finesse) which is awesome, and then straight into the R2 combo.

For anyone needing extra weapons and/or talismans before DLC... found an awesome sub-reddit entitled "Patches Emporium" - which is basically like an Elden Ring black market lol. I managed to get my 2nd Bloodhound Fang by trading away my Rivers of Blood

Are we all thoroughly hyped for the DLC????!