Soulsborne Thread #8 (ELDENNNNNNNNNNNNNN RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG)

[Witchking of Angmar]

Malenia is fucking annoying. Healing on every hit (regardless if it does damage, so shields are useless) and a bullshit AoE spam move that's practically impossible to dodge. Not to mention her damage through the roof (as are many enemies in the late game). I'm level 150+ and got 42 vigor, she still kills me in 2-3 hits. 2-4 if I use boiled crab that greatly reduced physical damage.

Only beat her because I got the mimic tear to tank her AoE spam and stun-locking alongside it. Forgotten King, Sister Friede, Gael; all of them were better designed than Malenia and didn't feel like I had to cheese.

[BigBossBalrog]

Now you know how it feels to fight the player character of Bloodborne from the bosses perspective 

[Witchking of Angmar]

1 minute ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Now you know how it feels to fight the player character of Bloodborne from the bosses perspective 

I'd rather face a Bloodborne character than this boss. That AoE is bullshit.

[BigBossBalrog]

4 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said:

I'd rather face a Bloodborne character than this boss. That AoE is bullshit.

So is the Hunter's Axe hitbox 

[Witchking of Angmar]

1 minute ago, BigBossBalrog said:

So is the Hunter's Axe hitbox 

That's something you can stun-block, parry, or dodge out with 1-3 steps. This AoE chases you.

[BigBossBalrog]

2 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said:

That's something you can stun-block, parry, or dodge out with 1-3 steps. This AoE chases you.

I think she's a too overtuned right now, but her combo can be reliably dodged; way I did it was run like hell as soon as you did the telagraph, and i'd miss the first two combo chains, and for the rest you can just roll through. 

[Witchking of Angmar]

1 minute ago, BigBossBalrog said:

 

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I think she's a too overtuned right now, but her combo can be reliably dodged; way I did it was run like hell as soon as you did the telagraph, and i'd miss the first two combo chains, and for the rest you can just roll through. 

Part of the problem is if you're in melee and just got in a couple of hits, there's no time to run. Not to mention the buildup is (near?) exact as another move where she only does a stab. And one thing I hate is a boss I have to run away from half the fight.

[BigBossBalrog]

5 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said:

 

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Part of the problem is if you're in melee and just got in a couple of hits, there's no time to run. Not to mention the buildup is (near?) exact as another move where she only does a stab. And one thing I hate is a boss I have to run away from half the fight.

That's why I only attacked when she did her heavy swings that would leave her open for a couple swings. Used a crossbow to chip. 

[Witchking of Angmar]

Just now, BigBossBalrog said:

 

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That's why I only attacked when she did her heavy swings that would leave her open for a couple swings. Used a crossbow to chip. 

And I'd die from boredom before the boss actually kills me in that case. I want to be able to charge in and attack, dodge, attack, dodge and pull back for the stamina to recover before doing it all again.

[Witchking of Angmar]

One thing I do love though are the Stakes of Marika. I want these semi-checkpoints at the doorstep to every boss arena.

[TheCzarsHussar]

Exact same thoughts on her @Witchking of Angmar, exact same thoughts

I'd consider her a very fair boss, even with the speed and healing if it wasn't for that combo. It punishes you for doing anything other than mid-range. I know you can fully dodge it with literal frame perfect rolling in a certain order, but only from mid range.

I also had to use mimic tear to beat her and power stances greatswords.

[ColonelKillaBee]

On 3/26/2022 at 2:40 PM, BigBossBalrog said:

BTW @ColonelKillaBee you said your brother got it? The same one you call a "pussy" all the time?  That's strange he picked up a Souls game. Is he liking it? 

He loves it lol. He's also beat bloodborne, including dlc, and he got Demon Souls on his own. Loved that too.

[BigBossBalrog]

3 minutes ago, ColonelKillaBee said:

He loves it lol. He's also beat bloodborne, including dlc, and he got Demon Souls on his own. Loved that too.

That's a drastic shift, but good for him

[TheCzarsHussar]

1 hour ago, ColonelKillaBee said:

He loves it lol. He's also beat bloodborne, including dlc, and he got Demon Souls on his own. Loved that too.

 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Drop rates are just as brutal as Ds2. I've tried off and on farming for a single fucking fancy mail coif from a super late game enemy for days now.

Just tonight, I went from 33k to 800k before it finally dropped. The things I do for elden bling.

[BigBossBalrog]

As much as I love my boys Radahn and Morgott, I've become convinced Rykard is the coolest character in the game 

[TheCzarsHussar]

[BigBossBalrog]

Imagine what it would be like serving in the Shattering and your General was this towering unit 

[TheCzarsHussar]

35 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

Imagine what it would be like serving in the Shattering and your General was this towering unit 

Im sorry but with that face and helmet all that came to mind was General Schladahn Goldberg

[Witchking of Angmar]

Finally beat Elden Ring. My overall opinions:

Pros

• Stakes of Marika - Only wish there weren't boss arenas without them directly outside.
• Ashes of War - Love them. Now I can combine special moves I like with the weapon I want. Too bad the can't be switched out on special weapons.
• Memory Stones - While I haven't done a spellcaster playthrough yet, I do like not having to invest points into a stat that may not give any for a couple of levels.
• The open world is rather well structured and there's always something new to discover. Not to mention it looks gorgeous.

Cons

• Poorly balanced late game - The enemies and especially bosses in the late game have so much health and deal so much damage. Could possibly be somewhat mitigated if the soft caps for the stats were pushed back to 60 instead of 40 as is now. But right now I had to go out of my way to find a bunch of the best damage reduction talismans and consumables just to not die in a couple of hits from the final boss, despite being 160+ level.
• So many double bosses - They're fine on rare occasion, but it's not fun to get blindsided. Kinda forces you to use summons.
• Reuse of bosses - I get it as a way to add content while saving up disc space, but it got rather noticeable at one point.
• Large bosses, ironically, tend to be very easy to lose track of. Keep a lock on and the camera goes wild when close and struggle to focus and let you see an attack. Don't have a lock on and the boss jumps out of view and you have to hope you find them before getting blindsided by a charged attack.

Unsure

• Mounted combat - Sometimes it's a bit too easy where you can just run past as you swing, other times you get so easily stun-locked from even the tiniest hits only to be thrown off and then killed without even being able to dodge. Can't deny it's for the most part fun.

[The Good Doctor]

46 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said:

• So many double bosses -
• Reuse of bosses
• Large bosses,

I haven’t beaten it yet, but I agree with all of these.

The worst offender, who checks two of these boxes, is the shitty ass "Ulcerated Tree Spirit" who just keeps popping up and basically just flails around the arena, taking up 80% of your screen while you dodge role directly into him. It seems completely random and there is no real strategy or learning curve when fighting it. And you do it over, and over, and over. 

I like double bosses when they’re designed well. Ornstein and Smough is perhaps one of the best examples of it done well in gaming, where their move sets both exposed and complimented each other, and alongside the arena gave you plenty of ways to tackle their fight. Both enemies were clearly designed to be fought alongside the other.

Even then, it’s best in small doses. 

What Elden Ring tends to do is just make two solo bosses and then throw them together with little regard for their synergy. So the fight tends to be just dodging away from both the whole time until you can finally land a hit. Rinse and repeat. 

How did you feel about the summoning ashes?

[BigBossBalrog]

30 minutes ago, Witchking of Angmar said:

Finally beat Elden Ring. My overall opinions:

Pros

• Stakes of Marika - Only wish there weren't boss arenas without them directly outside.
• Ashes of War - Love them. Now I can combine special moves I like with the weapon I want. Too bad the can't be switched out on special weapons.
• Memory Stones - While I haven't done a spellcaster playthrough yet, I do like not having to invest points into a stat that may not give any for a couple of levels.
• The open world is rather well structured and there's always something new to discover. Not to mention it looks gorgeous.

Cons

• Poorly balanced late game - The enemies and especially bosses in the late game have so much health and deal so much damage. Could possibly be somewhat mitigated if the soft caps for the stats were pushed back to 60 instead of 40 as is now. But right now I had to go out of my way to find a bunch of the best damage reduction talismans and consumables just to not die in a couple of hits from the final boss, despite being 160+ level.
• So many double bosses - They're fine on rare occasion, but it's not fun to get blindsided. Kinda forces you to use summons.
• Reuse of bosses - I get it as a way to add content while saving up disc space, but it got rather noticeable at one point.
• Large bosses, ironically, tend to be very easy to lose track of. Keep a lock on and the camera goes wild when close and struggle to focus and let you see an attack. Don't have a lock on and the boss jumps out of view and you have to hope you find them before getting blindsided by a charged attack.

Unsure

• Mounted combat - Sometimes it's a bit too easy where you can just run past as you swing, other times you get so easily stun-locked from even the tiniest hits only to be thrown off and then killed without even being able to dodge. Can't deny it's for the most part fun.

I think the reuse of bosses is a necessary evil; even with the reuse, there's about 35 unique boss types in the game, which is huge variety. Expecting more, I think, is unreasonable. Also some of the types, like the Dragons, are very different to each other (If only the Asylum Demon Tree Knock offs had the same care put into them...) 

And that large bosses point. Lol. That problem been in the series since...Demon's Soul's. And I doubt it's ever going to be fixed. 

I'm not justifying it cause I find the double bosses annoying, but I think they were designed to fight with the Spirit Summons, which I have no problem using beyond my first (and finished) playthrough.

[BigBossBalrog]

In terms of sheer enemy variety, I don't know a single open world game that does it better then Elden Ring 

[The Good Doctor]

7 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

I'm not justifying it cause I find the double bosses annoying, but I think they were designed to fight with the Spirit Summons, which I have no problem using beyond my first (and finished) playthrough.

I’m not crazy about that, myself. But I’m still unsure how I feel about the spirit summons in general. I think the idea is good, but they seem way too powerful. Like, "this is basically easy mode" powerful. I had a friend tell me yesterday that the best ones can solo strong bosses if you upgrade them enough. That’s absurd. 

[BigBossBalrog]

2 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

I’m not crazy about that, myself. But I’m still unsure how I feel about the spirit summons in general. I think the idea is good, but they seem way too powerful. Like, "this is basically easy mode" powerful. I had a friend tell me yesterday that the best ones can solo strong bosses if you upgrade them enough. That’s absurd. 

There's one that was so powerful it got nerfed into the ground 

I think it gives a really cool playstyle, and gives you alot more build variety, cause there's some crazy summons (like the suicide bomber jars) I really like them myself, especially since they have all have a unique little bit of lore, and some of them (like the Elf turret and the ultra mega powerful one) are super unique.