#and that's not even *really* a dex/faith weapon

[death-rebirth-senshi]

"The Elden Ring meta doesn't really support leveling strength and faith equally" skill issue

[go-go-devil]

Dark Souls Advice for Beginners: A Mindful Approach to a Challenging Classic

Dark Souls is, without question, one of the best games I’ve ever played… Which is why it pains me to still see so much gameplay discussion regarding it being overshadowed by overblown exaggerations of its difficulty or judgemental opinions hurled at others over whatever they think the "correct" and "incorrect" ways to play the game are.

As someone who recently beat the game for the very first time, I want to dispel these unhelpful ideologies and offer some tips I’ve picked up on just from playing the game by myself in hopes that they can help out beginners who want to experience this wonderful game first-hand.

This will NOT be made up of objective gameplay tips that one can find in hundreds of guides at this point (ex: how to parry, best order of bosses to fight, where to get the grass crest shield, etc.). Instead, this guide aims to narrow down the most important mindsets one should adopt while playing to best ease themself into this game’s challenging-but-rewarding mechanics BEFORE they would need to ask for help.

Dying is a Lesson, not a Punishment

Most people who've heard of Dark Souls even in passing are aware of the penalty given to players every time they die: losing your souls and humanity, or basically the in-game currency and natural resistance bonus + bonfire kindler + icreaser of finding item drops, among other things.

And you will die in this game.

A LOT!

Although this game has become infamous for having a high difficulty, it actually handles its death penalties very fairly in my opinion.

Like its predecessor, Demon’s Souls, this game expects the player to die many times throughout the adventure, and the gameplay accommodates for this. While the cost of death is losing ALL of your on-hand souls and humanity, the game gives you a second chance to reclaim those lost souls by returning to the spot where you died and recollecting them on the ground. It is only if you die again before reaching your souls that they disappear forever.

If you find yourself dying over and over again without making any meaningful progress, it’s best to view this as the game not telling you “Oh wow you must be terrible at playing this game!” but instead as suggesting “Perhaps you are not fully prepared to venture through this area or kill this boss just yet.”

Dark Souls 1 offers a lot of open-endedness to its world-design. If you’re stuck in one area, then try exploring another one. You’ll always find something useful wherever you go, and you’ll keep on getting better at the game the more you practice with the freedom you’re given!

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Hopefully this one is obvious to you, but I know some people might be afraid they crafted their Chosen Undead “wrong” simply because of the very first choices they made. Like I said in the previous tip, exploration is the name of the game; not just in the world itself, but also for the gameplay and leveling system.

While indeed some weapons have better damage output than others, and starting characters’ stats often imply that you should go for a certain build (ex: Clerics = Faith Build), what’s wonderful about Dark Souls is that you don’t NEED to stick with one build throughout the entire journey. The early portion is meant to be a time to discover your personal best ways of getting through the game.

For a personal example, I started out as a Thief: a class with great dexterity, but with only decent points in faith and intelligence. While I was primarily building my character around dex and endurance, I did experiment with the various magic systems in the game and found I really loved using various sorcery spells, so I made sure to level up my intelligence & attunement whenever I felt it best just so I could use more. This strategy led to my character being a sort-of-mixed build of sorcery and dexterity, which ended up being a lot of fun for me!

Experimentation is not just limited to weapons and builds either! Dark Souls does an excellent job with placing items to find in areas where you may need to use them, so be sure to try them out whenever you find them. You won’t know how useful an item will be to you unless you give it a go, so save the hoarding for only after you’ve grown to covet them.

Use (but Don’t Abuse) Your Shields

For a newcomer to the game, the shield is a tool that is just as invaluable as any weapon you'll find. In a game so full of unpredictable hazards, the shield is both your lifeline and an important tool to learn the attack patterns of your enemies. 

I hid behind my shield constantly when traveling through the first few areas of Lordran, which certainly saved me a good few deaths I would’ve otherwise gotten from still getting a hang of the controls (and with my limited estus flasks). More importantly, however, having my shield up allowed me to study the speed and variety of my foes' strikes. Once I felt like I understood them well enough, I naturally began using my shield less and less when fighting them, eventually reaching the point where if I wasn't two-handing my weapon I was using my shield for parrying enemy attacks.

However, this is where the don’t abuse part comes in.

While it’s certainly a good idea to always have one at the ready at the start of a new area, it is also unwise to fully rely on the shield for protection against every foe you meet. Eventually you WILL find some enemies that won’t stumble back after you block their attacks, or even ones that won’t be bothered by your shield at all.

Really it all comes down to using common sense when up against your foes. Think of the shield just as you would a weapon; if it isn’t going to work, then don’t wear it down for nothing!

The World is Your Oyster, and Won't Bend To Your Every Whim

Possibly the most important tip I can provide to those just getting into the souls series, so take this one to heart!

One major feature of Dark Souls is the fact that it constantly autosaves EVERY action you make as you play through the game, which in turn means that it makes nearly every action you do permanent.

If you used a rare titanite material to upgrade a weapon you’re still not entirely sure about using or if you killed an npc for their armor/item drops but then felt bad about it, you CANNOT simply reload your save and reset everything. Your actions have consequences, and you need to learn to live with them.

Thinking out your every approach is vital to getting the most out of this game. When you're upgrading your stats, carefully consider what you feel would benefit you the most for the next area/boss you plant on going to. If you have limited resources, then spend some time planning out when and where it’s best to use them. If you have a weapon that requires a TON of souls and/or rare materials to upgrade, then perhaps contemplate on if it's even worth the effort or not.

Dark Souls has very strong opinions on players who are driven by greed, so smart thinking can help you avoid how the game expresses those opinions so to speak ;)

Hopefully these tips will help you out on your own first journey through this truly amazing video game. So have fun, and Prepare to Die!

[crediblebombthreat]

Elden Ring DLC Build -- Democracy!

Non-Fromsoft people encouraged to vote. I want to be able to blame as many people as possible.

Considerations for each option:

Dexterity: Lean hard into parries. Do four-digit criticals with the Miséricorde. Ruin people's evenings by being smarter than them in PvP. Probably has the most options of the new weapon types in the DLC (notably the goofiest ones). A lot of people will be playing DEX, so I'm not gonna get hipster points...but I can make up for it by not using katanas. Biggest downside is that

Strength: Dunk with overwhelming force. Scare the shit out of people on elevators. The DLC adds throwing weapons, and one of them is a great hammer that you swing around Super Mario 64 style to throw. Doesn't look like it'll have as many new toys, unfortunately. Might be wrong.

Faith/Intelligence: Notably undercooked archetype in the base game, looking to actually be fleshed out in the DLC. Makes use of most magic systems in the game, but excels at evil stuff (skeletons, evil, curses, etc) and -- paradoxically -- high-utility and holy damage miracles. Kinda' ass in PvP, but that won't mean too much until about a month in; most of the people who play this game panic when they're invaded. The closest I'll willingly go to a mage build, and it's on thin ice -- casting spells is boring, especially considering the new weapon archetypes they're going to drop.

DEX/STR: Allows me to dip my toes in both weapon archetypes and find out what I like the most for my 2nd playthrough. Will probably be great for light greatswords, a new archetype that makes your character move like a warrior princess. Not very exciting, but there's a chance it's the best build for the new martial arts weapon type. In which case it's super exciting!

Dragon Cleric: Ultimate glass cannon build that can nevertheless ruin people's evenings by one-shotting them. Has a suite of offensive options, ranging from "biting really hard" to "vaping in the enemy's face to give them tuberculosis." Has something for basically every situation. Kind of a one-trick pony, though -- it relies on a lot of buffs, and if you don't kill something in like two hits you are basically forced to scoop up your own balls and run.

Arcane Scum: Utilize various status effects to irritate people and boost my damage. Or go bleed and just win. I don't see them nerfing statuses in the DLC, but I really hope they do. It's not even fun using bleed to burst down people and bosses anymore. Can be combined with STR or DEX to make some interesting builds, but they're both scummy in their own ways. Bloody Helice is probably the only honorable weapon to use.

Faith: Faith alone is actually kind of boring, only a few steps up from 😪Mage😪. However, mixing it with DEX or STR is dope. DEX/FAI opens up a lot of lightning options, inluding the absolutely wonderful Bolt of Gransax. DEX/STR offers fire, and has an entire class of incantations designed around it. Faith is flexible, which is great since a lot of enemies have immunity to faith-based damage types (fire, holy, lightning, tax evasion, etc). There are always different options when you make a faith build...and this DLC will offer even more. Really, there are a few too many options, and unfortunately a lack of focus can make Elden Ring exhausting. Since I want to relax and enjoy the DLC, I'd need to pick a few solid weapons and stick with them. Ironically, this is kind of limiting.

[rosymourning]

The Beating Heart - a Shadowheart Build

"My faith will guide me."

Shadowheart is a Life Domain Cleric, curing her friends and allies of whatever ails them. This build is a pure support build, with an emphasis on healing and on-heal effects.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

Pretty much a utility healer through and through. This build can have insane survivability if you keep Sanctuary up during fights, which is doable as a pure support. Even when your party is at full health, so many items have helpful on-heal effects (Bless and Blade Ward, essentially) that it may be helpful to throw out a Mass Healing Word regardless. This is a great build to cast Warding Bond with as well.

The build feels like it comes online really early in the game (like before the Tiefling/Goblin party...), and it stays relevant throughout. Stronger items and taking feats help, but the primary benefit comes from good Channel Divinity scaling. It's simple, but effective, and probably a large part of the reason Shadowheart is such a popular companion.

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 12 Life Domain Cleric

Shadowheart’s (default) stats: STR 13 / DEX 13 / CON 14 / INT 10 / WIS 17 / CHA 8

Level 1 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 1

Cantrips: Guidance, Sacred Flame, Resistance

1st Level Spells [Command is useful throughout the entire game]

Level 2 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 2

Channel Divinity [the best one in the game, in my opinion]

Level 3 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 3

2nd Level Spells

Level 4 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 4

Feat: War Caster

Cantrips: add Thaumaturgy

Level 5 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 5

3rd Level Spells [Spirit Guardians is great even though the build isn’t optimized around it]

Level 6 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 6

Blessed Healer [a better version of the Ring of Salving]

Level 7 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 7

4th Level Spells [I don’t love any of the 4th Level Spells and mostly use this for upcasting]

Level 8 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 8

Feat ASI+ DEX>14, WIX>18

Level 9 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 9

5th Level Spells

Level 10 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 10

Divine Intervention [obviously SUPER powerful, I usually use mine in the House of Hope]

Cantrip: add Light

Level 11 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 11

6th Level Spells [Heroes’ Feast is awesome]

Level 12 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 12

ASI+ WIS>20

Items

Armor - Adamantine Splint Armour (1 Grymforge)

Melee Weapon -

Selune's Spear of Night (2 Nightsong)

Viconia's Walking Fortress (3 House of Grief)

Ranged Weapon - n/a

Amulet - Amulet of Restoration (1 Myconid Colony)

Helmet - Wapira's Crown (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 1 - The Whispering Promise (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 2 - Ring of Salving (1 Myconid Colony)

Gloves -

Hellrider's Pride (1 Emerald Grove)

The Reviving Hands (3 Stormshore Tabernacle)

Boots - Boots of Aid and Comfort (1 Goblin Camp)

Cloak - Vivacious Cloak (2 Grand Mausoleum)

Lore and Flavor

Moreso than any other character, Shadowheart's narrative begets a major respec at the end of Act 2 (previously, I build her like The Dark Justiciar), and it's not just a new hairstyle: "The Shadowheart I thought I was would never have even dreamed of defying the Lady Shar. I'm a stranger to myself." This build technically works from the moment you can respec into it... but why would you rob yourself of the true power of her character growth? The items with on-heal effects still fit her character throughout Act 1 and 2 without the full respec, so you're only missing the (albeit very potent) Channel Divinity Heal that Life Domain Clerics get. Worth it, in my opinion.

Onto the lore itself. The strongest (if not only) piece of identity that Shadowheart maintains throughout the entire game, regardless of narrative choices, is her skill as a healer. Part of that is inherent to being a Cleric, of course, but we know Shadowheart is considered a skilled healer even compared to other Sharran Clerics thanks to this note in the House of Grief. My allegiance to Life Domain reflects this natural skill as a healer as well as the fact that Life Domain is actually a domain of Selune (Light Domain is not, unfortunately). If we had a Twilight Domain in game, I would be tempted to make use of that as well.

A note about The Blood of Lathander: This is a very powerful item in Shadowheart's hands. If you can get over the fact that it's another deity's relic, then it's a great main hand weapon. I personally go back and forth about it, and decided not to include it here, prioritizing Selune's Spear of Night instead.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[ozblok]

Curious 16

Something I find really interesting from Godrick's weapon is at a pretty high stat in strength for early game, it may be kinda annoying for players but I think it's kinda interesting the one thing people of the Lands between thought Godrick lacked. The strength stat we're working with is pretty close to some of the weapon stat requirements on other boss weapons, still below yet pretty close, I'm gonna compare them just for the fun of it. btw fully aware stats are like this because the weapons are scaled down from the actual boss's for player use but this is still an interesting thing to me. Also main stats focused on are physical based for convenience, no intelligence, faith or arcane. Please Enjoy

Godrick's Axe - Str: 34 Dex: 22

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Rennela's Staff - Str: 8 Dex: 10

Rykard's Sword - Str: 22 Dex: 15

Radahn's Swords - Str: 38 Dex: 16 (maybe halved per sword idk unlikely)

Morgott's Cursed Sword - Str: 14 Dex: 35

Mohg's Trident - Str: 24 Dex: 14

Malenia's Sword - Str: 16 Dex: 48

Maliketh's Black Blade - Str: 34 Dex: 12

Godfrey's Axe - Str: 42 Dex: 14

Marika's Hammer - Str: 20 Dex: 12

Elden Beast Blade - Str: 14 Dex: 24

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Huh not gonna lie wasn't expecting some of the resulting stats, now this is making me imagine the Demigods lined up to lift Godrick's axe for fun. Rennela can't even move it, Rykard seems to life it for a bit with struggles before dropping it, Radahn lifts it with ease, Morgott tried but fails, Mohg would be able to hold it for a some time before needing to drop it, Malenia insulted and shock she can't lift it, Maliketh lifts it normally, the axe seems light to Godfrey, Radagon/Marika struggles lifting it for a while before it drops, Elden Beast uhhh ok its a giant monster god but it would be funny AF if it couldn't lift it. Aware this isn't sound but I just find this pretty interesting, hope y'all enjoy I had fun typing this out.

[aqueousablution]

(February 2024) Valia Azimov Galetongue

Original post body:

Haven't drawn my first D&D character in ages, but I just finished reading Dungeon Meshi, which put me in a fantasy mood. I decided to trans her gender and have her new name be Valia; you can't really tell because of how small her head is on the page, but she has scars from where her frill-beard was removed. The campaign has long-since petered out, so I'll never get to play as her again or get closure on her story, but it was nice to revisit her, even if only for a single drawing.

Valia was the daughter of the leader of her home city-state, Wyvernsend's Lady Ciara Azimov Galetongue, and a Knight of the Platinum Scales (an order dedicated to Bahamut). She kept a journal that I did an abysmal job of maintaining, which was actually originally a physical journal until I switched to just using a text document instead. Valia was short-tempered and stubborn, like my other character Éclair, but unlike Éclair Valia was a sincere believer that laws should be followed when possible (Éclair, on the other hand, mostly just obeyed the law as a means of avoiding trouble, but was perfectly content with breaking it if she felt she could get away with doing so). Her allegiance to Bahamut came first, of course, and if the law came into conflict with the tenets of her faith, she'd choose her faith over the law of the land every time. (The disconnect of a then-agnostic-atheist and now-agnostic-misotheist playing such a religious character is not lost on me.) Her winged spear, Polaris, was a holy relic once wielded by her ancestor Azimov Galetongue centuries ago. It was actually originally a sword before we eventually retconned it to be a greatspear (basically a pike with a name more befitting its actual length, and made compatible with Polearm Master); in the planning phases of the campaign I had originally planned for her to use a spear and shield as a 4e Fighter, but then made her a 4e Bard and switched to a sword for mechanical reasons, and then didn't switch back when we moved our plans to 5e and I made her a Fighter again. (I largely wound up going with a two-handed spear because I've always found the idea of using Polearm Master's bonus attack with a one-handed polearm incredibly silly) Polaris was intended to slowly upgrade over the course of the campaign, though I never got to use its final form (which would have been a +3 weapon); originally we had it such that it could use bootleg Paladin smites by expending charges, but I felt like I was stepping on the toes of the actual Paladin in the party, so we changed it such that it let her cast divine favor by expending charges instead. It could also cast armor of Agathys (rebranded "armor of Bahamut") as a bonus action, as well as branding smite, and later blinding smite and crusader's mantle; it'd have eventually been able to cast destructive wave as well, but the campaign didn't last long enough to get to that point. Last I played her, she was a level 14 Battle Master Fighter. Her stats were 20 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Int, 8 Wis, and 14 Cha. Her maneuvers were trip attack (a go-to of hers), precision attack (a late addition, used in conjunction with Great Weapon Master's power attack, which was also a late addition), rally, distracting strike, menacing attack, goading attack, and sweeping attack. She had recently obtained +2 plate armor of elven make when the campaign fizzled out, seen above, and wore a ring of protection (though I forget when she got that). In addition to Polaris, she carried a rondel dagger, a heavy longsword, and gauntlets designed for punching (the latter two can be found in my Martial Options homebrew document). Our group allowed feats to be split in half and recombined (either with a lone ASI or with another half of a feat), as well as giving out a half feat at both level 1 and whenever your got your second ASI (8th level for most characters, but 6th for Fighters), so she had two cantrips from Magic Initiate: Cleric (thaumaturgy and guidance), an extra 1 HP per level from Tough, the initiative bonus from Alert, the bonus attack from Polearm Master, the damage reduction from Heavy Armor Master, and the aforementioned power attack from Great Weapon Master. #(Azimov is her family name and Galetongue is her clan name for the record)

[vinkumakkara]

just wanted to say your posts about shaundi and johnny and boss are making me feel completely insane (in a good way) i'm about to throw myself off a bridge. i'm always thinking about how the saints were built from the ground up around johnny and boss and small-brain-wondering how the other saints felt about it, esp shaundi and pierce so thank you for essentially filling those holes for me :")

i also have to wonder what in the world made those 2 agree to be lieutenants in the first place - or what made the boss target themas lieuts?? correct me if i'm wrong but i mean it can't just be that boss did some sick car stunts and shaundi was like okay hell yeah lets do this thang... can it

thank you i enjoy thinking about this stuff very much, i feel like i didn't really start to get the nuances of these games' storytelling until recently so i am very Excited to write abt it

the 2011 Saints being built around Johnny and Boss really gets to the very core of it too, i was thinking about it when i made the Shaundi = Carlos parallel because there's a kind of hero worship situation going both extremes for each of them respectively. Carlos' veneration of the gang is based on impressions left by the original Saints when Boss was the "voice of Julius" - a mere weapon wielded by both Julius and player alike - rather than possessing a voice of their own. even though i don't think he ever truly becomes disillusioned with the Saints as a whole (he might be inexperienced but he absolutely does Get It) he has to suffer Boss at their absolute worst since the moment they first open their mouth, it's a very sobering "don't meet your heroes" kinda deal where he unfortunately didn't get to live long enough to actually really learn from it. but with Shaundi it's the opposite - she feels unsure and pretty fish outta water in the beginning, clearly not used to the kinda world Boss and Johnny (and Carlos) are steeped in, but she learns to appreciate the Saints as they are and not based on spook stories or legends or even self-serving half-truths told by a man who never was who he claimed to be. she pretty quickly starts to get it, she gets what being one of Boss' Saints is truly about, and she Gets It because unlike Carlos she actually got to experience Boss at their arguable best instead of their worst first-hand. it's too bad that even when these two characters feel like they were supposed to contrast and compliment each other they didn't really get to interact beyond that one fist bump during Three Kings' outro cutscene, the strict three arc split is both a blessing and a curse

anyways, Pierce and Shaundi actually basically got in the gang for the same reason Boss is able to put their faith in them despite all their reservations - Johnny's the one who picked them after he got to know them in prison. the game doesn't really delve into what kind of relationship Johnny and Pierce have but Shaundi talks about how she ran a pruno ring with Johnny in a bit of unused dialogue for Three Kings (Pierce has a similar expository line but he just talks himself up because of course lmao). it's why i think Shaundi always specifically really looked up to Johnny even though there's merely a whisper of dialogue maybepossibly hinting at it in sr2 (it is very overt in the later games so i think it was always intended despite all their continuity/characterization issues), and i think it's why Pierce gets away with clapping back at Johnny - like look at this dude

he was ready to go against the most dangerous man in Stilwater without hesitation - generic Saints say "no one's allowed to kill a Saint but Johnny" - and he's supposed to be the Smart One! they have to be more than just mere acquaintances working together out of necessity, because otherwise Pierce would be fuckin dead before the game really even begins (there's some stuff in the game that goes against this read, like Johnny's idle line talking about how Pierce reminds him of Dex which is just not true at all, but i feel like V just really didn't know what to do with this guy so they threw all kinda shit at the wall)

overall our view into this world and its people during sr2 is limited because Boss' pov is really limited in scope due to essentially being dead for five years (without even getting into the whole "Playa" thing). despite their "waking up" they're still that exact same gullible dumbass kid from 2006 - the now-not-so-mute motherfucker who's used to doing everything on their own - just saddled with a brand new steaming pile of trust issues AND with a whole new set of responsibilities they are extremely ill-equipped to handle. Julius broke Boss' already pretty piss fumed brain to an extent where even they themselves are capable of seeing the damage and especially in the beginning of the game a lot of their interactions with Shaundi and Pierce feel strained and surface level exactly because of this reason. as messed up as it is, Johnny - at that point being the only person Boss truly trusts and admires - essentially functions as their conduit for any semblance of normalcy (and he himself has been in prison for years too, just very functional all around). Boss might be the appointed leader but when you get down to it Johnny's the real glue that holds not only the entire gang together, but Boss as well. when Johnny is in the hospital and Pierce asks what will happen if he doesn't survive, "then we've got bigger problems" is honestly downplaying it - they all need Johnny, whether they realize it or not.

(Pierce dismissively shaking his head in response is so harsh too. he either really, really doesn't get it, or worse yet he gets it and simply sees no value in any of it. i like to think it's at least partly just him being completely fuckin clueless socially and kinda having tunnel vision when it comes to his ambitions, but when you look at his characterization in srtt... yikes if that's how he was always intended to go)

[wobinofylisse]

I've been thinking of getting last faith cause I love thw bloodborne vibes and I absolutely LOVE blasphemous 1 and 2 (god I hope we get DLC for 2 like we did 1).

Anyways what issues are you referring to so I'll know

So when you look at the game it's very important to note that it's essentially a castlevania game but with some souls stuff thrown in. Kinda in a way that it feels like it was added for marketing purposes.

I'll start with a subjective issue which is the music kinda sucks. It's sad piano music throughout almost the entire game and my brained tuned it out so much that sometimes I'd eventually notice that at some point the music had stopped in entirely in the area I entered.

That aside, the dark souls stuff holds the game back.

The game doesn't ever pause despite there not being any online and you can't even use items from your inventory and have to manually set things to your hot bar so it's not like you could gain an advantage through it.

You lose currency in death but there's no physical currency you can use and health items are a limited consumable. So every time you lose a fight and want to level a different weapon or just get more health items, you gotta grind for it.

Difficulty can be all over the place so it's very hard to tell if you shouldn't be somewhere or it's just a stupid difficulty spike.

While the ds leveling system is a cool addition to the castlevania style of game, pretty much all dex weapons have actually garbage damage output and guns are so bad that the instinct stat can just be ignored altogether unless you want to use the few spells that scale with it.

Status effects are so detrimental that especially early game, getting inflicted with a status is pretty much just a death sentence.

Moving on to the more actual gameplay design.

Movement is done in such a weird way where it feels kinda clunky and a lot of moves don't properly flow together as smooth as they should.

Double jump is like 60-70% into the game which wouldn't be an issue but almost all ledges are meant to be grabbed and your jump height will only take you to the ledge, so you're constantly watching the climbing animation everytime you make a jump. It's small but it's frustrating.

Early game gives you almost nothing to work with unless you go str, which if you do play it you should. Otherwise not only is the early game gonna be a lot harder but the late game is filled with enemies that deal frost damage which your frost res scales with strength making the late game that much worse.

Guns suck especially when compared to magic as an alternative for your off hand slot. Magic doesn't need to be upgraded like guns and will scale with mind well enough and occasionally instinct. Guns only scale with instinct and with the exception of one gun they all scale very poorly. Guns need to be upgraded the same as your primary weapon but upgrading weapons is very very expensive. Guns use a limited bullet resource that when depleted requires you to scavenge from enemies when depleted meaning that they're very inconsistent in terms of use unlike magic where you can use items to restore fp. Neither guns or magic can be used in the air but some magic has anti-air potential at least. Guns don't do enough damage to bypass any of its flaws and outside of a few niche situations, it's almost always better to just walk over and hit whatever you would shoot at.

Again with the guns and magic can't be used in the air. This means that anything flying requires you to poke it to death. Some of the endgame bosses only fly around. No this is not fun to deal with.

Lots and lots of projectile spam from enemies. Your roll only gives i-frames against projectiles but it neither tells you this nor is it consistent in what you can roll through.

The parry requires you to hold r1 and press y which for some people is a really big deal, I don't really see it as an issue tho. The issue with the parry tho is that it is extremely inconsistent and you can't tell what attacks you can actually parry.

While it is encouraged for you to use elemental buffs on your weapon, it's not very well communicated what will be effective against what and at some point I think bosses stop getting status effects all together.

Side quests seem very basic and are pretty much all just find the 1 thing that the character asked you for then you get no reward and they might just leave the game forever. There's a point of no return at the end of the game that you aren't told about and it makes it impossible to finish any side quests.

Story is kinda eh. Lot of it is characters vagueing about stuff or talking in jargon and I stopped feeling invested in the world building because it felt is need to watch some randos video essay just to understand anything. Especially with how little it explains towards the end.

I say all this and I still think it has the bones of a good game and with the proper work it could be made much better.

I'm hopeful.

[ordosmarkzero]

I started a Dark Souls replay a little while ago, have been wanting to for a while but was waiting for the pc servers to come back online because playing without messages just felt wrong.

Has been my first time playing since I beat it a few years ago, my first time on the Remastered version and my 2nd proper playthrough (I had a few failed attempts before I beat it the first time where I never got much further than around Darkroot Garden / Depths).

Here's some random thoughts I've had during my playthrough, might continue to update this as I go, also spoiler warning I guess?

This is my first time doing an INT/DEX build (Sorcery) properly, all 3 games + Bloodborne I did STR mainly. At first I felt very powerful compared to that and was surprised at how quickly you can blitz down bosses, but as it went on I started to feel the trade off of not having big armour and not being able to hit as hard with your weapon. I'm glad it's now feeling more like a different kind of challenge instead of just being easier. I'm also intrigued to try out faith now too.

I keep going back and forth and how I feel about the lack convenience compared to 2&3. When I got to just before O&S in Anor Londo I was starting to feel like my spells weren't hitting hard enough so I resolved that I had to go back and buy the ring that boosts sorcery. This meant I had to go back through Anor Londo, then descend Sen's Fortress all whilst not using a bonfire so I could easily Homeward Bone back. It wasn't that bad as you can run past the big guys in AL and I had unlocked the elevator in Sen's, but I got knocked off a ledge by a trap due to rushing + nerves and fell to the bottom, I only just survived and had to then use the ladder to get back up. This journey wasn't that much of a big deal but was definitely one of the more memorable parts of my playthrough, whereas in 2 & 3 it would have just been warping back to the hub then warping back to where I was and have lasted about a minute or two. I also enjoy that the merchants and blacksmiths are spread around the world, makes them and the world feel more alive. But sometimes I do find the "oh I need this item/upgrade so I have to travel all the way here" quite tiresome. I suppose it works better in DS1 because it's a lot easier and quicker to get from place to place.

I tried the Forest Hunter covenant for the first time and it's pretty fun! I never really did any PvP in the first game and most people are much better than me but I enjoyed doing it for a while.

The separation between magic & enchanted feels kind of pointless. Maybe I'm not using the right weapon or I've messed up my build somehow but I plugged my stats and weapon into mugenmonkey and even when I extrapolated my INT to around where it'll probably end up the difference was so minimal in what damage my weapon would end up doing between the two.

It's probably because I play the game quite late at night and the game is so old but it feels quite dead. I've barely seen any summon signs and never been summoned when I dropped one of my own. Have had a few invasions though. I think I'll try again during Return to Lordran and see whether that's any better (which I guess would also be a good time to test out a faith build).

I'd kind of blended together Siegmeyer & Siegward in my mind. Whilst I still like Siegmeyer and think he's quite funny, I love Siegward, he's so charming and all the encounters with him are fun. The first time you meet him and the game lets you know he's there because you hear the "hmmmm" as you pass him on the elevator is forever in my mind and one of my favourite introductions to a character.

On the other hand I found Solaire a bit boring on my first full playthrough but I'm liking him a lot more this time.

The Undead female merchant is also pretty fun, "you'd trust a piece of moss over me..."

[siofra-river]

Can you tell me more about your elden ring characters?

Oughhhhh I was typing an answer earlier and tumblr killed it . Cryyyinng I’ll do it again.

Ok sooo

Aris is my strength/arcane character who specializes in weapons that cause bleed buildup like mohgwyn’s sacred spear or have heavy use of the weapon art like the marais executioner’s sword. He’s a gen 1 albunaric who lived in the village of albunaric’s before leaving for being seen as too violent and odd for not believing in the haligtree/miquella. He’s a really cruel and mean guy who goes out of his way to kill almost everyone/everything he can . He kills every shardbearer he can, including mohg who he betrays after they have a bit of a whirlwind relationship. He goes the way of the frenzied flame ending since he loathes the golden order and all the stems from it. He also is like every other albunaric losing the use of his legs, just at a slower pace because of his tarnished status but he still loathes it and uses torrent to go almost everywhere.

Alacanth is my strength/faith character, he’s an omen who was indoctrinated into the golden order from a young age believing the way he could prove himself was by being unwavering loyal. He uses the erdtree sentinel spear and travels across the lands between taking out those he sees as a threat to the GO, he doesn’t really stay in one place for long or talk to many people so he doesn’t have any real friends but kind of prefers it. Doesn’t see being an omen as a like as much a punishment as more a hinderance to progress. Has a lot of omen fur and tends to shed it in the summer, also he frequently uses his tail as an aide in battle. (not picture for him, hes on my brothers pc TT-TT)

Orland before becoming a tarnished was a student dabbling in many schools of incantations. But once he realized he could die over and over without any real punishment he took up studying more dangerous and forbidden incantations such as the dragon cults and blood incantations. He’s a faith/arcane build with his primary damage being in status buildup and speed of his casts. As he’s partaken in the ritual of dragon heart consumption he’s got some of the tell-tale signs of it, such as the dragon eyes and patches of black scales around his body. He’s not really like, a bad dude just kinda left of normal. Wanting to learn all he can even if there’s a reason you really shouldn’t. He’s the one I got the generic elden lord ending with.

Benozil was a sorcery of little renown and was very cowardly. Pushed out of his small village once she became tarnished and thus ended up on his very scary no hood journey to becoming elden lord. Accidentally stumbles into Ranni, and does her quest line all while being scared out of her mind and on the verge of crying the whole time. Studying under Sellen and lots of practice eventually gives her a modicum of confidence, and proposes to Ranni without actually knowing what he’s doing and they are T4T, cuz I said so :-). She mostly uses Carian sorceries since that was Sellens area is expertise but can pull off a couple of gravity spells as well.

Mikaelian was the unremarkable third child of Marika and Radagon. He didn’t really have much prowess in the ways of battle like Malenia, or a silver tongue like Miquella. His curse didn’t manifest until the Night of Black nights, being cursed with death root that grows throughout his body and eats away at his body. He had left the lands between before the night of black knives/the shattering and returns around the time of the tarnished waking up. He specializes in using a swordspear, and is a dex build. As he traverses through the lands between, seeing the state of various people and places such as Caelid and Radahn, Godrick, and Leyndell, he slowly becomes more and more disillusioned, thinking he really can’t fix anything. Kills Mohg out of principle and revenge once he learns what was happened to his brother, and doesn’t fight his sister, but watches her from afar for a bit in the Haligtree. Overall a very depressed guy lmao wants things to be fixed buuuut yk. Eden ring.

and i think the last one is Auriel. Was a noble in Leyndell during the heyday of the Golden Order, often brushing shoulders with many of the demigods and those of important to the Golden Order.And was learning fundamentalist incantations there, until the Shattering. He died during the seige on Leyndell and is reborn much later than most tarnished. Once reborn the inhibitions he felt during his noble life left him and he let a lot of his darker/worse ideas out and is a pretty hypocritical guy. He still uses Golden order fundamentalist incantations along with the Cypher Pata weapons, he's my faith/int build. He uses a lot of the ring of light attacks, such as discus of light and Radagon's rings of light. (im not still done with his build, but I plan on getting the triple rings of light incants and marika's hammer to finish it)

[death-rebirth-senshi]

*realizes I should've started my strength/faith build as a prophet since I never used intelligence*

[crazy-form]

omg in my playthru of ds1 right now i just rung the second bell and did i think the next two/three bosses after that but now i'm stuck again TT i would say that imo… having played all of them except demon souls.. perhaps a bit controversial!!! but i personally found dark souls 3 and elden ring to be the easiest! mostly in terms of like, most user friendly esp towards new players! 3 was the first one i actually finished finished, then i played bloodborne and i really love it sm that one is my fave and i think that one can be a bit easier if you like playing at a faster pace? if that makes sense? it's def more fast paced! but the hardest ones for me have been ds2 bc the mechanics are soo so different and then sekiro was a really steep learning curve for me!!

i've seen lots of rumors and theories going around that the dlc could be something like miq's dreamworld in his egg thingy and that godwyn could be involved SO im hopeful 👁️👁️

im doing a faith+elden beast greatsword run in my ng+ now to mix things up but im honestly a big big fan of the dex+arc builds hehe my first playthru i did rivers of blood!! i played like right on release so i didn't deal with all the patching and enemy scaling so when i did it, the weapon was a lot less op imo i dont know why they even patched it to begin with kkfddfkd but i really wanna try a moonveil playthru then i THINK i wanna try using a halberd bc i always have so much fun with those after i do my faith run but like you said the holy damage sucks so bad in this game that i'm not sure if i'll be able to stick to my plans 😭

it's funny bc in each game there's always one thing that kinda sucks… like in ds3 the bleed damage is like ULTRA trash bc they patched it to be worse but ds1 tbh has a good balance? i'm currently using a morningstar for bleed buildup in my playthru of that one and it's been going well for me so far!

no i agree with you!! especially elden ring really is very beginner friendly!! and i think that's kinda what fromsoft aimed for with this game 🥰 i have yet to play ds3 tho... and ALSO i have heard a lot of bad things about ds2... i try avoiding spoilers as much as i can, including game mechanics and such but even the little i heard about the game, i can confidently say i'm terrified of playing it 🧡

ohhh that's fun though!! yeah sorry to say dex+arc builds are easy mode sdjafkhlasdjfh but i respect it!!! seriously!! it feels higher paced and it's a nice change from strength builds! but personally i prefer feeling like i didn't cheese the boss with frost + bleed + god knows what else jdfhljdsaf i do that when helping someone kill a boss though jsdfhasjdfh can you believe i never in my life touched moonveil... i feel like i should have at LEAST tried it but... yeah... but i can only recommend using halberds!! the golden one from the limgrave tree sentinel is especially fun! and holy damage sucks but honestly unless you're on ng+3 or higher it doesn't make that much of a difference 🥰 i went for a holy build on ng+4... regrets......... so many regrets......... all the late game bosses have 80 resistance to it..... sdjfhsjdfhs

oh yeah i used morning star in ds1!! then i found claymore oops. but i'm definitely taking notes for when i play ds1 again 👀 but i love my claymore so much sjkafhljksfh

[huggingtentacles]

I am *not* promising to do this but do you think i could make a decent dex/faith invasion build out of:

dex-based rapiers

blackflame, assorted

Lightning Ram on something light, maybe the misericorde

Godskin Noble outfit?

any thoughts on what level would work best, appropriate talismans (definitely want the Radagon Icon for blackflame purposes), whether it’d work better lightroll?

i think I’d have to call the character “roumd”

The build idea is generally pretty cool, and lightning ram is pretty powerful if you know when to use it. Although you should be careful because as far as I know, the Godskin Noble set does not give you ANY of the poise breakpoints. So you either need better armour or you should be lightrolling.

Also, in an invasion you can't really rely on a single gimmick. Make sure you have a diverse enough arsenal to deal with all sorts of situations.

Thrusting swords are really really good. Black flame incantations are great.

As for the level, I am not too sure. Hybrids are generally pretty bad outside of meta. I think the lowest you can make it is RL95 (weapon level +17/+7 somber). But it depends on a lot of factors. Your personal playstyle may be different from mine. I, for example, have unlimited starlight shards, and therefore can neglect leveling mind even on magic builds. I prefer having enough poise to not get bullied in a blender, though you may prefer a more careful approach. I like weapon variety, meanwhile you might be able to settle on only a couple, so you don't need as much strength or dexterity. You gotta experiment a lot.

But if you're gonna go to meta (meaning 125) just go for 55 vigor, 40/40 dex/faith and whatever points you have left allocate them to mind and endurance however you wish.

[ursus-bearrammage]

After replaying elden ring after 2 years (with seamless co-op mod) my honest opinions are:

-it goes on 70 hours longer than it needed to

-balance is completely fucked up. Some builds are completely useless (everything in the game resists holy so why even have a faith stat)

- there are only 2 or 3 viable weapons in the game and 2 of them are int weapons

- bosses are needlessly anoying even compared to the other fromsoft games. Constantly moving and jumping so you can't hit them unless youre running a ranged build of some kind, and since faith is pretty much useless for anything but black fire you should be running intelligence, which kibda makes it seem like less of a role playing game when there is 1 good build. Also why does every boss delay 75% of their moves like that

- the lore was either way more vague and thin than usual or it was just so spread out that i forgot most details/stopped caring

- why the fuck is casting speed tied to dex when there is not a single faith catalyst that scales with dex, it seems like they just really hate faith builds in this game

- by the time you are 70 hours in you will need to respec to 40-50 vitality if you werent there already because everything will kill you in 1 hit and armor becomes useless for anything but poise

- feels like bargain bin dark souls

+ ranni questline good and blaidd is sooooo awesome and cool

Its like a 8/10. Its still a fromsoft game and they know how to make video games even if this one is kinda wack overall. it just seems like a 10/10 compared to most games coming out these days

By the 50 hour mark of this playthrough i already decided that i really dont care what happens in the dlc anymore i dont want to deal with any more of that

This post probably makes me sound like a scrub but i'm replaying ds1 at the same time and it is just so much more pleasant to play

If you play elden ring do not do a faith/strength build unless you are playing with someone else doing an int build so that at least 1 person is doing damage. Or maybe play only solo so that boss health bars dont scale a rediculous amount

[dragon-clan-and-company]

Verses: Fire Emblem (WIP)

Awakening: WIP

Fates: WIP

Three Houses: Having been discovered at a very young age, Layle was taken in by an elderly couple in Alliance territory, until he was apprehended by dark mages whom used him for experimentation with crests alongside others. As one of a handful who survived, he was given the crest of Maurice- The crest of the Beast as it would be more commonly known. Once the experiment was done, he was dumped off on the side of the road in Ordelia territory. He spent a few years scraping by until eventually Count Ordelia and his wife saw him walking along a trail in the rain. Having taken pity on seeing a child in such a state, they agreed to take him in under the pretense of an errand boy.

On Layle's free days, however Count Ordelia would have noticed he had an interesting knack for combat- Giving him the proposition of training to become a vassal of sorts, with the promise of eventually getting a parcel of land should his service be sufficient. He eagerly agreed, enjoying the prospect of having a new place he may really be able to call home.

When he took breaks from his training, he noticed the young Lady Ordelia studying, and would study alongside her. Only about two years older than her, the two were able to get on well enough. After learning more about properly reading and writing, he would take more free time do do his own independent studying, so as to let Lady Ordelia go about her studies undeterred, though the two had certainly shared a slice or two of cake or other such sweets on occasions in the evening. His subjects of interest were and still generally are close quarters combat, magic, and tactics.

Some number of years passed as Layle began to prove himself proficient to Count Ordelia, having been given a proper contract that would begin his status as a vassal- With his assignment being to serve as Lysithea's bodyguard as she goes to attend the Garreg Mach Monastery.

The first to dance at an appropriate gathering, born 28th of Verdant Rain Moon.

Starting Stats: 25 HP, 8 Str, 7 Mag, 10 Dex, 7 Spd, 6 Luk, 7 Def, 8 Res, 10 Cha

Crest: Storm Dragon (Maurice/The Beast)

Budding Talent: Reason (Black Magic Crit +10)

Strengths: Sword, Lance, Brawl, Authority

Weaknesses: Axe, Bow, Riding

Reason Spells: Thunder, Mire B, Thoron, Sagittae, Bolting, Hades Ω

Faith Spells: Heal, Nosferatu, Recover, Seraphim, Rescue, Aura

Combat Arts: Hexblade, Finesse Blade, Monster Piercer, Frozen Lance, Lightning Axe, Exhaustive Strike, Monster Blast, Ward Arrow, Monster Crusher, Mystic Blow

Starting Class: Commoner

Unique Ability: Malignant Fury- If this unit reduces a foe to 0 HP with a magic weapon/combat art, or spell, the unit can act one more time on the current turn.

Skills: Sword E+, Lance E, Axe E, Bow E, Brawl E+, Reason E+, Faith E, Authority E+, Armor E, Riding E, Flying E

[thistooisyuri-ttv]

Anyone else have full back story and character development arcs for your soulsborne characters?